Click Here to Watch the Trailer

I found the topic of this  documentary very interesting, yet shocking! This film is a great example of pharmaceutical company’s taking advantage and harming  women’s sexuality while trying to  pocket millions of dollars.

Here is what IMDB.com has to say about the movie
“Extraordinary behind-the-scenes access reveals a drug company’s fevered race to develop the first FDA-approved Viagra for women – and offers a humorous but sobering look inside the cash-fueled pharmaceutical industry.”

Because traditional medicine does not offer a solution, I had to find one on my own. From the beginning it was not an easy task because this is not taught in medical schools. Obviously, history has shown that sometimes removing the tumor itself does not work well enough because even though cancer is removed, the root cause of the cancer was not even found and not eradicated.  The result: cancer recurrence.  According to some research, surgery may even promote the spread of cancer. (1)  During healing from surgery our body makes growth stimulators to promote healing; unfortunately, these stimulators actually help cancer to spread.  (Even large studies suggest that less invasive surgery offers at least the same survival rate as aggressive surgeries.) (2,3)  Therefore, removal of a tumor is not always the optimal single solution.  This hit me on a personal level because my father died of prostate cancer.  I desperately needed to find out if there was any holistic preventative protection from contracting cancer.  I began looking for the answer.

In 2008, the first breakthrough came. A study was published in European Journal of Cancer in June of that year which examined people with melanoma who were told by their doctors to avoid sun exposure.  The patients who disobeyed the doctor’s orders and got a lot of sun exposure were actually doing better than those who followed doctor’s orders and stayed out of sun! (4)  Even more revealing was the fact that the majority of melanoma patients did not have a sunlight signature mutation, making sunlight the unlikely cause of this deadly skin cancer. (5) This was puzzling because if we assume that cancer is caused by carcinogens or similar working agents like sunlight, then someone who already has cancer should stay away from those agents.  Obviously, this was not the case.  So, if it is not carcinogens or sunlight that caused the melanoma, what was the cause?  How can we explain that women, who never smoked, still have lung cancer?  Could the root cause of cancer be inside of us?

In this case, the logical explanation would be our own broken defense against cancer. Normally our body detects, kills, and then eliminates what could harm it. Bacteria or tumor cells are captured by body cells that first attack foreign enemies, namely the macrophage or dendrite cells. They release a unique signature called antigen to memory cells (lymphocytes), and then decide whether or not it is okay to let these cells live or be killed off.  If the foreign bacteria are bad, or it is a cancer cell, then our body mobilizes all its resources to kill the bad cells. But does this always happen in reality?  We know that it does not always occur. Somehow, our bodies do not recognize cancer cells as enemies and therefore it allows them to flourish rather than kill them. The Kitava study (6) found that people do not have cancer if they are not subject to the influences of modern civilization.

In the beginning, it appeared to me that something was really wrong with the cells that first attack the cancer cells, the lymphocytes. What could be wrong with them? Then, what I learned shocked me.  Vitamin D is activated not only in the kidneys but also in the part of the immune system I was interested in – macrophages. (7) Why would our body decide to activate Vitamin D in macrophages? Is it because macrophages need Vitamin D to function? (8)

According to National Institute of Health there is no relation between Vitamin D and cancer prevention (9). Moreover, we do not need that much Vitamin D because the recommended daily dose is only 600 units. Because some products, including milk, are fortified with Vitamin D, the majority of us are getting enough of it daily, as per the National Institute of Health.  Suddenly, I asked myself:  Why would melanoma patients fare better if they were exposed to sun? Would this fact relate somehow to Vitamin D and its effects on the body?  In its simplest form: What does sunlight do?  It makes Vitamin D!  Therefore, is it Vitamin D we need to get more of in order to be protected from cancer?  To further investigate I needed to prove that low Vitamin D levels were related to higher cancer rates or produced a bad prognosis. What I found was this:  Multiple studies showed that a lack of Vitamin D leads to either increased risk of cancer or decreased survival rates, especially for breast and colon cancer (10,11,12,13,14,15,and 16).  Isn’t this impressive?

Logically, however, if Vitamin D helps immune system to function, it should help to fight other immune system diseases.  Research found that low Vitamin D levels are associated with increased rates of such immune system diseases as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and juvenile diabetes (17).  That’s not all. Vitamin D deficiency was linked to peripheral artery disease, known colloquially as “clogged arteries” (18).  What about the brain? Does it need Vitamin D to function properly? Apparently yes, because not getting enough Vitamins D was linked to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases (19).

At this point, it seemed to me that Vitamin D acts more like a prohormone, than a simple vitamin because it is needed for the successful operation of so many organs and systems.  Could this also be because it is regulating one of the most important minerals in our body — calcium? Is this because the chemical structure of Vitamin D resembles steroid hormones like cortisol, estrogen and testosterone?  It definitely circulates in the blood like a hormone to support multiple body functions.
Vitamin D may help you  to support:

1. Immune system (10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17).
2. Vascular system (18).
3. Brain (19).
4. Bones.

Isn’t it wonderful?
Because this vitamin is so important, we want to make sure that we are getting enough of it. Did Mother Nature forget to give us a reliable way to do this? Normally, our bodies make Vitamin D in the skin with help of ultraviolet light B (UVB).  This light we can get from sun or tanning lamps.  UVB is the most abundant in tropics and  is decreased in temperate regions and almost never detected in arctic circles.  These simple facts can explain why we may be deficient in Vitamin D—because we are mostly indoors and covered by our clothing. Unless we walk around naked and spend at least half a day on the beach every day to get enough vitamin D we have to rely on its food sources  (mercury-free fatty fish and fish oil, eggs, beef liver, etc.).  The question is: How much is enough?  According to the government, 600 units per day is enough (9).  Relying on the government recommendation, I advised my patients to take that dose daily to make sure that they have enough vitamin D.  I, myself, was taking about the same dose.
Still, I was puzzled.  Even though the patients were taking this government recommended dose, the majority of them were deficient in Vitamin D.  Moreover, even though some of them were taking as much as 50,000 units a month, they were still low in Vitamin D.  Obviously, the government recommendation was not working in real life, but why?   To get the answer I looked into two possibilities:  Vitamin D absorption problems and its metabolic abnormalities.

