UltraWellness Lesson 6: Energy, Mitochondria & Oxidative Stress by Dr. Mark Hyman

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

N THE LAST LESSON we reviewed the importance of optimal detoxification for UltraWellness. Next we will review how you can turn up your metabolic engine and boost your energy.

Are you tired and worn out? Do you feel burned out and have sore muscles, fatigue and brain fog? You might have metabolic burnout!

Imagine if you could find a way to tune up your metabolism, to increase the amount of energy you have, to be able to think clearly and feel less achy! Imagine if you could prevent diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s and dementia. Imagine if you could heal fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Imagine if you could get to the root of aging and slow the whole process down and eliminate most of the age related diseases. All that is possible by giving yourself a metabolic makeover; a metabolic tune up.

You might have heard of the rats fed high doses of resveratrol, the red phytonutrient found in red wine. They lived thirty percent longer while eating a bad diet. In fact they even became fitter and lost weight without changing their diet and eating the equivalent of the standard American poor quality diet. How could they eat more, eat bad food, not exercise, become fitter AND live thirty percent longer than the average rat?

One word. Mitochondria.

The resveratrol protected and improved the function of the mitochondria through its effects on special master aging genes. OK, so what are mitochondria and what do they have to do with having more energy, losing weight and living to 120 years old without any disease? Everything.

It is a little tiny factory that turns food and oxygen into energy. In each cell there are hundreds to thousands of these little energy factories. They exist in greater amounts in active organs and tissues, like the muscles, heart and brain. This is where your metabolism is happening.

What do mitochondria have to do with boosting your energy, losing weight and living to 120? Everything.

The role of your metabolism is to take the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat and process it to make energy, the fuel for life. (The fuel for your car is called gas. The fuel for your body is called ATP and it is produced from the combustion of food and oxygen.)

When they are not working properly, you suffer all the symptoms of low energy: fatigue, memory loss, pain, rapid aging and more. Along the way, many things can go wrong that may impede your metabolism, make it run less efficiently, or practically shut it down.

Fatigue is the most common symptom of poorly functioning mitochondria. We need to keep them in top shape. The reason we poop out as we age is the constant insult and injury we give our mitochondria.

We have over 100,000 trillion of these powerhouses in our body, and each one contains 17,000 little assembly lines for making ATP, our major fuel. They use over ninety percent of the oxygen we breathe. They take up forty percent of the space inside the heart cells. The only problem is they are very sensitive to damage.

And the injury is from uncontrolled oxidative stress, which results from toxic insults, infections, allergens, stress and just eating too much poor quality food.

Dr. Bruce Ames, the renowned scientist from the University of California at Berkeley, has spent the last decade discovering how we can give ourselves a metabolic tune up.

In one study he gave old rats who were tired, wouldn’t get on the treadmill anymore, and couldn’t find the cheese in the maze, or swim very far, two molecules that boost metabolism, that make the mitochondria run better. They are alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine.

Overnight these rats became young rats. They got up on the treadmill themselves, swam long distances without fatiguing and could easily find the cheese in the maze like young healthy rats. How could that happen?

Well, he simply gave the cells the raw materials they need for optimal function. As we age, our metabolism burns out from a lifetime of damage and insults. So again, the way to get healthy, the way to UltraWellness is very simple.

Ultimately the goal of UltraWellness is to give everyone a metabolic tune up. First, find the things that damage your metabolism and mitochondria. And second, give your body the things that help the mitochondria function optimally.

What damages the mitochondria?

These little energy factories are sensitive to insults. They are not well protected and easily damaged by toxins, infections, allergens, and stress. But the biggest insult over time is eating too much food, too many “empty calories”.

When the food is burned or metabolized with oxygen in the mitochondria, waste is produced in the form of free radicals that create a chain reaction of rusting or oxidation.

Unless we have enough antioxidants in our diet or we make enough in our body, we can’t protect ourselves from the damage to our mitochondria.

So when we eat empty calories, meaning sugar, flour and processed foods that don’t have the antioxidant levels of colorful plant foods like fruits and vegetables, we produce too many free radicals that destroy our mitochondria and produce fatigue, metabolic burnout and all the diseases of aging.

Imagine that a slow, progressive process of deterioration that contributes to, or is the cause of, practically every known disease is occurring inside of you at this very moment. It is the result of dietary choices, lifestyle habits, stress and environmental exposures.

Imagine also that you have the antidote.

This process of deterioration is called oxidative stress. It is part of the inevitable entropy, or chaotic breakdown, that is the basic principle of life, like an orderly house that inevitably becomes disorganized, requiring regular attention.

We are familiar with the process – it is the rust on our car, the brown color that appears on an apple when opened and exposed to air, and the rancid vegetable oil in our cupboard, even the wrinkles that form on our skin and sunburn.

What we don’t realize is that our own tissues are rusting, our own fats are going rancid, and our brains are melting as we go about our daily life. What starts this process is some insult – too many calories, smoking, a sunburn, exposure to toxins, anti-nutrients, sugar, and more – that tips the balance starting a chain reaction of cellular and tissue damage.

The good news is we have a built-in anti-rusting system and mitochondrial protection system, but it is overwhelmed by the work we ask of it. Like all the systems in the body, the problems arise when we are out of balance.

The system is called the REDOX system, after the chemical process of REDuction and OXidation. Reduction is the neutralization of damage from oxidation or rusting. But oxidation is not all bad. In fact, our white blood cells kill bacteria and viruses by releasing hydrogen peroxide and other compounds we call free radicals.

These radicals are not a left wing political group, but unstable electrochemical molecules that are missing an electron, which makes them unstable and “lonely.” They bump into neighboring molecules and steal an electron, making them, in turn, unstable, thus triggering a chain reaction that leads to disaster. This is the process we call oxidative stress. Much of the damage we experience as disease is the end result of oxidative stress that occurs in the mitochondria, the energy powerhouse of the cell.

