Funf Rise

I have been asked many times about Reserpine and Respen-A side effects. When we look at the study done in 1957 using dosages of 3 – 7 mg, we see that when levels got too high, 10 – 12 mg, the children showed Parkinsonian reactions such as excessive sleep, crankiness, and dry mouth. We do tend to see an increase association with depression in doses above .5 mg which is what is used for high blood pressure. The reason this occurs is likely due to the MAO-A activity that has a metabolic effects on serotonin and if serotonin is not being replenished then you could have a depletion in the body which then can lead to depression.

Many of Respen-A and Reserpine’s side effects seem to come from low blood calcium. Irritability, crankiness, muscle aches, fatigue and agitation can all be signs of low blood calcium. To counter the side effects seen in using Reserpine in higher doses and in children using Respen-A who were not taking enough calcium, the makers determined the need for calcium supplementation. There have been concerns over the high dose of calcium required by some doctors in the community, and I had those concerns at first myself when I started using this therapy. 2,000 mg is suggested prior to putting on the Respen-A patch, between 30 minutes and 1 hour. Blood calcium levels can then come up since Reserpine can bring those levels down which then can cause the side effects of muscle aches, twitching, irritability and agitation that we have seen. I have witnessed this in some patients of mine who were not supplementing with enough calcium.

Calcium imbalances in the body as a result of too much calcium can also be a concern. Through blood testing and checking calcium levels, I have not seen an excess of calcium in my patients whatsoever. I have also not heard that this is a problem from other physicians using Respen-A either. I have also not heard of any problems with this amount of calcium supplementation from the people at Respen-A.

Another issue that I have seen in a few children is an intolerance to calcium but even then I have not seen physiological or serum evidence of calcium toxicity involving Respen-A. It could be the fact that Respen-A balances calcium levels and is regulating things. So calcium depletion can cause the side effects like irritability and agitation, and supplementing with calcium with Respen-A use can counteract the calcium depletion that occurs, thereby avoiding those side effects.

Would you like better eyesight without glasses? Well, you need not worry, because we tell you some great ways. Firstly, you need to know that since the eyes often undergo the maximum amount of stress, you need to de-stress them regularly. How can you go about doing this? Lie down straight on your back, your legs shoulder-width apart, with your eyes closed. Your palms should be facing upward. Now breathe in, and feel your lungs expanding with air. Then continue to breathe in and out for a few minutes, then open your eyes. Focus your eyes on a stationary object situated somewhere in the room, then close your eyes, but continue to look at it, in your mind. This will help you de-stress your eyes, and this is also a great way to have better eyesight without glasses.

Visual concentration is a must. You can do this by making the best efforts to have better eyes.

Throughout the day, we subject ourselves to various kinds of discomforts and stress to the eyes, which eventually take their toll in the form of tired eyes and bad eyesight. Fortunately, there are many remedies that you can resort to, for better eyesight without glasses. In doing so, you would also be avoiding headaches, a rather unpleasant side-effect of eye problems. Yoga exercises can go a long way in giving you relief, and making your eyesight better. Besides, they would also strengthen your eye muscles.

So what Yoga exercises can you do, for better eyesight without glasses? Sit down on the very edge of your chair, keep your neck and back straight. Shut your eyes, and place each palm over an eye, until you feel that the palms are warming your eyes. Then take your hands away, but keep your eyes shut.

Inhale deeply, through your nose, then exhale the air, and drop your head forward, rotating it from side to side. Rotate your shoulders too, as if shrugging. Shut your eyes, and tighten your shoulders, hold this position, then exhale, releasing your shoulders, and then opening your eyes. Repeat this exercise. Now blink many times, flutter your eyes continuously till they become moist, repeat again. Another Yoga exercise you can do for better eyesight without glasses is to focus on a stationary object in the nearby distance, and then blink many times in quick succession.