Normally, ingested food is digested mainly in the stomach and then in the bowels with the help of gastric- and pan-creating enzymes as well as hydrochloric acid, where it is then absorbed into our body.  Because vitamin D is fat soluble, lack of pancreatic enzymes, responsible for fat digestion, may cause low vitamin D levels.  Also, increased lead burden can interfere with the absorption of vitamin D.  According to the government, the toxic blood level of lead is 10.  If it is above this magic number, then treatment is warranted.  What if the lead level is 9?  Couldn’t this also cause Vitamin D problems?

How can you get enough Vitamin D to support your bones, brain, vessels and immune system:

1. Get your vitamin D level checked.
2. Talk to your doctor about the vitamin D dose that is right for you.
3. Recheck your vitamin D levels in the regular bases.
4. If despite taking a recommended dose of vitamin D your levels are still low, and your family doctor or/and specialist cannot solve the problem, then consult with a functional medicine doctor to find the root cause of your vitamin D deficiency problem.  The problem could be related to digestion or/and absorption issues, increased lead burden, etc.

Best of health,
Dr. Kalitenko

References:
1.  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jso.20273/abstract
Surgery promotes implantation of disseminated tumor cells, but does not increase growth of tumor cell clusters†
2.   http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa020989
3.  http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/02/21/hlsa0221.htm
4.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18406602
Sun exposure prior to diagnosis is associated with improved survival in melanoma patients: results from a long-term follow-up study of Italian patients.
5.  http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v417/n6892/full/nature00766.html
Mutations of the BRAF gene in human cancer
6.  http://www.staffanlindeberg.com/TheKitavaStudy.html
7.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D
8.  When synthesized by monocyte-macrophages, calcitriol acts locally as a cytokine, defending the body against microbial invaders.[27]
Adams, J. S.; Hewison, M. (2010). “Update in Vitamin D”. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 95 (2): 471–8. doi:10.1210/jc.2009-1773. PMC 2840860. PMID 20133466.

http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/95/2/471

9.  Official point of view: vitamin D does not play a role in cancer prevention.  Institute of Medicine.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13050&page=R1

DRI DIETARY REFERENCE INTAKES Calcium Vitamin D
Committee to Review Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin D and Calcium
Food and Nutrition Board
10.   http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.10427/abstract;jsessionid=197D64935075DEF00BB69DC78EB054E2.d03t01
An estimate of premature cancer mortality in the U.. due to inadequate doses of solar ultraviolet-B radiation
11.  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.10196/abstract
An ecologic study of dietary and solar ultraviolet-B links to breast carcinoma mortality rates
12. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960076005002451
Vitamin D and prevention of colorectal cancer
13.  http://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/S1047-2797(09)00105-7/abstract
Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention: Global Perspective
14.  http://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/S1047-2797(09)00010-6/abstract
Ecological Studies Of Ultraviolet B, Vitamin D And Cancer Since 2000
15.  http://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/S1047-2797(09)00014-3/abstract
Vitamin D and Breast Cancer
16.  Vit D and Cancer

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ilsi/nure/2007/00000065/A00108s1/art00007

What is the Dose-Response Relationship between Vitamin D and Cancer Risk?
17.  Vit D and Cancers, MS, RA, juvenile diabetes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585788

Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease.
18.  Vit D and PVD

http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/28/6/1179

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and the Prevalence of Peripheral Arterial Disease
19.  Vit D Parkinson and Alzheimer

http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/10/1348

Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Patients With Parkinson Disease and Alzheimer DiseaseDone

What’s in the box?

1. A soft drink, milk, chocolate milk, or juice.
2. Sliced apples.
3. French fries.
4. A hamburger, cheeseburger, or chicken nuggets with dipping sauce.

The problems here:

-The appetite suppressing hormone ‘Leptin’ is proportional to body fat, meaning that fat is actually a better appetite suppressant than carbs. Less fat in your meal means less Leptin, making fat-free products more likely to stimulate appetite than suppress it.

-Saturated fats aren’t a problem; the key is to use natural, unprocessed fat — like daily fat provided that it is safe.

- The soft drink is still there, meaning the artificial sweeteners and fructose syrup is still there. Consuming too much glucose at once overwhelms the body’s capacity to process it. When glucose enters the bloodstream, the body releases insulin to help regulate it. Fructose however, is processed in the liver – and when too much fructose enters the liver at once, it starts making fats and sends them into the blood as triglycerides – putting you at risk for heart disease.
Does that sound like something you’d want to feed your kids? What should you do instead? Try some natural alternatives:

1. Give kids apples, nuts, fruits.
2. Water instead of soft drinks.
3. Avoid foods rich in mercury, like tuna.
4. Use filtered water.
5. Eat organic.

References:
1.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903999904576469982832521802.html?mod=djemHL_t
2.  http://www.ajcn.org/content/91/3/535.abstract

Even though conventional medicine is very well aware that smelly feet is a problem, it does not offer a long-term solution. Sometimes prescription drugs like DrySol work, but they can’t be used for extended periods of time. Needless to say, over-the-counter solutions don’t solve the problem in the long run.  Why it is so difficult to do something about the smell? We have the Internet and computers, we went to the Moon, we decoded the human genome, but we can’t do something about stinky feet?

