online dating service
REGISTER | MAIL/PROFILE | HELP | NOW ONLINE | SEARCH | RATING | FORUMS | SUCCESS STORIES

 

     
Posted In Forum:
Home   login   MyForums  
Show ALL Forums  
 
 Author Thread: PCOS
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 9 (view)
 
PCOS
Posted: 11/22/2009 1:12:12 PM
I myself don't have PCOS, but I was doing research to help someone who has a type of metabolic disorder, and I came across this information about supplementing with Inositol for treating PCOS. It is sometimes sold in combination with another essential nutrient, choline.

Inositol is available over the counter as a supplement and seems to also benefit people who are trying to loose weight and have insulin resistance. It has also been shown to help with depression and OCD symptoms, and as a possible cancer treatment.

It is found in foods, in particular, in cereals with high bran content, nuts, beans, and fruit, especially cantaloupe melons and oranges. Inositol is not considered a vitamin itself because it can be synthesised by the body, but can be considered an essential nutrient because it is not made in amounts considered adequate for good health.

Research:
"D-chiro-inositol (DCI) has been found in two double-blind studies to be an effective treatment for many of the clinical hallmarks of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), including insulin resistance, hyperandrogenism, and oligo-amenorrhea. The impetuses for these studies were the observed defects in DCI metabolism in PCOS and the implication of DCI in insulin signal transduction."

"Nestler J E, Jakubowicz D J, Reamer P, Gunn R D, Allan G (1999). "Ovulatory and metabolic effects of D-chiro-inositol in the polycystic ovary syndrome". N Engl J Med 340 (17): 1314–1320. doi:10.1056/NEJM199904293401703. PMID 10219066."

Iuorno M J, Jakubowicz D J, Baillargeon J P, Dillon P, Gunn R D, Allan G, Nestler J E (2002). "Effects of d-chiro-inositol in lean women with the polycystic ovary syndrome". Endocr Pract 8 (6): 417–423. PMID 15251831.

The TwinLab company has independently tested vitamins and supplements, and has a Choline & Inositol supplement you can buy.

Supplementation with Inositol sounds like something you can do easily to help with your symptoms, but I would let your Doctor know you are doing it.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 29 (view)
 
PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome)
Posted: 11/22/2009 1:10:14 PM
I myself don't have PCOS, but I was doing research to help someone who has a type of metabolic disorder, and I came across this information about supplementing with Inositol for treating PCOS. It is sometimes sold in combination with another essential nutrient, choline.

Inositol is available over the counter as a supplement and seems to also benefit people who are trying to loose weight and have insulin resistance. It has also been shown to help with depression and OCD symptoms, and as a possible cancer treatment.

It is found in foods, in particular, in cereals with high bran content, nuts, beans, and fruit, especially cantaloupe melons and oranges. Inositol is not considered a vitamin itself because it can be synthesised by the body, but can be considered an essential nutrient because it is not made in amounts considered adequate for good health.

Research:
"D-chiro-inositol (DCI) has been found in two double-blind studies to be an effective treatment for many of the clinical hallmarks of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), including insulin resistance, hyperandrogenism, and oligo-amenorrhea. The impetuses for these studies were the observed defects in DCI metabolism in PCOS and the implication of DCI in insulin signal transduction."

"Nestler J E, Jakubowicz D J, Reamer P, Gunn R D, Allan G (1999). "Ovulatory and metabolic effects of D-chiro-inositol in the polycystic ovary syndrome". N Engl J Med 340 (17): 1314–1320. doi:10.1056/NEJM199904293401703. PMID 10219066."

Iuorno M J, Jakubowicz D J, Baillargeon J P, Dillon P, Gunn R D, Allan G, Nestler J E (2002). "Effects of d-chiro-inositol in lean women with the polycystic ovary syndrome". Endocr Pract 8 (6): 417–423. PMID 15251831.

The TwinLab company has independently tested vitamins and supplements, and has a Choline & Inositol supplement you can buy.

Supplementation with Inositol sounds like something you can do easily to help with your symptoms, but I would let your Doctor know you are doing it.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4447 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/20/2009 7:56:40 AM
"Therefore, as always, make of this voice what you choose to make of it. Make of me what you choose to make of me, but recognize within yourselves the vitality of your being. And look to no man or no idea or no woman or no dogma, but the vitality of your own being, and trust it. And that which offends your soul, turn away from, but trust yourself."

~ Seth, Jane Roberts
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 57 (view)
 
Are Viruses Alive?
Posted: 11/19/2009 8:38:47 PM
Thanks for the interesting information on interstellar dust. I think the universe is full of it ... dust, I mean. :)

I think that if the universe is composed of such dust, and our world is completely saturated with these quazi-living things called viruses, that we interact with constantly, this makes a lot of other things come into perspective.

Speaking of the connections that scientists have seen between Buddhist concepts and Quantum Physics, a radio program just recently aired November 12, 2009 with the author of another book on the subject, written by a scientifically trained Buddist.

An excerpt of his book can be found here:

A chapter excerpted from "The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet " by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan,

"The Universe in a Grain of Sand:"

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/ricard/chapter-universe.shtml

Ricard has a Ph.D. in cell genetics at the renowned Institut Pasteur under the Nobel Laureate Francois Jacob.
Trinh Xuan Thuan is a Vietnamese Astrophysicist.

You can also listen to the radio interview from this web site. I find the scientific research he participated in interesting because it is being done in Wisconsin, where I live, in the nearby city of Madison.

Other books on the subject of the interesting similarities between Western scientist's understanding of Physics and Eastern Mystery Traditions are:
"The Dancing Wu Li Masters" by Gary Zukav
"The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism" by physicist Fritjof Capra, 1975 Shambhala Publications, Berkeley, California.

Another interesting theory that tries to unify Quantum physics and aspects of human consciousness and the nature of reality is:
"The Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes" by Ken Wilber

"The holographic paradigm is a theory of reality, based on the findings of quantum physics, extrapolated from two theories:

* That the universe is in some sense a holographic structure — proposed by David Bohm
* That consciousness is dependent on holographic structure — proposed by Karl Pribram

This paradigm posits that theories using holographic structures may lead to a unified understanding of consciousness and the universe. ... The holographic paradigm proposes that a biohologram determines the development of the human embryo; that we are a quantum bodymind with consciousness informing the whole process through the level of information. They postulated DNA as the possible holographic projector of the biohologram, patterning the three-dimensional electromagnetic standing and moving wave front that constitutes our psychophysical being—quantum bioholography." ~ Wiki
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4438 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/18/2009 9:12:25 PM
"You should tell yourself frequently 'I will only react to constructive suggestions.'
This gives you positive ammunition against your own negative thoughts and those of others."

~ Jane Roberts
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4437 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/18/2009 9:10:59 PM
"Suffering is not good for the soul, unless it teaches you to stop suffering."

~ Jane Roberts



"The easiest time to cure an illness is before it is accepted as a part of the self-image."

~ Jane Roberts
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 593 (view)
 
New Swine Flu vaccine is dangerous business
Posted: 11/18/2009 8:56:02 PM
In Britain, health authorities' original worst-case scenario -- which said as many as 65,000 could die from H1N1 -- has twice been revised down and the prediction is now for around 1,000 deaths, way below the average annual toll of 4,000 to 8,000 deaths from seasonal winter flu.

Comparisons with earlier flu pandemics like the one in 1918, which killed an estimated 230,000 people in Britain and up to 50 million worldwide, were skewed by the fact that there were so few effective treatments at that time.

"We didn't have antivirals then, and we didn't have antibiotics for the high frequency of bacterial complications," he said. "We have these kinds of interventions now and they are making a difference."

~ Fred Hayden, influenza research co-ordinator at the Wellcome Trust

"there are three vaccines available on the market today, from three different producers. Each has a different amount of active substance, and yet strangely they are all treated the same. Therefore, isn’t it fair enough for the Health Minister and the experts to have the slightest doubts about it?

… And if [the vaccine] is so miraculous, then why don’t the manufacturers want to introduce their medicine to the free market and take responsibility for it?

Why wouldn’t they say: “Wonderful, this is a safe medicine, therefore I will take responsibility for it. I will introduce it to the market and everything is clear and transparent,” instead of dropping the weight on us – the buyers.

We do not have clinical test results, no detailed ingredients and no information about the side effects. The vaccines are now in the 4th stage of tests - very short tests, and we still do not have this information. In addition, the samples have been very small. One kind of vaccine was tested only on 160 volunteers aged 20-60, all healthy.

Another kind of vaccine was tested on 600 volunteers, aged 18-60, all healthy. Is this good enough, especially for us doctors present in this room?

It is not good enough for me.

… Has anybody, anywhere, announced a pandemic because of seasonal flu? And the seasonal flu is much more dangerous than swine flu. There are deaths and severe complications. Was there ever a pandemic announced before?

Those who push me to buy vaccines, I ask you: Why didn’t you scream and shout last year, 2 years ago, and in 2003? In 2003 there were 1,200,000 Poles with seasonal flu! Has anybody shouted, here in this room: “Let’s buy vaccines for everybody!”? I can’t recall such a thing.”

~ Polish Health Minister Eva Kopacz, addressing Parliament

"I remember the last vaccine rushed to production. People died and some developed paralysis. I prefer to take my chances."

~ Family Medicine Physician

Several physicians wonder about the advisability of vaccinating segments of the population already exposed to influenza, since the viral DNA can combine in the human body to form new pathogens.

"We move annually into periods where there are dramatic increases in flu-like causing pathogens, however, the majority of these are unrelated to any strain of influenza virus.

There can between 150 and 200 different infectious pathogens—adenovirus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza, the very common coronavirus and, of course, pneumonia—that produce flu-like symptoms, and worse, during a “flu season.”

For example, how many people have heard of bocavirus, which is responsible for bronchitis and pneumonia in young children, or metapneumovirus, responsible for more than 5 percent of all flu-related illnesses? This is true during every flu season and this year is no different.

Furthermore, all flu vaccinations, including the swine flu, are useless for protecting people from these many prevalent infectious organisms.”

“Dr. Anthony Morris, a distinguished virologist and former Chief Vaccine Office at the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA), states that “There is no evidence that any influenza vaccine thus far developed is effective in preventing or mitigating any attack of influenza” and that “The producers of these vaccines know they are worthless, but they go on selling them anyway.”