In fact, one of the biggest generators of free radicals is the burning of food in the mitochondria. Free radicals are the metabolic waste products from turning food into energy. Toxins, infections and allergens and even junk food also can create them. The bottom line is the more free radicals we make, the less energy we produce because we damage the cells ability to make energy in the mitochondria. The ultimate loss of energy is death.

This is why over consumptive/under nutrition or eating too many calories and not enough nutrients is at the heart of so much illness. We eat too many calories and anti-nutrients, but not enough antioxidants from our food to compensate. It is why the only proven method to prolong life is calorie restriction. Getting our redox system back into balance and protecting our mitochondria is the key to optimal health and a vital, energetic old age.

Much research has been done on antioxidants and disease, and the results are mixed. We are used to looking at things through the wrong model. Studying a single anti-oxidant that we isolate from food, like beta-carotene, is completely counter-physiologic.

If fact, it underscores the fundamental lack of knowledge by most doctors about nutrition and the redox system.

We are looking for answers based on the drug model – single drug, a single effect, a measurable outcome. You give a pill for high blood pressure and the blood pressure goes down. Studying oxidative stress is completely different.

First, antioxidants are part of an overall team that controls and manages the excess free radicals we produce. You couldn’t put Michael Jordon on a basketball team by himself and except him to win a championship. Why would we expect that one antioxidant alone could do any benefit? In fact, you could guarantee that Michael Jordon would lose EVERY game if he played by himself.

Second, by definition, any anti-oxidant becomes an oxidant.

In other words, the anti-oxidants work by giving up one electron to neutralize the free radical, and then by definition they become a free radical. They in turn need to be neutralized by another free radical, down a chain like a hot potato, until they are finally neutralized by the mother of all antioxidants, glutathione, which can be recycled and restored.

This is why studies show that beta-carotene can increase cancer, or vitamin C may cause DNA damage. In addition, some of the most powerful antioxidants are not in vitamins and minerals, but in food, such as the proanthocyanidins in grapes and berries.

This provides an important lesson. We should obtain the bulk of our antioxidants from food – namely whole, real, unprocessed plant foods. And we should take antioxidants as a team, not individually.

Whew! That’s a lot of biochemistry and physiology, and I really would go into so much detail if it weren’t so important.

So here’s what to do to protect your mitochondria and prevent rusting.

Here are things to boost and protect your mitochondria:

  • Exercise – interval training increases the efficiency and function of the mitochondria, and strength training increases the amount of muscle and number of mitochondria
  • Eat whole real, colorful plant food – 8-12 servings of fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains every day full of antioxidants and phytonutrients
  • Take mitochondria protective and energy boosting nutrients such as acetyl-L-carnitine, alpha lipoic acid, coenzyme Q10, n-acetyl-cysteine, NADH, D-ribose, resveratrol, magnesium aspartate
  • Increase omega 3 fats to help build your mitochondrial membranes

Taking care of your mitochondria will allow you to increase your energy, lose weight, and age well. It is a cornerstone of creating UltraWellness.

In the next and final lesson, I will explain how important the role of the mind/body, body/mind relationships are for your well-being and health.

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UltraWellness Lesson 5: Detoxification by Dr. Mark Hyman

March 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

N THE LAST LESSON you learned why the digestive system is so important to creating UltraWellness. The next step is learning how to optimize your detoxification system.

The role of toxins and detoxification in health has been largely ignored by medicine. But thankfully scientists and practitioners are starting to recognize its importance in health. But how do you know if you are toxic?

Many of you probably have symptoms of chronic toxicity that you don’t label as being toxic. Here is a list, and if any of these sound familiar, keep in mind that detoxifying might be critical for you to get healthy and feel good again.

  • Fatigue
  • Muscle aches
  • Joint pain
  • Sinus congestion
  • Postnasal drip
  • Excessive sinus problems
  • Headaches
  • Bloating
  • Gas
  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • Foul-smelling stools
  • Heartburn
  • Sleep problems
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Food cravings
  • Water retention
  • Trouble losing weight
  • Rashes
  • Skin problems
  • Eczema
  • Psoriasis
  • Canker sores
  • Acne
  • Puffy, dark circles under your eyes
  • Premenstrual syndrome
  • Other menstrual disorders
  • Bad breath

When you hear the word “detox” you might think drug detox or alcohol detox or wheatgrass enemas. That’s not what I am talking about.

I am referring to the science of how our bodies get rid of waste. If waste builds up, we get sick. And the key is to figure out how to enhance our body’s capacity to detoxify and get rid of waste while minimizing our exposure to toxins.

And why is this important?

It’s because many diseases of our society are actually related to toxicity. Here are some of the diseases that are linked to toxicity:

  • Parkinson’s
  • Alzheimer’s
  • Dementia
  • Heart disease
  • Chronic fatigue syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia syndrome
  • Cancers
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Food allergies
  • Arthritis
  • Digestive diseases, like Crohn’s disease, ulcers, colitis, inflammatory bowel
  • Menstrual problems like heavy bleeding, cramps, PMS, menopausal symptoms, mood changes and hot flashes

It might seem that everyone is toxic. That may be true to differing degrees.

Problems with detoxification is one root of illness. The gut is one of the core systems in the body that must be working well for you to be healthy. If you feel lousy, it’s likely you’re toxic.

If you answer yes to any of these questions you may be toxic.