Because conventional medicine does not offer an effective solution for smelly feet and because my patients were asking for help, I had to run my own investigation.  To get to the bottom of the problem I had to find out why feet smell in the first place. Is it really an offensive odor, or is it just our perception? Some people can’t tolerate even perfume because of an increased sensitivity to any odor. The most likely cause of this problem is an inflammation in the area where smell receptors are located. Normally, we sense a smell by special receptors called ‘olfactory bulbs’, located in the upper part of the nose. The molecule that’s responsible for odor binds to this receptor, creating the sense of a certain smell. But if the receptor is damaged (most often by an upper respiratory tract infection or due to an inflammation because of allergies), then even perfume can be sensed as an offensive odor. This is called Dysosmia. It’s comparable to someone you love caressing your hand. If it’s healthy — caressing is pleasant. But what if you have a paper cut or a fractured finger? Then even a gentle caress can cause pain.  Same here: a damaged nose cannot process odors properly.

But what if everything is supposedly ok with your nose, yet you still feel that your feet smell. What is producing this offensive odor? From the beginning it looked apparent: the cause of the smell is from the byproducts of the degradation of skin secretions, like sweat, sebum, dead cells, etc., by skin bacteria. Therefore, stinky feet have three components: the sweat itself, nutrients in the sweat to feed bacteria, and the bacteria themselves.  But why do some feet smell and some don’t? It’s perfectly normal to have bacteria on your skin, but it isn’t normal for feet to smell. Could it be much more than the simple smell? Could smelly feet portend something else more dangerous than just the smell?

Normally, odor is used for communication – our odor is caused by special substances produced by our body-Pheromone, which triggers social responses. What it means is that smells created by pheromones can attract or make other people run away (so called ‘alarm pheromones’). Pheromones are secreted by the individual himself. Is it pheromone that makes our feet smell?  Sounds unlikely, as alarm pheromones are produced to signal temporary danger from an approaching predator, not a constant threat.

Could it be something else?

Scientists believe that there are 7 primary odors:
1.  Musky: perfumes.
2.  Putrid: rotten eggs.
3.  Pungent: vinegar.
4.  Camphoraceous:  mothballs.
5.  Ethereal: dry cleaning fluid.
6.  Floral: roses.
7. Peppermint: mint.

Because stinky feet do not smell like perfume or roses, peppermint or vinegar, may be something is decaying and that’s the source of the smell?  What it is clear: sweat, dead cells and sebum. But why?
Then I learned something that shocked me. Normally our skin has an acidic environment which kills bacteria. Hence, if it is changed to a alkali, bacteria can flourish and start degrading dead cells, sweat and sebum. If we use soap (which is a alkali), our skin won’t be acidic anymore, losing the defense mechanism which protects our skin from a bacterial invasion. I’m not suggesting that soaps should not be used at all, but in my opinion their use should be minimized.

To help with smelly feet we need three things to happen:

1.  Decrease sweat production.

2.  Remove nutrients that are beneficial for bacteria from the sweat.

3.  Kill bacteria.

The first problem does not have an easy solution, because too much sweating can be caused not only by your genes, but most of the time -, by hormonal or neurotransmitter imbalances.  Classic example: thyroid or adrenal problems. Therefore, you need to consult your family doctor or a functional medicine doctor to find the root cause of the problem.  A quick fix would be Botox injections into the foot to reduce sweating. Consult your doctor before deciding about Botox.

The second issue is relatively easy to solve: avoid carbohydrates, because sugar is what bacteria want.

The third solution is easy to say, but difficult to achieve. You could try bactericidal soaps. Another solution was suggested by a friend of mine:  “People do not know how to get rid of smelly feet and spend a lot of money on it – but the solution is very cheap: put a half tea spoon of Boric Acid into your socks before going out and see what happens!”  What Boric acid does is: kill bacteria. Consult your doctor before considering using Boric Acid or bactericidal soaps for smelly feet.

Bottom line:
1.  Reduce your sweating by finding the root cause of it.

2.  Stay away from carbohydrates, especially refined.

3.  Try bactericidal soaps after consulting with your doctor.

If you have better ideas please share your knowledge and let us know, help other people to get rid of smelly feet. Good luck!

(1) http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/anatomy/question514.htm

(2) http://www.livestrong.com/article/309171-smelly-feet-boric-acid/

(3) (3)http://www.hotona.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2208:what-to-do-about-smelly-feet&catid=36:buzz&Itemid=80
(4)  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-robert-a-kornfeld/smelly-feet_b_851650.html
(5)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheromone
(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odor
(7) http://ezinearticles.com/?Importance-of-Your-Skins-pH&id=55208
(8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_mantle

The Courage trial found that adding stents did not affect the rate of deaths and heart attacks at all. And yet, according to the Millenium Research group, stent usage is at peak level. So, what can we, as patients do?

We can make sure that we are educated and seek out a way to find out the root cause of our problems are, and work from the bottom up to fix it. And invasive procedures may not always be the best first option.

Let’s take, for example, coronary artery disease. Besides cholesterol there are plenty of risk factors that can lead to coronary artery disease and yet cholesterol remains one of the only things that is held responsible for it. Why? Well, because pharmaceutical companies have cholesterol medications for the rest of the patient’s life, while they can’t patent natural supplements to control other risk factors for coronary artery disease. What do you think they will look for first: how they can make money or how they can help a patient?

That is where you have to make a choice: to be treated by numbers or like a whole person.

See more information about the Courage trial here: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/03/26/to-stent-or-not-to-stent/tab/article/

How about you?

Do you have coronary artery disease?

Are you at risk of coronary artery disease?

Have you ever been checked for other risk factors besides cholesterol?

Schedule an appointment with Doctor Kalitenko to find out more. 718-382-9200.

The most popular Bisphosphanates are: Actonel, Boniva and Fosamax.

Drugs always have side effects. That’s part of the game. We can watch a commercial about this medication or that medication and spend the last 30 seconds of it listening to all the scary, uncomfortable and/or fatal reactions that we can have. But the fact that a drug does totally the opposite of what it is supposed to do is shocking.

However, even with this shocking information, it didn’t stop the scientists from making this conclusion: “Although there was a high prevalence of current bisphosphonate use among patients with atypical fractures, the magnitude of the absolute risk was small.”

Really?

