Archive for the ‘Inflammation’ Category

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome in Infections & Mold Toxicity

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/mast-cell-activation-syndrome-lyme

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome in Infections & Mold Toxicity

Updated 1/8/24 with a new video and new information on

  • KPV peptide and
  • low dose naltrexone.

What is Mast Cell Activation Syndrome?

Are you reacting to a lot of things that you eat or take for your infections or toxicity? Are your environmental sensitivities or allergies getting worse? It could be Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).

Mast cells are immune system cells found throughout the body. In the past, in medicine we thought they were only turned on to release histamines in allergic reactions. However we now know that they are turned on by a host of things like:

  • Lyme and other tick-borne infections,
  • Covid-19,
  • mold toxicity,
  • intestinal yeast overgrowth,
  • things that trigger allergies called allergens,
  • inflammation chemicals called cytokines,
  • drugs,
  • molds and fungae,
  • proteins,
  • toxins,
  • stress through an adrenal gland stimulating chemical called corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH),
  • and viruses.

(See link for article and video)

__________________

For  more:

Category:

Detoxing, diet and nutrition, Gut Health, Inflammation, Lyme, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Mold, Viruses

The Potential Benefits of Proteolytic Enzymes to Help Manage Rheumatoid Arthritis

https://popularrationalism.substack.com/p/the-potential-benefits-of-proteolytic?

The Potential Benefits of Proteolytic Enzymes to Help Manage Rheumatoid Arthritis

People with RA often have restricted diets. Check this out!

JAMES LYONS-WEILER
DEC 3, 2023

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that predominantly affects the synovial joints, leading to progressive joint destruction and disability. Traditional treatment modalities have primarily focused on anti-inflammatory medications and immunosuppressants. However, the exploration of complementary therapies, such as proteolytic enzymes, has gained momentum in recent years. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the potential benefits of proteolytic enzymes in managing RA, backed by scientific evidence and clinical trials.

What are Proteolytic Enzymes?

Proteolytic enzymes, also known as proteases or peptidases, are enzymes that catalyze the breakdown of proteins into smaller peptides or amino acids. They are naturally occurring enzymes found in the digestive system, certain foods, and available as supplements. The enzymes work by breaking down protein structures, which can be beneficial in inflammation and tissue damage. They have a wide range of medical applications, from aiding digestion to wound healing1.

Key Reference: Serratiopeptidase: Insights into the therapeutic applications

(See link for article)

________________

**Comment**

This website has posted on proteolytic enzymes (PE) for years.  They do so many beneficial things, every Lyme/MSIDS patient should learn about them and consider adding them to their regimen.

The article states that proteolytic enzymes have been studied for their anti-inflammatory effects as well as their ability to reduce pain and improve mobility – all of which are often issues with Lyme/MSIDS patients.  It also states that conventional treatments for RA come with a host of side effects while PE are safer and more cost effective.  RCTs are still needed to establish long-term safety and efficacy.

For more:

Category:

Inflammation, Lyme, Pain Management, research, Supplements, Treatment

Woman With Lyme, Babesia, & Bartonella Turns to Carnivore Diet & Improves

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12446991/woman-plant-based-diet-killing-lyme-disease-carnivore

EXCLUSIVE – Woman, 38, whose undiagnosed Lyme disease left her ‘MINUTES from death’ reveals how plant-based diet nearly DESTROYED her body – before she turned to strict carnivore regimen that completely cured her symptoms

  •  Angela Lerro, 38, from Los Angeles, stopped eating most meat and fish in 2013
  • She began fainting up to 20 times a day and suffering from anaphylaxis
  • Angela learned her diet was killing her after being diagnosed with Lyme disease

By CAROL DRIVER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED:

A woman who was advised to follow a plant-based diet after being diagnosed with breast cancer and having a mastectomy has opened up about how shunning meat almost killed her while she was suffering from undiagnosed Lyme disease. 

Angela Lerro, 38, from Los Angeles, stopped eating most meat and fish and lived mainly on vegetables and colorful salad dishes for three years after undergoing surgery in 2013.

But instead of feeling better, she began fainting up to 20 times a day, breaking out in hives and rashes, and suffering from heightened anxiety and anaphylaxis. She became so bloated, she looked pregnant.

