We all love our children and want the absolute best for them. That’s why we research and read reviews on daycares, car seats, bouncers, highchairs, and toys. We scrutinize products from baby soap to diapers to sunscreen along with the food they eat. We just want them healthy and happy.

When it comes time for childhood vaccinations, are we doing the same research? Are we learning about what is in them and about the side effects and adverse reactions that can happen? Or do we blindly put our trust in our doctors, the CDC, and the FDA? Certainly, vaccines are not harmful, right?

Related: How To Heal Your Gut

Well, data from the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) along with the National Childhood Injury Act of 1986 (NCVIA) tell us otherwise.

Informed Consent

The definition of informed consent is, “The permission granted in the knowledge of the possible consequences, typically that which is given by a patient to a doctor for treatment with full knowledge of the possible risks and benefits.”  Being informed is having full knowledge of both the positive and negative side effects of any medical procedure or prescription – in other words, having and understanding all of the facts and possible outcomes.

• When you go to the pediatrician or doctor’s office, do they go over the complete vaccine insert with you? If not, there is no possible way for you to give them informed consent to vaccinate.
• Do they discuss the benefits and risks of the vaccine? If they don’t, you cannot give informed consent and they are not complying with the legal requirements put in place for vaccine providers. (Refer to the link in sources.)
• Do they talk to you about the live viruses that could shed up to six weeks and longer? If not, you cannot give informed consent.

It is sad and scary that they can just hand you a brochure about all the “benefits” of the vaccines and think that you will be informed enough to give proper consent, especially if they do not disclose all of the relevant aspects of the vaccine. When you give doctors or nurses consent to vaccinate, you are acknowledging that if you or your child has a severe adverse reaction or dies, you will not be able to hold them legally accountable. The vaccine manufacturers, the medical professional who administered the vaccine, and the CDC will not take responsibility for any adverse effect that vaccines can cause. That is a sad reality and a very heavy truth.

The MMR sheds because it contains live viruses. If your child is vaccinated, your child can potentially infect other individuals even those who are already vaccinated. Vaccines are not 100% effective. The insert admits this. Did your pediatrician tell you about viral shedding? If not, once again, you did not give informed consent.

The chance of actually dying from the measles is microscopic compared to the chance of having a severe adverse reaction from the vaccine. In 2015, only 189 cases of measles were reported. Out of those 189 cases, there were zero deaths. In fact, there has not been a single death from the measles since 2003.

Sixty-seven percent of individuals who were admitted due to febrile seizures were linked to the MMR vaccine and seizures are just one of many possible adverse reactions. Another is encephalitis, swelling of the brain. This happens to 1 out of every 1000 who are vaccinated, and 50% of them end up with neurological brain issues.

In the first half of 2016, 57 deaths due to the MMR vaccine were reported, but we know these numbers are highly inaccurate. Only 1% to 10 % of doctors report vaccine adverse reactions to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System(VAERS), the program created to gather vaccine adverse reaction data and make it available to the public. (See link below.) Many do not recognize or acknowledge the connection between vaccine adverse reactions and the vaccine, even when a reaction occurs hours or days after the vaccine.

The media and medical professionals portray measles as a scary, horrible disease that always ends in death. That is simply not the case. Measles usually starts out with a mild to moderate fever, a cough, a runny nose, and a sore throat. Sometimes conjunctivitis is a symptom as well. After 2 to 3 days, the body breaks out in small red spots from the head down. While this is happening, the fever can rise as high as 104 to 105.8.

High fevers can scare us, especially if we don’t understand that fevers are good, that they are a sign that the immune system is working to fight off a virus. The increase in body temperature is the body’s reaction to kill the virus by making the body uninhabitable for the virus. (See link below.)

In the 50’s, catching the measles wasn’t a big deal. Kids were just happy to stay home from school.  Today, the pharmaceutical industry and vaccine manufacturers have indoctrinated the medical field to believe that measles is a horrific disease and refusal to vaccinate is one step away from signing your child’s death certificate. In reality, measles is usually nothing more than a scary looking rash and fever.

Related: Vaccine Articles

Think about it, what would you and your child rather have? Measles for a few uncomfortable days followed by natural immunity that lasts a lifetime or daily seizures from a vaccine that still may not guarantee 100% immunity? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC, recommends vaccination with the MMR at 12-15 months and then again between the ages of 4-6, and again as an adult if your blood-work does not show immunity. How can they recommend a vaccine so many times when it has numerous adverse reactions and even death associated with them?

Vaccination Timeline Graphs

Did you know that the mortality of measles was almost 100% wiped out right before the measles vaccine was introduced? This 1900-1963 measles graph from the CDC tells us so. The measles vaccine was introduced in 1963.

Then here we have the diphtheria graph. The diphtheria toxoid was licensed in 1923 and again, the decline of death from the disease had already started before the vaccine was introduced. 

We see the same thing happening with typhoid fever. The typhoid vaccine was introduced in 1914.

The FDA blows the whole “…un-vaccinated children give other children pertussis” argument out of the water. On their site, they say the following:

 This research suggests that although individuals immunized with an acellular pertussis vaccine may be protected from disease, they may still become infected with the bacteria without always getting sick and are able to spread infection to others, including young infants who are susceptible to pertussis disease.”

Read the link at the bottom to see what they have to say about the rising rates of pertussis, aka whooping cough.

Just like many other diseases, pertussis was already declining before the pertussis vaccine was licensed in 1949. Since the vaccine, cases are on the rise.

The same thing again can be seen with polio. It was already nearly eradicated due to clean water and better sewer and sanitation systems. The vaccine was introduced in 1955.

Ever since we started injecting the live virus back into people, there have been more outbreaks because vaccines contain the live viruses and those who are vaccinated shed the virus. The unvaccinated are being blamed for it, but how can that be? Healthy kids and adults don’t spread diseases because they simply don’t have any. Sick individuals who contain live viruses in their bodies are the ones who spread it to others. The data speaks the truth.

All of these diseases were declining at a rapid pace since the introduction of clean water, better sewer and sanitation systems, refrigeration systems, and better hygiene, but sadly, the CDC is taking extreme measures to have you believe that vaccines are responsible for the decline of diseases. Why? Because the vaccine industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with huge profit margins.

Dating back to 1880-1900, better sewer and sanitation systems were slowly being built across the states. Looking back at the 1850’s, they used clay for the sewer systems, which in turn caused poor coverage and many leaks in the pipeline. The degrading and primitive clay sewer system allowed sewage to leak out into the ground water that was then consumed by many citizens.

Polio is a disease spread by contaminated fecal matter. Once better sewer and sanitation systems were developed, polio started to decline before a vaccine was licensed and introduced.

By 1900, the importance of proper hygiene became known. It improved the lifespan by up to 6 years. This included not only washing hands but washing clothes as well, which took care of lice and vermin. Proper hygiene ended the typhoid epidemic.

Refrigeration systems were introduced in 1904. Refrigeration allowed food to be stored for longer periods without contamination.

The CDC graphs show that sewer, sanitation, and refrigeration systems were all introduced around the same time many diseases started their rapid decline. We were well on our way to the eradication of diseases before (and until) vaccines were introduced.

Healthcare physicians are taught to believe that vaccines are and always have been safe and effective. They were not taught to question the safety of them or what is in the vaccines.

Physicians’ textbooks are bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry. Every year the pharmaceutical companies spend $5 billion dollars in marketing. (See link below.)

If $5 billion dollars was spent in third world countries to build sanitation systems and provide access to clean water, widespread diseases would be dramatically decreased. Pharmaceutical companies do not want to eradicate disease. Without disease, they would lose their enormous profits.

Ingredients

Here are a few out of the many toxic ingredients found in vaccines. Did you know that there are aborted fetal cells in some vaccinations? It lists them in the vaccine inserts as MRC-5 and WI-38. Some also list it as human diploid cells. (See the CDC and NCBI link below.)

Glutaraldehyde

Glutaraldehyde is used as a sterilant and high-level disinfectant. It is so dangerous to those who work with it that they have to wear respirators, isolation gowns, gloves, eyewear, and sleeve protectors. If exposed, it can cause chronic asthma, constant itching of the eyes, rhinitis, dermatitis, and eczema. Not all reactions happen immediately. Studies show that reactions can be delayed from a few weeks to several years after exposure.

Polysorbate 80

Polysorbate 80 is a solubility agent found in ointments, creams, soaps, and common foods such as pickles and ice cream. It is a known carcinogen that can cause severe, non-immunologic anaphylactic shock, which means that it can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction.

