To read a detailed, technical chronicle of the foils of the flu shot, see my last blog. To summarize, the flu shot does not work but contains harmful toxins and preservatives like aluminum and mercury so thoughtful people avoid it. The pressing question is what really does prevent the flu? I will start with the boring stuff that everyone knows but does not want to do.
• Exercise
• Healthy Diet
• Getting enough sleep
These three basic steps are enormously effective at improving immune function but most people prefer the myth of a magic shot instead. Exercise is hard to squeeze in anytime but in the winter there are so many better weather excuses to avoid it. The truth is you do not have to train for the Boston marathon, just walk 25 minutes 4 or 5 days per week. My solution for this was to purchase some very comfortable ski pants. Now no matter how cold it is, I can walk comfortably with my dogs who never complain about the weather.
A healthier diet does not have to be intimidating either. Added sugar is the major immune suppressor in the diet. If you just cut that way down your immune function will pick up significantly. Eat fruit (fresh or dried) or put some raw honey (which has immune enhancing properties) in your tea to soothe your sweet tooth. This is the hardest step for me.
If you don’t build enough sleep into your schedule, your body will eventually correct that by making you sick so you have to sleep. By biggest problem with this is the &%$#%^ computer and e-mail. If I stay on too long, the e-mails run through my head when I’d rather be sleeping. In my practice I have noticed that turning off the computer is a particularly difficult problem for men.
Now for the more exciting, easier supplement strategies:
• Get your blood vitamin D level up to at least 60.
• Take vitamin C, probiotics and at least 15 mg of zinc daily.
• Keep a strong natural killer cell enhancer on hand in case you feel an illness coming on.
Robust vitamin D levels are highly associated with lower illness rates (including cancer). Blood levels over 30 or 32 ng/ml are considered “normal” but higher levels can protect against illness. Of course, the only way to know for sure if you have a decent vitamin D level is to have your doctor order a blood vitamin D test. Since about 70% of women and children are low, most doctors agree to this request and it is probably worth doing.
Vitamin D-3 (the natural version) is easily available in drops and pills. Several doctors I know recommend taking one large dose (25,000-30,000 IUs) immediately if you start feeling under the weather. For dosage recommendations for children, consult your pediatrician. Note that nutritional interventions to prevent illness do not work once the illness sets in. You must strike early when the immune system first notices a problem.
Consistently taking the immune trio of probiotics, vitamin C and zinc can keep up your defenses during the flu season. Keep probiotics in the refrigerator and find one that has at least 10 billion bugs. Take 500-2000 mg of vitamin C depending on age of the person and level of vulnerability to illness. You cannot overdose on vitamin C because when the body cannot absorb anymore, it causes diarrhea and out it goes. A good multiple vitamin/mineral may already contain the basic zinc most people need but you can take an extra 15 or 20mg daily during periods where you need an extra boost.
Keeping a strong immune enhancer on hand is a must because you know you are going to need it at 11:00 PM on a Tuesday night. Waiting 12 hours to get to the store (or days until it comes by mail) will be too late as the illness will have enough time to take hold. Viruses replicate very quickly and the more cells they have time to infect, the more serious the illness. Natural killer cells are the first line defense against viruses. Several products enhance these fighters and people have individualized responses to them. Some find one product works better for them than another. I will take one of these for a few days (or sometimes just one or two doses) if I feel like I am run down or fighting something.
My three favorite are:
• ProBoost Packets (http://www.proboostmed.com/faq.html)
• 4 Life Transfer Factor – Trifactor formula (http://www.amazon.com/4Life-Transfer-Factor-Classic-capsules/dp/B000OUY84U)
• American BioSciences ImmPower (http://www.vitacost.com/American-BioSciences-Immpower-AHCC).
The price of these products vary greatly but they all work great. Follow the directions on the bottle. This is a blog and should not be used as a substitute for medical advice. If you have questions, contact a knowledgeable medical professional.
Finally, use hand sanitizers frequently. Just kidding. These products have been found in studies to be as useless as the flu shot. You may as well rub your hands in the grass or on your pants. Better to wash your hands with plain old soap and water every once in awhile.
Just to let you know how long you need to wash your hands to significantly get the germ level down, imagine singing through a verse of “All the Single Ladies” or about 30 seconds. That is what it takes and unless you are preparing for surgery, you probably are not doing this.
Not to worry, while germs cause colds and flus, they are less responsible for illness then most people believe: Mainly because they are everywhere so one cannot avoid them. In one study, healthy volunteers were asked to play cards with other volunteers who had colds. (Warning: this is a gross study.) No tissues were provided so after awhile the cards were literally damp with the viral laden nasal discharge from the sick participants. The high virus exposure did not result in significantly more colds among the healthy volunteers.
As Pasteur said at the end of his life, “It is the environment”. It probably sounded better in French but after years of proving germs caused disease, in the end, he realized it was the environment the germs were introduced in to that often counted more than the bugs themselves. So, strengthen your environment and the germs will find somebody weaker to attack.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Blog #17 The Most Hysterical TIme of the Year
Bundled in my overcoat and out walking my dogs, I cannot help but appreciate the crisp air and beautiful foliage. The joggers are out and the left over Halloween pumpkins seem to wink as you pass by or perhaps they are just spoiling and sagging some. Still, fall would be absolutely perfect except for one sour note. Yes, it is time for the annual drug company induced flu hysteria.
“The flu is coming, the flu is coming,” is the battle cry. “Experts advise the best way to prevent the flu is to get the flu shot or flu mist,” shout the television commercials. I ran into flu shot "clinics" at the airport. And then, while looking for an elusive shower cap, at several pharmacies. All utilized cleverly worded signs to entice or frighten the consumer into submitting to unproven technologies. You cannot avoid being affected by the deluge or the very seductive word, “free”. Everyone likes getting stuff for free.