  • I have hard, difficult to pass movements every day or every other day
  • I am constipated and only go every other day or less often
  • I urinate small amounts of dark, strong smelling urine only a few times a day
  • I almost never break a real sweat
  • I have one or more of the following symptoms: fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, concentration and memory problems
  • I have Fibromyalgia or Chronic fatigue syndrome
  • I drink tap or well water
  • I dry clean my clothes
  • I work or live in a “tight” building with poor ventilation or windows that don’t open
  • I live in a large urban or industrial area
  • I use household or lawn garden chemicals or get my house or apartment treated for bugs by an exterminator
  • I have more than 1-2 mercury amalgams
  • I eat large fish (swordfish, tuna, shark, tilefish) more than once a week
  • I am bothered by one or more of the following: Gasoline or diesel fumes, perfumes, new car smells, fabric stores, dry cleaning, hair spray or other strong odors, soaps, detergents, tobacco smoke, chlorinated water
  • I have a negative reaction when I consume foods containing MSG, sulfites (wine, salad bars, dried fruit), sodium benzoate (preservative), red wine, cheese, bananas or chocolate, even a small amount of alcohol, eating food with garlic and onions
  • When I drink coffee or caffeine containing substances I feel wired up, an increase in joint and muscle aching or have hypoglycemic symptoms (anxiety, palpitations, sweating, dizziness)
  • I regularly consume any of the following substances or medications: acetaminophen (Tylenol), acid blocking drugs (Tagamet, Zantac, Pepcid, Prilosec, Prevacid), hormone modulating medications in pills, patches or creams (the pill, estrogen, progesterone, prostate medication), ibuprofen or naproxen, medications for Colitis or Crohn’s disease, recurrent headaches, allergy symptoms, nausea, diarrhea or indigestion
  • I have had jaundice (turning yellow) for any reason or I have been told I have Gilbert’s syndrome (an elevation of a liver test called bilirubin)
  • I have a history of any of the following conditions: Breast cancer, smoking induced lung cancer, other type of cancer, prostate problems, food allergies, sensitivities or intolerances
  • I have a family history of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or other motor neuron diseases, or multiple sclerosis

It is important to understand why we are toxic and how we can detoxify. I will explain how you can detoxify a little later, but first I want to tell you about where toxins come from and how we are overloaded.

How much toxicity is too much

To understand toxicity you must understand the concept of total load.

This is a total amount of stressors on your system at any one time and what happens like glass filling over with water. It takes a certain amount to fill the glass and then, after a certain point, you put more in and it overflows.

When our detoxification system is overwhelmed, is overloaded, that’s when we start getting symptoms and get sick, but it may take years of accumulated stress and toxins to get to that point.

  • The total load includes the load of things like heavy metals, mercury and lead, petrochemicals, residues, pesticides and fertilizers.
  • It includes food allergies, environmental allergies, molds and toxins from molds.
  • It includes a SAD (standard American diet) diet.
  • It includes stress — the mental, emotional and spiritual toxins that affect us, the isolation, the loneliness, the anger, the jealousy, hostility, which all translate into toxins in our system.
  • Medications can sometimes be toxins. Often we need medications, but the reality is that most of us are over-medicated and use medications for things for which there are better solutions such as lifestyle and diet.
  • Lastly, there are internal toxins, things like bacteria, fungus, yeast, that are inside our gut that may be affecting us, as well as hormonal and metabolic toxins that we need to eliminate.

Now why aren’t we all sick given this incredible load of toxins?

It is because each of us is genetically and biochemically unique. Some of us are good at getting rid of toxins and waste, and others are not. I am not. That is why I developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I became overloaded with mercury and I couldn’t get rid of it because I am missing a gene for GSTM1 – a critical detoxifying enzyme for mercury. But by learning to support my system and learning how to detoxify I was able to cure myself from an incurable condition.

How to detox

There are five key steps to optimal detoxification. Here they are:

  • Identify and Get Rid of Toxins
  • Fix Your Gut – a source of toxic load for many
  • Get Moving – to help your blood and lymphatic circulation do its job
  • Get Your Liver and Detox System Working
  • Detox your mind, heart and spirit

But let me make it more practical for you. I can summarize them into ten basic principles that you can start now.

  1. Drink plenty of clean water, at least eight to ten glasses of filtered water a day.
  2. Keep your bowels moving, at least once or twice a day. And if you can’t get going, then you need some help and this can include taking two tablespoons of ground flax seeds, taking acidophilus and extra magnesium capsules in the form of magnesium citrate. If you have any chronic diseases or problems you have to be careful about taking supplements, you should work with your doctor.
  3. You should also eat organic produce and animal products to eliminate the toxins in our food.
  4. You should eat eight to ten servings of colorful fruits and vegetables and specifically include, every day, the family of the cruciferous vegetables, broccoli, collards, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, as well as the garlic family, garlic and onions, which help increase sulfur in the body and help detoxification.
  5. Avoid stimulants, sedatives and drugs, such as caffeine, nicotine, and try to reduce alcohol intake.
  6. Exercise five days a week with focus on conditioning of your cardiovascular system, strengthening exercises and stretching exercises.
  7. Get rid of the white menace, which is white flour and white sugar.
  8. Sweat profusely at least three times a week, using a sauna, steam or a detox bath.
  9. Take a high-quality multivitamin and mineral.
  10. Relax deeply every day, to get your nervous system in a state of calm, rest and relaxation.

The comprehensive program outlined here will help to correct problems caused by toxicity, maximize your body’s own detoxification capacity, and help you safely eliminate stored toxins.

Depending on your symptoms, genetic predispositions and environmental exposures, you each may need different levels of nutrients and types of treatment. But remember, getting rid of toxins and learning how to optimize your detoxification system is essential for creating UltraWellness.

Next lesson, I will explain why creating energy is something many of us have trouble with and how to boost your energy metabolism!