So I looked at the study again.  As all we know the most important part is on the bottom of the page.  And this was the case here.  The study cut off was 2008.  But  “drug use before 2005 was not measured.”  This means that is was only patients who used bisphosphanates no more than three years.  Why it that so important?   Because the abnormal bone usually starts developing after about 8 years of bisphosphanate use.

Does it mean that they just did not include patients that have real risk in their study? Why? Because the answers might then not work in the pharmaceutical favor?

I’m not against drugs but I believe that patients should know what will happen to their bones after long term bisphosphonate use.

What can support your bones in the fight with osteoporosis?

Vitamin D, but levels should be checked.
Plenty of green leafy vegetables.
Exercise naturally like walking, gardening etc. but not too much.
Bioidentical hormone replacement may be an option.
Stay away from smoking, caffeine and alcohol.

Good luck!

What about you?

Age your bones weak?

What do you do to support your bones?

References:
1.  http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1010650#t=article

2.  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/71840

React properly to the sugar lowering hormone insulin.  It happens when you have too much sugar in your body.  You try to push it into your cells with insulin, but it’s like trying to push more garbage into a full can. You can’t do it, and your body won’t take in anymore and stops responding to insulin.

Produce enough insulin because while trying to push sugar into your cells your pancreatic gland, which produces insulin, becomes exhausted and cannot produce enough insulin to push sugar into your cells any more.

Does it have anything to do with genes? Absolutely.  When there was a severe food shortage people needed insulin resistance to keep their sugar from getting too low. They needed insulin resistance to survive.  But now that food isn’t a problem anymore, the genes that worked for our survival are killing us.

Can it also be the food we are eating?

First of all, drugs are not the best option because as soon as sugar goes down your appetite goes up, leading to increased food consumption and therefore weight gain, increasing insulin resistance and making you go in circles.

Second of all, the diet diabetics were told to follow for many years is giving you just what you’d rather stay away from: carbohydrates (1,2) especially simple sugars and artificial sweeteners (3) and tells you to cut down fat because it has too many calories in it.

The problem with carbohydrates is obvious: you cannot take food that you have a problem with.  It is like having food allergies: if you are allergic to oranges would you eat them?  Plus, why would bring your blood sugar level further up with carbohydrates if it is already elevated?

So, what about artificial sweeteners? It has been shown that instead of bringing your weight down, they actually cause weight gain (4).  The reason: artificial sweeteners cause insulin secretion increase, resulting in increased appetite.

How did it happen that our body, so perfectly designed, became prone to such thing like diabetes?

Your body weight is regulated by two hormones: Leptin and Insulin.  Leptin is produced by fat cells and is responsible for healthy weight maintenance.  More  fat  more Leptin  less appetite  weight down. Leptin works together with Insulin (5), which is responsible for bringing your blood sugar level down by bringing it into the cells.  So if you are resistant to these two hormones you have a good chance of getting Diabetes.  The cause of insulin resistance is obvious: our cells refuse to take in too much garbage (sugar).  But why is Leptin not working?

1. Lectins from certain foods like cereal grains and beans, as well as fructose (fructose syrup from various processed foods) are blocking Leptin action (6,7).
2. Eating palatable and/or high energy foods may also cause Leptin resistance — so called signal-to-noise ration theory (8).

So what is the main reason for Diabetes? Being overweight.  What is the reason for weight gain? Our food!

So what needs to be done:

1. Avoid or totally eliminate carbohydrates like grains, potato, cakes, soft drinks, etc.  What you can eat is fresh fruits (preferably organic).
2. Stay away from artificial sweeteners.
3. Make sure that you get enough healthy fat-like fish oil from cold-water fish (provided that it is not loaded with mercury), grass-fed beef, etc.
4. Get enough sleep: melatonin, released while you are sleeping, increases your Leptin level and decreases your appetite.  Sleep deprivation sauces decreased Leptin levels (9,10)
5. Try to increase raw food in your diet. Target is about 80% raw food in your daily diet.
6. Check your vitamin D level.  Make sure, that it is in optimal range.
7. Stay away from processed foods. Remember this: fat isn’t bad, processed fat is bad!
8. Exercise regularly.
9. Check if you have toxic levels of heavy metals.  Arsenic toxicity was linked to Diabetes.
10. Maintain a positive attitude and be happy!

Good luck!

What about you?

Are you overweight?

Are you diabetic?

What is your blood sugar level?

References:

1.  http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/carbohydrates.html
2.  http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/sweeteners-and-desserts.html
3.  http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/artificial-sweeteners/
4.  DeNoon, Daniel J. Reviewed by Charlotte Grayson Mathis MD. “Drink More Diet Soda, Gain More Weight? Overweight Risk Soars 41% With Each Daily Can of Diet Soft Drink”, WebMD Medical News (2005), accessed 2007-06-25
5.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptin
6.  Tommy Jönsson et al (2005). http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6823/5/10
7.  Alexandra Shapiro et al. Fructose-induced leptin resistance exacerbates weight gain in response to subsequent high-fat feeding
8.  Pilon B. “Leptin and Inflammation | Inflammation Theory”. Press75.com.
9.  Seaborg, E (2007). “Growing evidence links too little sleep to obesity and diabetes.”. Endocrine News: 14-15.
10.  Knutson KL, Spiegel K, Penev P, Van Cauter E (June 2007). “The metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation”. Sleep Med Rev 11 (3): 163–78. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2007.01.002. PMC 1991337. PMID 17442599.

• Excessive clothing: The first, and most common cause, is excess clothing. It is important to sleep in a cool room and wear breathable fabrics. Being over-dressed during sleep can not only cause night-sweats, but you can become dehydrated, and even get kidney stones because the urine gets too concentrated.

• Sleep apnea syndrome: sweating can also be a sign of sleep apnea, which can be deadly. The first step is to ask your partner if they have ever heard you stop breathing in your sleep, even for a second. This can be dangerous because of arrhythmias and even possible brain damage from lack of oxygen.