~ Gale and Null
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4429 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/18/2009 11:36:18 AM
“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.”

~ Virginia Satir
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 70 (view)
 
Suicides increase as foreclosures rise
Posted: 11/18/2009 10:36:29 AM

"That tally included Betty J. Lipply, 72, of East Palestine, Ohio, who died Jan. 24, within days of receiving a foreclosure notice on the house her husband had built himself for their retirement."


This is so sad. A house was the main investment for the future for an entire generation of people. My grandfather built his house, too. My grandparents were so proud of their house. It was living The American Dream, to own your own home. I can't imagine what it would have been like if he had lost everything after retirement because of an equity loan. From trusting bankers, who are always saying, "trust us, we know what you should be doing with your money."

I never got the chance to buy a home. I have always rented. My favorite dream was to watch "This Old House" and imagine buying a fixer-upper and working on it. I envy every one of you who owns a home, or had the chance to at one time. Now, I consider myself lucky to have avoided a huge boondoggle.

If Betty were here, I would tell her to appreciate the many years of comfort and joy the home her husband had built for them had given them. And to appreciate him for having done that...not to make the loss of it so glaring that it overshadows the good that it did for them.

Those of us who were hard-working enough, lucky enough, and resourceful enough to buy and maintain homes of their own should not be put into jeopardy of loosing everything, by unscrupulous people. We should be proud of everyone's accomplishments, even if things change over time, and disaster happens. They could have lost their house to Hurricane Katrina, and not been able to replace it because flood insurance wasn't available and the entire town is gone, along with their house. Anything can happen. I think a disaster is easier to handle because you can blame a hurricane, or an earthquake, and not yourself. Guilt is such a horrible emotion. We should not blame the victims here, they are already blaming themselves. Guilt and judgement of others will not help turn the economy around, or help people who are facing huge losses to cope with all the changes loosing a home can bring.

Loosing a home, means moving, selling furnishings, moving in with relatives, or even into a nursing home. So much change, and for the elderly, change is very difficult. There are fewer resources for the elderly to draw on. They have less energy, less ability to work, and in addition, often have to deal with the extra costs, and debility of illnesses and poor health. And being elderly in this country means being almost invisible to begin with. The elderly deal with loss on a regular basis. The loss of youth, the loss of looks, the loss of children living at home, the loss of income. At the age Betty was, she had probably been to the funerals of many friends and family members already.

Our country has built itself on a system that requires an increase in GNP for it to function. Can GNP increase indefinitely? We are building our security on a base of shifting sand. We rely on consumerism to drive our entire economy, and in selling consumerism to all of our citizens, we have turned ourselves into people who think that material things are the only things that matter and have value, even though we all know in our hearts that this is not so. And so, when we loose our livelihoods, our homes, our stuff, we think that we have lost our value to society. We have been harsh with those who haven't participated in the materialistic way of life, choosing to follow other paths...and so we have set ourselves up to judge ourselves harshly if we loose the physical evidence of our worthiness to ourselves.

There are so many things in life that bring value and pleasure to life that we can be thankful for. We can appreciate our families and friends, that are there for us. We still have music, dancing, love, work, good conversation, reading, radio, growing things with our own hands, canning, cooking, writing letters, telling stories, writing poetry, art, we can do so many things...we have just forgotten. We have told ourselves sarcastically, "So you think you can dance?" and so only watch others dance, and never dance ourselves except at weddings... We never sing. We have put up perfectionist standards where we have to have "American Idols" sing for us. But today I was singing while doing the dishes, and it felt good. This is where singing began...in the fields, in the playgrounds, in the homes. We used to do our own artwork, creating beauty in the making of our own clothing, quilts. We have told ourselves to have designers decorate our lives, when we are the designers of our own lives.

Our elders are the repositories of our family histories, and have the wisdom of surviving many things before this crisis. They have much to teach us, and we should value them, not leave them in isolation when they need us and we need them.

If we base our self-worth on things that can change in a minute, we are going to always be off-balance. We can have equanimity when things go well, as well as when things change. And change again. The only constant is change, and the downturn will change again. And hopefully we will remember this time so we are not so dependent on things for our lives to function.

Even though a nicely kept home is a good thing, and still a good investment, let's not isolate ourselves in our homes with the beautiful furnishings, because these are not the things that matter, and in the long run, they are temporary stage sets to the dance of our souls.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4427 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/18/2009 9:34:15 AM
“You get what you concentrate upon... there is no other main rule.”

~ Jane Roberts


“Beneath words and logic are emotional connections that largely direct how we use our words and logic.”

~ Jane Roberts
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4426 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/18/2009 9:17:29 AM
"At this time, (the Renaissance period) more secret societies sprang up than ever before. Some were after wealth and power through a New World Order, while others (such as the Cathars) just wanted the right to worship God in their own way.

It's interesting to note that the underground groups that sought religious freedom were for the most part destroyed, while those that pursued power, wealth, and control are still around today."

~ Sylvia Browne
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 582 (view)
 
New Swine Flu vaccine is dangerous business
Posted: 11/17/2009 10:51:54 AM
In July, the CDC announced it would cease testing and counting H1N1 virus infections. Their public reason was simply that they are convinced there is a pandemic and, therefore, accurate monitoring was unnecessary.

On August 30, the CDC declared the states should report influenza and pneumonia-associated hospitalizations and deaths together, not singling out actual cases of H1N1 infection if there happen to be any actually confirmed from a laboratory. This has always been the CDC’s policy, and the 36,000 figure of annual flu deaths reported on their website and in the media for several years straight, does not distinguish between pneumonia, influenza and other flu-like pathogenic deaths.

Perhaps it would make very little difference because the current rapid diagnostic tests for the H1N1 virus can range in only 10-50 percent accuracy.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 37 (view)
 
I quit drinking soda
Posted: 11/17/2009 10:32:10 AM
I also enjoy Mango Lassi, which is made with Rose Water:

You can make it with dairy ingredients or non-dairy. I like to make a non-dairy version:

Peel and core a Mango. Put it into a blender.
Add any type of non-dairy milk, like Rice, Almond, or Oat milk
Add non-dairy buttermilk, coconut-based yogurt, or Kefir (similar to yogurt but pourable)
Add some Rose Water
Add a sweetener to taste, like Turbinado Sugar, Honey, 100% Maple Syrup,
(or use the lower glycemic index sweetener, Agave Nectar,
or for no addtional calories, add Stevia.)
Adjust the proportions of each to create a smooth, drinkable shake.

Lassi is perfect to serve with any spicy dish. And it adds a very fancy touch to any party.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 134 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/17/2009 10:20:41 AM
“May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain,
tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you,
those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.”

~ Irish Blessing
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4421 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/17/2009 10:15:54 AM
"Women are like tea bags. They don't know how strong they are until they get into hot water."

~ Attributed to both Eleanor Roosevelt and Nancy Reagan
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4420 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/17/2009 10:13:15 AM
“Flattery looks like friendship, just like a wolf looks like a dog.”

~ Anon.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 55 (view)
 
Are Viruses Alive?
Posted: 11/16/2009 11:51:40 AM

" You didn't actually pay for that book, did you?"


To clarify, I found it from this source:

From: a paper on "The Bacteriophage T4 Virus"
http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/yellowstone/viruslive.html

In the post of mine you are referring to I said it was "from the same source." I guess I should have re-posted the source which is printed in my Original Post.
I'm following this source in several of my postings, and I always indicate it by saying so and by using " ".

So these were not my own words:

"Organization and complexity have slowly increased from the time that macromolecules began to assemble in the primordial soup."
"One has to ponder the existence of an inexplicable principal that is in direct opposition to the 2nd law of thermodynamics that drives evolution toward higher organization."

They are quoted from my original source, listed above.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 54 (view)
 
Are Viruses Alive?
Posted: 11/16/2009 11:33:42 AM

"Quantum is a theory too."

How ignorant are you? Do you know what a theory is? Really and truly? If you do, you are basically dishonest. You're muddling the vernacular meaning with the scientific word. If you don't know that, you're fundamentally illiterate with respect to science. If you do, you're just a low-grade prevaricator.

I'll stop here although your post goes on with additional insults to common intelligence. You enjoy using big words without even a rudimentary grasp of what they mean. You cherry-pick facts and even pseudo-facts to agree with your innate bias. If you want to be a scientist, get a degree in it. Otherwise, leave it alone."


Every scientist has a bias. They even have a name for it. The act of observation changes what is observed. We as scientists change what we observe. That is a scientific fact.



"As for intelligent design, there are a lot of scientists themselves that subscribe to this theory."

It's not a theory. It's not even a hypothesis. A hypothesis, the first step towards a theory, is necessarily based on evidence and must be falsifiable. ID is not based on evidence and is not falisfiable. IOW, scientists who promulgate ID are not acting as scientists.."


I'm not ignorant. I am not trying to insult your or anyone else's intelligence. You are right, the scientists who are discussing ID are not saying so as part of reporting research or doing experiments. But there are whole books on the subject of intelligent design written by scientists, acting as "themselves." Are you saying that they then cannot do science at all in their day jobs? Its not my intention to discuss whether or not intelligent design exists or not. But I am not making up that some scientists believe in it. Why invent that, anyway? I don't need to lie to discuss points. Why bother? There is really nothing at stake here. If this were a court of law, then the lawyers would get to "decide" what is real and what is not, right?

If you read my post about Quantum theory, it isn't saying that Quantum theory doesn't exist. I said that there is something beyond Quantum theory...that supersedes both Newtonian and Quantum theory. Now you don't have to read anything about that to discuss whether viruses are alive or dead. But people have theories about everything. A theory is just the latest version of our understanding of how things work, soon to be replaced by the next theory that explains even more facts that we are constantly discovering.

You don't have to discuss intelligent design in order to discuss things beyond Quantum theory....there are a whole lot of non-religious discussions of what theories might go beyond what we have now.

I like reading things written about cosmology that are written from a perspective of Eastern thought, and these are often Buddhist teachings. Buddhists don't really talk about there even being a God at all. But what is interesting is that ancient Buddhist texts discuss things that can be considered Quantum concepts. What if the intelligent design we are discussing ends up to be our own intelligence? Would this eventuality then mean that it isn't intelligent, then?

