Among the 500 or more functions of the liver is cholesterol processing from bile.
Have you ever tried to find a Canadian write-up on acceptable levels of cholesterol? There is lots of American literature on Cholesterol out there for Canadians to read. I tried for years to find out how to reconcile those two sets of figures and if the Sickness Care people knew, they weren’t telling. It didn’t even seem to bother them that they didn’t know. I began to wonder if they were stonewalling me.
Even the Wellness people didn’t seem excited about not knowing how to reconcile those two sets of numbers.
I finally found the way to reconcile the numbers. Here it is!
To convert American cholesterol numbers to Canadian numbers, divide by 38.7
If you have the Canadian numbers to change them to American numbers, multiply by 38.7.
When I learn more about cholesterol, I’ll tell you about it. Right now I’m just working on that saying that goes…’if you want to really learn something, teach it, or at least share it’.
Oh, something else, Statins deplete your CoQ10 which your heart needs to keep beating.
Back in the 90’s, one of the Statin makers got a patent on a combo of their Statin and CoQ10. You’re not granted a patent for no reason at all.
But, the reason they were granted the patent was not the reason they got it, apparently. It seemed like they were making their product helpful to the user, but they never put that combo product on the market and neither could anyone else.
So, if I were taking Statins, according to the drug company that got that patent, it seems to me that it would be a super good idea to supplement with CoQ10 as well.
Fancy that! I’m agreeing with a drug company and the patent office...mostly the patent office. Statins need CoQ10. So why doesn’t your M.D. tell you about that?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Just Say, “NO!”
The big thing in preventing addiction is to avoid doing something that you might feel compelled to repeat. This first foray can get us hooked perhaps socially, bio-chemically, or behaviourally.
Everybody else in the gang is taking a drag and we don’t want to feel left out, or lose face by being pressured and then giving in later. Heaven forbid we’d say anything to help bolster our friends’ resolve to stay clean, or put the gears to the one who started the whole pressure set-up. We might get shunned or ignored if we were to do that. In the future, those who lack backbone may get shunned anyway, as well as put their health at risk.
Addiction can start off being social but get a person bio-chemically hooked and the whole person gets enslaved by the substance whether it’s a street drug or a prescription drug. The results are never pretty, always heartbreaking and sometimes fatal.
Others find eBay and hang out wasting time, or they start to buy and there goes the money and the space to move about in their homes. They become addicted to hoarding and the family is shoved out by the ever expanding salt and pepper shaker collection. Others find really twisted things to fall into and become addicted.
All of us are somewhat addicted to ignorance and we believe we can trust others to use their expertise on our behalf. That’s great if these experts know what we think they know.
But what if our experts have more biases than clues?
What if they pressure you to do what they want, even if it is not in your best interest? There are some things you HAVE to do in life, like attach your plumbing to the sewer line. There is a bylaw to enforce that.
What if someone is brainwashed to believe that Statins are the way to deal with high cholesterol? If they are in a position to prescribe those drugs, you’re going to get a prescription, already counted out in one of those revolting childproof bottles that only 10 year olds can access. So what, if you don’t want it? Have you got nerve enough to tell the pharmacist, “No, thanks. I didn’t authorize the filling of that prescription.”
Pretty nervy for the one who prescribes to expect someone else to pay for his/her ideas on what should be done.
Medicine Men and Medicine Women (M.D.s) are taught to think, use and prescribe medicine in Med school. Drug company representatives sell them on the newest and most lucrative drugs to prescribe. They reinforce the sales pitch with free samples. Those free samples can really clog up a desk drawer.
Then there are the ads on TV to convince you to pressure the Medicine Person to prescribe them for you. The drug companies even disclose some of the side effects in their ads.
Heh! Patients! If you felt like those side effects, you’d go to the Doc and present your anecdotal evidence expecting some new magic bullet to make all that nasty stuff go away…under the rug, so you’re not aware that it’s still happening
We’ve got to think while our brains are still drug free enough to work.
Remember when you were a kid and they told you not to take free stuff from strangers because they were likely independent, unlicensed drug pushers. That’s still true.
