Homestead mailing list

["Jeanne Driese" <jeanne13 AT earthlink.net>]

Bev,
Here is a name of a book that has excellent information.  It is called 
"Prescription for Natural Cures, A Self-Care Guide for Treating Health 
Problems with Natural Remedies Including Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional 
Supplements, Bodywork, and More"
Authors are James F. Balch, M.D. and Mark Stengler, ND
It was published in 2004 so is fairly up to date.
When I turned 30 and found myself full of problems healthwise, I started 
studying and using alternative health care.  One of best things I ever did 
was to find out my blood type and follow the recommendations for things to 
avoid and to also select my foods choices from the things that are highly 
beneficial for me.
By no means have I made any of the things I do into a fanaticism but find 
that following "things"
about 80 to 90% of the time keep me in excellent health for my age. (73) 
If you cannot afford to buy this book I would be happy to copy and send you 
the info on RA, but having the book is a great help for reference to many 
other things that might or do come up  along our life path. 
A dear friend of mine has RA and uses gold as a medication.  If you would 
like some information about that just let me know and I will see if she would 
have time to tell you more about what she does.  She is the same age as me 
and is still going strong...drives, travels, spends time with her grand 
children, etc. 

You spoke about synchronicity,  My plan is that once something shows up 3 
times in a short period, I had better pay attention to it.  Meditation has 
also been a great healer for me as it allows me to stop the mind and think 
about being happy and concentrating on healing my body and making it a great 
asset in my older years. 
You have my admiration on wanting to take care of yourself with out the aid 
of drugs that seem to only further debilitate our bodies!
Jeanne
tnhillwoman
North East TN zone 6
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: EarthNSky 
  To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org 
  Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 2:01 AM
  Subject: Re: [Homestead] out of the blue


  Thanks to all who have expressed concern for me, both on list and off.
  It means a lot, more than you can ever know.
  I am going to write about my allopathic experience to show how the road
  to hell is paved with good intentions.
  You all know I have severe RA and take Enbrel, which destroys the immune
  system, increases the odds of lymphoma by 40%, and other nasty outcomes.
    I have taken this medication for more than four years, and it
  literally saved my life.  I had no quality of life beforehand.  I could
  not wipe myself or brush my hair or shower or even get out of bed
  without help.  I was ready for a lead slug, literally.  I had been on
  methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug, and that had messed up my liver so
  they took me off of it.  I still have liver damage from that.  During
  the 4 months that I was unmedicated except for anti-inflammatories, the
  disease ravaged me.  Then came the Enbrel, and I saw a change overnight.
    The inflammation subsided and I was able to move again and within a
  week, I was well on the way to being Bev again.
  So, I have continued to take this 'miracle' injection every week, unless
  I am sick with an infection, like now.  In that case, I can't take it as
  to allow my body to try to fight infection on it's own.
  Fast forward...
  In the last six months, I have had two 'spider bites' and a 'boil'.  I
  have another 'boil" starting up now...Last night they confirmed I have
  MRSA ...the original superbug.  I probably got it from the first spider
  bite last summer, and since I have practically a zero immune system, it
  has become systemic and every little potential infection becomes
  nastier. I've obviously developed it in the last few months, as my white
  count is close to nil.(that happens with long term infections) At it's
  simplest, MRSA is like a staph infection, a boil, for example.  Highly
  contagious nasty stuff with an open wound.  At it's most complex, (no
  open wounds or signs of the disease) untreated, it causes organ failure.
    I had been taking Keflex for the spider bite, but MRSA is resistant to
  that. I did not know that. I stopped taking it early the last time
  because I broke out in hives.   The bite eventually healed over, and I
  gave it no more thought.  However, this MRSA superbacteria can travel
  throughout the body releasing toxins in various organ systems and that
  is apparently what is going on now. Last night, I saw the beginnings of
  another boil, and since I did not want to deal with a boil at Christmas,
  I took the Keflex again.  The first thing that happened was that I broke
  out in hives, as I have done before.  I should have known that I was
  becoming allergic to the stuff. Then, I had trouble breathing, and then
  the kidney pain began..it felt like someone was kicking me..very unlike
  any other pain I have felt, although I would say it is far from the
  worst pain I've felt, it was very, very uncomfortable and I couldn't
  stand or walk, only writhe in the bed.  I'm thinking now that treating
  MRSA with Keflex was like poking a stick at a rattlesnake, and I know
  now, that I have a kidney infection...still peeing red<g>, and some
  liver problems, some of which was caused by the methotrexate, some of
  which was probably slow deterioration from the Enbrel, and some recent
  issues that I believe have resulted in my jaundice, and therefore
  probably MRSA related as well.  So I have this huge circle of activity
  going on here,,,,slow degradation from the RA drugs, a side effect of
  which lowers the immune system and allows superbugs like MRSA to take
  hold in the body at every opportunity.
  I'm once again on steroids and this time Septra DS.  They say sulfa
  drugs will help the MRSA and the kidney infection.  It's funny that
  several people have mentioned lately that I don't look well, but I never
  the jaundice myself until today.  I took off those rose glasses and
  said, wow, I really am yellow!
  I feel like if I could ever get well, I could stay well.  I do have
  pretty good eating habits, and I am developing more good habits
  everyday.  Lisa, ironically, I love cranberry juice.  I have some in  my
  refrigerator now-been craving the stuff for a couple of months.
  Cranberries are on my list of fruits to grow here, not that I could ever
  grow enough to make all the juice I drink, but I love cranberry juice,
  and cranapple, and cran-anything.  Perhaps I crave it because I needed
  it?  I could make a case for that.

