How we started lypospheric vitamin C

Vitamin C

I posted some here about our use of lypospheric vitamin C here and here. But this post is about how we landed on lypospheric vitamin C to begin with. We wove our way to the lypospheric vitamin c.

Vitamin C and Seasonal Allergies

In the spring of last year (2012) I believe, my son started what had become usual for us each spring - intense nasal congestion. It was spring allergies. He would get so congested that he could not even breath through his nose at night - I spent weeks at a time sleeping with him the previous years and holding him up so that the congestion would drain and he could sleep peacefully. We'd finally succumb to nasal steroids - adding to our steroid burden.

And in 2012 - that is where we were headed. Bear in mind, we'd use the netti daily, zyrtec, stay indoors - but still he would spend about 3 months battling intense nasal congestion that could only be tamed with flonase. So here we were March-ish 2012 and my son was beginning the seasonal stuffies. I let it go for as long as I could and then ordered the nasal steroids. In the meantime, he caught a flu or something that was going around school - so he was out for a week. I decided to start the steroids once he was well again. Towards the end of the week, when I thought he was getting better - he spiked a fever and a really rich cough. This was Saturday night - I decided that we'd last out the weekend and then go into doc on Monday. He had pneumonia when he was 2 - and then some other quasi lung infection thing at 3 (all before asthma diagnosis) - so I was totally afraid he had gotten pneumonia. The cough was intense and the fever relatively high (hovering around 101.9 to 102.5 if I recall). Around 11ish at night, I spooned as much lypospheric c mixed with apple juice as my son would take. I would wake him periodically and give it to him. In the morning, I gave him a gram - and then throughout the day - I think it was every 4 hours or so I'd give him 1 gram.

Needless to say by Monday morning he was fine - fever had broken the day before never to return. The other thing that didn't return was the nasal congestion. So I continued giving my son 1 gram, sometimes 2 grams, daily of lypospheric vitamin C. About 5 months ago, I stopped giving my son a daily gram. He now only takes it when he is sick or sniffly. We'll see how the spring goes - whether or not we need to pulse back on, and what effect, if any, that has.

Vitamin C and IgE

Over the next year and a half we experienced an IgE reduction of 30% (the first 4-6 months) followed by a slow rise again, despite our daily dose. Our IgE experience seems similar to the findings of this article:

Assessment of oral ascorbate in three children with chronic granulomatous disease and defective neutrophil motility over a 2-year period.

 

This is a fascinating article. The children, all three of whom had elevated IgE levels, experienced an initial drop of IgE in first 6 months - followed by a gradual rise over the next year and a half that they were tracked.  

Why does vitamin C (sodium ascorbate in particular) initially reduce IgE? Why does it stop doing that after about 6 months? What organ does it initially effect, that grows tolerant to it?

More food for thought:

The Analysis of Vitamin C Concentration in Organs of Gulo^-/- Mice Upon Vitamin C Withdrawal

 

An interesting study, keeping in mind that it is mice model. The mice are bred not to produce vitamin C (like humans). But it's interesting read - if only to get a clue to which organs it effects:

According to the report by Harrison et al. (14), vitamin C is preferentially deposited in brain (4~10 mM), adrenal gland (2~10 mM), liver (0.8~1 mM) and cerebrospinal fluids (CSF; 0.2~0.4 mM). However, the reason why such organs contain the high concentration of vitamin C is still largely unknown. Moreover, in vivo kinetics of vitamin C in organs under vitamin C insufficient condition has not been investigated yet.

Baked Milk Muffin 4 Months Out, Probiotics, & Chelation

Our daily muffin

So it's been a nearly 4 months since our baked milk challenge and up until about 3 weeks ago, getting my son to finish the muffin was a chore. Mainly, he complained that his stomach hurt or his lips itched. I backed all the way down to 1/4 muffin a day, then I would slowly build it back up. Presently, he's at 1 muffin a day. In all fairness I started giving him digestive enzymes with the muffin about 3 weeks ago, which seems to have been the reason I could escalate it back up to 1 whole muffin. I give him the muffin first thing in the morning with breakfast. But just before, I break open a digestive enzyme cap and pour enough out to fill 2 empty vegetarian capsules size number 3 (one of the smallest). He no longer complains of a stomach ache. In fact, he asks for seconds.