For me, the result is many phone calls and e-mails. The first came from my friend, Lizzy. Lizzy evaluates children for sensory processing issues. She sounded awful on the answering machine. “What should I do?” she wanted to know. She had been testing a child who had come directly to her office after getting a dose of the flu mist. He had been sneezing throughout the session and now, several hours later she was feeling heavy headed and achy.
You may recall from several years ago when experts unequivocally stated the flu mist did not work. Part of the problem was it contains a live virus so it had a tendency to cause the flu. That was the year that Walmart was naively squirting the viral mist up the noses of its shoppers only to find that they would wander over to the deodorant aisle and sneeze. Viral clean-up needed on aisle 7. It did not take them long to figure out they were potentially spreading more flu than they were preventing.
Now Lizzy was worried she was coming down with the flu. It was still early enough for her immune system to fight it off. She upped her vitamin C, probiotics and immediately took a packet of a powerful natural killer cell enhancer called ProBoost. I had introduced her to ProBoost several years ago and she has not been sick since. I told her to take a second packet the next morning and to take one large (25,000 IU) one time dose of vitamin D. When I talked to her a few days later, she was doing fine, disaster averted.
The calls and e-mails, however, were just beginning. Tania, my loyal assistant called soon after. “They are offering the flu shot and flu mist at my son’s school,” she reported. “I was wondering if I should keep him home that day.”
Good question. “If they were sprinkling virus around the Nordstrom Rack, what would you do?” I asked.
“Show up early to avoid the crowds?” she retorted smarty pants that she is.
Very funny,
“Go to TJ Maxx instead?” she continued on a roll. “I never really liked Nordstrom Rack anyway.”
It is a start, I agreed.
What about the flu shot? That does not contain live virus. Putting aside the questions about the mercury content and other potentially dangerous preservatives for the moment, does it work? Apparently not as the number of people getting the flu is not decreasing despite dramatically higher vaccination levels.
The research, what little there is, has never proven the efficacy of the flu shot. In fact, there have never been the basic studies done on the flu shot that are required of other FDA approved medication. Not a single double blind study.
What a review of 15 studies found was that influenza vaccines were ineffective against influenza-like illnesses, influenza and pneumonia. (The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006.) It also works equivalent to placebo in children under 2. (The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008.) In other words, it does not work.
One study found the flu vaccine may triple the risk for flu-related hospitalization in children with asthma. (May 25, 2009, www.medscape.com/viewarticle/703235). There are a shocking number of negative studies yet the shot is consistently recommended. (For more flu shot info see: www.drtenpenny.com.)
The best explanation for this incomprehensible disconnect was offered in a brilliant article in the Atlantic Magazine (November 2009), “Does the Vaccine Matter?” According to the article, the research often quoted to promote the shot does not prove the vaccine works but uses conclusions from cohort studies. These studies look at death rates associated with various factors. It is often observed that people who get the flu shot die at a much lower rate than those who do not. So, therefore, the flu shot saves lives, right?
Nope. It turns out that people who get the flu shot die much less often than other people summer, winter, spring and fall. In fact, they die less from all causes all the time because they tend to be healthier to begin with. It is called a “healthy user effect” and completely accounts for the lower death rate in flu shot receivers. When Dr. Lisa Jackson, a brave Seattle based researcher and physician studied the association more closely, she found the shot did not reduce death whatsoever.
But the November 2009 Atlantic Magazine article said it better than I can:
“…. in 2004, Jackson and three colleagues set out to determine whether the mortality difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated might be caused by a phenomenon known as the “healthy user effect.” They hypothesized that on average, people who get vaccinated are simply healthier than those who don’t, and thus less liable to die over the short term. People who don’t get vaccinated may be bedridden or otherwise too sick to go get a shot. They may also be more likely to succumb to flu or any other illness, because they are generally older and sicker. To test their thesis, Jackson and her colleagues combed through eight years of medical data on more than 72,000 people 65 and older. They looked at who got flu shots and who didn’t. Then they examined which group’s members were more likely to die of any cause when it was not flu season.
Jackson’s findings showed that outside of flu season, the baseline risk of death among people who did not get vaccinated was approximately 60 percent higher than among those who did, lending support to the hypothesis that on average, healthy people chose to get the vaccine, while the “frail elderly” didn’t or couldn’t. In fact, the healthy-user effect explained the entire benefit that other researchers were attributing to flu vaccine, suggesting that the vaccine itself might not reduce mortality at all. Jackson’s papers “are beautiful,” says Lone Simonsen, who is a professor of global health at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., and an internationally recognized expert in influenza and vaccine epidemiology. “They are classic studies in epidemiology, they are so carefully done.”
The results were also so unexpected that many experts simply refused to believe them. Jackson’s papers were turned down for publication in the top-ranked medical journals. One flu expert who reviewed her studies for the Journal of the American Medical Association wrote, “To accept these results would be to say that the earth is flat!” When the papers were finally published in 2006, in the less prominent International Journal of Epidemiology, they were largely ignored by doctors and public-health officials. “The answer I got,” says Jackson, “was not the right answer.”
The entire article is available online.
So, the flu shot and the flu mist do not work. So what does work? To be continued………
“The flu is coming, the flu is coming,” is the battle cry. “Experts advise the best way to prevent the flu is to get the flu shot or flu mist,” shout the television commercials. I ran into flu shot "clinics" at the airport. And then, while looking for an elusive shower cap, at several pharmacies. All utilized cleverly worded signs to entice or frighten the consumer into submitting to unproven technologies. You cannot avoid being affected by the deluge or the very seductive word, “free”. Everyone likes getting stuff for free.