Hmmm, I guess I could call it "Stupid Design" then. Well, that would explain a lot about our world, in that case.

As for an hypothesis of intelligent design, that is what religion is. It is a person believing in this design hypothesis and acting on it in their own lives, and that is a real-life experiment -- experimenting with your life. It cannot be independently verified, and so, the only way to perform this experiment is to temporarily suspend disbelief in ID, and live "as if" it were true, and then make observations about any changes that occur. Of course, the non-verifiability of it makes it non-scientific....and so with this reasoning, no true scientist will actually ever do it.

Its a conundrum. But easy to avoid. Just don't ever try it and you won't have to think about it.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 53 (view)
 
Are Viruses Alive?
Posted: 11/16/2009 10:56:03 AM

..."pious Presbyterian Christian for 20 years. He never drank, didn't smoke, never took drugs and took plenty of exercise."


Did he have any brothers? :)

I am sorry that anyone has to work with someone who is a sanctimonious, parsimonious person. I guess nobody's perfect. However, I see nothing wrong with the rest of your description of him. Not drinking, not smoking, not taking drugs, and exercising. Sounds great. If by "pious" you mean that he was faithful to his wife, even better.

But anyone who disparages someone else for their chosen lifestyle can sound sanctimonious, and you can sound that way, too, in the way you are describing this person. You don't have to be religious to be judgemental.

Shingles is caused by a virus. Its very painful, and it is not really "curable" and now there is a vaccination for it. Perhaps this man could have benefited from the vaccination, if it was available to him when he could have used it. There are some real concerns about the costs versus benefits of vaccination. I doubt that having shingles killed this man. But certainly shingles severely affects one's quality of life.

63 is not a premature death for men. Perhaps he might have lived a bit longer if he had a glass of wine after dinner once in a while. From what I know, having good genes determines to a large part how long you will live, unless you have an accident. Perhaps with his particular genetics, this man would have died a lot younger if he hadn't lived the way he did.

But God didn't save anyone from death yet, (unless you count the very few that some religions believe just transformed, like Elijah.) I have lost significant people in my life to early death, and nobody religious says that you can skip death altogether...from what I understand, death is a forgone conclusion for both religious and non-religious alike.

Not a single Doctor would say that following the physical lifestyle of this man will be a bad thing to recommend to anyone. As for his religion, if believing in God helped him to follow a healthy lifestyle, then why not? You can follow a healthy lifestyle with or without religion to help you. So don't hope that someone is "well preserved" to live well without medical science. Medicine is great for emergencies, accidents, surgery, and certain drug treatments. But we would all need less medicine if we followed better lifestyles in the first place.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 52 (view)
 
Are Viruses Alive?
Posted: 11/16/2009 10:37:11 AM

"you are right, I do not understand your science because it is wrong, it goes against Gods True Science.... 1000 people can tell me that I am wrong, I am fine with that... what is popular is not always right ... my 17 yrs old has never had a med in her life, I thank God for that..."



"WTF?? Mona, Does that compute? Does it? I'm seriously beginning to wonder about your ability to comprehend that ...." "without treatement from MY science, she died and you have the nerve to say that MY science is wrong!!!! ... LISTEN to yourself....Head in sand again Monalee....I worked with a sanctimonious,parsimonious, pious Presbyterian Christian for 20 years."



"That's funny... since it's seemingly the majority of American religious followers (creationists mostly...) who are stating that evolution doesn't happen."


These parts are starting to sound like an argument, not a discussion. Please refrain from using this thread to chat...

There is a Religion Forum where discussion of Religion can take place if you follow strict Forum guidelines. I think this discussion belongs in this forum:

Religion Forum (hidden)
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingForum12.aspx

There is also a Politics Forum where the political implications of these ideas may be discussed:

Politics Forum (hidden)
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingForum98.aspx

For a discussion of why these Forums don't appear on the main Forum menu read this thread:

http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts1951570.aspx

This thread is about whether viruses are alive or not, and includes a discussion of this question from the perspective of philosophy and science. If you want to discuss the religious or political aspects of this question, please begin a thread in one of these or both of these Forums. Or, alternately, you can begin a new thread to discuss this in Off Topic, as long as you follow that Forum's rules.

There are several other very active threads about vaccination, and health care reform that you can go to post about the value of traditional versus non-traditional medical treatments. There are a lot of threads about creationism, intelligent design, ect.

"New Swine Flu "vaccine" is dangerous business"
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts12952662.aspx

"vaccines=autism?????"
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts5947303.aspx

H1N1 vaccine. Are you getting a shot?
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts13342048.aspx

These are just a couple of examples, if you do a search on the word: vaccine
or the words: health care

You get more than a dozen threads for each.

Thanks to everyone else who are contributing interesting and unique ideas for discussion. I hope that everyone isn't too invested in the outcome of this discussion. I'm not trying to solve the world's problems here (in this thread), just discuss one small aspect of our world that intrigues me....

The particles from outer space idea is interesting...why not? We don't have the tools to scientifically determine this for a fact, but it is interesting to speculate...and someday maybe we will know for sure one way or the other.

If people have an agenda of using this topic to bash religion's way of seeing the world, or to bash science's way of doing things, then there are better places to make your points. Viruses are just viruses. Alive or Dead. Its all just a matter of categorization, speculation, and conjecture at this point. That's the fun part....how you deal with the existence of viruses will be determined by your belief system. A belief is a belief, and you can't change someone's belief system by just a discussion of viruses, no matter how hard you try.

Of course, if you don't believe that viruses even exist, I guess that would be another interesting thread topic altogether...

For this thread, I am assuming that you already believe that viruses do, in fact, exist.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 131 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/16/2009 8:23:40 AM
"With each sip I taste
the fire that gives its heat.
The water that gives its wetness.
The leaf that gives its spell.
The pot that gives its emptiness.

With each lingering sip
I cannot help but see
all that makes tea
as well make me."

-The Minister of Leaves
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 31 (view)
 
I quit drinking soda
Posted: 11/14/2009 6:09:58 PM
What I drink instead of soda is filtered water mostly, and various teas, and I make a lot of lemonade for my family.

Here's my lemonade recipe (only three ingredients!):

Boil some water, add turbinado sugar, stir until sugar dissolves. Cool, add organic lemon or lime juice. Refrigerate.

I adjust the amounts to my family's taste. I save glass drink bottles (from drinks like Snapple) and fill them with lemonade and keep about a dozen in the fridge for everyone to grab.

I also use Agave Nectar, Honey, 100% Maple Syrup, or a blend of these as sweeteners.

Stevia works too, its actually sweeter than sugar, but it tastes best mixed partly with some other kind of sweetener.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 421 (view)
 
vaccines=autism?????
Posted: 11/14/2009 5:48:30 PM
Oh, and furthermore, with what preservative did they substitute Thimerosol in the vaccines given after 1996?

The usual substitutes are often poisonous themselves, and in a similar fashion as mercury. Such as Aluminum.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 420 (view)
 
vaccines=autism?????
Posted: 11/14/2009 5:45:48 PM
Re post 403:



"According to what you say here, this study just changed the dosages of a single vaccine. All it really tells you is that the dosage is not important as a factor. This might mean that the weakened viruses were the problem, not the Thimerosal. Although mercury doesn't ever help a person. It is always a poison.


They included thimerosal. Please read the article again.


"I read that the Thimerosal containing vaccines were never destroyed after being banned. According to this article, there were warehouses full of the vaccine vials and they continued to be given to children until they were used up. Did this study account for that?"


Of course not. That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. And, as I've mentioned several times, the tests they did INCLUDED exposing kids to thimerosal. More to the point, since thimerosal is no longer used in vaccinations, why aren't autism rates going down?"


I just read this article. They didn't mention anywhere that the use of thimerosal containing vaccines were being distributed to children after the ban. They simply assumed that the thimerosal was not in those vaccinated after 1996. You would have to look elsewhere for this information.

They didn't expose anyone with "tests." This study was done with interviews and calculations of reported data. Giving children Thimerosol as a test would be unethical. This study was done entirely with a "survey" method. Nobody drew blood from children to look for Thimerosol, and nobody manipulated vaccination schedules. They simply made calculations based on the type of vaccination schedules people were already using.

"The cumulative exposure by age 2 years to thimerosal was calculated for 1987–1998 birth cohorts. Ethylmercury exposure ranged from medium (100–125 µg) from 1987 to 1991 to high (200–225 µg) from 1992 to 1995 to nil from 1996 onwards when thimerosal was entirely discontinued.

Measles-mumps-rubella coverage for each birth cohort was estimated through surveys of vaccination rates.

The immunization schedule included a measles-mumps-rubella single dose at 12 months of age up to 1995, and a second measles-mumps-rubella dose at 18 months of age was added on after 1996.

A statistically significant linear increase in pervasive developmental disorder prevalence was noted during the study period."

~from: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org, PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 1 July 2006, pp. e139-e150

As you can see from this quote, the comparison was made between one and two doses of MMR, the last one of which was done after 1996, which they themselves state, was after the ban, and so the two doses would not have contained more Thimerosol than just the first dose alone. (Unless, of course the second doses contained Thimerosol because they were given doses that had been warehoused after the ban. But they don't mention factoring in this possibility. That would be beyond the scope of this study, if they weren't aware of this possibility.)

This is why I said that any increase in illness over those years was likely due to the increased exposure to the live virus, not the Thimerosol doses.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 419 (view)
 
vaccines=autism?????
Posted: 11/14/2009 5:09:30 PM
“There is a scientist named Boyd Haley, who has actually looked into some of the vaccine ingredients and (1) what happens to nerve cells when you inject them in the lab to specific vaccine ingredients, and (2) what happens to the nerve cells when you keep adding another vaccine ingredient.

He specifically showed that in the presence of thimerosal, there’s a lot of damage to nerve cells. When you add aluminum to the thimerosal, you need less thimerosal to create the damage to the immune and nerve cells in the presence of aluminum.

Then when you add neomycin – an antibiotic in some of the vaccines – it potentiates the potency of nerve cell damage with aluminum and mercury together.

