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Chiropractic and “The Hero’s Journey” in Health Care

I My Journey in Chiropractic and the Healing Field

My professional journey in life began when I turned twenty-one and left the seminary to pursue a career in Chiropractic. The year was 1961. I graduated from Chiropractic college in 1963 and immediately moved south with my family and opened my first practice in Crowley, Louisiana, in the Winter of 1963-64. The Healing Field was ripe for a new paradigm of health care and I was eager to deliver it. 

Little did I know then that my journey through the field of health care was to be a journey of the profession I had joined that was already engaged in a political battle with its nemesis: the medical profession, the Guardian of the Threshold leading to licensure as a separate, distinct and independent profession with a vitalistic philosophy and a drugless healing science and art.

A Battle for Licensure and Freedom of Choice

 

I joined in the fight for licensure here in Louisiana, my home state — as well as the battle for patients’ “Freedom of Choice” in health care, a separate journey and battle led by a group of passionate Chiropractic patients with whom we shared a common cause and a common nemesis.

After several years of legislative efforts — and court battles to stop the arrest and jailing of chiropractors — we finally defeated our nemesis in 1974 when Louisiana became the last state in the Union to license Chiropractors. It also became the last state to grant patients the freedom and right to go to the doctor of their choice.

The victory was a partial one, however, as licensure was not the ultimate goal of the profession’s quest. The ultimate goal, the Elixir of Immortality, was access to health insurance, the Golden Goose, well guarded by the insurance industry: equality under the law with Medicine in the reimbursement for Chiropractic services. Licensure was only a means to this end — an end that, to this day, Medicine is bent on denying chiropractors by controlling how freely and deeply they are allowed to dip into the Golden Goose’s nesteggs. After all, health insurance was a creation of medical doctors as a way of insuring they got paid for their services. So it’s their game and they don’t want anyone else dipping into their fee-pool. Stiff restrictions and fine-bearing compliance laws have been put in place via HIPPA, making it costly and time-consuming for doctors to file and follow up with reimbursement claims. Documentation has become one of the dreaded aspects of modern day health care, seconded by the escalating cost of malpractice insurance in a litigious society to which healthcare providers dedicate their lives of service. So, the insurance industry has become a nemesis to both professions by determining the amount of the reimbursement for services rendered. 

All this to say the field of healthcare — a misnomer in itself — does not have the same lure of attraction it had when I entered it some fifty-six years ago. Medicine continues to be a nemesis to the Chiropractic profession — but only as long as chiropractors worship at the altar of the insurance industry and hold financial remuneration as their primary goal, their Elixir of Immortality.

There is a trade-off, however, in this pursuit for insurance equality alongside Medicine. That trade-off is the surrender of the very soul of Chiropractic, nourished by its philosophy, which honors the Innate Power of the human body to heal itself naturally and without the toxic and invasive intervention of drugs and surgery. A motto of the chiropractors, once held religiously, was “Chiropractic first—Medicine second—surgery last.”

Sadly, that trade-off was made by the bulk of the members of our beloved profession, along with all but a few of its colleges, who continue in the sacred philosophical tradition of our Beloved Founder and developer, Drs. D.D. and B.J. Palmer, respectively.  

A schism has rocked the profession at its very foundation, sending it down the same lost path Osteopathy took, as many chiropractors began to look and act more and more like medical doctors, prescribing diagnostic tests, and in some states even delivering babies, all the while abandoning “principled chiropractic” and the holistic model of natural health care to embrace the reductionistic medical model of relieving pain and treating symptoms, settling for acceptance by their medical colleagues as musculoskeletal specialists, an area of expertise in which chiropractors excel. I suppose the saying “men must do what men must do”– as well as women — applies here. Change is what it is, neither good or bad, right or wrong. 

Heralds of Vibrational Healing

Chiropractic was born on September 18, 1895, through the heart and hands of a magnetic healer by the name of Daniel D. Palmer in What Cheer, Iowa. That places it at the fountainhead of vibrational healing and what today is being called “energy medicine.” Daniel Palmer had a large vision of his new healing art becoming more an energetic than a physical remedy for all of mankind’s diseases — or dis-eases, as his son, BJ, spelled it in order to describe illness as a lack of ease. This vision became the Palmers’ quest, their Elixir of Immortality. Their belief in the innate healing power of the body, along with the discovery of the spinal adjustment, led them to the central principle of natural healing: Remove the interference to the unfettered flow and expression of life energy and let the body heal itself. They took the “whole man” into consideration to determine the cause of dis-ease, along with the solution. That cause was seen as being “quantitative” as well as “qualitative”– physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual — or a combination thereof. In other words, they looked for the cause of dis-ease in higher levels than just the physical and chemical. They sought the cause of the cause of dis-ease. The obvious solution and cure, then, was to correct or remove the cause, the interference, and the manifest symptoms would simply no longer be necessary to signal a need for change — change in lifestyle and/or mental and emotional stress and attitude. The symptoms would then simply abate naturally. 

This was and is the essence of the Holistic model of healthcare, an entirely new and different model from the medical reductionistic model of disease management — both being essential in the healthcare arena; the ideal being for both to work together for the benefit of the patients they serve. 

Evolution of Health Care

As health care itself evolved, our professional journey merged into a collective and global journey of the Human Species in search for the Elixir of Immortality in the field of health-and-wellness care.  Building and maintaining a healthy physique has become the focus of health-and-wellness centers throughout the land. “Functional Medicine” is the latest buzz word among chiropractors who are exploring the benefits of nutrition in restoring function to failing organs, tissues and glands. “Clinical Nutrition” has come into the holistic model here in the West, as the cause of more and more diseases was found to be related to poor dietary habits and an “Empty Harvest,” as Dr. Bernard Jensen describes our commercially grown fruits and vegetables in his book by the same name. Depleted soil can only render foods deficient in vital nutrients, resulting in missing cogs in the nutrient chain, thereby creating an interference to the flow of vital life force in and through the body. This is a modality that I have found to be indispensable in my practice.