For me, the result is many phone calls and e-mails. The first came from my friend, Lizzy. Lizzy evaluates children for sensory processing issues. She sounded awful on the answering machine. “What should I do?” she wanted to know. She had been testing a child who had come directly to her office after getting a dose of the flu mist. He had been sneezing throughout the session and now, several hours later she was feeling heavy headed and achy.
You may recall from several years ago when experts unequivocally stated the flu mist did not work. Part of the problem was it contains a live virus so it had a tendency to cause the flu. That was the year that Walmart was naively squirting the viral mist up the noses of its shoppers only to find that they would wander over to the deodorant aisle and sneeze. Viral clean-up needed on aisle 7. It did not take them long to figure out they were potentially spreading more flu than they were preventing.
Now Lizzy was worried she was coming down with the flu. It was still early enough for her immune system to fight it off. She upped her vitamin C, probiotics and immediately took a packet of a powerful natural killer cell enhancer called ProBoost. I had introduced her to ProBoost several years ago and she has not been sick since. I told her to take a second packet the next morning and to take one large (25,000 IU) one time dose of vitamin D. When I talked to her a few days later, she was doing fine, disaster averted.
The calls and e-mails, however, were just beginning. Tania, my loyal assistant called soon after. “They are offering the flu shot and flu mist at my son’s school,” she reported. “I was wondering if I should keep him home that day.”
Good question. “If they were sprinkling virus around the Nordstrom Rack, what would you do?” I asked.
“Show up early to avoid the crowds?” she retorted smarty pants that she is.
Very funny,
“Go to TJ Maxx instead?” she continued on a roll. “I never really liked Nordstrom Rack anyway.”
It is a start, I agreed.
What about the flu shot? That does not contain live virus. Putting aside the questions about the mercury content and other potentially dangerous preservatives for the moment, does it work? Apparently not as the number of people getting the flu is not decreasing despite dramatically higher vaccination levels.
The research, what little there is, has never proven the efficacy of the flu shot. In fact, there have never been the basic studies done on the flu shot that are required of other FDA approved medication. Not a single double blind study.
What a review of 15 studies found was that influenza vaccines were ineffective against influenza-like illnesses, influenza and pneumonia. (The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006.) It also works equivalent to placebo in children under 2. (The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008.) In other words, it does not work.
One study found the flu vaccine may triple the risk for flu-related hospitalization in children with asthma. (May 25, 2009, www.medscape.com/viewarticle/703235). There are a shocking number of negative studies yet the shot is consistently recommended. (For more flu shot info see: www.drtenpenny.com.)
The best explanation for this incomprehensible disconnect was offered in a brilliant article in the Atlantic Magazine (November 2009), “Does the Vaccine Matter?” According to the article, the research often quoted to promote the shot does not prove the vaccine works but uses conclusions from cohort studies. These studies look at death rates associated with various factors. It is often observed that people who get the flu shot die at a much lower rate than those who do not. So, therefore, the flu shot saves lives, right?
Nope. It turns out that people who get the flu shot die much less often than other people summer, winter, spring and fall. In fact, they die less from all causes all the time because they tend to be healthier to begin with. It is called a “healthy user effect” and completely accounts for the lower death rate in flu shot receivers. When Dr. Lisa Jackson, a brave Seattle based researcher and physician studied the association more closely, she found the shot did not reduce death whatsoever.
But the November 2009 Atlantic Magazine article said it better than I can:
“…. in 2004, Jackson and three colleagues set out to determine whether the mortality difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated might be caused by a phenomenon known as the “healthy user effect.” They hypothesized that on average, people who get vaccinated are simply healthier than those who don’t, and thus less liable to die over the short term. People who don’t get vaccinated may be bedridden or otherwise too sick to go get a shot. They may also be more likely to succumb to flu or any other illness, because they are generally older and sicker. To test their thesis, Jackson and her colleagues combed through eight years of medical data on more than 72,000 people 65 and older. They looked at who got flu shots and who didn’t. Then they examined which group’s members were more likely to die of any cause when it was not flu season.
Jackson’s findings showed that outside of flu season, the baseline risk of death among people who did not get vaccinated was approximately 60 percent higher than among those who did, lending support to the hypothesis that on average, healthy people chose to get the vaccine, while the “frail elderly” didn’t or couldn’t. In fact, the healthy-user effect explained the entire benefit that other researchers were attributing to flu vaccine, suggesting that the vaccine itself might not reduce mortality at all. Jackson’s papers “are beautiful,” says Lone Simonsen, who is a professor of global health at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., and an internationally recognized expert in influenza and vaccine epidemiology. “They are classic studies in epidemiology, they are so carefully done.”
The results were also so unexpected that many experts simply refused to believe them. Jackson’s papers were turned down for publication in the top-ranked medical journals. One flu expert who reviewed her studies for the Journal of the American Medical Association wrote, “To accept these results would be to say that the earth is flat!” When the papers were finally published in 2006, in the less prominent International Journal of Epidemiology, they were largely ignored by doctors and public-health officials. “The answer I got,” says Jackson, “was not the right answer.”
The entire article is available online.
So, the flu shot and the flu mist do not work. So what does work? To be continued………
Monday, November 1, 2010
Blog #16 Vitamin M Continued......
“You were soooooo right,” Ellen enthused. Oh goodie, I thought. I love being right. Then it occurred to me that I had no idea to what she was referring.
“About what?” I queried.
“You know,” she continued. “About movement and speech. Remember that story you told me?”
I did. It was currently my favorite story about movement involving a 5-year-old boy on the autism spectrum. I will call him, Kirk. Kirk hopped from one thing to the next with limited attention or engagement. His language consisted of demands and basic observations with little conversation. If you work with or have a child with autism, you may know about the concept of closing circles of communication. Basically, you say something, the child acknowledges your opening and responds with something related to what you said and sends the conversation back to you. That is one circle.
