Читать книгу What Really Works: The Insider’s Guide to Complementary Health - Susan Clark - Страница 12
ОглавлениеAn A–Z of 80 Ailments and their Treatment
Introduction
When seeking natural and complementary health remedies, you are going to be investigating three main areas – nutrition, herbalism and homeopathy. Often, a holistic practitioner, especially a naturopath who treats illness without resorting to conventional drugs, will prescribe a combination of all three. It helps before you begin to take some of the reponsibility for your everyday health into your own hands, to know some of the basic tools and the reasons you are likely to benefit from the following remedies.
Nutrition – Why Take Supplements?
In a perfect world we would not need to take dietary supplements, but with food production and processing techniques that strip so many natural nutrients from the raw ingredients, we need to supplement our dietary intake to come even close to getting optimum levels of these important vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Self-diagnosing for everyday ailments can be helpful in the short term, but if the problem persists, and for more serious conditions, it is always best to seek advice from a qualified nutritionist or naturopath. A simple biochemical sweat test or hair analysis will reveal exactly which minerals and vitamins your body is lacking, a good practitioner will prescribe the exact amount you need to take. One big problem with the Do-It-Yourself approach is that these substances can work with and against each other, and so levels of one nutrient can affect levels of another in the body. This is what nutritionists call synergy. If you take a calcium supplement, for example, for protection against osteoporosis in later life, you also need to take magnesium.
I cannot understand why there is still any debate over whether supplementing a diet is helpful. My preference is to try the path of what I call ‘True Nutrition’ first, where you rely on natural foods to try and remedy the problem, but there can be no question there is an important place for supplements in holistic healthcare.
One of the counter-arguments is that there is no scientific research to support the growing use of vitamin and mineral tablets. This is not true. The research is out there but it is often fragmented, which means you just have to look harder for it. It is true there is not the same volume of research as for allopathic medicine. One reason for this is that companies which make and sell natural products cannot by law patent the active (natural) ingredient. This acts as a disincentive, since a small company could practically bankrupt itself funding clinical trials, but would then have no way of preventing other companies from jumping on the bandwagon and using that research material to make the same product but sell it cheaper, since it has incurred no research costs. This is an ongoing problem in complementary health, but with the recent explosion of interest in the field I am sure this will change and that, hopefully, companies will themselves adopt a more co-operative approach in the 21st century.
There is also no question that solid scientific research is effectively ‘sat on’ for years before reaching the public. Take the case of folic acid (vitamin B9) and it’s proven role in preventing Spina Bifida and other neural tube defects in the foetus. The discovery that taking 400mcg of folic acid per day could reduce the incidence of this distressing condition by 80% is now cited as one of the greatest breakthroughs in 20th-century medicine. Yet, according to the authors of The Natural Pharmacy (one of my most well-thumbed health bibles), an astonishing 30 years passed between the time researchers first reported this breakthrough and doctors routinely passing the information on to their pregnant patients. The same is true of another discovery which could and should help reduce the risk of the Western world’s number 1 killer – heart disease.
Homocysteine is a normal byproduct of the metabolism of protein, but high levels in the blood have been shown to be 40 times more accurate as an indicator of the risk of heart disease than cholesterol. When levels are elevated, it rapidly damages the arteries and causes an immediate build-up of artherosclerotic plaque – the main trigger for both heart attacks and stroke.
This link was first discovered by a Harvard scientist called Dr Kilmer McCully, who was investigating the cases of several infants and young children who had mysteriously died of advanced heart disease. His research, which won him no friends at the time, was first published 30 years ago. However, for political and probably financial reasons, his findings were ignored and McCully was forced to leave Harvard.
Perhaps the major sources of funding for heart disease research were only interested in those projects investigating the link between cholesterol and heart disease. This is bizarre, though, not least because 80% of all fatal heart attacks occur in men who do not have high cholesterol levels. A cynic might suggest the reason this information was suppressed was because commercially, there was less money to be made from a safe and natural supplement than from pharmaceuticals or cholesterol-free and cholesterol-lowering foods. The good news is that this injustice has recently been exposed in the US, where homocysteine research is finally getting the attention and funding it deserves. Sadly, we have yet to see the same trend in the UK.
You can, by the way, ask your doctor to test your homocysteine levels. If they are too high, you need to supplement your diet with vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid.
Herbalism – How to Use Herbs
The fastest way to get the standardised, active ingredient of a herb into the bloodstream is by taking it in tincture form. This is always my preferred method when I am in a rush and don’t have the time to grind, pulp or infuse fresh herbs.
You can also buy herbs and herbal combinations in tablet, capsule, powdered and dried form.
Organic Tincture Organic tinctures are now readily available in many health stores and by mail order (see Resources). Each herb will have instructions for how much to take and when on the label, so keep a supply in the cupboard for when you need them.
