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NHT News. Vol. 6 No. 2 Sept 2010

Denice Moffat

NATURAL HEALTH TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER

September, 2010                  Volume 6 No. 2

In This Issue:

(Please note that full names are never used in this newsletter or on my website without the full consent of the sender or client. Some cases also encompass groupings of cases with similar symptoms and suggestions for healing in an attempt to educate the general public.) 

Trending
Life in Five Short Chapters

Health in the News:

7/30/10 Pet Food Recalls (again?) Some Merricks, Iams—Eukanuba and Doctors Foster and Smith, Excel, Nature’s Variety and Natural Balance dog and cat foods/treats/supplements containing chicken were recalled this month due to a possible Salmonella scare. It’s a real bummer because these foods and companies are high quality. I think it was very responsible to recall foods that may or may not have been contaminated though and let’s face it. If we let our dogs and cats eat everything they came into contact with they’d be sure to be exposed to Salmonella on a regular basis. But to read the full recall list go to: https://www.avma.org/petfoodsafety/recalls/2010/default.asp

Canned foods are not part of this announcement. So far, no salmonella-related illnesses have been reported. If your pet has consumed the recalled products, and has symptoms such as decreased appetite, vomiting, lethargy, fever, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, please contact your veterinarian immediately. People handling contaminated foods are also potentially at risk for salmonella-related health issues.  (Thanks to Lydia Hiby in California and Del H. in Idaho for forwarding me this info.)

Frankenfish (Genetically modified salmon!) Please join us today (and in the future I’m sure) for the campaign to keep Genetically Engineered animals out of our food supply. The FDA is set to approve Genetically Engineered salmon for our food supply at a committee meeting taking place Sunday, September 19th & 20th. In addition to exposing our wild salmon stock to the very real danger of extinction, this decision also opens the door to adding other Genetically Engineered animals into our food supply. The FDA has taken a back door approach and the committee with the power to render this decision is stacked with GE animal advocates. The sudden announcement of this meeting has left YOU, the media, health & safety and environmental groups with little time to respond. To read more, go to: https://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4750 and the issue (in brief): https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fish/seafood/frankenfish-issue-brief

(Thanks to Bonnie D. in Bellingham, WA for alerting us to this)

What’s New on the Website? Well, over the last few months I’ve had computer crashes, power outages, two total inbox disappearances and shifted to using my laptop which has Windows 7 on it and won’t support FrontPage. I’ve cheated time for about a year now but it’s caught up with me. I now have to convert to another program for the entire 800-page website. Most of the time I have no idea what I’m doing or which computer to use or even how to transfer documents from one working place to another. Wow. My mom heard my plight and she’s purchased another desktop computer for me. I’m back up and running (mostly) and have some of my programs switched over to the laptop but have spent hours on the phone trying to get computers to talk to printers and having technicians come to the house and hook things up. Hopefully I’ll get things integrated soon. As I write this I can’t get my emails and it seems like my inbox is on three computers now! Boy, I don’t know which end is up this week.  

Some days felt rather bleak in the techno arena so I just spent more time outside in our yard between appointments—actually lots more time in our yard as you will see if you click the link to our Farm Tour page farther on the bottom of the newsletter. Ahh the saga continues. I’m still working on getting electrical equipment talking to each other—but winter is coming and I’ll get caught up before the end of the year. Blah, blah, blah.  Enough of that. Let’s talk about things more interesting shall we?

Case of the Month: Asthma

This is one of those diseases I’m familiar with as I used to have it. Yep, It’s a long newsletter.

Did you know. . .

Asthma is defined as a disease of the airway system caused by diffuse inflammation triggered by various stimuli resulting in partially or completely reversible bronchoconstriction. If you’ve never experienced this particular illness you just can’t imagine the blessing it is to be able to take a deep breath and actually feel that your lungs are totally inflating. There’s also the panic of knowing that you may not be able to get enough oxygen and that you could actually die and there’s nothing you can do about it. This is why it’s so important to be able to ferret out the triggers and core causes of asthma early on. The medical system says that once you have asthma you’ll always have asthma—and there may be some cases like that, but I’ve seen and personally experienced healing with many asthma cases.

Symptoms/Signs of asthma include difficult breathing (dyspnea), chest tightness, cough and wheezing.

The many forms of asthma include:

Asthma is classified according to the degree of symptom, the number of nighttime awakenings, interference with a normal activity, the use and need for medications, the air flow rate (FEV–Forced Expiratory Volume in one second or FVC–Forced Vital Capacity), how often an attack occurs and by the latest asthma questionnaire that a patient fills out if they go into a traditional medical system.

So, asthma can be classified as intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent or severe persistent.

There is also a category called status asthmaticus which is defined as severe, intense, prolonged bronchospasm resistant to treatment. These cases are where corticosteroids are needed often and long term and the patient needs lots of hospital care and are of greater risk than those suffering from other types of asthma. 

In addition to the above classifications, asthma can be well controlled, not well controlled or very poorly controlled. All of this input and data determine how often your doctor wants you to come in to be re-evaluated after that initial diagnosis is made.

There are also intrinsic, extrinsic and mixed types of asthma. Intrinsic forms include non-allergenic causes, non-atopic causes and non-immunologic causes. Extrinsic forms include allergic, atopic and immunologic causes. Mixed form of course includes some of each category.  So, let’s just lump all the causes and triggers together, shall we? 

The causes and triggers of asthma include: 

Environmental triggers: dust mites, fungi, mold, cockroaches, pet dander, mouse urine and mouse dander, cigarette smoke, perfumes, air pollutants, ragweed and tree/grass/flower pollens, fossil fuels (petrochemical pollution—especially kerosene) and cleaning agents.  (Note: I find in my practice the cleaning agents causing the most trouble are Scrubbing bubbles, Bleach, Pine-sol and Simple Green). Avoid barns, hay, raking leaves and mowing grass if you know you’re allergic to molds.