And when you culture the nerve cells and testosterone, versus estrogen, and you expose them to some of the vaccine ingredients like thimerosal, you actually see that the nerve cells that are exposed to testosterone are more damaged in greater amounts than the nerve cells that are bathed in estrogen.

That raises some concern because we do see that children with neurodevelopmental disorders are 4:1, boys to girls.

So you have to question whether testosterone actually makes children more vulnerable to exposure to toxins like mercury, aluminum or their combination?

None of these studies have been done in humans. People say, “We can’t do those studies.” And I say, “Why not?” They say, “It’s unethical.”

I say, “Well, if it’s unethical to do those studies on vaccine ingredients and combining them together, then it’s unethical to give the vaccines in general.”

So we’re missing a lot of important data that we won’t believe, and we’re also missing a lot of important data that we won’t accumulate because most of the studies that are done are by the manufacturers of the vaccines themselves.”

~ Dr. Palevsky is a board certified Pediatrician, Dr. Palevsky received his medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine in 1987, completed a three-year Pediatric residency at The Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC in 1990, and served as a pediatric fellow in the ambulatory care out-patient department at Bellevue Hospital, NYC, from 1990-1991. Since 1991, his clinical experience includes working in Pediatric emergency and intensive care medicine, in-patient and out-patient Pediatric medicine, neonatal intensive care medicine, newborn and delivery room medicine, and conventional, holistic and integrative Pediatric private practice at the Center for Health & Healing.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 529 (view)
 
New Swine Flu vaccine is dangerous business
Posted: 11/14/2009 5:03:05 PM
“How does vaccinating against the flu virus stop you from carrying the flu virus in your nasal passages?”
The fact is that vaccination does NOT stop you from carrying bacteria or viruses in your nose, in your throat, in your intestines, in your airway, on your skin, or in your body.

But many do not understand the significance of this fact, and have been made to believe that if you’re vaccinated, you won’t carry viruses, and therefore, others will be protected because you’re vaccinated.

As it turns out, this belief is NOT based on scientific fact.

~ Dr. Mercola

“This whole concept of herd immunity is very interesting, because we were taught that herd immunity occurs because a certain percentage of a population gets an active illness. Therefore by a certain percentage of getting the active illness, they impart a protection onto the remaining part of the population that has not gotten the illness yet.

And so the herd that is getting the illness is shedding the illness and protecting those who have not gotten it.

In vaccine science, we are extrapolating or concluding that if we vaccinate a certain percentage of people, we are imparting protection on those who have not been vaccinated. And that has NOT been shown to be true, because the true herd immunity in theory is based on an ACTIVE DISEASE, and we know that despite what we’re taught, vaccination does not mimic the natural disease.

So we cannot use the same model of herd immunity in a natural disease in the vaccination policy. But unfortunately, we do use it even though it cannot be used because it doesn’t have scientific backing.

What’s most interesting to me is that the entire concept of herd immunity fails to acknowledge that there is a life cycle of the viruses and the bacteria all on their own, and that what turns them on and off may have nothing to do with the percentage of people who have been infected.

All you have to do is look at the SARS outbreak. That virus that we were supposed to fear didn’t infect 70 or 80 percent of the population, which would then impart herd immunity on the 20 or 30 percent that didn’t get the disease.

This is because the virus itself had a life cycle of its own. And so it came and went without any percentage of the population being protected. There wasn’t herd immunity, and yet the virus died out on its own.

We fail to include that viruses have a life cycle, and that they are in relationship to other organisms and to us. Something activates them and something actually stops them, and it has nothing necessarily to do with the percentage of people who would have the illness or who have been vaccinated.

… It is preposterous to think that a child who is vaccinated no longer carries the bacteria or the viruses that they have been vaccinated against.

I think that if you ask most of my colleagues where they get their information, they will say that they read it from the American Academy of Pediatrics, from the AMA, from the CDC, and in their journals.

But I would like to challenge most of my colleagues to look through the studies themselves to actually see if the proper scientific studies were done using a proper study group and a proper control group.

Were the ingredients in vaccines properly studied?

Is there a difference between being exposed to a virus, bacteria, heavy metal or toxin through the air, food, your intestines and your skin, versus when it’s injected into your body?

Have we really looked at what happens to vaccine materials once injected into a child? Is an antibody sufficient to provide protection for a child against disease?

More and more studies are coming out to show that:

* The proper studies haven’t been done
* Antibodies are not the final way in which your body is protected
* There is a difference between how children process material through air and food versus through injection
* There are particles in vaccines that do accumulate in your body and cause impairments in your immune system
* There are particles in the vaccines that get into your brain, and
* There are foreign DNA particles that get into your body

For many health professionals it is a shock to discover that there is such a lack of information on the safety and efficacy, and a mounting degree of information that actually raises suspicions about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and whether or not they have been properly studied.

When you really look at the studies – and there’s not a proper control group and there’s only 25 people – you can’t make a grand, generalized statement about a general population because you’ve studied 25 children.”

We have not done due diligence.”

~ Dr. Larry Palevsky, board-certified Pediatrician trained at the New York School of Medicine

"What most people don’t know is that a virus is not “alive,” per se.

It is simply a piece or strand of either RNA or DNA. And even of itself, a virus can’t “do” anything.

In addition it is so tiny that it can only be seen under an electron microscope. It is much smaller than bacteria, which can only be seen in the regular microscope. So viruses cannot be isolated when you make a viral vaccine. All that can be isolated is the tissue, whether it’s human tissue or animal tissue that is believed to have been infected by that specific virus that you’re trying to isolate.

So when a viral culture or a set of cultures are made including the specific virus, you’re going to have the DNA of people or animals who were already infected. Those cells are then taken and grown on animal cells, whether it's monkey kidney cells or chicken embryo cells.

When mixed together, these cells will splice and recombine, which means that DNA from animal cells are going to mix with DNA from the known infected cells with the virus.

So by definition, a viral vaccine contains foreign animal and, even possibly, foreign human DNA. That’s why if you have an egg allergy, you shouldn’t get certain vaccines because it is known that there’s going to be egg protein in the vaccine.

So the question is, how safe is it to inject viral material that is embedded into the DNA of foreign DNA cells?

What studies have been done to actually test whether foreign DNA is getting into your body; whether it stays in your DNA; whether it gets into your brain; and whether there are foreign animal viruses that are inherently present in animal DNA to begin with?"

~ Dr. Mercola
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 25 (view)
 
I quit drinking soda
Posted: 11/14/2009 4:18:01 PM
I gave up drinking soda 8 years ago. A family member had serious health problems from an over-consumption of diet soda.

At the time, the news was reporting that soda drinking caused weight gain, osteoporosis, and tooth decay. But here is another reason to avoid soda (Since then, I know someone who has problems with potassium levels.)

I don't miss soda at all. I feel a lot better, and I like being able to spend my grocery money on other things, like organic fruits and veggies.

"Too Much Cola Zaps Muscle Power

Sugars and caffeine in cola are probably to blame.

Excessive cola consumption can lead to anything from mild weakness to profound muscle paralysis, doctors are warning.

This is because the drink can cause blood potassium to drop dangerously low, they report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

They tell of the curious case of an Australian ostrich farmer who needed emergency care for lung paralysis after drinking 4-10 litres of cola a day.

He made a full recovery and was advised to curtail his cola drinking.

"We have every reason to think that it is not rare."

~ Dr Clifford Packer from the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Centre in Ohio

Another example included a pregnant woman who regularly consumed up to three litres a day for the last six years and complained of tiredness, appetite loss and persistent vomiting.

A heart trace revealed she had an irregular heartbeat, probably caused by her low blood potassium levels.

Once she stopped drinking so much cola, she made a full and uneventful recovery.

The investigators believe these cases are not atypical and that many people risk problems due to their intake.

The author of the research paper, Dr Moses Elisaf from the University of Ioannina in Greece, said it appeared that hypokalaemia can be caused by excessive consumption of three of the most common ingredients in cola drinks - glucose, fructose and caffeine.

Excessive consumption has already been linked with obesity, diabetes and tooth and bone problems. "

~ BBC News, 19 May 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8056028.stm

====================================

"Avoid This if You Want to Keep Your Thyroid Healthy

Bromides are a common endocrine disruptor. Because bromide is also a halide, it competes for the same receptors that are used in the thyroid gland (among other places) to capture iodine. This will inhibit thyroid hormone production resulting in a low thyroid state.

Iodine is essential for your body, and is detected in every organ and tissue. There is increasing evidence that low iodine is related to numerous diseases, including cancer. Various clinicians and researchers have found iodine effective with everything from goiter to constipation.

Bromide can be found in several forms. Methyl Bromide is a pesticide used mainly on strawberries, found predominantly in the California areas. Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) is added to citrus drinks to help suspend the flavoring in the liquid.

Potassium Bromate is a dough conditioner found in commercial bakery products and some flours.

Mountain Dew, one of the worst beverages you can drink, uses brominated vegetable oil as an emulsifier. Not only that, it contains high fructose corn syrup, sodium benzoate, more than 55 mg of caffeine per 12 ounce can, and Yellow Dye #5 (tartrazine, which has been banned in Norway, Austria and Germany.)

A weapon of mass destruction -- in a can."

~ Dr. Mercola
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/08/22/Another-Poison-Hiding-in-Your-Environment.aspx
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 130 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/14/2009 4:06:26 PM
"For a cool, refreshing, healthy green tea beverage, try the following:

Recipe for Healthy Green Tea Soda

(Prepare in advance, as it can steep in the fridge for about an hour before serving.)

Ingredients:

* 2 green tea teabags
* 2 cups (1 pint) boiling water
* Pint-sized Pyrex measuring cup or heat-proof jar
* 1 teaspoon raw organic honey (optional)
* 2 cups total Natural Sparkling mineral water (1/2 glass per serving)

To prepare:

* Place teabags in Pyrex measuring cup or heat-proof jar
* Pour 2 cups boiling water over teabags
* Add 1 teaspoon raw, organic honey (if desired), and stir
* Place mixture in fridge for about 1 hour to cool
* After an hour, remove tea from fridge
* For each serving, pour a half glass of tea into tall ice tea glass
* Add a half glass of sparkling mineral water into each serving

Serves 4"

~ This recipe is from Dr. Mercola
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/14/Is-Drinking-Tea-or-Coffee-the-Smarter-Choice.aspx
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 129 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/14/2009 3:59:09 PM
"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea."

