Archive for the ‘Activism’ Category

9 Proven Treatments for Mast Cell Activation Syndrome – Plus, A Surprising New Comer

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9-proven-treatments-mast-cell-activation-syndrome-new-carnahan-md/

9 Proven Treatments for Mast Cell Activation Syndrome – Plus, a Surprising New Comer

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If you’ve ever spent time reading about allergies, you might have come across people talking about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). People with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome often struggle just to obtain a diagnosis – due to the complexity of the disease and the lack of awareness within the mainstream medical community, patients can go months, if not several years, without relief for their illness.

 

I’ve written extensively about MCAS, including its links to other conditions like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and toxic mold exposure. And while we’ve certainly come a long way in understanding this barely discussed disease, it remains a frustrating condition with no definitive cause or treatment.

But recent research indicates the emergence of a new therapeutic target for MCAS – toll-like receptors. Here, we’ll discuss how toll-receptors contribute to MCAS as well as the various treatment methods for this disease.

Mast Cells in Innate and Adaptive Immunity

Your immune system has two main branches of response: innate and adaptive immunity.

Innate immunity is a rapid, nonspecific response system that is your first line of defense against invaders. Think cough reflex, your skin, stomach acid, or mucus. All of these are designed to actively clear or eliminate pathogens.

The second response is called adaptive immunity. This is a slower but precisely targeted response mediated by lymphocytes called B and T cells. Adaptive immunity develops over a period of time, but results in the generation of effector cells. Some of these effector cells persist after the infection and form the basis of lifelong immunological memory of the invading pathogen. Commonly, people think of these as the antibodies that are created after we are exposed to an illness for the first time.

The two response systems were once considered separate, with adaptive immunity thought of as more sophisticated and potent of the two. However, researchers are noticing they are extensively interdependent – and one of the key players in this crosstalk is a class of proteins called toll-like receptors.

What Are Toll-Like Receptors?

If mast cells can be thought of as peacekeepers (like our soldiers and police), then toll-like receptors (TLRs) are likely the equivalent of a smart home security system. Similar to how today’s security systems are packed with sensors that alert you to intruders as well as natural disasters, TLRs recognize foreign invaders in your body and send out signals that activate mast cells.

TLRs accomplish this feat by detecting and binding to structurally-conserved molecules unique to foreign microbes, called pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Essentially, TLRs latch on to PAMPs to call attention to them.

These PAMPs are found among many microbes, and include:

  • Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) – A toxin found on membranes of gram-negative bacteria.
  • Lipopeptides – Structurally-diverse metabolites produced by bacteria and fungi, helps them during colonization of new habitats and during formation of biofilms.
  • Lipoteichoic acid – Cell wall component of gram-positive bacteria that plays important roles in infection and inflammation.
  • Peptidoglycan – A bacterial cell wall component.
  • Bacterial flagellin – A globular protein that is a significant contributor to bacterial invasion, and has also emerged as a potent immune activator.

Most microorganisms – viruses, fungi, bacteria, and protozoa – express PAMPs, which means TLRs are able to sense just about any infection we might encounter. This is a valuable aspect of our immune systems because backup sensors don’t provide sufficient protections against most infections when TLRs are absent.

Let’s take a look at how toll-like receptors help your body fight infections.

Toll-Like Receptors: The Link Between Innate and Adaptive Immunity

Mast cells express multiple classes of pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs), including TLRs. Most people’s mast cells express TLRs 1–10, although there have been variations seen in studies.

Upon binding to PAMPs, all known human TLRs except TLR3 activate downstream signaling. This results in cascading reactions where mast cells mount an immune response. Mast cells can participate in direct defense against the pathogen in two ways: phagocytosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.

Mast cells can also produce antimicrobial peptides or extracellular traps to kill organisms. However, due to the relatively small number of mast cells, indirect effects of coordinating host innate and adaptive immune responses may be more important.

In the indirect method, mast cells initially release small sacs called granules, which contain inflammatory mediators like histamine. These mediators can increase blood flow to the site of infection or enhance epithelial cell mucus production which can physically expel the pathogen. This is followed by the secretion of cytokines, chemokines, and lipid mediators, initiating the process of inflammation.

The secretion of chemokines and cytokines activate the T cells and B cells of the adaptive immune system. Mast-cell derived cytokines and chemokines enhance the migration of dendritic cells to the site of infection, where they ingest the pathogen. This is the start of the adaptive immune response.