There are also licensed drug pushers and they have quite a wide selection of drugs that can hide your first complaint and give you something even worse to complain about.
They pass out antibiotics like candy. You can get Systemic Candida Albicans as an overgrowth of one type of intestinal flora from taking antibiotics.
Not to worry about that. They simply don’t believe in Candia Albicans in any location outside the vagina.
Systemic Candida! How silly!
Some doctors are smart enough/caring enough to tell their trusting patients to take probiotics to correct the kill-off of beneficial intestinal flora and cut Candida back to an optimal level.
I haven’t met a doctor who does that. I hope you have.
Before you ask someone what they think of something, be sure you know the extent of the knowledge/study they base their reply on.
A medically trained person with less than a day of training in nutrition or herbology is in no position to pooh-pooh those modes of healing.
This is 2009. We have access to the Internet. Knowledge no longer is a closely guarded secret and ignorance is not a virtue, but a killer.
Be your own advocate. Search out a mode of healing that resonates with you and go for it. Even the placebo effect will give you 30% effectiveness. Some approved drugs don’t do a lot better than that and they can make you feel worse or even have fatal results. Fatal results you can get for free.
In Canada we have this sickness care system for which we pay lots of taxes and get a mixed bag of care that sometimes kills us.
Would death by medical error be called Iatrogenic Stenosis? I’ll bet that cause of death has never appeared on a death certificate.
However, if you need and want medically oriented testing, diagnosis, emergency care, or you can’t come up with anything other than surgery to correct the misery you are in, we have a great system.
Just don’t get railroaded by the pressure tactics of the personnel.
If you want to do one thing and they want you want to do another, just say your version of “No”, nicely, so they don’t get their knickers in a twist because you ‘don’t comply’.
Comply?
Really! This is 2009.
Everybody else in the gang is taking a drag and we don’t want to feel left out, or lose face by being pressured and then giving in later. Heaven forbid we’d say anything to help bolster our friends’ resolve to stay clean, or put the gears to the one who started the whole pressure set-up. We might get shunned or ignored if we were to do that. In the future, those who lack backbone may get shunned anyway, as well as put their health at risk.
Addiction can start off being social but get a person bio-chemically hooked and the whole person gets enslaved by the substance whether it’s a street drug or a prescription drug. The results are never pretty, always heartbreaking and sometimes fatal.
Others find eBay and hang out wasting time, or they start to buy and there goes the money and the space to move about in their homes. They become addicted to hoarding and the family is shoved out by the ever expanding salt and pepper shaker collection. Others find really twisted things to fall into and become addicted.
All of us are somewhat addicted to ignorance and we believe we can trust others to use their expertise on our behalf. That’s great if these experts know what we think they know.
But what if our experts have more biases than clues?
What if they pressure you to do what they want, even if it is not in your best interest? There are some things you HAVE to do in life, like attach your plumbing to the sewer line. There is a bylaw to enforce that.
What if someone is brainwashed to believe that Statins are the way to deal with high cholesterol? If they are in a position to prescribe those drugs, you’re going to get a prescription, already counted out in one of those revolting childproof bottles that only 10 year olds can access. So what, if you don’t want it? Have you got nerve enough to tell the pharmacist, “No, thanks. I didn’t authorize the filling of that prescription.”
Pretty nervy for the one who prescribes to expect someone else to pay for his/her ideas on what should be done.
Medicine Men and Medicine Women (M.D.s) are taught to think, use and prescribe medicine in Med school. Drug company representatives sell them on the newest and most lucrative drugs to prescribe. They reinforce the sales pitch with free samples. Those free samples can really clog up a desk drawer.
Then there are the ads on TV to convince you to pressure the Medicine Person to prescribe them for you. The drug companies even disclose some of the side effects in their ads.
Heh! Patients! If you felt like those side effects, you’d go to the Doc and present your anecdotal evidence expecting some new magic bullet to make all that nasty stuff go away…under the rug, so you’re not aware that it’s still happening
We’ve got to think while our brains are still drug free enough to work.
Remember when you were a kid and they told you not to take free stuff from strangers because they were likely independent, unlicensed drug pushers. That’s still true.