The late Dr. Stanley Greenspan stressed the importance of closing circles of communication and developed many techniques to help improve conversational skills. The child needs to be interested enough in another person to engage and then respond appropriately to unexpected conversational gambits. An autistic conversation is more like a political debate on TV when one question is asked and another is answered. This “conversation” tends to be one-sided. Something like this:
“What did you do at school today?”
“Thomas”
“Oh, you played with Thomas?”
“No, want to play with Thomas.”
“You want to play with Thomas the tank engine. Okay, but did you have music today?
“Eat cookies.”
Etcetera.
Kirk communicated at this level with much prompting and redirection needed to have any level of conversation. The parents and speech therapist were working hard to improve the quality and complexity of the interactions. I explained to the mother that the language centers were right next to the movement centers. Parents so often concentrate directly on speech rather than working on motor skills and/or sensory function. When language is not improving, improving sensory and motor function can create a neurological foundation for better speech. It is the reason children usually walk before they talk and why boys, in particular, use movement to help them think straight.
With this little developmental tidbit in mind, the Kirk’s family headed off to Disney World. It had been a tough year and the parents decided for one day to allow Kirk to do whatever he wanted. What Kirk wanted was to go on the Disney equivalent of the roller coaster “20 times”. So, they let him.
At the end of the day, Kirk was communicating better than he ever had. He was answering questions and initiating more conversation. His parents were so excited but did not know how to sustain the gains.
Since they did not have room for a roller coaster in their living room and they could not move to Disney World, the question was what to do to get Kirk’s level of movement and sensory input way up. We talked about using Wii fit and checking in with their occupational therapist about what equipment could be installed and used at home. This was the story I told Ellen.
Ellen took her son with speech delays to a local amusement park and used the same strategy with similar results. “You should have heard him talk,” she reported. “It was unbelievable”.
Once again, I had a conversation about increasing the levels of vitamin M in a little boy. “Sometimes I think there is not enough movement in the world for him,” his mother cracked.
The difference between these two children and Colin, discussed in the previous vitamin M blog is in the type of movement. For Colin, it was direct heavy exercise while in Kirk and this young boy it was machinery moving them. While the child moving himself is generally preferable, the intense movement of a roller coaster is very stimulating to the nervous system and can also do the trick. The key is finding a way to get lots of movement into everyday life.
“About what?” I queried.
“You know,” she continued. “About movement and speech. Remember that story you told me?”
I did. It was currently my favorite story about movement involving a 5-year-old boy on the autism spectrum. I will call him, Kirk. Kirk hopped from one thing to the next with limited attention or engagement. His language consisted of demands and basic observations with little conversation. If you work with or have a child with autism, you may know about the concept of closing circles of communication. Basically, you say something, the child acknowledges your opening and responds with something related to what you said and sends the conversation back to you. That is one circle.
The late Dr. Stanley Greenspan stressed the importance of closing circles of communication and developed many techniques to help improve conversational skills. The child needs to be interested enough in another person to engage and then respond appropriately to unexpected conversational gambits. An autistic conversation is more like a political debate on TV when one question is asked and another is answered. This “conversation” tends to be one-sided. Something like this:
“What did you do at school today?”
“Thomas”
“Oh, you played with Thomas?”
“No, want to play with Thomas.”
“You want to play with Thomas the tank engine. Okay, but did you have music today?
“Eat cookies.”
Etcetera.
Kirk communicated at this level with much prompting and redirection needed to have any level of conversation. The parents and speech therapist were working hard to improve the quality and complexity of the interactions. I explained to the mother that the language centers were right next to the movement centers. Parents so often concentrate directly on speech rather than working on motor skills and/or sensory function. When language is not improving, improving sensory and motor function can create a neurological foundation for better speech. It is the reason children usually walk before they talk and why boys, in particular, use movement to help them think straight.
With this little developmental tidbit in mind, the Kirk’s family headed off to Disney World. It had been a tough year and the parents decided for one day to allow Kirk to do whatever he wanted. What Kirk wanted was to go on the Disney equivalent of the roller coaster “20 times”. So, they let him.
At the end of the day, Kirk was communicating better than he ever had. He was answering questions and initiating more conversation. His parents were so excited but did not know how to sustain the gains.
Since they did not have room for a roller coaster in their living room and they could not move to Disney World, the question was what to do to get Kirk’s level of movement and sensory input way up. We talked about using Wii fit and checking in with their occupational therapist about what equipment could be installed and used at home. This was the story I told Ellen.
Ellen took her son with speech delays to a local amusement park and used the same strategy with similar results. “You should have heard him talk,” she reported. “It was unbelievable”.
Once again, I had a conversation about increasing the levels of vitamin M in a little boy. “Sometimes I think there is not enough movement in the world for him,” his mother cracked.
The difference between these two children and Colin, discussed in the previous vitamin M blog is in the type of movement. For Colin, it was direct heavy exercise while in Kirk and this young boy it was machinery moving them. While the child moving himself is generally preferable, the intense movement of a roller coaster is very stimulating to the nervous system and can also do the trick. The key is finding a way to get lots of movement into everyday life.
Monday, October 25, 2010
One afternoon at the conference (#15)
Recently, I was at a large medical conference. After my talk, I thought I would sit in on an open discussion of a case being presented by a well known doctor. When I arrived there were about 40 other physicians/practitioners as well as the mother of the child, whose history was laid out in front of us. She sat calm and poised on the platform next to the doctor.
The mother and doctor went back and forth filling in the details of her son’s history. The blood and other medical test results were flashed on to a large screen and the presentation was going as these things generally do.
Somebody asked a question which I did not hear. The mother responded that the most important factor in a successful patient-doctor relationship was utter and complete confidence in the doctor, which she had. Many of the attendees nodded their heads in solemn agreement but this type of comment to me, usually means bad things are a comin’.