~Bernard-Paul Heroux


"Another novelty is the tea-party, an extraordinary meal in that, being offered to persons that have already dined well, it supposes neither appetite nor thirst, and has no object but distraction, no basis but delicate enjoyment."

~Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, "The Physiology of Taste"


"If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty."

~Japanese Proverb
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 128 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/14/2009 3:34:34 PM
Tea Parties!

Oh, how I used to love my tiny miniature tea set. I think the fascination that tea parties have for little girls is that the tea party is the epitome of civility, which I think we all survive so well on.

It is a great example of "playing at" using manners, a great opportunity for "dressing up" and a fun time practising the little daily rituals of life. Learning to serve each other, handling delicate china without breaking it...everything kids are exposed to now is unbreakable... so how do you learn? You have a tea party and invite the adults!

I think that "High Tea" originated in the Orient with tea being served ceremonially. Serving tea was an art form, both art in the utensils and setting, and also in the movements. It was like a form of yoga. And used to calm and soothe businessmen just like we do now with the martini lunch.

I still have a tiny miniature tea set decorated with clover.

We had a place downtown where people came to select their bridal china pattern. There was a "Tea Room" upstairs to go to and it was the perfect thing to do with your Mother or best friends for something special. Those are good memories. (I still have the china, but never got the tea pot that went with the set. Back then everyone was mostly drinking coffee.)

Coffee is all about waking up, and getting things done. Tea is all about relaxing and socializing, with just a bit of energy boost at the end.

Coffee is a.m. Tea is p.m. (Afternoon.)

*************************************

Tea that helps our head and heart.
Tea medicates most every part.
Tea rejuvenates the very old.
Tea warms the hands of those who're cold.

~ J. Jonker, Amsterdam, circa 1670
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4404 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/14/2009 2:59:57 PM
"Philosophy is the science of estimating values.
The superiority of any state or substance over another is determined by philosophy.
By assigning a position of primary importance to what remains when all that is secondary has been removed, philosophy thus becomes the true index of priority or emphasis in the realm of speculative thought."

~Manly P. Hall, "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" (1928)
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 37 (view)
 
First Aid
Posted: 11/14/2009 1:12:49 PM
Thinking about and learning First Aid is a good time to also think about your own wishes.

1. Do you want to be an organ donor?
Tell someone close to you. Tell them more than once. Write it into your wishes as part of a living will document. You can be specific about what you want to donate. You can donate your entire body for research and for Doctors to learn from. You can donate certain parts, like only internal organs, or only eyes and skin...the Doctors usually have to decide what is capable of being donated at the time, but within that, you can be more specific if you want to.

2. Do you have a living will?
If you do, does anyone else know about it? Where is it kept, and is it up to date? A living will isn't necessary, but if you have certain wishes about how your end of life will be handled in certain situations, now is the time to say so.

3. If you need any of this soon, have you done what you need to do to be at peace with the world, with your family, with those you care about? If you are right with the world, it is easier to make any transition, of any kind.

4. Pre-planning is very helpful.
If you can, set aside some funds to do pre-planning for your funeral, burial and purchase a place for you. You don't have to purchase it all at once. You can do it a little at a time. The money you spend now can be "frozen" so that the things you have purchased in today's money will be available at the same cost when they are needed. It also takes the pressure of time off of you, because you aren't under any limitation about how long to decide what to buy and how much to spend. This can be a big cost savings, and it saves your loved ones from having to make so many decisions about things during a difficult time (usually they will have less than 5 days to make a zillion decisions.) This is one investment, in my opinion, that still makes sense if you have family.

I have a friend who was an only child. A few years ago, she had to pay for her father's funeral, her fathers debts, and to handle all of his things. Only to have to do all of that again when her mother died not long after that (they were divorced.) Neither had made any plans or had savings for this purpose. It left her with nothing but a huge pile of stuff to sort through that kept her busy for a year. On top of this, she has a serious illness herself, and needs the funds for her own care.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 418 (view)
 
vaccines=autism?????
Posted: 11/14/2009 12:45:15 PM
I just wanted to say, that in case people are wondering about what biological treatments for Autism are, the book:

"Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders" by Kenneth Bock and Cameron Stauth

is a good overview of the various types of biological approaches that parents and Doctors are using. I know many parents of children with Autism whose children have improved greatly on these approaches, many of them are in the medical field themselves.

If the only research we are funding with enough money is on genetics, then does this mean that 1 in 100 of all children born in this generation are somehow "genetically defective?"

And if mothers are given a genetic test during pregnancy, will the various Autism genes (there isn't just one gene) be enough of a reason to abort the baby? That's a lot of abortions. Its also genocide. This is eliminating an entire genetic type in our children. What if these genes code for something like intelligence? A lot of Autistic children are very intelligent in specific areas.

I think that funding for genetic research is being focused on for three reasons:

1. If you can find a drug that 1 in 100 children will have to be taking for a lifetime, you have a lifetime source of continuing income for your drug company.

2. If you are a company that manufactures vaccines, and you want to keep on increasing the number of vaccines, that ALL children will have to take, you certainly don't want EVEN ONE of those vaccines to be found unsafe or unreliable for any reason.

3. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If all that allopathic medicine has to offer, is mainly drugs and surgery, then the only things researchers are going to get paid to do is figure out a drug or surgical treatment for anything. Researchers already know how to research drugs really, really well, since that is where all the funding is coming from; the sale of drugs. One drug's sales pays for the research of new drugs. And so the researchers are all trained to look for drug solutions, even if the best way to deal with the problem isn't by using a drug.

Wouldn't the best solution of all be to find things that don't require us to give costly drugs to young children, perhaps for the rest of their lives, just so they can deal with something in their environment that didn't exist a generation ago?

Wouldn't the best solution be found by looking at all the possible triggers and influences, not just the ones inside our children?

And furthermore, what if the genes that are found are influenced by the environment (they are "turned on" or "turned off" by various environmental triggers), but we never find this out because we are only looking for a genetic "flaw" and a drug "cure?" And what if it is something as SIMPLE as spacing vaccinations out differently, or combining them differently, or screening out vaccinating children with a lingering cold or allergic reaction, or manufacturing them with one type of process instead of another? Instead of seeing 1 in 100 children as genetically flawed or genetically mutated?

If the problem is triggered by something in a child's environment, and we are looking inside the child for the answer, then who are we hurting? The child.

We should not make our children a pawn in our financial medical games.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 417 (view)
 
vaccines=autism?????
Posted: 11/14/2009 12:21:26 PM
Katie Wright is the daughter of Suzanne and Bob Wright, a former NBC executive, who started the largest fundraising organization for Autism research called "Autism Speaks" because their grandson, Christian Hildebrand was diagnosed as Autistic.

Autism Speaks has raised a lot of money recently for research on Autism, but nowhere aknowledges biological treatments for Autism and no money goes toward researching any possible environmental components in causes for Autism.

Katie Wright came out on "Imus in the Morning", and publicly stated that she believes her son's Autism was triggered by vaccines and that biological treatments, in fact, were working on her son. She shares her son's story in Chapter 19 of the book "Mother Warriors."
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 126 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/14/2009 12:05:53 PM

"She makes it sound a bit complicated, but it is a normal plain yogurt recipe, no difference other than coconut milk as opposed to other milk. I am sort of surprised it is the exact same recipe."


I used to make yogurt years ago. I think that it might work better to use a coconut yogurt that you have previously made or a commercial coconut yogurt to start the batch, because the various live cultures are better at "digesting" different things, and the blend of active culture is probably a little different between regular milk and coconut milk. I could be wrong, though.

Yogurt made at home always tastes better, in my opinion. And it is actually quite easy to do and saves a lot of money if you have a lot of people in your family who enjoy yogurt. Plus, you can make all kinds of unusual flavors, like pumpkin, and pineapple, and lime, that you normally don't see on the shelves.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 125 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/14/2009 11:58:11 AM

"What is coconut yogurt and where do you get it, better yet, how is it made?"


There is a good coconut-based yogurt, and coconut-based ice cream on the shelf of my local co-op, made by Turtle Mountain called "So Delicious":

http://www.sodeliciousdairyfree.com/products/coconut_yogurt.html

I tried using the plain version to replace sour cream on tacos, but it's still a bit too "coconutty" flavored for that use. But the vanilla is really great for making fruit smoothies.

Coconut lately has been in the health-related news as having health benefits even though it is a saturated fat. This is what makes it so creamy and rich tasting. But it is a vegetable source of saturated fat, and therefore is considered better for you. Coconut also is supposed to be good for your digestive system in various ways. (For instance, coconut macaroons are supposed to be a folk remedy that really works for irregularity/IBS symptoms.)

If you can't find it at a local store, ask for them to carry it. Since I discovered it at my health food co-op, I have since found it at several regional big retail grocers. I have found my grocers very open to trying new things on their shelves once in a while, but you have to let them know what you are interested in.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4402 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/14/2009 11:35:18 AM
"I personally condemn those who think that God doesn't love all creatures in His creation -- to think that He wouldn't love a certain race or ethnic group is stupidity in action. To say that God is on anyone's "side" during a war or genocide that's supposedly in His name is completely illogical and wrong; instead, we're actually insulting Him, for we're destroying His work. Anyone who truly loves God will always be against human beings' cruelty toward each other.

We must defend ourselves against the world's atrocities by continuing to shine our lights, always with the hope that someday those who commit heinous actions will realize that their own agendas -- be they personal or for a group or nation -- must take a backseat to God for us to ever have peace in this world."

~ Sylvia Browne, "Secret Societies"
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4397 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/12/2009 7:23:46 AM
"You say You are Not a Seeker
You say you are not a seeker. With us you'll become one.
And if you're not a minstrel, with us you will sing.
If you are the richest, in love, you'll be bankrupt;
and if a lord, with us you'll be a slave.
One candle from this crowd will light a thousand candles.
Whether you are dead or alive, with us you will love.
Your feet unshackled, the way clearly revealed,
your whole being will laugh, like a rose in bloom.
The fallen seed becomes a tree;
in understanding this mystery, with us you'll fall.
I look into the mirror and see my
own beauty;
I see the truth of the universe
revealing itself as me."