There are also licensed drug pushers and they have quite a wide selection of drugs that can hide your first complaint and give you something even worse to complain about.
They pass out antibiotics like candy. You can get Systemic Candida Albicans as an overgrowth of one type of intestinal flora from taking antibiotics.
Not to worry about that. They simply don’t believe in Candia Albicans in any location outside the vagina.
Systemic Candida! How silly!
Some doctors are smart enough/caring enough to tell their trusting patients to take probiotics to correct the kill-off of beneficial intestinal flora and cut Candida back to an optimal level.
I haven’t met a doctor who does that. I hope you have.
Before you ask someone what they think of something, be sure you know the extent of the knowledge/study they base their reply on.
A medically trained person with less than a day of training in nutrition or herbology is in no position to pooh-pooh those modes of healing.
This is 2009. We have access to the Internet. Knowledge no longer is a closely guarded secret and ignorance is not a virtue, but a killer.
Be your own advocate. Search out a mode of healing that resonates with you and go for it. Even the placebo effect will give you 30% effectiveness. Some approved drugs don’t do a lot better than that and they can make you feel worse or even have fatal results. Fatal results you can get for free.
In Canada we have this sickness care system for which we pay lots of taxes and get a mixed bag of care that sometimes kills us.
Would death by medical error be called Iatrogenic Stenosis? I’ll bet that cause of death has never appeared on a death certificate.
However, if you need and want medically oriented testing, diagnosis, emergency care, or you can’t come up with anything other than surgery to correct the misery you are in, we have a great system.
Just don’t get railroaded by the pressure tactics of the personnel.
If you want to do one thing and they want you want to do another, just say your version of “No”, nicely, so they don’t get their knickers in a twist because you ‘don’t comply’.
Comply?
Really! This is 2009.
Monday, November 16, 2009
A Little Bit of Knowledge
I thought I was taking care of myself.
My father had Diabetes Type 2.
For years I felt guilty about my sweet tooth and hoped my genes had not gotten me yet.
I kept asking the doctor if I had diabetes.
That was my version of taking care of myself.
Why not just stop it with the gobbling down of sugar?
Why wait until I had Diabetes to smarten up?
Now…I find out that sugar is cancer fertilizer among other things.
I’ve known for a few years, at least, I’ve know it intellectually, that sugar compromises the immune system, but intellectual knowledge was not enough to get me to totally stop the sugary foods, cold turkey.
Some people go out and get buried by avalanches while doing risky things on skis. I’m not positively impressed with that behaviour.
But who am I to point a finger at them while I sit here eating a Tim Horton’s Dutchie?
Then I ate a Bounty Bar as a source of coconut in order to stop the diarrhoea that is making me stay close to the facilities. I admit I did need to get something fast when I latched onto that Bounty Bar.
To my credit, I actually bought some unsweetened dessicated coconut yesterday. Now, to come up with a tasty, low glycemic way to eat it next time I get the runs.
What is it with us humans that we go around tempting fate in so many ways?
So why am I on about sugar?
I was reading Suzanne Somers “Knockout” and Dr. Nicholas Gonzales says that the sugar we are taking in is creating fatty infiltration of the liver. The liver converts it to triglycerides, a form of storable fat.
So, I suppose, the more sugar we eat, the more fat our liver gets stuck with storing…up to a point! I suspect that a fat liver is no more effective at what it is supposed to be doing, than a fat marathon runner is at winning races.
Something is going to give. And not something desirable, either.
Doctors are notoriously fascinated with the heart which provides them with all sorts of excitement and amusement. The liver doesn’t do anything obvious like beating, or stopping dramatically, so it doesn’t really get their attention, or respect.
To find out how this crack in our sickness care works, check out: Dr. Sandra Cabot’s site,where the case of Dr. Thomas Eanelli, an afflicted American doctor describes his search for information and treatment in the testimonials section.
If this lack of knowledge can happen to a doctor, it can happen to anyone using any fattening food…be it fat, or sugar.
To recover, the trick is to understand what is happening and act on your new knowledge.