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is also a known carcinogen. Scientists say any exposure to it can cause certain types of cancers.

2-phenoxyethanol

2-phenoxyethanol is used as an insecticide.

Aluminum

Aluminum is a neurotoxin linked to Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia as well as cancer.

Thimerosal

Thimerosal is a form of mercury. It is a known neurotoxin.

Phenol

Phenol is a germicidal agent that is highly toxic to the skin. It causes irritation to the eyes, skin, and mucous membranes. If contacted orally, it can cause ongoing weight loss, vertigo, diarrhea, and blood and liver effects. In animals, it causes abnormal development in their offspring. Injecting phenol can cause the skin to rub off, motor weakness, sensory loss, tremors, convulsions, chest pain, shortness of breath and drowsiness, and more. When injected, phenol acts as a nerve block that temporarily destroys nerves.

Recombinant Human Albumin

Recombinant human albumin is a natural protein found in the body and taken from plasma and blood donators. It says not to mix it with any other types of blood or blood components, yet it is in a vaccine with fetal bovine serum. There are no studies to deem this safe and effective for pregnant woman or children younger than 12. Adverse reactions can include edema, tachycardia, fever, chills, vomiting and headaches. Since it is a blood product, there is also a small risk of the transmission of a viral disease. Fetal bovine serum is another name for fetal calf serum. It is the blood remaining after the natural coagulation and the removal of any remaining blood cells.

Other Ingredients

Other scary and toxic ingredients include, but are not limited to:

• Potassium chloride, which can stop the heart
• Monosodium L-glutamate (MSG). This can cause diabetes and is associated with dementia.
• Sorbitol, which is said not to be injected
• Sodium bicarbonate also known as baking soda.
• Sodium borate, also known as Borax, which is used for insecticide and detergent. It is linked to seizures and convulsions.
• Vero cells, which are cells from a monkey’s kidney.
• Chick embryo cell cultures.
• Embryonic guinea pig cultures.
• Human lung cultures.
• Antibiotics.

More about the vaccine ingredients can be found below and by reading vaccine inserts.

NVIC Act 1986

In 1986, the National Vaccination Information Center teamed up with Congress to come up with the National Childhood Injury Act of 1986 because far too many children were having adverse reactions and they didn’t want the manufacturers of the vaccines to be liable for any injury or death because the public’s trust in them would subside. In order to set this up, a percentage of every vaccine given is put into the fund. The vaccine manufacturer can no longer be sued even in cases of severe disability or death. The US Court of Claims has paid out $3 billion dollars to devastated vaccine injured victims, even though 2 out of 3 cases are denied compensation. (See link below.)

So how is it pharmaceutical companies and government agencies can claim vaccines are safe when people all around the world are having adverse reactions and even dying? Isn’t vaccinating your child like playing Russian Roulette since you have no way of knowing how their bodies will react to the heavy toxins?

Conclusion

We live in a time when IKEA dressers can be recalled due to 6 deaths, but vaccines continue to kill and maim both children and adults. We don’t recall the vaccines. Instead, our government claims they are safe, effective, and needed for the common good. They pass laws to mandate their use.

As long as pharmaceutical companies are allowed to wield their power over government regulatory agencies and the general practice of medicine as a whole, their profits will supersede public health. If we become informed – truly informed – will we continue to give consent, to place our children at risk of death or lifelong disability? 

Related Articles:

• Why Don’t You Vaccinate – Dinner For Thought
• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• Doctors Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Reasons Not to Vaccinate
• A Burden of Guilt – Learning About Vaccine Dangers the Hard Way

Sources:

• The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 – NVIC.org
• Measles, Mumps, and Rubella – Immunize.org
• Putting Measles Into Perspective – Vaxtruth.org
• Can Measles Vaccine Cause Injury & Death? – NVIC.org
• Information Sheet Observed Rate of Vaccine Reaction Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccines – WHO
• Should Your Child See a Doctor? Myths – About – Seattle Childrens.org
• Fever Reducing Drugs May Prolong Fever Bout – Sun- Sentinel.com
• The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Role in U.S. Medical Education – In-Training.org
• FDA News Release – FDA
• Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary Excipients Included in U.S. Vaccines, by Vaccine – CDC
• Characteristics and viral propagation properties of a new human diploid cell line – NCBI
• Safe Use of in GlutaraldehydeHealthcare – OSHA
• Polysorbate 80 in medical products and nonimmunologic anaphylactoid reactions – NCBI
• Phenol – UPMC.com
• Albumin Human (Albuked-5, Albuked-25, Albuminar-5, Albuminar-25, Alburx, Albutein, Buminate) – Medicinenet.com
• Formaldehyde and Cancer Risk – Cancer.gov
• Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Timeline – Great Achievements.org
• Early Sewage Conveyance Systems – Sewer History.org
• Medical History — Hygiene and Sanitation – Hacienda Pub.com
• The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System – VAERS

In recent years, scientists have learned more about the microbes residing in the human gut and how they affect health and wellbeing. We have learned that microbes outnumber human cells in the body – roughly 90% microbes to 10% human cells. We know the microbes in our gut help digest our food and in the process help create vitamins, neurotransmitters, and hormones. We know 80% of our immunity begins in the gut. We are beginning to understand the link between the gut, autoimmune diseases, and neurological syndromes.

Earlier studies confirmed that bacteria in the gut of obese people is different than normal intestinal flora. Thin people have a diverse and plentiful microbial ecosystem in their gut, whereas obese individuals do not. Some particular strains in obese people even differ from those who are lean. Transplanting these microbes can cause obesity in mice studies. Further studies will tell us if the reverse is true, if transplanting healthy microbes can reverse obesity.

Next, we learned that maternal obesity was associated with alterations in the gut microbiome of their babies. Then scientists performed statistical studies that revealed children born to obese mothers showed an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Then the question arose – Does the intestinal microbiota and what has been known as the gut brain axis play a part in neurodevelopmental disorders? Could altered gut microbiota induce autistic behaviors?

The answer is a resounding yes. A new study clearly showed that mice born to obese mothers were missing several strains of bacteria in their guts. Behavior equivalent to autism in humans become prevalent in this group. When given the missing bacterial species, oxytocin levels and synaptic dysfunction were corrected and social deficit behaviors were reversed, but not all symptoms were eliminated.

This fascinating study clearly linked gut health and autism, and opened the door to further research as well as prevention and treatment options for obesity and autism.

This is not the first time that gastrointestinal disease has been associated with autism. An earlier investigation into the connection between gut health and autism began 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the causal factor for that study was not maternal obesity. Instead, the MMR vaccine appeared to be the common cause of the intestinal disease in most of the children, but like the recent study, the intestinal disease was clearly tied to the autism.

A Fresh Look at Dr. Andrew Wakefield

It all began on May 17^th, 1995, when Dr. Andrew Wakefield received a call from a mother who told him that her child was developing normally before receiving an MMR vaccination. After the vaccine, her child regressed into autism and began suffering from terrible gastrointestinal problems. She told him there were other children she knew of with the same story.

In February 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Prof. John Walker Smith, Dr. Simon Murch, and 10 other co-authors published a case study of 12 children in the Lancet, a British Medical Journal. The case study of these 12 autistic children with gastrointestinal disease stated the following:

“Findings: Onset of behavioral symptoms was associated, by the parents, with measles, mumps, rubella vaccination in 8 of the 12 children.” Lancet 1998

The researchers were correctly reporting information as collected, as they would in any case study. But Wakefield went on to publicly bring attention to the possibility that the MMR vaccine might be a causal factor in autism, and he recommended that parents choose the individual measles, mumps, and rubella shots (spaced out over time) rather than the MMR combination vaccine.

The individual shots, which were available in both the UK and the USA at the time of Wakefield’s recommendation, were soon discontinued (within 6 months in the UK). The publication, the publicity, and the controversy caused an uproar. Dr. Wakefield was blamed for a sharp decline in vaccine compliance in the UK and to some extent in the U.S.A.

Dr. Wakefield contends that the decline in the MMR was matched by an uptake of the individual shots before they were discontinued, that vaccine compliance was not actually affected until the individual shots were discontinued. He believes the blame for the decline in the vaccination rate should rest with those who chose to discontinue the individual vaccines.

The controversy Dr. Wakefield stirred was probably enough to make him a target, but he increased his risk by agreeing to serve as an expert witness for parents of autistic children who were entering litigation.

