Understanding “Fibromyalgia” Part 4: The Chronic Stress Factor

THE HORMONE FAMILY

Before we talk about chronic stress, there’s something we need to understand about the endocrine system and hormones. So, let’s talk about hormones first.

Hormones, I’ve learned, are a family and cannot be isolated and treated separately.  This is likely why “hormone therapy” is the best we can come up with in treating the symptoms of hormone dysfunction.  In medical science, we do not yet know how to restore function to hormonal glands when they malfunction—or, if we do, we’re not taking that route. The sole approach we’re taking with medicine today is the prescribing and ingesting of synthetic hormones, and in some cases the surgical removal of the malfunctioning gland altogether.  Rather barbaric, I’d say, and a testament to our horse-and-buggy approach to sickness and health yet in this the twenty-first century.

Of course, “natural hormone replacement therapy” is now available. But we’re still putting the hormones into the body instead of correcting the malfunction. The old axiom can be applied here: “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him  how to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”  You can give the body hormones or restore normal function to its own endocrine system. If you give the body hormones, the demand is taken away and the glands will not be called into action to produce their hormones.

FUNCTIONAL ENDOCRINOLOGY

Here’s were “Functional Medicine” comes into the health care arena to save the day—and our sacred endocrine system.  I’ve taken a few seminars in what is called “Functional Endocrinology” and, believe me, it’s a comprehensive and truly wholistic approach to balancing body chemistry. It also requires specializing, so I would encourage you to seek out an alternative practitioner who specializes in Functional Endocrinology and Clinical Nutrition, or a least uses muscle testing for system strength analysis, such as Contact Reflex Analysis or Quantum Reflex Analysis, in determining functional deficiencies and appropriate nutritional and herbal support.

THE STRESS RESPONSE AND THE “HPA AXIS”

In functional endocrinology we have what is called the “HPA Axis” (Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal).  These are the head coordinators of your endocrine family and are at the core of all hormonal activity, the most common of which is the “fight or flight” stress response.  Here’s how that works. The hypothalamus apprises the pituitary gland about conditions in the body and around it.  It’s the clearing house for information coming in through the five senses via the central nervous system.  It says if it’s hot or cold, dangerous or safe, turbulent or peaceful in your world—including your physical body, your closest and most personal world. The pituitary gland received the information via chemical messengers from the hypothalamus and proceeds to send out a hormone precursor to the adrenal glands (as it does to all the glands) for further hormone production.  The adrenal glands receive the precursors and squirts adrenalin into the blood stream to empower muscle cell activity.  The blood vessels contract and the muscles get ready to act on your command. This is so with all cellular activity in the body. Every cell in your body needs adrenalin to function properly—or to function at all. 

If the stress response is not shut off for a length of time—weeks and months—the stress becomes chronic. Chronic stress is a known contributor to fibromyalgia, as well as Chronic Fatigue (CFS), which is often caused by hypothyroid function. The adrenal and thyroid glands share a close relationship in the hormone family.  The stress response triggers the production of adrenalin to get the muscles moving for flight or fight in the face of a threat—real or imagined.  If a person doesn’t fight or flee from a threat and the threat is not removed, the adrenalin is not used up. 

Adrenalin, like all hormones, becomes a toxin if not used up or removed from the blood stream and muscle tissue.  It is used up in physical exercise.  It is broken down by enzymes and removed by the lymphatic system—which also depends on exercise to move lymph fluid through the tissues and on to its final destination at the left subclavian vein just above the heart where it enters the blood stream.  From there it is sent with the blood to the liver and kidneys to be filtered out and eliminated.  If this doesn’t happen and the adrenalin remains in the tissues, two things happen. One, the adrenal glands are shut down by the pituitary gland, which gets the message from the hypothalamus that there’s no need for more adrenalin as the muscle tissues are saturated with it.  Two, adrenalin, a steroid hormone called “cortisol,” is the bully of the hormone family if it doesn’t get its way.  It wrecks havoc in estrogen chemistry balance and interferes with thyroid function.  

There’s only one answer: deal with the stress factor.  Fight back or flee the situation.  Preferably, resolve it.  Now, you can’t always do that, especially if the stress factor is your job or your marital relationship.  You may need both—for a while anyway— so, denied a successful resolution, you stand or sit there in a state of quiet desperation while chronic stress sets in.  This sends a message to your hypothalamus that you’re not going to do anything about the stress.  A cascade of failures ensue:

  1. The hypothalamus gets confused and frustrated, or at best incoherent, and may simply shut down.
  2. This leaves the pituitary gland without clear and coherent instructions on what hormone precursors are needed by the family members of the endocrine system to make their hormones.  An incoherent pituitary gland spells confusion and depression for the brain.
  3. The thyroid gland falls off in its production of thyroid and parathyroid hormones, directly impacting your metabolism.  You gain weight and lose bone density.
  4. The thymus gland doesn’t get the feedback it needs about outside invaders and the possible need for an immune response.
  5. The Beta cells of the pancreas  (Islets of Langerhans) don’t know how much insulin to make to keep blood sugar balanced, resulting in hypo and/or hyperglycemia.
  6. The adrenal glands just shut down leaving you with restless nights and no stamina during the day.
  7. Finally, the sex hormone glands (the gonads) go haywire without the pituitary gland’s stimulating hormone precursors—the menstrual cycle loses its regularity and your libido shuts down in the absence of any desire to reproduce your stressed-out self.  Survival, not reproduction, growth and healing, is your body’s primary interest at this point.

You get the picture, I believe.  A family feud breaks out among your hormone glands—all because your hypothalamus is confused and your adrenal glands are exhausted. The result is pain and more pain and a complete lack of energy.  (I won’t repeat the diagnostic terms medicine has for these conditions so as not to re-enforce mental fixations that get in the way of healing.)

OXYTOCIN TO THE RESCUE!

There is one out.  Relax, throw your shoulders back, smile and be thankful for your circumstance . . . that you have a circumstance!   A thankful attitude releases oxytocin into the blood stream which disengages the stress response. So does a hug and a hand shake. So, find someone to hug—or just hug yourself— and shake hands with someone, anyone! Get that oxytocin flowing 🙂

CLINICAL NUTRITIONAL TO THE RECOVERY

While medicating for pain and and pep, consider this protocol as a general program until you can find a clinical nutritionist who can evaluate your need more specifically. This protocol will begin giving you back your life and your bubbling personality. The products are all by Standard Process and Medi-Herb. Divide dosages between morning and evening meals,  or between three meals if you’d rather.  

