12 Types Of Patients Who Won’t Get Well
Written by Wellness Club on January 15, 2014 – 5:04 pm -By Nurse Mark
Dr. Myatt has been practicing medicine for over 25 years now, and I’ve been a Nurse for over 30 years – that’s a lot of time – 55 years of medicine!
And between us we’ve seen tens of thousands of patients; all shapes and sizes, all kinds of problems, all kinds of outcomes. Every one is different, yet there are similarities amongst patients too. There are patients who will get well, and patients who won’t – and we can almost always know which kind they are very soon after meeting them.
Here are some of the patients who aren’t going to get well – see if you know anyone among them:
1.) There’s Penny, as in “”penny wise, pound foolish.”
Penny shops carefully. She clips coupons and looks for bargains wherever possible. “A nickel here, a nickel there; it all adds up!” is her mantra.
Dr. Myatt recommended a supplement and Penny made it her mission to find a better price: a couple of bucks a bottle was saved and Penny was well-pleased with herself.
But now there’s a problem. The product isn’t working for Penny like Dr. Myatt felt it would.
Maybe Dr. Myatt was wrong? Possible, but not likely!
Dr. Myatt recommended a specific brand for a specific reason. She has found through experience that quality is “all over the map” in the supplement industry. (This is well-known and has been written about a lot – by us and others). So Dr. Myatt carefully researches every brand and product she recommends.
The bargain brand that isn’t working might not be in an absorbable form, might be lower in potency than the label states, might contain contaminants or might not even really be the same product. That happens a lot. One thing is for sure: though it was several dollars cheaper than what Dr. Myatt recommended, it’s more expensive in the end if it doesn’t work.
As we say in our office, “The most expensive supplement is the one that doesn’t work.”
2.) Jerry – the little 8 year old girl who stamps her foot and says “you can’t make me.”
Jerry is a smart woman. She “listens to her body.” She uses her “common sense.” She’s highly educated. She knows what she knows and she knows it’s right because, well, she knows.
She listens carefully to Dr. Myatt’s advice. And she compares it with what she “knows.” And if what Dr. Myatt tells her doesn’t agree with what she “knows” there is going to be a problem!
A low carb diet? No can do! I’m on the road a lot, eating in restaurants – it’s impossible!
Exercise? What – on my hectic schedule? Besides, walking is tough with my bad knees…
In bed and asleep by 10:00 PM? Are you crazy? It’s just not possible – I’m a night person!
And on and on it goes…
And besides she just “knows” it isn’t any of those things – it’s got to be something rare, esoteric, something that she has no control over, something that someone else needs to fix for her. Because if she could fix it herself she would have – don’tcha know!
3.) Cathy – the “tell me the same thing every year and I still won’t do it” gal.
Cathy faithfully follows up every year with Dr. Myatt. She knows that her health is important and that Dr. Myatt’s advice can help her achieve her health goals.
She listens carefully to Dr. Myatt’s and looks forward to receiving Dr. Myatt’s recommendations – which she promptly files and forgets, until next year.
“How’s the diet going?” Dr. Myatt will ask. “Well, I really haven’t been following it…” will be the answer.
“And the exercises we agreed you would do?” “Um, well, I’ve been really busy, and the gym is so expensive, and the weather has been bad, and…”
And those supplements Dr. Myatt recommended? “Well, I started taking them, but they didn’t seem to do much, and then I ran out and forgot to order more, and…”
But Cathy says she’ll certainly do better this year, since her complaints are getting worse…
And Dr. Myatt already knows what she’ll hear next year – more of the same.
4.) Kevin – says “I’m eating vegetarian” (or whatever); a lousy diet that he fools himself into thinking is good for him (and all humanity).
“Eating vegetarian” (or more severely, Vegan) isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
After all, it works fine for many animals – cows, horses, deer, rabbits, panda bears – even the great apes subsist just fine on a diet of mostly fruit and leaves. In fact, a carnivorous diet is foreign and even harmful to those animals. Witness the experimental rabbits that were fed high amounts of cholesterol and developed blocked arteries.
But (there’s always a “but” isn’t there?) you’ll note that these animals spend almost all of their waking hours eating. They have to, in order to get the amounts of fats and protein that is required to grow and to maintain health.
There’s another problem here too, in addition to the possibility of protein, fat, and micronutrient deficiency that poorly planned vegetarian / vegan diets pose.
You see, we all like convenience, and the food industry knows that. They are perfectly happy to provide “Vegan-friendly” convenience foods that are just chock-full of chemicals, food coloring, preservatives, and who knows what else, and just as stripped of nutrients as any non-vegetarian convenience food…
So, when you are planning that vegetarian / vegan diet, remember that humans require certain minimum amounts of protein to maintain and build muscle. You do know that the heart is a muscle, right?
And humans require significant amounts of fats to make hormones, and cholesterol for nerve and brain function (you did know that all your nerves are insulated with that, right?) and for cellular health.
You did know that a major portion of the walls of every cell in your body is made of cholesterol, right?
Fats and protein are essential nutrients. Carbohydrate is NOT an essential nutrient – even the US government agrees with us on that. And junk food, no matter how “Vegan-friendly” is still just junk food.
