HealthBeat News

Category: Health Freedom

  • Wasting Money to Save Money? Who’s Watching Your Back?

    By Dr. MyattAs a child, I remember riding around the block six times with my friend and her father as he searched for a gas station with cheaper gas. He he finally found it. At 2 cents per gallon less, one wonders if he spent more money circling the block than he actually saved. Even my third-grade mind questioned the reasonability of his actions.

    Fast-forward some 40 years, and I still see people wasting time and money trying to save a buck, only now it’s on a much grander scale. Instead of a few pennies at stake, I watch people wasting dollars AND risking their health in similarly vain attempts to “save money.”

    As most Wellness Club members know, I spend enormous amounts of time and energy verifying the quality and purity of all products sold at The Wellness Club. As a result, my nick-name in the nutritional supplement industry is “The Dragon Lady.” Truth is, I wear that title proudly.

    Does this mean that something will never slip by me? Of course not. But in 14 years of due diligence with The Wellness Club, we’ve not had anything slip by yet. I think it’s a safe bet that our record of excellence will continue, at least as long as I still draw breath. (Which from my recent physical exam and lab work will probably be another 50-60 years unless I’m run over by a truck).

    We’ve never had a single “recall” on a product or raw material, and we always offer the highest potency forms of nutrients available unless they are totally cost-prohibitive. In other words, I work hard to make sure all of our products are the best quality available anywhere, bar none. So far, this “homework” has paid big bonuses. The vast majority of our patients — even those with life-threatening and “incurable” conditions — either recover or at least blow the lid off their conventional “life expectancy.” And they do so in grand style, feeling well and living life to the fullest. It’s that kind of medical success that keeps me doing what I do.

    Why am I so careful? It’s a dangerous world out there. Products labeled “organic” are often NOT. For example: have you heard about the recent discovery that many “natural” and “organic” products have been found to be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, a cancer-causing chemical? How could such a thing happen if our big and important government agencies like the FDA and the USDA are watching out for us?

    According to Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association, large holding companies are buying up many smaller brands when they become well known. They then cheapen the formulations, often adding toxic chemicals. Brands that may have started out as quality, small-company formulas have become Monolithic Corporation toxic chemical soups, but they still carry the “organic” or “natural” designations on their labels! Meanwhile, our “government protectors” turn a blind eye. Of course they do. They make their Big Money from these Big Corporations — the foxes are guarding the hen house.

    Products that are supposedly “safe” and of the highest quality often contain tainted ingredients. Unless you personally know the company, the manufacturer and their screening practices, “welcome to the jungle.”

    Wouldn’t you rather have The Dragon Lady on YOUR side?

  • Salvia divinorum : Turning Herbs Into Illegal Drugs

    Commentary by Dr. Myatt

    Just when you thought the outlawing of non-toxic nutritional supplements, bioidentical hormones and herbs couldn’t get any sillier, along comes a new twist: Big Brother trying to outlaw common garden herbs. Next up on the “hit list,” a member of the mint family, Salvia divinorum.Salvia divinorum, commonly known as “Diviner’s sage,” is a small leafy green member of the mint family found in Mexico. The plant was traditionally used by indigenous peoples as a healing and “visionary” aid.Internet “smoke shops” often sell and tout it as a “marijuana alternative,” although users on internet forums report that it has very mild effects that are short-lived. (5-15 minutes). There is no known LD-50 (lethal dose).

    Several states already outlaw the herb, and Florida and others are looking to join the prohibition. The concern seems to be that people — especially teens — might smoke this herb and get “high.”

    Well guess what? Aside from the fact that this herb probably doesn’t deliver much of a buzz, and when it does, that “buzz” lasts only a few minutes, and the herb is safe (no known lethal dose), kids and other folks seeking a “high” are going to use something — anything — to alter consciousness. Looks like Big Pharma and Big Alcohol want to be sure they’re making a buck on the buzz.

    Look, kids smoke oregano to try and get high. Should we outlaw oregano? They inhale diflouroethane (canned, compressed gas – the stuff you clean dust from your computer with) to try and cop a buzz, and more than a few have died from this. They hold their breath and “hang” themselves hoping for an altered experience. Whether we outlaw a simple member of the mint family or not (and one that no deaths can be attributed to), people will seek altered experience.

    Juxtapose this with the strange fact that Ritalin, a stimulant drug, is approved for use in children, and in 1995 six million — that’s MILLION — kids are legally drugged with this “upper.” (Newer statistics are difficult to find – is Big Pharma hiding something?) And “head meds,” although known to cause serious damage to children in their formative years,  are approved for use in children. What conclusion are we left with?

    Here’s my conclusion. The outlawing of a “probably-not-mind-altering” and for SURE not dangerous common herb is ridiculous. But “let’s outlaw everything that’s not a prescription drug (or alcohol) because we’d hate to see Big Pharma and Big Alcohol lose money” is a transparent example of Big Money “buying” Big Government.

    Can you say, “adios, Freedom”?
     

  • What Are We Doing To Our Children!

    Opinion (a rant) By Nurse Mark

     

    As you know, one of our daily chores here is to sift through mountains of research, bulletins, scientific papers, medical journals, and even the FDA’s News Digests looking for things of importance to you, our readers and patients. I say “chores” because it really is a chore much of the time to go through all this stuff – it is usually either incredibly, stupefying, dry stuff, guaranteed to put even the most determined reader into a glassy-eyed trance or it is “research” that is a thinly veiled advertisement for some new drug, or, as the following little tidbit is, something that makes us shake our heads here in disbelief, frustration, and even anger.