Acupuncture and several other techniques, such as BioEnergetic Synchronization (BEST), have also emerged as energy-based healing methodologies to take their places in Western Holistic Medicine.  Eastern healing traditions have long been harbingers of holistic healing and many of their traditions have found their way into our healthcare systems. Practices such as meditation and yoga have become popular, and gyms are popping up everywhere.

This revolution in health-and-wellness care has drawn the attention of the Guardian of the Threshold, the FDA and the AMA, as chiropractic boards began expanding their scope of practice to include procedures that heretofore have been the exclusive domain of Medicine.  With the emergence of Applied Clinical Nutrition, Contact Reflex Analysis (muscle testing) and Functional Endocrinology, such conditions as diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and even autoimmune disease are being treated and reversed by chiropractors and other alternative practitioners, much to the objection of medical licensing boards. Law suits have been filed and fines levied.

This is not stopping the evolution of health care, however. People have awakened and started to assume responsibility for their health, a responsibility that had been placed with trust in the willing and able hands of Modern Medicine — which unfortunately has cornered the market on the treatment of disease, especially of Diabetes, Coronary Heart Disease, Cancer, and other autoimmune diseases. 

“Keepers of the Flame”

“Alternative healthcare” made its debut in the last half of the twentieth century carrying the torch of holistic healing into the New Age of Aquarius. Holistic practitioners began popping up throughout the healing field. The words Attunement and Sound Healing entered our vocabulary as energy healing modalities. I was introduce to a model of Attunement in the late nineteen-sixties that works with the energy fields around the endocrine glands, as well as with the Chakra energy centers of the Eastern tradition and Reiki. I later incorporated Sound Healing into my attunement service. The consciousness of humanity has begun to shift to a higher frequency of awareness that has awakened a realization that we are spiritual beings having a human experience rather than physical beings having a spiritual experience.

This realization was actually dawning as early as the turn of the twentieth century when BJ Palmer published The Bigness of the Fellow Within in which he tells stories about the “Giant and the pigmy”– the inner spiritual Self and the outer mental self, or the “Innate Intelligence” and the “educated intelligence.” This realization lit up his mind and put a fire in his heart that burned passionately for several decades and was carried forward by those who came to the light of his shining and became inspired to bring forth a new paradigm of vibrational healing.

As the fire began to cool in their hearts and the light began to dim in their minds, the torch was set aside in lieu or a “more scientific” approach to Chiropractic. Now the torch has been given to others to carry forward, along with a new paradigm of health care which honors once again the innate healing powers of the body. We’ve come full cycle back, or forward, to our humble beginnings as magnetic healers, only now calling ourselves “Holistic Healers” and “Energy Workers.” A few colleges still teach principled chiropractic and a small but passionate number of chiropractors still carry the flame in their hearts and in their clinics. The Torch has not been entirely dropped.

The table has been turned

Alternative health care has now become Medicine’s nemesis as more and more doctors are returning to school and abandoning the reductionistic model in lieu of the holistic model of true health care. Physicians of all disciplines are attending seminars to educate and certify themselves in clinical nutrition, herbal medicine and other modalities emerging with the holistic paradigm. It’s what the people want and are asking for, and the people have the final say in such personal matters as their health. And the irony of it all is that health insurance doesn’t generally cover alternative health care, a forty-plus-billion-dollar industry. 

The wave has been set in motion and it will dissolve the monopolistic stronghold Medicine has assumed over health care.  It will ultimately be defeated by its nemesis and be forced to vacate its self-appointed role as the Guardian of the Threshold to the health care arena.  Licensing boards will not be able to stem the tide of this revolution as doctors and non-medical practitioners in the field of healthcare dare to take on the reversal and cure of diseases only Medicine has held the legal right to treat symptomatically. 

It’s a new day . . . thank God! And I am glad to have lived long enough to see it and be a part of its dawning. God bless our doctors, especially our surgeons, whose hearts are in the right place of compassion for the sick and suffering and have only a prescription pad and a scalpel between them and their patients.  The vast world of Mother Nature’s Cornucopia of natural medicines lies open and ready to heal all our ills. 

Thank you for sharing my thoughts. Do feel free to share yours. 

Here’s to your health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, DC

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Empowering Your Immune System

I’m going to open this post with a very timely and innovative story about what has come to be called “Energy Medicine.” Then I will comment on the video clip and talk about “Energy Healing,” an altogether different story. Here’s the TED video clip.

DR. ROYAL RIFE’S CANCER CURE

This technology had its debut in the 1930’s with its inventor Dr. Royal Rife (1888-1971) in Southern California. He not only invented the wave generator that produced the exact frequency needed to blast cancer cells, he built a complex and elaborate microscope that could figure out the precise frequency of the cancer cells. His experiment with cancer patients sent to him by medical doctors was so successful – 100% successful – that it posed an existential threat to the then upcoming medical and drug industry. So dire was the threat that his lab was burned down and his equipment destroyed, leading to his “tragic demise at the hands of the AMA, led by their attack dog Morris Fishbein, and ultimately the FDA’s police actions.” He died a pauper somewhere south of the border in Mexico.  A sad ending for a great soul’s earthly journey. Rife technology resurfaced, thanks to the Internet, some years ago and is being used by alternative healthcare practitioners worldwide.  Medical science has no right to claim “discovery” of this technology.  

HIDDEN CAVEAT

There is a caveat hidden within this technology, however, which the good professor did not address; probably isn’t even aware of it. Here is the big caveat: Auto-Immune Disease Syndrome (AIDS) can result from blasting cancer cells with sound or with any other chemical or mechanical force. Here’s how:

INAPPROPRIATE DNA PRESENCE

When a cell dies from natural causes, a process called apoptosis (cell suicide), the cellular debris is neatly packaged in a membranous capsule, DNA and all, for safe elimination from the body via the lymphatic system and ultimately the bloodstream and appropriate organs of elimination.

On the other hand, when a cell is blasted and destroyed by foreign outside forces, such as sound vibration in this TED presentation, the cellular debris is ejected into the body fluid around the cell, DNA and all, where it is picked up piecemeal by the lymphatic system and dumped into the bloodstream for conveyance to the appropriate organs of elimination.