• Infections, like tuberculosis, can show symptoms like night sweats, and living in New York City, TB is very possible, especially on trains and other closed in areas. You need to be checked! See this article about how to protect yourselves from the basics: Click Here

• Tumors: night sweats are a classic symptom of lymphomas.

It’s very important to go see a functional medicine doctor to find out what can be causing your night sweats. As you can see, it is very dangerous to just say it is probably menopause and leave it at that. It can be deadly.

What about you?
Are you sweating a lot?
Do you wake up in the middle of the night with your clothes and sheets soaked with your sweat?
Does your partner tell you that you snore too much?

It means that they have hit a wall. Resources have been tapped and there’s nothing new and world-altering that the market really needs. Aside from looking for cures, the drug needs have been exhausted.
So, what’s next? Because the truth is that though medication may be exhausted, we are still suffering from the same problems. And if the pharmaceutical companies aren’t going to start moving to finding miracle cures, there has to be another way to make us feel better.
The answer is functional medicine. What you need to do is get to the root cause and fix the problem. This is now the only solution! Change your lifestyle and see a holistic doctor and see how much better you can feel. It may be able to give you the support to not only keep you from having to wait for new miracle medicines, but it may help you to get off some medications.

Our body knows how to heal itself. Give it what it needs and it knows what to do.

What you can do is commit to a healthier lifestyle.

Here are some things you can do:

1. Caveman diet. This means organic lean meats, plenty of green, leafy vegetables, and limited if any carbs and dairy.
2. Avoid carbs-as mentioned before, carbs can make the estrogen levels go up.
3. Detoxification if necessary.
4. Eat organic-this way you take less risk in the amount of toxins and additives in your food.
5. Prepare your food yourself if possible: no processed food.
6. Check your hormone levels and see if they need to be balanced. Neuroransmitters, too!
7. Better sleep. Make sure that you get a full night of uninterrupted sleep.
8. Less stress.

How about you? How many medications are you on? Are you getting more and more sick while hoping for another new medication?

References:

1.  http://www.drugs.com/news/fda-s-approval-down-2010-28669.html

How to protect yourself from toxins:

1. Stay away from mercury: fish, amalgams for fillings.
2. Stay away from lead, lead paints, etc.
3. Avoid MSG – eat food that you’ve prepared yourself.
4. Eat organic.
5. Eat raw food, provided it is safe.
6. Drink filtered water.

References:

1. http://www.livescience.com/15217-shrinking-brains-cost-longevity.html
2. http://www.msgexposed.com/msg-causes-rapid-brain-cell-death/

Have you ever heard about the “Disappearing Male Syndrome” (1) or “Vanishing Male Syndrome?”  It is all about toxins shutting down the male reproductive system.  But doesn’t the declining fertility rate portend the disappearance of human beings? I think it does. And it is not only a decreased sperm count (2,3): it is also testicular cancer, genital congenital abnormalities, etc.

So what are the reasons?

1. Toxins from almost everywhere: shampoo, dairy, plastic bottles including baby bottles, plastic covers, from mercury (6) to tobacco(5),etc.
2. Endocrine disruptors (4) — a special group of toxins that mimic hormones (most often estrogen), from aluminum to plastic, from pesticides to prescription drugs, from alcohol to dairy.  What they do is disrupt the normal hormone balance by making male body become fore feminine.  Simply eating too much can do the same thing: fat tissue transforms your male hormone Testosterone into female hormone Estrogen
3. Drugs like Cimetidine (Tagamet), Spironolactone, Phenitoin (Dilantin), etc. (5)
4. Lack of nutrients and microelements.  For example: insufficient iodine consumption may lead to suboptimal thyroid function leading to fertility problems.
5. Illegal drugs from marijuana to anabolic steroids.
6. Too much stress shifts the production of the sex hormone Testosteron to Cortisol production: so called Cortisol Steal.
7. Too high of a temperature.  Do you know why testicles are outside a man’s body? To lower their temperature because otherwise sperm cannot be produced.

How you can support your fertility naturally:

1. Reduce stress: meditation, vacation, more fun, etc. Get enough sleep.
2. Stay away from toxins: eat organic, check your mercury and lead levels, etc.
3. Get enough vitamins and nutrients: check your digestion because if you do not digest there is no way you are getting enough.  Supplementation is necessary, but no multivitamins: you need to know exactly what you need to replenish.
4. Stay away from street drugs and illegal anabolic steroids.
5. Avoid alcohol, dairy products and smoking.
6. Use loose underwear to cool down your testicles.  Do not use a laptop on your knees for the same reason.
7. Too much cycling and groin trauma should be avoided as well.
8. Cut down your calorie intake if your weight is above optimal.
9. Keep your cellphone on your belt, not in your pants pocket.
10. Have more sex and fun!

References:
1.  http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/disappearingmale/#
2.  http://www.cqs.com/esperm.htm
3.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1533223/?page=1
4.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_disruptor
5.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_infertility
6.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning

Germany and France have already pulled the drug , and another drug from the same family, Avandia, was pulled from US shelves earlier this year because it increased risk of heart attacks!

Though the FDA won’t pull approval for the drug, they say they will issue a warning on the label. But what does that mean for those who suffer from diabetes? Is there something else that we can do, more naturally, to help us deal with the disease?

Dietary Carbohydrates in our Standard American Diet  (SAD) are the main reason for the development of Diabetes Type 2.  Therefore, it is crucially important to correct your diet.  To figure out what food is good and what is not, scientists suggested so called Glycemic Index (GI).  It gives us the idea of how high blood sugar goes after eating certain foods.  Pure glucose is the worst and its Glycemic Index (GI) is 100.  A baked potato is not that much better: its GI is 97.  In contrast, the GI of whole barley or fructose is about 20.  It was shown that eating foods with low GI reduces the risk for Diabetes and Obesity.