Then the United Kingdom General Medical Council regulatory board (GMC), the licensing board for physicians in England, ruled that the study and the published paper were fraudulent. Ten of the authors signed a letter retracting the claim that the MMR vaccine caused autism, even though the paper stated no such conclusion. Wakefield, Smith, and Murch refused to sign the paper and were brought up before the GMC on misconduct charges.

In an interview, Andy Wakefield said,

At the GMC, there were 3 defendants: Professor Walker Smith, who was at the time the world’s leading pediatric gastroenterologist, a very senior man with an impeccable record, an unimpeachable career, one of his juniors, Dr. Simon Murch, and… and myself. All three of us were found guilty.

“Simon Murch did not lose his license, but Walker Smith and I lost our license. He was then funded to appeal in the English high court. I did appeal but I … for financial reasons… it was impossible for me to pursue that. And it was not a primary objective after that to restore my license. There were more import things to do.

“But Professor Walker Smith did appeal and at that appeal, the first time this case had ever come before a proper judiciary…a proper judge… and the judge destroyed the General Medical Council’s decision.

“He said effectively they were incompetent. They were not in a position to judge the evidence. That they made mistakes; they got the facts wrong. They misrepresented the evidence. And worse of all, they were biased. They had made up their minds from the outset that we were guilty. And he completely overturned their decision and said in effect this must never happen again.

“Walker Smith was completely reinstated and all charges against him utterly dismissed. Ninety percent of the charges against Walker Smith were the same charges as those against me. The paper should have been reinstated and yet the Lancet editor refused to do that in order to protect his reputation and his job.”

It was 2012 when Professor Smith won his appeal against the GMC and his license to practice medicine was restored. The story, according to Wakefield, was published in one newspaper. How many children have been sacrificed to protect the pharmaceutical industry in the last 20 years?

Andy Wakefield continues to defend the paper he and his co-authors published, and he continues to state the need for the MMR vaccine to be discontinued and individual shots to be manufactured and distributed in its place. He recently came back into the news as the director of the film Vaxxed: From Cover Up to Catastrophe, a film about the CDC whistleblower, Dr. William Thompson who revealed data was removed from a study that confirmed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Though Andrew Wakefield is alive and well, when Del Bigtree, the producer of Vaxxed, discussed Wakefield’s past, the loss of his license, position, and influence in this critical area of research, he sounds like he is delivering a eulogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR4br7WrkqA

The world lost one of the greatest scientific minds of our times when Andy Wakefield was taken from us. This was a man who was doing studies that were going to lead to healthier vaccines and better ways to take care of the health of our children. That, unfortunately, was going to cost a lot of money for the vaccine industry, and they cared a lot more about their industry and their money than they did the health of children. And so I can confidently say, that I am proud to be working on this picture about the CDC whistleblower with Andy Wakefield.”  – Del Bigtree interview for ABC World News Tonight 3/26/16

Conclusion

Clearly, evidence that our health is dependent on our gut microbiome keeps growing. Leaky gut syndrome leads to a host of illnesses including autoimmune diseases. The microbiome is linked to mental illness, obesity, and immunity. And now, we once again are seeing a clear link with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders on the autism spectrum.

Whether adult or child, a healthy gut is fundamental to a healthy life. And gut health begins with diet. A prebiotic diet with 80% fresh, raw, organic produce helps establish and maintain a healthy microbiome. We need to avoid antibiotics along with artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. Eliminate MSG and GMOs. Limit or eliminate processed sugar and gluten. Eat real food, not nutrient stripped processed food. Avoid pesticides.

We can rebuild a healthy gut through diet as we detox from heavy metals and the chemicals that disrupt and kill healthy bacteria in our gut. We can kill off the overgrowth of Candida that causes us to have a permeable gut. We can choose to live a healthy lifestyle and we can help our children live a healthy lifestyle. Some of those choices will be hard. Do we continue to eat the standard American diet? Do we keep poisoning our food and our bodies with glyphosate and GMOs? Do we use conventional soaps and shampoos filled with chemicals? Do we follow the current vaccine schedule? With the looming prediction that 1 of every 2 children will have autism if we continue on this path, we need to make the right decisions now.

Further Reading:

• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• The MMR Vaccine – A Comprehensive Overview of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness
• Doctors Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

Sources:

• How Gut Bacteria Help Make Us Fat and Thin – Scientific American
• Microbial Reconstitution Reverses Maternal Diet-Induced Social and Synaptic Deficits in Offspring – Cell
• Dr. Andrew Wakefield Deals With Allegations – You Tube

Have you been wondering what the deal is with those salt lamps? It’s not just the nice ambient light. Salt lamps actually help filter the air, removing dirt, pollen, bacteria, viruses, pet dander, mold spores, positive ions, and more. Right now, salt lamps seem to be all the rage within the natural health community. Users report a dramatic change in the quality of air in their home, leading to many health benefits.

Reported health benefits of Himalayan salt lamps include:

• Improves difficulty with breathing
• Reduces allergy symptoms
• Less stress due to a calming and soothing effect
• Better cognitive function, ablility to concentrate
• Less fatigue when working for long periods around other electronics
• Fewer headaches and migraines
• Reduced symptoms from many autoimmune diseases like rheumatism and arthritis.
• Skin is healthier, more supple
• Insomnia is relieved (though those who suffer from insomnia may not do well with the light on at night; reviews are mixed on this issue)
• Fresher air that smells better and feels better to breathe
• A better overall sense of health and wellbeing

See for yourself. If you typically sit and work at a computer for your job, this will be easy. Put a salt lamp on your desk next to you for a day and compare the difference. Anyone who is in tune with their body will be able to feel it easily, but understanding why this happens is a bit more complicated, but very illuminating (pun intended).

(you can purchase salt lamps here)

Recommended: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

Positive and Negative Ions

An ion is a molecule that, through environmental influences, has lost or gained an electron. The names seem a little backward from our perspective. Positive ions have a negative effect on us while negative ions have a positive effect. Positive ions are usually carbon dioxide molecules that have been stripped of an electron. Negative ions are usually oxygen molecules that have gained an electron. Negative and positive ions are drawn to each other. They bind to neutralize.

Positive ions are created by electrical equipment: clothes dryers, computers, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, televisions, electric stoves, wireless networks, etc. They are also created by pollution. City air is filled with positive ions.

Negative ions are abundant in nature, especially in forests, near the ocean, and near waterfalls. They are created by the movement of water, by sunlight, and by the Earth’s radiation. When you sit beside a waterfall or stand on the beach near the ocean, you breathe in air that just seems to fill you with energy. This is the effect of negative ions.

Incidentally, old growth forests produce many more ions than young forests.

The trouble is, with our lives predominantly spent in offices, houses, and cars, we’re blocking out nature’s negative ions while we produce positive ions that bombard our bodies virtually every minute of every day.

EMFs, like daylight, and blue and white lights, depress the conversion of serotonin to melatonin, and melatonin is what the body needs for quality sleep.

Recommended: Best Supplements To Kill Lyme and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Lyme Disease

The Positive Health Benefits of Negative Ions

This is what most sellers of salt lamps focus on.

Bacteria, mold, and yeast flourish in a positive ion environment. Many allergens and other air pollutants are positively charged, and the positive ions themselves are believed to have a detrimental effect on our health as well. Research is really just getting started in this area, and it is a source of much debate and contention. A this point, we do know that at least there are serious health issues with some people when exposed to EMFs.

Negative ions will “detoxify” the air. The negative ions attach to the positively charged particles in large numbers, causing mold spores, pollen, pet dander, cigarette smoke, bacteria, viruses, odors, dust, and other hazardous airborne particles to become too heavy to stay airborne. But negative ions by themselves seem to provide health benefits as well. This surfeit of negative ions has long been associated with improvements in mood and physical health. It’s still early, but research conducted in the last decade is now starting to show that negative ions have a net positive effect on our health (aside from the aforementioned benefits of neutralizing the air). Ideally, we should be spending most of our time in nature not only to get away from positive ions, but to immerse ourselves in negative ions.