In other words, TLRs act as a link between your innate and adaptive immunity.

Toll-Like Receptors and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

Chronic exposure to environmental pathogens like toxic mold can trigger the activation of TLRs, which activates mast cells that start the inflammatory process. Without removal of the trigger, mast cells can become overactive in some individuals, leading to the development of mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS).

The chronic inflammation that results from this vicious cycle could explain some of the symptoms we see often in patients with MCAS, such as brain fog, fatigue, skin rashes/hives, and swelling/edema.

9 Treatments for Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

While there is no cure for MCAS there are a number of tools you can put into place. Which work best differ from person to person, so it’s best to experiment.

Many are able to gain control of their MCAS with trial and error. Identifying and avoiding triggers that cause MCAS to flare up is of utmost importance. People with a non-aggressive form of MCAS usually see improvements within the first four weeks of treatment.

Here are some treatment options I recommend for patients with MCAS. If you know an environmental toxin is your trigger, then some of these suggestions might not apply to you.

1. Eat a Low-Histamine Diet

First things first, you need to get your histamine levels under control. One way to do this is by doing a “low-histamine diet,” which is an elimination diet with the goal of reducing the histamine from the foods and beverages you consume.

For my patients, I suggest keeping a daily health journal, where they can jot down all the specific foods they ate along with symptoms as they appear. If you’re interested in doing a health journal, It’s best to make these notes in chronological order, so you can identify any patterns and deduce the source of your symptoms.

Now, you’re probably wondering: Which foods are approved for a low-histamine diet?

There’s no one list that serves as a go-to reference when it comes to low-histamine diets. I list general food rules for patients with MCAS in my article, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS): When Histamine Goes Haywire.

For more detailed lists, I recommend The Histamine and Tyramine Restricted Diet by Dr. Janice Joneja or the Food Compatibility List from the Swiss Interest Group for Histamine Intolerance.

Note that these lists should only serve as a foundational guideline. There is no guarantee that you will see benefits or that all of the “allowed” foods will not trigger your MCAS symptoms because you have your own list of sensitivities. What makes one person sick may not affect you in any way, so the best thing you can do is to track your own responses as best as possible.

To avoid the risk of malnutrition, confusion, or overwhelm, you may want to seek the help of a registered dietician or a physician who is familiar with treating MCAS. It’ll take some experimentation and a lot of patience, but a low-histamine diet could help you understand and identify some patterns in your sensitivities.

As someone who’s had to work through my own personal food sensitivities, I promise taking the time to get to the bottom of this is worth it. Your health and wellbeing are worth it!

2. Use a DAO Enzyme Supplement

Diamine oxidase (DAO) is the main enzyme responsible for degrading histamine. However, in patients with DAO deficiency, this degradation activity is impaired, leaving histamine to run amok. The resulting symptoms are those we often associate with an allergic reaction or MCAS.

That’s where DAO supplements come in.

Similar to how lactase enzyme supplements relieve symptoms of lactose intolerance by raising lactase levels, DAO supplements increase the DAO levels in the digestive tract. By reducing the level of histamine entering the bloodstream, the total level of histamine in the body also decreases. This can provide some people with symptom relief.

There are a number of DAO supplements available over the counter, but be careful – ordering from Amazon may be convenient, but it’s also where fake and/or poor-quality supplements run galore. Whenever you buy supplements, I recommend buying professional-grade products directly from the producer or one of their trusted suppliers.

The DAO supplement I approve of for my patients is Histamine Blocker. With 20,000 Histamine Degrading Units (HDUs) per serving, this unique patented formula replenishes the DAO levels in your body so you can combat excess histamine in your food.

For more information on the mighty DAO enzyme, read my article, Boost Your DAO Levels to Fight Histamine.

3. Use Antihistamines and Mast Cell Stabilizers

Because DAO in supplements has such a short half-life, it cannot enter the bloodstream to reduce the amount of histamine produced within the body. This means that excess endogenous histamines need to be addressed by other methods, such as natural antihistamines and mast cell stabilizers.

You’re probably more familiar with antihistamines like Benadryl. These drugs provide relief from allergy symptoms by competing with histamines for occupation of histamine receptors on cells. While you may want to keep medications handy in case you need immediate symptom relief, some reports suggest that the body can build a tolerance to these drugs, requiring more potent medications. If possible, try to start with natural sources of antihistamines and try to address the underlying causes.