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UltraWellness Lesson 4: Gut & Digestive Health by Dr. Mark Hyman

February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

IS SOMETHING WRONG with your inner tube? The inner tube of life that is your digestive system? It is likely that you suffer from (or have suffered from) some type of digestive disorder–irritable bowel, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, reflux, gas, and things too gross to mention in print.

And you are not alone. Over 100 million Americans have digestive problems. The number three and seven top selling drugs in America are for digestive problems costing us billions and billions of dollars. There are more than 200 over-the-counter (OTC) remedies for digestive disorders, many of which – most unfortunately – can create additional digestive problems. Visits for intestinal disorders are among the most common to primary care physicians.

And that’s not even the worst news.

Most of us do not recognize or know (including most of your doctors) that digestive problems wreak havoc over your entire body leading to allergies, arthritis, autoimmune disease, rashes, acne, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, autism, dementia, cancer and more.

So having a healthy gut means more to you than just not being annoyed by a little bloating or heartburn! It is central to your entire health. It is connected to everything that happens in your body. That’s why I almost always start helping people treat chronic health problems by fixing their gut. Later I will tell you how to find out if you have a problem with your gut (though many of you won’t need me to tell you – your gut will speak for itself), and how to create a healthy digestive system. First let me explain why is your gut is so important?

Good gut health

The health of your gut determines what nutrients are absorbed and what toxins, allergens and microbes are kept out, and therefore it is directly linked to the health of the total organism. Intestinal health could be defined as the optimal digestion, absorption and assimilation of food. But that is a big job that depends on many other factors. For example, the bugs in your gut are like a rain forest – a diverse and interdependent ecosystem. They must be in balance for you to be healthy.

There are five hundred species and 3 pounds of bacteria in your gut; it’s a huge chemical factory that helps you digest your food, produces vitamins, helps regulate hormones, excrete toxins and produce healing compounds that keep your gut healthy. Too many of the wrong ones like parasites, yeasts or bad bacteria, or not enough of the good ones like lactobacillus or bifidobacteria can lead to serious damage to your health.

Many diseases that seem totally unrelated to the gut, such as eczcema or psoriasis or arthritis, are actually caused by gut problems. By focusing on your gut you can get better.

Your entire immune system (and your body) is protected from the toxic environment in your the gut by a layer only one cell thick. This thin layer covers a surface area the size of a tennis court—yet it’s basically containing a sewer. If that barrier is damaged, you will get sick and create an overactive immune system, producing inflammation throughout the body.

And then there is your second brain, your gut nervous system. Your gut, in fact, contains more neurotransmitters that your brain. It is highly wired back to your brain and messages travel back and forth. When those messages altered for any reason in any direction – from the brain to the gut or the gut to the brain – your health will suffer.

Then, of course, your gut has to get rid of all the toxins produced as a byproduct of your metabolism that your liver dumps in through the bile, and if things get backed up, you will become toxic.

And in the midst of all of this, your gut must break down all the food you eat into its individual components, separate out all the vitamins and minerals and shuttle everything across that one cell thick layer into your bloodstream for you to stay healthy.

Why your gut may be in trouble

Even in perfect world our gut has a hard time keeping things balanced. But in our world there are many things that knock our digestive system off balance.

What are they?

  • Our low fiber, high sugar, processed food, nutrient poor, high calorie diet that makes all the wrong bacteria and yeast grow in the gut leading to a damaged ecosystem.
  • Overuse of medications that damage the gut or block normal digestive function – things like anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, acid blocking drugs, steroids.
  • Chronic low-grade infections or gut imbalances with overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, or yeast overgrowth or parasites, or even more serious gut infections.
  • Toxins damage the gut such as mercury and mold toxins.
  • Lack of adequate digestive enzyme function – which can come from acid blocking medication use, or zinc deficiency.
  • Stress can alter the gut nervous system causing a leaky gut and change the normal bacteria in the gut.

It is so important to understand that many diseases that seem totally unrelated to the gut, such as eczema or psoriasis or arthritis, are actually caused by gut problems. But by focusing on the gut you can get better.

One of my patients who suffered from eczema, a weeping, red, oozing, scaly, itchy rash all over her body, is perfect example of someone who saw doctor after doctor, who was given salves, lotions and potions, steroids and antibiotics and never addressed the underlying cause of her problem. This 57-year old woman had severe, unrelenting eczema for eight years. She ate a high-sugar diet, and had a history of frequent vaginal yeast infections. When I saw her, I checked her gut and found she had a leaky gut; the barrier was not working and she developed 24 IgG food allergies. Her stool had no healthy bacteria and an overgrowth of yeast. She also had very high blood antibodies against yeast.

So I just helped her gut improve by having her stop eating the foods she reacted to, told her to stop feeding the yeast by cutting out sugar and refined carbohydrates (which they thrive on) and killing the yeast in her gut with antifungal medications and herbs. Then I put back in healthy bacteria, and healing gut nutrients. Her eczema disappeared for the first time in eight years and stayed away!

How to get gut health

So how do you keep your gut healthy?

  • Eat whole unprocessed foods with plenty of fiber: vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Eat real food, mostly plants, as Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore’s Dilemma, so simply put it.
  • If you think you have food sensitivities try an elimination diet. Cut out gluten, dairy, yeast, corn, soy and eggs for a week or two and see how your gut feels and what happens to your other symptoms.
  • Treat any infections or overgrowth of bugs like parasites, small bowel bacteria or yeasts.
  • Take digestive enzymes with your food.
  • Take probiotics, healthy bacteria for your ecosystem.
  • Take extra omega 3 fat supplements, which help cool inflammation in the gut.
  • Use gut-healing nutrients such as glutamine and zinc.

If you want to be healthy, you have to get your gut working properly. And next, I will help you understand why we are all so toxic–and why learning to detoxify is central to creating UltraWellness.