I am all for complete confidence in the medical professional one works with but draw the line at utter. In any relationship, there has to be one finger of yourself left to raise questions and consider other possibilities in case the practitioner is human and prone to mistakes or has a few gigantic blind spots, like everyone in the world. “Don’t give all your power away,” I wanted to shout. “Retain your right to question authority.” Alas, it was too late. Not only had she given all of her power away, most of the practitioners in the room seemed only too happy to take it.
Yet, she seemed peaceful and satisfied with her care and she had a right to her own views so I got off my little mental soapbox and decided to get what information I could from the session. With all of these highly educated people in the room, there should be some good clinical pearls, I reasoned optimistically.
The doctor finished showing the blood tests and explained what he had done in response and a lively back and forth with the audience ensued. Most of comments were started with, “I spent 20 years as head researcher on this topic….” or “I used to be clinical director of….” These were followed by an observation or advice wrapped in a question. “In the hundreds of similar cases I have seen,” went one, “I found such and such worked best. Why didn’t you use that?”
The presenter took these Monday morning quarterbacking comments equitably, explaining his thinking about this or throwing questions back to the audience when an unfamiliar concept was broached. The audience jumped on these like bears at a salmon convention. And they were so smart. Obscure and fascinating research was quoted. The usual wind up for these tidbits was,” You are no doubt familiar with Dopplehoffer’s seminal work on blah, blah, blah.” I wasn’t! I furiously took notes.
As the presentation went along, I waited to hear what the doctor did to figure out what type of infection this child had. There was a significant infection marker in the blood work that he had skipped but surely would come up in his treatment protocol. It did not. I tentatively raised my hand and asked. He looked at me blankly. “Nothing,” he said and moved on to the next comment.
I eyed the audience suspiciously and stopped writing. This could not be good. Why aren’t these doctors concerned about a possible infection? Instead, he highlighted a low iron level which he explained needed to be corrected. Many heads nodded in agreement once again and there was a brisk discussion about how everyone is afraid of iron but how important it is. One former clinical director claimed he even prescribed iron injections. The consensus was, iron: excellent choice.
MayDay! MayDay! Iron goes low when there is an infection. The body has a protein called lactoferrin that eats it up so the bacteria don’t get it because bacteria need iron to thrive. The case went straight downhill from there. A secondary gastrointestinal infection was uncovered which was treated with antibiotics. Iron stops antibiotics from working so I was not surprised to hear that the child had the same recurring GI infection. The doctor treated the problem with antibiotics but sighed with frustration when reporting it just was not going away.
Here I thought I was in an educational seminar but I had forgotten about how myopic the culture of medicine can be. Everyone was more interested in quoting medical literature and looking brilliant than considering new perspectives or asking real questions. I tried to raise a few delicate points without being insulting but nobody was listening.
Afterwards, I realized my failure was in being polite and not coldly explaining the forgotten basic principles of infections and iron. I was not speaking their language. The most important criteria for being heard is thrusting forth with unassailable confidence. “To anyone familiar, as I am sure you all are, with the studies by Smurf that found that iron deactivates antibiotics,” is what I should have said. I have done this many times one on one with other medical professionals to help clients. The trouble is that Smurf did not do those studies and I would have to look up who did in order to posture effectively. And though I can be an intellectual bully when arguing for proper patient care, it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
When I left, I was downtrodden. Intellectual arrogance and jockeying is usually bad for patient care. That poor kid. He has some kind of primary infection nobody is looking for, he is being treated for a secondary infection with antibiotics which might even accidentally help the primary infection but are being deactivated by supplemental iron and everybody just thinks this is an unusually tough case.
I took a breath. There are many ways to do things and mine may not be the only or dare I say, the best. I should take my own advice to question my own thinking. Iron is an important nutrient so perhaps I am not using it effectively and often enough. Perhaps this child will get better because of other unknown factors. Maybe the mother’s unquestioning faith in her doctor will overcome the biochemical factors. Question everything, I told myself. Try not to be attached to what you think you know.
The truth is the price for good health care is eternal vigilance. Ask more questions if the advice you are getting does not feel right. Get a second or third opinion. Like your doctor or nutritionist but do not adore them unconditionally because they are human and therefore, will screw up sometimes.
But don’t take my word for it.
The mother and doctor went back and forth filling in the details of her son’s history. The blood and other medical test results were flashed on to a large screen and the presentation was going as these things generally do.
Somebody asked a question which I did not hear. The mother responded that the most important factor in a successful patient-doctor relationship was utter and complete confidence in the doctor, which she had. Many of the attendees nodded their heads in solemn agreement but this type of comment to me, usually means bad things are a comin’.
I am all for complete confidence in the medical professional one works with but draw the line at utter. In any relationship, there has to be one finger of yourself left to raise questions and consider other possibilities in case the practitioner is human and prone to mistakes or has a few gigantic blind spots, like everyone in the world. “Don’t give all your power away,” I wanted to shout. “Retain your right to question authority.” Alas, it was too late. Not only had she given all of her power away, most of the practitioners in the room seemed only too happy to take it.
Yet, she seemed peaceful and satisfied with her care and she had a right to her own views so I got off my little mental soapbox and decided to get what information I could from the session. With all of these highly educated people in the room, there should be some good clinical pearls, I reasoned optimistically.
The doctor finished showing the blood tests and explained what he had done in response and a lively back and forth with the audience ensued. Most of comments were started with, “I spent 20 years as head researcher on this topic….” or “I used to be clinical director of….” These were followed by an observation or advice wrapped in a question. “In the hundreds of similar cases I have seen,” went one, “I found such and such worked best. Why didn’t you use that?”