  1. 4 Hypothalmex tablets – ($24/60 tabs)
  2. 4 Symplex F tablets (women),  Symplex M (men) – ($17/90 t)
  3. 4 Black Current Seed Oil pearls – ($15/60 pearls)
  4. 8 Drenamin tablets – ($11/90 t)
  5. 3 Adrenal Complex for adrenal exhaustion – ($21/40 t) 
  6. 3 Thyroid Complex for hypothyroid – ($26/40 t)

To that add these for general wholefood nutritional support: 

  1. 6 Catalyn – ($11/90 tabs) 
  2. 6 Min-Tran – ($6/90  t)
  3. 3 Trace Minerals B12 – ($15/90 t)
  4. 3 Tuna Omega 3 Oil pearls – ($20/120 pearls)

Drop me an email and I’ll have the products drop-shipped directly from Standard Process within a few days.*  The cost for a 30-day supply of the above products with a 10% blog-readers discount is $280.  You will feel so good after taking these therapeutic foods for a month that you will re-order every month for two more months.  After this 90-day intensive therapy period, dosages on most supplements can be reduced to maintenance levels for the next 9 months.  Stay with this program for a year if you want to reap its full benefits.  We’re talking balancing your body chemistry and not just treating the symptoms of hormone imbalances for the rest of your life.  

*Drop-shipping applies to orders within the USA.  Postage and handling for out-of-county shipping will apply.

TOTAL PROTOCOL SUMMARY

1. First, detoxify. Do a 21-day total body purification using the Purification Kit by Standard Process. The cost: $240.  Repeat this purification program every 4 months for a year, then twice a year thereafter.

2. For gouty arthritis and fluid retention, abstain from highly seasoned and high purine foods (turkey, pork, heavy beef, lentils, dried beans, avocados, and beer) and take the following: 

  1. AC Carbamide  – 3 capsules with a tall glass of purified or spring water three times a day to support the kidneys in removing uric acid from the blood and excess fluid from the tissues. ($18/90 caps)  
  2. Iodomere  – 2 tablets with meals (6 a day) for thyroid support and to help the kidneys take up fluid. ($19/90 tabs) 
  3. DermaCo herbal – one or two tablet per day to help maintain a normal level of uric acid in the bloodstream. ($28/40 tabs) 

3.  During and after the 21-day purification, support your lymphatic system with daily brisk walks or rebounding exercise and take the following:

  1.  Take 10 drops of Lymphapar sublingual 3 times daily for 7 days then once daily for 90 days. ($14/1 oz bottle. You’ll need 3 or 4 bottles.  Email me and I’ll send you some as this is not an SP product.) 
  2. Add to that 1 Cal Amo tablet with each meal for 30 days. ($12/90 tabs)
  3. Take 4 Allerplex capsules twice a day to help get rid of metabolic waste and histamines, particularly from the lungs and bronchial tubes. ($24/150 caps)

 4.  Next, support your immune system with the following supplements over the first 90 days:

  1. Echinacea Premium (2/day)
  2. Immuplex (6/day),
  3. Thymex (6/day),
  4. St. John’s Wort (2/day) – Contraindicated with life-dependent medicines as it detoxifies drugs in the liver.
  5. Astragalus (2/day)  

5. Support the stress-response and hormone system as detailed above.   

Take this in steps and stages, and don’t rush the process.  You didn’t get fibromyalgia or CFS overnight.  Allow one month of correction for every year of chronic illness after going through a 90-day intensive.  It takes that long to turn a deteriorating health pattern around and build an integrating health pattern. And, above all, be patient—and aim to maintain an attitude of gratitude! 🙂

This completes my consideration of  fibromyalgia.  I will resume my series “Seven Glands for Seven Spirits” with the next post.  Until then,

Here’s to your health and healing . . . and a happy and healthy holiday season.

Dr. Anthony Palombo

tpal70@gmail.com

Visit my second blog, HealingTones.org, for intriguing thought around the current cosmic event, “4th Density Apocalypse 2012, Part 3: The Ascension Process.” 

85 countries have visited my blogs:  ALBANIA, ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BAHAMAS, BAHRAIN, BANGLADESH, BARBADOS, BELARUS, BELGIUM, BOLIVIA, BOSNIA, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, CANADA, CHILI, COLOMBIA, CROATIA, CYPRUS, CZECH REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EGYPT, FINLAND, FRANCE, GEORGIA, GERMANY, GHANA, GREECE, GUATEMALA, HONG KONG, HUNGARY, ICELAND, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRAQ, IRELAND, ISRAEL, ITALY, JAMAICA, JAPAN, LEBANON, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, KUWAIT, MALAYSIA, MALTA, MEXICO, MOLDOVA, MONTENEGRO, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NORWAY, PAKISTAN, PANAMA, PERU, PHILLIPPINES, PORTUGAL, PUERTO RICO, REUNION (Island), ROMANIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SAUDI ARABIA, SERBIA, SPAIN, SINGAPORE, SLOVAKIA, SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SRI LANKA,SUDAN,  SYRIAN ARABIA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH) KOREA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TAIWAN, TANSANIA (UNITED REP. OF TZ), THAILAND, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, TURKEY, UKRAINE, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, UNITED KINGDOM, USA, VENEZUELA, VIET NAM, ZIMBABWE (South Africa)

Welcome Iraq, Ukraine and Malta! And Sudan! And Moldova!  And Bosnia! Welcome All!

 

   

Understanding “Fibromyalgia”—Part 3: The Immune Connection

Tony Pics for SA BookThere’s an old proverb that says: 

“If you make people think they think, they will love you. If you make them think, they will hate you.”  

I trust that you will not hate me for helping you think for yourself on matters as personal and intimate to you as your health.  

THE IMMUNE CONNECTION

Let’s talk about the immune connection to “fibromyalgia.”  We’re talking about infection, a crucial step in the healing process. Without infection, we would quickly succumb to the ravages of toxic metabolic waste and invasive pathogens upon the body cells.  Sounds like what “fibromyalgia” is all about—the ravages of toxic metabolic waste and invasive pathogens upon the body cells, which calls up an immune response to create an infection.  