The other thing I've been doing lately is giving him a probiotic. I was experimenting with a lactobacillus mix, but stopped because he got eczema flare on inner elbows and backs of knees. I'm not sure if it was coincidence, since pollen was high as well. However, I temporarily stopped. Although, I have been giving him Gerber Soothe Colic Drops which contain l. reuteri. This is the same probiotic as the BioGai, but licensed to Gerber. (Side note, I have purchased online & via pharmacy - and even in pharmacy, they kept it on shelf, not in refrigerator). At any rate, you can read about the BioGaia research here. My son is not an infant, but a 7 year old - soon to be 8. I give him around 10-11 drops a day. The nutritionist at Gerber, with whom I spoke, said that 100 million would be the dosage for both infants and older. However, I've doubled the dose. We'll see because most of the studies are on infants - but I remain hopeful. And it seems to me completely benign.

Our hair test

A couple weeks back, I did a hair test on my son (the results posted here). I dropped the results with our nutritionist, who said she'd look them over and we'd discuss. Although, her first response - was what do these numbers mean? What do the hair results of the general population look like? Isn't everyone exposed and so wouldn't we all have elevated levels. This is something that I don't know the answer to - and if I get a chance, I'll do a follow up call to the lab.

But, the 2 things I've done & decided are - I've stopped getting our camel milk in plastic and instead been getting it in glass. The cost of the milk has gone up with the added shipping weight - but I feel better about it. Also, in preparation for doing the lose dose Andy Cutler low dose chelation, I've started introducing my son to DMSA. The dose has been approx 6mg that I give 1x a day. We are on 4th day today. While I understand this isn't the recommended process, I want to make sure he can tolerate before delivering around the clock. So far, so good. I'll do it 5 days, then this weekend probably start with DMSA.

What turned me onto chelation is 2 things - 1. there are some similarities in the immune issues in kids with autism and allergy - 2. I read a study that linked arsenic to elevated IgE and asthma. This was a study that was done in India or China - and they found with alpha lipoic acid chelation of arsenic, IgE levels dropped as did severity of asthma symptoms. I'll have to look for this abstract again and post link.

Bone Broth Stew

The hair test results got me thinking about our nutritional status. And while I've been doing some research on mineral supplements, I decided to add foods that boost nutrition as a form of 'food supplementation.' And bone broths are a wonderful way to do that. But as we've crapped up our world and our food it's become more difficult to find clean nutrient dense foods. I've even wondered about organics because if you look at what organics regulate and test for - it's mainly pesticides, herbicides, and gmo - but not things like heavy metal contamination. Hence, the whole aresenic in the rice crap. This isn't something that is normally tested for - and if you look at or think about your water - well I could go on and on. At any rate, my son's hair test inspired me to order a mass of organic bones and meats (fyi, sometimes order can take up to a week, but it is soooooo worth it). And here is our first

Bone Broth with Oxtail and Veggies

bone broth soup.  bone broth stew with oxtail and veggies[/caption]

Recipe for bone broth:

3-4 organic beef oxtail
1 med size beef bone
3 quarts of filtered water
splash of organic apple cider vinegar I

 put in an Le Creuset pot. I brought just to a boil, then simmered for about 10 hours. Just so that you know the smell is not all that pleasant. You can cook for anywhere from 8-10-48 hours. It really depends on your stamina and cooking set up. My friend did hers for 48 hours in a Slow Cooker The process of handling the bones too - not all that appealing. But it is so worth it, especially when it is cold outside. Strain chum. Then once it's cooled, but before gelled, take out bones and meat. I freeze just the broth and use the meat on oxtail for first soup or stew.

Recipe for soup/stew:

(use organic where available)
1 leek
1 onion
swigs of fresh basil and dill
coconut oil
2 portobella mushrooms
1 cup corn
3-4 small red potatoes
1 cup already cooked basmati rice
salt
pepper

Finely chop leak & onion. Chop mushrooms and potatoes in small cubes. Saute the leak, onion, mushrooms, and potatoes until brown in coconut oil. If you can use butter, that's awesome - but we can't. Once it starts to brown, I added salt and pepper couple shakes. I also used scissors to cut up 2 heads of 5 or so leaves of basil off our plant. Saute all these together until potato starts to soften... about 20 or so minutes. Then add about 2 cups of stock along with 1/2-3/4 cup of filtered water. The stock is so robust, the flavor will fill out. Chop dill and add. Let it simmer about 15 minutes - or so until potatoes are soft. Add rice and oxtail meat. Make sure is all warm and serve. Yum! My son, who is not lover of soup, gobbled it up. He loved it. And he got some great minerals: calcium, magnesium, potassium....    