I’ve read recently that the reason why there are so many more asthma attacks in pollen storms is that air changes increase during thunderstorms or major weather events such as El Nino. Interesting. Another article said that the buildup of ozone before a storm may be a factor.

Air pollutants that are strongly associated with asthma include ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.

Genetics: Asthma sufferers have often inherited susceptibility genes from a parent. Mothers are more likely to pass asthma to their child than the influence of the father’s genes. Mothers carrying female children seem to present with more asthma symptoms than if they were carrying a male child. The genes connected to asthma are associated with a type of white blood cell call T-helper cells, eosinophils and mast cells which are a part of our immune system that over-respond and over-react to environmental triggers.

Emotions involved as asthma triggers include anxiety, anger and excitement. Some resources listed “fear or anxiety and a feeling of constriction or suffocation by a relationship or situation”.

In her book, You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay relates that asthmatic children often have “overdeveloped consciences” and take on the guilt feelings for whatever seems wrong in their environment. These children have a deep sense of feeling unworthy so feel the need to self-punish by blocking air flow. They may also have a fear of life and not wanting to be here. 

Often, once we get the treatable core causes attended to, I’ll refer these asthma cases to someone who performs emotional release work. Doing Neuro Emotional Technique (www.netmindbody.com) or Emotional Freedom Technique often helps release those buttons which can trigger an asthma attack. 

Examples of emotional triggers may be the smell of cigarette smoke in a bar or car or hotel room. Even though the allergy to cigarette smoke and the viruses carried by the tobacco have been treated, the smell of smoke would still stimulate neurotransmitters from the brain to be released which would affect your parasympathetic nervous system to constrict the air passages. If we can scratch or break that broken record pattern within your brain the environmental triggers and memories won’t have the adverse affect on your lungs.

Exercise: Cold/dry weather and unfiltered cold air is often a trigger for Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA). Symptoms of EIA are most intense about 10 minutes into exercising. People with this type of asthma don’t require long-term therapy and the asthma resides when the exercise has stopped but they can have other types of asthma at the same time.

Aspirin (also ibuprofen (Advil) and naproxen (Aleve): Aspirin-Induced Asthma (AIA) occurs in up to 30% of older patients and is often associated with post viral infections. With this type of asthma the combination of the presence of nasal polyps, GERD and taking aspirin somehow prime the body for asthma attacks.

I found it interesting in my research that none of the medical sites mentioned that GERD could most often be overcome by following a blood type diet. Often in the case of many chronic diseases and conditions if you can just control what you can, eliminate what you can and manage the other core causes, there can be stability and relief of exacerbations of all kinds of problems the body gives us over the years.  Once you do these steps the body is open to repairing the damage that has been done to it. Of course some organs take longer to respond, but they do respond over time. I find this totally cool.  Aspirin-induced asthma accounts for about 10% of all asthma cases and is responsible for about 25% of all asthma hospitalizations.

Infectious causes include viruses and bacteria. Implicated in the cause of asthma include: the adenoviruses Chlamydia pneumonia and Mycoplasma pneumonia, Rhinovirus, Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV), Parainfluenza virus and Pneumococcal pneumonia.

I personally believe many people who have asthma have had a history of bronchial infections or some type of pneumonia. The viruses that have causes these diseases have never really been alleviated from the body and eventually (often years down the road) asthma develops as a result.  The most common viruses involved are RSV (Respiratory Syncitial Virus), rhinovirus and parainfluenza but I’ve also picked up the Tuberculinum bacteria with muscle testing. Did you know that people with crooked teeth may have a cellular memory or generation influence of having relatives who died of tuberculosis?

Hormonal changes in women. (see Menstrual Related Asthma above.) Studies have shown that the use of oral contraceptives does not have much effect on treating this kind of asthma. The risk for hospitalization increases fourfold as the woman goes through perimenopause as her estrogen levels diminish.

Time of day: Nocturnal Asthma factors may include chemical and temperature changes in the body that lead to increased inflammation of the airways, delayed allergic response from the day’s triggers, metabolization of the day’s medications wearing off, increase in acid reflux from laying down, postnasal drip and from sleeping on one’s back.

Low Stomach Acid: A study done in 1931 showed that 80% of 200 asthmatic children had below normal amounts of stomach acid. Low stomach acid is associated with increases in food allergies. 

Occupation: Between 2 and 26% of adult-asthma cases are related to work history. Now this type of asthma can be caused from air quality or allergens at work or existing asthma can be aggravated by those components. Over 250 agents have been identified as potential occupational triggers of asthma. Some of these substances include isocyanates, trimellitic anhydrides, woods like red cedar, oak, redwood and mahogany, metal salts, vegetable dusts, biologic agents, xylanase, pharmaceutical agents, glutaraldyhyde, red dyes (which are often made from cockroaches) and diacetyl (artificial butter flavor).

Workers in the farm industry, hairdressers and those in the garment industry are at higher risk for occupational asthma. Are you being exposed? To read more go to: https://adam.about.com/reports/000004_10.htm

Vaccinations: Influenza vaccinations have been implicated from various studies as a trigger for asthma. Because of this 90% of asthma patients are not being vaccinated. Governmental agencies are saying that flu shots are safe for both children and adults.

Alcohol: Alcohol is a trigger not only because beer and wine contain sulfites but alcohol is processed through the liver. When the liver is sludgy or sick or not functioning well more allergies manifest. When there are more allergies, there are more asthma attacks associated with the allergies.