Other popular “diets” come with similar risks of malnutrition – the low salt diets, the low fat diets, the various juicing regimens – all need to be very carefully planned and followed or they can be just another “junk food diet.”
Personally, I figure that my ancestors clawed their way to the top of the food chain by eating animals that graze – I’m not going to mess with success.
5.) Janice – “I’m handling my stress OK.”
Yeah, right.
Janice is a “Very Important Person.” She is busy all the time – places to go, people to see, things to do.
Her kids are a handful, her ageing parents are a worry, her husband is long gone.
But she is doing OK – she’s handling it.
Except for the adrenal fatigue, thyroid problems, overweight, metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, insomnia, and GERD that is…
“Isn’t there just some herb or vitamin pill I can take?” she asks – because she is far too busy for much more than that.
Change her diet? Impossible – she eats at restaurants a lot, and it’s just too hard to get healthy food…
Asleep by 10:00 PM? Not a chance – there’s work to be done, and that is the only time she has without interruptions…
Take some time to exercise, meditate, relax? What part of “I’m a very busy person” don’t you understand, doctor?
Cut back on the coffee and drink more water? Oh, c’mon – isn’t there a pill for that?
And on it goes…
Janice probably won’t do much of anything about her health until it fails her in some catastrophic way.
When the Board of Directors decides they cannot continue to have someone with her health problems as a chief executive or when it all comes apart and Mother Nature says “enough” with frightening finality, then Janice might make some healthy changes – or not.
Until then, she’ll be content to grudgingly spare an hour every few weeks to complain to Dr. Myatt about how busy and stressed she is and how hard it is to follow Dr. Myatt’s recommendations. But she’s “handling it OK” don’t you know…
6.) George – “just keep writing me prescriptions.”
George wants Dr. Myatt to continue writing his prescriptions without the benefit of a consult. He thinks Dr. Myatt only wants that consult for the money, but he is wrong.
George has the idea that because he was a patient 12 months ago, Dr. Myatt should continue to renew his prescriptions as a freebie without re-evaluating his circumstance (or she should give him a free re-evaluation) because of his history with her. After all, he feels good and nothing seems to have changed for quite some time.
Never mind the sore knees, “that’s normal with aging.”
The lack of libido? “What do you expect at my age?” he says.
And he bruises easily? “Well, I am getting older…”
When Dr. Myatt expresses surprise that this is the first she has heard of those things, George will claim he didn’t feel it was worth spending the money for an appointment to discuss it.
Besides, he’s sure that Dr. Myatt will want him to do another one of those expensive tests again – and after all, how much could have changed? “So just renew the prescription already, OK doc?”
Unfortunately, George could be doing so much better – with strong bones and joints, strong libido, and strong skin – if he were to optimize things on a regular basis instead of letting it slide until his health goes to heck in a handbasket.
But that would require an appointment and possibly new testing, so he’ll just muddle along. Surely someone will renew his old prescription without all that fuss and bother…
7.) Heather the Hypochondriac: Every tingle is a serious neurological disease, every palpitation is a heart attack.
Heather called us the other day. She was gardening, and stood up and almost fainted.
So she called 911 and was taken to the E.R. where they did A.T.K.T.M. (a fancy medical acronym for All Tests Known To Medicine – a panel of tests done by nervous E.R. doctors when there is nothing obvious wrong and they have to cover their ass-etts by showing that they’ve left no stone unturned).
They really didn’t find anything, but Heather came home with copies of all the tests for her collection.
Her BP was two points above normal. Her EKG showed a missed beat and a heart rate slightly faster than average. Her hemoglobin was above normal and the chemistry screen showed a high potassium!
So now she is certain that she has hypertension and needs a blood pressure pill.
And that skipped beat – shouldn’t that be investigated further?
With that high heart rate surely she is at risk – could she use up all her heartbeats too soon?
And the high hemoglobin – she’s read about these things - don’t people with blood cancer get too much hemoglobin?
And high potassium – isn’t that dangerous?
Oh, and by the way – she keeps having muscle twitches and leg cramps – isn’t that a symptom of neurological disease and shouldn’t that be investigated?
No matter that there are perfectly sound explanations (and corrections) for all those things – dizziness from hypovolemia (low blood volume), hypovolemia from too little water intake, slightly elevated BP and pulse from hypovolemia and the excitement of being in the E.R., high hemoglobin because the blood is concentrated, high potassium from damage to red blood cells during the blood draw (very common!), and on and on…
The muscle twitches and cramps? A simple magnesium deficiency…
But all those explanations are too easy for Heather, who will feel compelled to continue her quest for a “real” (read that as “serious”) diagnosis.
8.) Bill - “Mr. organ recital.” He wouldn’t give up his diagnosis (if he actually has one) even if he could.
Constantly being sick, and telling everyone about it, is his claim to fame and Bill has a lot of company.
Frank has “his diabetes” – and let’s the world know about it, loudly proclaiming to all within earshot about his dietary restrictions and how this terrible disease impacts his life.
Frank uses insulin, and doesn’t mind (maybe even enjoys) the ritual of testing his blood sugar, calculating his insulin dose, and injecting himself with it – at the meal table, in restaurants!