~ F.Arabi
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 35 (view)
 
First Aid
Posted: 11/11/2009 5:52:49 PM
Emergency Preparedness

In the case where a person living with you already has health problems this can be extremely useful.
I have a binder that has sections for everyone in my family.
I keep it on a computer file and update it about twice a year, or oftener if things change.
I print out more than one copy of the following basic information, and then I can hand it to a medical staff person and not have to worry about letting them keep it. This helps everyone keep their medical facts straight. Minimising problems with copying, and remembering everything in a tense situation.
I keep a copy of the basic information in the glove compartment of my van.

Ambulance crews will need this basic information to provide the best care for emergency victims.

* Name, address, phone number
* Birthdate
* ALLERGIES to any Medications or foods
* Prescription medications, type of medications, doses and schedules
* Chronic conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc)
* Any reasons for hospitalizations (heart attacks, strokes, major surgeries, etc)
* Doctor's name(s)
* Your hospital preference
* Medical insurance information, card number, address, phone number

Don't put a social security number on the sheet if you are going to give it out.

As part of my binder, I have a copy of all my prescriptions,
medical cards (front and back)
package inserts for each medication (your pharmacist can give them to you if they aren't with the prescription.)
Results of lab tests. I have everyone's blood type here.
A detailed medical history. Dates and types of surgeries, admissions, tests.
Family medical history going back several generations.
A copy of each person's living will, which includes organ donation decisions.
A description of my wishes with regards to any other issues.

I have taken the most important information, printed it out two-sided in small type and laminated it, three-hole-punched it and keep that one in the binder.

Take this card with you when you go to Doctor's appointments.

Keep your medical binder in a place you can find it easily in case of a natural disaster, fire or other evacuation situation.

(I highly recommend this in cases where there is a possibility you might have to leave in a hurry due to abusive situations. In this case, it is also very helpful to have copies of everyone's birth certificates, social security cards, copies of credit card and checking account numbers, and emergency phone numbers, numbers of family and friends you can call. You can make an extra photocopy of this and keep it in your purse, or the trunk of your car. Don't carry it around all the time unless you need to, to prevent identity theft if your purse is stolen. You can also choose a trusted family member or very trustworthy friend who lives nearby to keep it for you. It might also be kept in a safety deposit box in a bank. In this case, a relatively recent photograph of each person with fingerprints is also a good idea.)

Put this idea onto your calendar and update it a minimum of once a year.
You can associate doing it to the same time you change your clocks and smoke detector batteries.

Other ideas for medical preparedness:

Purchase a medical ID tag or necklace if necessary.

Call or go to your local Police Department and Fire/Emergency Department and go over any special needs anyone in your family might have.

I did this for my Autistic son. I brought a photo of him and discussed how he reacts and how to calm him ahead of time, in case he wandered. This is also a good idea for anyone who wanders, like people with Dementia.

Another family member has a Latex (rubber) allergy. I purchased our own non-latex medical supplies like gloves and IV tubing and I keep it on hand in case of an emergency. Most emergency responders have latex-free supplies now, but if there is anything like this that you might need immediately in an emergency situation and you aren't sure EMTs will have it, call your local EMT and ask them, and if they don't, obtain the supplies in advance and keep them handy and up to date.

If you need an Epi-Pen for extreme allergic reactions, make sure to have at least three. Keep one at home, one at school or work, and one in your vehicle. And a fourth with a family member is best. (If you are divorced, the other parent should also have three of their own.) Train everyone in the family to be able to administer it.
Check your supplies and make sure the expiration date is current every year. Keep the old ones to use on grapefruit for training purposes, and for practice reviews.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 40 (view)
 
Are Viruses Alive?
Posted: 11/11/2009 4:29:27 PM


"...how can we be sure that it is unable to do any other kind of damage -- being "damaged" itself?
"Oi. What an archaic fallacy - guilt by analogy!"


Ok. Analogy is still a useful language tool, in my opinion.
In the case of vaccination, we are talking about a virus which causes disease, and we are counting on it being rendered safe for introduction into our bodies, with the expectation that this particular body's immune system is capable and functioning correctly enough in order to deal with it. If the vaccination is not reliably rendered safe, then we are introducing disease into a healthy person some of the time. If we inadvertently introduce an unreliably "killed" vaccine, into a body whose immune system is compromised, then we are introducing a disease into some bodies that are unable to mount the correct response.

What if vaccines are tested only on healthy people? If they never test vaccines on people with colds, or flu, or immune system dysregulation, then no one knows what the result will be.

The dillema is that we have to create a vaccine that is similar enough to the disease virus to be useful in "training" the human immune system, but not so functional as to cause a disease process to begin. The combination of several vaccines entering this picture at the same time, makes this determination that much harder.

Another quote from the same source:

"Organization and complexity have slowly increased from the time that macromolecules began to assemble in the primordial soup.

One has to ponder the existence of an inexplicable principal that is in direct opposition to the 2nd law of thermodynamics that drives evolution toward higher organization.

Not only have viruses been extremely efficient at propagating their own genetic material, they have also been responsible for untold movement and mixing of genetic code between other organisms.

Variability of genetic code is arguably the driver of evolution.
Through the expression of variable phenotypes, organisms are able to adapt and become more efficient in changing environments."



"People who use every last scientific study, no matter how dubiously undertaken, to substitute for their own common sense get muddled results..."


"All too often, people claim to use "common sense" in preference to logic, evidence, or science. So-called common sense is far too often non-sense. People lack the reasoning and critical thinking skills to figure out that their "sense" is often complete malarkey. Give these people scientific data, and it gets worse - they pick and choose data and sources without any actual understanding, and come to completely idiotic conclusions as a result (Intelligent design, anyone? Expanding Earth, anyone?)"


I understand that "common sense" is often anything but common. However, I am referring to the arbitrary use of rules, facts, guidelines, etc... whether religious precepts or scientific process, without understanding that these can become completely useless in the face of change, new information, new processes, new ways of doing things. Repressive regimes have used scientists and manipulated their results. The same is true of religious leaders, and religious materials.

As for intelligent design, there are a lot of scientists themselves that subscribe to this theory. It is outside the realm of science in that it isn't "proveable" by science, but the thought process involved is still consistent and does not contradict science (in their opinion.) It might be that it is a different order of magnitude with regard to the issue. You can't use Newtonian thinking to evaluate things at the Quantum level, for instance. And beyond Quantum is a theory too....what matters is does it work for us to do what we need it to do, and can you explain it, replicate it, etc... However, the concepts at this level probably are not linear, and so don't "line up" well logically. At the level of understanding where time doesn't exist (as we are used to talking about it), linear thinking is not helpful.

If a virus is a packet of information, what matters about it is the pattern it contains. The pattern then, is what is "in control." We interact with these patterns. The patterns of virii and cells somehow came together to create us, biologically speaking. We are 80% seawater. Viruses have figured out a way to contain a bit of seawater in a soap bubble called a cellular membrane, and to bring along everything needed for survival. These soap bubbles coalesced into cooperative groups that stuck together and divided tasks for better efficiency. The pattern was the architect -- what worked -- or natural law as some would call it, appears like a thing out of nowhere...a blueprint. If time doesn't exist at the most basic level, then causality is not really a problem.


"considering science can become corrupted by both politics AND religion...."



"Unlike politics or religion, if the scientific results are falsified or erroneous, additional science will discover and correct this."


Politics can prevent this process by using secrecy, and misinformation, and power. The same with religion, as we have already seen.

Nobody is going to fund studies, researchers aren't going to do research about things they don't consider necessary. If the conclusion is foregone, then nobody lifts the curtain to look underneath.

Toto!! NO! "Ignore the man behind the curtain!"
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 7 (view)
 
Eating Healthy on a low income?
Posted: 11/11/2009 12:50:07 PM
I'm sorry to hear about your circumstances. I am so glad to hear that you are trying to keep eating healthy.

Find a way to buy food in bulk. Even on-line might be better than the stores in your area.

Get enough for a month or two of brown rice and lentils.
Mix the brown rice (Basmati rice has the highest protein content) and the lentils and cook them together in a rice cooker. (Rice cookers are really cheap and go on sale a lot.) Add any kind of vegetables to this.

To save money on fuel costs, steam the vegetables above the rice as it is cooking in a steamer basket.

Add some olive oil, lemon juice, ginger, garlic.

Eat nuts and seeds for snacks that are higher protein. Sunflower seeds are inexpensive.

Try adding raisins or dried fruits (no sulpher) right into the rice when it is cooking for more flavour.

Snacks: Buy organic popcorn in bulk. Get an air popcorn popper. (You can't burn it then.)

Potatoes, onions, apples, pears, cabbage, celery, carrots are all inexpensive. Try to find organic versions.

Get to know any local gardeners in your area. Barter with them, doing gardening chores for some vegetables or fruits.

Search carefully for any organic farmer anywhere close to where you are. Support this farmer with the little that you do have so that you can both survive.

Plant a small garden yourself. Try container gardening. Grow fresh herbs from seeds on your windowsill.

Sprout beans. Sprouting beans and grains skyrockets their health value.

Buy beans in bulk (black beans and Adzuki beans are easy to digest) and rinse, soak and cook them from scratch, add brown sugar and spices and make baked beans or refried beans.

Buy organic, non-GMO corn tortillas and wrap all this up in them.

Learn to make soup. The recipe is called "Stone Soup"

Take a clean stone and put it in a pot of boiling water. Put any in-season vegetables, onions, potatoes and anything around the kitchen, chicken, etc. add a bay leaf....simmer for about 20 minutes.

(p.s., you don't need the stone.)

Be sure to check out your local food pantry, and see if you qualify for food stamps. There are some food-buying co-ops that you can find or organize yourself. In our area (Wisconsin) it is called "SHARE." They pool their money to get better deals from food distributors.

Network with others in the same position you are. Make a lot of food together and share it. Take turns. It goes further, you waste less and cooking and eating is much more fun than eating alone.