REFERENCES
1. Macdonald TT, Monteleone G. Immunity, inflammation, and allergy in the gut. Science. 2005 Mar 25;307(5717):1920-5. Review. Kalliomaki M, Salminen S, Arvilommi H, Kero P, Koskinen P, Isolauri E. Probiotics in primary prevention of atopic disease: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2001 Apr 7;357(9262):1076-9. 2. Backhed F, Ley RE, Sonnenburg JL, Peterson DA, Gordon JI. Host-bacterial mutualism in the human intestine. Science. 2005 Mar 25;307(5717):1915-20. Review 3. Sicherer SH.Food allergy. Lancet. 2002 Aug 31;360(9334):701-10. Review. 4. Isolauri E, Rautava S, Kalliomaki M. Food allergy in irritable bowel syndrome: new facts and old fallacies Gut. 2004 Oct;53(10):1391-3. 5. Atkinson W, Sheldon TA, Shaath N, Whorwell PJ. Food elimination based on IgG antibodies in irritable bowel syndrome: a randomised controlled trial. Gut. 2004 Oct;53(10):1459-64. 6. Farrell R. J., Kelly C. P. Farrell R. J., Kelly C. P. Current Concepts: Celiac Sprue. N Engl J Med 2002; 346:180-188, Jan 17, 2002. 7. Bourlioux P, Koletzko B, Guarner F, Braesco V.The intestine and its microflora are partners for the protection of the host: report on the Danone Symposium “The Intelligent Intestine,” held in Paris, June 14, 2002. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Oct;78(4):675-83 8. Gershon, Michael, The Second Brain, Perennial Currents, 1999 9. Duggan C, Gannon J, Walker WA. Protective nutrients and functional foods for the gastrointestinal tract. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 May;75(5):789-808. 10. Kalliomaki, M. Probiotics in primary prevention of atopic disease: a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2001;357:1076-79 11. Lin HC. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: a framework for understanding irritable bowel syndrome. JAMA. 2004 Aug 18;292(7):852-8.

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“When Yoga Hurts” New York Times: 4,450 reported injuries from Yoga ” Advice: Combine Yoga with Strength Movements by Michael Gonzalez-Wallace

February 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
July 26, 2010
When Yoga Hurts

Please read this exceptional article published in The New York Times, “When Yoga hurts”. Yoga is a phenomenal physical exercise program and contributes to a better health as long as you combine it with conditioning strength training programs. Practicing Yoga alone it can really increase your risk for injury. According to the article, the recent estimates of Yoga Injuries are at a record high with 4,450 in 2006 from 3,760 in 2004. This estimates are provided by United States Product Safety Commission.

Plyometrics and Impact exercise contributes to severe injury also for those ones without an athletic background.  Strength Conditioning Training is a perfect way of decreasing your risk for injury. In my Upcoming Book, Super Body, Super Brain, i will provide specific strength training conditioning programs that you could include to your routine and make sure you avoid injuries and develop a powerful  body and a sharper brain.

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UltraWellness Lesson 3: Hormones & Neurotransmitters by Dr. Mark Hyman

February 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

HOW DO YOU FEEL today? Seriously, how do you really feel on various scores like this:

  • Does your mood and energy level swing up and down?
  • Do you crave sugar or salt?
  • Are you overweight and putting on more and more belly fat?
  • If you are a woman do you have premenstrual syndrome, painful or heavy periods and low sex drive?
  • Are you depressed?
  • Do you sleep poorly?
  • Do you feel tired but wired?
  • Do you have to live on coffee in the morning and a few glasses of wine at night just to wake up and calm down every day?

If you do, you are not alone. In fact this is how most Americans feel because we are living out of harmony with our natural biological rhythms. The reason is this: two kinds of small molecules in our body, which we depend on to keep us in balance, are running haywire.

They are hormones (messenger molecules of our endocrine systems) and neurotransmitters (messenger molecules of our brains and nervous systems). Both are involved in almost every function of the body in one way or another, and both are critical to our well being. Understand how–and why–these systems get out of balance and you will go a long way toward understanding why Americans run around tired, depressed, and overweight!

First let me review how they work and why so many of you may feel miserable. In fact, it’s such a big subject that my book, The UltraMind Solution is devoted to this: how our body affects our mind and our mind affects our bodies.

It is not a genetic defect or a mistake by God. We have strayed from eating in harmony with our genes. In other words, we do not fit into our genes.

All of our hormones and brain messenger chemicals work together in a symphony. The command center for our endocrine glands is in our brain – the hypothalamus and pituitary glands – and they send signals to distant parts of the body to control everything from our stress response through our adrenal glands to our blood sugar balance through our pancreas to our thyroid hormone via our thyroid gland to our sexual behavior and function through our reproductive organs. They also control growth, sleep, mood and much more. They must work together harmoniously to keep everything in balance.

The brain chemicals or neurotransmitters send messages throughout the body to every cell, organ and tissue helping you do everything from move your arm to feel happy or sad.

Then there are the three big epidemics of hormonal problems in American today: too much insulin (from sugar), too much cortisol and adrenalin (from stress), and not enough thyroid. While I will cover all of these, right now I want to focus on the biggest one, too much insulin.

Insulin resistance

Let me tell you about a man who came to me. His story may be all too familiar to you but it has a happy ending and yours can too. James was a 46-year old Wall Street executive who came to me for a cardiac stress test. He was a hard driving, don’t-look-up type of guy who was convinced that he was dying of heart disease.

Every day, sometime in the late afternoon, he would experience the sudden onset of sweating, a racing heart, anxiety, shortness of breath; in other words, he thought he was going to die!

He was thick around the middle and after listening to his story and taking one look at him, I said, “You don’t eat breakfast do you?”