Foods and Food Additives: Eggs, fish, shellfish (sulfites?) nuts, peanuts (molds?), milk, chocolate, wheat, citrus and food colorings may trigger asthma for various reasons. Food additives and dyes can also be in medications and vitamin supplements so be aware of that. Some food additives/dyes implicated in asthma include:

The Hygiene hypothesis: There are some researchers who think children are more resistant to developing asthma if they have been exposed to small amounts of exacerbating asthma triggers early in life.  They feel that vaccines, antibiotics and cleaner environments do not help the immune system develop proper T-cell function so when triggers for asthma happen the immune system doesn’t respond properly which causes problems.

Dietary influences which exacerbate asthma include vitamin C and E deficiencies, certain fatty acid deficiencies and obesity.

Asthma has also been linked to young maternal age, poor maternal nutrition, premature birth, low birth weight and to a lack of breastfeeding.

Diagnosing Asthma:

Treatments for Asthma:

Treatment for asthma includes control of triggers, drugs/supplements/homeopathics, emotional release work, monitoring, client education and attending to exacerbations of the disease with emergency procedures as needed. Note: Any asthma attack that does not resolve despite using an inhaler is a medical emergency.

Drugs used to treat Asthma include:

Nebulizers are used for acute asthma attacks. Several substances can be used in the nebulizer including: lidocaine, heparin, corticosteroids, aminophylline and ipratropium.

Contraindicated drugs for asthma include anxiolytics and morphine because they cause even more problems with breathing and often increase the need for mechanical ventilation.

Inhalers should be used properly to be effective. Have a trained specialist walk you through this until you feel comfortable in knowing that you are doing it correctly. If you see mist coming out of your mouth after using an inhaler, you’re using it wrong.

Natural Treatments for Asthma Resolution or Management

Note:  I believe natural treatments work most excellently for asthma, but please don’t stop taking your “real” drugs until symptoms have abated and you talk with your doctor about cutting back, minimizing then finally eliminating the drugs you no longer need. Sometimes it’s just good to have an emergency backup plan if you fall off your “healthy living” lifestyle. Now take a look at this list. Wow!

Acupuncture/Acupressure: Chinese medicine classifies asthma as either acute or chronic. The treatments are quite different. For acute attacks the focus is on symptom relief. For chronic asthma the focus is on strengthening the weakened organs or systems.

Alexander Technique: Re-education on how to relax and breathe is helpful in controlling asthma. The Alexander technique encourages the release of tension in the chest while increasing the intrathoracic capacity. It also helps with stress management. See the Alexander Technique website for more information: https://www.alexandertechnique.com

Aromatherapy: Roman Chamomile is used to relieve spasms.

Ayurvedic medicine: The goal is to balance the doshas according to the individual’s condition. Panchakarma therapy may be useful. Here’s a link to read about that:

https://chakrapaniayurveda.com/panchakarma2.html.  For immediate relief of asthma, one Ayurvedic doctor recommends squeezing an onion and drinking ¼ cup of the onion juice mixed with 1 teaspoon of honey and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper. Woof. My lip is already curling.

Biofeedback or Autogenic training: This isn’t something that can be done at home. There are clinics you can go to and usually this takes several sessions to retrain your thinking patterns. The goal is to desensitize your nervous system to some of the triggers of the disease.

Buteyko Breathing Technique: https://www.buteyko.com  The Buteyko method is named after its founder Doctor Konstantin Buteyko. It is the “most effective drug-free approach for the management of asthma and other breathing related problems” says the website. It can be practiced by both adults and children, and gives quick and consistent results. I checked it out and you can purchase a DVD and manual for about $100 US. The method is based on raising carbon dioxide levels in the airways.

Caffeine: Say you’ve left your inhaler at home and you’re stuck somewhere and feel and attack come on. Now’s the time to drink a couple strong cups of coffee. Coffee acts as a bronchodilator and is similar to theophylline (the caffeine found in chocolate).

Chinese Herbal Formulas. Chinese herbs for asthma include carminatives, herbs to clear fluid retention (dampness) and herbal tonics, antitussives, expectorants and anti –asthmatic herbs. One listed on the internet is Aller Relief Chinese herbal cold and allergy. This one contains aristolochic acid which may cause kidney problems and has been known to cause cancer. Make sure you get Chinese formulas that have been screened for sulfites and heavy metals as they do use a lot of sulfites as a preservative over in China which can make your symptoms worse.

Chocolate: In a pinch—and this shouldn’t be used on a daily basis—a couple of chocolate bars has enough theophylline in them to help in an asthma attack.

Cymatics or Sound Healing: Certain sounds can help heal the body. Cymatics is the science of finding those sounds and tones that work best for your condition. Read more about that here: https://www.collegeofsoundhealing.co.uk/pages/about.html

Eating for your Blood type: www.dadamo.com

Echinacea has been used in the past and it may help the immune system but often people don’t test they need this one.

Emotional Release work: www.netmindbody.com

Exercise: Practicing yoga exercises regularly helps reduce or stop the need for asthma medications.

Flower Essences: Bach flower remedies such as Rescue Remedy can help with stress and anxiety.

Glandulars/Protomorphogens: Taking these nutritional products that contain some of the organs that we are trying to heal entices specific nutrition to the organs that are weak. So asthmatics would take a glandular (like Pneumotrophin PMG) with lung tissue in it. Many of my vegans and vegetarians won’t take these products so if you are a practitioner you may want to ask about the eating habits of your clients/patients before recommending treatments.

Grape seed extract (GSE): Grape seed extract is touted as a natural antihistamine although I’ve never experienced that in my practice.