To my shock, sugar can do in more than my pancreas and my immune system. It can take out my liver first with stored fat finally culminating in cirrhosis. And if that is not bad enough, it can cause cancer. or liver failure.
Cirrhosis is bad enough.
I’ve got to finish getting off sugar and eating lower on the Glycemic Index.
More about the ionic footbath in relation to My Incredible Shrinking Feet next time.
My father had Diabetes Type 2.
For years I felt guilty about my sweet tooth and hoped my genes had not gotten me yet.
I kept asking the doctor if I had diabetes.
That was my version of taking care of myself.
Why not just stop it with the gobbling down of sugar?
Why wait until I had Diabetes to smarten up?
Now…I find out that sugar is cancer fertilizer among other things.
I’ve known for a few years, at least, I’ve know it intellectually, that sugar compromises the immune system, but intellectual knowledge was not enough to get me to totally stop the sugary foods, cold turkey.
Some people go out and get buried by avalanches while doing risky things on skis. I’m not positively impressed with that behaviour.
But who am I to point a finger at them while I sit here eating a Tim Horton’s Dutchie?
Then I ate a Bounty Bar as a source of coconut in order to stop the diarrhoea that is making me stay close to the facilities. I admit I did need to get something fast when I latched onto that Bounty Bar.
To my credit, I actually bought some unsweetened dessicated coconut yesterday. Now, to come up with a tasty, low glycemic way to eat it next time I get the runs.
What is it with us humans that we go around tempting fate in so many ways?
So why am I on about sugar?
I was reading Suzanne Somers “Knockout” and Dr. Nicholas Gonzales says that the sugar we are taking in is creating fatty infiltration of the liver. The liver converts it to triglycerides, a form of storable fat.
So, I suppose, the more sugar we eat, the more fat our liver gets stuck with storing…up to a point! I suspect that a fat liver is no more effective at what it is supposed to be doing, than a fat marathon runner is at winning races.
Something is going to give. And not something desirable, either.
Doctors are notoriously fascinated with the heart which provides them with all sorts of excitement and amusement. The liver doesn’t do anything obvious like beating, or stopping dramatically, so it doesn’t really get their attention, or respect.
To find out how this crack in our sickness care works, check out: Dr. Sandra Cabot’s site,where the case of Dr. Thomas Eanelli, an afflicted American doctor describes his search for information and treatment in the testimonials section.
If this lack of knowledge can happen to a doctor, it can happen to anyone using any fattening food…be it fat, or sugar.
To recover, the trick is to understand what is happening and act on your new knowledge.
To my shock, sugar can do in more than my pancreas and my immune system. It can take out my liver first with stored fat finally culminating in cirrhosis. And if that is not bad enough, it can cause cancer. or liver failure.
Cirrhosis is bad enough.
I’ve got to finish getting off sugar and eating lower on the Glycemic Index.
More about the ionic footbath in relation to My Incredible Shrinking Feet next time.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
My Incredible Shrinking Feet
Ascites (misdirected fluid/edema) can surely pull some fast ones. I wear step-in Birkenstock clog-type shoes. They are comfortable and easy on and easy off.
Maybe just a bit too easy off.
Yesterday, I went to my favourite Naturopath, got my glucosamine push, bought some watercress and a pot of parsely, and then headed home.
I decided to stop at the Bakery and pick up a treat for myself before I left the city. So, I’m pushing on this big stubborn glass door and the lady behind me decides to help me push that bakery door open.
I hoisted myself up the 4inch step and put my foot down on the terrazzo floor. Wow! That was cold and hard. There was my bare foot sticking out for all the patrons to see and my shoe was out on the walk. How embarrassing!
Another lady decided to help me get my shoe on. I’ve never had to tell anyone ‘to just set the shoe down and I’ll step into it’ before.
I got my treats and drove gingerly out of the parking lot. Trying to drive with a loose unresponsive shoe is more of a challenge than I needed. It does keep one’s mind focused on traffic close by, way ahead and off to the side as well as trying to keep one’s shoe lined up and ready for any suddenly needed action on the brake or gas pedal.