Everybody is clear — really really clear— on how awful life is for Frank with “his” diabetes.
The problem is, diabetes type II is completely curable with diet changes. But then what disease would be the center of Frank’s “organ recital”?
Maude – with the bad knees – was told by the doctor that her knee joints are “bone-on-bone” and she lets everyone know how this makes it impossible to do the things she would like to do – like tennis, or golf, or even walking. She recently got one of those electric scooters because it was getting to be so hard to get around. (And it gets her special parking spots and all kinds of other “special treatment”!)
Of course Maude is “a few pounds” over weight: She actually exceeds the GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight) for her knees by about 100 pounds. But she’s always been “big” you know, and it’s hard to not gain weight when you can’t exercise…
She is sure that if she could just get knee replacements she would be able to exercise again and lose weight, but the doctors and the anesthetist are reluctant to operate – they say she is too great a surgical risk at her weight. Life is so unfair…
Of course Maude could push away from the meal table a little sooner, or maybe even try some supplements for joint health – but where’s the fun in that?
She loves to eat, and those supplements are so expensive, and Dr. Myatt told her that it would take months for supplements to help rebuild her knees. So she’s holding out for joint surgery – that would be so quick ‘n’ easy…
Judy – with the irritable bowel / Chron’s disease / collitis has a list of dietary restrictions, peculiarities, sensitivities, and rituals a mile long. She is on a never-ending quest to “find out what’s causing this” – as long as “what’s causing this” agrees with what she thinks is causing her distress.
As long as Judy eats a diet of mostly boiled white rice, bananas, and blended peas, (or some such) she is mostly OK – or so she feels. Try something she doesn’t like – something that “doesn’t agree” with her, and it’s all bad.
Judy is looking for some special, magical herb or potion that will make her well again – but it seems that everything she tries is “too strong” for her now-delicate condition: Vitamins make her queasy. Digestive enzymes are “too much” for her “system”. She can’t eat protein – it bloats her. Fats are out of the question – they give her a tummyache and the runs.
So, until Judy finds that magical herb that will make it all better, she will continue to be the life of every dinner party – though the invitations are getting fewer and fewer these days.
By the way, Dr. Myatt has great success with digestive and bowel issues for those willing to heed her advice.
9.) Joe – “I’ll try any conventional diagnostic test.” – not because he needs it but because insurance will pay for it.
Joe has great insurance – he worked long and hard for it, it’s “gold-plated”, and he’s going to get his money’s worth out of it!
So, when a doctor suggests a scan or x-ray, or MRI, or sleep test, or cardiac catheterization, or stress test or some other adventure in medical billing, Joe is all about it.
After all, he’s earned it, and it’s not costing him anything, and who knows – they might find something serious!
Every time Joe has an ache or ping, or whenever something doesn’t feel quite right he pops in to see his doc – who knows Joe well and knows that he can easily sell him yet another test. After all, it’s free for Joe – not even an itty-bitty little co-pay on his “Cadillac plan.”
And guess what – almost every time Joe has a scan or test or diagnostic procedure they seem to be able to find something that needs “further investigation” and that always leads to another scan or test or diagnostic procedure.
Funny how that happens.
So in the end Dr. Myatt spends a lot of time with him, undoing the damage that conventional medicine does with all their scans and tests and diagnostic procedures and the questionable “treatments” that follow.
We call it “Insurance Blight.”
10.) Freddie – only buys bargain (questionable) supplements
Dr. Myatt gives Freddie her best recommendations for supplements – only what he needs, nothing more, nothing less.
But Frugal Freddie never met a “bargain” that he didn’t like. He’s a “child of the depression” and can pinch a penny hard enough to get change from it. He’s actually related to Penny, who we met earlier.
Freddy complains bitterly about his strained finances, so Dr. Myatt is careful to recommend the bare minimums out of respect for Freddie’s “poverty”.
Now, Freddie isn’t really poor – quite the opposite actually, the result of lots of practice pinching pennies and making shrewd deals.
Freddie can afford to eat sirloin – but he buys brisket and complains about the “tough beef nowadays.”
He can afford decent shoes, but he buys the cheapest he can find and complains when his feet hurt and complains again when the shoes fall apart after a few months.
He could afford a good lawn-mower, but makes do with an old piece of junk he found cheap at a yard sale – cussing and sweating as he yanks and yanks and yanks on the cord trying to make it run.
Likewise, Freddie could afford quality supplements if he wanted – but he takes Dr. Myatt’s recommendations and carefully finds really cheap stuff that he says is “just as good.”
Then Freddie complains bitterly that all his “expensive” supplements aren’t working and that those conventional doctors must be right – vitamins really are useless!
11.) Patricia, aka “Sporadic Pat”, takes her supplements once in a while and stops taking them at the most critical times: when traveling, when sick, when things get hectic and stressful.
“Well, it’s so hard to remember to take them every day…” she’ll say. A one-month supply of multiple vitamins lasts Pat three months.
There are ways to make it easy to remember, and Dr. Myatt has suggested them. But Pat is “forgetful” and forgets most often at the times when the need is greatest.