Infusion This is the method herbalists use when they need to extract water-soluble ingredients from the less dense parts of the plant such as the leaves, stems and flowers. You can also use it with the roots and fruits if these have been chopped finely enough.
What to Do: Pour 500ml of off-the-boil water on to 30g of the finely cut herb in a container with a tight-fitting lid. This coverage means that volatile substances which might otherwise evaporate are retained. Leave the solution for 10-15 minutes to infuse. Strain the liquid and allow to cool to body temperature. The usual dose is one cup of infused liquid taken three times a day, before meals.
Poultice This simply describes the technique where the fresh plant is bruised or crushed to a pulp which is then mixed with a moistening material, ready to apply directly to the area where it is needed. You can mix the dried herbs with a little hot water or use a host paste such as flour, bran or corn meal.
What to Do: To make a poultice paste, mix 60g of dried herb or herbs with 500ml of loose paste. Sandwich this paste between layers of sterile, thin cloth or gauze and apply to the wound or affected area.
Compress If you have ever placed a warm facecloth over tired eyes, then you have already used this technique.
What to Do: Soak a clean towel or sterile cloth in a hot or cold herbal infusion or decoction. Wring it out and place gently over the affected area. Repeat several times. If you are in a rush, you can use this same technique with water in which you have dissolved a few drops of your favourite essential oil.
Decoction The harder parts of plants, especially the bark, seeds, roots and rhizomes, only release their active ingredients after a more prolonged hot-water treatment.
What to Do: Soak 30g of your chosen herb in 500ml of cold water for 10 minutes. Pour this mixture into a saucepan, cover and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10–15 minutes. Remove from the heat, keep covered and allow the liquid to sit and cool for another 15 minutes. Strain and drink as a tea, in the same way as an infusion.
Homoeopathy
The principle underpinning homeopathy is that you use like to treat like. Thus, for the streaming eyes and running nose of hayfever, you take a remedy made up of the pollen of mixed grasses – the very cause of your misery. Technically, homoeopathy does not count as a natural remedy since the tiny homoeopathic pillules you will take have been synthetically manufactured, not harvested from nature, but the underlying principle of treating the whole person and the cause of an illness, not just the symptoms, brings the subject comfortably under the umbrella of complementary health.
In fact, homoeopathy can really come into it’s own as a truly complementary practice. For example, the first time I visited India, I decided to have the conventional anti-malarial treatments since I was a first-time visitor to this part of the world and because an earlier health problem had left my immune system under par. I was planning to travel in rural areas and did not think my immune system would withstand a malarial infection, so I took the allopathic pills but then supported my system with a tailor-made homoeopathic remedy to keep me well.
I rarely, in my columns, recommend more than the very basic homoeopathic remedies for more than the very elementary of illnesses. It can take up to seven years to qualify as a skilled homoeopath (as long as the training for many doctors) which is, to my mind, convincing evidence that this is not something you can pick up over a weekend course. A qualified homoeopath will, for example, take a detailed medical history at your first visit and prescribe according to what is known as your constitutional type.
Each homoeopath will have his or her own intuitive way of working, too. Mine, for instance, will decide on a treatment plan only after determining how the patient reacts to specific types of pain, as well as other factors. Hers is a very precise art, combining clinical training, experience and intuition. Your practitioner will decide on what is called a constitutional remedy. Mine is Gelsemium – and I am given this, along with other remedies, regardless of my specific complaint.
My feeling with homoeopathy is that if you can afford a qualified practitioner, then have a constitutional diagnosis and take advice for more serious conditions. For everyday problems, such as bruising or travel sickness, homeopathic pills and creams can be highly effective, so it is worth keeping these in your holistic medical kit as useful standbys.
In homoeopathy, the potency of the active ingredient of any remedy is so diluted that not only can it cause no harm, sceptics will argue that it can’t possibly do any good either. New research is beginning to suggest the answer may lie in the fact that the human body itself is a natural homoeopathic machine.
Thanks to ongoing UK-based research, where homoeopaths have been investigating the ability of water to record a signal, it is now being suggested that homoeopathy works according to an even deeper principle than that of treating like with like. What is actually going on is something 21st-century healers call Bio-Resonance.
Bio-Resonance is a natural phenomenon and is what happens when, for example, you hit a tuning fork that has been pre-tuned to resonate at a particular frequency. It will only resonate at this frequency, regardless of how hard you hit it. What you will also notice is that anything else in the room which resonates naturally at the same frequency as the fork will also start vibrating. To the human ear, this will sound like a humming noise.
