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.

The Vaccine Debate

To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate?  That is the question.

I recently got embroiled in a bit of a vaccine debate.  A blog I peruse occassionally posited to debunk the idea that "vaccines cause food allergies." I pointed out that while there aren't any direct cause studies linking vaccines to food allergy - there is enough circumstantial evidence that one must ask questions.
Let me just say that my son, unfortunately, is completely vaccinated.  I obediently followed the doctor's recommendations and schedule shooting up my son every month to two months throughout his first year of life and we concurrently strode along the atopic march.  I thoroughly regret the decision to, at the very least delay and spread out shots, if not pass the whole thing off altogether.  And while I cannot "prove" that the vaccines caused him to have food allergies and asthma, my maternal intuition tells me that it was a signficant contributing factor.

But why?  I'm posting below our banter feedback.  I've kept it anonymous for a variety of reasons.  Most importantly, I feel like "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."  Also, I wanted you to be able to read links and discern for yourself.  It's important to examine both sides because for some people it is possible that the current vaccine schedule does work.  For our family, I believe,  it did more harm than good.  We are potentially the outliers and I would suggest that all medicine would be better if things were handled on an individual basis.

Me:  If this is second post - disregard. I hit publish and nothing happened. At any rate - here is link
Delay in diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus vaccination is associated with a reduced risk of childhood asthma.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18207561Plus vaccines go into the body without going in through a mucus membrane - there is study that discussed children encountering food first through skin (especially eczematic skin) generating allergic sensitization versus first encountering said food through mouth, throat, stomach route... It is in book Epidemic of Absence (must read in my mind for anyone in allergy circles)I would ask the same of you - can you provide links to peer-reviewed, well constructed study that's been validated by others that proves that skipping vaccines can (probably better word is does) lead to death.I am always open to learning. I am not doctor or med professional - only arm chair scientist. Are you a medical professional? How do you discern whether or not the study is well constructed and valid? I am curious.This is a complicated discussion that polarizes people on both sides. I am always open to learning. In my opinion, vaccines should be evaluated on an individual basis.
Thanks
Denise

Blog I occasionally peruse:  Nope. Not getting lured into the vaccine debate. I read four years of vaccine research when my kids were little.  The only thing I will say is that I thought of you today when I read this Slate article:http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/02/will_computers_eventually_make_scientific_discoveries_we_can_t_comprehend.html“[W]hen people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.P.S. This is a cohort study that was done a year later than the one you cited. Far more comprehensive; totally different conclusion:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19255024
Me:  Not into a debate, just food for thought.There were also doctors recommending smoking in the mid 1900s, and I'm sure opponents of that were hit with "the earth was flat."At any rate, all I'm saying is that it is more complex. And the areas with low vaccination rates have low to no allergies & asthma. Just makes you wonder. I'm sure it's part of a spectrum of modern things that add up into askew immunity.Also, look at infant mortality rates across the globe - significant portion of them are not from the things we vaccinate for. I did.Food for thought.
Another mother poster:  I personally do not think that we need to have a new study that shows that skipping vaccines leads to death. We need only look at our history and the many, many people who did die of diseases for which we now have vaccines (and a lower death toll) and look into the world to areas with lower vaccination rates (and higher death tolls).
Anonymous poster:  to each their own.
Blog I occasionally peruse:  I don't agree with that when there's potential for harm to others. We don't just shrug and say "to each their own" when we're talking about drunk drivers...or smokers...or guns in public places...Texas excluded, of course. ;)

This debate got me thinking.  I really do not like talking in generalizations - or regurgitations.  I also can't stand with others do it with the conviction that marketers refer to as "drinking the kool-aid."  So I briefly read some other resources to look at vaccine rates and infant mortality rates (IMR).    I think that it is quite possible, if not probable, that most, if not all, the decrease in IMRs that we credit vaccines for isn't really due to other factors, such as:  improved nutrition, sanitation, and access to healthcare when it is needed.
Here is information that I feel supports this argument:
"Infant morality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?"     This study or retrospective used data through 2009, but it is still signficant.  I cannot vouch for its validity - but it is food for thought.  I also think it's fascinating

"For example, Gambia requires its infants to receive 22 vaccine
doses during infancy and has a 91%–97% national
vaccine coverage rate, yet its IMR is 68.8. Mongolia
requires 22 vaccine doses during infancy, has a
95%–98% coverage rate, and an IMR of 39.9."