So, is there a problem with this? Yes there is.

The problem with this is that the DNA of organs and tissues do not belong in the bloodstream and therefore becomes a toxic substance simply by reason of its inappropriate location in the body, and the immune system will attack and destroy it as a toxic threat.

Well, that’s good, isn’t it?

Yes and no. Yes, it’s good that the immune system attacks and destroys misplaced DNA and other cellular debris dumped into the bloodstream by the lymphatic system. No it is NOT good that the immune system attacks any part of SELF, and DNA is very much a part of SELF. 

IMMUNOTHERAPY

There is some promising cancer research being done and used in the area of what is being labeled “Immunotherapy” which somehow elicits an anti-tumor immune response in the body by turning on the T-cells to search and destroy cancer cell without the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is pioneering this new technology. When I first read about it three years ago they were able to turn on the T-cells but had not yet found a way to turn them off, which could lead to autoimmune conditions. I note that Immunotherapy is now out and being used against some cancers in humans, so I trust they have resolved this problem. I have not yet learned how the destroyed cancer cells are safely eliminated from the body. 

A.I.D.S.

Auto-Immune Disease Syndrome is a condition where the immune system of the body attacks SELF — that is, any part of the its host body that belongs to that body.  For example, if the cancer cell is a thyroid cell — remember, cancer is the proliferation of normal cells out of the control of the body — it contains the DNA of the thyroid cell. When the immune system attacks this thyroid DNA in the bloodstream, it may well turn on the thyroid gland itself and begin attacking the DNA in the cells of the gland. This is the underlying cause of Hashimoto. The same holds true for every organ, gland and tissue in the body where cancer is attacked from outside the body.  The cellular debris is not properly encapsulated for safe and secure elimination and the immune system may well turn on that organ, gland or tissue having identified its DNA as a toxin in the bloodstream.  The patient is made vulnerable to the development of an autoimmune condition. 

ECHINACEA & IMMUNE SYSTEM MODULATION

There is a protective measure available, and it’s Echinacea. Echinacea is an herb that helps modulate, or balance, the immune system. When the immune system is hypo (under-active), the body is vulnerable to infectious diseases caused by the invasion of pathogens, such as strep and staph bacteria and viruses. When the immune system is hyper (overly aggressive), then the body is susceptible to an autoimmune conditions, such as Hashimoto, Rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus and Celiac disease, just to name a few. (Click HERE to learn more)

It is smart prevention to take Echinacea on a daily basis. There’s been a misunderstanding about this herb in that it has been wrongfully touted as a booster or stimulant to the immune system. It is that, but only if the immune system is hypo-active. Echinacea is not only an immune system booster but a calming herb for the immune system. This is why it can be taken daily to keep the immune system balanced and ready to meet whatever condition threatens the integrity and wellbeing of the body. 

I personally take Echinacea Premium by Mede-Herb every day. I like this preparations of Echinacea because it includes the root of the plant in its formula where the modulating properties are found. Echinacea Premium comes in liquid and tablet form for easy dosing. One teaspoon or tablet per day provides excellent immune system support. You can order this product through me. Simply drop me an email. 

ENERGY HEALING

Now a few words about “Energy Healing,” which is totally different from “Energy Medicine.” We must understand that only the life of the body heals the body, and that healing comes from within and not from without. Sound doesn’t heal. Only Life heals, specifically that aspect of Life we call Love, the cohesive power that holds the Universe together.  Sound, especially pure tones and harmonic sound, may be used to soothe a troubled heart and condition the body to receive healing from within.  It can be used to provide a vibrational carrier wave for the healing power of Love and for moving healing energy through the whole person, body-mind, heart and spirit. I use sound in my healing and attunement service in this manner.

ATTUNEMENT

Attunement is a vibrational healing art that works with the energy-management systems of the Endocrine Glands and the Chakras in balancing and harmonizing them. The Attunement Current, as it is called in this field of the sacred healing arts, is the healing and transforming current of Love. Inherent in the Attunement Current are all of the many and various frequencies to be found in the body. There are seven primary tonal frequencies, just as in music and in the light spectrum.

Also inherent in Life is the Intelligence that knows how and when to apply these frequencies in the body. This is not so with sound that is applied to the body for healing purposes. The tonal frequencies of Love are applied in the body by way of light photons, and it is the Force of Love that transports Light.

LIGHT IS ALIVE

Here is something of a description of how this works that I found while re-reading David Wilcock’s thoroughly researched and profoundly written book THE SYNCHRONICITY KEY. 

In his research into the underlying causes of cancer, Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp discovered back in 1970 that DNA stores photons, and later discovered that all different forms of life were absorbing photons into their DNA. “The photons,” he found, “seemed to be intelligently directed–as if they knew where they were going and were being guided from one organism to the other.”

Wilcock continues:

Furthermore, when Popp broke open a DNA molecule with a chemical known as ethidium bromide, a flood of about a thousand photons surged out. This suggests that each DNA molecule is like a miniature fiber-optic cable. Photons zing back and forth inside the DNA at light speed until they need to be used by the body. Popp also found that these photons were intimately related to our level of physical health. In areas of the body that were weakened or diseased, the amount of light stored in our DNA was significantly lower–or could almost be entirely absent . . . and that as we go through stress, our DNA sheds more and more of its light and quickly grows darker. . . .  When healing needs to occur, our DNA apparently releases photons so the light can go make the repairs that are needed.

Another great pioneer in this category is Dr. Glen Rein a biochemist who graduated from the University of London. Rein found that we can control how much light is being stored in someone else’s DNA. Loving, nurturing thoughts create a healing response, increasing the number of photons in the DNA, whereas sudden anger and aggression pulled the light right out of the molecule. In this case, the DNA was from an entirely different person’s body, in a tissue sample from a human placenta. Additionally, Dr. Rein’s participants could consciously control whether or not they were healing the DNA. When they intended to heal the DNA in the placenta, it worked; but if they just focused on being loving and did not direct their minds toward the DNA, the number of photons inside it remained unchanged.