The Baked Milk Challenge

I substituted light olive oil for the canola oil.

So we passed the baked milk challenge. Yay! I am elated, almost to the point of being numb. I tried tweeting from the hospital - to take myself out of the emotions of it - but alas my cell phone signal was kerplunked. My son had coughed in his sleep the night before, so I was concerned he may have been having an asthma issue. He hadn't had the steroid inhaler for a couple days either. At any rate, they checked pulmonary function and it was fine. We also did not do a skin test, but just jumped in. Our time went somewhat like this.

• 1:30 at first dose of 10% of 2 muffin full dose (recipe makes 12)
• 1:50 ish - nurse checked skin, mouth, tongue, lungs, and blood pressure. Second dose - 20%.
• 2:15 ish - nurse checked vitals again, skin.... good to go for third dose - 30%.
• 2:35 ish - vital check again... and the final 40% of the 2 muffins.

My son finished about 2:55. Then we sat and waiting for 2 hours. All clear. And without a valium drip for me. The doctor's recommendation is now to eat the full 2 muffin dose 2-3 times a week. My son of course begged me to have a muffin today, so I gave him one. He is fine, thankfully. The follow up to the baked milk challenge, according to my doc is -

• First we do the 2 muffin dose at least a couple times a week.
• After couple weeks work up to everyday.
• After couple weeks/month of that we can do a couple times a day.
• Then we can try another recipe but with same dose of milks (powdered & liquid).
• After a couple weeks/month then we can try other milk products in baking: sour cream, butter, yogurt, buttermilk... but with the same dose of milk protein.
• Then we can consider, if all is tolerated well, trying something like cheese - but it must not be gooey - more like the bubbled/charred cheese on the edge of pizza crust. Couple weeks/months...
• Then you move to gooey. If all this is going well, then the next step would be coming in for a liquid milk challenge.

Well at this point, we are happy to have an additional food. But it must be at this point, and all points until gooey - cooked at 375 for at least 20 minutes. From what I've read, the studies about baked milk - under-cooking can be a problematic thing. I think we'll be sticking with the baked milk muffin recipe as is - with it's 20 minutes at 400. I don't love this - well because from what I've read, the browned part of food can be a big contributor of AGE's. But we went through with the challenge, so for now - we're dealing with eating it.

Hercules, Food Allergy, and the Baked Milk Challenge

BAKED MILK CHALLENGE MUFFINS

My son is learning about the Greek and Roman Gods and myths. And Hercules is one of them. When I thought of Hercules it was - 'super strong muscular dude who slayed mythical dragons, animals, and warriors." Like Yanni on steroids in a loin cloth or something. Boy did I underestimate his journey. Well, and I did not know this until my son introduced me to it. But, Hercules wasn't just some swoony cat living his life randomly encountering adventures, slaying dragons, taming wild lions... He sought these 'beasts' out. He was compelled to carry out his nine labors because he was trying to make amends for having killed his wife and children while under a spell. He was driven, beyond reason, fatigue, fear... to confront and slay these wild creatures.

Ok, but what does he have in common with food allergies?

 

Well, that's how I feel. All my friends and family are always telling me how I shouldn't/couldn't possibly blame myself for the allergies and asthma that my son battles. But somehow I do. I have running list of 'sins' I committed while pregnant - before I was pregnant - and in my darkest moments I visit this list in my mind. I cannot explain our somewhat 'outlier' status any other way... the number of allergies. The eczema. The asthma. The whole ball of it. I mean, of course there are more and more kids with allergies and asthma, but I feel sometimes so singled out with the sheer number - that surely I must have done something. And it's been this feeling that drives me on - like Hercules - beyond reason, fatigue, fear... beyond my check book... to find some answer to heal my son.... or at least gain new foods, freedoms, hope and ease.

Sigh. Sigh. Deep breath.