Herbs used for asthma include:

Homeopathic Remedies: My favorites are Viral Immune System Stimulator, Virus Nosode Drops, Chlamydiae drops, Mycoplasma pneumonia, Tuberculinum Nosode drops and any other homeopathic supportive of detoxification that the body wants through muscle-testing. Other common homeopathic mixes may include Toxic Fungi/Mold drops, Mycological Immune System Stimulator drops or Bacterial System Immune Stimulator drops.

Hypnosis and Self-hypnosis: You can go to a practitioner to learn this therapy or you can read some books and develop a self-suggestive guided meditation on how to make your respiratory system healthy, happy and whole. Some people do well with hypnosis techniques while others can’t seem to trust enough to relax into the process.

Massage is used for relaxation

Meditation to learn how to control stress and increase your ability to use mind over matter.

Minerals:

More raw fruits and veggies: Especially those high in antioxidants, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, selenium and manganese like tomatoes, carrots, leafy green vegetables and carrots. Selenium foods include fish, red meat, grains, eggs, chicken, liver and garlic.

Omega Fatty Acids: Although lots of people who consult with me are on different omega fatty acids, most times I find that Udo’s Choice Oil Blend capsules or Norwegian Wild Salmon Oil are the specific oils they need in their body. I think these brand names come up most often because some of the other brand names may not be as high quality or they are left around too long so have oxidized or maybe they are contaminated with mercury. If you’re burping these supplements up, your body is trying to tell you that you may not need them or they are the wrong ones for your body.

Probiotics: A healthy gut is a healthy immune system. Often Fructo Oligo Saccharides (FOS) are more effective in enticing good gut flora to reproduce, but this was listed on one website.

Reflexology: Specifically work all the lung and bronchial reflexes on the top and bottom of both feet. Also work the adrenal glands, the solar plexus/diaphragm points and the sinus reflexes on the toes and fingers. There are many great reflexology books on the market but I tell my clients to just start rubbing and pay particular attention to anything that elicits pain. Work those points more—lightly at first and then press with more pressure and keep working the areas until the pain goes away. This may take 2-4 treatments but just keep at it. About ten minutes a day is most beneficial.

Relaxation and Stress Reduction techniques: People with asthma have higher rates of anxiety and depression. Because of this sometimes protocols aren’t followed properly and medications/ supplements are not adhered to which makes asthma symptoms more severe and life threatening.

Rolfing: I couldn’t find a good resource for this although this technique was listed on several resources for the treatment of asthma.

Shiatsu: Shiatsu sequences help relieve strained neck muscles caused by asthma attacks and the coughing associated with those attacks. Start with light pressure and gradually increase it and be careful as the neck is quite delicate.

Treat underlying allergies and allergic rhinitis.

Urine Injection: Ummm. OK. This treatment uses cattle urine. What the hay—Premarin is made of pregnant horse urine. Here’s the link: https://www.cowurine.com/asthema.html

Visualization: I like the Silva method but there are lots of great methods out there. Often I find it’s easier to visualize when you know the anatomy of the area you are trying to repair so in your Google search box type in “images of” or “photos of” or “videos of” the organ or system you’re trying to heal and you’ll get some good images of healthy tissue and function.

Vitamins:

Water: Drinking water is not an item that is very interesting for asthmatics and people with other pulmonary conditions but this will help thin the mucous that causes the plugs that makes asthma worse. Drink it at room temperature, warm or hot. Iced water can cause constriction

Weight reduction for sleep apnea exacerbated asthma.

Miscellaneous Notes on Asthma:  

If your child has asthma, his/her teachers and nurses at school need to know the action plan for attacks. Cromolyn and Nedocromil are long-acting drugs for asthma but they are not as effective as other medications. They do however prevent the embarrassment of having to take medications at school. 

Pregnant women with asthma: Poorly controlled asthma in the mother increases prenatal mortality, premature delivery and lower birth weights. Asthma drugs have not been shown to have adverse affects on the fetus. 

Elderly people with asthma:  Increased use of corticosteroids also increases the risk of osteoporosis so this group may need additional supplementation to support the skeletal system. 

Poverty is a consistent risk factor for asthma. Both the elderly and the urban poor have the highest risk for severe asthma and death. 

The poorly educated and those who exercise less (and obese) are the highest risk for adult-onset asthma. 

Things you can do at home to help minimize trips to the emergency room: 

Clean often: For those of you asthma sufferers who have to do your own cleaning (and cleaning IS important) be sure to wear a dust mask, gloves, grubby clothes and don’t use feather dusters. Pick up the dust with a damp cloth and use HEPA filters for your vacuum. When you are completed with cleaning, take a shower to wash off the disturbed matter. 

Use pillows made of synthetic fibers and mattress covers made of impermeable material. Wash them frequently and don’t hang them out on a line to be dried where they will pick up more pollens and dust. Put pillows in the drier on hot setting once a week for 20 minutes—especially during allergy season. This helps minimize dust and kills bacteria and molds that just love that warm humid environment created while the patient is sleeping and breathing into the pillow.

Wash and change bedding frequently in hot water (130 degrees F or 54 degrees Celsius) as this kills any dust mites and helps to remove animal dander. I usually recommend that the pillowcases be changed every week. If you can’t get your water that hot or you feel that washing them so often in hot water will ruin them another option is to freeze the sheets for 24 hours before washing them in warm water.  Freezing kills the mites but doesn’t get rid of the feces. But the washing should do that.

Remove from the sleeping area and as many other areas as possible: carpet, upholstered furniture, soft toys scented candles and pets. If you can’t remove the carpet then opt for low-pile carpet. Ditch the shag carpeting.

Keep bookcases out of the bedroom. Books often build up dust on them and also have mold spores in them—especially in humid environments.