Stay away from packaged foods to stay healthier. Shop around the outside of the grocery store. Fresh produce, frozen foods, bulk beans, grains, popcorn.

Good luck. Things will turn around soon. Keep looking up, keep your health up, and you will be ready for it.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 117 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/11/2009 12:02:42 PM

"Does anyone know where to buy nice tea cozies? I have a lovely needlepoint and velvet one and would like to pick up a few as gifts."


Tea cozies?

I love tea cozies. I used to have one that was made from four pieces of quilted material. I think they were originally cute hot pads sewn together, with a tassle on the top. It could stand up by itself, and cover my French Press.

I tried looking for a replacement last year sometime and didn't find anything. I get by using a kitchen towel draped over my tea pot.

Do you remember where you got yours?

If you find a good one could you post a link to it here? A sewing pattern would do.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 116 (view)
 
Tea Lovers' Forum
Posted: 11/11/2009 11:50:37 AM
If you are sad because you can't use teas as medicinals, you can purchase teas packaged in capsule form in vitamin/supplement shops.

Use tea powders like a spice:
There are tea powders you can add to things like ice cream, smoothies, and a lot of recipes in cooking. Or you can make your own by using a spice grinder and grinding the tea into a powder.

Tea as an electrolyte drink:
Try making tea and then adding it to any fruit juice. Diluting fruit juice this way makes a great electrolyte drink, as fruits are good electrolytes, and the mild caffeine goes well with fruit or vegetable juices (of course, coffee wouldn't work as well for this.)

Tea au Lait: Tea with milk.
(like Cafe au Lait - Coffee with Milk)
I like using coconut milk, yogurt, or coconut yogurt, instead of regular milk in a drink.

Tea spoils.
I have noticed that people who don't like tea generally have a box of very old tea in their cupboard for guests, and whenever they "try tea" again, it is stale and flavorless. Tea is essentially a dried vegetable that has some aromatic oils in it. Tea looses all its flavour after about 6 months, but why wait even that long? If you want to try tea again, get a box of "tea samplers" and have some right away. If you still don't like tea, you can give it to a tea drinker or to your local food pantry. (But don't wait 6 months to do this.)

Types of tea:
For an example, think of the leaves on the trees in spring. The first early leaves that bud in the spring are green or white tea. Very mild. The mid-summer leaves are green but can be dried and roasted to make a darker, stronger beverage. This is "black" tea. If you think of what you are raking up in the fall, that is the dead, stale tea a lot of people have in the back of their kitchen cabinets.

Try tea made by tea "experts."
I suggest going to the mall and trying some tea samples at the store called "Teavana." The prices are kinda high at the mall, but they do have specials and their cards make great gifts for us tea lovers. You might find that when you drink tea made from fresh tea leaves, and processed with filtered or bottled water, you might enjoy it.

Your taste buds need time to adjust.
The thing that happens when people get used to drinking lots of very highly sweetened sodas and strong coffee is that these flavours and aromas are so strong, and the sense effect of drinking carbonated liquids and using iced water, is so overpowering that you can cover up really bad tasting water. If you can't seem to drink plain, uncarbonated, room temperature water, it is probably the water you are using that is the problem.

Some notes on making tea.
I also have noticed that it is not good to switch from using utensils to make coffee and tea. There is always a coffee residue on the items you are using, even if they are washed because of a film of oil that tends to stick to things...and the tea takes on this slight coffee flavor. So then the tea tastes like ultra-diluted coffee, which is not that great of a taste (bad). Use a ceramic mug, a mug you really like, and just use it for tea.

If you recall the difference that Starbucks made years ago when they started their business shipping in very fresh coffee beans and roasting and grinding it within days of serving it, you might appreciate the difference that these small details might make with tea, also. I remember the days of going to work and drinking instant coffee served in styrofoam cups out of vending machines. The styrofoam cup added its own plastic taste, the coffee was often bitter and had a burned taste.

Coffee drinkers and caffinated Soda drinkers might go through withdrawal.
You can get headaches, even migranes from caffeine withdrawal. Ramp down these other drinks slowly and give your body some time to get to a non-caffeinated state and then you might notice the milder and less edgy effect of the caffeine in tea.

Tea is less likely to make you jittery and sleepless at night. But can still give you an uplift.

I hope this helps you find Tea Serenity. (Or at least to make better tea when us tea lovers come to visit.)
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 4390 (view)
 
DAILY QUOTES
Posted: 11/11/2009 10:42:00 AM
"The Earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first,
Nature is incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop'd,
I swear to you there are divine beings more beautiful than words can tell."

~ Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892, American Poet)
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 18 (view)
 
Are Viruses Alive?
Posted: 11/10/2009 11:53:26 PM
OK, everybody calm down. Please refrain from calling people morons, or refering to posters by name directly. Its a forum, not a chat room. The proper etiquette here is to use
quotes
to repeat part of a previous posting that you are referring to, or you can put the Msg. number of the posting you are referring to.

Herbal drugs aren't all "rip-offs." You are right, drugs often are made from herbal ingredients or synthesized from analysis of an herbal remedy. In that sense, it is the DRUG that is the so-called "rip-off" of the herbal remedy, then. Aspirin was developed from White Willow Bark. The active ingredient in BOTH is the same. The herbal is milder and less likely to cause side-effects, and might be less likely to be overdosed on or misused.

The world isn't out to corrupt you, but both science and religion have sometimes become corrupted. You can't say either one is immune from corruption because they are both HUMAN endeavors. The pressures and temptations of simply trying to stay alive will tend to push people into doing things that other people won't like or will get hurt by. We all need to be on the look-out for this and push back. But there is no need to be rude and condescending about it.

This isn't about praying to God instead of getting critical medical care.

God isn't the culprit of anything, either. God is a concept, not a mental straightjacket. People who use God to avoid thinking get muddled results. People who use every last scientific study, no matter how dubiously undertaken, to substitute for their own common sense get muddled results, also. You can't substitute a religion's dogma for your own judgement and discernment, and you can't substitute science for your own judgement, either, considering science can become corrupted by both politics AND religion....

It is my intent to inform, and discuss. And share information, inspiration, ideas and opinions. It isn't going to fix anyone. It isn't going to solve anything necessarily. If I expected a certain outcome, I wouldn't have posted it as a question. I would have made it a statement of opinion.

So here's some more from the same source:

"It is a surprise to most who think of viruses simply as parasites that they make up the largest component of biomass on this planet (Bamford 2003, Research in Microbiology 154; 231-236). So far every living organism that has been studied to date has had at least one virus associated with it, and viruses out number all other life forms by at least an order of magnitude (Ackerman 2003, Research in Microbiology 154; 245-251). When considering that not only is viral presence on this planet all encompassing, but every sequenced organism to date has a major component of its genome that is viral in origin, it becomes apparent that viruses are integral players in the evolution of what we presently consider life."

Another article from Scientific American talks about a theory that the nucleus of the human cell started out as a virus.

We can use our God-given brains, and our own common sense, logic and experience to think about this and come up with interesting ideas and solutions, that we will then have to apply some kind of humanity to in order not to further ruin our world from the indiscriminate use of technology, industry, and drugs.

You can invent the fastest car and still drive it into a ditch. You can have the most perfect set of laws and still have to allow for freedom and so have people break those laws. You can come up with the most powerful weapons and have them copied or stolen by your enemy. You can make the most powerful drugs to eliminate pain, and people will take them when there is no pain and become addicted to them.

You can make the most powerful vaccine and there might be a reason it won't work for everyone...

If you take a non-living packet of information coated in protein, and it is the same kind of object that the nucleus of our cells is made of, how does this affect us when we use it on massive amounts of people? Are we changing our genetic code? If we make everyone immune to a certain disease, are we making all of us more uniformly alike in some way?

The way we use vaccines now can be improved on. Why not? We keep trying to improve everything. The motivation for improvement is problems that sometimes pop up. Why not think ahead of the game a bit? Even if we cannot prove certain things are really problems or just artifacts of how we are looking at things, we can still say "What if?"

Anyway, there are several other threads going about vaccines. I started this thread to discuss viruses themselves. Vaccines and vaccinations are topical issues that are in the news lately. I brought up that can of worms here, but I hope to re-direct it back to the original thread topic now.

Defining viruses as life changes the amount of biomass in the world. Include viruses and the biomass is tremendously larger and more ubiquitous.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 498 (view)
 
New Swine Flu vaccine is dangerous business
Posted: 11/10/2009 10:46:22 PM

"The conclusions were tentative, were reviewed, and were refuted quite quickly. The connection was a statistical illusion."


The Canadian government, and more specifically the provinces of Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia, have suspended the 'normal' seasonal flu shots for anyone under 65 in response to this study.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 496 (view)
 
New Swine Flu vaccine is dangerous business
Posted: 11/10/2009 10:37:13 PM

"The 'misleading glossary' you refer to is from straight from the DSM-IV-TR, which is the diagnostic manual that the American Psychiatric Association produces for doctors in the US. It is the criteria used for diagnosing autism (the criteria that we use in Europe [the WHO's ICD-10] is slightly different)."


I'm sorry, at the time my son was diagnosed, the term "Autism Spectrum Disorders" was not being used. These same categories existed, but were not put under one umbrella called "Autism Spectrum." I actually had a copy of the DSM at the time, since I was using it to work with IEP teams then. The IEP teams were usually arguing that all the other types of Pervasive Developmental Disorder were not Autism, and thus, deserved different services provided than what we were asking for. For instance, Asperger's was not "Autistic enough" to get most of the services that Autistic children were recieving, and so we had to fight for every school support for a child with Asperger's.

Since looking it up again, the individual criterion are pretty much the same, but the umbrella combines them. This is what I consider misleading.

I still personally think that it is misleading to call genetic disorders Autism. Don't get me wrong; I do believe that there is a genetic component to Autism, but you can't really call a genetic disorder that gets better with the kind of biological treatments that we are using completely genetic, since genetic implies incurable and lifelong, which is what was told to us parents years ago. It made it very difficult for us to try to get any other type of treatment besides behavioral modification therapy (which also wasn't covered, we still had to pay for it outside of insurance.)