 

As you can tell it's been a bit of a dark feeling time around here. And tensions are high as we near our baked milk challenge scheduled for tomorrow. I was disappointed to find out that my son's IgE level for milk is up to 22 now on the RAST. Total IgE is up to 1400 or so now. We are about 6 weeks off the herbs - and eczema has been plaguing us again. We are up and down on the steroid inhaler - based on whether or not he coughs. Given the new RAST, I was concerned that we were beyond the challenge window now, however the doc says we are still on. After reading this study "Tolerance to extensively heated milk in children with cow's milk allergy" I am also feeling as if our number is still within range. However, I may request a skin prick test. It seems that the size of the wheal would give us a better sense of whether or not he'll pass. Although, part of me feels that even if he fails - there is an upside - my son would know what a reaction feels like. He hasn't had a reaction, thankfully, in a long time. We've had some itchy tongue, itchy lip things, some hives - but our last challenge - soy, was our last reaction. He remembers this reaction. It involved him vomitting and getting pale and somewhat limp. While the doc present at the challenge said it was FPIES, another doc to whom I conveyed the story ipso facto - said it sounded like anaphylaxis. Whichever, that was our second soy challenge. The first one - a year prior - was deemed successful. We left the hospital overjoyed to get a new food. And then midway between the hospital and home, the vomitting and screaming started. Needless to say, we pulled into the ER.

But milk. Milk has been verbotten all along. So we'll see how tomorrow goes. I definitely think that when your child does a challenge, you should be offered an optional valium drip for yourself. I'll take mine straight up please.

 On another front on the allergy front - I'll be ordering TSO this week. I have to wait for a check to clear before dinking my account. But I am now solidly convinced that this is worth a go. I'll enter in the quasi paper I sent the allergist - who is on board to treat my son - and issue blood test/skin prick test to help us determine what effect, if any, the TSO is having. Although she would not let us introduce them in the clinic because of liability issues. Not sure yet, how I'll introduce the 15ml vial of 1000 ova (our recommended starting & hopefully maintenance dose). I guess like Herecules, I'll slay that bitch when I get to it.

Also, and for good measure because I tend to be somewhat pessimistic, I have a vision of my son healthfully eating the baked milk muffins. We drive home happy that we have a new food. And I try not to drink each time I feed him this food moving forwards.

Food Allergy Recipes

Food Allergy Recipes

Camel Milk & Berry Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2 to 1 pint of camel milk

4-6 frozen organic strawberries

1/4-1/2 cup frozen organic raspberries

1/2-1 tblsp raw honey

1/2 cap full organic vanilla

Put all ingredients into blender or mixer of choice. Blend until smooth.

  camel milk smoothie finished

Enjoy!

Pros of this plate:

• Camel milk, honey and berries all in one calorie packed smoothie
• Looks like a shake - I've traveled with this and blended on location - and given to my son when everyone pulled out the ice cream. In fact, we've gotten many comments that it looks and tastes better than the other ice creams (standard super market stuff) served
• Way less sugar than normal ice cream

Cons of this plate:

• The one con for us is that my son will cough if it is too cold. Then if it warms too much, he doesn't want to eat it. Oyy! The challenges of striking a balance.

Camel Milk (further reading):

Food allergy herb, lypo C, camel milk and the allergist

Camel milk nutrition

Camel milk for food allergies in children. (While we did not see an effect in food allergy from camel milk, we have seen wonderful wait gain and, I assume, improved nutritional status).

Green Charged Chicken Salad Meal

2 organic chicken breasts (from a whole chicken brined for 24 hours in Himalayan Salt)

1 bunch organic parsley

juice 1 organic lemon

juice 1 organic lime

organic olive oil to taste (I use probably 1/4 - 1/2 cup)

10-14 organic pitted kalamata olives

Finely chop parsley. Chop chicken breast. Thinly slice organic olives. Add in bowl along with juice of lemon and lime, olive oil, and olives. Mix and serve. Makes between 4-6 servings.

As pictured - served with organic crackers and couple kettle chips with organic carrot sticks on a bed of hydroponic romaine & green leaf picked just moments earlier.

Pros of this plate:

• Travels well - so it can be eaten for lunch. And it doesn't call too much attention to itself.
• Has parsley which is rich in many antioxidants and components that have been found to reduce IgE (not sure about what is critical amount needed) and to act against advanced glycation endproducts or AGEs (can make problems in all sorts of diseases - like asthma, diabetes, kidney disease...).
• The obvious other veggies & lemon juice.
• Also the parsley is thinly chopped - so if you have a picky eater, the pieces are too small for them to pick them all out.

Cons of this plate:

• The chips contain AGE's - by the sheer nature of their production (frying), as do the crackers (baked). Advanced glycation endproducts are a product of high temperature cooking. If it's been crisped or browned - you bet there are AGEs created in it. Sometimes I've used this to make a pasta salad - a better option in avoiding AGEs.