Natural sources of antihistamines are:

  • Vitamin C
  • Stinging nettle
  • Butterbur
  • Bromelain
  • Local raw honey
  • Probiotics
  • Astragalus

On the other hand, mast cell stabilizers prevent degranulation and stabilize the cell, preventing the release of antihistamines. Quercetin is a powerful, well-known, natural compound that exhibit mast cell stabilizing activities. Other mast cell stabilizers you might be familiar with include resveratrol, luteolin, and curcumin.

Having to take so many supplements can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve just been diagnosed with MCAS. I get it. Nobody wants to spend hundreds of dollars on dozens of supplements each with different directions. You’d be spending all day taking them! You don’t have time like that.

That’s why I recommend Hist Assist, a blend of flavonoids, antioxidants, enzymes, and botanicals that provide you with a comprehensive support for relief from MCAS symptoms.

4. Identify Sources of Toxins

There is no one single factor that has been shown as the definitive cause of MCAS. However, various microbes can disrupt the immune system and cause mast cells to go haywire.

One of the biggest environmental triggers of MCAS is mold, which I’ve written about in my article, Mold is a Major Trigger of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. For patients with MCAS, it’s absolutely essential to reduce the body’s microbial burden. This could mean eliminating the source of the toxins or removing yourself from the building.

5. Increase Exercise & Sweating

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on trips to remote islands to experience the benefits of detoxification. Once you minimize inflow of toxins or triggers, you can take steps to mobilize toxins and enhance toxic outflow.

One of the best ways to “distress” the toxins in your body is to get the blood pumping through exercise. Sweating has been receiving a lot of attention in the recent years, with experts disagreeing on its ability to remove toxins from your body.

While it may not remove all pollutants, there are studies that show sweating is an effective and safe method for removal of:

In general, adults should aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day. You can also try to sweat more with regular sauna sessions.

6. Promote Good Gut Health

The gut microbiome is another topic I’ve written extensively about. And although we’re still in the early stages of understanding the gut microbiome and its impact on our health, many experts agree that a skewed microbiome often results in illness, including inflammation.

Therefore, moving beyond calming hyperactive mast cells, restoring balance to body’s microbiome is essential. Diet is a huge factor, and I emphasize the importance of eating organic foods if and whenever possible. A plant-centric, low-carb diet will starve the bad bacteria while providing the good guys with energy to thrive.

To get a boost in restoring a healthy intestinal microecology, you can take a probiotic supplement like Probiotic Daily Essentials. Each capsule of this four-strain probiotic supplement is sealed in nitrogen-purged aluminum blister packs, protecting it from factors that compromise stability of probiotics.

7. Get Enough Sleep

In a world that idolizes intense productivity and doing “all the things,” it’s tempting to sacrifice sleep. But doing so can upset the circadian clock of mast cells, which regulates the severity of allergy symptoms throughout the day.

An interesting facet of allergic diseases is the variation in symptom severity throughout the day. Earlier studies showed that serum mast cell histamine levels were lower in the afternoon and highest at night. This is why many patients with allergies report experiencing “morning attacks” or sleep disruptions.

With irregular sleep patterns or poor sleep quality, mast cells can lose their rhythmicity, which means mediator release becomes uniform throughout the day. The bottom line here is that cultivating a good, regular sleep schedule and sticking to it can help keep your mast cells in check.

8. Reduce Stress

Chronic stress can kick your immune system into overdrive and allow troublemaking microbes to flourish. Stress can also contribute to mast cell degranulation, which causes them to release mediators like histamine. It only makes sense, then, for patients with MCAS to minimize stress as much as possible.

Triggers for MCAS patients can be wide-ranging, from physical or emotional stressors to the smell of perfume or even a change in room temperature. The reality is, MCAS is highly variable in its behavior. Thus, stress management for patients with the disease also needs to be personalized.

Similar to what I discussed in the “Eat a Low-Histamine Diet” section, I recommend that patients keep a daily journal of any emotions, events, or activities that triggered their symptoms. And remember, the devil is in the details. If you suspect that you are suffering from MCAS, it’s crucial that you provide your physician with a detailed list of triggers and symptoms.

Stress is a major problem for most of us, and many of us don’t have a healthy way of managing it. But it doesn’t have to be difficult, expensive, or time-consuming. For my tips on how to reduce stress, check out my article, Be Happier & Less Anxious with 7 Minutes a Day.

9. Low-Dose Naltrexone – The Surprising New Comer

Even with all the treatment methods outlined above, some people may continue to struggle with MCAS symptoms. Recent research shows that a novel use of low-dose naltrexone (LDN) may help some of these patients.