I’ve just made another “thought-process interrupt.”  We automatically think of infections as something “bad” and a thing to “fight.”  What I said above calls for different thinking—and that’s my intent in writing this blog: to help us think again and anew about dis-ease and health, but mainly about what we’ve called “disease.”

Notice I hyphenate that word when I use it, because there is no such thing as “a disease.”  We’ve been programmed to think there is and that “disease” is our enemy that needs to be fought and destroyed with man-made chemical bullets, bombs and “surgical warfare.”  But we’re only shadow boxing.  Where diseases need to be gotten rid of is in human consciousness, where they are being  invented, labeled and “cured” (as in preserved). That’s what you do when you cure something.  You preserve it.  Well, we need to stop curing disease and start supporting the healing processes of the body, which alone knows what to do about what we call “disease.” 

There is a dis-ease created by such things as inflammation and infection.  They don’t feel good. We’re not at ease with pain, and that’s as it should be, all things considered.  Pain keeps us from hurting ourselves even further with inappropriate lifestyle activities. It should cause us to ask “Why does that hurt?” rather than “How can I get rid of this pain?”  Pain is an alarm. You wouldn’t turn off the smoke or fire alarm.  You would first look for the fire and seek to put it out. The smoke alarm will automatically shut off when the fire is put out and the smoke cleared out of the house.  It’s the same with pain. 

Our immune system creates fires all the time in order to burn up toxic waste.  The only sensible thing to do is support it so it can do its job more quickly and efficiently.  Fevers are life-savers and are not to be suppressed. They need to be allowed to burn at moderate temperatures (100 – 104).  More than that is dangerous and should be brought down with cold applications to the head especially to prevent brain damage.  Covering the body with blankets to help break a sweat will often break a fever. 

So, let’s talk about supporting the immune system.  Here’s its mechanism of action in medical terms.  Read it first then I’ll break it down to help you understand it.

Cytokines mediate and control immune and inflammatory responses. Complex interactions exist between cytokines, inflammation and the adaptive responses in maintaining homeostasis, health, and well-being. Like the stress response, the inflammatory reaction is crucial for survival and is meant to be tailored to the stimulus and time. A full-fledged systemic inflammatory reaction results in stimulation of four major programs: the acute-phase reaction, the sickness syndrome, the pain program, and the stress response, mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system.

Phew! That’s a mouth-full.  First, let’s understand what “cytokines” are.  Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Cytokines (Greek cyto-, cell; and -kinos, movement) are small cell-signaling proteinmolecules that are secreted by numerous cells and are a category of signaling molecules used extensively in intercellular communication. Cytokines can be classified as proteinspeptides, or glycoproteins; the term “cytokine” encompasses a large and diverse family of regulators produced throughout the body by cells of diverse embryological origin

Simply stated, these are the messengers that alert the body’s immune system that the body has been invaded by harmful pathogens or free radicals.  They mediate and control immune and inflammatory responses, just as it says.  There is the “Redox Signaling Molecules,” for example. They play an important role in the body by activating antioxidants and turning on the immune response naturally to restore and maintain homeostasis—balance.

Watch this 5-minute video clip put out by ASEA as it contains a graphic demonstration of how cytokines work.  Just bear with the promo for their product, although it represents a remarkable scientific breakthrough in the healthcare field, and I use the product myself and in my practice.  This is important information to help us understand such modern-day health issues as “fibromyalgia” and “chronic fatigue syndrome.”

As you can see from the clip, the message has to get through to the immune system or else the invasion of pathogens and free radicals and the vulnerability of the cell walls will go unnoticed by the body.  

IMMUNE ALLIANCE, NOT SYSTEM

Let me explain the so-called “immune system,” which is a misnomer. We do not “have” an “immune system” as such, although the thymus gland, spleen and bone marrow play pivotal roles in producing immune-response cells to deal with “non-self” toxins in the body.  What we do have in an immune alliance which involves all the organs of the body, especially the organs of elimination, which includes the skin, by the way.  So, just keep that in mind in your approach to supporting your “immune system.”  For example, if you simply take antibiotics, pharma grade of natural, without doing something to clean out the metabolic waste with herbs, for instance, then you’ll end up crowding your lymphatic system with too much to handle on its own.  

I’ll often give a client Congaplex or Thymex, “natural antibiotics” put out by Standard Process Labs, to support the body’s immune-response to strep and staph infections respectively.  In a day or two the client often comes down with sinus congestion or swollen lymph nodes.  This tells me that the lymphatic glands are congested, so I’ll back off from supporting the body’s immune response and start supporting its elimination system.  

Standard Process and Medi-Herb provide superior products for this purpose, even natural antihistamines, like Antronex,  Allerplex, and Fen-Gre  to break up congestion in the sinuses and lymphatic glands, and ResCo, Broncafect, and PulmaCo to help clear out congestion in the bronchial tubes and lungs.  A company by the name of Energique also provides a product called Lymphapar, which almost magically opens up the lymphatic glands—very helpful with lactating mothers, for which this sublingual homeopathic was formulated.  These are all non-invasive, non-toxic, “natural medicines.”  They are also quite affordable when compared to the escalating cost of drugs.  Unfortunately, they are not covered by most insurance policies. 

Invariably, a “virus” appears on the scene from seemingly out of nowhere to scavenge the debris left by dead cells that gave their lives putting out the fire of infection.  That’s what they are and what they do—and they do appear to come from out of nowhere because they are simply normal cells of the body that have been transformed, morphed, and re-programmed as scavengers to clean up the mess left by the immune response, which I think is simply amazingly ingenious.  So, we can then turn our attention to helping the body clean house so as to eliminate the necessity for the viral activity.  This includes viruses that originate outside the body.  They are still scavengers and they will not invade your body tissues if there is nothing there for them to scavenge. This emphasizes the importance of Fall and Spring full-body purification rituals.  

Immuplex and St. John’s Wort help the body respond to viral infections.  Herbal teas are helpful in eliminating waste.  Bowel, liver and kidney detox products are plentiful.  All one has to do is use them.  Standard Process has a complete full-body Purification Kit with all the nutrients needed to clean out the body’s systems and tissues. Email me for product acquisition.  My readers enjoy a 10% discount on all supplement orders. *

ECHINACEA & IMMUNE-RESPONSE MODULATION

When we are sick we usually think in terms of “stimulating the immune system.” Well, that may or may not be the right call.  It’s far better to think in terms of modulating your immune response. Modulation simply entails balancing the immune response, which will be under-active where infections persist and over-active where autoimmune conditions persist, such as AIDS and rheumatoid arthritis.  