“I was visiting my mom for a couple of weeks, and I just forgot to pack my supplements” she’ll say. Or she’ll catch some nasty bug (probably because she was traveling and forgot to pack her vities) and be sick in bed for a week – feeling too lousy to be bothered with vitamins or supplements… and since she doesn’t take her supplements regularly, she is sick a lot – too sick to take supplements. You get the picture…
Vitamins and other natural remedies and supplements only work if you take them!
It’s funny how people like Pat can “forget” their vitamins or supplements, but never, ever seem to forget their blood pressure medicine, or cholesterol drugs, or their Acid Blocker pills…
12.) Virginia – with her PhD from the University of Google.
“I’ve been doing research,” she proudly tells Dr. Myatt. Oh really?
Was that a placebo-controlled, double-blind study, a retrospective study or a meta-analysis?
What were the p values? The statistical significance? The area under the curve?
How many people in the group and for how long?
What forms and dosages?
What peer-reviewed journal was it published in?
Did she actually read the entire article or just the abstract?
We’ve written about this patient many times – like a butterfly flitting from one “breakthrough” to the next – gazing with wide-eyed wonder at the “research” articles that she finds with Google searches.
It impresses her even more if the article claims to be “information suppressed by the US government” or that “conventional doctors want to keep this secret” or “the drug companies want to hide this from you.”
Virginia reads the testimonials, and the comments on the forums, and accepts those as solid evidence.
She says she found “hundreds” of references on Google that support her latest theory – never mind that on closer examination, most of those ” references” actually refer to a single “study” done by a college student with an agenda, performed on three mice, in a corner of his dorm room, without any controls.
The other “references” are often a misinterpretation or outright obfuscation of other research, twisted to suit some internet blogger’s pet armchair theory.
“But if it’s on the internet it must be true!” Just like if you read it in a newspaper it must be true, right? Yes, Virginia, and there really is a Santa Claus… After all, the New York Sun said so – in print!
Google is a wonderful search tool, and we use it often. But we need to look behind the breathless pitches and promises to see what the research really said.
We must find the original research, and read it carefully – not just the abstract, which can often be made to say exactly the opposite of what the researchers actually found and reported.
Oh… you don’t know for sure? But it looked like a good article about a study that showed decreased cancer in 6 lab rats who were fed green apples? Do you even know that for sure? Or was it someone’s “interpretation” of a study?
Or was it like the well-known study that “proved” that vitamin E supplements could cause up to a 27% increase in lung cancer in smokers? Or so the abstract and popular press headlines claimed… What those headlines forgot to mention was that the study doomed itself to failure by using a synthetic, un-natural, potentially toxic form of vitamin E that no reputable holistic doctor would use, and no reputable supplier would sell for human consumption.
And so Virginia reads on about the “breakthrough science” that she is certain will be the magic to cure her.
All the while neglecting the clinical experience and solid scientific advice that Dr. Myatt is offering her “’cause that’s just so old-school and boring!”
So, there you have it – some of the patient “types” that we know are not likely to ever “get better.” Do you recognize anyone in there?
Posted in Nutrition and Health | Comments Off
Silver – The Antibiotic Of Our Ancestors
Written by Wellness Club on March 4, 2013 – 12:36 pm -By Nurse Mark
Silver has been used as an antimicrobial throughout history.
Ancient Phoenicians kept water and other liquids in silver coated bottles to discourage contamination by microbes.
Many readers may remember the days of fresh milk in “real” glass bottles – and that granny would place a silver coin in the bottle to preserve freshness and prevent spoiling.
The expression “Born with a silver spoon in the mouth” is rooted in old tradition – as the children of wealthy parents would be given a silver spoon to suck and teethe on, and the wealthy have long known the benefits of silver dishes and cutlery in preventing food-borne illness.
Silver containing drops have been applied to the eyes of newborns since the late 1800′s to prevent blindness caused by infection – though this practice is declining as drug companies insist that their patented antibiotic drops be used instead.
During the early years of the 20th century silver was used in the treatment of wounds and silver-containing creams are used today in the treatment of burns.
Silver is a natural, powerful antibiotic – it is bactericidal, and kills fungus and viruses on contact. (1, 2) Researchers have stated:
Silver nanoparticles have mainly been studied for their antimicrobial potential against bacteria, but have also proven to be active against several types of viruses including human imunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, herpes simplex virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and monkey pox virus.
and,
SNP [Silver NanoParticles] also exhibited good antifungal activity (50% inhibition at 75 microg/mL with antifungal index 55.5% against Aspergillus niger and MIC of 25 microg/mL against Candida albicans).
Colloidal silver is not known to be toxic at any dose – though prolonged ingestion of large amounts may cause a cosmetic condition known as argyria – an otherwise harmless bluish discoloration of the skin.
There is even research that suggests that colloidal silver may be an effective treatment for breast cancer! (3) A Mexican study in 2010 concluded:
“The present results showed that colloidal silver might be a potential alternative agent for human breast cancer therapy.”
There are a lot of colloidal silver products on the market, and even instructions for do-it-yourself colloidal silver. Quality however is a concern and it is wise to get your colloidal silver from a trustworthy source with a reputation for quality. Once again, as with most supplements, price can be an indicator of quality and “bargain brands” are no bargain if they contain no silver! Dr. Myatt offers a physician’s grade of colloidal silver – find more information here.