Advanced Glycation Endproducts and Asthma (further reading):

Implication of receptor for advanced glycation end product (RAGE) in pulmonary health and pathophysiology

Advanced Glycation and Lipoxidation End Products–Amplifiers of Inflammation: The Role of Food

Advanced glycation end products and its receptor (RAGE) are increased in patients with COPD

TSO and Food Allergy & Asthma

We stopped the herbs about 6 weeks ago. And in all fairness, the last months before stopping, our adherence to the protocol was hovering in the 70% approximately. So I really can’t be all that surprised that my son ended up with an asthma issue despite having been on herbs. I think that what happened was that the pollen (being sky-high) along with a cold – gave him a cough that lasted nearly 3 weeks. We upped the inhalers – both emergency & steroid – according to our action plan. We did hydrotherapy. And we started acupuncture & cupping each week.  At this point, off herbs, I’ve observed:

• the return of eczema (it was creeping back in with our lax herb taking) 
• a more frequent cough 
• episodes of hives – to things we’ve “tolerated in past” – such as a vitamin c drink 
• his skin is more dry (he is constantly licking around his lips, and so he’s got chapped edges below his bottom lip) 

And so we are at a turning point. After my most recent conversation with the TCM doc – she suggested we expand the asthma protocol. While I don’t know what the number of pills would be per day, it would add to our already average 30-40 daily pill regimen. While I have the utmost respect and admiration for our practitioner, this plan is daunting. I know because we’ve already had a hard time sticking to it. So adding will make it even more challenging. And I know what it gets us – daily pill swallowing with a parachute. Don’t get me wrong – the parachute is awesome, but I want more for all the effort that goes in it. I want new foods. I want total freedom from inhalers for my son. And so, this approach has moved into second place.

 First place is now occupied by helminths. As I’ve mentioned previously, The Epidemic of Absence, was mind blowing. And I think it should be required reading for any practitioner who sees pregnant women or children. I have been fortunate in the last several weeks to have conversations about some of the topics discussed in the book. And this has lead me to TSO or Trichuris Suis Ova or Pig Whipworm.
While I continue to keep necator americanus in my sights – or human hookworm. I am moving forwards with TSO for a variety of reasons – the biggest of which is that you dose every 2 weeks. Therefore there is no guessing if the worms have matured, are still in the intestines, have been somehow eliminated…. you know if you drank the vial you have them in your body. And so, if they work for you (and that is an IF), once you’ve taken your dose you are good to go until your next dose.
While I’ll briefly list some of the positives of hookworm – TSO is where we are most likely headed for now.

• Cheaper 
• No need to redose so frequently 
•  At a certain point, you can probably manage your own re-infection so you are not tied to any provider 
•  The worms take up residence for 12-18 months 
•  There seem to be more studies linking hookworm to allergy symptom relief

I have been working on a “paper” to get my son’s allergist on board. My thinking is that – maybe I’d like to give him the doses in the hospital until I’m sure he can tolerate it. And, I would like to possibly do more challenges. I mean, if the goal is to get more foods – let’s get more foods. But unless his IgE levels drop, that would have to be something done in the hospital as a food challenge. And I’m not sure allergen specific levels will drop – especially given that helminths, as far as I can tell, in general elevate IgE even further. And so if the levels don’t drop – how will I know it is working? Well, we tried out a kung fu place this past week – and my son left the session coughing. In fact, I think it took us about 2 days to fully recover. They have carpet in this place – since they do a lot of throwing, weapon banging, jumping…. and it must be infested with dust mites. This is definitely something we will try on TSO. And if he doesn’t cough – that would be a huge indication that we are getting benefit.

 I’ve been thinking about helminths for my son – and I am able to partially wrap my head around the idea that he needs something he doesn’t have. It’s like having a car without coolant or radiator fluid in it and it keeps over heating. The one area that I am still not totally convinced that this is the complete reason – is why are his levels of IgE elevated to begin with? Is it that he came into this world expecting to host? Or is it still something like toxins that are setting his immune system off in the wrong way?

So what is the plan? If we move forwards (which I am deciding now) we will start on 1000 ova/2 weeks. We will know if it is working after the 10th week. That seems to be the sweet spot. And so, we’ll test IgE & do things like go back to the Kung Fu place. If we are not getting a benefit, we will up the dose to 2500 ova/2 weeks. The repeat the same testing after about 10-12 weeks on this protocol.