“And you feel tired after eating, which is why you skip food during the day – to keep sharp for work, and when you feel like that you go for the vending machine or a soda and get a quick sugar fix and in a few minutes you feel better.”

Shocked, he said, “How did you know?”

I explained to him that he was fighting with his genes and was insulin resistant, leading to wide swings in blood sugar. Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) was responsible for his symptoms. In other words, his hormones were severely out of balance. He couldn’t control his metabolism of carbohydrates because of too much insulin so his blood sugar was out of balance, leading to all his symptoms and taking him down the slippery road toward high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, cancer, brain aging, dementia and more.

He is not alone.

Eighty-million Americans suffer from this condition we call insulin resistance. It affects many varieties of people and is not exactly the same in everyone, but the ultimate consequences can be similar. Most afflicted have extra fat around the middle (check your waist to hip ratio – a measurement around your belly button divided by the measurement around the hips – if it is greater than 0.8 you likely have insulin resistance). You may be tall or thin, short or fat or any combination and still have insulin resistance.

The only sure way to know is with an insulin response test (measuring blood sugar and insulin fasting and one and two hours after a 75-gram sugar drink).

It is not a genetic defect, an error in our development, or a mistake by God. The simple fact is, we have strayed from eating in harmony with our genes. In other words, we do not fit into our genes. Historically we ate the equivalent of only 20 teaspoons of sugar a year as a hunter/gatherer species, now we eat 150lbs per year per person, or about 1/2 pound each day. The average school kid has 34 teaspoons of sugar a day.

My goal is to make your metabolism more efficient, to make your cells more intelligent and cooperative, not resistant.

We evolved in a world without super grocery stores, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants. We had to work for our food and had limited access to refined foods or excess calories. In fact, our genes are pre-agricultural. We only started farming 10,000 years ago and only started refining flour about 200 years ago with the advent of the steam engine-powered flourmill.

Then came the advent of 15,000 “low-fat” foods on the market over the last 15-20 years. With the help of these high-sugar, high-calorie foods we’ve created an epidemic of increasing obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The scientific foundation for the low-fat movement was shaky from the start. Madison Avenue got ahead of medical science to the detriment of us all.

Dangers of too much insulin

Our bodies normally produce insulin in response to food in our stomach, particularly sugar.

We once thought that insulin’s only role was to help sugar enter the cells to be metabolized, combining stored energy with oxygen and creating the energy we use every day to run our bodies. Now we recognize insulin as a major switching station, or control hormone, for many processes. It is a major storage hormone – fat storage that is.

Here is what too much insulin really does to your body and health:

  • Try as you may, as long as your insulin levels are high you will fight a losing battle for weight loss. It acts on your brain to increase appetite and specifically an appetite for sugar.
  • It increases LDL cholesterol, lowers HDL cholesterol, raises triglycerides and increases your blood pressure. Insulin resistance causes 50% of all reported cases of high blood pressure.
  • It makes your blood sticky and more likely to clot, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
  • It stimulates the growth of cancer cells.
  • It increases inflammation and oxidative stress and ages your brain.
  • It even increases homocysteine because sugar consumption decreases B6 and folate.
  • It also causes sex hormone problems and can lead to infertility, hair growth where you don’t want it, hair loss where you don’t want to lose it, acne, and low testosterone in men and more. It also leads to mood disturbances.

How to control insulin

Balancing blood sugar and correcting insulin resistance is well within our reach. Scientific advances of the last few decades point the way to managing this. While there are some new medications that can help such as Glucophage, Avandia and Actos, they have side effects and are only a band-aid unless used with a comprehensive nutritional, exercise and stress management plan I describe in a moment.

My goal is to make your metabolism more efficient, to make your cells more intelligent and cooperative, not resistant. In other words, you will need much less insulin to accomplish the task of balancing your blood sugar.

While I want to tell you how to balance your stress hormones, thyroid function and all your sex hormones, and all your brain and mood chemicals that will take a few more lessons! For now I want to show you how you can reset your metabolism of sugar and insulin by stopping the things that knock you off balance, and providing the things that put you balance in balance allowing you to thrive.

Here is what to do:

  • Stop eating flour and sugar products, especially high fructose corn syrup.
  • Don’t have liquid calories – your body doesn’t feel full from them so you eat more all day!
  • Stop all processed, junk or packaged foods. If it doesn’t look like the food your great-great-great grandmother ate, then stay away.
  • Stop eating trans or hydrogenated fats.
  • Slow the rate of sugar uptake from the gut through balancing your meals (low glycemic load) with healthy protein (nuts, seeds, beans, small wild fish, organic chicken), healthy carbs (vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains) and healthy fats (olive oil, nuts and seeds, avocadoes, fish oil)
  • Rough it up: eat plenty of soluble fiber (30-50 grams a day)
  • Eat smaller more frequent meals
  • Get an oil change: Make your cells smarter by giving them an oil change with omega-3 fats, fixing the cell membranes so that they can more readily receive the messages from insulin.
  • Move your body: exercise improves your cells ability to work better, respond to insulin better and burn sugar faster.
  • Relax! Stress reduction also helps improved blood sugar control.
  • Make your cells smarter through increasing specific nutrients such as chromium, vanadium, magnesium, vitamin E, biotin, the B vitamins, zinc, bioflavinoids and some newer compounds including alpha lipoic acid, arginine, and carnitine.
  • Herbs may also be of benefit including Panax ginseng, ginkgo biloba, green tea, fenugreek and gymnena sylvestre, bitter melon and garlic.

Just balancing this one hormone, insulin, can have wide-ranging effects on all your other hormones and brain chemicals so just start there.

But UltraWellness is something you don’t have to wait for so read on. In the next lesson I explain why your gut is the foundation for your health.