One of the most tantalizing hints regarding negative ions and health surfaced when German researchers discovered a link between catecholamine regulation and lifespan after depriving experimental animals of negative ions. First, researchers at the Goldstein and Lewin Dept. of Medical Research in Stahnsdorf, Germany isolated mice and rats in air-tight, sealed acrylic cases. Next, they filtered the ambient air to remove all negative ions from the sealed cases. Their research led to the discovery that a prolonged deficiency of negative ions led to an accelerated rate of death for the experimental animals. Examination of the animals led researchers to conclude that the results ‘…strongly suggest that animal death is related to disturbances in neurohormonal regulation and pituitary insufficiency.'” – NutritionReview.org

Outdoor conditions away from the city have an average ratio of 40% positive ions to 60% negative ions. Inside our homes and offices, there’s a huge buildup of excess positive ions. This is why we have static electricity inside buildings. Rub your feet on carpet and touch a doorknob and you might get a shock, but you won’t be able to repeat this process out in a forest.

Recommended: Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)

Common building materials that contribute to electrostatic buildup include carpets, vinyl, plastics, drapes made with synthetic materials, wallpaper, paints, varnishes, dimmer switches, poorly wired homes (not up to current code), smart meters, and much more. Fluorescent lighting is a huge source of EMFs. Forcing people to work or attend school under this fluorescent lighting was one of the worst ideas of the 20th century. Most of our buildings also have poor ventilation and low humidity which allows static energy to build up.  As if that wasn’t enough, the ductwork, copy machines, printers, computers, and other devices that ground will actually ground off the beneficial negative ions, leaving a greater number of positive ions.

Bacteria, mold and yeast flourish in a positive ion environment. Ductwork, copy machines, computers and other devices ground off negative ions resulting in a greater number of positive ions. The grounding off of negative ions in HVAC systems contributes to bacteria and mold growth in the air distribution network. Frequent cleaning of ductwork and sanitizing it with a non-toxic citric cleanser can eliminate a predisposition to ‘sick building syndrome,’ but will not solve negative ion depletion.”  – Richard Crowther

How Do Salt Lamps Generate Negative Ions?

Salt attracts moisture. The small amount of heat given off by the light bulb inside of the block of salt creates heat, evaporating the moisture. This evaporation action, as previously mentioned, will reduce the amount of positive ions in the room, which in turn increases the amount of negative ions, and many also believe the evaporation process itself also creates additional negative ions. There’s some debate on this issue. Salt lamps may not actually literally generate negative ions themselves. Regardless, we do know for sure that they do reduce the amount of positive ions in the air, increasing the ratio of negative to positive ions by way of attracting positively charged water molecules and exhausting neutral vapor into the air.

When a negative ion comes in contact with a positive ion they neutralize one another. Negative ions attach themselves to the positively charged molecules floating in the air and the molecules become too heavy to remain airborne. And as they fall, they take the airborne allergens and toxins with them, as mentioned in an earlier paragraph.

If salt lamps produce negative ions, even a very large salt lamp will only produce them in a small radius. But as mentioned, after some time, the room will be full of negative ions. A negative ion generator would produce far more negative ions in the room more quickly. On the other hand, ionizers are more expensive, they aren’t as pretty to look at. Salt lamps definitely do remove positive ions, and salt lamps offer other benefits, too. While the ions are what most people who sell salt lamps have been focusing on lately, consider negative ions from salt lamps as an added benefit. They have much more to offer.

Salt, Water Vapor Attraction, and Evaporation

Water vapor is in the air we breathe. Indoor humidity carries a positive charge. Airborne pathogens (bacteria, viruses, mold, fungus, etc.) and other irritants and toxins use the airborne water molecules (humidity, vapor) to travel onto our skin and into our lungs.

Salt is hygroscopic, which means that it attracts and holds water molecules from the surrounding environment. The bigger the block of salt, the more water vapor it attracts, carrying with it the airborne contaminants. When the salt is heated, more vapor is attracted to the salt lamp, and the water is then dispersed back. Particles are left stuck to the salt lamp. The pathogens die while the heat from the light bulb causes the water to evaporate back into the air.

Recommended: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

The ambient air surrounding a salt lamp is measurably cleaner by the transformation cycle of hydrogen and oxygen, as well as sodium and chloride ions. This characteristic is especially helpful for relieving the symptoms associated with asthma and allergies in general.

The range for the wattage of bulb that should be used is pretty wide, but large salt lamps need more wattage to produce desired results but too much wattage will retard the lamp’s ability to absorb the water from the air.

Every week or so turn off your salt lamp, let it cool off for an hour, and wipe the lamp with a barely damp cloth.

Electromagnetic Oscillation

An electromagnetic field surrounds the Earth.  All life on this planet depends on this electromagnetic field of vibration. This field is known as the Schumann resonance frequency. The frequency of this electromagnetic field resonates at 7.83 Hz (cycles) per second. We also know that our brains (and we believe our entire body and all other mammals) operate on this frequency.

In its neutral state, a salt crystal exhibits the very same frequency oscillation value, just under 8 Hz. EMFs caused by electronic devices have very diverse, chaotic frequency values. As mentioned above, we now know that these frequencies disturb our natural electric field, which upsets the natural development of our cells, unbalances our hormones, disrupts our natural sleep rhythm, and promotes illness. We are electrical beings, and the wrong electrical energy surrounding us robs our bodies of energy we use to live.

The atomic structure of salt is neutral. It is believed that salt lamps are a natural amplifier of frequencies around 7 to 10 Hz and can neutralize those harmful, chaotic, electromagnetic wavelengths caused by electronic devices.

Himalayan Salt Lamp Color Therapy

The light emitted from a salt lamp may not strike most people as a substantial health benefit, but light color has huge effect on our lives!

  The Healing Effect of Light Colors on our Body and Mind:

• Pink – Supports loving emotions, trust, compassion.
• Brown – Supports emotional balance and emotional clarity, a “grounded” feeling.
• Orange – Facilitates a feeling of security, beneficial to our nervous system, and helps to activate the kidneys and bladder.
• Yellow – Encourages mental comprehension, and activates the pancreas, liver, and gall bladder.
• Red – Strengthens the heart and blood circulation, contributes to a feeling of alertness.
• Blue – Raises energy levels, suppresses melatonin, boosts mental clarity, and elevates mood.
• White – This is balanced light which includes all of the other colors. White light has a cleansing and detoxifying effect on the body.

Consider our sunsets and sunrises and the different colors that come out of the sky. It makes perfect sense that we react to colors the way we do.

While we recommend LED lights over fluorescent lights for health reasons, it should be know that LED lights emit a blue light. It looks very white to most, and some bulbs look whiter than others, but it’s still a blue light to our body, which is great for daytime, but should be totally avoided as the sun goes down. This blue light from our computers, TVs, cell phones, and other electronics, inhibit the release of melatonin, which causes sleep disturbances and leads to other hormonal imbalances.

Salt lamps don’t emit blue light. The soft pink, brown, and/or orange light of a Himalayan salt lamp is soothing. The specific oscillation values of salt crystal lamps depend upon the crystalline color structure of the salt.

Some people choose to sleep with the lamp on. Some lamps have dimmers, but dimmer switches may put out enough EMFs to counteract the lamp’s effects when the lamp is turned down low. Some people say it helps to leave the light on while sleeping, but while it certainly is not as disruptive as some of the other light spectrums, no light is usually considered best for facilitating deep sleep.

It does make sense to use the light of a salt lamp before and after bedtime. If you want to leave the lamp on all night, but don’t want to see the light, try this: When you’re just about to go to sleep, move the lamp behind something and drape some dark fabric on the lamp, like a hand towel.

Recommended: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Where and How To Use Himalayan Salt Lamps

To receive the maximum benefit from salt lamps, position them close to you in places you frequent. For instance, if you work at a desk, put one on your desk, closer to you than your computer and other electronic devices. If possible, place one in every room.

Remember the salt attracts moisture and the light bulb evaporates that moisture. If the light is not turned on for several hours a day, it will become wet, enough to cause a puddle. If your lamp will be turned off for a long period of time, wrap it well in plastic, sealing out humidity.

As mentioned previously, it’s a good idea to unplug the lamp once a week to let it cool off, and wipe it off with a damp rag. Don’t use a damp or wet rag on the lamp when it is hot.

How to Choose a Himalayan Salt Lamp

There are plenty of low priced salt lamps on Amazon, at Walmart, etc. Most of them work (check reviews), and if you’re unsure, a cheap one may be a good place to start. But cheap salt lamps really are a pain in the butt. A high-quality salt lamp looks much better, should last for decades, and you’ll see its worth in comparison to a cheap lamp. Cheap lamps have cheap bases that break in no time, bulb fixtures that don’t stay in, and the larger lamps often come with a bulb that doesn’t have enough wattage.