The obstacle in my decision process is – what does this buy us long term? From what I can tell, you need to stay on this protocol indefinitely in order to experience whatever benefits you get. If you stop, the benefits stop. I’m not sure what this does for us long term – since my son is still relatively young – before puberty – is it possible this will re-educate his immune system? Will this be a gateway for us to detox better with things like alpha lipoic acid (which I think triggers asthma for us right now so I’ve stopped). Will this get us used to a more free life and ultimately we’ll end up exploring the more long term helminths – like necator americanus? Or will it not work at all, and we’ll be back where we are now? What will his IgE levels look like on this therapy – or post if we discontinue? What will his reactivity look like? If we move forwards with this – I will post on these issues/results.

TSO Safety 

Now, I won’t dive too deep into the science – but here are the studies and anecdotal reports that give me hope. “Evidence of the safety of TSO is now available for more than 200 subjects enrolled in clinical trials….Overall, the evidence of safety of TSO is strong. The side effects have been absent or mild and spontaneously resolving. TSO has been administered to subjects at risk, such as patients with IBDs receiving immunosuppressants concomitantly with TSO, without any adverse effects. Also, it should be noted that given the frequent presence of T suis in farms and the long history of pig farming all over the world, the absence of report in the medical literature of cases of farmers found to be infected with T suis represents a substantial, although indirect, evidence of safety.”

*1  Trichuris suis ova: Testing a helminth-based therapy as an extension of the hygiene hypothesis Corresponding author: Marie-Hélène Jouvin, MD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215. Jean-Pierre Kinet, MD Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. “Conclusions: This new therapy may offer a unique, safe, and efficacious alternative for Crohn’s disease management. These findings also support the premise that natural exposure to helminths such as T suis affords protection from immunological diseases like Crohn’s disease.”

*2 Trichuris suis therapy in Crohn’s disease Gut. 2005 January; 54(1): 87–90. doi: 10.1136/gut.2004.041749 PMCID: PMC1774382 R W Summers,1 D E Elliott,1 J F Urban, Jr,2 R Thompson,1 and J V Weinstock1

TSO Efficacy in food allergy 

 Bear in mind, there have been no official studies with TSO and food allergy. The one study done with allergic rhinitis dosed the patients every 3 weeks (and the sweet spot seems to be 2), and so it’s lack of findings of efficacy could be a problem of how the dosing was timed. But here are some anecdotal reports that give me hope:

 “In our study in adults with peanut or tree nut allergy, the only end point was safety. We assessed some standard allergy markers without knowing whether they would be predictors of TSO efficacy. We observed no significant change in allergen-specific serum IgE levels. There was no change in skin prick test reactivity, except in 1 subject who had a general decrease in reactivity and lost reactivity to peanut, which was the clinically dominant allergen for this subject. Four subjects reported a decrease in seasonal allergies while receiving TSO.”*2

“The story of a boy with autism has raised much interest among parents of autistic children or children with food allergy. This boy had severe autism characterized by self-abuse, agitation, aggression, anxiety, obsessive/compulsive behavior, behavioral rigidity, impulsivity, “stimming” behavior, and extreme sensitivity to external stimuli. He was also allergic to pecan nuts and presented with seasonal allergic rhinitis. At the age of 15 years, he was started on TSO at a dose of 1000 ova every 3 weeks for 26 weeks. No clear effect was observed. The dose was increased to 2500 ova every 2 weeks. After 10 weeks at the higher dose, most of his autism symptoms had improved substantially. His seasonal and food allergies were gone, and he was able to eat pecan cookies without having any reaction. After 2 years, the dose of TSO was reduced to 1600 ova every 2 weeks, and the autism symptoms reappeared. The dose was increased back to 2500 ova every 2 weeks, and the autism symptoms improved again.