At first glance, LDN may seem like a strange drug of choice for treatment of MCAS. After all, naltrexone is a drug that was approved to help prevent narcotics and alcoholics from relapsing. As an opiate antagonist, naltrexone competes with opioid drugs for real estate on opiate and endorphin receptors. This helps patients feel less “high” from opioids or alcohol and reduce cravings.

So how does blocking opiate/endorphin receptors help MCAS patients?

LDN works in a different way. While it is still an antagonist for opiate/endorphin receptors, LDN appears to trick them into responding with an increased production of endorphins, the “feel good” chemical that is released during exercise.

More importantly, when LDN is used within a specific dosage window (typically between 0.5 mg and 4.5 mg), its binding of opiate receptors on immune cells can have a temporary immunoregulatory effect. The increased levels of endorphins stimulate the immune system by binding to regulatory T cells, which promotes an increase in T-lymphocytes. This upregulation of T-lymphocytes reduces cytokine and antibody production, restoring a more normal balance.

Additionally, LDN has anti-inflammatory effects. Recent studies have demonstrated this effect in patients with fibromyalgia, in which inflammation of the central nervous system is a common characteristic. When triggered by inflammation or infection, microglia and immune cells in the central nervous system increase their expression of TLR-4, which leads to an increase in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. As a TLR-4 antagonist, LDN blocks this cascade of inflammation. You can find out more information about LDN by reading my article, Low Dose Naltrexone: The New Treatment You’ve Never Heard Of….

In one 10-week pilot study, 8 women with fibromyalgia were given a 4.5 mg oral dose of LDN every night. The serum levels of several pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-15, IL-17A, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-ɑ decreased significantly. Researchers also found that the patients who took LDN had a 15% reduction of fibromyalgia-associated pain and an 18% reduction in overall symptoms.

We have a lot to learn about LDN, and studies using LDN as a treatment option for MCAS is extremely limited. In a case study reported last year, one patient with severe MCAS and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) experienced significant and sustained improvement using a combination of LDN and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy. The doctors overseeing her case hypothesize that by blocking TLRs that stimulate mast cell activities, LDN reduced the patient’s neuroinflammatory pain.

The doctors also reported successfully using LDN and antibiotics to treat another patient with POTS and MCAS.

Can LDN Treat Mast Cell Activation Syndrome?

Is LDN the inexpensive, safe, and effective therapy for MCAS we’ve been looking for all along? Of course, we’ll need more evidence, but based on the evidence so far, I believe LDN has the potential to treat a wide variety of conditions.

A word of caution when adding any supplements or medications: It might be tempting to take as many things as possible to relieve yourself of your symptoms, but people with MCAS can react to all sorts of things, even herbs. Slow down and take it easy. Start with one supplement or herb at a time and see how it affects your body.

Living with a chronic illness like MCAS can make you feel pretty discouraged. But there are things you can control. With the addition of healthy lifestyle choices and medications, you can stabilize mast cells and bring balance to your immune system.

Now I want to hear from you. Have you been diagnosed with MCAS? What have you tried for treatment of MCAS in the past? Have you ever tried low-dose naltrexone for MCAS or another condition? Let me know in the comments!

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK27090/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9851930?dopt=Abstract

https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article/34/6/1037/592387

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11944187

https://www.nature.com/articles/emm2017172

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3645001/

https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(08)00315-4

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3343118/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17490952

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3764846/

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/sweating-toxins-myth-detox-facts-saunas-pollutants-science/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22505948

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23213291

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22253637

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10415589

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18662331

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19453963

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19629762

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5489802/

________________

**Comment**

Many Lyme/MSIDS patients struggle with MCAS as their body is in a war.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/17/mast-cell-activation-syndrome-lymemsids/  Not mentioned in the article by Dr. Carnahan is LDA/LDI.  Many have improved with this treatment as it retrains the body not to react to substances.  For more on that treatment:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/05/30/new-kids-on-the-block-ldaldi/

For more on MCAS:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/13/mcas-lyme-msids/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/29/mcas-triggers-symptoms-how-to-cope/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/29/mcas-lyme-msids-2018-ilads-convention/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/23/rebecca-keith-on-mcas-parasites-lymemsids/

 

Category:

Activism, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Treatment

The Time Warp of Tick-Borne Illness

https://globallymealliance.org/time-warp-tick-borne-illness/?

by Jennifer Crystal

I’d already lost three years of my life to illness. Then I got a taste of resumed independence and health, only to have those intimations of well-being quashed once more. The rush to get back on track and catch up to my friends felt even more pressing when I relapsed. Time seemed to be moving too fast.