Every Himalayan salt lamp is unique. The shape and colors vary. Generally, the darker shades of pink and orange are considered higher quality. Cheap lamps are usually a very light pink and typically have visible black deposits within them.

The bigger the size, the bigger the effect. The weight of a salt lamp is a good indicator as to how well it can clean the air. Price is, of course, a factor, so if your budget is limited, use these salt lamp sizes as a rough guide:

• On a desk, a smaller crystal salt lamp between 5 and 10 pounds is large enough as long as the lamp is positioned closer to you than the computer itself. If this sort of positioning isn’t possible, 10-15 pounds may be a better choice.
• For small- to medium-sized bedrooms that do not have heavy EMF loads (no TV, etc.), 5 to 10 pounds is enough.
• For larger rooms, 10 pounds and up will yield the most benefit. If possible, get a very large lamp for large rooms and open office environments.

The shape of the lamp does not affect its ability to clean the air, but the type of surface area is important. Polished salt lamps like orbs and pyramids, while very pretty and still very beneficial, do not have as much surface area as the roughly chiseled versions.

Conclusion

If your lamp isn’t warm or drips too much water, particularly in humid environments, try increasing the wattage of its light bulb. Also, remember that you need to use light bulbs that produce some heat. This is no place for the eco-friendly LED. Most cheap salt lamps within the 6-12 pound range and any good quality salt lamp will come with the right kind of light bulb, but you will need to replace them.

Start with one salt lamp. Chances are, you’ll end up with at least one for every major room in no time.

Related Products:

• Salt Lamps

Related Reading:

• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Understanding Stress, Chronic Stress, and Adrenal Fatigue
• How to Cure Lyme Disease, and Virtually Any Other Bacterial Infection Naturally
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid
• Children, Cell Phones & Health

Sources:

• Himalayan Salt Lamp Benefits – Wellness Mama
• What Are Negative And Positive Ions? – Negative Ionizers
• Negative Ions Benefits For Your Health – Negative Ionizers
• Himalayan Salt Lamp Benefits – Do Salt Lamps Really Work? – Negative Ionizers
• Research Salt Lamps – SaltLamp.ca

You squirm in your chair as you feel that itch, along with an annoying, burning sensation. Oh no, not again…

Experience has taught you it will quickly get worse.

What Causes Vaginal and Vulvar Irritation and Infections?

Why does this keep happening? What can you do to prevent it? There are several causes of vaginal infections and vulvar discomfort.

• Chafing and other physical reactions
• Allergic Reactions and Reactions to Chemicals
• Bacterial Infections
• STDs
• Parasites
• Yeast Infections

Chafing

No matter how much you like the look, tight fitting clothes are not a great idea if they rub and chafe your nether parts. If those skinny jeans and those tight undies and thongs are rubbing you the wrong way, trade them for loose fitting alternatives. When the body’s flora is out of balance, damage quickly leads to infection. Skin irritation is damage to the skin. The skin needs to breathe without being in contact with toxic fabrics. Cotton breathes. Your nylon undies may be beautiful, but comfortably fitting cotton underwear helps air circulate and helps those delicate tissues heal. (Organic is best of course.)

Allergic and Chemical Reactions

Along with unnatural fibers like nylon, personal care and contraceptive products may be causing you problems as well. Soap, bubble bath, perfumes, douche solutions, vaginal lubricants, and contraceptive foam or creams are toxic and can cause irritation that leads to infection.

Soap and Bubble Bath

Stick with organic soap and consider unscented varieties until you have completely determined the cause of your problem. When you do use scented soaps, make sure the scent is from an essential oil, not a chemical cocktail. Aside from the current problem, you don’t want to slather your body with chemicals every day. Your skin absorbs whatever you put on it and draws it into your bloodstream.

Antibacterial soaps also lead to increased body odor because they kill the friendly bacteria on the skin that keeps the nasty bacteria in check. This is the same process that goes on in your gut. The friendly bacteria help keep your skin healthy. Quit killing them! After a few weeks of using organic soap, you’ll notice an amazing reduction in body odor provided you eat a diet of whole, healthy foods. And the gentle cleansing action of the right products will certainly help to heal irritated skin.

Read the label on your bubble bath or any other products added to your bath water. If it’s not free of sugar and organic, toss it. You’ll find that on the right diet and the fewer bath products you use, the better your skin will look and feel.

Perfumes, Sprays, Douches

Aside from perfumes included in soaps, many women spray or dab their under-regions with perfume, use douches, or use vaginal sprays. Stop. Just stop!

Your body knows how to cleanse itself. With few exceptions, you do not ever need to douche. If you think douching works as a contraceptive, think again. It doesn’t. So why would you ever want to rinse out your vagina with water and chemicals?

Do not use any perfumes or sprays. If you heal your body from the inside out (through a healthy diet) and wash with organic soap, you will not smell like your favorite flower, but you will smell great – like nature intended. If not smelling human is important to you, try essential oils.

Bacterial Infections

An amazing number of women were never taught to wipe from front to back. Wiping from back to front moves fecal matter into the vaginal area and the urethra, causing bacterial infections in the vagina and the urinary tract. While this is not at all likely when the body’s microflora is balanced, chances are if you’re reading this article your flora is not as healthy as it should be. Bacterial infections are said to be the most common vaginal infections, and many speculate that wiping incorrectly is the reason.

Anal to vagina sex without thoroughly washing first is also a cause of bacterial infection. If your lover argues that it is all natural and nothing to be concerned about, he’s wrong. Vaginas were not meant to handle feces, and feces, even from the healthiest body, can easily infect a vagina after the irritation of intercourse.

STDs

STDs such as trichomonas, gonorrhea, and chlamydia can result in vaginitis with a heavy foul-smelling discharge, or they may have little to no symptoms. If you are sexually active with multiple partners or have reason to suspect your partner may be, get tested regularly and use protection.

If you have any symptoms of vaginitis, it is always a good idea to rule out STDs.

Parasites

Like any other part of the body, parasitical infections are a possibility. Trichomonas, listed above as an STD, is a protozoan parasite. Other parasites that can cause problems include pinworms, scabies, and lice.

Yeast Infections

Yeast infections, caused by Candida, are an all too common cause of vaginal infections. These recurrent infections are usually treated with over the counter medication that may address the current infection, but never addresses the underlying cause. They’re also generally pretty slow to take effect.

How To Prevent Vaginal Infections

Diet is the basis to health and the key to preventing almost every disease. Feed the body the nutrients it needs to function at an optimum level. Detoxify the body to reduce the chemical and toxic load that interferes with proper metabolism and endocrine function. Exercise to move the lymph and aid the immune system. Ground yourself, soak in sunlight, and get enough sleep. Add a little joy to your life and you have the perfect combination.

The truth is, your vagina has its own ecosystem, much like and always influenced by the gut. Just like your gut, your vagina has a natural balance of bacteria, yeast, and other microflora. If you do something that sends that balance out of whack, you pay the price with an overgrowth of “bad” bacteria, yeast, or other nasty intruders such as a parasite or a virus. And one of the interesting characteristics of “bad” bacteria is that they don’t seem to mind co-mingling with parasites and fungi. Healthy bacteria doesn’t like to compete with anything that doesn’t belong. Healthy bodies have healthy immune systems in large part due to a plethora of beneficial microflora. People with balanced, healthy flora are not prone to infections. If they do become infected, infections are mild and quickly resolved.

So if you are a woman who is prone to vaginitis, your overall health needs a boost. Sugar is probably a factor. Sugar feeds Candida, bacteria, viruses, and parasites. If your gut is filled with an overgrowth of Candida, this yeast will affect your vagina and may also cause athlete’s foot and patches of infection on your skin. Dairy, drugs, and alcohol are also factors, and mercury toxicity promotes fungal growth and other infection as well. (Vaccines, mercury fillings in the mouth, too much contaminated seafood, etc.). Physical health and mental health begin with gut health, as the gut houses much of the immune system and produces neurotransmitters essential for healthy brain function and mood.

To regain your health, stop eating sugar and dairy (specifically, don’t consume pasteurized cow dairy) and eliminate artificial flavors, colorings, preservatives, MSG, GMOs, trans fats, and most of the processed food in your pantry. Eat whole, fresh, organic foods, mostly produce, and mostly vegetables. Shoot for 80% raw. If you achieve this goal, your diet will be filled with nutrients and enzymes and the prebiotic foods that restore gut health.