Wilcock draws a profound conclusion:

If we reimagine the universe as a single, vast, living being, then all aspects of the universe are alive. The universe is now built to make biological life–on the quantum level. Light, therefore, would be alive in its own right. 

In this model of a living universe, which I prefer to describe as the cloak of the Living God, love is both the creator of biological life forms and the power that transports the substance of light between organisms–within the body and between bodies, distance notwithstanding. With our very thoughts of someone far away we create a vibrational channel through which love moves light to offer healing to another–and to our world.

This, to me, is the magic of the Attunement Current, in which all tonal frequencies used in creating and healing biological forms are contained and intelligently guided. These frequencies are the tones, overtones and undertones of Sacred Sound. Making them audible is a profoundly transformative experience. 

In this Holy Season of Christmas, we have the blessed opportunity again to share the Light of Love with one another, through our carols, cards and gifts. In that light, I pray the blessings of the One whose birth we celebrate this time of year find a peaceful place in our hearts to rest. And may the New Year bring you unexpected joy and surprising adventures.

To your health and healing,

Dr. Anthony Palombo 

tpal70@gmail.com

Visit my HealingTones blog for more inspiring journalism.

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Living Medicine Vs Pharmaceuticals, part 3: Herbs that Cure, page 2

My Chorale Pic

I’ve been sharing and commenting on an interview in the December, 2014 issue of The SUN magazine with master herbalist Stephen Buhner, a magazine that traditionally carries quality writings by little-known authors. We’ve been talking about herbs as “living medicines” as opposed to pharmaceutical drugs, and I thought my readers would be interested in knowing more about specific herbs and their benefits. So, here are some of the more popular herbs I use in my practice to support the healing process and healthy function in general. I will highlight in this post some of the herbs that help circulation and the immune system in the body and support the body rather than do its job for it and thereby depriving it of its education on handling environmental toxins and invasive germs, viruses and bacteria. So, read on if you want to know more about these living medicines and their benefits to your health and longevity.

HERBS THAT HEAL

BilberryBILBERRY — is the herb of choice for eye conditions such as macular degeneration and cataracts. That’s because it supports microcirculation through the small capillaries in the eyes. But not just in the eyes, also in the brain and throughout the entire body. Additionally it . . .

  • Promotes vascular integrity
  • Builds healthy connective tissue
  • Eases the effects of occasional aching or throbbing discomfort
  • Supports and maintains normal fluid levels
  • Supports healthy peripheral circulation
  • Supports healthy response to environmental stresses
  • Enhances urinary tract function
  • Maintains healthy eyes
  • Provides antioxidant protection

HORSECHESTNUT SEED — is another herb for improved microcirculation of blood through small capillaries. Medi-Herb has an excellent Horsechestnut Complex that is a synergistic blend of Butcher’s Broom root & Rhizome, Horsechestnut seed and Ginkgo Biloba leaf. Together these herbs and the compounds within them help to:

  • promote venous integrity
  • promote normal vascular tone
  • ease the effects of heavy exercise
  • support health peripheral circulation
  • support and maintain healthy fluid levels

Scan_Pic0002ANDROGRAPHIS — is especially supportive of the immune system during acute infections. Medi-Herb has an effective product called Andrographis Complex which is a combination of Andrographis, Echinacea root and Holy Basil leaf. Together they work to:

  • enhance immune system function
  • support healthy respiratory function
  • support and maintain normal body temperature within a normal range
  • promote healthy liver function
  • support health immune response following stress, sudden changes in weather or temperature
  • encourage adaptive response to occasional everyday stress

ASTRAGALUS — is a great companion to Andrographis in that it supports the immune system during chronic infection and auto-immune conditions.  Medi-Herb combines Astragalus root, Echinacea root and Eleuthero root in their Astragalus Complex. Together these herbs work to:

  • enhance immune system function
  • maintain feeling of general well-being
  • assist the body during convalescence
  • facilitate the body’s normal response to occasional stress
  • promotes a healthy response to environmental stress.
  • Caution: Contraindicated in known allergy to plants of the daisy family. Discontinue during an acute infection or fever.

Cat's ClawCAT’S CLAW — is an herb for the intestinal flora. I use it with yeast infection for its support to the immune system in the intestinal tract where the largest portion of the immune system operates. Medi-Herb combines Cat’s Claw inner stem bark, Pau d’Arco stem bark and Echinacea root in their Cat’s Claw Complex. Together these herbs and the compounds within them help to:

  • enhance immune system function
  • support respiratory system health
  • maintain healthy mucous membranes
  • promote healthy bowel flora
  • regulate bowel function
  • support and maintain healthy blood
  • provide antioxidant protection
  • promote healthy response to environmental stresses

Pleurisy rootPLEURISY ROOT — is a great herb for bronchial conditions such as bronchitis and acute or chronic cough. Medi-Herb combines several herbs together in their Broncafect to give powerful support to the bronchial tubes: Licorice root, Pleurisy root, Echinacea root, White Horehound herb, Thyme essential oil, and Ginger.  Together these herbs and essential oils help to:

  • support health respiratory tract function
  • maintain healthy mucosal tissue
  • support normal mucous flow
  • support the body’s natural ability to break up respiratory secretions
  • support the body’s normal cough reflex
  • encourage a healthy environment to help maintain normal respiratory flora
  • enhance immune system function
  • promote healthy white blood cells
  • promote healthy throat tissue
  • assist the body in maintaining normal body temperature within normal range
  • promote the body’s normal resistance function
  • CAUTION: Licorice root’s inclusion in Broncafect makes it contraindicated in high blood pressure, edema, (water retention), congestive heart failure, low blood potassium, pregnancy and lactation. Pleurisy root alone is not contraindicated in the conditions mentioned.