The presenter took these Monday morning quarterbacking comments equitably, explaining his thinking about this or throwing questions back to the audience when an unfamiliar concept was broached. The audience jumped on these like bears at a salmon convention. And they were so smart. Obscure and fascinating research was quoted. The usual wind up for these tidbits was,” You are no doubt familiar with Dopplehoffer’s seminal work on blah, blah, blah.” I wasn’t! I furiously took notes.
As the presentation went along, I waited to hear what the doctor did to figure out what type of infection this child had. There was a significant infection marker in the blood work that he had skipped but surely would come up in his treatment protocol. It did not. I tentatively raised my hand and asked. He looked at me blankly. “Nothing,” he said and moved on to the next comment.
I eyed the audience suspiciously and stopped writing. This could not be good. Why aren’t these doctors concerned about a possible infection? Instead, he highlighted a low iron level which he explained needed to be corrected. Many heads nodded in agreement once again and there was a brisk discussion about how everyone is afraid of iron but how important it is. One former clinical director claimed he even prescribed iron injections. The consensus was, iron: excellent choice.
MayDay! MayDay! Iron goes low when there is an infection. The body has a protein called lactoferrin that eats it up so the bacteria don’t get it because bacteria need iron to thrive. The case went straight downhill from there. A secondary gastrointestinal infection was uncovered which was treated with antibiotics. Iron stops antibiotics from working so I was not surprised to hear that the child had the same recurring GI infection. The doctor treated the problem with antibiotics but sighed with frustration when reporting it just was not going away.
Here I thought I was in an educational seminar but I had forgotten about how myopic the culture of medicine can be. Everyone was more interested in quoting medical literature and looking brilliant than considering new perspectives or asking real questions. I tried to raise a few delicate points without being insulting but nobody was listening.
Afterwards, I realized my failure was in being polite and not coldly explaining the forgotten basic principles of infections and iron. I was not speaking their language. The most important criteria for being heard is thrusting forth with unassailable confidence. “To anyone familiar, as I am sure you all are, with the studies by Smurf that found that iron deactivates antibiotics,” is what I should have said. I have done this many times one on one with other medical professionals to help clients. The trouble is that Smurf did not do those studies and I would have to look up who did in order to posture effectively. And though I can be an intellectual bully when arguing for proper patient care, it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
When I left, I was downtrodden. Intellectual arrogance and jockeying is usually bad for patient care. That poor kid. He has some kind of primary infection nobody is looking for, he is being treated for a secondary infection with antibiotics which might even accidentally help the primary infection but are being deactivated by supplemental iron and everybody just thinks this is an unusually tough case.
I took a breath. There are many ways to do things and mine may not be the only or dare I say, the best. I should take my own advice to question my own thinking. Iron is an important nutrient so perhaps I am not using it effectively and often enough. Perhaps this child will get better because of other unknown factors. Maybe the mother’s unquestioning faith in her doctor will overcome the biochemical factors. Question everything, I told myself. Try not to be attached to what you think you know.
The truth is the price for good health care is eternal vigilance. Ask more questions if the advice you are getting does not feel right. Get a second or third opinion. Like your doctor or nutritionist but do not adore them unconditionally because they are human and therefore, will screw up sometimes.
But don’t take my word for it.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Blog #14 Coming soon to a store new you
A good detective keeps up to date with what’s new in her field and to that end every year my husband and I spend a day at the Natural Products Expo. This is an enormous natural foods convention where new products are trotted out and old standards search for new vendors. The fun part is getting to taste everything.
Through the years we have noticed the health food industry, like everything else is subject to trends. One year there was a whole aisle of soy enhanced foods including soy meats, drinks and puddings. Another time it was the year of the obscure berries and exotic fruit like acai, goji berries and mangosteen. Goji berries tasted like red lint no matter what they mix with them including chocolate. But we try everything.
Once we ran into our friend, Enrique, who works for the FDA. Last we had heard he was hot on the trail of a dangerous man parts enhancer that was heavily advertised on the internet. “You should see what happens to the poor slubs when this goes wrong,” he confided, shuttering. The whole project was depressing him. We were glad to see him out doing some fun field work but though we love Enrique, we could not bring ourselves to invite him to walk around with us.
“Being with you is like wearing a “cooties” badge,” I apologized lamely. “Nobody will tell us anything interesting when they see you are from the FDA.” He understood and was not offended. To make amends, we told him where all the good organic ice cream samples were.
This year was all about gluten free foods. Coming to a store near you soon is gluten free….everything. The best was a line of naturally gluten free frozen soups by Kettle Cuisine. Their yet-to-be released Thai chicken with a coconut milk base was particularly yummy. The cookies and cakes on the other hand were consistently too sweet. After trying a half dozen, I could not stomach them any more. For gluten free treats stick to chocolate, ice cream, macaroons or Pamela’s cookies is my advice.
As for new cool discoveries, my husband’s favorite was a naturally fermented “soda”. Technically, it was a type of water kefir made with probiotics. They make it using a process similar to the one used to make kombucha. It is sweeter than kombucha however and only has 40 calories. His favorite flavor was tarragon. Check out: www.eatcavemanfood.com.
My fun new find was Sea Buckthorn. It only grows in the harshest environments like salty marshes and the Himalayas. To survive these inhospitable environments the plant has developed some unique bio-defense mechanisms. These chemical mechanisms are often anti-oxidants and nutrients to the plant consumer.
“Sea Buckthorn is the world’s only source of essential omega 7 fatty acids,” the enthusiastic sales rep informed me.
“I was not aware that omega 7 fats were essential,’” I replied.
“Oh, they are for the skin,” he assured me. “In fact, my girlfriend complains my skin is too soft because I work with them so much.”
“That seems like an unusual complaint,” I retorted eyeing him suspiciously. “Let me see your hands.”