The idea, in health, is to think of normal resonance as being like a melody which illness or an infection shifts to a different key. When, for example, you have a sore throat you not only have the physical pain and symptoms, you are also conscious that you have a sore throat and, therefore, have become aware that you are ill. So, even with a seemingly trivial complaint, both the mind and the body are affected. What this means is that instead of just one particular resonance being out of kilter, the whole body has been disturbed. It then follows, if you accept this thinking, that if you are ill you will need a treatment (or, to follow the musical analogy, a series of tuning forks) which by resonating with your sick state will restore your original harmony.
Good health is maintained by this restored, natural vibration; when we lose it, through stress or shock, we are then vulnerable again to illness. Homoeopathy, it is suggested, mimics what actually happens in the body where vital organs, such as the beating heart, act as the tuning forks which impart that natural vibration or frequency to the body fluids. ‘What we believe is that the signal or what we call the memory effect of resonance is recorded or held in the fluid of the body.’ explains Tony Pinkus, the UK’s leading homoeopathic pharmacist and director of Ainsworths, which is carrying out the new research. ‘The implication is that the body is a natural homeopathic machine and this could very well be the long-awaited explanation of how homoeopathy actually works.’
Acne
Adult acne is not only a fact of life, it is on the increase. There are now 12 different types of acne affecting some 3% of the UK population. Contrary to popular belief, it is not caused by junk diets or poor hygiene but by a hormonal imbalance, the skin’s reaction to this upset and a bacterium called Propionibacterium acne, which has become increasingly resistant to the antibiotics and other creams that are the conventional treatment route.
The dilemma for all acne sufferers is whether to go ahead and take the prescription drugs which, in many cases, can bring a dramatic improvement to the condition of their skin in the short term, or put up with the psychological trauma of bad skin while tackling the problem from the inside out. Roaccutane, for example, will indeed suppress your acne, but, for many, at a price.
You have probably read newspaper reports linking Roaccutance with depression and suicide in younger users. It works by shutting down oil production in the sebaceous glands, but it’s side-effects can include dry, cracked lips, nose bleeds, eye irritation, muscular aches and pains, hair loss, nail brittleness, high blood sugar levels and increased sensitivity of the skin to light. Roaccutane may also alter liver function and harm the unborn foetus if given to a pregnant woman.
If you are given antibiotics and you take them for a prolonged period of time, there is a risk you will, inadvertently, exacerbate the very condition you are taking them to treat. This is because antibiotics can also damage the lining of the gut. In one study, for example, tests showed 50% of those with a severe acne problem also had higher levels of toxins in their bloodstream. What this suggests is what the holistic skin specialists have been arguing for some time – that treating acne has to start from the inside. To replenish the microflora wiped out by the prolonged use of antibiotics, for example, take a probiotic supplement and eat bananas, which act as natural probiotics.
Teenage boys suffer spots and acne because of a surge in the male hormone, testosterone. In adults of both sexes, the same condition has been linked to the abnormally high levels of an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. Enzymes are the catalysts which trigger the body’s chemical reactions. What this one does, unhelpfully, is convert testosterone to a more potent form called dihydrotestosterone, and it is this substance, which is now believed to play the key role in causing the condition.
As well as a hormonal imbalance, researchers have also identified an inability among sufferers to digest saturated fats. This means that eliminating dairy products and all animal fats, especially red meats, should help manage the symptoms. Both tofu and soya are phytoestrogens – substances which can help naturally rebalance the hormones in both sexes – and so eating these foods at least three times a week can help. Sufferers should also avoid yeast and white sugar. Women who develop acne-like outbreaks in their later 20s and 30s may also be suffering from a hidden condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (see page 203).
A calcium-rich diet has been found to help reduce the severity of an acne infection. While the obvious source is milk, if the lining of the gut is damaged, acne sufferers are likely to be intolerant to and unable to digest lactose (the sugar in milk), making green leafy vegetables, broccoli, tofu and shellfish better natural sources.
Vitamin A helps maintain all the surfaces of the body, inside and out. Good dietary sources include all yellow fruits and vegetables, unpolluted fish oils, and, of course, carrots. Zinc, which helps boost the immune system and which enhances the absorption of vitamin A, is lost in food processing or simply missing from non-organic food harvested from nutrient-stripped soil. Excessive sweating also depletes the body’s zinc resources, causing the loss of up to 3mg a day. Foods that are rich in this mineral include shellfish, pecans, turkey and wheatgerm, so include plenty of these in your diet.
Foods for Acne
Eat calcium-rich green leafy vegetables and organic dairy products unless you are intolerant. Include broccoli, tofu and shellfish in your diet. Add rich sources of zinc, including wheat germ, peanuts, pecans, turkey and, if you’re feeling flush, oysters. Eat bananas to help repopulate the gut with good bacteria that help flush out toxins. Avoid tea, coffee, alcohol and sugar.
Supplements for Acne
You should be drinking plenty of water – up to eight glasses a day – to flush out toxins. You will also benefit from taking B vitamins, MSM (organic sulphur, or Methyl Sulphonyl Methane), flax seed oil and zinc, all of which are known to nurture the skin.
