karen

Excellent point. It's like in personal relationships, it's good to become aware of any dynamics that we're playing into unconsciously, and it doesn't further consciousness to just walk away from a bad relationship without understanding. Great book about how nutrition has become "politically correct" is Sally Fallon's book, Nourishing Traditions. Another pertinent article my news reader just brought up this morning! - The link between MSG and obesity -Karen

Hi Tao Parrot, Well, it's a big issue and would take me some time to go into all the angles, but here's one good article that explains the problems with the peer-review process. Peer Review, Publication in Top Journals, Scientific Consensus, and So Forth In order to really explore the issue of medical journals and the validity of studies, you have to look at who's funding the studies, who's deciding what articles to accept and on what criteria, how the studies are set up, what pre-determined agenda they're trying to prove (which influences the outcome), how the statistics can be manipulated to prove whatever they're looking for... just to name a few . (And hey there, Sean!) -Karen

Well, PubMed isn't the place to look. Those studies are going to be in favor of the food manufacturers. It's politics, not science. I've read so many references to the dangers of aspartame, including the effect of increasing appetite or food cravings, but here's one for starters by Dr. Lendon Smith: GREED vs HEALTH Also, Deadly Deception, and the work of Betty Martini. Re. moving this thread, I got the impression way back when, that Sean was okay with discussions about health in this section. But if you'd like these topics to go elsewhere, let us know, Sean, ok? -Karen

Hi Mat, Exactly.. the fact that someone doesn't have symptoms doesn't mean that they're healthy or that they can eat low quality foods with impunity. And the term natural has become a selling point that doesn't mean much. Everything is basically natural - even plastic comes from a natural source. Arsenic is natural. Whereas tradiionally fermented cheese and such goes through a kind of synthetic process, and so do herbal formulas! But those are quite more edible and recognized by the body, than arsenic . I'd say it's natural for us to manipulate nature in certain ways. Re. sensitivity, for example, there are generally innocuous substances like water and light. Pollens. But when some people have a headache, they're sensitive to light. Some people are phobic of water, and some immune systems reject pollens. Obviously those things aren't toxic (well, if the water is pure). Although, of course anything can be misused and become harmful. In Rudolf Steiner's view, man is a 2-fold being - upper pole being the centripetal, cosmic force and lower pole being the centrifugal, earth force. Sensitivities often come from a dominance of the upper pole and need for more grounding in the lower pole. And there are certain constitutional types that are more upper-pole oriented in the intellect than in the instinct, and those people tend to have more sensitivities. Glad you brought out the point about MSG and appetite stimulation - ironic that aspartame does the same thing, for all those people who use it to try to lose weight! And considering that all convenience foods contain some form of MSG and many contain aspartame, that could explain a lot. Maybe you could offer to find your mother another gravy recipe . Take care, Karen

Splitting tastebuds? I really don't know. But it does alter the neurochemistry so that you think the taste is pleasant. It's the "unami" taste - isn't it a little strange that there is a name for the "taste" of MSG?! You're lucky that the offending substances were identifed before they did more damage. -Karen

I meant big Pharma.. (I was thinking of the USDA). But here are a few good places to learn about the corruption of the FDA - FDA Quotes FDA - Monsanto, Dangerous Relations

The independent research says yes. You could take a look at Russell Blaylock, MD.'s book, "Excitotoxins, the Taste that Kills," well-documented research which covers aspartame and MSG. The FDA is not doing independent research by any stretch, but is actually an arm of Big Agribusiness. Look at who's funding the research to find out where the bias lies. Speaking of aspartame, I just learned that chemically, Silly Putty has more in common with food than artificial sweeteners do." -Karen

That's interesting! Because for most people, the body produces adrenaline to mobilize the toxin, and pulse rate increases. Sleepiness after Chinese food could also be from the starches and sugars. I notice that sauces are getting sweeter. Or it's some food that isn't suited to your typology. Unfortunately, the label-free diet might not be a big seller in the fad diet book market Karen