The reiki master was told it was post-cancer ailments, but her symptoms were actually caused by undiagnosed Lyme disease, which she’d been unknowingly battling for over 30 years. (See link for article)

_______________

**Comment**

This is quite the journey this poor woman has lived.  I pray something within will help someone out there who has barked up every tree but still hasn’t found any answers – or should I say THE answer?

As always, this is not medical advice.  Make sure you are working with an experienced Lyme literate doctor.   But, as is often the case with Lyme/MSIDS, we simply have to experiment.

Angela went on the “Lion Diet” otherwise known as the “ultimate elimination diet,” to reduce inflammation.  Angela believes that ruminant fat, meat, and organs contain the most bioavailable nutrients the body can absorb and use.  She states borrelia feed off gluten, grains, and sugar and when they are consumed they create inflammation.  When she ditched her low-histamine paleo diet for bison, veal, lamb, and venison many of her symptoms disappeared within three months.  She no longer fainted and her mobility improved.

She also had undiagnosed Babesia and Bartonella.

Angela helps others.  Go here for her info: https://www.instagram.com/meatbasedmedium/

I too have improved dramatically with diet; however, diet really didn’t appear to be a problem until later – after I had treatment for 5 years.  Now, could a dietary switch have helped?  Possibly, but as you know – it’s nearly impossible at times to distinguish what is doing what.  It wasn’t until I developed a very painful Baker’s Cyst and what appeared to be “arthritis” that I got serious about diet.  I’m happy to report that I’ve experienced great improvement by ditching gluten, most dairy (except hard cheeses and whipping cream), and trying valiantly to eliminate sugar.  That last one is the tough one for me.  🙂

or more:

Category:

Babesia, Bartonella, diet and nutrition, Inflammation, Lyme, Treatment

The Link Between Nightshades, Chronic Pain and Inflammation

https://greenmedinfo.com/blog/link-between-nightshades-chronic-pain-and-inflammation

The Link Between Nightshades, Chronic Pain and Inflammation

March 8th 2023
Written By: Elisha McFarland
“© [Article Date] GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here //www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.”

Few people are familiar with the term nightshades, and many will be surprised to learn that consuming foods from this plant group may be contributing to their pain and inflammation

Nightshades belong to the Solanaceae family which includes over 2,000 species. They also include some of the most popular foods consumed today; such as tomatoes, potatoes, all types of peppers, and eggplant. Although not truly nightshades, blueberries, huckleberries, goji berries and ashwaganda all share the same alkaloids which may have inflammation-inducing properties.

The Solanaceae family contains cholinesterase inhibiting glycoalkaloids and steroid alkaloids including, among others, solanine in potato and eggplant, tomatine in tomato, nicotine in tobacco, and capsaicin in garden peppers. The glycoalkaloids in potatoes are known to contribute to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and negatively affect intestinal permeability. (1,2) According to Dr. Marvin Childers, “When these inhibitors accumulate in the body, alone or with other cholinesterase inhibitors such as caffeine or food impurities containing systemic cholinesterase inhibiting pesticides, the result may be a paralytic-like muscle spasm, aches, pains, tenderness, inflammation, and stiff body movements.” (3) These symptoms may dissipate in a few hours or days if ingestion is stopped, based on the sensitivity of the individual, the amount of nightshades consumed on a regular basis and their level of inflammation. However for some heavy consumers of nightshades the process of inflammation and pain reduction can take up to 3 months.

After reading the symptoms associated with nightshade consumption, it is easy to understand why one of the major problems attributed to nightshade is arthritis. Arthritis is also the most common disability in the U.S. (4,5) Statistics from a 2007-2009 study show that doctor diagnosed arthritis affects 49.9 million people in the United States alone (6). Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis affecting more than 20 million people. More than 2 million people are affected by rheumatoid arthritis, the most disabling and painful form of arthritis. Arthritis has no boundaries to gender, race or age, it affects young and old alike. (5, 7) In fact it may be surprising to some that an estimated 294,000 children (age 18 and under), have some form of arthritis. (7) In 2003 the medical cost of arthritis alone was approximately 128 billion annually. (4) Since 1994, disability-related costs for medical care and lost productivity have exceeded an estimated $300 billion annually in the United States, this includes arthritis and other rheumatoid related illness (8) Add to these numbers the report released in 2011 by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, where an estimated 116 million adults live with chronic pain, which costs the United States $635 billion annually in health care and lost productivity. (9) So the question is how much of these problems are nightshade related? That is the question some researchers are asking, as they believe that arthritis is often misdiagnosed in people who may in fact be experiencing severe side effects of nightshade consumption.