  Some of you know that I went to med school for a while.  I dropped out,
  one of the 1% or less of students that do that.  I won't go into all of
  that here, but suffice it to say that I am well entrenched in western
  medicine.  Until I met you guys, I was never exposed to any other
  way-thought all chiropractics were quacks..you know the type of person I
  used to be.  However, I am very spiritual, and I believe in body
  energies and metaphysical healing and I believe that western medicine,
  while it has it's good points, overlooks a whole lot of potential
  treatments and remedies simply because they cannot be proven 100% of the
  time.  I also see the similarities between good medicine and good
  government..is there such a thing, or has greed overtaken everything?
  One of the reasons I left medical school was because I was sabotaged in
  my lab research, and I looked around and thought--"these greedy, self
  centered sons of bitches are the docs of my generation-no interest in
  real humane care, just in it for the money"  Perhaps even then, I saw
  something that I did not deal with and explore properly.  So now, I feel
  like I have my foot in both worlds...I want so badly to be in the James
  and Lynn camp, yet, I for the most part, remain in the Bob camp.<g>  I
  still believe in technology, but I also know that there are plenty of
  alternatives out there to traditional American medicine. No offense to
  any of you, as I think it all has merit taken as a whole.  Each person
  has to do what keeps them alive, both spiritually and emotionally, and I
  know James disagrees with this, but some people do simply have more
  issues because of genetics.  (that's not a crutch) But my determination
  to become healthy and live to see my grandbaby grow up has driven me to
  make changes in my life and in my thinking.  I can clearly see, now, how
  my decisions over the past 7 years have directly influenced my health
  today.  I don't know that it would be better had I taken a more
  non-traditional path originally, but I am now, in the midst of a life
  changing decision-a mid life crisis of sorts-where I am considering
  changing up and walking the road less traveled.  I still have questions,
  and I am not sure how to make the transition with the health issues I
  currently have, but I just feel/know that if I could get well, I could
  stay well, but how do I get well without the meds?  I did some reading
  this afternoon when I got up about phage therapy, and synchronistically,
  James makes a post about Georgia and my BIL is coming in from the
  Republic of Georgia on Christmas. (There has been a ton of synchronicity
  in my life in the past few months, and I will not ignore it.) RoG is the
  one of the few places that uses phage therapy for bacterial infections.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy
  This is not something that is taught in American medical
  schools,,,,perhaps our mindset of experimentation is different or
  perhaps we are too fearful of lawsuits, but to learn that that Soviets
  have been doing this for the better part of century is amazing.
  I've had some offlist conversations with some people here about their
  non-traditional RA therapies/"cures".  I intend to really explore this
  further in the near future.  I feel like I have to get off the
  Enbrel...I have come to believe that I am slowly killing myself with
  this seemingly miraculous drug that I have been so in love with for the
  past several years.  It is working for me, but perhaps I could find
  something else that works that has less side effects like immune system
  depletion or cancer risks or liver toxicities.  I tell myself that there
  is always more than one way to skin a cat, right? Also, my need for
  prescription meds keep Ron tied to a job that has enslaved him.  It
  would be so wonderful if I were healthy and did not need all this
  medicine. He could woodwork and build boats from home..it would be
  freedom-for both of us.  When he added me back to his insurance after I
  quit my job recently, my pharmacy costs jumped from about 300/mo to
  almost $500/mon for total meds. This is insanity.  I want off the ride,
  because I don't think I am getting better, even though I am making good
  life changes like quitting smoking and exercising more and eating good
  food.  I feel like my health is being hi-jacked by a drug. I feel like
  if I don't make changes, I will end at the gates of hell.  I'm all
  messed up in the head right now, but just know that I am on a path of
  change.  It may not be an overnight change, but I am walking ever faster
  down the road.  Thanks for reading all of this, and thanks to everyone
  for their support and kindness...you guys occupy my thoughts more than
  you know.  As I was in the ER this morning, I was wishing I had James
  401Cow jar..lol...just to pay for the ambulance<G>, serves me right for
  spending all my money at Barnes and Noble, right?  As a caveat, you all
  should know that maybe in the political area that people don't change
  their opinions, but perhaps they can in the medical arena..  Change is good.

  Bev