Hi Mat, It's a real issue. My father once stopped at a roadside "eating establishment" <cough, cough> for a meal, and getting back on the road, he suddenly felt sweaty, panicky, and his pulse was racing. Luckily there was someone to get him to a hospital. The usual cardiac screening turned up nothing. MSG poisoning. I wouldn't say it's a sensitivity per se, because MSG is a neurotoxin, period, as is aspartame. It's just that some people will notice the effects more than others. The body will do what it needs to do to get the toxin the hell out of there. It's good to know all the hidden sources of MSG in processed foods. Just about every packaged food product contains some hidden MSG under other names like "natural flavors" or "yeast extract" for example. That's why I propose a label-free diet . Eat foods that are just what they are and don't have a long list of ingredients on the label. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't occasionally eat out or indulge in less-than-pristine foods at times, but good to be aware of the issue. When you ask most restaurants whether there's MSG in the food, they'll say no because they didn't deliberately add any. BUT.. the prepared sauces, soup bases, etc. as they buy them premade, are full of free glutamic acid that gets created in the processing of proteins. I can tell you, I've talked to loads of food manufacturers over the years, beyond customer service to more "tech support," and rarely does anyone understand this issue. Take care, Karen

Hi, I know what it's like to live in an area where there's not a wide selection of "alternative" practitioners. That used to be a limitation for me until I began treatment and study with the Hahnemann Center/College/Clinic for Heilkunst, which is based in Ottawa, Canada but treats people worldwide With treatment modalities, there are zillinos of them, and you have to decide which one you want to use and then see if you can find someone good in your area. Or you just go to someone because they're in your area, and take whatever they're offering. Then you're limited to that treatment method, which tries to understand your whole situation in terms of that modality. You go to an herbalist and you get herbs for your problem. You go to a chiropractor, and you get adjustments for your problem. But who's stepping back to look at the problem objectively, scientifically in a true sense of science, to see what principle of treatment needs to be applied? Then of course there has to be a system that's grounded in such principles. Otherwise it becomes a value judgment as to which modality is better than the other, which is a common fallacy, sort of like asking which herb is the best or which nutrient is best. It's kind of silly - the answer depends on what you need. Because the point is to know when a particular modality is indicated for the situation and when it isn't.. and that requires a proper understanding of what the problem really is. The allopathic disease labels are abstract designations that don't tell us much about what your individual case needs. Two people with nodules that look just like yours might need different treatment. Heilkunst isn't a particular treatment method, because it's a complete system for understanding which therapies are indicated for you as a unique individual at a particular time. -Karen

The first question at hand, to my mind, isn't particularly a medical one, but one of clarifying your personal choice in pursuing treatment. These kinds of dilemmas are opportunities to step up to the plate of personal freedom and responsibility, taking guidance from professionals, but ultimately making your own free choice. Are you interested in pursuing other views on the question of whether to remove the gland or not? Medicine isn't the purview of conventional medical doctors, or even naturopaths who defer to the allopathic mindset of treating symptoms. True medicine is a broad field that encompasses more than that, although we're conditioned to defer to the medical "authorities." The symptom is just a messenger - sometimes the messenger itself needs to be dealt with directly in addition to addressing the cause, but more often than not, the messenger is just the outer appearance of what's going on at a deeper level. Conventional medicine doesn't addres this level, but only deals with what can be seen and measured materially. There is a complete system of medicine originally developed by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, called Heilkunst, which I would highly recommend looking into. It would be able to bridge the gap between material medicine and spirituality, so that you would have a deeper understanding of what this nodule means, where it came from, and the spiritual implications. ("Nodule" is just a descriptive label and discloses nothing about the real cause or meaning.) There's a learning curve when it comes to pursuing other systems besides the standard one, and that can involve the emotional challenge of disengaging from the conventional support system especially when we're anxious about a medical problem. To me, that's exactly when I want to find the most rational approach, but each person has to go with what they're comfortable with and not be pressured into a decision based on someone else's comfort. The options are there, although some aren't being talked about on Oprah . The view could be quite different, coming directly from a clear understanding of what needs to be treated, based on sound principles of nature. And you could gain understanding of how you could work with the underlying issue to unfold a deeper spiritual purpose, whether or not you choose to remove the gland. Take care, Karen Guide for Self-Healing http://www.guideforselfhealing.com

Look at the Materia Medica . I don't know how many substances have been proven in total, but maybe a few thousand. I don't know exactly how many of them are elements, but that would be interesting to find out. And recently there have been new provings done on the Lanthanides, the rare earth elements in the gold series from Lanthanum to Lutetium. Fascinating stuff. But every substance has mental/emotional qualities associated, although some have wider symptom profiles than others, and some have proven to be more archetypal than others, which is why we come down to the 4 basic ones. For any given emotion, like fear for example, you can find it in a vast number of substances. I can tell you how many references I have to the word "fear" in my digital materia medica - 679 unique remedies -Karen