What else can you do for better eyesight without glasses? It’s important to remember that for strong eyes, you should resist the urge to squint. Always look straight and directly at an object. Better eyesight is always within your grasp if you exercise your eye muscles regularly, eat the right foods, and counteract the tendencies to strain your eyes. Ensuring that you provide proper eye-care to yourself is a must, and to safeguard your eyesight, there are many exercises that you can do, as describes above, for better eyesight without glasses. The key to good eyesight lies in des-stressing them regularly, and avoiding strain.

Yes, if you are gluten intolerant even the smallest bite of gluten or 1 piece of bread can do serious damage to your body. Thankfully, the body is an amazing thing and can usually repair damage resulting from gluten ingestion with proper care and feeding. The real issue here is: how to not take the first bite of foods that we know contain gluten? And how do we keep up our gluten-free lifestyles long-term?

I am going to step out on a limb here and call choosing to eat bread when you know you are gluten intolerant “gluten addiction.” For many the idea of being addicted to food is new, but food addiction is a real and culturally pervasive problem that can have devastating physical, psychologically, neurological, emotional, and financial consequences-especially if you are gluten intolerant and can’t stop eating gluten long-term. Many people with gluten intolerance are underemployed because of the devastating health consequences of gluten consumption.

I know first-hand how challenging it is to give up gluten when it is EVERYWHERE.

I struggled to keep gluten out of my diet even after I got the test results that said I was gluten intolerant. It took me 3 months to string more than 2 weeks gluten-free together. I was constantly in a state of withdrawal and craving for those 3 months and suffering a lot of physical consequences not to mention the psychological suffering of thinking I was crazy for putting poison in my mouth.

There are many reasons why we choose to pick up the gluten poison. These reasons range from social to biological to emotional. On the social side, gluten is a socially supported poison that is marketed as ‘healthy ‘; i.e. Whole Wheat Bread and we tend to unconsciously mimic the behavior of our social groups.

Thus, if our friends and family are gluten eaters we are going to have a harder time giving it up. Many of us also have a emotional addiction to gluten products, for many of us the emotional dependence on foods starts when we are quite small. For instance, we may have had a rough time of things growing up and used food to comfort and numb intense, negative emotions. From a biological standpoint gluten contains exorpins which bind to the opiate receptors in the brain of gluten intolerant folks that results in a sense of well-being and numbs pain-similar to the impact the endorphins that your body naturally produces. When you are taking in exorphin containing foods your body’s ability to produce endorphins is impaired, so you crave exorphin foods to make you feel good. A cycle of craving and addiction ensues, you need the bread or pasta to feel good and not having it results in pain. And if you are gluten intolerant and consuming gluten, your body is probably in a lot of pain.

How do we get off the gluten craving rollercoaster so the pain can stop and we can start feeling good? Here is what has helped me:

Flood your body with easy to digest nutrients!!! Instead of the bagel (even the gluten free variety) or the yogurt for breakfast, have a green supefood smoothie. Try out blended soups of brightly colored vegetables mixed with herbs, raw organic coconut oil, garlic and sea salt. These nutrient rich foods will stop cravings in their tracks and the blending pre-digests the food, making them very soothing to inflamed digestive tracks. That means the nutrients are more easily absorbed than solid foods that require more work for the digestive system to break down.

Eliminate dairy, soy, and sugar. These foods are highly allergenic and cause inflammation and pain in the body and also cause metabolic/hormonal imbalances. Further, Dairy contains exorphins making it highly addictive and also inhibits your body’s natural ability to produce feel good endorphins. Replace dairy and soy with nut and seed milks, nut and seed cheeses/pates, and raw, organic coconut products. Replace sugar with stevia and/or teeny bits of raw organic agave nectar, and fresh fruit. These replacement foods are full of essential nutrients. Don’t be afraid of the fats in the seeds and nuts. Your body needs the fat for energy to heal and many vitamins from foods are fat soluble, meaning if there is not enough fat in your diet your body won’t absorb the vitamins and you will pee out all the vitamins from that expensive organic food. To replace ice cream, I suggest freezing ripe bananas and blending them with carob powder, cocoa powder, or vanilla. This banana cream tastes just like soft serve.