Mullen LeafMULLEN LEAF — also known as “lamb’s ears,” is a mucous removing herb.  Medi-Herb combines Mullen Leaf with five other herbs in ResCo that work together in removing mucous from the lungs and sinuses. They are Licorice root, Euphorbia, Grinellia, Ginger, and Fennel. These key phytochemicals and other compounds within this herbal formulation work to:

  • support healthy mucous membranes within the respiratory tract
  • encourage healthy removal of mucous
  • help maintain throat health
  • support healthy respiratory function
  • assist in maintaining healthy airway passages
  • support the body’s normal cough reflex
  • encourage normal secretion removal from the respiratory system
  • promote the body’s normal resistance function
  • CAUTION: Licorice root’s inclusion in ResCo makes it contraindicated in high blood pressure, edema, (water retention), congestive heart failure, low blood potassium, pregnancy and lactation. Mullen Leaf alone is not contraindicated in the conditions mentioned.

Golden SealGOLDEN SEAL ROOT — The herb of choice for the mucous membranes. Medi-Herb’s Golden Seal contain alkaloids (especially hydrastine and berberine) and other phytochemicals that work together to:

  • help maintain healthy mucous membranes
  • cleanse the gastrointestinal tract
  • assist in maintaining healthy breathing passages to support free and clear breathing
  • help maintain healthy mucus function
  • stimulate digestion
  • support the normal production and flow of bile
  • help support the body’s response to environmental stress
  • CAUTION: Contraindicated in pregnancy, lactation and high blood pressure.

ARE HERBS DANGEROUS?

Not nearly as dangerous as drugs — both prescribed and so-called “recreational.” We don’t hear about people dying from an overdose of or “complications” from herbs or nutritional supplements.  It is drugs that kill people. There are some precautions to take where herbs may interfere with medications. St. John’s Wort is a good example. It will neutralize and destroy all drugs as they are processed in the liver. That’s why St. John’s Wort is such an effective liver detoxifying herb, and why you don’t want to take it while on vital medications. It’s also a powerful anti-viral agent. However, there are relatively few contraindications and fewer negative side effects taking herbs and nutritional supplements.

There are too many herbs to review in a blog such this. Some are best used under professional supervision. Chaparral is one such herb that is so powerful as an antimicrobial and immunostimulant that it should be used only on a short term basis, 10-14 days in most cases, and in cycles of two week on and two weeks off. People with pre-existing kidney and liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis should not take Chaparral in large dosages and then only with professional supervision.

SAFE FOR THE GUT FLORA

As mentioned in an earlier post, the use of antibiotics will often destroy the beneficial bacteria in the GI tract. Probiotics should be taken while dosing with oral antibiotics to replace the friendly bacteria that are being destroyed. Natural antimicrobial herbs do not harm the intestinal flora, and in most cases help to bring about a balance.

MEDICAL IGNORANCE OF HERBS

Your medical doctor will usually ask you to discontinue taking herbs if he or she is not well informed and educated in their uses and contraindications, and that is very wise. Medical doctors study pharmaceuticals in medical school, not nutritional and herbal therapies. Some herbs do have potential interactions with prescription drugs, most at a low level of risk. Medi-Herb provides its doctors with ample information and quick-reference charts to guide them in prescribing herbs and their dosages. It is always best to consult with an herbalist or eclectic (alternative) practitioner about the possible interactions of herbs with any prescription medications you may be taking.

WILL HERBS EVER REPLACE PHARMACEUTICALS ?

Eventually, but not in my lifetime. I believe we will soon be forced to abandon antibiotic dosing simply because it will become increasingly ineffective against the super-bugs antibiotic overuse is creating — and not only in our health care system but in our agricultural practices as well. I am obviously enthused about the potential Living Medicines have in offering alternatives to pharmaceuticals. Currently, we humans are not healthy enough in general to abandon our dependence upon prescription drugs.  Therefore it is the better course of wisdom to use nutritional and herbal therapies as “integrative” therapies rather than as “alternatives” to drug interventions. The word “alternative,” as I use it in my practice and writings, is not meant to be construed as “instead of.” So, I would caution my readers to align with my way of viewing alternative healthcare as an “integrative” methodology in the current pharmaceutical-dominated health care system.  In most instances, alternative therapies such as nutritional supplements and herbs actually help prescribed medications work better and more safely in the body.  They are second only to the placebo and prayer.

I trust you have benefited from these posts on Living Medicines Vs Pharmaceuticals. This post will conclude this series of considerations. Until my next post, then. . .

Here’s to your health and natural healing.

Anthony Palombo, DC

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for inspiring articles. Current theme is “Golden Age and Golden Race.”

I JUST REACHED 51,000 VIEWS OF MY BLOG!  36,000 OF MY HEALING TONES BLOG!

 

CAUTION: Herbs are powerful natural medicines and should not be used indiscriminately. None of the above information should be construed to diagnose or treat any disease nor to preclude sensible medical care and professional supervision. Medi-Herb and Standard Process products are only available through licensed physicians and certified healthcare practitioners and should only be used under the supervision of such. The intention of the author of this blog is to provide information only about natural alternative and integrative medicines. However, it is left to the sole discretion of the reader to determine if the considerations or suggestions included herein are appropriate for his or her health condition and/or needs.

Reference Sources: MEDI-HERB Product Catalog put out by master herbalist Dr. Kerry Bone; Herbal Formulas for Clinical Practice by Nicholas Weed, D.C., Herbalist and owner of Weed Botanical Company, Wimberley, Texas.

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Expression Allows Release

Tony picHere it is the first of March and it’s already time to publish a new post in my blogs. I haven’t even thought of what I might write about. Actually, my reservoir is rather empty. After sharing so much through my Health Light Newsletter over yea these past twenty-five years—a printed issue for twenty years—I simply don’t know what more I have to say—about health, that is. I am truly empty. Besides, others have taken up the torch and are shining light on what has come to be known as “whole health.” Just yesterday PBS had three programs on the subject, two of which featured Deepak Chopra with his “eat the rainbow” theme, and Wayne Dyer with his “I can see clearly now” theme. A third program, which I only watched for a few minutes, featured a woman whose topic was “Whole Health.” What I saw of it was very good, just what many of us in the alternative health field have been teaching since the middle of the last century.