An Epidemic of Absence Part 2

Ok, so last nights reading kept me up until about 2am.  Not just the reading, but the section talking about maternal contributions to children being born allergic.  I ruminated to the point of neausea.  In a perfect world, where I have powers to see into the future, I would have done:
1 – eaten way more omega-3s
2 – not remodeled, painted, laid new carpet… beautified my home with scents of disease
3 – most importantly, hauled my ass to a small farm and shoveled shit, milked cows, cleaned after pigs & chickens, and frollicked in bacteria and pollen proteins at least every weekend – for the mix of bacteria to hopefully educate, through the placenta, my son’s immune system.
Wow, it would be interesting to see if all this would have helped my son be born less allergic, or dare I even say it, not allergic at all!?!?!?!
So now what?
I’m not finished with the book – so I continue to hold out hopefully for some clue as to my next steps.  I am rather hung up on the m.vaccae – and have already hatched a plan to redecorate my home with buckets of various animal dung and slop.  Seriously.  The plan is to go out to some Amish or organic farms and purchase their animal excrement.  Not sure after that.  Do I look for microscopic images on the internet to try and identify and hopefully harvest some beneficial fecal animal bacteria?  Do I just let us breath it in?  Will this help, not help, or make things worse?  In the book, Mr Manoff mentions that for some the bacterial exposure after the allergen sensitization has happened, can make things worse – creating an onslaught of defensive alarms.  How & what should I do?
I know it sounds crazy – and not to go into too much detail – but it is a bitter pill to swallow that I need to stand idly by and not try anything.
My hatching plan in progress is evolving to include:
low dose chelation & supplementation to support such detox
exposure to educating bacterial (probiotics yes – but most strains I can find with studies backing them are not available on the market.  Plus this very laser targeted exposure… not so sure it’s effective).  Green acres is the place for me… Farm living is the life I need.  Well OK an urban farm mashup focused on poop and mud.  If you read the book you’ll see just how significant orofecal infections can be in generating a healthy, robust, and tolerant immune system.
fecal transplant (this is on the radar – not on action plan).  We are awaiting our kits from the human gut project – just informational at this point.  But definitely something to think on further.
helminths (this too on radar – but not action plan).  I’m not sure if this isn’t something that my son would need to decide for himself.  Plus if this did graduate to action plan – it is something I’d try for myself first – having raynaud’s and joint issues – both of which point to a whacked out immune system.

An Epidemic of Absence

So I am reading “An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases,” penned by Moises Velasquez-Manoff.  At this point, I’m about a third of the way through.  The book is truly amazing in its take on the evolution of much of the human immune system.  It has, for a brief moment, spun my perspective on the allergies that my son has.  It’s as if my son’s body has evolved to negotiate a world that suddenly shifted over the last 50-100 years.  As if allergies and asthma were not a disease but a trait developed over millions of years of co-existence with micro-organisms, parasites, bacteria, fungi… and now suddenly they’ve been removed: through hygiene, vaccination, modernity….  What’s briefly refreshing about this perspective is the idea that these things that we have been told are disease, are really beautiful biological partners in maneuvers that have found themselves on the dance floor alone.  A sort of “it takes two to tango,” that is now clumsily performed by one.  So it’s been nice to have a different glimpse of this stuff that has been my obsession since the diagnosis – as not disease.  It’s painted a vision for me that if we lived in the world our bodies have honed themselves over the millenia to expect, one where we were rife with an onslaught of ‘old friends’ as it were… parasites, bacteria and viruses that span TB to polio,  it’s completely possible that my son would be the shining example of robust strength & health  – as opposed to the kid with the inhaler, benedryl, and epi slung over his shoulder in a carry bag gauging whether or not the pollen level is too high to play outside, or if the person about to shake his hand was recently eating peanuts… Oh the joy this brief glimpse of what could be brings.