What Not To Do

Avoid Antibiotics

Just as oral antibiotics wreak havoc on the gut microbiome, they will affect the vaginal bacterial balance as well, resulting in an overgrowth of Candida.

Avoid Alcohol

Alcohol can wash away almost all of your gut flora, the good guys and the bad guys. The problem is that it doesn’t kill Candida spores (almost nothing does). So while it seriously damages the entire digestive system, it leaves behind all those Candida spores to go to work on the damage. In addition, alcohol raises your blood sugar levels and now you have a large amount of sugar in the blood traveling around ready and waiting to feed Candida as they evolve from their spore form.

No More Yogurt

With one exception, Bio-K plus, yogurt is not a great probiotic. Stomach acid is designed to kill bacteria. When you eat yogurt, you end up with dairy and sugars in the gut that feed whatever is there to feed. Good bacteria love produce. The bad guys love sugar, dairy, and damaged cells. That’s their food. Limit the fruit and cut out anything else that feeds them.

How To Naturally Treat a Vaginal Infection

As mentioned above for prevention, a truly healthy diet is essential. First and foremost, eat right. A sugar binge can cause exponential growth of a yeast, bacterial, viral, or parasitical infection. With supplements and the right diet, a vaginal infection can typically be cured within a few days.

If you suffer from reoccurring vaginal infections it’s time to get serious about fixing the gut. See Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease for more on gut health. Below are a few supplements that can wipe out any vaginal infection fast, and we recommend treating for all typical types of infection (bacterial, fungal, parasitical) even if you think it’s just one, because when the body is prone to infection there’s always more than one type of infectious microbe just waiting for its opportunity to flourish.

Be sure to check out the further reading section as well, and along with supplements, follow the information here, Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included, for a powerful and fast detox protocol. Just following the guidelines for the detox will in most cases eliminate all infection, balance everything, and get the body completely well, typically within a week or two, but supplements radically speed up the process.

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse (kills parasites, heals the intestinal walls, sets up hospital home for healthy flora)
• Formula SF722 (the best for killing Candida and other fungal functions, also kills other nasty flora and parasites)
• Floramend-Prime by Thorne (a strong probiotic designed to pass through the stomach acid, take separately from supplements that kill flora)
• Undecyn – Thorn Research (specifically formulated for vaginal infection)

Related Reading:

• How to Kill Fungal Infections
• The Fascinating Bacteria in our Gut, and How it Affects Our Whole Lives
• Kill Candida and Balance The Gut Quickly
• After taking antibiotics, this is what you need to do to restore healthy intestinal flora

Ah, bacteria, the original cockroach. No matter what you use to try and annihilate it, it keeps coming back, stronger than before. Strains of bacteria like listeria, campylobacter, and salmonella caused food poisoning affecting one in six people in the U.S. The bacteria resistant to the “antibiotic of last resort” has arrived in the U.S., and researchers in Canada have discovered a newly evolved, heat-loving strain of E. coli that survives temperatures high enough to cook meat medium-well. If harmful bacteria were to go into business, the stock would be climbing and the future would look terrific.

Dealing With the Usual Suspects

Chipotle has suffered business setbacks. Blue Bell Creameries are permanently closed. Most recently, General Mills has recalled a full lot of their Gold Medal flour. The common thread? E. coli, listeria, salmonella, and all of those pesky bacteria responsible for over four million pounds of food being recalled in the U.S. in 2015 and food poisoning affecting roughly 48 million people.

The methods for detecting bacteria and pathogens in our food have become more sophisticated, so it’s likely there have been many unrecorded outbreaks in the past. But then again, the number of cases attributed to the most well-known bacteria that cause food poisoning (like listeria, salmonella, or E. coli), have remained steady over the years, while campylobacter bacteria and rare Vibrio infections are on the rise. When increased detection and better food safety standards still do not result in a decline in pathogens, where does that leave us?

Soooo…Fire?

From food safety 101 we know that food is only considered safe when we heat it enough to kill off harmful bacteria. But what do you do when the bacteria has mutated to withstand those temperatures, like the strain of E. coli discovered by Canadian researchers?

Food safety literature recommends heating beef to 160 degrees, although they also note that 140 degrees is a sufficient temperature to kill harmful bacteria in less than a minute. But the new strain of E. coli does not die. In fact, it lived for over an hour at a temperature of  140 degrees. Right now, 16 genes with this mutation are present in about 2% of E. coli strains (good and bad), but with the other evolutionary strides bacteria have been making, who knows what will happen!

Fire’s Out. Soooo…Antibiotics?

People in the U.S. can now look forward to the newest shot fired in the bacteria vs. antibiotic war, now that bacteria has been found to be immune to colistin, a long-acknowledged “antibiotic of last resort”. Constant use of antibiotics has encouraged bacteria to evolve, to build up an immunity to these drugs.

An entire group of antibiotics – sulphonamides – is being phased out due to bacteria resistance. Gonorrhea is showing signs of resistance to last resort treatment in 10 different countries, and there are no new antibiotics in development to treat it.  Stories like these are becoming more and more common as our extensive use of antibiotics continues to breed stronger bacteria. We respond with new antibiotics and the next generation of the bacteria is more resistant than before. When it ends, do you really think we’re going to end up on top?

Can We Actually Control the Bacteria?

If your reaction to hearing all of this bad news about bacteria is to scream something along the lines of, “Kill it with fire!” you’re not alone. Solutions like antibiotics, antibacterial soaps, and hand sanitizers came with a price. They became part of the problem.

There are no easy answers here. Ideally, we will stop treating livestock with unneeded antibiotics. We will stop the indiscriminate use of antibiotics to treat infections and seek alternative treatments whenever possible. Maybe we will go so far as to change our diets to build immunity and encourage our natural, protective bacteria to thrive.

Are we past the point that these changes will be enough. Is our microbial world going to end up a cautionary tale a la Jurassic Park? Keep in mind that we can’t just seal off the island.

Related Reading:

• After Taking Antibiotics, This Is What You Need To Do To Restore Healthy Intestinal Flora
• Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease
• The Fascinating Bacteria in our Gut, and How it Affects Our Whole Lives
• How to Detoxify From Chemotherapy and Repair the Body

Sources:

• Researcher’s Warn of New E. Coli Strain That Can ‘Survive Cooking’ – grubstreet.com
• Germ Resistant to Antibiotic of Last Resort Appears in U.S. – npr.org
• Antimicrobial Resistance – World Health Organization
• Trends in Foodbourne Illness in the United States, 2012 – cdc.gov
• How Food Recalls Really Work – eater.com

Our two adrenal glands are on top of the kidneys, hence, the terms “adrenal,” as in “added” to the renal glands

The adrenal glands are composed of two entirely separate sections, the cortex and the medulla. Like the pituitary gland, the two sections of the adrenals evolved from two entirely different types of tissue.

This is an excerpt from the ridiculously long article, Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones I believe that it’s easier to heal the body when you understand how the body works, but understanding the endocrine system is big a task.  It’s a long article, but I think it’s worth it and I hope you’ll check it out.

Adrenal Medulla

The adrenal medulla evolved from the nervous system. The adrenal medulla works with the autonomic nervous system (the unconscious processes like breathing and digestion). The inner adrenal medulla has a direct connection to the brain.

Adrenal Medulla Hormones

The adrenal glands produce adrenaline (80%) and noradrenaline (20%), more commonly known among the medical establishment as epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones together are known as catecholamines.

The medullary hormones are not essential for life, but life without them would be difficult. Without stress, these hormones wouldn’t be necessary, but there are varying degrees of stress. The adrenal medulla hormones compensate when we stress our bodies with a simple act like standing up from a reclining or sitting position. Without these hormones, your blood pressure would drop when you stand because gravity causes your blood to pool at the feet and legs.

Adrenaline

Epinephrine, more commonly called adrenaline, can increase heart rate, contract blood vessels, dilate air passages, and get the nervous system ready for a fight or flight response. Epinephrine acts on almost every part of the body.

Noradrenaline

Norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, works with epinephrine and adds its own stimulus to the brain. Like adrenaline, noradrenaline responds to the fight-or-flight stimulus. Noradrenaline increases our heart rate, triggering the release of glucose from the body’s energy stores, and increasing blood flow to our muscles. Noradrenaline also affects the parts of the brain where attention and response actions are carried out. Noradrenaline is also an anti-inflammatory agent for the brain.