I was intrigued by her visual aid, which was a pyramid made of large smooth rocks with words printed on them that told of several things that affect our lives. The top rock was “Physical Health.”  Below this capstone were other things like nutrition, relationships, job, career, exercise, etc. . . . and in there somewhere near the obscure middle of the stack was the word “Spirituality.”  And it struck me how much we focus on our physical bodies and our physical health. After working in this field for fifty years, I’ve become rather bored by the subject.

So, as I sit down to write this post with an empty reservoir of topics, I  pause to reflect on a simple truth and principle that was stated for me many  years ago by my mentor, Dr. William Bahan: “Expression allows release.”

We give so much consideration to what we put into our bodies. Through our mouths we strive to put healthy foods and beverages into our stomachs and try not to put things that are bad for us. Into our minds we strive to put knowledge and wisdom from books, seminars and workshops, and try to have positive thoughts and feelings and avoid negative ones. Into our hearts we seek to put God, grace and virtue through religion, meditation, spiritual retreats and pilgrimages to holy lands and sacred sites. Not that these disciplines and practices are not valuable and necessary. But our health care and lifestyle practices appear to be all about putting things into ourselves to make us healthier and happier—or taking things out that are bad, or that have gone bad. We exercise our bodies with jogging, walking, gym equipment and Yoga. We steam them, rub them with oils, sauna and sunbathe them and put them on diets to lose weight. When all this fails to achieve promised and desired results, we turn to drugs for relief from pain and suffering and prayer for miracles when our situation seems hopeless.

If you were fortunate and aware enough to know about finding and correcting the cause of your ill health, you found your way to a chiropractor who adjusted your spine to “…release the imprisoned impulse, the tiny rivulet of force, that emanates from the mind and flows over the nerves to the cells, and stirs them into life….”  The word “emanates” means coming from within, not poured in from outside. Chiropractic was the first drug-less healing profession to offer an alternative and about-face approach to health and dis-ease here in the West. Founder and developer respectively Drs. Daniel and BJ Palmer proclaimed loudly their “Law of Life” which stated that life and health in human beings comes from “ABOVE, DOWN, INSIDE, OUT.”  

It was this philosophy of thinking deductively rather than inductively that called me to chiropractic as my life’s work. They called it “The Big Idea,” which gradually faded away in the minds and hearts of many chiropractors as they compromised their profession’s principles in order to accommodate the public’s perception of chiropractic care — and more so the insurance industry’s reluctant and meager willingness to pay for limited chiropractic care for the relief of backaches and neck injuries and a few other related conditions that were medically approved. Chiropractic in by far the majority of its doctors’ clinics became just another palliative application to the physical body for the relief of pain. Its philosophy by and large sadly went by the wayside. I published my attempt to revive that philosophy back in 2000 in our professional magazine Today’s Chiropractic — reprinted in 2005 as a booklet Rediscovering the Soul of Chiropractic — to which I received a precious hand full of letters of response from principled colleagues both here and abroad. (Available from Health Light Publishing in St. Augustine, Florida: healthlightbooks.com) 

We’ve become resource poor. Just look at all the books on health. Look at all the prescription medications in the Physicians Desk Reference and all the vitamin products on the market. We’re left with no excuses for not being healthy and happy.  And yet, we’re still unhealthy and unhappy and addicted to putting stuff into ourselves to change our experience of our selves. 

To paraphrase a Biblical phrase, it’s not what we put into our mouths that makes us health and happy, but what comes out of our mouths. Health is within us. We already have a whole and healthy spiritual body standing in the wings behind our physical body waiting to be enjoyed in the flesh. It’s what gives our very flesh life and function! We cannot live without it. It’s perfect! It’s beautiful! It’s just the right shape and size, too! It cannot be sick! It cannot even die! What we can live without is our physical body. Think about it!

Now, think about this. If you can find a way to put your spiritual body into your physical body completely, your physical body with its mind and emotions would be perfectly healthy and happy. Oh, it will still die, but it will die healthy and happy! YOU, however, will carry on living in your spiritual body. Not on this beautiful earth, of course, but in the incredibly beautiful and wonderful realms of Light in Heaven. (I don’t believe there’s a hell, except for what we’ve made of life here on earth.)

But, of course, we can’t just put our spiritual body into our physical body like we download programs into our computers. We can, however, use our physical body with its mind and heart to express our spiritual body with all of its vibrant life, eternal truth, and its endless and unconditional love. Expression allow release.

A little poem comes to mind that Dr. Bill Bahan often used in his symposiums: 

How To Be Happy

Are you almost disgusted with life, little man?
I’ll tell you a wonderful trick
That will bring you contentment, if anything can:
Do something for somebody, quick!

Are you awfully tired with play, little girl?
Wearied, discouraged, and sick?
I’ll tell you the loveliest game in the world:
Do something for somebody quick!

Though it rains like the rain of the flood, little man,
And the clouds are forbidding and thick,
You can make the sun shine in your soul, little man:
Do something for somebody, quick!

Though the stars are like brass overhead, little girl,
And the walks like a well-heated brick,
And our earthly affairs in a terrible whirl,
Do something for somebody, quick! (George Varghese)

Do you feel all bottled up inside? Then let your Self out of prison! Expression allows release. Though we are constantly reminded by just about every health author, you are not what you eat. You are what you express in your moments of living. That’s what you know, what you experience. We know and experience that which we express in thought, word and deed in and through our hearts, our minds and our physical bodies. You want to be happy? Express joy. You want to know love? Express love. You want to know truth? Express truth. You want to know life? Express life. You want to have peace? Be peaceful. This is what will give your body whole health. It’s that simple. Everything else will follow.

Spirituality rightly belongs at the top of the pyramid. Your spirit, motive and attitude will set the direction of your actions and guide your choices in life. When in doubt, start with thankfulness. When you’re anxious, try patience. When worried and confused, try stilling your mind with the assurance that all is well. Realization of what we need to do in any moment comes through a tranquil mind from within. Be still and know. Like I said, we’ve been given all the resources we need to lead a healthy and happy life. All we need is to be fully present as a conscious being in each moment. My spiritual mentor put it very succinctly in a poem.