Hi Pietro, I love your spirit of adventure . I find making up remedies is pretty fun, and the vodka part makes it even more fun . And no, it doesn't require any kind of belief. Many people have engaged in provings of these substances, which means that they have taken them and observed the effects. Like the way we all know how our eyes feel when we cut onions! Then if you took a potentized remedy made from onion, you would experience a change. Then you've entered into the realm of science - the oberservation of nature. But it is also not completely empirical, because there are principles that Dr. Hahnemann discovered based on a lifetime of scientific experiments. (Not scientific according to material science, but science in the true sense of the term So this is really objective science, and works on babies and animals as well as humans, so there is no subjective belief or placebo effect involved. What we want is understanding, not belief, and you can begin to understand the principle of the law of similars by seeing how it works in nature. When you have frostbite, you know that you can't use the law of opposites (putting warmth on the frozen part), because that would be disastrous! We know that we have to use something cool at first, even though the body part is frozen. It seems counterintuitive, but we know from experience that it works. There are times when the law of opposites is appropriate to use, and other times when the law of similars is more appropriate, depending on the nature of the problem. Dr. Hahnemann laid out these principles in detail 250 years ago, which we keep validating over and over, in practice. Now, as to how the remedies are made, it gets more complicated when you start with a substance that isn't water soluble. Then you have to grind it up (trituration) usually in a base of milk sugar, using the sugar as the dilutent instead of water. But the basic idea is the same - dilutions and succussions in series. (A nice little video of using trituration) A good way to get experience with homeopathy is to buy the remedy Arnica, and take that the next time you get bruised or have any kind of injury. You'll see how much more quickly you recover. I've often banged myself and expected a lot of bruising, but if I take Arnica right away, usually there's little or no bruising at all. That's just a simple example, but it can be an interesting experience . Cheers, Karen

Hi Pietro, Great that you're onto the tooth soap. Well, I'll explain how to make a homeopathic remedy, and you can see if you're interested in trying it. Most of the commonly used remedies are available from homeopathic pharmacies, but when you need a remedy for some substance you were exposed to, it's easier to just make it yourself. To make a homeopathic remedy from a substance that's water soluble is pretty easy. To make a remedy from chlorine, you start with one drop of chlorine, or a drop of the chlorinated water that you are exposed to, in a clean dropper bottle, about the size that herbal tinctures come in. Then add purified water about 2/3 full, screw the top on and shake it vigorously by rapping it against your palm or a book at least 30-40 times. (The shaking is called succussion, and the whole process of dilution and succussion is called potentizing). That would give you the 1st potency, or a 1C potency. Then you dump out all the water in the bottle, because at least one drop will cling to the side of the bottle, and to this you add more purified water, again about 2/3 full, repeat the succussion procedure, and now you have a 2C potency. When you do this repeatedly, you can make as high a potency as needed. Once you get to the 12th potency, the dilution is so high that there is not even one molecule left of the original substance. This is how it's safe to take remedies made from toxic substances. You only have the energy imprint left, and no material substance at all, so there is no toxicity. For this purpose, a 30th potency would be good, but if you don't feel like working that hard, a 12th potency would be good enough . When it's finished, you just add a bit of vodka or brandy to the bottle as a preservative. Then you take one drop of the remedy, once or several times a day, as long as you're exposed to chlorine. Homeopathy is based on the principle of like cures like, or the law of similars. It uses a remedy made from a substance that causes the same symptoms when taken in crude, material form, as the symptoms that you have. So for example, if you have hayfever with itchy, burning eyes that are just like what happens to your eyes when you cut an onion, you could take the homeopathic remedy made from onion (Allium cepa), to treat your hayfever. So instead of using something to counteract the symptoms (law of opposites), it uses a remedy that would actually elicit the same symptoms if taken in material form, except that in the potentized form it's actually curative. Now, in this case with the chlorine, we're technically doing what's called isopathy, not homeopathy, because we're just using the very same substance as the offending substance, and potentizing that. The idea is that a toxin is not just a physical invader, but it leaves an imprint on the energetic level. You can do all sorts of detoxification regimes, but to erase the deeper energetic imprint, you can take the toxin or poison in energetic (potentized) form. The homeopathic remedy Nux vomica is also a good general cleanser, used especially when you don't know the exact substance you were exposed to or you don't have a sample to make a remedy out of. Enjoy your jacuzzis Cheers, Karen

Hi Pietro, It would be good if you could find a homeopathic remedy of chlorine, or make it yourself. And increase mineral intake, and use soap to clean teeth to allow them to remineralize. Take care, Karen