His hands were spookily soft for a man; it was like touching Gumby. “Very impressive,” I commented. “What else is it good for?”
“Acne,” he said with confidence. “Clears it right up.”
Luckily, Enrique was not here to witness such a claim but I wanted to know more. “I wonder how it works,” I mused while trying to read the bottle. “You know omega 7 fats have to be made from something else, so are they long chain polyunsaturated fats?” I asked.
He looked at me blankly and then recovered. “I am not sure but they are essential.”
No, they are not, I explained. There are two essential fats and omega 7 is not one of them. Every other fat is made from these two though it is sometimes useful to get non-essential long chain fats like DHA and EPA directly. Now, he was stepping back from me.
“Think about it,” I challenged, “how could this fat for which there is only one direct food source in the world, be essential? Ninety nine point nine percent of the people in the world would not have access to it. The question is, what is the structure of it and why is this form particularly good for the skin?”
“You need to talk to Dr. Liu,” he decided and scribbled a name and number on a card. In the meantime, I ordered a few bottles. I thought about someone who might be willing to be a guinea pig to test it out.
But all this talk about chemistry was making me hungry. “Look,” called my husband, “I found some high antioxidant chocolate.” Now that sounded essential.
Through the years we have noticed the health food industry, like everything else is subject to trends. One year there was a whole aisle of soy enhanced foods including soy meats, drinks and puddings. Another time it was the year of the obscure berries and exotic fruit like acai, goji berries and mangosteen. Goji berries tasted like red lint no matter what they mix with them including chocolate. But we try everything.
Once we ran into our friend, Enrique, who works for the FDA. Last we had heard he was hot on the trail of a dangerous man parts enhancer that was heavily advertised on the internet. “You should see what happens to the poor slubs when this goes wrong,” he confided, shuttering. The whole project was depressing him. We were glad to see him out doing some fun field work but though we love Enrique, we could not bring ourselves to invite him to walk around with us.
“Being with you is like wearing a “cooties” badge,” I apologized lamely. “Nobody will tell us anything interesting when they see you are from the FDA.” He understood and was not offended. To make amends, we told him where all the good organic ice cream samples were.
This year was all about gluten free foods. Coming to a store near you soon is gluten free….everything. The best was a line of naturally gluten free frozen soups by Kettle Cuisine. Their yet-to-be released Thai chicken with a coconut milk base was particularly yummy. The cookies and cakes on the other hand were consistently too sweet. After trying a half dozen, I could not stomach them any more. For gluten free treats stick to chocolate, ice cream, macaroons or Pamela’s cookies is my advice.
As for new cool discoveries, my husband’s favorite was a naturally fermented “soda”. Technically, it was a type of water kefir made with probiotics. They make it using a process similar to the one used to make kombucha. It is sweeter than kombucha however and only has 40 calories. His favorite flavor was tarragon. Check out: www.eatcavemanfood.com.
My fun new find was Sea Buckthorn. It only grows in the harshest environments like salty marshes and the Himalayas. To survive these inhospitable environments the plant has developed some unique bio-defense mechanisms. These chemical mechanisms are often anti-oxidants and nutrients to the plant consumer.
“Sea Buckthorn is the world’s only source of essential omega 7 fatty acids,” the enthusiastic sales rep informed me.
“I was not aware that omega 7 fats were essential,’” I replied.
“Oh, they are for the skin,” he assured me. “In fact, my girlfriend complains my skin is too soft because I work with them so much.”
“That seems like an unusual complaint,” I retorted eyeing him suspiciously. “Let me see your hands.”
His hands were spookily soft for a man; it was like touching Gumby. “Very impressive,” I commented. “What else is it good for?”
“Acne,” he said with confidence. “Clears it right up.”
Luckily, Enrique was not here to witness such a claim but I wanted to know more. “I wonder how it works,” I mused while trying to read the bottle. “You know omega 7 fats have to be made from something else, so are they long chain polyunsaturated fats?” I asked.
He looked at me blankly and then recovered. “I am not sure but they are essential.”
No, they are not, I explained. There are two essential fats and omega 7 is not one of them. Every other fat is made from these two though it is sometimes useful to get non-essential long chain fats like DHA and EPA directly. Now, he was stepping back from me.
“Think about it,” I challenged, “how could this fat for which there is only one direct food source in the world, be essential? Ninety nine point nine percent of the people in the world would not have access to it. The question is, what is the structure of it and why is this form particularly good for the skin?”
“You need to talk to Dr. Liu,” he decided and scribbled a name and number on a card. In the meantime, I ordered a few bottles. I thought about someone who might be willing to be a guinea pig to test it out.
But all this talk about chemistry was making me hungry. “Look,” called my husband, “I found some high antioxidant chocolate.” Now that sounded essential.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
About the book.....
Dear Rosa Maria....
Thank you for asking about the book. "What's Eating Your Child? The Hidden Connections Between Food and Your Child’s Well-Being — and What Every Parent Can Do," is deep in the process of editing which takes a long, long time. In fact, it feels like I produced three children in less time. The good news is that this paperback baby is expected from Workman Press in April 2011. Hopefully, Jim Carey will be between movies and will be available to star in the movie version. Just kidding. I want Diane Lane.
Thank you for asking about the book. "What's Eating Your Child? The Hidden Connections Between Food and Your Child’s Well-Being — and What Every Parent Can Do," is deep in the process of editing which takes a long, long time. In fact, it feels like I produced three children in less time. The good news is that this paperback baby is expected from Workman Press in April 2011. Hopefully, Jim Carey will be between movies and will be available to star in the movie version. Just kidding. I want Diane Lane.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Blog #13 Vitamin M
Julia dropped by to discuss her son, Colin. I had seen him many years ago but now he was attending a famous military college that starts with “The”. I will call it, “The Academy” though it is not really THE Academy but a different equally famous The something. Anyway, she was worried because Colin was diagnosed with ADHD and she wanted him to be successful at The Academy. Colin had discovered the reported wonders of Ritalin by scoring it from some buddies and believed he was not nearly as focused without it. The Academy, like all military institutions, did not allow its cadets to take stimulants, prescription or otherwise. In fact, they randomly and frequently drug test the students.