He is now 21 years old. He has been on TSO continuously since 2008 and has not experienced any AEs. He is free of repetitive and disruptive behavior and cured of his allergies.” *2

Here is the same story from above – as told by the father of the boy on his website:

“Many people taking TSO for Crohn’s Disease reported losing all their allergies while taking the medication. My son has had seasonal allergies and a life-threatening tree nut allergy his entire life. He has carried an Epi-pen since he was 4 years old and we found out (the hard way) that he had nut allergies. We had him tested and his scores for tree nuts on the blood tests for allergies were off the charts. The few times he has come into contact with nuts the reaction has been swift and severe. These would often be caused not by actually eating a nut, but simply by touching something that was at one time stored next to something with nuts. He once touched an m&m candy that had been in a bag with nuts, then touched his face; his face blew up like a balloon and he almost went into anaphylaxis. Several months into the TSO therapy, my son, for the first time in his life, accidently ate a pecan cookie. Pecans are the nuts that he is most allergic to, both by blood test score and by our experience with him. He had absolutely no reaction of any kind. He has also had no seasonal allergies since he started TSO, something he was always plagued with in previous years. Evidently, the TSO therapy has eliminated my son’s allergies, consistent with the accounts of the Crohn’s patients.” http://autismtso.com/about/allergies/

Alternative Health Documentary

So my family has been on a healing journey for the past several years.  As we have explored, tried, tested, met with, paid for, traveled to... various practitioners, it dawned on me that there are so many stories of success that I had never heard about.  So, I decided to start documenting these stories.  Here is the trailer for my documentary.  Please stay tuned for more to come. 

How Did Arsenic Get in My Organic Rice

I just spent an obscene amount of time sifting through material to purchase a water filter.  I wrote about it here, in my post 5 Steps to Find a Water Filter.  One of the contaminants that we are looking to remove is arsenic.

There are 2 forms of arsenic
Pentavalent and Trivalent - Pentavalent arsenic is listed as being taken out by most RO filters.  Trivalent needs a special filter or free chlorine to convert to the 'easier to filter' pentavalent.

Now what does this have to do with aresenic in rice.  Or your organic leafy greens.  Or your kid's organic apple juice.  WTF.  How did this happen?

Well let's think about this a second.  I buy a water filter, and so many people do, to filter out arsenic.   And it is expensive.  But are the farmers growing our food filtering their water for the crops?  Probably not.  So the food we eat drinks the water we filter - unfiltered.  Then we eat the food.

Huh.  What's one to do?

We need to go back.  We've become so accustomed to this idea of just taking out the things we don't like or don't need - because we can have it 'our way.'  That we've forgotten sometimes the best thing to do is not do it to begin with. 

There is this looming threat that making industry clean up its filthy act is somehow going to cause an economic meltdown.  We'll be out of jobs, have no access to credit, less food, or God forbid - no television.  We walk around ignoring, shrugging our shoulders.... 'oh well, I gotta go to work now.... nothing I can do about it.... hey did you see the new iphone...'  Not a care in the world.  We'll just filter it out of our water.

But there's a huge flaw here.  There's a kind of fantastical denial of reality here.  It's like the revelry in the city at carnival, in the small, yet hugely populated, city - while the vast land that supports the city is raped to the point of death - where a handful of years later - even those in the city will feel it's suffering.  When the poisons of industry have been so thoroughly spread across the Earth that there will be no pristine corner left. 

I don't know, I'm on a rant.  I go to work too.  I work for a man on a quest to get rich at all costs.  He doesn't care who he screws - as long as his sports car is shined, his wife quaffed, his kids equiped with the latest gadget.  He's a nice guy - you know - he'd buy you a beer and chat you up with jokes.  But he will not tolerate anyone playing with his road to riches.   He is an industry man.  He's the kind of man whose sold us a vision to suit his purpose.

It's sad, but we've been hypnotized into believing that we need all this crap... so much so that we've allowed a handful of pied pipers to lead us like sheep to slaughter.  We've handed over the keys to our homes, our children, ourselves - for tech gadgets, sexy handbags, and martini bars. 

Health is politics.  And until all of us pursuing health, stop looking for ways to undo the damage - and start looking and engaging in ways to stop the damage to begin with - our health will teeter in perpetual turmoil.

So how did arsenic get into your rice?  rice milk?  rice formula?  potatoes?  leafy greens?  you?

We let them put it there.  We sat back, we are sitting back - as we all contribute to our own demise.  We're creating a world where future generations may not live longer, or even as long, as past generations.  But 'hell,' we say 'at least they lived fast.'  Yes, fast, cheap, and out of control.   Trading our health and life for cheap disposable shit. 