The unnerving part of this incredible shrinking foot/loose clog syndrome is that it is completely unpredictable. There are quite a few diuretic foods out there that can really change how a pair of shoes fits rather suddenly.
OK, so why don’t I just get tie-up shoes?
And throw out my Birkenstocks?
I don’t think so!
I suppose I could get lace-up, if tying them up did not mean I had to get to where the ties are to do that.. I’d rather not go there, every day. It’s frustrating enough to have to deal with boot zippers in the winter.
I could get shoes with Velcro flaps but they turn me off.
One day I may have to do something about having a back on my shoe. If I do, they’d better look cute and I’ll be buying Birkenstock’s soft, half insoles for them. I have those in my winter boots and they are wonderful.
So, Ascites, you haven’t beat me yet. I’ve got this curve you’ve thrown at me, figured out, too.
Maybe just a bit too easy off.
Yesterday, I went to my favourite Naturopath, got my glucosamine push, bought some watercress and a pot of parsely, and then headed home.
I decided to stop at the Bakery and pick up a treat for myself before I left the city. So, I’m pushing on this big stubborn glass door and the lady behind me decides to help me push that bakery door open.
I hoisted myself up the 4inch step and put my foot down on the terrazzo floor. Wow! That was cold and hard. There was my bare foot sticking out for all the patrons to see and my shoe was out on the walk. How embarrassing!
Another lady decided to help me get my shoe on. I’ve never had to tell anyone ‘to just set the shoe down and I’ll step into it’ before.
I got my treats and drove gingerly out of the parking lot. Trying to drive with a loose unresponsive shoe is more of a challenge than I needed. It does keep one’s mind focused on traffic close by, way ahead and off to the side as well as trying to keep one’s shoe lined up and ready for any suddenly needed action on the brake or gas pedal.
The unnerving part of this incredible shrinking foot/loose clog syndrome is that it is completely unpredictable. There are quite a few diuretic foods out there that can really change how a pair of shoes fits rather suddenly.
OK, so why don’t I just get tie-up shoes?
And throw out my Birkenstocks?
I don’t think so!
I suppose I could get lace-up, if tying them up did not mean I had to get to where the ties are to do that.. I’d rather not go there, every day. It’s frustrating enough to have to deal with boot zippers in the winter.
I could get shoes with Velcro flaps but they turn me off.
One day I may have to do something about having a back on my shoe. If I do, they’d better look cute and I’ll be buying Birkenstock’s soft, half insoles for them. I have those in my winter boots and they are wonderful.
So, Ascites, you haven’t beat me yet. I’ve got this curve you’ve thrown at me, figured out, too.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ox Bile to the Rescue
Four years ago the herbalist next door to the spa where I got my ionic footbaths mentioned ox bile to replace the bile supply that I lost when my gall bladder was removed eleven years earlier.
I was reluctant to take a glandular made of ox bile with my meals, but these miserable gas attacks were increasing.
Finally, I got frustrated and miserable enough to buy some ox bile pills and take them.
There was no danger of getting addicted to those evil tasting things. I held my nose and chased them with a good long drink of water. Then I ate. They did a great job of processing fat and making my life more comfortable. I could actually find something to eat on a menu.
Then I added digestive enzyme capsules to my ox bile appetizer.
It was very helpful. My gas attacks decreased in frequency yet again.
Then one day when I went to buy more ox bile pills, I was told that Health Canada had decided ox bile could not be made/sold in Canada any more and the product disappeared.
Life was way more exciting and uncomfortable than I wanted it to be. I ate a lot of mashed potatoes with a bit of cheese.
I was not a happy Canuck. I certainly was a miserable one, though.
I searched every store for miles. No ox bile unless it was in a combination. I needed more than what was present in a combo capsule to do the job I had in mind for it.
I had a hissy fit meltdown.
Then one day I thought,‘Why not search the internet? They must have something other than Viagara for sale.’
I found it. Easy as pie. I imported half a dozen bottles from the USA.
I could eat again.
My question, is “Why would Health Canada put their foot down on ox bile pills?’ It’s not that we don’t have cattle in this country. So where is all that bile going?
And I’d like to buy Canadian, since I have Canadian dollars.