The depressing, or disheartening side of things, is that Mr Velasquez-Manoff  talks about a window of opportunity for molding or shifting the immune system is most open (he claims only open) during childhood.  So the bacterial & parasite partners can only prevent allergy/asthma if they make an appearance in childhood before, or within a tiny time-frame of exposure to, say ragweed or peanuts.  And that once we reach adulthood, our immune systems are pretty much set in their ways.  Miss this window of youthful malleability and your basically left with managing a skewed immune system.

Now not to go back on my depressing paragraph above, but he then goes on to talk about a bacteria, M. vaccae.  This soil & cow dung dwelling inhabitant brought to brief fame by the Stanfords in the early 1970′s supposedly corrected Mrs Stanford’s Raynaud’s syndrome.  Better than that though, apparently

“M. Vacae injections helped their daughter’s asthma…”

This is interesting.  This affirms, to me, that maybe the immune system is more malleable in adulthood than we think.  I mean it cleared up the wife’s autoimmune issue.  The other thing that is interesting to me, is that a couple years back I had brought mud from an organic pig farm home for my son to put his hands and feet in – and – well play in.  I ended up not doing it for whatever reason.  But maybe I was onto something.  Maybe I should revisit that idea this summer.  At any rate, I’m excited to continue my read and recommend this for anyone interested in asthma, allergies, or autoimmune issues of any kind.

Apple Cider Vinegar Kills Plantar Warts - SERIOUSLY.

Take it from a woman who spent months - SIX - and money - $800 in copays - and pain - LOTS AND LOTS OF IT - trying to remove plantar warts using the dermatologist.
I seem to subconsciously subscribe to the do everything wrong before I get it right.  So I had what I thought was a callous that had been on my foot (the pad below my big toe) for years.  Even my mother thought it was a callous (the apple doesn't fall from from the tree).  And one day she blurted out "Good grief! Will  you buff that thing down already!"
So I did.  But then it spread.
I thought wow, that's interesting... I must need to buff harder and longer.
So I did.  I buffed so much that it hurt... I thought well no pain no gain.
And within days it grew more and spread to my finger.  At this point the bell finally went off.
THIS CAN'T BE A CALLOUS!
At my doctor's appointment I showed it to him.
"That's a plantar wart."
Cut to:  the podiatrist who he referred me to.
"Yep that's a plantar wart alright and a big one.  What'd you do buff it?"
"No of course not, do you think I'm an idiot?!"
So he cut, scrapped, froze.  I requested he do my finger.
"I can't touch your finger, I'm a foot guy.  You'll need to see the derm."
Cut to the derm.  He could do it ALL.
Cutting. Scraping. Burning. Salcylic acid between cuttings, burnings, scrapings....
And AGONIZING PAIN.
Now I have a high tolerance for pain, but this shit was ridiculous throbbing pain.  I hobbled for weeks before needing to return for subsequent floggings.

After 6 months, he barely made a dent in what had become after my buffing escapades a plantar wart that covered the entire ball of my left foot.  He did that sighing moaning thing that doctors learn in medschool - the thing that lets you know that you are pushing the bounds of their day to day practice and their mental hard drives are spinning back to med school.  And then he stepped out of the room and returned with some syringes.
"Read this."
"What's this?"
"Well clearly what we're doing isn't working.  So we'll need to try the next step up.  #*%*&(*$&# (that's me forgetting the name of the injections). Read this.  I'll be back in a couple minutes and we can just load you up and you can go home.  This should do it."
The sheet listed contra-indications and potential side effects of this chemotherapeutic injection.
CHEMOTHERAPY!@!@!@
I now realize that even antibiotics can be considered chemotherapy (chemical therapy - get it), but at that time it seemed to be way to foreboding for my neurotic female woody allen brain.
When he returned I told him I don't want to do this.  I need some time to think before committing to those injections in my body.
He assured me it was localized, so not systemic.  And the gist of it was - irritate the cells there enough that they wake up and basically assist in annihilating this pesky hpv thing on my foot.
I left the office, thinking well I'll be covered in a callousy plantar wart before I go that  chemo injection route.
I went online.