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Sometimes you need more than a second opinion. You need a different type of doctor altogether by Carol Bilich

February 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

My son has complained about foot pain since the time he began to speak. The pain isn’t constant but it is consistent. Walking long distances and heavy impact activities are a challenge if not an impossibility. As a manual therapist, I had worked with him religiously and we visited with our pediatrician many times over the years but he found nothing remarkable or concerning other than flat feet. He did and still does have complete flexibility, range of motion and use of his feet. The only extraordinary note is that he has some hyper mobility and popping in the joint of his left ankle. The pediatrician suggested seeing a podiatrist who remarkably diagnosed him with flat feet!!! He suggested custom orthotics which my son got and used. When he turned 13, however, the pain began to change. His left ankle was much more painful than usual. So I made an appointment with an orthopedist I knew and trusted to get more details.

The doctor ordered a CT scan of both of my son’s feet and upon review he felt we should see a foot and ankle specialist. The specialist took one quick look at the CT scan and said to me in private that he had osteoarthritis and “you’re gonna want me to reconstruct that foot.” I’ll spare you the details of what that meant but I will tell you it was a shock. I asked him not to tell my young son what his plan was but he bolted in the exam room and flippantly told him. My son’s face went white and his eyes grew wide with fear. I got him out of there as quickly as possible, calmed his fears and began the search for a second opinion.

The second orthopedist we saw was just as blunt though apologetic about it. He ordered an MRI and decided that not only did my son need to have his entire foot reconstructed (and they needed a piece of his hip to do that) but that he would need an ankle replacement as well. Again, I’ll spare you the details of the procedure. He couldn’t give us any idea if surgery would make a difference in the level of pain at all or even if the outcome would be positive. He did tell us how hard the surgery and recovery would be and that my son would need an ankle replacement every 20 years. ( He neglected to tell me that ankle replacement surgery has only been used for two years and that there is no way he could know if it would even last that long.) I asked him about numerous alternatives all of which he shot down without hesitation. While he was bluntly kind, I felt he was pushing us in a direction that seemed too limited, with too many variables, precarious outcomes and without any other options.

Again, I had to calm my son’s fears and let him know that in my gut, I knew there was a better way but that we just hadn’t found it yet. He said he was scared because two doctors had similar ideas. I let him know that just because two doctors had similar opinions; it didn’t mean they were right. They were just two doctors who are people with opinions. Medicine isn’t an exact science and that’s why they are called opinions. There are literally thousands of doctors out there who might have other opinions and ideas: better ideas for us. We just had to find one.

I knew that if I expected to get other options, I had to go to doctors who did more than cut. I also realized that while both doctors are good and gave me very valuable information, the chemistry just wasn’t right.  And so, the search for the “right doctor” was on and as soon as I realized what I needed I found him. In fact, I found more than one! We are seeing two doctors. One is here in Austin and the other is in Dallas and their specialties include regenerative and non surgical orthopedic medicines.

I opted for second opinions because I felt the doctors we had seen, as good as they are and I do think they are good, they weren’t the right fit for us. The goal was to help me find alternatives and make an informed decision and I hadn’t yet felt informed enough. The choices they left me with were radical in my mind and the outcomes were precarious. My son isn’t in a life threatening situation but if we opted for the surgery it would certainly be life changing. We have the time to really learn about his situation and make thoughtful decisions for him and so that is what we are doing.

If you are wondering if you should seek a second opinion for any reason, you’ve already answered your question. If you want one because you are concerned about a doctor’s proposed treatment or if you have a particularly complex situation, the answer is definitely yes! Whatever doctor you choose, he/she will be able to walk away from you and your issues but you can’t do the same. I encourage you to feel empowered and to question decisions that are being made on your behalf because no one cares more about your health than you do. You have the right and deserve to know what all of your options are and what will work best for you. Sometimes you just have to look for a different type of doctor. Returning to the same type of doctor/specialist will more than likely give you the same type of answers so if you are looking for alternatives, it’s a good idea to look for doctors who can provide them.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you are thinking of getting a second opinion, I invite you to read my article on Getting the Care You Need: A Primer on Getting Second Opinions.

Your Partner in Health,
Carol

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Getting the Care You Need: A Primer on Getting Second Opinions

February 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Caring and committed they may be but sometimes doctors lack the interpersonal skills needed to really help you understand and feel comfortable about your health concerns and confident about treatment options. For your part, you may be hesitant to ask all of your questions for fear of looking naïve or stupid or even taking up too much of the doctor’s time.

If you are worried about getting a second opinion for any of the reasons listed above or because you think that your doctor will be offended, relax. Doctors today recognize the value of second opinions and the really good ones will actually encourage you to seek them out. Whether you get the same or a different diagnosis it’s worth your time to put your mind at ease and to be confident that the decisions you make regarding your health are based on all the available options.

Here is a plan for getting the best available care:

First and foremost, remember that you are the person most interested in your health and that you are the most important source of information and communication for your doctor. Remember too that coping and understanding everything you need to know while ill can be difficult. If you are unable to fully communicate your concerns and understand your options, take along  family member, friend or advocate to help you.

Okay, so let’s say you’ve seen a doctor/specialist. Did he answer all your questions to your satisfaction? Are you comfortable with the diagnosis and treatment plan? Has he treated this illness before and what’s his rate of success? Are you comfortable with him? If your answer is yes to all the above and you are fully aware of all your options you might decide to get the treatment. If not, you might consider doing some research on your diagnosis and returning for a follow up visit with the same doctor to ask questions and discuss any concerns you have. Be sure to ask about all your options.