Michael, just a comment - you might like reading Owen Barfield's work, particularly the book "Saving the Appearances," or even secondary commentaries on it. He describes "original participation" as a consciousness in which there is no sense of individual self, but total immersion in the spirit world. And he describes the evolution of consciousness away from that original participation, to one in which the individual can have perspective (self vs. other) and individuate, in order to become free. In the process of individuation, we developed the intellectual capacity for perspective and discrimination, which increases awarenss but necessarily loses that intimate connection with the spirit world. So we end up with awareness of the outer appearances of things as far as our senses can perceive, without supersensible perception of the phenomenal reality behind the appearances. With original consciousness, we had intimacy with spirit but no individual freedom; with the process of individuation which now introduces the intellect (this Barfield calls "alpha thinking"), we now have the tendency toward materialism, which perceives objects of the outer world as abstractions with no spiritual reality behind them. So the evolutionary impulse is to go beyond either of those forms. Then the task is to evolve in consciousness back into Spirit, but not to go back to "original participation" - this time to move forward with individual consciousness intact, and this he calls "final participation." (I just call that participation, and we can be moving in that direction.) More detailed instructions are found in Rudolf Steiner's work, pretty challenging to work with, because he doesn't predigest the truth and hand it over to the reader, but lets the reader do the internal work to create it . This is a more western-oriented way of looking at things - not in the materialistic sense we usually associate with the west, but a lesser known esoteric western tradition. -Karen

Hi GT, First thing I'd ask is, what does HE want? It's so common to want family members to take care of their health in the way that WE want them to, but first we need to look at our own attachments to their doing things OUR way . Even if we're convinced that OUR way is superior, we have to look at how we tend to want to control others. In other words, to exert control is going to have an unhealthy result, regardless of what the thing is that we're pushing. And then it helps to look at our own fears that are driving the controlling impulse. So, along those lines, I would then ask, is your father actively seeking a different approach? If so, there are many that you could suggest to him. If not, do you sense that he's open to hearing about something different, if you broached the subject in a non-controlling way, just by making some suggestions with no strings attached? Often the second one applies to one degree or another, and you have to be the judge of how much input is appropriate to give, based on his responses. I would agree with the others that some simple diet and nutrition adjustments could start the ball rolling. Just see how receptive he is, and what areas he shows the most interest in. Some people are adamant that they won't change their diet, but they're open to using some herbs. Others won't take anything, even supplements, that the doctor hasn't sanctioned. Some who are very conventional-medicine oriented will go for acupuncture or to a naturopath when they've reached the end of their rope and feel desperate enough. It all depends on where the person is at, at a particular time. I have found that my family members have asked ME about what I'm studying (Heilkunst) and they wanted to get treated, without my suggesting it to them directly. I was thinking that I'd like my niece to get treated, but then I completely let that energy go. Next thing I know, she's asking me, "How can I get treated?" My sense is that letting go is the ticket. Then if the window of opportunity is there, by all means talk about what you know. Take care, Karen

They're toxic at the biophysical level, where the spirit-like essence of the substance is bound in matter. That means that you can't use crude poisons without doing harm, of course. But the essence of the substance can be liberated from its "enchantment" in matter, sort of like letting the genie out of the bottle. It now isn't subject to the same laws, and isn't poisonous anymore. This can be done with any substance, but isn't quite as dramatic when you do this with something that we normally use in crude form anyway, like salt . There's a long history of people liberating this "dynamis" from matter, and in modern times we have this in the form of the homeopathic dynamization of substances. We can take the most poisonous substance - arsenic, snake venom, actual disease discharges, heavy metals, etc., and turn them into medicines by altering their sphere of action and controlling the dose and potency. Quite amazing. -Karen

Michael, If you're going to be a fad diet guru, I'm sure your publicist will come up with a Twinkie angle. Call it homeopathic . Seriously, there's a Milton Erickson story of how he treated a woman who wanted to lose weight. He told her that for her treatment she actually needed to deliberately gain a certain amount of weight. And only then was she "allowed" to start losing . Of course he also engaged in brilliant hypnotic conversation with her, using Ericksonian techniques, I suspect. But it worked. Re. being too dumb to do proper diet, I doubt that - energetic blockages, maybe! Cat, excellent insight re. embodiment issues. Thaddeus - acid in the esophagus burns. Acid in the stomach doesn't, because it belongs there, and the mucus membranes protect. It's not usually a matter of simply too much or too little, but that too little in the stomach puts the acid where it doesnt' belong. Or maybe you meant an actual excess of stomach acid? I'm not sure if there would be symptoms, although I bet there would be a TCM condition of excess or pitta derangement to attend to. Dr.Jonathan Wright, who wrote Why Stomach Acid is Good For You, excellent book, says that it doesn't matter how much more acid is in the stomach - as long as that lower esophageal sphincter is functioning properly, which it does when there is enough stomach acidity, there shouldn't be any reflux. -Karen