Bathe your pets once a week. This greatly decreases the pet dander which exacerbates the asthma condition. Some pets that are asthma-friendly are poodles and Devon-Rex cats (mostly hairless). And don’t use human shampoo to do this—it has the wrong pH and can cause skin problems for the pet. You wouldn’t want that.

Use a dehumidifier in basement and poorly aerated areas.

Damp mop and dust often—at least once a month-to remove dust and molds. We spend about 8 hours/day in the bedroom so be sure to wipe down the bed frame, around the bed and the furniture more often than the rest of the house. Unfortunately, if you back off on any of the cleaning, new dust bunnies will develop and you’ll have to start all over again.

Steam clean existing carpeting and upholstery twice a year to diminish dust mites, cockroach feces and animal hair/dander. Dust mites need a warm temperature (about 70 degrees) and lots of humidity (about 50%) to thrive. Come to think of it that’s the perfect environment for fleas to hatch as well!

Keep the bathroom door closed while showering and the vent fan on. This prevents increasing humidity in other rooms of the house.

Use window shades: Window shades collect less dust than either drapes or blinds. It’s a hassle and expensive to wash curtains or blinds on a regular basis but please do that anyway.

Don’t place your bed over a heating vent. If you have to do this then plug the vent so no air can come through it. You don’t want dust coming up through the heating system and you want that vent in an easy place to clean it. Have your heating system vents cleaned about once a year.

Use a HEPA (High-efficiency Particulate Air) filter in your vacuum.

Watch what you eat: Avoid foods with sulfites and MSG. (see those handouts listed under the Nutrition section of my website). Often milk (which causes increased phlegm in many blood types), beer, wine, dried fruits, nuts, seafood and processed foods are a hidden source of food additives and allergens. I noticed that even flour tortillas are preserved with metabisulfites. Even smelling some foods you are sensitive to may bring on an attack.

Use salt sparingly: Especially table salt. Salt and increased asthma attacks have a high correlation.

Don’t smoke in the house or around an asthma sufferer. If you have asthma, stop smoking! Louise Hay says that 95% of people who smoke have an unresolved issue with either their mother or father. Do your body a favor and resolve the issue and stop taking it out on yourself.

Woodstove heat is a no-no. If that is your only heat source then be sure the stove and chimney are airtight to reduce particulate matter coming into the room and be sure to ventilate the rooms you heat.

Eat for your blood type: Gastric reflux can exacerbate asthma. Most all my clients who eat for their blood type resolve their GERD issues. The medical system recommends taking an antacid before bedtime. This should be a temporary fix as there are lots of challenges with antacids (See Antacid handout:  /SpecificDiseases/antacids_problems_associated.htm )

Don’t wear perfumes, use room deodorizers or use detergents with strong odors.

Don’t exercise out of doors without a scarf or mask to warm up and humidify the cold/dry air as you exercise. Breathe through your nose.

Take your asthma meds about 15 minutes before exercising. Warm up, start slowly, then be sure to add in a warm down cycle when you exercise.

Don’t exercise in high humidity. Strangely enough though, swimming is a good exercise for asthmatics. Baseball, tennis and golf are also good sports. Be sure to wash your clothes and hands after golfing though as there are lots of chemicals sprayed on those turfs. Golfers have a very high incidence of cancers.

Stay away from people with colds-especially viral in origin. Wash your hands often.

Don’t take aspirin. Try Tylenol (Acetaminophen) instead for pain management but even this may be a trigger for some with asthma.

Control cockroaches. Clean counters, put food and garbage away and clean up any crumbs if you are in a cockroach area. Also, don’t eat in bed. It leaves too many crumbs for those critters.

Close windows during warm weather and turn on the air conditioner to control humidity.

Use indoor air filters to control mold spores, tobacco smoke and animal dander.

Avoid outdoor activities when air particulate levels or pollen counts are high.

In the car be sure to set the fan or air conditioner on recirculate. You don’t need extra pollens speeding into the car as you drive down the road.

Moving to a different climate doesn’t always work these days. Places like Arizona have changed so much over the years that urbanization and irrigation are making the same problems there than where you are right now. 

Differential diagnoses for asthma include:

Prognosis for asthma is good with treatment. The medical professionals say there is no cure for asthma but I believe differently. The key is to track down the triggers and eliminate or minimize them from your life with whatever method works for YOUR body. 

Resources:

 

Product of the Month: none this month. I’ve already written about Viral Immune System Stimulator drops in the past and that’s my favorite product for many asthma cases.

Media Reviews: (Book)  Influence: Science and Practice by Robert b. Cialdini

Influence is a book written with controlled psychological research. I loved the first sentence of the introduction (but I didn’t write the book.)

“I can admit it freely now. All my life I’ve been a patsy. For as long as I can recall, I’ve been an easy mark for the pitches of peddlers, fund-raisers and operators of one sort or another. . .with personally disquieting frequency, I have always found myself in possession of unwanted magazine subscriptions or tickets to the sanitation workers’ ball.”

Actually once at a veterinary continuing education event this one company fed us up and gave us drinks. I ended up purchasing 100 toothbrushes you could place onto your finger to brush your dog’s teeth with! It took me about 5 years to get rid of those things and I gave most of them away! How embarrassing.

I was introduced to this book when I took the One Minute Millionaire course a few years back. So many people talked about this particular book that I felt compelled to buy it. Boy, did I learn what a patsy I had been. This book will tell you every trick a salesperson uses to get you to purchase their product. I write this book review in an attempt to educate those of you who are new to alternative medicine. I know there are good and not-so-honest people in every field, but it seems like in the alternative medicine field we have more than our share of medicine shows and bogus products that come and go.