“Hand sanitizers” have become popular in recent years, but few people know their actual contents or risks.
Most hand sanitizers contain substantial concentrations of alcohol. While alcohol is effective as an antimicrobial, it is also harsh on skin – as anyone who has ever accidentally rubbed alcohol into a cut or scratch can attest! Alcohol also poses serious poisoning risks to children.
Most hand sanitizers also contain a variety of other chemicals, from perfumes to pesticides. That’s right, pesticides!
A common chemical used in hand sanitizers is triclosan – which was first registered with the EPA as a pesticide in 1969. (4) While it is effective as an antimicrobial, it is being found to have thyroid and hormone-disruptive effects. (5)
Triclosan has been shown to disrupt thyroid homeostasis in mammalian models (Paul et al. 2010; Rodríguez and Sanchez 2010), and current human exposure levels are in the range of those predicted to have this activity based on laboratory tests (Rotroff et al. 2010). Triclocarban has been shown to amplify endogenous androgen response in mammalian models (Chen et al. 2008).
These are not products that we should be slathering on our hands with out thought for their dangers!
Fortunately, there is an alternative!
ASAP 365 – 24 ppm Silver Gel Soothes Damaged And Injured Skin And Promotes Healing.
It is a highly effective, safe, everyday, natural healing alternative to chemical-laced hand sanitizers.
Dr. Myatt recommends colloidal silver gel both for it’s valuable effects in soothing and healing damaged skin and for daily use as a non-toxic hand sanitizer. This gel rubs in quickly and easily, is non-greasy, and contains no perfumes or dangerous chemicals. It is a valuable addition to a natural first-aid kit for treating minor burns, wounds, fungal and bacterial infections – there are even those who swear by colloidal silver fir the treatment of “Cold Sores” and “Fever Blisters”, and scientific research supports their belief in it’s effectiveness! (1)
ASAP 365 Silver Gel, with it’s non-prescription strength of 24 ppm (parts per million) is gentle enough for everyday use and safe even when used multiple times daily, while being potent enough to be highly effective as an antimicrobial hand sanitizer. This 1.5 fl oz tube is perfect for purse or pocket and is a must-have for your natural first aid kit.
ASAP 365 – 24 ppm Silver Gel is effective, safe, and inexpensive – Dr. Myatt and I carry this with us whenever we travel and use it often – and we don’t use chemical-laden “hand sanitizers”!
References:
1.) Galdiero S, Falanga A, Vitiello M, Cantisani M, Marra V, Galdiero M., Department of Experimental Medicine, II University of Naples, Via De Crecchio 7, 80138, Naples, Italy. sgaldier@unina.it, Silver nanoparticles as potential antiviral agents. Molecules. 2011 Oct 24;16(10):8894-918.
2.) Jain J, Arora S, Rajwade JM, Omray P, Khandelwal S, Paknikar KM. Centre for Nanobioscience, Agharkar Research Institute, India. Silver nanoparticles in therapeutics: development of an antimicrobial gel formulation for topical use. Mol Pharm. 2009 Sep-Oct;6(5):1388-401.
3.) Franco-Molina MA, Mendoza-Gamboa E, Sierra-Rivera CA, Gómez-Flores RA, Zapata-Benavides P, Castillo-Tello P, Alcocer-González JM, Miranda-Hernández DF, Tamez-Guerra RS, Rodríguez-Padilla C., Laboratorio de Inmunología y Virología, Departamento de Microbiología e Inmunología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, N, L, México. Antitumor activity of colloidal silver on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2010 Nov 16;29:148.
4.) http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm
5.) Robin E. Dodson, Marcia Nishioka, Laurel J. Standley, Laura J. Perovich, Julia Green Brody, and Ruthann A. Rudel, Endocrine Disruptors and Asthma-Associated Chemicals in Consumer Products, Environ Health Perspect. 2012 July; 120(7): 935–943. Published online 2012 March 8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404651/
Posted in Family Health | Comments Off
Seven Silly Health Mistakes Smart People Make
Written by Wellness Club on February 16, 2012 – 1:25 pm -Seven Silly Health Mistakes That Lots Of Smart People Make
By Nurse Mark and Dr. Myatt
Even Really Smart People make mistakes sometimes – here are some o fthe more common ‘Oopsies” that we see here at The Wellness Club:
1 – Lots of smart people don’t bother to update their supplement and drug protocol annually. In fact, some go for years and years, taking the same drugs and supplements. Those drugs and supplements might have been right for them way back then when they were prescribed, and who knows – maybe they are right for them now.
But, and this is a big “but, ” people change, and their needs change. They might need more, or less, or different altogether.
Heck – you get your car checked over once a year (you do, don’t you!?!), if you have an investment portfolio we’ll bet you review that annually, if you are a pilot your skills are reviewed regularly – so why don’t folks do an annual health and supplement review? We don’t know, but it can be a costly mistake in terms of expensive drug prescriptions that may no longer be needed or have even become harmful, supplement protocols that could be tweaked for maximum benefit or to have supplements removed or added as necessary.