Make-up that Will Not Make it Worse
The Canadian-born skin psychologist, Helen Sher, has helped thousands of sufferers worldwide with her skincare system which relies on water to rehydrate and soothe the skin. The Sher Skincare system is not cheap and will not work for everyone, but I’ve seen the before and after results with enough sufferers, young and old, to suggest you investigate it. (See Resources for full details).
Light Therapy
A UK-led study of some 10,000 sufferers is reporting excellent results using light therapy, with over 70% of those participating reporting significant improvement in their condition. The doctor pioneering this treatment, Dr Tony Chu, is based at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, England. He has dedicated his career to finding a drug-free and chemical-free treatment for acne. He has been widely quoted as saying his findings show light therapy is the most significant advance in the treatment of acne for two decades.
The treatment relies on the use of a device called the DermaLux – a kind of light box, which the user sits in front of for 15 minutes a day. The theory is that the bacteria which can cause acne can be killed by the right mix of blue and red light. Patients in the recent trials of this device also applied benzoyl peroxide cream, twice a day.
Allergy
Everything under the sun – including the sun – is a potential allergen. What is amazing is that we do not have more, not less, allergies.
Jonathan Brostoff, Professor of Allergy and Environmental Health,
University College London Medical School
It may have been around since 1966, but Enzyme Potentiated Desensitisation (EPD) remains a closely guarded secret outside allergy circles. Similar, in principle at least, to homeopathy, EPD works with the idea of treating like with like. Minute doses of allergens are given together with an enzyme called beta glucuronidase, which works in the body to increase and modify the effects of the allergen.
Beta glucuronidase is present in all parts of the human body, where it is released into the tissues during inflammation or an allergic response – in greater amounts than that given with EPD. With this technique, the dosage used is less than that contained in 1cc of blood from a healthy person, making it entirely safe.
There are two ways for EPD to be administered. With the cup method, a small area of the forearm is scarified to remove the waterproof layer of the skin, and the desensitising fluid is then held over this area, by means of a plastic cup, for 24 hours. The slow absorption of this dose makes this method extremely safe. Also, the immune system is much more responsive to doses through the skin than those given via injection. That said, the second EPD method is by injection. This is more reliable but may not be quite as safe.
Desensitising mixtures are now available for a wide range of allergens including pollens, dust, pets, moulds, candida, fumes, fragrances, foods and food additives. With EPD, many common allergens cross-desensitise in groups, which is good news for sufferers, many of whom are allergic to more allergens than they may have identified.
Over the last 30 years, EPD has been employed successfully to treat asthma, rhinitis, nasal polyps, eczema, urticaria, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, migraine, rheumatoid arthritis, petit mal epilepsy, chemical sensitivity, food allergies and intolerance, as well as the secondary allergies that complicate post-viral syndromes including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME.
There is still no desensitising agent to treat allergies to insect bites or stings, contact dermatitis or drug-related allergies. Inoculating against the vast and ever-increasing number of chemicals used in the production of food has also proved difficult but common allergies, such as hayfever, can be treated with just one dose given about four months before the usual onset of symptoms.
Housedust mite allergy, the most common cause of eczema in adults, for example, can be treated with just two doses given over an interval of 2–3 months. It can take up to eight doses to establish a response, after which the frequency of treatment can be reduced. More than 50% of EPD patients have been able to stop any treatment at all for long periods – the longest recorded period without booster doses before a relapse was 21 years.
The response to EPD is four-fold. There may be an immediate response, or the full benefits may be slow to take. A reaction time of three weeks, during which there is either a ‘cure’ or the production of symptoms, is common. The main action usually starts after this, and lasts for 3–4 months. This is thanks to the immune system’s allergen-fighting lymphocyte cells which have been created by the dose.
Some patients will have a very late response, from between 18 months and two-and-a-half years, starting from between 7 and 9 doses from the start of treatment.
A ‘postpone action’ has been recorded where between 6 and 15 months after the last treatment, the patient appears miraculously cured. Such patients have often given up on EPD, which does not work in any event for 20% of sufferers, and then attribute their miracle cure not to that last dose but to some other treatment.
EPD was developed by a British medical doctor, Dr Leonard McEwen, who has stuck to protocol. Follow-up studies and clinical trials all suggest this technique has much greater long-term success than any other method of immunotherapy. Word of it’s success has spread and there are now clinics and doctors in the US and Italy offering this simple but effective procedure which deserves greater recognition.
Altitude Sickness
If you are planning a high altitude trecking holiday, this may be your most serious health risk.
In it’s most dangerous form, altitude sickness is known as pulmonary oedema. This is the name for what happens when there is a build-up of fluid on the lungs and, make no mistake, it constitutes a serious medical emergency. The symptoms include shortness of breath and disorientation; those most at risk are smokers and anyone with an existing heart problem.