I can’t possibly cover all the different ways that people try to manipulate you but here are a few:

Providing a reason: When we ask someone to do us a favor, we will be more successful if we supply a reason. People like to do things for a reason.  Example: “May I use the Xerox machine first? I’ve only got two pages and I’m in a rush.”

Expensive must be good: Price is the trigger for quality. Example—Those people on a vacation where turquoise jewelry was featured mostly purchased the higher priced pieces because they must be better than the lower-priced pieces. Does that mean inexpensive must be poor quality?

Discount coupons. . .but are they? One tire company found that mailed-out coupons which, because of a printing error, offered no savings to recipients produced just as much customer response as did the error-free coupons that offered substantial savings.

If an expert says so, it must be true. Oh, and I’ve determined that the farther away from the client you live the bigger expert you are. And the closer you live—well, Jesus didn’t get any respect in his home town either.

The contrast principle: Clothing stores instruct their sales personnel to sell the highest priced item first. If they sell you a suit first, the sweater or blouse to go with it doesn’t seem as expensive. Studies show that you’ll almost always pay more for whatever accessories you buy if you buy them after the suit purchase than before.

The Set-up Property: Another example of contrast would be a real estate company maintaining a couple of run-down houses. The houses are not intended to be sold but only to be shown so that the genuine properties in the company’s inventory will look way better by comparison. Hmmm. I’ve fallen for this one before. Darn. Automobile dealers use the contrast principle as well. They’ll sell you a car and THEN present the options which don’t seem like so much after the thousands of dollars you’ve already signed up for in payments.

The Rule of Reciprocation: A very potent rule. It says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us. By virtue of the reciprocity rule we are obligated to the future repayment of favors, gifts and invitations. Does anyone get those “free” address labels in the mail with the letter asking for a donation? What about those 10 free trees for the $10 donation? Or the car salesman asking if you’d like a coca cola before he asks you to buy something. Giving something small greatly increases the chances that when asked you for something that you’ll feel obligated to fulfill the request. And if the favor is uninvited or it surprises you the chance of you falling for the request to buy is even greater. Often people won’t ask for help if they cannot reciprocate the favor. This rule is so embedded in our society that if you give something and don’t expect anything in return often you are not liked.

Rejection-then-Retreat: One way to increase the chances someone will comply is to ask of them something you know they will reject. Then ask for what you want. Most likely they’ll feel bad for rejecting you in the first place so they are more likely to give in to the second request.

Familiarity: Door to door salespeople increase their sales by being able to mention the name of a familiar person who “recommended” they call on you.

Commitment and consistency: One social psychologist did a study in Bloomington, Indiana. He called people as part of a survey and asked them if they would volunteer to go door-to-door collecting money for the Red Cross. Since it was just a survey and the people didn’t want to seem cheap or hurt the surveyors feelings they said they would.  A week later when the Red Cross came door-to-door asking for volunteers the organization noted a 700% increase in volunteerism. The public had already committed to the work just days before and now felt obligated to hold up to that commitment.

Petitions: Ever sign a petition? What do they do with all those names? Well, sometimes they don’t do anything with them. But, by signing the petition you’ve committed to the group’s position and will be more willing to take future steps that are consistent with that commitment. And people usually live up to the commitments they put down on paper. Also if you make a public commitment “My name is Sally and I’m a food-a-holic and I will lose 20 pounds by December 16th” or whatever that public announcement is, you’ll be much more apt to complete that commitment.

No pain—No gain. People who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than people who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort.

Social proof is a great and sometimes awful motivator. When certain types of suicides or murders are highly publicized there are higher percentages of people who also die but it may not be through the same methods. How strange. Monkey see, monkey do? Example: Reverend Jim Jones’s cult and the mass suicide by drinking cyanide Kool-Aid. In general society thinks that if a lot of people are doing the same thing, they must know something that we don’t. Sometimes it just doesn’t benefit us to be sheeple or lemmings you know?

The Friendly Thief: By providing the hostess with a percentage of the take, some network marketing corporations arranges for its customers to buy from and for a friend rather than from an unknown salesperson. Two examples that come to mind are Tupperware parties and Pampered Chef parties.

The Endless Chain: Some sales people mention one of your friend’s names as having purchased product. They then use your name on the next friend (that you’ve referred them to).

The Law of Similars: Studies have demonstrated that we are more likely to help those who dress like us, have similar backgrounds, similar interests, age, religion, politics and smoking habits. In addition, many sales training programs now urge trainees to “mirror and match” the customer’s body posture, mood and verbal style to get positive results in sales.

Compliments: Often when people flatter us or claim affinity when they want something.

Part of the Family, extended family, club, clique, team, group or blog: When success resulted from  mutual efforts, it becomes especially difficult to maintain feelings of hostility toward those who have been a part of those efforts. Garry Smalley, one of my favorite relationship experts put it this way, “Crisis brings a family together.”

Conditioning and association: Just the presence of the Visa/MasterCard symbol at a charity function increases people’s spending. There is an association with trust and some symbols. That’s why big companies try to get celebrities to promote their products.

Blind obedience to authority pressure: When a physician makes a clear error, rarely will one lower in the hierarchy think to question it—precisely because of conditioning. Each person in the hierarchy knows their job and they do it.

Letters of recommendation:  You’re more apt to get the job if the recommendation letter states one unflattering comment. This makes the letter more believable.