Diabetes dietary suggestions:

1. Increase intake of high fiber foods, legumes, onions and garlic.
2. Stay away from complex carbohydrates like potato and rice.
3. Avoid trans-fats.
4. Stay away from any processed refined carbs like juices, candies, cookies, soda, etc.

Of course, diet alone cannot fix the problem.  It cannot fix neurotransmitter imbalance, and it may not be able to fix mineral and vitamin deficiency because of maldigestion or malabsorption.  To figure out what is going on you need to see a Functional Medicine Doctor to get to the root cause of the problem and eliminate it.

There is a major flaw with diabetes drugs to begin with. A diabetes drug is meant to lower your blood sugar levels. The problem with almost all diabetic drugs is that they bring sugar down and hence the appetite up. That, in turn brings our weight up, never helping us with our diabetes. You always end up going back to the medication again and again.

Try some of these tips to make us a little healthier and see what the benefits can be naturally!

• Eat healthy: fruits and vegetables,
• lose weight,
• eat organic,
• get enough sleep,
• avoid processed food,
• avoid wheat, milk, alcohol, smoking and caffeine.

The wax inside your ear is actually a protector against water and infection. Because earwax is acidic and bacteria doesn’t do well in acidic, it protects you.

Some of us clean our ears out every day, or after every shower, but you can be causing irreparable harm. The damage you can do is very severe and not worth it.

Instead of ever going inside the ear, you can clean the outside every few days with a warm wet cotton ball.

So, while it sounds incredibly scary, how is it that certain cancers are running rampant. Why is it that suddenly girls that are younger and younger are developing breast cancer? Why are the rates so incredibly on the rise? We may never know the direct answer, so what can we do to try to support our immune system;

The key is to live a healthier lifestyle! We keep our immune systems busy doing things they shouldn’t be doing like fighting off bacterias from bad foods, or trying to balance itself because of toxins, or trying to function normally because we don’t get enough sleep or are too stressed.

None of these tips are going to keep us from getting cancer. There is no way to make yourself immune to it or to hide away from every toxin because there are so many ways that we can get cancers. But what we can do is protect ourselves as best we can from the known causes, and keep our bodies in a better state, so that we have a fighting chance.

Maybe its that Food is killing us? What is the biggest source of exogenous toxins?  One way to stay healthy is to watch what we eat. Stick to a raw food diet, or as close as you can to one. Buy organic, wash your food before you eat it.

How about you? Do you have cancer? Are you worried about the way your environment affects your chances of getting cancer? Are you taking care of your body?

References:
1.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428243600574496.html?mod=djemHL_t

But it’s important to know that it’s useless to expect that the government will do everything it can to protect the people. The studies to prove whether or not these herbicides are dangerous are run by the companies themselves! How is that fair and balanced? Herbicides, which now have a stigma attached to them are now being called “crop protecting agents” because that sounds safer to the public ear.

It doesn’t make sense to expect that someone else will take care of you. It’s hard to prove, you will be fighting a losing battle. You can’t prove that RoundUp, and countless other dangers in our daily lives are killer unless someone dies right away and right in front of you. You can check toxicity but that is very limited because you can only figure out immediate toxicity. But what about delayed effects, like cancer. You can’t prove that pesticide caused cancer 10 years ago in someone but it just came up now.

My advice: Instead of fighting, change what you are doing. There are smaller ways to try and avoid the toxicity. There is no cure 100 percent, but the healthier you are, the healthier you will stay. Buy organic and grow your own plants. Eat healthier to maintain your own healthy body. Get enough sleep and reduce stress. Fix your gut, because all of these things will make your immune system better. Check your toxicity and get detoxified.

And don’t blindly trust every company and every product. Try to be as natural as possible.

References:
1.  http://www.scribd.com/doc/57277946/RoundupandBirthDefectsv5
2.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/roundup-scientists-birth-defects_n_883578.html

Back and forth goes the FDA when it comes to a decision regarding Avastin, the breast cancer treatment drug. The drug itself has an interesting history and relationship with the FDA. Back in 2004, Avastin received approval by the FDA. In 2007, the FDA suddenly pulled the approval, by a 5-4 vote. But only several months later re-granted the drug accelerated approval. Over the next couple of years it became a staple for women fighting breast cancer.

Until last month, when the FDA announced it was questioning some of the studies done by the company and pulled approval once again. But what about the women who have been on it all these years?

The debate is heated and not anywhere close to over yet. A study says it adds five months to your life, but now evidence says it actually marginally helps people on it.
This is yet another terrifying example of what we are dealing with when it comes to “life-saving” drugs. It is one thing to read a story about drugs being pulled off the market, but what if you have been on it for years? Or forget it not helping, what if the drug actually caused damage like another diabetes drug pulled recently, which was said to possibly be linked to bladder cancer?
So what can we do? Well, we can’t cure cancer just like that, but we can try to take as many precautions as we can to not expose ourselves to known cancer-causing agents.

Here are some natural ways that we can protect ourselves from cancer. There is nothing we can do to guarantee that we won’t get it, but it can never hurt to be healthy and careful:

1. Make you sure you get a good night’s sleep: It is during sleep time that our body fixes itself and corrects the things that need to be corrected
2. Detoxification: Check yourself for toxins and get detoxified.
3. Eat organic: less chemicals=less risk
4. Eat a Paleolithic diet of proteins, fruits and vegetables. No carbs, no milk, and cook food as little as possible to keep in the nutrients.
5. Stay out of the sun during the worst hours. Only go out before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m.  Make sure you wear sunscreen.

For a few reasons:

1. Too much straining because of wrong food — not enough fibers, alcohol that make gut slow, drugs like Tylenol 3 that contain codeine and causes constipation
2. Wrong position: sitting on the toilet for a long time reading a magazine is not the best thing you can do.

There are some advantages to squatting when you use the bathroom. This is actually often done in some European countries, and some hotels and hostels actually offer a second toilet, lower to the ground, specifically for those who prefer to squat.