The secret to avoiding this problem is to acclimatise slowly, says the London-based naturopath and traveller, Max Tomlinson, who has travelled widely in South America and so speaks from experience. Do not rush your trek up the mountain, but enjoy this excuse to take your time and take in the glorious scenery, he suggests. If at any point you feel dizzy or short of breath, make your way back down to a lower altitude.
Tomlinson suggests that your holistic travel kit should include, as a precaution, two homoeopathic preparations, Aconite 6c and Arsenicum album 6c. Aconite 6c is used to treat the sudden onset of symptoms, including breathlessness, and Arsenicum album 6c should be taken if there is a delay between developing the first symptoms and getting medical treatment. You can take both at the same time and should take one dose, four times a day for up to a maximum of four doses.
Because there is less oxygen available at higher altitudes, you also need to make sure your iron levels are normal before you travel. Tomlinson recommends you take a liquid supplement called Floradix for a month, starting 14 days before you leave. Gingko biloba has been shown in clinical trials to boost the amount of oxygen and other nutrients reaching the brain, and thereis now good evidence that this too will help. Again, start 14 days before your departure date and take 20 drops of an organic tincture of the herb, three times a day.
There is also good anecdotal evidence for a homoeopathic remedy called Coca, which comes from the leaves of the cocaine plant. This will fall into place when you learn that those living in the region you plan to visit chew the same leaves for altitude sickness. The theory is that the active ingredient boosts the circulation of blood and oxygen to the brain.
Amalgam Fillings
More than a decade after scientists first began to question the sense of using mercury amalgam fillings, people with metal in their mouths are still not sure whether to leave their fillings in place or have them taken out. The simple answer is – unless you have an underlying sickness which may be linked with mercury poisoning – leave them in place until you need to have them replaced and then, whatever you do, don’t let your dentist put such a toxic metal back in your mouth.
The silver fillings which have divided dentists for more than 15 years are not silver at all but are an amalgam made up of 52% mercury (older fillings contained as much as 75% mercury) with the remainder copper, tin, silver and zinc. Mercury, which the dentist must treat as toxic waste outside your mouth, is the second most toxic metal on the planet after plutonium and yet governments around the world – with the exception of Sweden and Austria – still deem it safe for fillings.
In Germany, amalgam fillings are only used for the molars, which are the back grinding teeth but in the UK, for example, the National Health Service will not pay for the more expensive white composite fillings, which means that although the figures for amalgam fillings have halved since 1986, British dentists are still putting 15 million metal fillings in the mouths of adults and children every year.
For a long time, the party line in both the UK and the US was that once the amalgam was in the mouth, the mercury became inert or locked in, and so was safe. Numerous researchers have shown this to be untrue, and practitioners do now accept that mercury vapour is indeed released into the body from these fillings. The current argument is that this seepage happens in such negligible amounts that the risk to your health is insignificant, although an estimated 3% of adults will be hypersensitive to this and will have an adverse reaction. Ironically, cleaning your teeth or chewing a ‘whitening’ gum actually makes the problem worse because it accelerates the rate at which vapour is released by a factor of five. Hot drinks increase the vapour concentration too.
Harley Street dentist and president of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, Dr Anthony Newbury, reckons he was the first UK-based dentist to introduce the idea of a mercury-free practice in 1979, after attending a lecture in the US where mercury seepage from fillings was linked, controversially, to chronic muscle and joint problems, fatigue and jaw complaints. He is a major presence on the international lecture circuit and says fellow dentists still accuse him of talking baloney.
‘My response to the suggestion that the mercury vapour comes off in such small amounts that it is harmless is to say try changing it for cyanide, which is less toxic, and see how long you’ll last. In science, even a nanogram is significant.’
Health problems which holistic practitioners believe may be linked with mercury toxicity include chronic fatigue, headaches, allergies and sinusitis, sore or bleeding gums, lack of concentration, memory lapses, irritability and depression – all conditions which could, of course, be linked with other causes.
It is also notoriously difficult to test mercury levels in the body because as it seeps from the fillings it oxidises into a form which then tightly binds with protein residues in the tissues, making levels difficult to gauge.
The Mercury Challenge test overcomes this problem through chelation. You swallow a chelating solution which will bind with the mercury before it can latch on to the protein. Your urine is sampled before drinking this solution and then again, three hours later, when it will be flushing out of your system.
I had my own mercury fillings taken out after reading that scientists at the University of Kentucky found the brains of those who had died from Alzheimer’s Disease contained roughly twice as much mercury as the brains of those who had died at the same age from other conditions. They concluded these levels were far too high to have come solely from diet, and suggested that the mercury in their fillings was a more plausible explanation. Despite the fact I was paying for this, my then dentist grumbled his way through the procedure and, to my knowledge, did not follow the strict protocol which the British Society for Mercury-free dentistry recommends for the removal of amalgams, so be warned.