     

    Well, today I’m angry!

     

    Just what in the name of all that is Holy are we doing to our children?!? It isn’t good enough that Big Pharma appears to be in cahoots with Big Food in order to have most of the adult population of the US eating such an unbalanced, miserable, processed, synthetic, poisonous diet that they are ruining their health and lining up clamoring for “The Little Purple Pill” in droves – Big Pharma now wants our children to be hooked on proton pump inhibitors as well!

     

    For us, this begs the question: Just how in the world could a baby merely a year old develop GERD? Or a child of less than 11 years for that matter? Wouldn’t it make more sense to look at sorting out the cause of this problem rather than to be shutting off an essential body function – the production of stomach acid – with a drug?

     

    Do we really believe that modern pharmaceutical science has finally provided us with a solution to a problem that has plagued mankind for lo, these many years – the dreaded “Nexium Deficiency Syndrome”? Did our ancestors suffer because didn’t have “The Little Purple Pill”? Or did they simply have to make do with a better diet – none of those nutritious trans fats, no delicious high-fructose corn syrup, missing out on refined salt, refined sugar, refined flour, and bromine-laced breads… Yikes! – How did our ancestors survive without those wonderful inventions? (“Very well indeed” is my guess!)

     

    So, here is the offensive little tidbit from the FDA: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01802.html  Reading through the article it seems that they are basing this on the extrapolation of adult data – yep, that’s right, to the FDA children are just smaller adults! They refer with obvious pride to one study of a whole, big, 109 children who took the stuff for a whole 8 weeks – wow! And presumably none of these children suffered any “serious” side effects beyond those that the FDA advises about: “The most common adverse reactions in children treated with Nexium were headache, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, gas, constipation, dry mouth and sleepiness.”

     

    Yesiree, no problem, just a minor little discomfort – it’s a small price to pay for being able to take “The Little Purple Pill” just like mommy and daddy!

     

    Reflux Disease Treatment Nexium Now Approved for Children Ages 1 to 11

    FDA has approved Nexium (esomeprazole magnesium) for short-term use in children ages 1 to 11 years for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The agency approved the drug in two forms, a delayed-release capsule and liquid form. Nexium is approved in 10 milligrams (mg) or 20 mg daily for children ages 1 to 11, compared to 20 mg or 40 mg recommended for pediatric patients ages 12 to 17.

     

  • Some Thoughts On SSRI Drugs And School Shootings

    We have written often to answer questions about SSRI drugs such as Paxil, Effexor, and Prozac. It seems these drugs are being pushed by Big Pharma and doled out like candy by Big Medicine for every imaginable ill, to every possible victim, er, patient. Not only are adults fair game for those pushing these drugs, children and adolescents are fair game too – often with devastating results A regular readers and correspondent wrote recently to share his outrage at this and the drugs connection with a recent university shooting incident:

    Dr. Denny writes:

    The recent slaughter at Northern Illinois U still resonates….on my radio, I listened as some bubble-brained admin at NIU complimenting himself on the “effectiveness of their disaster plan/training” which seems like political double-speak for “wow, aren’t we clever?!”….in light of the fact that the University rushed a lot of people around, wide-eyed and worthless, and NEVER intercepted / confronted the perpetrator, it seems damning (at best) and catastrophically foolish to compliment anyone on having any disaster plan in place.

    The obvious: the “disaster plan” failed miserably – children (and faculty) were slaughtered with no hope of rescue

    The obvious: the predator finished his spree and self-executed himself without ANY interference from anyone

    The obvious: another bureaucrat puts spin on a disaster to politically / media-justify the total absence of effective planning

    I note that nobody addressed the issue of the predator having been medicated with SSRI drugs….(Prozac, Effexor, etc)…a class of meds which has consistently been linked to aberrational behavior in adolescents….one undocumented report alleges that many, if not all, of the high-school shooters have been medicated with SSRIs…several media reports indicated that this particular predator had “recently” self-discontinued his SSRI meds…which would certainly further de-stabilize him…Big Pharma is loathe to see these reports but the reality is clear- these meds are documented as creating suicidal ideations and violent outbursts in adolescents, yet this class of meds is probably the most widely-prescribed class of meds in adolescents here in the US…(outside of antibiotics and sniffle-meds) Certainly the adult population in this country is learning to accept SSRIs as their morning meal…

    We share these sentiments here. Indeed, experts have expressed concerns about increased suicide risk in association with use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for treatment of depression. In 2005, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed a black box warning on SSRI medications, citing an increased risk of suicide among children and adolescents taking this type of antidepressant. Yet conventional medicine continues to prescribe these dangerous drugs as if they are harmless and risk-free.

    Isn’t it time for medicine to return to it’s roots, and to spend some time with a patient to find the cause of a problem instead of simply throwing yet another drug at it?

  • FDA In Trouble Again – And Ignoring Congressional Subpoenas

    It seems that there is no end to the trouble this rogue agency can get itself into. It now appears that the FDA has been ignoring congressional subpoenas for information regarding it’s involvement in the approval of the deadly antibiotic Ketek in spite of knowledge that it was causing liver damage and deaths. Worse, there is now evidence that the FDA Chief Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D. may have committed perjury before Congress. Wow! Isn’t it time for a total, top-down housecleaning for this corrupt bureauocracy? Read more about this here: http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron50.htm