Do EFT! This is a self-acupressure technique that works wonders for folks with all sorts of addictions. Go to http://www.emofree.com for a full tutorial. This technique helped me finally kick my gluten addiction for good.

Exercise: Moving the body will flood your body with feel good chemicals so you are less prone to go after gluten to feel good. It also speeds up the detox process, which means fewer and less intensive cravings.

Get Outside: At least 30 minutes a day flood your body the sunshine and vitamin D (a fat soluble vitamin by the way). You need an adequate amount of Vitamin D to maintain mental health and thus combat cravings and strengthen your willpower. Further, Vitamin D helps regulate blood sugar. Out of whack blood sugar is the cause of many uncontrollable cravings.

I recommend you go outside during non-peak sunshine hours so you don’t have to apply sunscreen that is usually filled with toxic chemicals. I recommend Aubrey Organics as good brand of pure and gluten-free sunscreen (yes, they sometimes put oat derived products and wheat protein in sunscreen!).

Get Support: Find gluten free buddies. Check out my resources page for links to gluten free online and face to face communities. I have found a lot of support for living a really healthy gluten free lifestyle in the online raw food community. Check out some raw food blogs on my resources page and you will find a ton of naturally gluten, soy, dairy, and sugar-free recipes.

If you need support putting the above tips into practice, or aren’t having the success you want going gluten-free, contact me.

Today our country is at war. I’m not referring to any military missions overseas, I’m referring to an increasingly overweight and out of shape population. We all know we should get in shape and lose weight or we run the risk of serious health issues, but so many of us have trouble getting started. Sometimes just getting through the day takes all we have, where do we find the extra time and energy to worry about dieting and exercising? How do we find the time to learn how to prevent a heart attack?

There are tremendous benefits to be gained from vitamins, along with a healthy diet and exercise we should all be able to live long, healthy and happy lives. I am no doctor so consult your physician before doing anything. You should have a better understanding of the benefits of vitamins and can now ask how they can help you stay healthy. 

Quit Smoking: Smoking is one of the major factors that can lead to heart disease.

Stop smoking as soon as possible. Secondhand smokers are also at risk of heart disease. The smoke of cigarette contains hazardous chemicals that can damage your heart. Narrowing of arteries can result to heart attack.

If there is any kind of damage or problem with the arteries, the blood flow in the body will directly be affected. If the supply of blood is restricted for more than 20 to 40 minutes, an irreversible death of heart muscle occurs and if the time span of restricted supply further increases, it can even lead to death.

In addition to these things, you should get treatment for any existing conditions that you have, especially high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. These are major contributors to people having heart attacks. Through diet changes alone, most, if not all, of these problems can be controlled.

Chew an aspirin and call an ambulance if you think you are having a heart attack, but do not take one if you are allergic to aspirin. Clot clearing medications and a host of other procedures will be administered to you upon arriving at the hospital.

One food that has been found to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke is garlic. Garlic contains a compound called S-allyl-L-cysteine (SAC), which is thought to provide protection from heart disease. Garlic also helps to lower overall cholesterol levels, while increasing levels of HDL, the beneficial cholesterol.

You will need to cope with your feelings. You need to realize that depression and grief can break you. During this time, there is a lot of stress to deal with. Preparing meals, dealing with guests, shopping and dealing with the crowds in stores is a lot to deal with. Not to mention, the financial strain this period can have on someone.

If you have any genetic/hereditary problems in your family, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, it is of utmost importance that you get both checked regularly. Remember to have annual physicals and routine regular check-ups at your doctor’s office.

A quick overview of the melanoma skin cancer:

Melanoma is a malignant skin tumor that has its origin in the cells of the skin that are responsible for the production of melanin, the dark pigment that gives color to our skin. These cells are known as melanocytes from which this skin cancer is named.

Melanoma can occur in all parts of the human body where the melanocytes cells are normally present. It can be found mainly in the skin but also in mucous membranes, in the eye (ocular melanoma) and in the meninges.