Time Limits: People are more apt to act if time is running out or if there is a call to action to ensure the greatest deal they will get. Some companies train their sales people to say, “It’s company policy that even if you decide later that you want this machine, I can’t come back and sell it to you.” (I’ve also read that Blood Type O people are more apt to purchase things in a hurry. They jump on instant gratification more readily than other blood types.)  As opportunities become less available we lose more freedom and people hate that, so they feel nudged to make a purchase. I once purchased a bunch of oak furniture from a place that was going out of business. My boss at the time later shared that this same company had been going out of business for three years now and had used the same “final days” sign for that entire time.

Scarcity tactic: Around the year 2000 I was exposed to many clients who had fallen prey to the scarcity game. “Do you have a generator? Do you have a winter coat? Do you have several pounds of butter? Toilet paper? Years supply of food? Guns and plenty of ammunition? Because the roads are shutting down, there will be a trucker’s strike, they won’t be making winter coats any longer. . .” on and on it went every week. One woman had a semi-load of toilet paper in her basement and several shelves of romance novels (for people who would be running out of toilet paper that she would not be providing toilet paper to). “I’m not giving them MY toilet paper” she said. “They can use the pages in these books to wipe themselves.” Imagine.

Run for your life: There are a few characters out there who are always running and hiding because they know too much, their families are in jeopardy and they have the cure for some hard-to-conquer disease and the “government” is after them. They have to paint their windows black so people can’t see in and find them although they seem to be running a business and making good money at it often with the help of a trusted friend who sees and believes in their vision for saving the planet.  This makes their products really expensive because of all the offices they have to open and then shut down in the middle of the night and move to a safer spot. Cancer therapies are really prone to this kind of tactic, so beware of the high-priced therapy touted by someone whose life is in danger because it’s SOOO good. 

The Take Away principle: It’s amazing how people react when you threaten to take something away from them—even if they’ve never or rarely use an item. This principle is why many people get more for their junk by selling it through an auctioneer.

Well, those are a few things I gleaned from the book. How many have YOU fallen prey to? Isn’t it crazy?  Mr. Cialdini writes in an engaging manner with lots of examples and personal stories. I’m sure you’ll see yourselves or your children in some of them as having been taken advantage of. I’m holding that you have not used these principles on other people. It just doesn’t seem right.

Ask Dr. Moffat:

Dr. Moffat: I would like information on secretor/non-secretor status.  Please post information on this.  My sons are Blood Type O non-secretors and I would like to know what that means, I found lots of info on that so I ordered the test, now I can’t find that information again. Please don’t call. I can’t pay, but I would like you to post this on your site. Loving Mom.

Dear Loving Mom (Gee, I feel like Dear Abby!) What you want is the Genotype Diet and I believe that site can be found through www.dadamo.com. Secretor status is determined using a spit test. The saliva is evaluated by a lab to determine if you secrete your blood type antibodies your blood, perspiration, semen (in men) or in this case saliva.  About 85% of the human population are secretors.  

Non-secretors often have additional health challenges. Non-secretor status has been correlated to higher rates of rheumatic heart disease and alcoholism. By knowing secretor status we can make some dietary changes to help manage symptoms and optimize health.

I’m also an O non-secretor. I’ve found the most help with adding mutton, caramelized onion and occasionally black eyed peas to my diet. This year my allergies have been milder than ever before. I actually bought a whole mutton because you can’t just go to the store and buy that item. It was about $150 for the mutton, butchered, cut and wrapped. I make a stew about every other week with sweet potatoes, barley or wild rice, celery and the mutton in my crock pot. I was surprised to find it’s quite good. Lamb supposedly doesn’t work as well because the hemoglobin in the aged sheep product does something special to our red blood cells. I don’t have all that info integrated yet from the Genotype training and it seems to get more complicated by the month but getting secretor status is a good place to start. 

If you’d like to obtain a secretor test you can go to: https://www.northamericanpharmacal.com/affiliates/drmoffat.php and order one. Note that it takes longer to get the results than they say as that particular lab is really busy these days. Figure on about 4 weeks.  Denice

Dear Dr. Moffat: I have a question on Yellow nutsedge antidote. I just thought that I’d contact you to check out your wisdom on yellow nutsedge. It’s been a problem in many U.S. States and we even have some in our fields. Yellow nutsedge is such a problem because farmers and researchers haven’t found a way to kill it. Do you have any thoughts about what it takes to get rid of it? I was thinking heavy doses of white vinegar or lemon juice.  The animals eat it no problem. It’s just one of those invasive plants that has become a real problem for farmers in this area and other states. With my research, I think that I discovered that vinegar would be a good solution, but wondered what your thoughts were. Some has spread in to our lawn; so, we keep it cut short even though it’s probably not short enough. Ruth

Hey Ruth: Wow. Well, a cell is a cell. Let’s see if we can test that out for you. I’ve never heard of that weed yet Ruth. My guess would be vinegar. Lemon juice would be WAY too expensive to use. We also do a lot of weed eating and hoeing and mulching around here for weeds. If you weed eat it down so far that it can’t get sunshine that sometimes works. Sedges are worse with wetter weather if I recall and we’ve had a pretty wet spring. Just muscle testing though, I get a go on the vinegar idea. But I’m testing it needs two applications 6 days apart. I hope that helps. Invasive. Guck. Don’t like those kind of weeds. Let me know how it goes. D.

From Ruth: Oh wow! I wasn’t expecting a read on that. We’ll give it a try. Ruth

Tips and Tricks for a Healthier Life

Do you take prescription meds? You may want to check them out at www.drugwatch.com. This site lists all the current lawsuits, recalls and side effects of medicinal drugs.