Echinacea herb is probably the most effective modulating botanical in Mother Nature’s cornucopia of natural medicines.  Medi-Herb, a sister company to Standard Process, has the very best Echanicea product in their Echinacea Premium—and it can be taken daily as a preventative, by children and adults alike, to keep the immune response balanced and poised to act appropriately in response to infections and autoimmune issues.

Not all Echinaceas are equal.  For example, the root of the augustifolia plant has more goodies for the immune system than the flowers of the purpurea plant.  Traditional Echinacea is made from the flowers, which is why people who are allergic to plants of the daisy family have a sensitivity to traditional Echinacea (made from Echinacea Purpurea flowers).  Echinacea Premium by Medi-Herb is made from the root of the Echinacea angustifolia.  The natives in Australia, where Medi-Herb manufactures its products, would pass over the flowering  purpurea plants and dig up the root type augustifolia plant, which resembles a carrot, because they knew it worked better than the flower type plants.  

Master Herbalist Dr. Kerry Bone of Medi-Herb has discovered that it’s the high concentrations of alkylamides that impact the immune system and not the polysacharides, as traditional European herbalists believe.  Echinacea Premium combines the roots of Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea to enlist properties unique to each one in supporting the immune system. The following are some of it benefits: 

  • enhance immune system function (particularly non-specific immune function)
  • support and promote normal interferon production
  • support and promote healthy white blood cells
  • support healthy immune response following stress, sudden changes in weather or temperature
  • encourage healthy upper respiratory tissue
  • support and maintain healthy throat tissue
  • support healthy lymphatic system function
  • stimulate the body’s normal tissue support and renewal function.

For maximum benefit, combine Immuplex and Echinacea Premium in your supplement protocol for immune response modulation and support. Email me for product acquisition and dosages.  

And friends, you just need to stock up your “Natural Medicine Cabinet” with these products if you’re going to make the break from pharmaceutical drugs and start supporting your body’s immune system naturally.  In this day and age, supplementation with wholefood nutritionals and herbs is unavoidable.  And  I walk my talk. Personally, I take up to 30 different supplements daily. That’s about 60 pills and capsules, a handfull at each meal.  But that’s not much when I compare it to the three plates full of food I eat daily—and these are essences of wholefood concentrates designed and prescribed to reverse the “disease” process by balancing body chemistry—not “vitamin supplements,” which I strongly advise against.

For a personal consultation, email me for my telephone number and to schedule a time.  My fees are very reasonable.  We’ll talk more about the inflammatory and stress response systems in connection with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, which includes the thyroid’s involvement, in my next post.  Until then, 

Here’s to your health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, DC, ACN

Email address: tpal70@gmail.com

*Network marketing products, such as ASEA and Nopalea, are not included in this discount.

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for inspirational articles about sacred energy.  The current series theme is Fourth Density Apocalypse 2012: The Science of Ascension. 

 

 

 

Understanding Fibromyalgia,Part 2: Its Etiology and Cure


THINK “OUTSIDE THE BOX” TO FIND ANSWERS

There’s a saying that we will not solve problems by thinking at the same level as the problem. We have to think at a level above that of the problem.  This saying is most applicable here.  We have to think outside the box of orthodox medicine, wherein the diagnoses of ill conditions originate, in order to find answers.  Not the conditions themselves, but the labels we’ve placed on them in medical science. So, let’s step outside this box to take a look at this condition called “fibromyalgia” and see if we can understand it and find solutions for healing.

So far we’ve established that the label of “fibromyalgia” is a “wastebasket” diagnosis, a catch-all for numerous symptoms, primary of which are pain and inflammation.  We’ve come to understand that pain and inflammation trigger a healing response in the body, the inflammation itself telling you that you are okay, even with the pain. Nothing is “wrong” with your body.  It’s working fine.  A healing process is underway.  All you can do is support it and try to discover what is inflicting the injury to your cells that’s creating the pain that’s triggering the inflammation and eliminate it.  

Inflammation is normal—as long as it doesn’t last a long time where it becomes chronic inflammation, which means the body has accepted it as part of the status-quo and adapted itself to its necessity. . . mainly because the triggers of pain have not been eliminated.  When the triggers of pain have been removed, those things that are bringing on the assault to your body’s cells, the necessity for your immune system’s inflammatory response and the subsequent need for a healing process has also been removed.  This essentially is what the “cure” of “fibromyalgia” entails.

DEALING WITH THE PAIN

Before you shut off the pain with pain pills, consider this. If you shut off the pain you stand the risk of shutting down the healing process as well.  Deal with the triggers of the pain, what is assaulting your body cells and injuring them and making them holler “STOP!”  Your body’s healing process may not kick in if the brain isn’t getting the pain signal.

You can deal with the pain using natural solutions that also address the condition and support the healing process.  Here are a few you can start applying as you back off your pain medication:

  1. Boswellia Complex by Medi-Herb, a great anti-inflammatory, especially effective with inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract.  It comes out of Australia where world-renown master herbalist Kerry Bone developed the very finest line of herbal preparations and brought them here via Standard Process Labs, its affiliate company.  It’s a bit pricey at $55.50 for a 90-tablet bottle, but well worth it.  Medi-Herb products are only available through licensed health practitioners.  I offer my readers a 15% on all Standard Process and Medi-Herb product orders.
  2. Tuna Omega 3 Oil—Oil, especially fish oil, is nature’s coolant and insulator.  Omega 3 oil insulates the cell against oxidation and will cool down inflammation. The quality of the oil is critical as oil easily goes rancid during processing where heat is used.  Standard Process takes great care in processing their oils.   Their Tuna Omega 3 Oil is the very finest of all fish oils on the market. 
  3. Calamari Omega3 Liquid—A natural anti-inflammatory oil especially effective with joint pains and arthritis.
  4. Nopalea (“No-pah lay’ uh”)—a tasty wellness drink sourced from the fruit of the Nopal cactus that thrives in the Sonoras Desert of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico.  It contains nutrients that can help the body reduce inflammation, detoxify, relieve many types of pain, promote optimal cellular health and energy.  You can obtain it from me or order it online at www.sonoranbloom.com/14348092 . ($40 for a 32 oz bottle plus S&H)
  5. AC Carbamide —another remarkable Standard Process product for dealing with pain caused by acidic body fluids, such as in gouty arthritis, because it acts as a buffer for uric acid.  What carbamide actually does is enhance the flow of fluid through the tissue cell walls. Therefore it acts as a natural diuretic which does not leach out Potassium, which pharmaceutical diuretics do.  It’s reasonably priced at $18 for 90 capsules and $48 for 270 capsules.