Holistic dentists say you can do more harm than good if you remove mercury fillings without proper protective procedures – which include using a rubber ‘dam’ to prevent the patient from swallowing any debris, including mercury, during the extraction, a nose piece with rubber hosing so the patient is breathing in air away from the mercury vapour that is being released, and damp gauze pads to protect the eyes.
A reported 95% of patients who do have their amalgam fillings out tell health practitioners they feel better. Of course, this is a self-selecting group, many of whom have suffered chronic complaints for years and who, sceptics will argue, are now blaming mercury toxicity as their latest fad.
I like the analogy one mercury-free dentist gave me: ‘You could think of it like a battery effect sitting at the base of the brain, and when all the metal is out the brain is no longer bombarded by all those signals. It’s a bit like switching the stereo off so you can hear yourself think clearly.’
Dentists and their assistants should also protect themselves – according to a report in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine, dentists have higher concentrations of mercury in the body and twice the number of brain tumours. Female dentists and assistants are three-and-a-half times more likely to suffer sterility, stillbirth and miscarriage.
If you do have your fillings removed you should also take nutritional advice, says Dr Jack Levenson, founder of the British Society for Mercury-free Dentistry. Charcoal tablets, for example, will help ‘mop up’ any mercury that does find it’s way into your stomach. If you plan to have your amalgam fillings out, start taking 2–5g of charcoal tablets for two days before the procedure and for a week afterwards. You also need extra vitamin C to boost your immune system, and selenium (a potent antioxidant) which works to detoxify mercury.
The Canadian researchers who first began to investigate the health hazards of mercury in the mouth started their trials by looking at what happened to the mercury from fillings in the mouths of sheep. They found that, within 30 days, mercury had accumulated to such an extent in the kidneys that their function was reduced by 50%. (The same test using a white plastic filling had no effect on kidney function.)
Critics ridiculed these studies, pointing out that sheep have different chewing patterns from humans. The Canadian researchers did the same experiments with monkeys and found, again, that mercury did accumulate in the body, but this time in higher doses in the jaw, the colon and the large intestine. The monkeys also had smaller (but still enormous) amounts of mercury in their kidneys than the sheep.
Dental amalgams remain the most controversial of all dental issues, but a growing number of practitioners admit they find it increasingly hard to argue with the opening statement of a book called The Mercury in Your Mouth which claims: ‘Chronic mercury toxicity from “silver” mercury amalgam dental fillings is the most important, unrecognised health problem of our time.’
Antibiotics – Alternatives: Colloidal Silver
While most antibiotics disinfect only about half a dozen germs, silver has been reported to disinfect well over 600 different strains. Even better, infections which can become resistant to antiobiotics cannot develop the same defence against silver, making it an excellent alternative to antibiotics.
A colloid is a substance that consists of ultra-fine particles suspended in a different medium; in the case of colloidal silver, this medium is water. The particles are so small – 0.001 to 0.0001 of a micron in diameter – that colloidal silver is completely safe to use both internally and externally. I was first prescribed it for a persistent Candida infection after a long hospitalisation, and there is no question that it worked.
Before the advent of antibiotics, colloidal silver was given in just about every way modern drugs are administered, but it fell out of fashion when practitioners started to prescribe hundreds of times the correct dosage – which led, in some cases, to a grey skin discolouration. Slowly, it has been finding it’s way back, and although nobody knows exactly how it works, the most accepted theory is that it targets and then disables the enzymes which many forms of bacteria, fungi and viruses need for their own metabolism and survival.
In recent laboratory tests, scientists found that colloidal silver was effective against many of the more insidious organisms including Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Candida globata. Jane Waters, holistic skin specialist, co-founder of The Alternative Centre (see Resources) and a researcher into complementary health, points out that in India, where people understand that silver acts as a natural antibiotic, it is still traditional to keep water in silver jugs.
Colloidal silver, she says, is excellent for treating skin problems such as athlete’s foot, ringworm, impetigo and boils, but the purity of the product you use is important. Find one that has no binding agents, stabilisers or added proteins.
If you’re not sure, ask before you buy. A quality manufacturer will have nothing to hide, and a good retailer should be able to source the purest colloidal silver available.
Arthritis
Almost half the population over the age of 65 will suffer some form of arthritis – an umbrella term for some 200 different debilitating joint and muscular problems. The two most common forms are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Both are on the increase, and both are increasingly recognised as the result of chemical lifestyles coupled with poor nutritional choices.