Nowadays there is a high frequency of this cancer and it’s still increasing in the population being a little bit higher in females. Melanoma cancer has a tendency to affect adults with an age range varying from 35 to 65 years. Cases of melanoma within 30 years happen rarely.

According to the World Health Organization, each year in the world are diagnosed around 160,000 cases of malignant melanoma tumor and the deaths related to this disease are about 48,000 per year.

High rates of this skin cancer can be found in caucasian light-skinned people that live in sunny climate countries such as North America, Australia, Northern Europe and New Zealand.

Recognizing early symptoms of melanoma skin cancer with the ABCDE rule:

The melanoma skin cancer develops on a clinically normal skin in the majority of patients.

Since people usually do not develop new melanocytic moles or nevi in adult age, if this happens, the patient should consult his physician as soon as possible for clinical evaluation of the new mole.

In other people melanomas originate from pre-existent moles or nevi that evolve over time changing their shape, color or size. In these cases too, the patient should be aware and refer immediately to a specialized doctor.

Early signs of melanoma are changes to the color, shape, size; bleeding or itching of existing moles or nevi; or the appearance of new lesions on the skin.

These early signs or symptoms are summarized by the “ABCDE rule”:

Asymmetry of the skin lesion.
Borders: the lesion has irregular borders.
Color: in the majority of cases melanomas have many varied colors.
Diameter: usually melanomas have a diameter greater than 6 mm.
Enlarging or Evolving over time.

For detecting the melanoma tumor, visual diagnosis is commonly used even by health professionals these days and the “ABCDE rule” plays an important role. It’s highly recommended to know what a melanoma cancer looks like, paying attention to suspicious moles, lesions or nevi and consulting a dermatologist without delay.

An allergy refers to an exaggerated reaction by our immune system in response to bodily contact with certain foreign substances. It is exaggerated because these foreign substances are usually seen by the body as harmless and no response occurs in non- allergic people. Allergic people’s bodies recognize the foreign substance and one part of the immune system is turned on. Allergy-producing substances are called “allergens.” Examples of allergens include pollens, dust mite, molds, danders, and foods. To understand the language of allergy it is important to remember that allergens are substances that are foreign to the body and can cause an allergic reaction in certain people.

Read more on Home Remedies for Allergies and Home Remedies for Skin Allergies and also visit on Herbal Supplements

Allergies Causes

Allergies occur when a person’s immune system mistakenly attacks the allergen as an invader and produces immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to combat these substances.

These antibodies then cause certain cells in the body to release chemicals such as histamine into the bloodstream.

These chemicals affect your eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin or gastrointestinal tract and produces allergy symptoms such as sneezing, itchy eyes and a runny nose. Every time that you are exposed to that same allergen, an allergic reaction will be triggered.

Allergies Symptoms

The most common symptoms and signs associated with allergies include:

1.  Runny nose
2.  Sneezing
3.  Congestion
4.  Watery, tearing eyes
5.  Itchy eyes, ears, lips, throat and palate
6.  Sinus pain
7.  Coughing
8.  Shortness of breath

Allergy Reduction:

But there are some things that will reduce or eliminate the chance of your becoming allergic. These include the lottery of birth: being born into an allergy free family greatly reduces the risk of developing an allergy.

Plenty of vitamins C and E and Omega 3 polyunsaturated oils (mainly found in certain oily fish), having a large nuclear family, letting kids be kids and allowing them to get grubby now and again – getting down and dirty so the immune system is running at full blast, may help reduce the chances of acquiring allergies.

Controlling Allergies:

Most allergies are easily controlled but some individuals develop severe reactions from an early age.
They may have infantile food allergies (commonly cow’s milk, egg and nuts) usually associated with extensive eczema. These people need continuing close supervision and managed care; they may require the help of many health professionals.

Most people who suffer an allergic reaction to food, pets or the environment know how to manage their allergy and do so very well. However regular checks with a specialist are always recommended so that the condition can be monitored and controlled and any new medical techniques or drugs used.