Adrenal Medulla Disorders

When the medulla is in trouble, so is the nervous system. Pathology of the adrenal medulla is primarily caused by neoplasm (tumors) or otherwise poor nervous system functionality, but there are many other issues that can cause too much or not enough of the two hormones. The nervous system will compensate for a lack of adrenal hormones for some time, but healing the thyroid, healing the entire adrenal gland, and if need be, healing the endocrine system as a whole, is the only way to ensure returned health to the adrenal medulla.

Adrenal Cortex

The adrenal cortex is divided into three zones and produces three main types of steroid hormones.

In medical school, one way we learned to remember these three layers is: ‘Salt, sugar, sex… the deeper it goes, the sweeter it gets.’ Not important, but catchy.” – Precision Nutrition

Zona Glomerulosa & Mineralocorticoids

Mineralocorticoids (such as aldosterone, which makes up about 96% of the hormones in this mineralocorticoid group) produced in the zona glomerulosa help regulate blood pressure and electrolyte balance. Aldosterone controls water and electrolyte (sodium and potassium) concentration.

The mineralocorticoids act upon the kidneys, which under the direction of these hormones excrete sodium or potassium as required to maintain optimal balance. Adrenal adenomas (benign, actively secreting growths in the cortex) cause hyper-production of aldosterone, which may account for as much as 25% of patients with high blood pressure.

Zona Fasciculata & Glucocorticoids

Cortisol (also called hydrocortisone) makes up 95% of the glucocorticoids hormones produced, but there’s also corticosterone and cortisone.

What does cortisol do:

• Depresses the immune system.
• Anti-inflammatory by reducing immune system response.
• Retards allergic overreactions, but this may slow wound healing.
• Promotes the breakdown of protein (catabolism).
• Promotes the conversion of triglycerides to stored fatty acids.
• Promotes glucose formation (gluconeogenesis).
• Promotes resistance to stress which results in higher blood pressure.

Two well-known diseases of the adrenals are Addison’s disease and Cushing’s syndrome. Addison’s disease results from acute adrenocortical insufficiency. Cushing’s syndrome is caused by excessive adrenal cortical function.

John F. Kennedy may be history’s most famous Addison’s disease patient and required regular cortisone injections to deal with stress. Since one of the side effects of cortisol injections is a “tanning” of the skin, JFK looked his best (tanned and relaxed) during times of stress — immediately after injections.” – John Barron

Full blown Addison’s disease is rare, but adrenal fatigue is extremely common. Cushing’s syndrome is rare, too.

Zona Reticularis & Androgens

Testosterone is the most well-known androgen. Androgens are masculinizing hormones. In adult males, not many of these hormones are produced in the adrenal gland. Men produce most of their androgens in the testes while women produce their androgens in the adrenal glands.

Adrenal Fatigue

Many health care professionals estimate that 80% or more American adults suffer from some level of adrenal fatigue. With our addiction to caffeine, nicotine, and other stimulants and our tendency to bathe in Wi-Fi and cellular radiation, it seems likely.

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue Include

• body aches
• trouble concentrating
• racing thoughts
• moodiness and irritability
• always feeling tired
• feeling overwhelmed
• hormone imbalance
• cravings for sweet and salty foods

Nutrients that Boost Adrenal Response

• Ashwagandha
• Holy basil
• Kava Kava
• Ginseng
• Licorice root
• Astragalus
• Fish oil(with EPA & DHA)
• Magnesium
• Vitamin B1
• Vitamin B5
• Vitamin B12
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D3
• Zinc
• Progesterone
• DHEA
• Glandulars (desiccated adrenal gland)

How to Heal Adrenal Glands

Supplement with vitamin D3, a B complex that’s got extra B5, a fatty acid supplement with DHA and EPA, a good multivitamin powder, and a liquid mineral formula.

Get the diet right. No stimulants like coffee, caffeinated teas, energy drinks, tobacco, etc. In fact, no drugs period. Eat more fresh raw vegetables than anything else, and eliminate refined and processed foods like white rice, HFCS, and even that bag of organic, super healthy, ancient grain, non-GMO quinoa chips. If you didn’t make it, don’t eat it.

Make sure the body is working right in other areas that affect adrenals. The endocrine system as a whole, and especially the thyroid, kidneys, and hypothalamus, must be in decent working order to heal the adrenals all the way. If necessary, kill Candida and balance the gut. (it’s likely very necessary if you have adrenal fatigue with our toxic, sugar-laden, antibacterial crazed society, which is often the underlining cause of endocrine disorders).

Start grounding regularly, at least 15 minutes a day (more is better). Do some sun gazing while you’re at it (but do not look directly at the sun). Get out in nature a little every day or as often as possible (again, more is better). Avoid or compensate for Wi-Fi, cellular, and other EMFs (salt lamps help, grounding probably does, too). Learn to breathe properly by breathing in deeply in a manner that causes your stomach to expand when you breathe in.

If your symptoms don’t improve quickly, glandular supplementation can help (if you’re not vegan) and a few adaptation herbs can help as well.

Conclusion

Diet is, as always, paramount. A slightly alkaline diet full of fresh produce detoxifies the endocrine system and keeps it healthy. Stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine, and most any drug use need to be eliminated  for healthy adrenal function. Check out Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included for more on diet. And again, this is only an excerpt from the ridiculously long article, Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones. It’s worth the read for anyone wanting to get well.

Related Reading:

• Understanding Stress, Chronic Stress, and Adrenal Fatigue
• Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid
• How to Cure Lyme Disease, and Virtually Any Other Bacterial Infection, Naturally
• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• How to Detoxify From Antibiotics and Other Chemical Antimicrobials
• The Power of Our Hormones and How To Balance Them

The thyroid gland is located in the lower front part of the neck. Thyroid hormones are best known for regulating the body’s metabolism, which is your body’s ability to break down food and convert it to energy. It also plays a role in breathing, heart rate, central and peripheral nervous systems, muscle tone, muscle control, menstrual cycles, body temperature, cholesterol levels, bone growth, body growth rate, nervous system development, brain, reproductive functions, and more.

Thyroid hormone receptor sites are found in every cell of the body. Every single cell of our body depends on thyroid hormones. If your thyroid doesn’t operate optimally, neither will the rest of your body.

This is an excerpt from the ridiculously long article, Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones I believe that it’s easier to heal the body when you understand how the body works, but understanding the endocrine system is big a task.  It’s a long article, but I think it’s worth it and I hope you’ll check it out.

Three Thyroid Hormones

Thyroglobulin is a protein (not a hormone) that’s produced by the thyroid, synthesized from amino acids and an iodide, and stored in the follicular lumen as colloid. This protein is used only within the thyroid gland for production of thyroid hormones. T3 and T4 are the two most well-known hormones the thyroid produces, and there’s also calcitonin.

Triiodothyronine or T3

T3 affects almost every physiological process in the body. The thyroid produces about 20% of the T3 in our body. The rest is converted to T3 from T4 in our cells throughout the body.

Thyroxin or T4

T4 (AKA tetraiodothyronine) is a prohormone (a committed precursor of a hormone, usually having minimal hormonal effect by itself) that the body converts to T3, a much more active and viable hormone. T4 is synthesized from residues of the amino acid tyrosine. A normal thyroid gland produces about 80% of the body’sT4 and about 20%of the body’s T3.

Calcitonin

Calcitonin lowers blood calcium and phosphorus levels by decreasing the rate of re-absorption of these minerals to bone.

Hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid makes too much T3 or T4 (or both). This leads to elevated blood pressure, rapid heart rate, hand tremors, and many other symptoms. Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder that is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Graves’ disease causes antibodies to stimulate the thyroid to produce and secrete too much.

Other causes of hyperthyroidism can include:

• Excess iodine
• Thyroiditis – inflammation of the thyroid gland (causes T4 and T3 to leak out of the gland)
• Benign tumors of the thyroid or pituitary gland (causes pressure, hormones leak out)
• Large amounts of tetraiodothyronine taken through dietary supplements or medication
• A tumor of the ovaries or testes

Hyperthyroidism can’t last forever; it’s sure to wear out a thyroid eventually, leading to hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism

Around 20 million Americans and about 250 million people worldwide have low thyroid function. Up to 90% of all thyroid problems are autoimmune in nature. Hashimoto’s is the most common thyroid disorder. In people with Hashimoto’s, the immune system attacks the thyroid.