2 – A lot of otherwise really smart people don’t bother to get updated blood tests every year. Yes, we know, nobody likes needles – but it is all over before you know it, and the information that is gained could literally be a lifesaver. Basic blood tests are inexpensive – even if you pay for them yourself – and your doctor can help you to know what they mean and to spot any irregularities or changes from last year.
For those using hormones (even “bio-identical’ hormones or hormone precursors,) shame on you if you aren’t getting updated hormone tests each year!
3 – Why are so many smart people “penny-wise and pound-foolish” when it comes to their supplements? We like a good bargain as much as the next fellow, but sometimes folks work just a little too hard to save a nickel. Remember, the most expensive supplement (or drug for that matter) is the one that doesn’t work!
So you saved a few bucks on those discount vitamins at Super Bob’s Big Box Discount Emporium – but if they don’t get the job done, or are made with nasty synthetics or chemicals, you really didn’t save anything – you wasted your money on junk.
Or, lots of folks will see their holistic doctor, get some great advice and recommendations, and then ignore that advice and buy some unproven wonder-product based on it’s marketing claims.
Which leads us to the next item:
4 – Lots of smart people like to take some really esoteric stuff and don’t bother to cover their bases with the “essentials” – good, solid, basic vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and nutritional supplements like fish oil and CoQ10.
It’s great that they use a wonderful immune-supporting formula, or take the finest of ginseng, or the latest, greatest antioxidant formula, or a super-duper bone-health product – but if they are not getting their daily basics it’s all for naught. If someone is deficient in the basic vitamins and minerals all the ginseng or calcium in the world is not going to make them healthy!
If you want to see what an optimal daily multiple vitamin should look like, please see the label facts for Dr. Myatt’s Maxi Multi. And to see what an optimal plant-food / phytonutrient formula should look like, see Dr. Myatt’s Maxi Greens.
Oh, and here’s a money and time-saving trick – don’t buy Dr. Myatt’s vities – print out the label facts and hop on down to your local health food store and find something just as good or better there, and probably cheaper. Really. Go ahead. Good Luck.
Interestingly, we’ve seen a lot of people who were taking bunches of separate products, each intended to address some need or other, who were able to reduce the number of supplements they took (and reduce the cost too!) by simply covering the basics with some good, solid, daily “essentials.”
5 – Then there are smart people who get most everything else right, but forget about the really, really basic things that can make-or-break their health: Sleep, food, water – little things that many of us take for granted, but that can turn around and bite you in the health if you don’t pay attention.
Sleep – are you getting at least eight hours (or more!) of quality sleep each night? With no lights on to disturb your circadian rhythm? Oh, right – you are too busy and there’s just not enough time – we’ve heard all the excuses, and none of them wash. You can do without sleep for a little while, but it will exact a toll eventually – in altered hormone levels, unbalanced neurotransmitters, and more.
No problem, you say – I can get to sleep any time I want – I just take that really great little sleeping pill my doctor prescribed for me… Um, here’s a dirty little secret for you: drug-induced sleep is not the same as “real” sleep.
Many of the popular sleep drugs can result in somnambulism – sleep-walking – and people have been known to drive automobiles, eat uncontrollably, even commit serious crimes, all while asleep under the influence of these drugs.
“But I gotta get some sleep – I need those drugs to make me sleep – I can’t sleep any other way!” you say. Well, that does seem to be a problem for a lot of smart and successful and wealthy people like, oh, say, Michael Jackson… and how’s that working for him?
Insomnia can be corrected – primary insomnia (“can’t fall asleep”), secondary insomnia (wide awake in the “wee hours”), each responds well to some basic holistic sleuthing and natural remedies. A good naturopathic doctor can help – no spooky drugs required.
Food - sure, you get plenty to eat, but is it clean, wholesome food? Or is it meat that is filled with antibiotics and growth hormones from the farm, or laced with chemicals and preservatives. Here’s a nasty little secret about preservatives: they work by halting cellular respiration. They stop the cells of the meat from using oxygen and they can do the same for your cells. And those hormones? Do we really think it is a good thing to be dosing ourselves with unknown amounts of hormones with each forkful? Or, howzabout those farm-raised fish, swimming through their own excrement? Mmmm… tasty!
And your vegetables – were they sprayed with pesticides or chemically treated to prevent spoiling? A lot of that stuff just doesn’t wash off…
It is well worth spending a little extra for organic produce, free-range eggs and poultry, grass-fed hormone-and-antibiotic-free meats and dairy products and the like wherever possible. But beware: with the increase in demand for these foods, the scammers have been busy. We often see products with phrases like “All Natural” and “Healthy Choice” emblazoned on them that are anything but natural or healthy. Get into the habit of actually reading the nutrition facts box and the fine print – you’ll be amazed at what some manufacturers will try to slip past your notice!