Time is a funny thing. As children we hope for time to pass quickly, so we can get to the next big milestone: a birthday, Christmas, middle school graduation, a driver’s license. When we turned 21, my friends and I were excited when we didn’t get carded in a bar, because that meant we looked our age. We always wanted to look and be older than we were.

When we turned 30 we hoped we would be carded, because that meant we looked younger than we were. As we aged, we were no longer hoping for time to pass quickly; we wanted it to slow down. We missed the good old days of college, when life was simpler. Now we couldn’t believe how fast time moved. In the blink of an eye friends were getting married, having babies, buying houses. Then we were forty and people were practically shouting, “Slow time down! We’re already at mid-life!”

As a patient of chronic tick-borne illness, I was having a different sort of mid-life crisis.

I had missed the latter half of my twenties to illness, and didn’t earn my graduate degree until my late thirties. At 40 I was just starting to look for the serious relationship and the serious job and the life plan that my contemporaries had figured out a decade earlier. Now, I still feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. It’s hard but I try to accept that I’m moving at my own pace and will achieve my goals in my own time, the same way I achieved remission over many years.

During the first five years that I battled tick-borne illness, I had one major relapse that set me back to square one. I was 28 years old. I’d already lost three years of my life to illness. Then I got a taste of resumed independence and health, only to have those intimations of well-being quashed once more. The rush to get back on track and catch up to my friends felt even more pressing when I relapsed. Time seemed to be moving too fast.

It also moved very slowly. I was all too quickly reminded how days drag on when you’re bedridden. It can be hard for healthy people to understand this, but now that I’ve stood on both sides of the time divide, I understand why it’s difficult for each side to understand the other.

When you’re healthy, you’re out living your life. In a day’s time you might work, take care of your kids, go grocery shopping, do laundry, run errands, put out small fires, and fall into bed at night realizing you never called so-and-so back or returned an email, because the busyness of daily life got in the way.

When you’re sick, you’re waiting all day for that phone call or email, because you have nothing else to do. You can’t work or even leave the house, and most days you’re too tired, and your brain fog is too wearying, to do “restful” activities like watch TV or read. You just sit there listening to the tick of the clock, waiting to get well, waiting for someone to call, waiting for something to happen. It’s excruciating.

The divide between healthy time and sick time can feel like a glass wall. You can see in to the other, healthierperson’s world, but you can’t step through the barrier and rejoin it. Sick people can envy healthy people because they’re able to do everyday things. But we don’t always understand that those things can be draining and overwhelming to the point that the healthy person can’t keep up with everything, including checking in on asick person.

On the flip side, healthy people can envy sick people because they think it sounds nice to have so much “free” time. They’d like to lounge around, to read or watch TV, but they don’t realize that the sick person doesn’t feel well enough to enjoy those basic activities. Living with chronic tick-borne illness is like having the flu and a hangover every single day, sometimes for years on end.

Being sick is not a vacation, and being healthy is not a walk in the park.

Sick people may eventually get well enough to cross the wall into the world of the healthy. Healthy people could take sick at any time. We can’t control when we will break through the glass wall dividing those two worlds. We can, however, peer closely through the glass, seeing more clearly what life looks like on the other side.

jennifer crystalOpinions expressed by contributors are their own.

Jennifer Crystal is a writer and educator in Boston. She has written a memoir about her journey with chronic tick-borne illness, for which she is seeking representation. Contact her at: lymewarriorjennifercrystal@gmail.com. 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Uncategorized

Shocking New Study Finds That 137 Million Americans Suffered “Medical Financial Hardship in the Past Year”

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/shocking-new-study-finds-that-137-million-americans-suffered-medical-financial-hardship-in-the-past-year

Shocking New Study Finds That 137 Million Americans Suffered “Medical Financial Hardship In The Past Year”

by

The healthcare system in the United States is deeply broken, and it is causing massive financial pain for millions of American families.  Previously, I have published articles where I talked about how medical bills are the primary factor in two-thirds of all personal bankruptcies in the United States, and that Americans had to borrow a whopping 88 billion dollars last year to cover medical costs.  This is happening even though more than 90 percent of all Americans have some form of health coverage.  Thanks to soaring deductibles and health insurance policies that are absolutely riddled with loopholes, more Americans than ever are being wiped out by medical bills.  And now a brand new study that was conducted by researchers from the American Cancer Society has discovered that 137.1 million Americans suffered “medical financial hardship in the past year”.  The following comes directly from the study…