POSSIBLE CAUSES AND TRIGGERS

1. Toxicity:  from chemicals and food additives, the most common and offensive one being aspartame, present in all diet drinks. (Click on the word to read my blog post on it.)  Get it out of your diet altogether. Use Stevia instead.  I use Green Leaf because it doesn’t leave an aftertaste.  There’s nothing wrong with raw sugar and honey in moderation, unless you have a weight problem and/or a sugar issue, as sugar and honey do spike insulin. Insulin carries glycogen to cells for energy, which is stored as fat when not burned up by physical exercise.  Other food additive, such as preservatives, color and flavor enhancers, are toxins that become “free radicals” in the body.  Free radicals are molecules with atoms that need an electron or two to stabilize them.  They’ll get what they need from your cell walls, making the cells vulnerable to oxidation and invasion by bacteria and viruses. You can hardly get away from these free radical toxins, but you can protect your cells from damage by consuming food rich in antioxidants and supplementing with fish and wheat germ oils and other antioxidant supplements. * (See footnote below for details and a list of foods.)

2.  Food sensitivities: sometimes erroneously called “food allergies.”  The most common ones are wheat and corn gluten and dairy.  “Gluten Intolerance” is widespread, as evidenced by the increasing number of gluten-free products in the marketplace. It’s the protein in these foods that get into the blood stream through an intestinal wall that has become eroded and “leaky,” as it is often characterized.  A “leaky gut” can be the way that undigested proteins get into your blood stream and trigger an inflammatory response.  The gut can be repaired. 

You can rule out food sensitivities quite simply by eliminating suspect foods from your diet for a couple of weeks and then adding them back in to see how you feel eating them as opposed to how you felt abstaining from them.  If you notice a difference, then you can be sure that your intestines are permeable.  Eliminate those foods that make you feel bad until your gut is repaired.  

The gut can be easily repaired with enzyme therapy and a wonderful herbal product by Medi-Herb, Gut Flora Complex.  There’s no fast fix. This takes time, sometimes up to a year, depending on the extent of the erosion. Raw okra provides mucous digesting and tissue repair enzymes.  Mucous is made of undigested protein that has become acidic and eats away at the lining of the intestines.  Standard Process Labs makes an effective product called Okra Pepsin E3. The Vitamin “E3” part is the healing aspect of this product, so I emphasize the uniqueness of this wholefood formula. Enzyme therapy consists of taking enzymes on an empty stomach so that the enzymes are used up repairing the intestinal wall rather than in digesting foods.  Proteolitic enzymes in Multizyme  and Zymex II from Standard Process will complete the digestion of the protein in the mucous and digest any parasites, another cause of “leaky gut.” Standard Process and Medi-Herb products are available through my office.

3. Insulin can trigger inflammation if there’s more in the blood stream than the cells of the body can use in a day’s time, a condition called “hyperinsulism.” Cells have receptor sites (parking spots) for insulin molecules to deliver their packages of glycogen (blood sugar) to the cells for energy.  When those receptor sites get filled up, the insulin molecules can’t park, so they stay in the blood stream where they can irritate and erode the walls of the blood vessels. This causes inflammation that triggers a healing and repair process to keep the blood vessels from leaking.

The Cholesterol Patch vs Statin Drugs

The body uses fat to plug the leaks until the vessel wall can be properly repaired.   Cholesterol is the name given to this fat, and plaque is what the patch is called. With a little critical thinking one can see how by removing the trigger for the excess insulin you remove the necessity for the cholesterol patch and the extra cholesterol production by your liver, which we are not wise in preventing with Statin drugs. The body does not make mistakes and produce cholesterol for no good reason.  Adding Statin drugs is an insult to the body’s innate intelligence . . . and it damages the liver and causes leg pains with extended use.

A 30-day Cure for “Type II Diabetes” 

Insulin is spiked by sugar and starches, so one can back away from these spikes.  By the way, what I’ve just described is what is labeled “type II diabetes” or “insulin-resistance.”   This can easily be remedied by abstaining completely from insulin-triggering foods for 30 days: all refined carbohydrates, white rice, pasta, white flour products, Irish potatoes (red new potatoes are okay), sugar, and sweet fruits (red grapes, prunes and plums are okay).  This will free up insulin receptor sites on the cells.  After 30 days you can resume eating all of these foods—except refined carbohydrates, which should be avoided by everyone. This is simple and doable by anyone with the will and determination to take an active role in one’s healthcare and wellness.

Chromium and Gymnema Sylvestri 

Another factor can be a lack of receptor sites due to a deficiency of chromium, a trace mineral used to create insulin receptor sites, found in few foods we consume on a regular basis.  It’s in Brewer’s Yeast.  It wouldn’t hurt to simply take a chromium supplement, such as Cataplex GTF by Standard Process (the GTF stands for glucose tolerance factor derived from nutritional yeast, a very important distinction to look for in choosing a chromium supplement).  

The herb “gymnema sylvestri” is used plentifully in Australia to manage blood sugar, and Medi Herb again comes to the rescue with its product simply called Gymnema.  Support to the pancreas is easily administered with the supplement Diaplex by Standard Process. Include some whole food Cataplex B to insure the production of insulin if you are insulin deficient.  “Insulin dependence” is another limitation altogether, but then, again, you can control the level of blood sugar with Gymnema and thereby reduce your daily dose of insulin.  Do this only with your doctor’s supervision.  He may not approve, so you may need to assert your preference and autonomy by saying “I want to do this.  Will you help me?”  If your doctor will not participate with you, then simply find a doctor who will. 