Now, your water. Yep, plain ol’ water. We take it for granted – but it is vital to life and unfortunately it is often not as healthy and pure as it should be. Many municipal water supplies contain massive amounts of chlorine, or bacteria, or both. Fluoride is still a fact of life in many water supplies despite it’s toxicity. And our water supplies are increasingly tainted with industrial pollutants and even you neighbor’s drugs – after they have passed through your neighbor that is…
But a lot of smart people buy bottled water to drink (which is often just municipal water put into plastic bottles) or use a water filter for their drinking water (which is probably better than buying bottled water…) So? What about the water (and other chemicals) that they absorb through their body’s largest organ, the skin? Yep, there they are, enjoying that nice, hot shower with the pores of their skin wide open and soaking up all that chlorine and fluoride and who-knows-what-else…
A whole-house water filtration system is a great solution, but can be expensive. A shower-head water filter is a lot more economical, and a good drinking water filter in the kitchen will likely not break the bank either. And don’t forget the cooking water! Aquasana is a water filter company that we are familiar with and recommend.
6 – It seems like a lot of otherwise really smart people (like doctors!) fall for the Big Pharma promise of instant symptom relief instead of thinking their problems through and addressing the cause of the problem. Got a headache? Do you really believe that it’s because you have an Aspirin or Tylenol deficiency? Got high blood pressure? Are you sure that it’s a medicine deficiency? Are you sure that “hyperglycemia” is an Actos (diabetes drug) deficiency?
We were not born with all these drugs in our body keeping is in normal health – and we do not become deficient in drugs as we age.
We do become deficient in vitamins and other nutrients when our diet is not optimal, and stress and overweight and even wear and tear can cause our body’s delicate chemical balances to be thrown off – but these are things that can usually be corrected with diet and careful supplementation of things that nourish the body. There is usually no need to hammer on the body’s systems with the brute force of drugs.
7 – One more mistake that smart people make frequently, probably because they really are smart and they are accustomed to researching and finding information on their own, is that they get their medical advice from a variety of sources.
Unfortunately, those sources are usually not trained in medicine – they are the proverbial “butcher, baker, and candlestick-maker” who, while experts in their own fields, and filled with anecdotal stories of the miraculous cure experienced by the next-door neighbor to their Aunt Effie’s daughter-in-law, they really have little more to offer than “try XXX – it really helped my friend, and he had something kinda like you do…”
When you need tax advice do you consult your car mechanic? When you need to diagnose a car problem do you ask your accountant? When you need someone to look after your books do you call on a carpenter? No? Well then, why would you get and follow medical advice from any of those people? Especially when there are highly trained medical people available who would be happy to help you…
Or, better yet, there are some really smart people who actually go out and earn themselves a medical degree – from the “University of Google.” They plug their complaint into the Google search engine, push the button, and Voila! – instant education!
Try using the search term “hypertension” – we just did and Google gave “About 65,500,000 results”. For the math challenged, that is sixty-five and a half million results. Everything from scholarly articles from the National Institutes for Health (N.I.H.) to “advertorials” promoting Viagra for hypertension in women. Yikes! How is a person to know what is real and what is hype?
Then there are the really, really, really smart people:
These are the people who recognize that they are very smart in whatever field of endeavor they are really smart in, and they know that there is not enough time in a day for them to become really smart in every other subject – especially one as complicated as medicine. These are the people who are smart enough to know that there are other people who are really smart at medicine (though they might not know much about tax law or hotel management) and they seek out those smart medical people when they need medical advice.
They carefully and faithfully follow the advice that they receive – though there is always some give-and-take, and much discussion about goals and strategies. After all, really smart people want to be actively involved in they medical care and demand to be a part of the decision-making process for their health regimens and strategies.
Those are the people we like the best, here at The Wellness Club!
Posted in Family Health, Nutrition and Health, Opinion | Comments Off
Fukushima – Worse Than Chernobyl?
Written by Wellness Club on June 2, 2011 – 2:51 pm -Fukushima – “The China Syndrome” realized? YES says the International Atomic Energy Agency!
IAEA confirms meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima
In a news conference today, June 2nd, The IAEA has confirmed that the core of the stricken reactor unit 1 has melted and escaped it’s containment vessel and is now resting on the floor of the reactor building – this is exactly the situation described in the 1979 movie thriller called “The China Syndrome” where a runaway nuclear reactor core could melt it’s way through the reactor building and into the soil below. It then would contaminate groundwater and render huge areas uninhabitable.
The IAEA assures us on their website that nitrogen has is being pumped into the reactor building in an attempt to prevent a hydrogen explosion and that water continues to be pumped in to try to cool the melting fuel pellets.
Wow – I sure feel safer!
Potassium Iodide – will it keep you safe?
There was a “run” on potassium iodide immediately following the tsunami and the revelation that the Fukushima nuclear plant had suffered mortal damage. Governments immediately snapped up supplies for their own people. The public, around the world, quickly followed suit and this lead to shortages that drove prices out of sight and saw bogus and counterfeit products offered as the ghouls and profiteers went to work.
Fortunately as with most such situations the shortages have been brief, manufacturers have caught up with the demand, and prices are returning to normal. Prices have always been normal at The Wellness Club – we refused to raise our prices simply because there was a panic and a demand!
Still, quality products are always more expensive and potassium iodide is no exception. We continue to offer a top quality product – Iodoral – at a reasonable price. But what if you don’t want or need a whole bottle of 90 tablets? After all, you want to have a supply for emergency use, and a 90 tablet bottle is not really convenient and is probably more than you need.