Since the 1940s, for example, the use of chemicals in the production of food has increased 10-fold, yet only about 1% of the produce in the supermarkets will have been tested for contaminants, including pesticide residue. When such chemicals do get into the body, they break down or combine with other molecules to form damaging metabolites. These, and other waste products, are carried in the bloodstream but dumped in the muscles and joints where they can crystallise, causing inflammation and the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. (See Dietary Cleansing on page 135 for a nutritional solution that works. It is strict but it gets results.)
Osteoarthritis is caused by the wear and tear of connective tissue, particularly cartilage, around the joints. This tissue normally retains water to act as a shock absorber, but once damaged it can no longer do this and instead, leaves the bones exposed, resulting in pain, stiffness and swellings. Early signs of arthritis include muscular aches and pains, stiffness in the joints and swelling.
There is no single cure for any of the different types of arthritis. What works for one person may do nothing for another but avoiding chemicals in your food by switching to an organic diet can help, as will managing the symptoms with a programme of moderate exercise, anti-inflammatory herbs and foods and collagen-building supplements. Lots of people take fish oils (which provide omega-3 fatty acids) to help alleviate stiffness. If you take this option, make sure your fish oils come from an unpolluted source. If you are not sure, check with your health practitioner.
Glucosamine is the substance many sufferers now swear by, but while it can bring relief it does not work for everyone. It takes several months to kick in, (which makes prescription anti-inflammatory drugs a more appealing rapid solution to the pain) and is still a long way from being that miracle cure. It is a natural constituent of cartilage and has been shown to stimulate the production of connective tissue, prompting claims that it will not only halt the progress of the disease but also reverse it by re-building lost cartilage. Sadly, the body’s own levels of glucosamine decrease with age.
What has now been proven is that glucosamine works best when taken in conjunction with chondroitin, a substance which attracts more fluid into the spaces around the joints to lubricate them. Early results of trials in Germany show it is also very effective when taken with collagen, an essential protein which is crucial for building bone. There are now new supplements on the market which combine all three active ingredients.
Daily doses of vitamin D (400iu) and high doses of vitamin E (2500iu) have also been shown in various studies to slow down the disease and reduce the symptoms of arthritis. (Do not take high doses of vitamin E if you have heart problems.) So have daily doses of borage oil, which contains a joint-protecting substance called Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA). One trial showed that those taking the equivalent of 2.4g daily, alongside their regular arthritis drugs, were six times more likely to report a significant improvement in joint pain and swelling than those in a control group. In the second six months of the year-long study, 50% of those taking high doses of GLA reported a 50% reduction in pain and stiffness. Unfortunately, borage oil also contains uresic acid, so long-term use is ill-advised.
Another fatty acid, found in small quantities in foods such as nuts, vegetables and butter, is Cetyl Myristoleate (CM). There are no double-blind clinical trials investigating it’s usefulness in the treatment of arthritis, but researchers are excited by the discovery that Swiss albino mice, which are born with unusually high levels of this fatty acid, never get arthritis and seem to be protected even when exposed to factors which cause the condition in other breeds. Of course, what works for mice may not work for men.
Organic sulphur, or Methyl Sulphonyl Methane (MSM), is also crucial to healthy connective tissue. It is found in every cell in the body and plays a key role in the production of amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. Although available in a wide range of foods, including plants, meat, eggs, poultry and dairy, it can be destroyed by heat and food processing – so to relieve the pain and inflammation of arthritis, try taking it in supplement form.
Digestive health plays a role in relieving the symptoms of arthritis, too. Researchers admit they have no idea why this should be the case, but a deficiency of the so-called ‘friendl’y bacteria, which aid digestion in the gut has now been linked with a worsening of symptoms. To remedy this, you need to take a good probiotic supplement such as Lactobacillus acidophilus.
Foods that Can Help
An Indian take-away is not an obvious health food, but a curry can actually help alleviate joint problems. This is because it’s spices, which usually include turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, coriander and cumin, all have an anti-inflammatory action in the body.
Chillies are another fiery food, which can help. They contain a chemical called capsaicin, which lowers levels of another chemical called substance P, normally used to send pain signals around the body. Capsaicin also triggers the release of the body’s own pain-relieving endorphins, which work in the same way as morphine.
Anchovies contain omega-3 fatty acids, which also modulate the metabolism of prostaglandin. Too much of the latter, which plays a part in inflammatory conditions, can make the symptoms worse. Foods that may exacerbate your symptoms and which should, therefore, be reduced, include the nightshade family. This means cutting down on tomatoes, potatoes and aubergines.
Asthma
There are lots of excellent books devoted solely to this subject, but with an alarming increase the number of adult asthma cases and with growing evidence that asthma drugs themselves can exacerbate the problem by interfering with normal lung functioning (making them more sensitive to the allergens that trigger an attack), it more than merits a mention. Also, read Allergy (page 84), which describes a technique called Enzyme Potentiate Desensitisation (EPD) that has achieved excellent results with all allergy-induced conditions, including asthma.