Here, again, it is necessary to be bone honest about how important of a role the label “diabetes” is playing in your life, defining your very sense of self.  If your body is having a problem handling sugar, that does not make you a “diabetic.”  You are still a human being with a free will and spirit.  Why settle for anything less—a medical diagnosis, of all things—for your identity? It does make a difference in your consciousness how you perceive yourself. Here’s where the primary changes can take place in order to change your reality. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” 

Heal Dis-ease in Consciousness First 

Miracles happen when changes occur in consciousness, and one of the limitations in consciousness preventing the “cure” of diabetes and other so-called “incurable diseases” is the very belief that they are entities in themselves and that they are incurable.  No disease is incurable! Diabetes, like Fibromyalgia, is not an entity, except in someone’s consciousness, which means that it is an illusion.  It doesn’t exist, except as a diagnostic term, a word that describes a condition of deficiency and malfunction in the body. Deficiencies and malfunctions can be corrected.  “Diseases” cannot be “cured” because they are not entities in themselves, no more than darkness is something. Darkness is nothing.  It’s the absence of something—light!  In exactly the same way, disease is nothing.   It’s the absence of something—health!    

Did you see what I just did? I did a “thought-interrupt”—a flip in perspective— a consciousness update.  Did you do it with me? That’s what really counts and what gives this blog its value as an educational medium.  Now, I wonder what would happen if we were to remove the illusion of disease from our consciousness? Stopped giving health conditions diagnostic labels?  Do you see where we might actually be able to start reading symptoms in terms of deficiencies and malfunctions and understand what we might do to correct them if we were not preoccupied shadow-boxing “disease”?

DETOXIFY, DETOXIFY, DETOXIFY. . . AND MOVE!

I highly recommend a total body detox and purification at least three times during the year, preferably every three months.  Standard Process offers a 21-day Purification Product Kit which includes all the products you will need plus a comprehensive guide booklet.  Your cells are swimming in their own acidic metabolic waste.  Little wonder they hurt.  They are in so much pain that they are committing suicide.  It’s called “apoptosis” but it’s nonetheless suicide. Dying and decaying cells add to the toxic waste.  Lymph glands become congested with too much to handle.  Lymph depends on muscle movement for its circulation and pain is making exercise difficult.  But just a 20 to 30 minute walk four times a week and preferably every day would suffice.

Write me for the full-body detoxification program and the Purification Kit. It’s very easy to do and absolutely required at the onset of your adventure in restoring your health.  You’ll lose ten to twenty pounds as a bonus.  Just do it. 

We have a little more to cover on possible causes and triggers and this post is already long and dense enough. So, we’ll continue next week and complete this special then return to our Seven Glands for Seven Spirits series.  Until then, here’s to your health and healing, 

Dr. Anthony Palombo

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for an engaging consideration of “Fourth Density Apocalypse 2012” 

Write me at tpal70@gmail.com for personal attention to your situation.  My consultation fee is very reasonable, and product acquisition easy and fast.

*An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When the chain reaction occurs in a cell, it can cause damage or death to the cell. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions. They do this by being oxidized themselves, so antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols, ascorbic acid [Vitamin C ], or polyphenols…. For example, honey; most legumes; fruits such as apples, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, pomegranate, cherries, cranberries, grapes, pears, plums, raspberries, aronia berries, and strawberries; and vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, celery, onion and parsley are rich in polyphenols. Red wine [resveratrol], dark chocolate, white tea, green tea, olive oil, argan oil, bee pollen and many grains are sources. Ingestion of polyphenols occurs by consuming a wide array of plant foods.  (Wikipedia). 

78 Countries now visiting my blogs: 

ALBANIA, ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BAHAMAS, BAHRAIN, BANGLADESH, BARBADOS, BELARUS, BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, CANADA, CHILI, COLOMBIA, CROATIA, CYPRUS, CZECH REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EGYPT, FINLAND, FRANCE, GEORGIA, GERMANY, GREECE, GUATEMALA, HONG KONG, HUNGARY, ICELAND, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRELAND, ISRAEL, ITALY, JAMAICA, JAPAN, LEBANON, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, KUWAIT, MEXICO, MALAYSIA, MONTENEGRO, THE NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NORWAY, PAKISTAN, PANAMA, PERU, PHILLIPPINES, PORTUGAL, PUERTO RICO, REUNION (Island), ROMANIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SAUDI ARABIA, SERBIA, SPAIN, SINGAPORE, SLOVAKIA, SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SYRIAN ARABIA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH) KOREA, SRI LANKA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TAIWAN, TANSANIA (UNITED REP. OF TZ), THAILAND, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, TURKEY, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, UNITED KINGDOM, USA, VENEZUELA, VIET NAM, ZIMBABWE (South Africa)s

Welcome Lebanon! And Bahrain!! And Guatemala!!!

 

Understanding Fibromyalgia, Part 1: The Consciousness of the Sufferer

If we’re going to address this condition holistically, we must start with the consciousness of the sufferer and his or her understanding of what “fibromyalgia” actually is and how it has tended to define one’s identity, as many chronic diseases tend to do. We also have to do some critical thinking around our current healthcare system, the context in which this condition has been diagnosed, and begin to allow a change in consciousness to occur there as well. 

The word itself—which simply means aching muscle fibers— is a new name for what old folks today used to call “rheumatism,” or “la rheumatise” as the Cajun folk called it back when I got out of Chiropractic college in 1963 and opened my first practice in Crowley, Louisiana.  It’s a body ache that just won’t go away. You just hurt all over, and that’s not anything new.  In other words, it’s an old ailment with a modern diagnostic label.  

The only difference is we have a whole lot more pain-producing assaults to our bodies in the form of chemicals in our foods, water and air, than were around fifty years ago, not to mention mental and emotional stresses we didn’t used to have.  Then there’s the latest threat to our health and sanity in the form of Genetically Modified Organisms in corn and other food staples, such as fruits and vegetable.  All this to say we have many more toxins for our immune and elimination systems to process in body-minds that are a lot more stressed—and a lot less active physically but more active mentally.  All this bears on our predisposition to dis-ease.  

THE PROBLEM WITH A DI-AGNOSIS

I emphasize the word “diagnostic” to bring attention to the unpublished meaning of that word.  The dictionary gives this Greek derivation: [dia-, through, between + gignoskein, know], and defines it as an act of “distinguishing.”  But I prefer the one I heard some years ago at a motivational seminar: “di-, meaning two, and -agnostic, meaning not knowable”  When you ache and don’t know what it is, only you don’t know. That’s one.  When you take your condition to a medical doctor, he tells you he doesn’t know what it is either.  Now you have TWO who don’t know, only the doctor puts a name on it, mainly because that’s what you went to him for . . . and  he needs a legitimate condition to prescribe a drug for and get paid by the insurance industry to treat.  Now you have a diagnosis you can set your mind at ease with—at least it’s not “cancer”—and something new to tell all your friends and neighbors about. 😮  

One medical author actually writes that if people didn’t “demand” a name for their conditions, they would get well much faster—and that’s no joke.