Many who suffer with arthritis or an arthritis related disease such as lupus, rheumatism, and other musculoskeletal pain disorders, have found that consuming foods from the nightshade family is in fact adversely affecting their health. Norman F. Childers, PhD, founder of the Arthritis Nightshades Research Foundation stated: “Diet appears to be a factor in the etiology of arthritis based on surveys of over 1400 volunteers during a 20-year period. Plants in the drug family, Solanaceae (nightshades) are an important causative factor in arthritis in sensitive people.” (3)

Three month challenge

If you want to know if nightshades negatively affect you, take the three month challenge. Avoid all nightshades for three months. (It’s called a challenge for a reason).Be careful to note the nightshade list, and become a label reader as some homeopathics, prescriptions, over the counter medications as well as numerous processed foods contain nightshades. Prescriptions and over the counter medicines may require a discussion with your pharmacist or a phone call to the manufacturer of your over the counter medicines to determine ingredients.

After three months, begin to reintroduce one nightshade at a time. Take note of any aches, pains, stiffness, and loss of energy, headaches, respiratory problems or any other symptoms. You may find as many others have, that the quality of your daily health will dramatically improve after eliminating nightshades from your diet.

The nightshade list

  • ­ tomatoes (all varieties, including tomatillos)
  • ­ potatoes (all varieties, NOT sweet potatoes or yams)
  • ­ eggplant (aubergine)
  • ­ okra
  • ­ peppers (all varieties such as bell pepper, wax pepper, green & red peppers, chili peppers, cayenne, paprika, etc.)
  • ­ goji berries
  • ­ tomarillos (a plum-like fruit from Peru)
  • ­ sorrel
  • ­ garden huckleberry & blueberries (contain the alkaloids that induce inflammation)
  • ­ gooseberries
  • ­ ground cherries
  • ­ pepino Melon
  • ­ the homeopathic “Belladonna” [note: this is highly precautionary as homeopathics contain virtually no measurable “active” chemical]
  • ­ tobacco
  • ­ paprika
  • ­ cayenne pepper

Soy sauce made in the U.S. is generally made with genetically modified (GMO) soy beans, which are cut with the nightshade plant Petunia.

The condiments black/white pepper and pepper corns are not nightshades

Other ingredients and products to avoid

  • ­Homeopathic remedies containing Belladonna [note: this is highly precautionary as homeopathics contain virtually no measurable “active” chemical]
  • ­Prescription and over-the-counter medications containing potato starch as a filler (especially prevalent in sleeping and muscle relaxing medications)
  • ­Edible flowers: petunia, chalice vine, day jasmine, angel and devil’s trumpets
  • ­Atropine and Scopolamine, used in sleeping pills
  • ­Topical medications for pain and inflammation containing capsicum (in cayenne pepper).
  • ­Many baking powders contain potato starch
  • ­Don’t lick envelopes, many adhesives contain potato starch
  • ­Vodka (potatoes used in production)

Read labels carefully because you could be doing everything else right, and still be sabotaged by one small amount of an ingredient.

Never buy a food has that uses the generic term of seasoning or spices…. nightshades may be included in the ingredients.

Learn more about the similarity of tomato lectin with wheat germ lectin (WGA), as well as lectins found in rice and barley:

Rice, Potato, and Tomato May Be As Inflammatory As Wheat

References

1. Potato glycoalkaloids adversely affect intestinal permeability and aggravate inflammatory bowel disease. www.greenmedinfo.com/article/potato-glycoalkaloids-adversely-affect-intestinal-permeability-and-aggravate

2. Naturally occurring glycoalkaloids in potatoes aggravate intestinal inflammation in two mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease. www.greenmedinfo.com/article/naturally-occurring-glycoalkaloids-potatoes-aggravate-intestinal-inflammation-two-mouse

3. Journal of Neurological and Orthopedic Medical Surgery (1993) 12:227-231.An Apparent Relation of Nightshades (Solanaceae) to Arthritis https://www.noarthritis.com/research.htm