List Of Hypothyroidism Symptoms

• Allergic rhinitis
• Asthma
• Angina pectoris
• Atherosclerosis
• Bursitis
• Conditions related to the cardiovascular system
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Carotenodermia (slight orange tinge to the skin, usually on the palms of the hands and soles of feet)
• Cold extremities, intolerance to the cold
• Coarse, dry, or thinning hair
• Constipation
• Decreased libido
• Dry, rough, and/or itchy skin
• Edema
• Erectile dysfunction
• Fallen arches
• Fatigue
• Fibrocystic breast changes
• Fibromyalgia symptoms
• Headaches
• Hoarseness
• Infertility
• Hypercholesterolemia
• Hyperhomocysteinemia
• Hypertension
• Itchy and/or flaky scalp
• Memory loss
• Mood swings, irritability
• Muscle aches
• Menstrual irregularities (amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, menorrhagia)
• Neck pain, stiffness, aches (especially in the back of the neck)
• Knee pain (due to fallen arches)
• Pallor (an unhealthy pale appearance)
• Pain in the trapezoid and/or neck area
• Psoriasis
• Poor mental concentration
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Postpartum depression
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Reactive hypoglycemia
• Recurrent infections
• Sluggishness, tiredness
• Shoulder pain
• Tinnitus
• Urticaria
• Vasomotor rhinitis
• Vertigo
• Weakness
• Weight gain

How to Heal the Thyroid

Learning about the endocrine system is one the best ways to understand how incredibly connected each and every part of the body is and how imperative a holistic approach to healing is to repair the body. You can’t really heal the thyroid gland without taking care of the adrenals, the pituitary – the whole endocrine system.

Fresh, raw, organic produce heals. Produce heals everything. Other than that, foods high in iodine and foods that are high in selenium are known to aid in thyroid function.

The thyroid gland requires iodine to function. Iodine taken by itself or ingested through fortified salt can be problematic. Good food sources include the usual: meat, seafood, yogurt, milk, and eggs, but there are vegan sources as well:

• Blackstrap molasses
• Seaweed
• Himalayan sea salt
• Navy beans
• Cranberries

Selenium is required for the body to convert T3 into T4. Without enough selenium in the diet, the thyroid suffers. Seafood and meat are high in selenium, but there are also some vegan choices:

Vegan Food Sources of Selenium

• Brazil nuts
• Shiitake/white button mushrooms
• Lima/pinto beans
• Chia seeds
• Brown rice
• Seeds (sunflower, sesame, and flax)
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Spinach

Supplements For Hypothyroidism

A number of vitamins and minerals are critical to thyroid health, and many herbs can help boost thyroid function as well.

B Vitamins

Vitamin B12 is found in every cell of the body. It is required for cellular metabolism and energy production, so obviously, without B12, the thyroid can’t function optimally. B12 deficiencies are very common with hypothyroidism. A lack of B12 can cause and worsen hypothyroidism. Even though most people actually consume enough vitamin B12 in their diets, a deficiency occurs in many due to an inability to absorb the nutrient in the blood. This goes back to gut health. The body cannot absorb and assimilate nutrients properly with a poorly functioning digestive system.

In addition, a poorly functioning liver radically inhibits the body’s ability to utilize B12. Unless a knowledgeable naturopath recommends it for a limited amount of time, do not take vitamin B12, or any one B vitamin, without the entire B complex.

Vitamin D

Over a billion people worldwide do not get enough vitamin D. A recent study showed that vitamin D levels were significantly lower in people suffering from hypothyroidism than the general population. While vitamin D deficiencies and hypothyroidism do tend to take place together, a lack of vitamin D and pretty much every other disease (including cancer) coincide as well. It’s unlikely anyone’s hypothyroidism is primarily caused by a lack of vitamin D, but it’s a certainty that the body will not fully heal without enough vitamin D.

Vitamin A

We all know vitamin A is required for good vision. We also need vitamin A for the immune system, hormone synthesis, and the production of T3. Without enough vitamin A, thyroid hormone levels quickly drop.

Bromelain

Bromelain is the enzyme that makes pineapple the superfood that it is. Bromelain helps reduce inflammation.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb that has many benefits, including the ability to significantly improve liver function, and it can help stabilize cortisol levels. This helps stimulate T3 and T4 hormone synthesis.

Licorice Root

Licorice root can benefit the thyroid and adrenal glands for people who have low cortisol (adrenal fatigue).

Reishi Mushroom

Reishi mushroom is a good source of selenium, and it has a ton of other benefits including boosting the immune system.

Schisandra Chinensis

This is another adaptogenic herb that helps the thyroid and has many other health benefits.

Ginseng

There are many varieties of ginseng, all with their different strengths, but Siberian ginseng root, Brazilian ginseng root, Korean or Asian ginseng, American ginseng, and Chinese ginseng all benefit the endocrine system, and therefore the thyroid.

Selenium

Selenium is the major cofactor for the key thyroid enzyme 5’deiodinase. This enzyme converts T4 into T3 and can help normalize the thyroid hormone balance.

Zinc

A zinc deficiency has been shown to inhibit T3 production. Zinc also contributes to immune modulation, which may reduce thyroid antibody levels. Additionally, like selenium, zinc contributes to 5’deiodinase activity.

Iodine

A lack of iodine inhibits the body’s natural detoxification, leads to cancer cell growth, and causes hypothyroidism. The thyroid absorbs iodine and, in doing so, replaces other toxins it has accumulated.

It’s also important to avoid excessive iodine intake for anyone with Hashimoto’s or hyperthyroidism. As stated above, we highly recommend that any iodine consumed come from whole food sources unless otherwise recommended by a knowledgeable, competent professional.

Gluten, Hashimoto’s Disease, and Leaky Gut

When the thyroid is not functioning properly, there is a good chance the gut is hyper-permeable, or “leaky.” Many suspect leaky gut to be the main cause of Hashimoto’s. In this state where the gut is too permeable, undigested food proteins leak into the bloodstream. Human tissues have proteins and antigens very similar to those in foods, bacteria, parasites, and Candida. When the body senses these foreign molecules, it develops antibodies that attack the body, hence the name “autoimmune disease.” Gluten proteins are very similar to Candida proteins and proteins that make up the thyroid. This is probably why the immune response to gluten can last up to 6 months each time you eat it.

When healing the thyroid (or the body in any way), regardless of whether or not it’s due to Hashimoto’s, modern wheat is a bad idea for a multitude of reasons.

Check out this Leaky Gut article for more information.

Parathyroid

There are four parathyroid glands; they’re located two on each side of the thyroid. Although the parathyroids are attached to the thyroid gland anatomically, and the glands are connected to the thyroid, they have no related function. The parathyroid release parathormone, or PTH, or parathyroid hormone. PTH has the opposite job of calcitonin (the lessor known thyroid hormone); PTH increases levels of calcium and phosphorus in the blood. It accomplishes this by increasing the cells of the bone (osteoclasts), which reabsorb calcium. It also increases urinary re-absorption of calcium by the kidneys. In addition, it causes the kidneys to form calcitriol, a hormone made from vitamin D that increases absorption of calcium from the GI tract.

Parathyroid Adenoma

Hyperparathyroidism refers to increased PTH production, usually because of a benign tumor of one or more of the parathyroid glands (parathyroid adenoma). When PTH is excessively produced, calcium is reabsorbed back into the blood from the kidneys, bones, and stomach. This leads to a condition sometimes called “stones, bones, groans, and moans,” which refers to the classic set of hyperparathyroidism symptoms: kidney stones, osteoporosis, groans of pain due to intestinal distress, and moans due to psychosis.

Removing a parathyroid adenoma, a fairly simple, typically successful surgery, can cause an immediate return to healthy function.

Natural remedies for hyperparathyroidism generally include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, vitamin C, desiccated glandsg, and vitamin D supplementation (extreme caution should be taken with large dosages of vitamin D when blood calcium levels are high). A holistic approach for tumors on the parathyroid will take time, but fortunately, hyperparathyroidism has a very slow progression.

Conclusion

Diet is, as always, paramount. A slightly alkaline diet full of fresh produce detoxifies the endocrine system and keeps it healthy. Check out Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included. And again, this is only an excerpt from the ridiculously long article, Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones. It’s worth the read for anyone wanting to get well.

Related Reading:

• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
• Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid
• How to Cure Lyme Disease, and Virtually Any Other Bacterial Infection, Naturally
• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• How to Detoxify From Antibiotics and Other Chemical Antimicrobials
• The Power of Our Hormones and How To Balance Them