Advantages of squatting:

1. Protection from hemorrhoids (1,2,7)
2. Make it easier to move your bowel (3,4,7)
3. May protect from diverticulosis (5,7) and appendicitis (6,7)

There are some basic suggestions that we can do to help us move our bowels in the correct way:

Suggestions:

1. Move your bowel as soon as you feel you need. Do not hold it in.
2. Do not sit too long on the toilet and do not strain yourself for a long time.  You can try again when you feel like doing it.
3. Eat enough fibers.
4. Avoid alcohol and other constipation causing drugs especially pain killers with opiates.
5. Use a squatting position when you move your bowel.
6. Clean yourself with water and soap instead of using toilet paper.
7. Wash your hands well after a bowel movement.

References:
1.  Dimmer C, Martin B, Reeves N, Sullivan F (1996). “Squatting for the Prevention of Hemorrhoids?”. Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients (159): 66–70.
2.  Sikirov BA (Apr 1987). “Management of hemorrhoids: a new approach”. Isr J Med Sci. 23 (4): 284–6. PMID 3623887
3.  Bockus, H.L., GastroEnterology, (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co., 1944), Vol. 2, p. 469.
4.  Rad S (Apr 2002). “Impact of Ethnic Habits on Defecographic Measurements”. Archives of Iranian Medicine 5 (2): 115–7.
5.  Sikirov BA (May 1988). “Etiology and pathogenesis of diverticulosis coli: a new approach”. Med Hypotheses 26 (1): 17–20. doi:10.1016/0306-9877(88)90107-7. PMID 2840558.
6.  Burkitt DP (Feb 1976). “A deficiency of dietary fiber may be one cause of certain colonic and venous disorders”. Digestive Diseases and Sciences 21 (2): 104–8. doi:10.1007/BF01072052. PMID 1274909.
7.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet

Questions:

1. Why was skin cancer rare in 1900 when people were mostly outdoors but has reached epidemic proportions now, when people are mostly indoors?
2. Why other cancer incidences are on the rise?  Why do women who have never smoked developing lung cancer?

Maybe it isn’t UV rays? Maybe it is us, who have broken immune systems and faulty DNA repair mechanisms, that allow cancer to start and grow?

Reasons for a broken immune system:

1. Too-clean environment: our immune system is not trained properly. This happens with extended use of antibacterial items and not properly exposing yourself to nature.
2. Chronic infections that deplete our immune system, like HIV.
3. Massive use of antibiotics that changes our gut flora and hence immune response.
4. Wrong food that damages the gut and leads to impaired immune function because the majority of the immune system is in the gut.
5. Lack of vitamin D because of lack of sunlight, wrong food or lead poisoning. It’s affected by lead, too, so check lead levels.

Reasons for DNA faulty repair mechanisms:

1. Impaired methylation because of B12 problems because of our stomach’s faulty function, lack of microelements because of soil fertilization, leading to impaired enzyme functions, etc.  Methylation is necessary for making DNA-key-component Thymine from Uracil.  If uracil is not methylated to make thymine, then the result is defective DNA, leading to DNA spiral breakdown.
2. Lack of antioxidants, resulting in an attack of key DNA components by free radicals.

Suggestions:

1. Minimize UVB exposure: in the sun for 15-20 min, before 10 AM and after 6 PM.
2. Use sunscreen with the highest number.
3. Check your vitamin D level and correct it if necessary.
4. Get enough sleep.
5. Stay away from stress.
6. Eat organic food, stick with Paleolithic diet: fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, meat and poultry.
7. Stay away from processed food.
8. Maximize raw food in your diet, provided that it is safe.  Talk to your doctor what raw food you can eat.

References:

1. http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=flight%20447&mod=DNH_S
2. http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/
3. http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/SkinCancer-BasalandSquamousCell/DetailedGuide/skin-cancer-basal-and-squamous-cell-key-statistics

Another way to prevent migraines is to find out the root cause of your headache and eliminate it.

Here are some possible reasons for migraines that should be looked into when considering an option besides preventative medication. It is important to speak to your doctor before stopping or starting any medication:

1. Hormone imbalance
2. Depression
3. Excess caffeine or alcohol
4. Tumors
5. Lack of sleep
6. Electrolyte imbalance, especially magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is necessary to relax.  Not enough magnesium because of low greens in your diet and/or soil depletion, and you can’t relax your head muscles, resulting in chronic headaches.
7. Certain foods as well as food additives like chocolate, cheeses, MSG and sulfides
8. Allergies, like food allergies, causing sinusitis
9. Even a hole in the heart
10. Do not forget about too much stress in our life. We are not designed to sustain that much stress. Humans are hunters/gatherers intended to work only 2-3 hours a day.  Can you imagine? But how many hours do you work a day?  Your spouse?

The best way to prevent a migraine is to get yourself checked out, and consider the causes listed above, how you are affected by any of the reasons, and see how you can change to a healthier life, helping to prevent migraines.

• Are you suffering from headaches?
• How often?
• What do you do to get rid of them?

References:
1. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/migraine-aura/MM00659

2.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304906004576369431835920332.html?mod=djemHL_t

Disclaimer: to every blog post –  This blog post does not intend to give you advise how to treat, improve or cure any disease.

It is customary now to divide people into morning and evening people.

The morning type has peak performance in the morning. They are perky, get up easily and get started with work with a clear head. This is as it is supposed to be in nature.

Then there is the evening type, who is at peak performance in the afternoon or evening.  They have difficulty waking up and can’t function without their coffee. It takes them more effort to concentrate on a morning task and they often don’t seem cheerful until later in the day.

The morning type is not a problem at all, but evening people usually complain of fatigue, poor sleep and other problems.  How does it happen that some people function normally in the morning and others can’t?