I was reluctant to take a glandular made of ox bile with my meals, but these miserable gas attacks were increasing.
Finally, I got frustrated and miserable enough to buy some ox bile pills and take them.
There was no danger of getting addicted to those evil tasting things. I held my nose and chased them with a good long drink of water. Then I ate. They did a great job of processing fat and making my life more comfortable. I could actually find something to eat on a menu.
Then I added digestive enzyme capsules to my ox bile appetizer.
It was very helpful. My gas attacks decreased in frequency yet again.
Then one day when I went to buy more ox bile pills, I was told that Health Canada had decided ox bile could not be made/sold in Canada any more and the product disappeared.
Life was way more exciting and uncomfortable than I wanted it to be. I ate a lot of mashed potatoes with a bit of cheese.
I was not a happy Canuck. I certainly was a miserable one, though.
I searched every store for miles. No ox bile unless it was in a combination. I needed more than what was present in a combo capsule to do the job I had in mind for it.
I had a hissy fit meltdown.
Then one day I thought,‘Why not search the internet? They must have something other than Viagara for sale.’
I found it. Easy as pie. I imported half a dozen bottles from the USA.
I could eat again.
My question, is “Why would Health Canada put their foot down on ox bile pills?’ It’s not that we don’t have cattle in this country. So where is all that bile going?
And I’d like to buy Canadian, since I have Canadian dollars.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I'm Itchy!
I can’t stop scratching.
It’s my shoulders and my neck and my back down to about the level of my liver.
Forget low necklines. My neck is not fit to be seen on a dark night with the lights off.
Is it Candida? Candida can give you jock itch and that’s exciting.
This is not a yucky itch. It’s an itch of destinations…scabs, bumps and pimples that just suddenly pop up and scream for attention.
I give them attention!
My tee shirts are all bloodstained where I gave them attention.
Oxy Clean powder in the soak cycle rescues them from stains.
I get lots of exercise contorting myself to scratch my back in places that are almost unreachable.
Every night the darned itch comes back and I slather myself in Weleda sea buckthorn oil hand lotion. Then I go to bed smelling like an orange peel. Or, if the itch gets really attention grabbing, I’ll puncture a sea buckthorn capsule and rub the orange colored oil on myself.
It slows the itch down, but it puts a nasty orange glow on my night gown. Jalapeno coloured sheets are a good camouflage for that treatment.
My naturopath told me that in Oriental health my itchy area corresponds with the liver’s sphere of influence. So maybe I’ll let Candida off the hook on this annoyance.
So my kidneys are not eliminating toxins since I have Ascites (edema), so now it’s my skin that is attempting to eliminate the toxins, apparently.
I think it’s time for another ionic footbath to pull some of those toxins out without needing to scratch up a bloody mess.
It’s my shoulders and my neck and my back down to about the level of my liver.
Forget low necklines. My neck is not fit to be seen on a dark night with the lights off.
Is it Candida? Candida can give you jock itch and that’s exciting.
This is not a yucky itch. It’s an itch of destinations…scabs, bumps and pimples that just suddenly pop up and scream for attention.
I give them attention!
My tee shirts are all bloodstained where I gave them attention.
Oxy Clean powder in the soak cycle rescues them from stains.
I get lots of exercise contorting myself to scratch my back in places that are almost unreachable.
Every night the darned itch comes back and I slather myself in Weleda sea buckthorn oil hand lotion. Then I go to bed smelling like an orange peel. Or, if the itch gets really attention grabbing, I’ll puncture a sea buckthorn capsule and rub the orange colored oil on myself.
It slows the itch down, but it puts a nasty orange glow on my night gown. Jalapeno coloured sheets are a good camouflage for that treatment.
My naturopath told me that in Oriental health my itchy area corresponds with the liver’s sphere of influence. So maybe I’ll let Candida off the hook on this annoyance.
So my kidneys are not eliminating toxins since I have Ascites (edema), so now it’s my skin that is attempting to eliminate the toxins, apparently.
I think it’s time for another ionic footbath to pull some of those toxins out without needing to scratch up a bloody mess.
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