I think that as every genetic cause is determined and given its own diagnosis and treatment protocol, we can better deal with how to treat it without lumping it into categories that include other genetic disorders, as well as disorders that are non-genetic, or a combination of the two.

Knowing what you are dealing with is half the battle with figuring out what to do about it. If people are getting better, who were originally told that their problem was genetic and therefore would never change or get better, then this aspect of this method of diagnosing is not helping to plan a treatment or search for answers, or even raise money to do more research.

There was a huge influx of Federal Government money for research into Autism, which seems to be pouring mostly into determining the incidence of Autism, and genetic research, and not into researching prevention and treatments as much. I think that this is a problem because it is a lot of money going into something that cannot change the lives of currently Autistic people or prevent new cases of Autism. I think that this is because there is a "hands off vaccines" policy to protect vaccination programs and manufacturers from any kind of scrutiny. For one thing, nobody wants the liability as they are finding the prevelance to be so common. There are laws protecting the Government so that it doesn't have to be transparent about certain things as long as they affect national security. This law has been used to also protect the public from discovering that mistakes were made, even when there was no possibility that national security would be at stake. (I.e., it was more than 50 years ago, for instance.)

If you find a gene then what? Do you test all pregnant women and let them abort their fetus if the test is positive? That's a whole lot of abortions. Do you find a drug to treat the genetic problem and sell it to 1 in 100 people?

What if the cause is something else than that we are missing out on a drug that has yet to be developed? Like something in the environment, lifestyle or medical care of our country? Lets say the drug is called "AutismAway." Does this mean that all this time we have just been deficient in this stuff called "AutismAway?"

Somebody has to decide what happens, if we find out that in order to prevent 1 in 100 children from becoming Autistic, we have to change the way we vaccinate people in this country? If we can't decide this, we are tying our arms about finding a way to prevent and treat Autism, and possibly other auto-immune disorders and chronic illnesses.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 492 (view)
 
New Swine Flu vaccine is dangerous business
Posted: 11/10/2009 9:34:15 PM
by Patrick White

Winnipeg — From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Sunday, Sep. 27, 2009

A “perplexing” Canadian study linking H1N1 to seasonal flu shots is throwing national influenza plans into disarray and testing public faith in the government agencies responsible for protecting the nation's health.

Distributed for peer review last week, the study confounded infectious-disease experts in suggesting that people vaccinated against seasonal flu are twice as likely to catch swine flu.

The paper is under peer review, and lead researchers Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and Gaston De Serres of Laval University must stay mum until it's published.

Met with intense early skepticism both in Canada and abroad, the paper has since convinced several provincial health agencies to announce hasty suspensions of seasonal flu vaccinations, long-held fixtures of public-health planning.

“It has confused things very badly,” said Dr. Ethan Rubinstein, head of adult infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. “And it has certainly cost us credibility from the public because of conflicting recommendations. Until last week, there had always been much encouragement to get the seasonal flu vaccine.”

On Sunday Quebec joined Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia in suspending seasonal flu shots for anyone under 65 years of age. Quebec's Health Ministry announced it would postpone vaccinations until January, clearing the autumn months for health professionals to focus on vaccinating against H1N1, which is expected to the more severe influenza strain this season.

“By the time the H1N1 wave is over, there will be ample time to vaccinate for seasonal flu,” Dr. Rubinstein said.

B.C. is expected to announce a similar suspension during a press conference Monday morning.

Other provinces, including Manitoba, are still pondering a response to the research.

New Brunswick is a lone hold-out, announcing last week it would forge ahead with seasonal flu shots for all residents in October, as originally planned.

So far, the study's impact is confined to Canada. Researchers in the U.S., Britain and Australia have not reported the same phenomenon. Marie-Paule Kieny, the World Health Organization's director of vaccine research, said last week the Canadian findings were an international anomaly and could constitute a “study bias.”

An international panel is currently scrutinizing the research data. “The review process has been expedited, so we're hoping for a response within days,” said Roy Wadia, spokesman for the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Dr. Rubinstein, who has read the study, said it appears sound.

“There are a large number of authors, all of them excellent and credible researchers,” he said. “And the sample size is very large – 12 or 13 million people taken from the central reporting systems in three provinces. The research is solid.”

The vaccine suspensions do not apply for people over 65. Seniors are considered more susceptible to severe seasonal flu symptoms. At the same time, they carry antibodies from a 1957 pandemic that seem to neutralize the current version of H1N1.

Even if the statistical link is proven, the medical link between seasonal flu shots and H1N1 remains mysterious. One hypothesis suggests seasonal flu vaccine preoccupies the cells that would otherwise produce antibodies against H1N1.

But, according to Dr. Rubinstein, the research shows that people who received the seasonal shot during the 2007-08 flu season remained vulnerable to swine flu well into 2009 – an interval that should provide most immune systems ample restoration time.

“We don't understand the mechanism,” Dr. Rubinstein said. “At the present time it is quite perplexing.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/study-prompts-provinces-to-rethink-flu-p%3E%20lan/article1303330/

Here is an example of more evidence that a combination of viruses can cause problems for the human immune system. I don't call this "viral overload" really. I think that what is happening is that there is an effect that is occuring when two or more viruses are in the body simultaneously. And it might be related to the type of manufacturing method. One of which is to administer the actual live virus, but in a "weakened state."

We don't know what happens when the immune system is busy attacking more than one virus. It is possible that by needing to attack more than one pathogen, this leaves the immune cells themselves at risk of infection and weakening, even though they get replicated again soon in our blood. If a person's immune system is weakened (perhaps by a toxin, or a total body burden of toxins that it has been dealing with for a long time) or it doesn't have the biological materials to renew itself quickly enough (such as a vitamin D deficiency,) then this leaves the body open to damage from the virus, even though it is in a weakened state itself. There is some evidence that, given some time, the virus sets up shop in the intestines, not fully eliminated by the immune system's normal defenses, and then is able to replicate there, causing chronic viral infection, where there are less human immune cells to attack them.

The other possibility is that the actions to remove one virus are somehow antithetical to the actions required by our immune system to remove another virus.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 489 (view)
 
New Swine Flu vaccine is dangerous business
Posted: 11/10/2009 8:39:53 PM
Apart from my family's past experiences with vaccinations, what concerns me about this latest vaccine is this:

Laws are in place that indemnifies vaccine manufacturers from financial ruin should things go wrong. Manufacturers have complete insulation from ANY prosecution for harm or damage from their product.

It’s a near foolproof business venture as far as criminal and financial liability is concerned.

And now I have spread this information to even more people, some of whom might be thinking of starting a fool-proof business venture....

I think any venture, business or otherwise, that relies on the public trust, particularly on such a wide scale, needs to have some kind of accountability.

And furthermore, in order to "report" any problems with a vaccination, you have to go through your Doctor, who then decides whether to forward this information or not. Many Doctors dismiss these reports, like fevers, as "normal" reactions, without even seeing their client in person.

If you have to sign a wavier absolving your Pediatrician from any lawsuit before he will administer a vaccine, I wonder how safe is it?

Maybe we will soon see these waviers for all medical practices so that Doctors won't need malpractice insurance any more.

Of course, America is lawsuit happy. And lawyers are, too. Malpractice insurance is very high. Partly because medical mistakes can cause so much costly and permanent damage... So healthcare costs are very high. So how do we know what is good medicine and what isn't, if there is no way you can be heard if something is done wrong? And by done wrong, I don't mean a simple mistake. I mean that there is a bias toward creating and promoting some ineffetive or harmful medical procedure that is ethically wrong?

There was a time when Doctors were found to be performing many times the C-Sections for delivering a baby than was considered normal. And there was a time when all children "had" to have their tonsils removed. There was a time when a woman's uterus and ovaries were "routinely" removed, often right after childbirth, even though this would put her into immediate menopause. There was a time the appendix was considered a useless part of human anatomy (its part of the immune system.) None of these things were that long ago.

What is even more of a concern is that by promoting vaccination for so many things, we will as a society be very biased against studying/researching/documenting anything that might contraindicate vaccination. All of the people who might be hurt by a one-size-fits-all vaccination policy are considered collateral damage.

I am not thinking of the government, or the medical industry, or medical professionals as bad people, unethical people, greedy people, or close-minded people. I don't think of it as "us against them."

I think these people are us. We are government workers. We are medical workers. We are manufacturers of medical supplies. We are regulators. We are THEM.

We can figure this out, we are smart, we are innovative, we are resourceful. What is the best use of our time, money and talent? If we stop worrying about injuring the vaccine delivery system by squelching any skepticism that occurs about it, then we can begin to look at, study, research ways of dealing with these health problems without injuring as many people. Minimizing collateral damage....

People are not stupid. If there is something that smacks of paranoia, we can pretty much tell. And we can just learn to ignore those people. But if we ignore people when they have concerns about harsh symptoms after a vaccination, we hurt that family's chances of getting restitution so that they can have the funds to treat their child's illness, because of the delay in reporting them.

And right now, I have two insurance coverages, neither of which covers Autism treatment. So unfortunately, the only way to get what an Autistic child needs to recover is to pay for it yourself, raise money through a charity, or sue somebody. This only encourages lawsuits. How can we encourage more research into better vaccines, better methods of vaccinating, better tracking of issues that come up, better reporting?

If reporting vaccine side effects is actively discouraged, for whatever reason, we will never get these answers.
 Ideoform
Joined: 9/23/2007
Msg: 402 (view)
 
vaccines=autism?????
Posted: 11/10/2009 7:56:05 PM

"The July, 2006 issue of Pediatrics has an article regarding a study done in Quebec, where 28,000 children were exposed to different dosages of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Researchers found no relationship between MMR vaccine exposure, thimerosal exposure and autism rates.

In fact, a higher incidence of autism was seen in Canadian children vaccinated after thimerosal was eliminated from vaccines than among children who received thimerosal-containing immunizations."


According to what you say here, this study just changed the dosages of a single vaccine. All it really tells you is that the dosage is not important as a factor. This might mean that the weakened viruses were the problem, not the Thimerosal. Although mercury doesn't ever help a person. It is always a poison.

I read that the Thimerosal containing vaccines were never destroyed after being banned. According to this article, there were warehouses full of the vaccine vials and they continued to be given to children until they were used up. Did this study account for that?
 
Show ALL Forums