Of course, I’m being facetious.  After 50 years in this work, which can be frustrating at times but, nevertheless, rewarding, I feel I’ve earned the right to interject a bit of humor into the otherwise heavy and futile undertaking health-care has become. People are perishing because of a lack of real vision. My purpose for blogging here is to hopefully bring some vision to the end that people will stop perishing. 

Sad as it is, that’s about where we are in our so-called “health care” and modern-day medicine, with 75% of medical diagnoses being wrong—and people sacrificing their lives every day at the research altar of the pharmaceutical industry—60,000 deaths worldwide from a simple pain pill before it was pulled off the market in 2004, not to mention those dying daily from contaminated steroid shots administered to relieve pain!  Tens of thousands die annually from medical mistakes, hospital-acquired infections, and “iotrogenic” (doctor-caused) diseases. 

The best medical specialists are only 25% right in their guesses about health conditions and their causes and treatments . Medicine does not deliver health and it never will.  It’s not “health care.” It’s disease management—and we do, unfortunately, still need to manage human disease and suffering—such as “fibromyalgia” and “chronic fatigue syndrome”—so I don’t want to come off as being ungrateful for drugs and surgery, certainly not for our well-meaning and compassionate doctors.  But what an indictment upon our way of life—or rather of dying—in the twenty-first century, and upon modern-day medicine!  Drugs are simply not the way to go.

Am I passionate about this blatant failure on the part of our healthcare delivery system . . . and the government’s continued support of it with our hard-earned tax dollars?  You bet I am!  I understand that research dollars are becoming harder to come by in the wake of decades of medical science’s failures to deliver on its promises to find cures for human diseases if we just give them more money and time.  It’s about time we wake up!

So, I will back off from calling chronic aches and pains “fibromyalgia” because, like all other diagnostic terms, it has become yet another mental fixation that people believe in with religious fervor.  Some time ago I learned that you cannot talk a diabetic, for instance, out of his or her pet topic of conversation.  Besides, it’s one of the four diseases that it is illegal in this country to “cure.” 

But, enough about human-nature antics.  People are suffering from pain that has no knowable cause  . . . to medical science, that is.  Not so. Everything in the world of effects has a cause that is knowable. We just have to put our critical-thinking caps on to figure it out.  That’s what chiropractors and other natural health care practitioners are good at.  So, let’s look at this modern-day plague, for which medical science loudly proclaims in its literature:  “The cause is unknown.” ___________________________________________________

EVIDENCE THAT HEALING IS UNDERWAY

1. PAIN AND INFLAMMATION 

It’s inflammation, pure and simple.  Inflammation is the first stage of the healing process.  It’s natural, in others words. Pain is the trigger for the healing process and inflammation is your first indication that you’re okay in spite of the pain.  The healing process is underway.  Support it . . . and find and eliminate the external and internal causes of the pain that triggers it. That’s all we can do.  The body heals itself.  It has an innate intelligence that automatically heals and repairs damaged and sick parts.

Read this excellent article by Dr. Samuel N. Grief, MD on the subject of inflammation for a better understanding of this mechanism of the healing process.

2. REPAIR AND INFECTION

The second phase is repair, which may include infection if the debris from damaged and dying cells is not eliminated properly. That debris is called “metabolic waste” in physiology.  If not eliminated, it becomes acidic.  Acid burns cells, and that can be quite painful.  It’s a toxin and needs to be cleansed out of the body tissues.  Infection is how the body deals with toxic waste.

That’s where alternative and natural healthcare can help with herbs and exercise, along with some Eastern Medicine techniques, such as Acupuncture, which is very effective in intercepting pain signals and opening up stuck energy pathways in the body—which is also what chiropractic spinal adjustments offer.  Spinal adjustments open up neural pathways between central control in the brain and peripheral tissues and organs in the body.  Pathways that carry vital signals and messages of the intelligent innate healing power of the body. Chiropractors have historically proclaimed the truth that “The power the made the body can heal the body.” Homeopathy and Naturopathy are also natural healing methodologies that offer totally harmless ways of supporting the natural healing processes of the body.

Tissue repair is done simply through a process of protein syntheses and cellular apoptosis (suicide) and replication.  Simply put, a cell sees that a neighboring cell has died so it replicates itself to replace the missing cell.  Innate intelligence at work! See this fascinating process in some of my earlier blogs on the Life of the Cell and Protein Transcription listed in the Archives of this blog. Also my articles on Bone Remodeling and The Healing Process published back in May and June of 2011.

3. SCARRING

The third phase of the healing process is scarring to fortify damaged tissue fibers.   For that process to work, building blocks are needed in abundance, and enzymes are called upon in greater demand to do the repair work. They are the workhorses of the body.  Here is where healthful dieting and nutritional therapies can help.  Raw foods supply us with enzymes, vitamins and minerals—provided they are organically produced in humus and mineral rich soils.  Otherwise, supplementation with enzymes and healing nutrients is absolutely necessary.

4. STRENGTHENING & REHAB

The next step for the injured person is  strengthening and rehabilitation, to break up the scaring so that new cells can come in and replace the collagen tissue where possible, and to strengthen the repaired tissues. This is where stretching, physical exercise, therapeutic massage, and physical therapy can help.

5. NUTRITIONAL AND HERBAL THERAPIES

This is also where nutritional and herbal therapies come in handy—and there are some remarkable products available to alternative healthcare practitioners today.  These natural healing  sciences are called by such names as “Trophotherapy” and “Phytotherapy.”  Trophotherapy includes the use of whole food supplements as therapeutic foods (“nutraceuticals”) that supply all the ingredients the body needs to repair and strengthen tissues, help the immune system process infection efficiently, and restore normal function to muscles, bones, organs and glands.  Phytotherapy includes the use of phytochemicals and herbs to supply natural medicines that act as catalysts for chemical processes, aid in the infection-fighting process and in the production of energy, as well as helping the body adapt more easily to environmental stress.  This work is called “Clinical Nutrition” and its rationale is to reverse the disease process and support the healing process.  