5 Steps to Finding a Water Filter

First off let me say that this is the beauty of our system.  We allow industry and such to pollute our air, water, food - and enable a few to get rich beyond comprehension - while we all then pay to remove what the profiteers put in.... namely poisons.  I will try not to get political, but I find that more and more health, food, clean air and water are all political.  And sadly, I observe oblivion until faced with the cliff.  Meaning, I see so many people just brush it off as 'oh well,' until they have cancer and are getting dropped from their insurance, or blocked from treatments that their insurance won't cover.  Then suddenly, they're interested.  At any rate, I could go on and on.

The Best Water Filters

Is this even possible.  And if it is - where does one begin?

5 Steps to finding a water filter:

1. Review your city or municipality report.  Now bear in mind,they only report on chemicals that are mandated by the EPA (politics & health).  So you can look at the EPA water regulations here.  Here's where when Congress gets together and talks about cutting funding for regulations - to save a handful of jobs and really just a couple fat profiteers - it affects our lives.  You will see - and these are just regulated chemicals (here's a list of unregulated chemicals that show up in our water everyday) - a list of effects from exposure include:  increased risk of cancer, kidney & liver damage, increased cholesterol, increased blood sugar... Hey do any of these effects sound like the landscape of current chronic and exploding illnesses.  But hey, it's the sacrifice we give for 10 jobs and a CEO/owner/shareholder who makes a 6-10 figure salary - untaxed.  Seems like a good trade.

2.  After you've looked at your city report, I'd also recommend looking at the Environmental Working Group's site - they simplify it visually.  They're research is a couple years old - but we all know things are getting worse on that front - not better.  So it at least will give you a sense of what the numbers were.  Also, I think it's hard when you look at your city report - to take 3ppb (3 parts per billion) as a serious threat until you see that the health limit is 0 or 1 ppb.  Bear in mind, if you are anything like me, fix yourself a cocktail before looking, because you will be ANGRY.  The one hugely insane aspect is that health limits are usually about 1/10th the legal limit.  So you'll probably see a lot of exceeded health limits tests - but no legal ones.  'How can that be?' you ask.  What a-hole established a legal limit that is 10x beyond the health limit.  Oh, yes all the a-holes we supposedly elected to establish laws that protect our lives.  I've pulled an example from Environmental Working Group's site - EWG.org.  This chemical is awesome - because the health limit is 0ppb, but the legal limit is 80ppb.  Ok, what ass made this regulation!?!?!? Let's hope he's getting his full dose of the crap daily and then some.

The first column is chemical, the second column is average levels found 2/maximum level found underneath, the 3rd column is has the health limit been exceeded (yes/no) and the health limit (here is 0ppb), the 4th column is has the legal limit been exceeded (yes/no) and what is legal limit, last column is test dates (yellow means health limit violation).

Bromodichloromethane

7.38 ppb 12 ppb

Yes MCLG: 0 ppb

No 80 ppb

3.  Now comes the hard part.  Figuring out which filters actually take stuff out.  Again, this is partly regulatory because thanks to lax legislation there are legal limits of poison.  Go figure.  But I eventually ended up here, at the NSF site.  This is not the National Science Foundation - this foundation is separate.  At any rate, they have a searchable, if clumsy and eye-crossingly designed database.  You can compare then contaminants and water filter systems.

4.  Prepare for mass confusion and more anger.  Most of these chemicals are not pronounceable - let alone removable.  I was recently disturbed to find that there were health limit violations in our water system for halocetic acids.   Which according to the super helpful woman at the NSF International place - some are removed as VOCs and others - well they haven't found a way to effectively remove them.  So, you can wipe some of these puppies down, but not all.

5.  Prepare to bust your budget.  Now, I will not necessarily list which filter I'm going to use - but I can say it's not a 3M or GE product.  These are the same cats putting the chemicals in the water.  It's genius really, make stuff, pour chems in the water, sell that stuff, fight regulation, and then make & sell filters to take some of the stuff you put in the water back out so people don't fall over and die too soon.

I now understand why Gerson recommends that cancer patients not drink water.  Although, I think it's mainly since they are drinking so many juices on his protocol.  And he was working nearly 60years ago.  But still, it makes sense even more nowadays.  Although, lest we forget that same poisonous water is used to water our crops that absorb the contaminants.  For me, best solution - don't let industry dump shit into the water in the first place.

I also think that - this does remind me of the Epidemic of Absence book again.  Some of the contaminants are biproducts of disinfection.  Not that I want antibiotic resistant bacteria in my water, but I'm still less concerned about some bacteria than chemicals.

Anyways, hope this helps.  Post your healing adventures.