Any Moment

Any moment of hating, Any moment of lying, Any moment of resentment, Is a moment of dying. 

Any moment of loving, Any moment of giving, Any moment of thankfulness, Is a moment of living. 

All our moments add together Like the digits in a sum, And the answer tells us plainly Whether life or death shall come.    —Martin Cicil

Dr. James Sigafoose says it all in this clip:

And now my reservoir is full again. Expression has allowed the release of this post. I wish for you a beautiful day. Here’s to your health and happiness!

Dr. Tony Palombo

P.S. I celebrate a milestone in my blogging having now had 31,000 visits to my Health Light Newsletter from readers in 114 countries! Wow! What a feeling of accomplishment! Thank you one and all for sharing my thoughts with me in my blogs. Visit my HealingTones.org blog for more . . . . !   

   

 

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The Healing Process: Introduction

Tony Pics for SA BookWE LIVE, HEAL AND DIE AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL

My primary job as a doctor is to teach health as I administer healing of dis-ease. Teaching is what I most enjoy.  This blog is all about teaching health.  The more you understand your body and how it lives at the cellular and molecular levels, the better equipped you are with the knowledge and wisdom to manage your health.

The general heading of this and the next several articles is “The Healing Process,” and I promise that you will understand what it is and how it works at the cellular level when you finish reading the next few blog posts, and it will take several posts to cover the subject matter.

Our subject is the cell.  Our objective will be to gain an understanding and deepen our appreciation for the individual cells that make up our body: how they live, facilitate the healing process, and give their lives to maintaining the integrity and homeostasis of the whole body.  We stand to learn much about life and about how we might give our lives, dedicate our living, to the healing of the body of mankind, which is, in reality, the Body of the Creator on this planet, and to the building of a healthier community on Earth.

To help tell the story of the life of the cell, I will call upon Dr. Gary L. Samuelson, who holds a Ph.D. in Atomic and Medical Physics from the University of Utah. He has dedicated his career and knowledge to the advancement of promising technologies addressing the major health issues facing mankind today. His study of the science of healing takes him deep into the microcosm of life itself, beyond mental judgement and labeling.  Through his eyes we can see clearly the truth of all the elements that go to make up our bodies – the “good” and so-called “bad” – all of which are essential to the healing process and the maintenance of balance in our body’s chemistry.  In truth, there isn’t “good and bad,” but simply what is, and it is all good.

The deeper we go into the micro structures of the fabric of creation, where there is yet pristine terrain untouched by human hands, the clearer is the design and function of the creative process . . . and that’s my keen interest.  For if we understand the ways of life and the processes by which life brings about creation, we may better understand how we, as creator beings, can work together to bring about a healthier world.

I invite you to sit back and allow your mind to relax its effort to grasp meaning and simply settle down and go deep with me, and with Gary Samuelson, to enjoy a fascinating journey and molecular tour of the human cell.  I promise this will be a most enjoyable book review and reading, presented in sections over several blog posts so as to give the reader time to fully digest and process the material. Enjoy the tour!

The Science of Healing Revealed — New Insights into Redox Signaling,  by Gary L. Samuelson, Ph.D.

Dr. Samuelson has found a way to take a complex and difficult subject and make it lucid and understandable to the lay reader. It is very rare that someone can convey concepts in science with such clarity and still maintain a degree of accuracy and precision. Dr. Samuelson possesses this unique talent; he explains the body‘s natural healing process on the molecular level in a way that conserves the precision of the science, and yet exposes the technical terms and underlying concepts in clear language able to be understood by any interested reader.

The reader stands to gain a much better view of the science of healing and a good understanding of the basic concepts of how the body‘s healing process works.   (Chase N. Peterson, MD, Former President of the University of Utah)

FORWARD

I have always been fascinated by the process of life. How does a blade of grass grow, what determines its shape and function? If it is chopped off, how does it know to grow back? I was sometimes accused of being a strange child, yet my inquiring mind turned me toward the study of science. This love of truth and science stayed with me into my adult life. I soon realized that the mystery of life is one of the most fundamental questions facing us. Shortly after obtaining my Ph.D. in Atomic and Medical Physics, I was set on a path that would ultimately lead me to find the answer to some of these questions and to better understand the overall framework of life processes, approached on the most basic atomic level.

The purpose of this booklet is to help the reader explore and understand this newly emerging science about healing, in a clear, concise, straightforward manner, one that sets a framework around the fundamental principles of the inner workings of the body: explaining how the micro machinery of the body allows the body to thrive when it is well and to heal itself when it is not well. This topic is approached from a first-principles basis, the science is explained as best my language will allow. This book also outlines some emerging cutting-edge science related to the role that redox signaling plays in the healing process.

It is my hope that the reader will be able to follow and comprehend some of the basic, yet incredible, processes that allow us to live and then be motivated to apply this new-found knowledge toward living a healthier every–day life.

INTRODUCTION

Imagine what would happen if our body suddenly lost its ability to heal itself. Within hours, our body would age several years, tissues would degrade, infections would take hold and our body would quickly wither and die. The root of the word “health” is “heal” [to make whole]. The body is constantly healing itself. The body’s ability to heal is one of the most fundamental and essential principles of life. Since conception, our body has been abundantly endowed with this ability. In order to better understand how it does this, we must start by looking at the smallest components of life, the workings inside the living cells that make up our body.

Human cells are generally very small. In a cell’s-eye view, the wrinkles in the palm of your hand are huge cavernous canyons with cliffs and ledges, stretching on for miles. A single hair on the back of your hand is a huge towerinq column of proteins jutting far up, out-of-sight. And yet, even on this tiny scale, the cell is very large compared to the micro machines that perform the processes of life inside the cell. If we were to now dive down inside the cell with a camera that is small enough to see a single strand of DNA, we would see a bustling metropolis of thousands of different types af molecular actors floating around in the salt water, full of activity, extending for hundreds of yards in all directions; proteins being manufactured and folded, delivery systems on microtubules taxiing these proteins around to where they need to go, receptors receiving and transferring messages from inside and the cell and factory-like organelles, hubs where the most complex manufacturing takes place.  In the center would be the nucleus containing the DNA spitting out the instructions needed to manufacture and transport all of these micro machines and messengers. Within this thriving buzz of activity is found the mystery of human cellular life.