Approximately 137.1 million (95% CI 132.7–141.5) adults reported any medical financial hardship in the past year. Hardship is more common for material, psychological and behavioral domains in adults aged 18–64 years (28.9%, 46.9%, and 21.2%, respectively) than in adults aged ≥ 65 years (15.3%, 28.4%, and 12.7%, respectively; all p < .001). Lower educational attainment and more health conditions were strongly associated with hardship intensity in multivariable analyses in both age groups (p < .001). In the younger group, the uninsured were more likely to report multiple domains of hardship (52.8%), compared to those with some public (26.5%) or private insurance (23.2%) (p < .001). In the older group, individuals with Medicare only were more likely to report hardship in multiple domains (17.1%) compared to those with Medicare and public (12.1%) or Medicare and private coverage (10.1%) (p < .001).

We are the wealthiest nation on the entire planet, and we should have the greatest healthcare system.

This shouldn’t be happening.

And the conclusion that the study ultimately reached is that things are likely to get even worse as we move into the future…

Medical financial hardship is common in the USA, especially in adults aged 18–64 years and those without health insurance coverage. With trends towards higher patient cost-sharing and increasing health care costs, risks of hardship may increase in the future.

When I ran for Congress, I strongly stressed the need for a complete and total overhaul of our healthcare system, but unfortunately our current representatives in Washington don’t seem too interested in that.

Today, many Americans try to avoid our healthcare system as much as possible because they are afraid of being hit with absolutely ridiculous bills.

Just consider the case of 9-year-old Oakley Yoder.  She went for a hike in the woods at summer camp, and a snake bite forced her to go to the hospital…

It was dusk as Oakley Yoder and the other summer camp kids hiked back to their tents at Illinois’ Jackson Falls last July. As the group approached a mound of boulders blocking the path, Oakley, then 9, didn’t see the lurking snake — until it bit a toe on her right foot.

“I was really scared,” Oakley said. “I thought that I could either get paralyzed or could actually die.”

So how much do you think her treatment cost?

A few hundred dollars?

A few thousand dollars?

Actually, the total bill was $142,938…

Total bill: $142,938, including $67,957 for four vials of antivenin ($55,577.64 was charged for air ambulance transport). The balance included a ground ambulance charge and additional hospital and physician charges, according to the family’s insurer, IU Health Plans.

This is yet another example that shows that our current system needs to be totally dismantled and rebuilt from scratch.

You could buy an entire house for $142,938.

Here are some more facts from a previous article that show just how dramatically the U.S. healthcare system has failed…

–3.7 trillion dollars was spent on health care in the United States in 2018.  That breaks down to $10,739 per person.

-If our health care system was a country, it would have the fifth largest GDP on the entire planet.

–76 percent of Americans believe that they pay too much for the quality of health care that they receive.

-Out of the 36 counties in the OECD, the U.S. ranks 31st in infant mortality.

-Prescription drugs are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States today.

-Pharmaceutical companies spend approximately 30 billion dollars a year to market their drugs to all of us.

–Nearly half of all U.S. doctors are considering leaving the field of medicine, and health insurance companies are the primary reason.

-The median charge for visiting an emergency room in the United States is well over a thousand dollars.

I could go on and on all day, but let me give you just one more example of how flawed our healthcare system has become.

John Kapoor, the billionaire founder of Insys Theraputics, was just found guilty of bribing doctors to prescribe high doses of a painkiller called Subsys…

Kapoor oversaw a marketing strategy at Insys that hired doctors as speakers at educational seminars as cover to pay them more than $1m to prescribe high doses of Subsys to patients who did not need it. Prosecutors said the seminars were no more than social gatherings at expensive New York restaurants followed by company sales reps taking the physicians to strip clubs and bars.

Prosecutors showed the jury spreadsheets of payments to doctors and how much the company profited from each bribe. In one instance, the company paid nearly $260,000 to two New York doctors who wrote more than $6m worth of Subsys prescriptions in 2014. Insys employees also posed as doctors to give insurance companies invented diagnoses to get approval for payments for the drug.

In this case justice was done, but the truth is that this sort of stuff happens in the medical world constantly.