To identify the allergens that trigger your asthma, you need to examine emotional, environmental and hereditary factors. The most common one, of course, is housedust and the housedust mites that live in furniture and bedding. Mould spores and animal detritus are a problem, or it may be DIY chemicals and other household or workplace irritants that are to blame.
You may also need to re-examine what is on your dinner plate. Many studies now indicate that food allergies are just as likely as environmental pollutants to trigger asthma in children and in adults. When researchers compared asthma rates among children living on the unpolluted Scottish Isle of Skye, for example, with those living in the Scottish town of Aberdeen, they found the incidence rate on the relatively unpolluted island much higher (17%) than in Aberdeen or when compared to the national average (11%).
Anaphylaxis is the extreme allergic and sometimes fatal reaction to an allergen. New figures show that this type of reaction triggered by food is on the increase, and that a big part of this reaction is usually an asthmatic attack. In Barcelona, for instance, doctors were astonished to find certains days of the week becoming asthma ‘epidemic’ days. The hospitals would be crowded out with sufferers, who had both a rapid onset of symptoms and a rapid recovery rate. It was then discovered that these epidemic days coincided with the offloading of soya-bean products at the docks. The solution was simple: Special filters were attached to the dockside silos and the asthma epidemic days ended.
In another clinical study of asthmatic children, those given 1,000mg of vitamin C each day for two weeks had less than a quarter as many asthmatic attacks as those given a placebo. For adults, the recommended dosage is increased to 2g a day and raised to 4–7g during a reaction. (At this high dosage, diarrhoea is a likely side-effect.) Vitamin B12, particularly via intramuscular shots, has been shown to reduce asthmatic symptoms dramatically. In one study of 85 patients, all sufferers benefited from a l,000mcg dose of B12 at weekly intervals. The younger the patient, the better the response, with 83% of children under the age of 10 showing marked improvement.
The figures for childhood asthma have doubled in recent years (in some regions, as many as one in four children will now be asthmatic), and while we now know much more about the mechanism of asthma, nobody seems any closer to a cure. Homeopathic immunotherapy has produced excellent clinical results in the treatment of asthma in children. In a French study of 182 children aged between 2 and 8, for example, the homoeopathic remedy Poumon histamine was shown to reduce the number of severe asthma attacks. This would always be my starting point in tackling the problem of asthma in young children, since children (and animals) respond exceptionally well to homoeopathy, which is also completely safe.
Bad Breath
If your dentist cannot find an explanation for persistent bad breath, then you need to turn your attention to your diet and digestive process. Pockets of infection in the gums are an obvious dental cause of halitosis, but many holistic practitioners will also investigate the possibility of abnormal fermentation of food in the gut. This will be exacerbated by dairy products, so cut these out of your diet for a week and see if your breath improves.
You may also need to take an anti-Candida (Thrush) approach to eating, which means eliminating all refined carbohydrates, sugars and yeast-based products too. If you have taken antibiotics in the past, these may have disturbed the balance of the so-called good bacteria in the gut, which aid the digestive process and prevent the fermentation of undigested food particles. To rebuild these, take a good quality probiotic (see page 171), which will contain millions of replacement live bacteria, plus a supplement called Fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS), which will provide food for these organisms and help cleanse the bowel.
A digestive enzyme may also prove beneficial – take one at the end of each meal. The friendly bacteria in the digestive tract flourish in a more alkaline environment. Help create this by taking one eighth of a teaspoon of pure sodium bicarbonate 20 minutes after eating.
The high chlorophyll content of parsley makes it a natural breath freshener. In ancient Rome, people would chew parsley to disguise the smell of alcohol on their breath. Chlorophyll converts carbon dioxide to oxygen in the body and helps lubricate the digestive tract, especially the various valves which, when working optimally, prevent gases and toxins from backing up the tract. The Greeks preferred to chew on Anise seeds, which taste of liquorice. You may prefer the taste of fennel seeds. A simple decoction (see page 76) made up of 2 lavender flowers, 2 sage leaves and myrrh resin will also alleviate symptoms. Gargle with this mixture three times a day. Aloe Vera is also an excellent colon cleanser and will help prevent an accumulation of toxins. Buy a brand that is high in mucopolysaccharides, the active ingredient. If the label does not give you this information, ask your healthfood retailer or contact the manufacturer direct.
Bloating
The bitter-tasting herb, gentian, not only aids digestion by stimulating increased salivary flow and gastric juices, but also reduces bloating. It is one of the best stomach tonics in natural medicine and also helps strengthen the pancreas and the spleen. Either take it as an organic tincture or make your own fast-acting herbal tea by brewing half a teaspoon of powdered gentian root with half a cup (125ml) of boiling water for 5 minutes. Strain the mixture and drink 30 minutes before eating. If the taste is too unpalatable, sweeten with a little honey or organic maple syrup.