Here’s a great website for pollen counts and weather activity. Just insert your zip code or city/state: https://www.wunderground.com

Automobile tip: Open the windows after you enter your car before turning ON the air conditioner after a couple of minutes. Here’s why: According to research, the car dashboard, seats and air freshener emit benzene, a cancer-causing toxin. In addition to causing cancer, benzene poisons your bones, causes anemia and reduces white blood cells.  Prolonged exposure can cause leukemia and miscarriages. Acceptable benzene levels indoors is 50mg per square foot. A car parked indoors with windows closed will contain 400-800 mg of benzene. If parked outdoors under the sun at a temperature above 60 degrees F, those benzene levels go up to 2000-4000 mg—a full 40 times the acceptable level. People who get into the car, keeping windows closed will inevitably inhale, in quick succession, excessive amounts of the toxin. Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidneys and liver. What’s worse, it is extremely difficult for your body to expel. Note that we do have homeopathic detoxosodes for that kind of stuff. They really help if you’ve already been exposed to toxic levels.

Client Testimonials:

As I said at the beginning of the newsletter, my entire inbox was deleted twice. (Yeah, I know that Jesus saves but apparently I didn’t.) Anyway, fortunately for me, all my client testimonials were in that inbox neatly categorized under each newsletter section which are all gone now. Although it comprised months of work I’m actually kind of relieved. I don’t like tooting my own horn anyway.  

Healthy Recipes: Stir Fry Sauce:

Before starting your stir fry have all veggies and meats cut up, special canned ingredients opened and drained, nuts ready and utensils handy. You may also want to cook your noodles or rice if you’ll serve the stir fry over them. Actual cooking time will be brief so there will be no time to stop and chop things up. You’ll be constantly stirring until the veggies are browned. 

  1. Add enough Oil to coat the wok, pan or skillet—about 2 tablespoons (olive, peanut, canola or sesame oils are all OK to heat and fry in). Heat oil on Medium High until very hot.  
  2. Add foods according to density with the densest foods first, stir fry for a minute, then add another less dense food and finally the leafy green stuff last stirring constantly until the veggies are browned. From approximate most dense to less dense: Carrots, celery, broccoli, Jerusalem artichoke, chicken/beef/pork, water chestnuts,  onions, canned baby corn, zucchini, crookneck squash, green beans, nuts, mushrooms, tomatoes (sparingly), kale, collards, spinach, cabbage and bean sprouts. Other options are eggplant and green pepper but I’m allergic to those things. You can also throw in some tofu instead of meat or noodles of some kind at the end after the sauce has jelled. 
  3. Next, shake the stir fry sauce to mobilize the cornstarch which settles on the bottom of the container and drizzle enough to coat the vegetables with the sauce.  Continue to cook until the sauce turns from opaque to clear.  

You can freeze any leftover sauce. Leftovers taste OK as well. 

I make the sauce in big batches and store it in one-cup containers in the freezer. It only takes a couple of hours to thaw the sauce on your counter. You won’t want to thaw it in the microwave if you use one of those because the cornstarch will coagulate at the bottom of the sauce and will be useless for the cooking process. 

Note: Ginger can be peeled and stored in cooking sherry in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed jar indefinitely or frozen unpeeled and tightly wrapped in your freezer. If you use meats in your stir fry, they slice better if the meat is partially frozen.

Inspiration & Perspective:

Quote of the month: “Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground…”

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.  As I’ve aged, I’ve become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I’ve become my own friend. I don’t chide myself for eating  that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn’t need, but  looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70’s, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love … I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old. I know I am sometimes forgetful.  But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things. Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody’s beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

 I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don’t question myself anymore. I’ve even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

(Thanks to Pat R. in St. Louis for sending this one. I was reminded of the fact that I am aging when a series of articles/pictures came out in our local newspapers about our Elk Meadow Farm & Nursery. This story kind of put things into perspective for me.)  

On illness–Abraham says: Don’t get lost in the diagnosis, the medicine, or in the statistics about what somebody else did about it. If you don’t feel good, it’s because you’re not thinking in a way that allows the Energy to flow. You could just get really, really mad at someone you love and make every muscle in your body stiff. And you would ask, “Why does my body feel this way?” And we say, because you’ve had a Vibrational tug-of-war going on…Stop looking for anything other than your mental and emotional state of being as answers to why you feel how you feel in your body. It is all Vibrational – no exception! And when you get that, then it doesn’t matter what diagnosis has been given to you – it doesn’t matter – it’s temporary. — Abraham    Excerpted from the workshop in Orlando, FL on Friday, December 20th, 2002 #510 

What’s New at Our House? Michael and I had a Farm Tour this last month. We spent months getting ready for it and it was covered in the news quite well. We’ve taken some pictures you can see here: /About%20Us/elk_meadow_2010_farm_tour.htm

And our local Moscow Co-Op took pictures of the tour and put us on a Facebook page. We’re not Facebook users yet but you may be able to see more pictures on their link: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13424&id=107124975993233

I’m back to catching up, watering plants and getting ready for the two markets Michael and I have been going to since May. I’ll be shifting my website over to the new program in the near future. It’s a wonderful life!

Local Events:

October 2-3 and 23-24 10:00am – 4:00pm Wilson Banner Ranch Harvest Fair. See: Pumpkin Patch, Maze, Pyramid, Coliseum Events, Farm Animal Petting Zoo, Horses, Hay Rides, Fresh Produce, Farm Craft Tent, Live Music, Lots of Food and so much more! The Ranch is located at 16397 Highway 12, Clarkston, WA 99403 for more info go to: www.wilsonbannerranch.com or call (509) 758-2664.

That’s it for this Month!

Be Healthy.  Denice

Please forward to a friend.

Dr. Denice Moffat is a practicing naturopath, medical intuitive, and veterinarian working on the family unit (which includes humans and animals) through her phone consultation practice established in 1993. She has a content-rich website at www.NaturalHealthTechniques.com and free newsletter.

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