Dr. Myatt has an alternative – a top quality emergency supply of 130 mg tablets – in a convenient, rugged emergency card format that is cheap enough that you can afford a card for each member of your family and an extra few cards to have in your car, at the office, and at any other place you might find yourself if a disaster strikes.
These tablets don’t “expire” until 2014 – and to be quite honest, these are a mineral – as long as the packaging is undamaged they won’t go bad – they will be fine long after that!
Now is the time to get some cheap health insurance for your family – don’t wait until the next disaster (or until the IAEA officials tell us that Fukushima has finally exploded and released a cloud of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere…) when there will be another run of panic buying, and shortages, and price gouging.
Find more information on 14 tablet Potassium Iodide Emergency Cards here! At only 5.99 per card these are a family health assurance bargain.
Finally, if you want to read depressing news about the ongoing disaster at Fukushima, here is a link to the IAEA website that has been set up to report on it. http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html
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"Waxman Amendment" To Return?
Written by Wellness Club on August 4, 2010 – 4:48 pm -Will The “Waxman Amendment” Be Back To Threaten Your Freedom Again?
Nurse Mark Thinks “Yes!”
Opinion By Nurse Mark
HealthBeat News readers will remember that I recently wrote about a piece of political shenanigans that has come to be known as “the Waxman Amendment”. Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA) attempted to insert his unrelated legislative language into The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) – an underhanded ploy that we exposed in this HealthBeat article: HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT – URGENT ACTION NEEDED! The offensive language was eventually stripped from the bill, thanks to the efforts of people like you: Waxman Amendment Fails – You Win!
But beware – the enemies of your vitamins, supplements and natural remedies are nothing if not patient.
I wrote an article two years ago describing the propaganda – er, public relations – efforts that were underway then and that no doubt continue today. EXPOSED: FDA’s Self-Critical Report is a PR Scam
Why do I bring all this up now?
You may have noticed over the past few days and weeks that there have been a increasing number of news articles about vitamins, minerals, and supplements – all warning of the dangers faced by anyone foolish enough to use these things instead of FDA approved drugs and treatments.
A WebMD article warns us that Calcium causes heart attacks.
A drugs.com press release tells us that the FDA warns people not to use Miracle Mineral Solution, an oral liquid solution also known as “Miracle Mineral Supplement” or “MMS.” warning that it produces bleach and can cause serious harm.
A recent news article produced by Consumer Reports breathlessly warns of the dangers of a “dirty dozen” dietary supplements and bemoans the powerlessness of the FDA to quickly and easily remove products from the market.
Even the Consumer Reports article that goes on to list 11 supplements that it feels might be beneficial is grudging and guarded in it’s language.
A common thread running through many of these articles is a cry to give the FDA increased powers to “protect” consumers and dewy-eyed hand-wringing that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) protects dietary supplements from the FDA and prevents the FDA from regulating them as if they were drugs.
While much is made of the rare cases where people have gotten themselves into trouble by mis-using (or abusing) dietary supplements, like the woman who developed a bluish skin discoloration from the chronic overuse of colloidal silver or the overweight and out-of-shape baseball player who became dehydrated and collapsed and died with ephedra in his system at spring training camp, we rarely hear about the serious, even fatal side effects of common, FDA-approved prescription drugs.
Oddly enough, we hear little about those people foolish enough to take topical analgesic gels by mouth, or others who find themselves in need of liver transplants after abusing common Tylenol, or who suffer heart attacks or stroke after using Advil, Motrin or Aleve… or the any number of other medical disasters that can ensue from the use of these “safe and effective” FDA approved drugs.
And really now, why would anyone worry about such a minor little inconvenience like rhabdomyelosis and liver damage from statin drugs, or skin necrosis (death) from several commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals, or the fatal “side effects” and “adverse reactions” that can be a part of taking so many of the FDA’s “approved” drugs… after all, they are “approved”, and they are profitable.
Here is my prediction: we are going to see an increasing number of “news” articles detailing the “dangers” of dietary supplements over the next few months. These stories will be replete with heart-breaking anecdotal tales of personal pain and suffering endured by the unwary “victims” of the unregulated vitamin industry.
The well-meaning writers of these stories will point to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act as being the reason that the FDA cannot adequately “protect” the public from these dangers.
In time there will be some example of harm that will be suffered by some celebrity or sports star or there will have been enough negative press and “the public will demand action.” At this point a legislator will step forward with a solution and that solution will, strangely enough, look a lot like Henry Waxman’s failed initiative.
This solution will call for new powers to be given to the FDA to allow it to “protect consumers” by regulating vitamins, minerals, and supplements as strictly as any synthetic offering from Big Pharma. This, of course, will have the effect of driving many vitamin and supplement makers out of business and raising the prices of any surviving vitamins or supplements so high as to make prescription drugs seem like a bargain.
Watch for it. It is coming. Americans reportedly spend $26.7 billion a year on vitamins, minerals, and supplements.
Big Pharma jealously covets that money.
The Waxman Amendment will return. It is already written and it’s just waiting for the right time, the right incident, the right politician. The DSHEA will be attacked. We are seeing the foundations for that attack being laid now.
Those who have been in the military will be familiar with the concept of this sort of repeating attack; it is known as “BOHICA” – which stands for “Bend Over, Here It Comes Again!”
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