Our knowledge of these life processes is doubling in less than five years time now. In fact, the emerging science and framework contained in this small booklet have been mostly developed in the last five to ten years and is the result of literally thousands of investigators who have devoted their lives to build such knowledge. The state of our understanding is constantly changing and evolving. Our understanding of the role of oxidants [free radicals] and antioxidants, for example, has done a turn-about in the last five years. The oxidants (made naturally inside the cells) were thought of as an unfortunate toxic by-product of our metabolism, and the antioxidants (also made in the cells) were thought of as the heroes that were made to clean up these evil oxidants and save us from their toxic grip. Our present understanding, however, is more enlightened. We now have come to see that the oxidants, themselves, play a crucial and essential messenger role to maintain basic chemical balance inside and outside of our cells and, in truth, we cannot live without them.

The picture gradually becomes clearer and clearer as time goes along. As scientists put together the edge pieces, the whole puzzle starts to take shape. In this booklet, we will look at some of these pieces and how they fit together. However, the major emphasis of this booklet will be to take an overview of the whole puzzle and set up a framework that will help us understand how the bigger picture is taking form and how we can use this knowledge to make a future of better health and a better life for all.

The first 4 chapters in this booklet will introduce you to basic cellular biology and function; this part is helpful in order to familiarize yourself with the microscopic workings inside your cells and the basic concepts. Some of these concepts will be useful. including the chapter on the immune system, in order to get the big picture. The last 2 chapters, however, contain the real heart of the material and new insights on the body’s natural healing precess. These last chapters should be read carefully in order to comprehend the huge potential benefits offered by emerging technologies.

Tune in to my next blog post for a continuation of the story of the life of the cell and our ongoing exploration into “The Healing Process.”  We will take a journey inside the cell.  Click on this link for a YouTube video preview: Journey Inside the Cell

To your health and healing,

Dr. Anthony Palombo

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Turn stress into peace and calm!

     

THE CALM, CONNECT AND COORDINATE SYSTEM       

  You’ve heard of the “fight, flight or freeze syndrome,” haven’t you? That system is turned on by stress, or by reaction to stressors which makes you distressed. Well, the calm, connect and coordinate system is what turns it off, restoring you to a state of calm wherein you can sink back into your skin and reconnect with your body as well as your environment instead of fleeing from them. It also gets the cells of your body functioning as a well-coordinated whole once again rather than galvanized, or frozen, in an isolated state of self-defense. This syndrome is turned on by a rarely talked about and scarcely understood hormone: Oxytocin.      

 Produced in the hypothalamus–a part of the brain that coordinates pituitary hormone production with the central nervous system and with what’s occurring around you–and stored in the posterior pituitary where it is released as a hormone to circulate through the body, oxytocin functions by altering or modulating the activities in other major body systems. It can have very long-lasting effects as these major systems work in a feedback loop and stimulate more oxytocin production. New discoveries are showing oxytocin is produced in many different places, including the heart and blood vessel walls, ovaries, and testes.       

 The hormone, Vasopressin–which stimulates the stress syndrome–is also produced in the hypothalamus and is stored and released by the posterior pituitary gland. Also known as an anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), it functions to maintain the body’s fluid volume and balance. In addition, vasopressin acts to increase aggression, hyper-vigilance, and other fight or flight type reactions.    Our understanding of oxytocin and the calm and connection system is in its infancy. Almost all study has been directed to the fight or flight or distress handling system. Most textbooks still state that oxytocin’s only functions are to simulate uterine contraction and facilitate lactation in females (along with prolactin).     

 In oxytocin producing cells the electric impulses do not occur one by one, but in a cluster. When the cells are powerfully stimulated, as in breast-feeding, (or other oxytocin stimulating behavior) the electrical activity becomes coordinated and the cells act in concert. This is part of the reason large amounts of oxytocin can be released in nursing women.  Estrogen can activate the oxytocin system and prolong its effects. Therefore, at certain times oxytocin affects females more potently than males. Testosterone can activate vasopressin and sustain its effects. Therefore, at certain times, vasopressin affects males more potently than females. Neurons that contain serotonin stimulate the release of oxytocin. This may be part of the mechanism of action of SSRI drugs that affect mood and anxiety levels. (Dopamine and noradrenalin also stimulate oxytocin release.) As you can see by the following list, there are many ways we can foster the calm, connect and coordinate system.     

So, next time you find yourself stressed out over something, start producing oxytocin!      

What stimulates Oxytocin release?  

 Giving thanks, being thankful and grateful, coming into the present moment with unconditional acceptance of things the way they are as being perfect; feelings of security, sensation and pleasure; touch, stroking, rhythmic touch; friendship, closeness, bonding experiences; sexual behavior, sex and intimacy, childbirth (uterine contractions), nursing and sucking (thumb-sucking); thoughts, memories, feelings of all the above; and probably such things as . . .   

 Some types of massage, chiropractic spinal adjustments, acupuncture, and other body-mind-spirit based techniques; energy work, attunement healing (Reiki); laughter and random happiness, deep sleep (delta), deep rhythmic breathing, Yoga, tai chi, and other related practices; rocking, singing, meditation, certain types of music, dance, art, literature, poetry; giving and receiving unconditional love; interaction with animals; a job or activity well done, especially if it benefits many; play and other positive and meaningful experiences. 
 
Isn’t it wonderful how our bodies look after us and respond to our every wish and intention!  The body never makes a mistake.  Everything it does is perfect.  We have every reason to trust it.  
 
 To your health,  
 
 Dr. Tony Palombo  
 References:   Dr. Janet Lang’s Nutritional Seminars, HealthLight Newsletter, Fall 2004