Our entire healthcare system is now completely dominated by the pharmaceutical giants, the big health insurance companies and greedy corporate interests.

They don’t care about us.  All they really care about is making as much money as possible, and if people get hurt in the process they are willing to live with that.

Get Prepared NowAbout the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dreamand The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

**Comment**

To put medical insurance into perspective…..

My 96 year old doctor told me he remembered when medical insurance first started.  It began only to bridge the gap from when farmers harvested crops and had to wait for payment after they went to market to be able to pay their medical bills.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

Category:

Activism, Uncategorized

U.S. – Mexico Border Ranches Stricken By Fever Ticks

https://www.drovers.com/article/us-mexico-border-ranches-stricken-fever-ticks

U.S.-Mexico Border Ranches Stricken by Fever Ticks

cattle-fever-tick-in-hand
Ranchers along the U.S.-Mexico border say the disease carried by fever ticks has devastated their operations. ( Texas A&M AgriLife )

According to data from the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), 2,655 premises, totaling 950,500 acres, are under quarantine in Texas due to fever ticks, and ranchers along the U.S.-Mexico border say the disease they carry has devastated their operations.

Fever ticks can carry a parasite that causes Babesia bovis or B. bigemina, commonly known as cattle fever. The Babesia organism attacks and destroys red blood cells, causing acute anemia, high fever, and enlargement of the spleen and liver, ultimately resulting in death for up to 90 percent of susceptible naive cattle.

TAHC says portions of eight South Texas counties have established fever tick quarantines. The counties include, Cameron, Live Oak, Kinney, Maverick, Starr, Webb, Willacy and Zapata.

Texas rancher Richard Guerra’s 9,000 acre ranch a mile north of the border has been quarantined 22 times in the past 15 years. Guerra told the Epoch Times his ranch has been idle for the past four years because it has become cost-prohibitive for him to run cattle due to fever ticks. At full capacity, he could run 1,000 cattle.

Guerra’s ranch is near Rio Grande City, and with no fencing in the area, cattle and deer crossing the border from Mexico can bring ticks that infect U.S. herds.

“Right now, one of our biggest problems, even though we do have some human trafficking, is the problem with fever tick. Fever tick comes from Mexico. Mexico does nothing to control it,” Guerra told the Epoch Times.

There is no cure or vaccine for the fever tick, and Guerra’s biggest hope now is for a border wall to be built, cutting access for the wildlife bringing the tick over the border.

“Texas is in the midst of an outbreak, which have been happening periodically since 1960,” says Callie Ward, communications director for the TAHC. “Many cattle, equine, cervids, and nilgai antelope that cross from Mexico into Texas carry fever ticks. USDA employs mounted tick patrols (tick riders) whose job is to ride horses along the border looking for stray animals that may wander from Mexico. They apprehend and treat the animals.”

Fore more on cattle fever ticks in Texas and along the Mexican border read the following articles:

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**Comment**

Before you brush this off as a “cattle disease,” with no known cure, these two sources state that B. bovis has occasionally infected humans:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babesia_bovis

https://www.revolvy.com/page/Babesia-bovis

Cattle fever ticks supposedly do NOT attach to humans:

Potential hosts of cattle fever ticks include, but are not limited to: cattle, horses, white- tailed deer, and exotic hoofstock, such as nilgai antelope and red deer.  https://www.tahc.texas.gov/news/brochures/TAHCBrochure_FeverTick.pdf

https://entomology.tamu.edu/extension/cattle-fever-tick-information/  According to this article, there are no pesticides approved for treating pastures for cattle fever ticks, and there are no tick vaccines approved for use.  There is a field trial of a tick vaccine underway.  https://entomology.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ENTO-065-Cattle-Fever-Ticks.pdf  There are two species of Cattle fever ticks: Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and the southern cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus. The pdf also shows a picture of the tick and gives tick control options for cattle. Use the Tick App, a free smartphone application available at http://tickapp.tamu.edu, and the Texas Animal Health Commission’s website at http://www.tahc.texas.gov/regs/code.html for information on tick treatment options, tick quarantine and associated regulations, as well as the latest updates on current quarantines.

Other Babesia species have been shown to cause disease besides B. microti, B. duncani, MO-1, B. divergens:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998201/

More than 100 species of babesia subsequently have been identified in wild and domestic animals.[]

The first human case of babesiosis was in a cattle farmer presenting with fever, anemia and hemoglobinuria. He was asplenic and died of renal insufficiency during the second week of illness. Initially reported as Babesia bovis, the link states it was most likely was Babesia divergens, another pathogen of cattle.