Here's what I tried that didn't work for me:
banana peels
potato slices
duct tape
wiping or soaking in apple cider vinegar

Here's what finally worked for me:
I soaked a piece of cotton, big enough only to cover the warted area in apple cider vinegar, then covered it with bandaid (super large on the foot, medium on the finger) and changed it only 1x every 24 hours.  I did not get the area wet... and the cotton could not be so soaking that the bandage would fall off.  So there's a bit of a balancing act there.
Needless to say - Day 1 - not much going on.  Day 2-7 - intense throbbing pain on my foot up to my knee...and radiating up my finger to my wrist.  This pain was so INTENSE and constant that I could not sleep at night and needed to take ibuprofen just to stop from writhing.  In about 2 weeks everything was gone - not to return - even now about 3-4 years later.
$8.00 bottle of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar and $20 for bandages - intense perpetual pain for about 7 days.  But totally resolved in 2 weeks.
OR
$800 in copays, hours spent in doctors office, intermittent pain when cutting/burning with residual throbbing for couple hours - only to be progressed up to chem injections with untold side effects, timelines, and more copays.
You decide.

One reco: go for the Braggs - I cannot vouch for any other brand or filtered/pasteurized versions.Curad Extreme Hold Bandages, Assorted Sizes, 30/Box First Aid Knuckle & Fingertip Bandages, Sterilized, 5 of Each, 10 First Aid Patch Bandages, 1-1/2" x 1-1/2", SmartCompliance Refill, 10

How I healed from endometriosis

I'd like to share about my experience with endometriosis.  Since January of 2012, I had been getting pain on my right side.  Sometimes it would wake me at night.  Over the course of about 7-8 months it cycled up and down growing progressively more present and more painful - to the point of my white knuckling it through varying points of the month.
Of course like any good neurotic with high speed internet, I self-diagnosed - which lead me to worry something fierce, do a half-ass attempt at Gerson, and just become downright miserable.  Finally, my friend convinced me to seek medical care.  Not having health insurance, I went to the doctor I had seen prior to being uninsured.

She did a pelvic exam and told me, "there's nothing wrong with you.  Don't drink milk."
"I don't drink milk."
"Good."
"I mean my son drinks camel milk and occassionally, I take a sip."
"What! Why? Don't drink that.  It' is probably bothering your intestines."
"Shouldn't you do an ultrasound to make sure it's not my ovaries."
"No. First stop milk.  Then come back if you still have the pain.  Then we'll discuss an ultrasound."
Yikes.


Back to pain - day in and day out.
I went to my herbalist and she gave me a mix.  It would make the pain go away, but then return again.  So basically if I stopped, blamo - back to pain.

I felt like I was getting nowhere.  So I went to the government hospital and got an ultrasound.  They told me there was an enlarged follicle.  One doctor called it a cyst - another - not a cyst.
Come back in 4-6 months to check again.
In the meantime, obsessed with this pain, worried... it felt like I had a lemon in my abdomen when I would sit down.  I was convinced of the worst.
In my obsessive reading, I came across studies about ginger having cancer-killing properties - especially with ovarian cancer.  It was also shown to work to assist chemo for patients doing both.  In desperation, I blended a thumb size piece of ginger in some apple juice and slugged it down.  This is going to sound unbelievable, but within about 20-30 minutes, my pelvis felt warm... and then the pain subsided... better than an ibuprofen.  I did it several days and then stopped.  At the first sign of pain, I would ginger again for a day or two.  I would say it took about 2-3 weeks for the pain to completely go away.
Upon returning for my second ultrasound my ovaries were clear.  The doctor I met with this time, said that given the pain, and the enlarged follicle at the beginning - she would say I had endometriosis.  She gave me a script for birth control pills and sent me on my way.
I have not had the ginger drink in about 2 months.  I have a tinge of pain returning, so I'll be blending up the powerful concoction this weekend.

Again, I'm not a doc - just someone looking for ways to take control of my own healing.  I'll take a couple ginger shakes over birth control pills for now.

Articles that inspired my regimen
Ginger kills ovarian cancer cells
Cytotoxic effects of dried ginger in mouse model
Ginger inhibits cell growth of cancer
Ginger's anti-inflammatory effects