4. National and State Medical Expenditures and Lost Earnings Attributable to Arthritis and Other Rheumatic Conditions — United States, 2003 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5601a2.htm?s_cid=mm5601a2_e

5. Differences in the Prevalence and Impact of Arthritis Among Racial/Ethnic Groups in the United States, National Health Interview Survey, 2002, 2003, and 2006 https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/may/10_0035.htm

6. Prevalence of Doctor-Diagnosed Arthritis and Arthritis-Attributable Activity Limitation – United States, 2007-2009 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5939a1.htm?s_cid=mm5939a1_w

7. Prevalence of and annual ambulatory health care visits for pediatric arthritis and other rheumatologic conditions in the United States in 2001-2004. Sacks JJ, Helmick CG, Luo YH, Ilowite NT, Bowyer S. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=18050185&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

8. Prevalence and Most Common Causes of Disability Among Adults — United States, 2005 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5816a2.htm

9. Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research https://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Relieving-Pain-in-America-A-Blueprint-for-Transforming-Prevention-Care-Education-Research.aspx

After sixteen years of struggling with MCS, Elisha McFarland recovered her health through alternative and natural healing methods. It was this experience that encouraged her to pursue an education in natural health.  She has the following designations:  Doctor of Naturopathy, Master Herbalist, D.A. Hom., B.S. in Holistic Nutrition, Certified Wholistic Rejuvenist and EFT-ADV. You can visit her website at:  https://www.myhealthmaven.com or follow her on Facebook  at  https://www.facebook.com/myhealthmaven

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.

Category:

diet and nutrition, Inflammation, Pain Management, research, Supplements

Herbs & Wellness Podcast

https://cynthiathurlow.com/ep-300-herbs-wellness-dr-rawls-on-cellular-regeneration-healing/?  Go here for Podcast

Herbs & Wellness

Dr. Rawls on Cellular Regeneration & Healing

Sept. 30, 2023

I am honored to connect with Dr. Bill Rawls today! He is a distinguished figure in the healthcare field, having departed from conventional allopathic medicine to illuminate the profound potential of herbs in revitalizing health through the principles of cellular healing and regeneration.

With a foundation in classical obstetrics and gynecology and backed by scientific research, Dr. Rawls joins me today to furnish us with his actionable recommendations for optimal health and well-being.

In our conversation, Dr. Rawls dives into his background and explains the inherent limitations of the traditional allopathic model that has guided modern medicine for generations. We explore questions surrounding the alarming state of health in our society and examine the factors contributing to disease. We navigate the landscape of cellular biology, shining a light on the role of mitochondria and the impact of diet, environmental toxins, stress, and microbial pressures on our well-being. Dr. Rawls also unveils the distinctions that set herbs apart from pharmaceutical agents, and we journey through the realm of phytochemicals, the spectrum of herbal safety, and the health concerns around perimenopause, menopause, bone health, and sleep.

Dr. Rawls is a source of profound wisdom in the world of health and wellness, and his invaluable insights promise to empower us on the path to a healthier and more vibrant existence!

“Inflammation is a process of illness. It is not a cause of illness, and unless you are addressing the underlying causes of the inflammation, you are not going to make somebody well.”

– Dr. Bill Rawls

IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN:

  • Why Dr. Rawls chose to go into obstetrics and gynecology
  • What prompted Dr. Rawls to redirect the focus of his work?
  • How Dr. Rawls has spent the past decade and a half figuring out what herbs were doing and what chronic illness is
  • The differences between acute medicine and functional medicine
  • How mitochondrial power and illness are intertwined
  • How stress factors impact cellular health
  • How does the safety and efficacy of a particular herb get determined?
  • What is an adaptogen?
  • The value of taking herbs for essential hypertension
  • The importance of bone health for women
  • The impact of sleep pressure on sleep
  • The importance of restoring natural sleep cycle

Connect with Cynthia Thurlow

Follow on Twitter, Instagram & LinkedIn

Check out Cynthia’s website

Submit your questions to support@cynthiathurlow.com

Connect with Dr. Bill Rawls

On his website

Dr. Rawls at https://rawlsmd.com

Dr. Rawls’s book, The Cellular Wellness Solution

For more:

Category:

Detoxing, diet and nutrition, Gut Health, Herbs, Inflammation, Treatment