Doesn’t this kind of critical thinking  sound so harmonious and resonant with logic and reason? Don’t you just love the healthy sound of these words? They take us up toward health and life rather than down toward disease and death.  I love this work. 

We’ve come a long ways in our research and utilization of Mother’s Nature’s cornucopia of healing nutritionals and botanicals (herbs,  etc.) . . . and this is true health care research.  Research that delivers the goods of health as opposed to masking the symptoms of disease with drugs.

6. POSSIBLE CAUSES AND TRIGGERS

When I asked my Standard Process representative for some input for this post—he’s a Naturapath—here’s what he emailed me in response:

Yikes …you could write a book.  As you know it is a wastebasket diagnosis, a cluster of symptoms, and not definable by any marker other than tender point index.  I think finding the root causes and triggers is the real key to relief.  Also, as many practitioners will attest, a lot of long-term sufferers really don’t want to get completely better as the label of  “fibromyalgia” becomes their badge of honor or ingrained in their identity.  

His last comment echoes what I said earlier in this post. The problem, as well as the solution, lies within the sufferer and his or her consciousness.  That is both barrier and key to healing all physicians face daily in their clinics.  The Holistic approach takes this into account and addresses the healing of the person rather than the disease. Change is hard for those who don’t want to let go of what has defined them for so long, many for years.

Here are some of the known root causes and triggers for “fibromyalgia”:

  • Low thyroid function resulting in slow metabolism, the rate of energy metabolism and the breaking down of molecular structure (catabolism) and the building up of tissues (anabolism). 
  • Toxicity – especially aluminum
  • Post viral mitochondria dysfunction, resulting in “chronic fatigue,” another catch-all label
  • Un-diagnosed infective viral agents, such as Lyme disease, chronic staph and strep infections.
  • Food allergies, such as corn and wheat gluten, and dairy.

I will address each one of these areas in my next post, including known remedies and powerful, natural anti-inflammatory agents, such as the fruit of the Nopal cactus that thrives in the Sonoran Desert of southwest USA and Mexico, now available in a juice called “nopalea” put out by the innovative company TriVita. Until then, here’s to your critical thinking on health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, D.C.
Note: I’ve interrupted my series “Seven Glands for Seven Spirits” in order to bring you this special on Fibromyalgia and to honor a request from one of my blog followers. Your requests and comments are encouraged and always welcome. Thank you!
Visit my HealingTones.org blog for interesting articles on “Pyramid Power” and other green “free energy” technologies.                                                                                                                                                                                        __________________________________________________
74 Countries now visiting my blogs:  ALBANIA, ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BAHAMAS, BANGLADESH, BARBADOS, BELARUS, BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, CANADA, CHILI, COLOMBIA, CROATIA, CYPRUS, CZECH REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EGYPT, FINLAND, FRANCE, GEORGIA, GERMANY, GREECE, HONG KONG, HUNGARY, ICELAND, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRELAND, ISRAEL, ITALY, JAMAICA, JAPAN, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, KUWAIT, MEXICO, MALAYSIA, MONTENEGRO, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NORWAY, PAKISTAN, PANAMA, PERU, PHILLIPINES, PORTUGAL, PUERTO RICO, REUNION ISLAND, ROMANIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SAUDI ARABIA, SERBIA, SPAIN, SINGAPORE, SLOVAKIA, SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SYRIAN ARABIA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH) KOREA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TAIWAN, TANSANIA (UNITED REP. OF TZ), THAILAND, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, TURKEY, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, UNITED KINGDOM, USA, VENEZUELA, VIET NAM, ZIMBABWE.
Welcome Bolivia!  And Montenegro!! And Reunion, a resort island off the coast of Madagascar just west of South Africa!!!  Welcome one and all!

 

Post-Purification Program

Fall colors at Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon

     Harvest time has come as we gather seasonal vegetables from our Spring and Summer gardens and prepare for Fall planting of winter crops: cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale and kohlrabi; root crops such as carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips and radishes.  And don’t forget to plant some sweet pea snaps to pick and eat right off the vine . . . with an added bonus of lovely flowers.  Some of these are already available at farmers’ markets and grocery stores in your area as Fall gardens get planted in August here in the South.  (Click on picture to enlarge it)

If you followed my suggestions in the last post, “Fall Cleaning,” and went through the 21-day purification program, you may want to follow it with a post-purification program.  Standard Process offers some very excellent whole food supplements for this purpose.

SP’s Post Purification Kit ($157 + $13 drop-shipping) consists of the following whole food supplements:

Kit Includes (30-day supply):

Order today and receive a 10% subscriber’s discount.
    Prepare for the winter months by enhancing your immune system.  Remember, you immune system is not limited to a single organ or gland.  It’s more an “alliance” of many organs and glands, along with all the cells of your body. Liver, spleen, bone marrow, thymus gland with its lymph nodes, and, not the least important, your intestines which are lined with the lion’s share of your lymphatic glands.  The parotid glands of your mouth are your first line of defense.  Clean water, of course, is essential to toxin elimination and nutrient distribution – up to 8 glasses a day are recommended.  To insure strong first-line defense in the mouth, I recommend a maintenance dose of Parotid PMG byStandard Process Labs. 
 
I’ve had clients who hate water and drink diet sodas every day.  Diet sodas are sweetened with aspartame. Go to this website for a full report on this and other chemical sweeteners  http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-sweeteners.html.  Here is an excerpt about the side effects:
Aspartame has been linked to various neuropsychiatric disorders, including panic attacks, mood changes, visual hallucinations, manic episodes, and isolated dizziness. A small, double-blind crossover study of patients with major depression revealed a higher incidence of reactions in these patients compared with nondepressed volunteers after administration of 30 mg/kg for 7 days; symptoms included headache, nervousness, dizziness, memory impairment, nausea, temper outbursts, and depression. 
 I do not wonder about the relationship between the nerve and muscle pain associated with fibromyalgia and the consumption of diet sodas with aspartame, not to mention an aversion to drinking water.  Drink water instead of sodas.  Pure water is allowed to go where adulterated beverages are not allowed in the body tissues.   A word to the wise.
To your health and healing,
Dr. Tony Palombo
Visit my second blog Healing Tones for inspired reading.