We all have an internal clock that determines our activity.  It is set by dawn and sunrise and cannot be changed.  It determines the quality of sleep (1,2).  Therefore if we have restorative normal sleep, we get up bright end early.  But what if we do not have normal sleep? For example we go to bed late, trying to cheat our internal clock? Then we are in trouble: no energy in the morning because there was no proper rest at night.  If there’s not enough rest then you are stressed out, leading to your cortisol level changes and hence sleep changes.  This may lead to adrenal gland exhaustion and adrenal fatigue.  And this makes the problem even worse.  And it is real: research showed the cortisol and morning/evening type connection (3).

What can we do to improve our sleep and get more energy and improve our performance?

1. Go to bed early with sun down, get up early with sunrise. Do not try to cheat your internal clock — you will lose.  Remember: “ Early to bed, early to rise makes people healthy, wealthy and wise.”
2. Minimize your stress to normalize your cortisol and adrenalin levels.
3. Check yourself for toxic metal burden.  Insomnia is a very well known symptom of mercury and lead toxicity.
4. Stay away from carbs except fresh organic fruits and vegetables: carbs especially simple carbs like cookies can cause low sugar levels at night that may wake you up.
5. Eliminate noise and any light in your bedroom.
6. Stay away from processed foods and food additives like MSG, which is known as an excitatory neurotransmitter.
7. Eat plenty of organic fruits and vegetables.  Dates, bananas and papaya in the evening are beneficial.
8. Have more sex to relax.
9. Check your hormone levels to rule out hormonal imbalance as a cause of insomnia.

References:
1.  1.  Wyatt, James K.; Ritz-De Cecco, Angela; Czeisler, Charles A.; Dijk, Derk-Jan (1 October 1999). “Circadian temperature and melatonin rhythms, sleep, and neurobehavioral function in humans living on a 20-h day”. Am J Physiol 277 (4): R1152–R1163. Fulltext. PMID 10516257. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
2.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep
3.  Zavada, Andrei; Gordijn, Beersma; Daan, Roenneberg (2005). “Comparison of the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire with the Horne-Östberg’s Morningness-Eveningness Score” (PDF). Chronobiol. Int. 22 (2): 267–78. doi:10.1081/CBI-200053536. PMID 16021843. Retrieved 2007-11-02.

Disclaimer: to every blog post –  This blog post does not intend to give you advise how to treat, improve or cure any disease.

What is even more frightening is the battle over treatment. Drug companies, insurance companies and doctors are in a constant legal battle over the proper treatments. Insurance companies seem to think a shorter treatment will suffice, while many conventional doctors (and the suffering patients) believe it can take years.

First it’s important to identify some of the symptoms of Lyme Disease, in case you could be suffering:

It is a poppy-seed sized, innocent looking nymph that bites you.  And often you don’t even know about it!  But the danger is not only because the nymph is so small.  It makes your skin numb, so you don’t even feel the bite. There is a 50 percent chance that tick will carry the disease.

Have you ever seen a bulls-eye?  That is how Lyme starts.  The first thing you might see is the so-called “bulls-eye” lesion: the red ring with a dark red, sometimes indurated center, inside at the tick bite site.  Unfortunately it often goes unnoticed.  Or you may never even have the rash.

Lyme disease starts to spread quickly. It goes into the skin, causing rashes, and pain in the muscles, tendons and joints. It also goes into the heart and nervous system, including the brain.  The result is devastating. You may experience a myriad of disabling symptoms from dizziness, fatigue, depression, muscle pain, insomnia and palpitations to frank psychosis, heart block and paralysis.

Why the Rise in Cases?

Look at what the government is saying. According to the CDC “During the 15-year study period, the number of cases reported increased 101 percent, from 9,908 cases in 1992 to 19,931 cases in 2006.” (1) And they are not trying to find out why?

Use your common sense.  How did it happen, that in 15 years it increased two times over?  Did they start a food stamp program for ticks so that they started biting more people?  Or maybe they opened subsidized housing in the woods so that hungry ticks are now able to bite every person available?  Not that I know of.  It should be the opposite trend because of awareness about Lyme.

More people are using repellents, more people are avoiding woods, the government is deploying various measures.  So is this silent epidemic a mystery?
Obviously there are no more ticks than before.  There are probably less tick bites.  The only plausible explanation of the growth of Lyme is improving diagnosis.  But if the growth is so fast, it means that our ability to diagnose it by lab tests is very poor. And this is with all modern technology, Internet and supercomputers?  Could there be something else that can explain Lyme’s elusive nature?

The answer could be in your mouth.   Do you brush your teeth?  What you are doing is removing biofilm from your teeth.  But what is this innocent looking monster?

Biofilm maybe the place where dangerous bacteria are hiding.  They use a labyrinth of polymeric fibers on an appropriate surface with small holes and pockets that are bacteria citadels. That is where they may hide and cannot be detected by lab tests. That is where they cannot possible be affected by antibiotics.  That is where they are waiting for better times to go out and hit again.  That is why biofilms are so dangerous.  But maybe they are rare and not significant in the everyday practice?  In fact the  opposite is true.

Biofilms take place in 80 percent of all diseases (2) .  And Lyme Disease maybe one of them.  Lyme is not measles, not a common cold that is designed to hit fast and to spread to another person.  Lyme is designed to live long time in the host — ticks, deer and may be humans.  That is why it is so elusive.  This is because Lyme Disease infection might be in  biofilm and hiding in it!  That is why sometimes it may not show on the blood tests!  That is why it often may not respond to antibiotics!

The bottom line is simple:

1. If you were bitten by a tick and experienced rash — come for an evaluation, because the sooner you get treatment – the higher your chances for recovery.
2. Even if you were not bitten by a tick, but had the symptoms suggestive of Lyme disease like a rash, you may benefit from evaluation for Lyme anyway, because often tick bites go unrecognized.

And the most important advice? Use your common sense and cover up, with light, loose clothing when you are going to a wooded, green area. The best way to protect yourself is to be aware of your surroundings!

(1)  ( ref http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5710a1.htm ).
(2)  ( ref http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-03-047.html )

Disclaimer: to every blog post –  This blog post does not intend to give you advise how to treat, improve or cure any disease.