I love this place! I wish all universities did the same thing though for all I know one of my own children might have been kicked out which such a policy. I have talked to many college students and most of them have admitted to me (usually without their parents) that they have tried stimulants for studying and/or test taking. They are the most abused drugs on college campuses. The military thinking is you cannot have a soldier running out of medicine while under fire somewhere, especially a narcotic. (Technically, stimulants are narcotics.) Who knows who you would be dealing with? They certainly do not want to find out.
Colin had survived freshman year with a “B” average. It was rough physically with many hours of intense physical training every day plus academics. There was little we could do about his diet. He had to eat at the dining hall and he was already making good choices eating salads and vegetables whenever they did not look too soggy.. And, he was doing the best he had ever done academically I think I know why.
He was getting a gigantic dose of vitamin M: Movement. For a certain type of attention issue, the best strategy in the entire world is loading up with vitamin M. Colin was getting 4 or 5 hours a day of motion and physical activity. The Academy was doing for him what no other university and a fistful of medication would ever match.
The movement centers are right next to the language centers in the brain. All that running around was organizing Colin’s thinking and putting his frenetic energy to productive use. His mother admitted he was calm and happy. The biggest problem was he was comparing his present performance to how he felt taking stimulants. The stimulants gave him a false sense of confidence because his thinking was so remarkably sharp. What can I say? This is why people like cocaine and stimulants are similar.
I assured Colin’s mom he was thriving and that the magic of vitamin M would keep him in balance. I also explained the concept of neurodiversity. That is, there is a wide range of ways that brains function and process and there was not anything particularly wrong with Colin’s. I call people like Colin who have been diagnosed with ADHD, Warriors. Until recently, Warriors were highly prized in society. They were the knights and warriors you called (and paid) when the village needed to be cleared of marauders. They were athletic types who had no trouble riding their horses all day and were what we would now call, “risk takers”. They would shoot first and ask questions later. It makes you wonder if Clint Eastwoods’s Dirty Harry would be classified as ADHD if he had to get through the police academy today. You can imagine the report. “Has trouble following directions. Cannot sit still. Tends to shoot first and ask questions later suggesting impulsive tendencies. “
Today, the valued jobs go to people with brains that can concentrate for long periods of time while sitting at a desk. The physical warrior has been replaced with the computer warrior. Not a better brain, just a different, presently in more style brain. (For more on this fascinating subject see one of Thom Hartmann’s 8 books on neurodiversity at www.neurodiversity.com )
Along with many assurances, I suggested some nutrients that help with cognition and would not trip any drug tests…..just for insurance. Besides, it can never hurt to be a little smarter. But this is not all vitamin M can do……(To be continued.)
I love this place! I wish all universities did the same thing though for all I know one of my own children might have been kicked out which such a policy. I have talked to many college students and most of them have admitted to me (usually without their parents) that they have tried stimulants for studying and/or test taking. They are the most abused drugs on college campuses. The military thinking is you cannot have a soldier running out of medicine while under fire somewhere, especially a narcotic. (Technically, stimulants are narcotics.) Who knows who you would be dealing with? They certainly do not want to find out.
Colin had survived freshman year with a “B” average. It was rough physically with many hours of intense physical training every day plus academics. There was little we could do about his diet. He had to eat at the dining hall and he was already making good choices eating salads and vegetables whenever they did not look too soggy.. And, he was doing the best he had ever done academically I think I know why.
He was getting a gigantic dose of vitamin M: Movement. For a certain type of attention issue, the best strategy in the entire world is loading up with vitamin M. Colin was getting 4 or 5 hours a day of motion and physical activity. The Academy was doing for him what no other university and a fistful of medication would ever match.
The movement centers are right next to the language centers in the brain. All that running around was organizing Colin’s thinking and putting his frenetic energy to productive use. His mother admitted he was calm and happy. The biggest problem was he was comparing his present performance to how he felt taking stimulants. The stimulants gave him a false sense of confidence because his thinking was so remarkably sharp. What can I say? This is why people like cocaine and stimulants are similar.
I assured Colin’s mom he was thriving and that the magic of vitamin M would keep him in balance. I also explained the concept of neurodiversity. That is, there is a wide range of ways that brains function and process and there was not anything particularly wrong with Colin’s. I call people like Colin who have been diagnosed with ADHD, Warriors. Until recently, Warriors were highly prized in society. They were the knights and warriors you called (and paid) when the village needed to be cleared of marauders. They were athletic types who had no trouble riding their horses all day and were what we would now call, “risk takers”. They would shoot first and ask questions later. It makes you wonder if Clint Eastwoods’s Dirty Harry would be classified as ADHD if he had to get through the police academy today. You can imagine the report. “Has trouble following directions. Cannot sit still. Tends to shoot first and ask questions later suggesting impulsive tendencies. “
Today, the valued jobs go to people with brains that can concentrate for long periods of time while sitting at a desk. The physical warrior has been replaced with the computer warrior. Not a better brain, just a different, presently in more style brain. (For more on this fascinating subject see one of Thom Hartmann’s 8 books on neurodiversity at www.neurodiversity.com )
Along with many assurances, I suggested some nutrients that help with cognition and would not trip any drug tests…..just for insurance. Besides, it can never hurt to be a little smarter. But this is not all vitamin M can do……(To be continued.)
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