If B. divergens can infect cattle & humans, why not B. bovis?

Human babesiosis is now reported from around the world.

I only write this to show that even these other species at one time were thought to only utilize animal hosts, but with time, were shown to be able to also infect humans.

For more on the organism & treatments:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/01/16/babesia-treatment/  Important note:

As early as 1996, it was known that when a patient has Lyme and Babesia, Lyme is found three-times more frequently in the blood, causing more symptoms of longer duration & of greater severity:  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14563700_Concurrent_Lyme_Disease_and_Babesiosis_Evidence_for_Increased_Severity_and_Duration_of_Illness

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/28/concurrent-babesiosis-and-lyme-in-patient/  Great example of a previously healthy 39-year-old male presenting to the emergency department (ED) with generalized severe headaches for eight days and fever for four days. Abdominal examination was normal except for a swollen spleen.

These headaches are surreal, BTW.

Again in 2006, some of the same authors of the concurrent LD and Babesia study, state:

“Physicians should consider use of tests designed to diagnose babesiosis and HGE in patients with Lyme disease who experience a prolonged flulike illness that fails to respond to appropriate antiborrelial therapy.”  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11941544

So, even then they recognized the polymicrobial aspect of Lyme, yet nothing’s been done about it.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/30/study-shows-lyme-msids-patients-infected-with-many-pathogens-and-explains-why-we-are-so-sick/

Research gets done but nothing changes.  It’s still 21 days of doxy….. period.

http://danielcameronmd.com/lyme-disease-diagnosis-almost-missed-in-patient-with-babesia/  Great article by Dr. Cameron on patients who nearly slipped through the cracks.

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Ticks

HHS Announces Final Conscience Rule Protecting Health Care Entities & Individuals

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/05/02/hhs-announces-final-conscience-rule-protecting-health-care-entities-and-individuals.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2019
Contact: HHS Press Office
202-690-6343
media@hhs.gov

HHS Announces Final Conscience Rule Protecting Health Care Entities and Individuals

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today the issuance of the final conscience rule that protects individuals and health care entities from discrimination on the basis of their exercise of conscience in HHS-funded programs. Just as OCR enforces other civil rights, the rule implements full and robust enforcement of approximately 25 provisions passed by Congress protecting longstanding conscience rights in healthcare.

The final rule fulfills President Trump’s promise to promote and protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious liberty, a promise he made when he signed an executive order in May 2017 protecting religious liberty.  In October 2017, the Department of Justice issued guidance encouraging other Departments, including HHS, to implement and enforce all relevant religious freedom laws.

As a result, in January 2018, following the launch of its new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, HHS announced the proposed conscience rule.  OCR received over 242,000 public comments, and analyzed and carefully considered all comments submitted from the public on the proposed conscience regulation before finalizing it.

This final rule replaces a 2011 rule that has proven inadequate, and ensures that HHS implements the full set of tools appropriate for enforcing the conscience protections passed by Congress.  These federal laws protect providers, individuals, and other health care entities from having to provide, participate in, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for, services such as abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide.  It also includes conscience protections with respect to advance directives.

The final rule clarifies what covered entities need to do to comply with applicable conscience provisions and requires applicants for HHS federal financial assistance to provide assurances and certifications of compliance. The rule also specifies compliance obligations for covered entities, including cooperation with OCR, maintenance of records, reporting, and non-retaliation requirements.

“Finally, laws prohibiting government funded discrimination against conscience and religious freedom will be enforced like every other civil rights law.” said OCR Director Roger Severino. “This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals won’t be bullied out of the health care field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life. Protecting conscience and religious freedom not only fosters greater diversity in healthcare, it’s the law,” Severino concluded.

Click here – PDF to read the Final Conscience Rule.

Click here – PDF to read the Final Conscience Rule Factsheet.

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*This HHS-approved document is being submitted to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) for publication and has not yet been placed on public display or published in the Federal Register.  This document may vary slightly from the published document if minor editorial changes are made during the OFR review process.  The document published in the Federal Register is the official HHS-approved document. 

*People using assistive technology may not be able to fully access information in these files.  For assistance, please email OCR at OCRMail@hhs.gov or contact the OCR Call Center at (800) 368-1019.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other news materials are available at https://www.hhs.gov/news.
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Last revised: May 2, 2019

Category:

Activism