Hi Cat, There are various diet typologies - the blook type diet by Dr D'Adamo (which has some fallacies IMO but can be useful if you pick out certain aspects of it), Metabolic typing by William Wolcott, and Glandular typing by Dr. Abravanel. Can be very useful guidelines. Just be aware that averson to meat is sometimes a symptom of protein deficiency, and also comes under the Tubercular miasm (we all have these latent miasms, some more active than others in particular people). So you really have to sort through the issues to determine where the meat aversion is coming from, and not just assume that the person is naturally a type who does best on a vegetarian diet (and there are very few of those). Sometimes our food likes/dislikes draw us to what we need, and sometimes not . > HCI? wot is dis? hydrocloric acid? Yup. HCl with a lower case L. Re. Nux, it can be great for symptoms of overindulgence! But if the ongoing cause is wrong diet, you really have to address the cause. Caveat on slippery elm/marshmallow - they can interfere with proper absorption of nutrients over time, but great for short-term relief. For charcoal, I'd prefer potentized Carbo Veg, but you'd really have to look at the particular symptom picture. This is not addressed to you, but it's kind of pet peeve of mine, that there's such a market for all these special supplements (not to mention drugs) to make symptoms go away without understanding what the symptom is trying to signal. Karen

Acid blockers like Prilosec don't get rid of the problem, only mask it and drive it deeper into the system so it's worsening the situation. The problem is rarely too much acid. When the stomach has too little acid, this causes the esophageal sphincter to malfunction and allow what little acid you do have in the stomach, to go up into the esophagus where it burns. So reflux is actually in most cases a symptom of too little stomach HCl. Thigs that can interfere with HCl production are gluten grains (wheat, rye, barley), and sugar, mostly, which are ubiquitous in the standard American diet. It's not the elimination of animal foods that helps, but eliminating the unhealthy foods in general, which interfere with HCl production. Of course vegan diets that emphasize fruits and veggies are going to be lighter on gluten grains and sugar than the standard american diet, but not because of the vegan aspect of it. Same reason why vegan diets seem to help a lot of things, even if you added high-quality animal foods to it. Then of course it's not vegan anymore, but that's the point Someone could be sick from living on Twinkies, and claim that a vegan diet cured them. Well, it might have been just getting off the Twinkies. If you continually block stomach acid, you're blocking a very needed component of digestion - there's no way to simply snuff the symptom out without a significant ripple effect. Remember the old commercial, "It's not nice to fool mother nature" Raw and fermented foods, animal foods from grass-fed animals, cutting out gluten grains and refined sugars, good way to avoid reflux and many other problems caused by foods that don't belong in the diet. Sometimes supplementing with a little HCl can help too. Even for people who have acute heartburn, you'd be surprised how the HCl helps. And drinking enough good quality water. Digestive herbs, bitters, lots of additional things if needed, but most people can completely reverse the situation with only a few diet changes. -Karen

Not sure if it was mentioned before, Aaron Russo's movie Freedom to Fascism - looks like it's been broken up into 12 parts: http://youtube.com/watch?v=RSdbz6IenpI

I'm not sure if there are more specific traditions, but the basic idea is a skullcap that keeps the head from losing heat. I used to crochet dozens of them without a pattern - just trial and error, mostly error, but crocheting itself is a nice experience if you can get past the part where it drives you crazy Also a ming men warmer is great, just tie something around your lower back to keep it warm. -Karen

Hormesis has a lot to do with the principle of the smallest dose and applying this usually highly dilute dose homeopathically on the basis of the law of similars. This can also apply to "physical homeopathy," as in using the breath, or heat, etc., not only the commonly known method of ingesting remedies. Might want to check it out in that context, also the Arndt-Shutze law (hope I spelled that right!)

There's a whole world of options besides what conventional medicine offers. One place to research is Dr.Ralph Moss's reports The most effective system I know for all sorts of chronic disease including cancer, is Heilkunst treatment The task is more than getting rid of the tumor, but curing the disease at the causative level, and working with a system that understands the deeper implications of the disease rather than focusing on the symptom level. A Zapper might also be very useful along with other therapies. My best to your friend for whatever he chooses, Karen