If at the follow up visit you are satisfied you might consider treatment. If not, consider asking your primary care doctor or friends who’ve had similar procedures to recommend another doctor for a second opinion. It’s always a good idea to discuss your concerns with your primary care doctor so he knows what you are dealing with and so he can suggest a doctor that will better fit your needs. Be sure to get a copy of all your medical records, scans and tests for the new doctor.

Alright, so now you’ve seen the second doctor. Ask yourself all the questions you did of the first doctor. Did he suggest the same diagnosis? The same treatment? If yes, consider the treatment and choose the doctor with whom you are most comfortable and who is most qualified to meet all of your needs. If the new doctor suggests a different diagnosis or treatment then you have more research to do. After that you will need to decide which treatment you feel most comfortable with or if you need another opinion altogether. If you need help deciding, you can always go back to your primary care doctor for help.

Something truly important to understand in any health situation is that the quality of the relationship between you and your doctor or any health care provider can be reflected in the quality of your care or experience with them. The medications and technologies used to help you cure your ailments are always secondary to face time and chemistry with the doctor. The two of you really need to communicate well and create a plan together for your health as partners. Spend the time looking for doctors who are good matches for you as well as good diagnosticians: ones you can look in the eye and feel confident with. It may take time but I promise it will be time worth spent.

Cool Fact: Now you can get a second opinion from some of the country’s top ranked doctors without leaving the comfort of your home. That’s right. Several hospitals across the nation including the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins offer remote second opinions. Costs average from $500-$1500 depending on the number of tests, scans and other material that needs to be interpreted. Patients typically get their second opinions in about two week’s time.

A few more things: I’ve not had a chance to fully review the book YOU: The Smart Patient: An Insider’s Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment but it looks like a good one to check out. I also liked  The Savvy Patient Website by Dr. Mark Pettus There is a lot of really great information and he too has a book called, surprise, The Savvy Patient.

Last but not least, I invite you to read my follow up to this article. Sometimes you need more than a second opinion. You need a different type of doctor altogether.

Your Partner in Health,

Carol

Filed Under: Carol’s Corner Tagged With: , ,

Designing the perfect brain-muscle movement by Michael Gonzalez-Wallace

February 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
January 26, 2011

I still remember those early days when I was seeing how my clients were not focusing. Although those days may sound fun to you i hit a bottom since I am always committed to absolutely giving my best. I remember training Mark at his Upper West side apartment. Mark “do a bicep curl” and the yawning will start, why? The movements were not sufficiently challenging. So i started thinking of my days practicing basketball. When you play a sport, you are engaged, you are focusing in multi-tasking different muscle movements but also specific motions requiring balance, coordination and strength. So i started asking to myself why not add those principles to the most important physical exercise strength program? “Mark, do a biceps curl while lifting the right leg, then cross the leg behind and simultaneously do an upper back extensions and a semi-sqaut plie”. My client became focused, mentally engaged, happy but also sweaty, his muscles were projecting muscle power and more powerful brain muscle connection. To browse inside my book click here

Components of a perfect movement:

-BALANCE

-COORDINATION

-STRENGTH

-CARDIOVASCULAR

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UltraWellness Lesson 2: Inflammation & Immune Balance by Dr. Mark Hyman

January 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A SIMPLE BLOOD TEST can save your life. It is called C-reactive protein and it measures the degree of hidden inflammation in your body. This is important because almost every modern disease is caused by or affected by hidden inflammation, including heart disease, cancer, obesity, and dementia as well as arthritis, autoimmune disease, allergies, and digestive disorders.

If your immune system and your ability to balance the inflammatory forces in your body are impaired, watch out. You are headed toward illness and premature aging. But addressing the causes of inflammation and learning how to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can lead you to UltraWellness.

In the first lesson, I covered the effects of environmental inputs. Now in this post I will review the causes of inflammation and tell you how to cool it down. But first I want to help you understand more about it.

Everyone who has had a sore throat, a rash, hives, or a sprained ankle knows about inflammation. Those are normal appropriate responses of our defense system to infection or trauma. We need inflammation to survive.

The trouble occurs when that defense system runs out of control, like a rebel army bent on destroying its own country. Most people are familiar with overactive immune responses and too much inflammation in common conditions like allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune disease or asthma. But few people know that hidden inflammation run amok is at the root of all chronic illness: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, dementia, depression, cancer and even autism.

The real concern is not our acute response to injury, infection or insult, but the chronic smoldering inflammation that slowly destroys our organs, our ability for optimal functioning and leads to rapid aging. We may feel healthy, but if this inflammation is raging inside of us, then we have a problem.

As many people die from taking anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen as die every year from asthma or leukemia. Stopping the use of these drugs would be the equivalent to finding a cure for both.

Common treatments such as anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen or aspirin), or steroids like prednisone, though often useful for acute problems, interfere with the body’s own immune response and lead inevitably to serious and deadly side effects. As many people die from taking anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen as die every year from asthma or leukemia. Stopping the use of these drugs would be the equivalent to finding a cure for both.

So what is the best way to control inflammation while we’re still upstream? First, identify the triggers and causes of inflammation, and then help the body’s natural immune balance reset by providing the right conditions for it to thrive.

What causes inflammation?

If inflammation and immune imbalances are at the root of most of modern disease, how do we find the causes and get the body back in balance? Thankfully the list of things that cause inflammation is relatively short:

  • Poor diet: mostly sugar, refined flours, processed food and inflammatory fats such as trans and saturated fats
  • Lack of exercise
  • Stress
  • Hidden or chronic infections with viruses, bacteria, yeasts or parasites
  • Hidden allergens from food or the environment
  • Toxins such as mercury and pesticides
  • Mold toxins and allergens

My job is to find those inflammatory factors unique to each person, to see how various lifestyle, environment or infectious factors spin the immune system out of control leading to a host of chronic illnesses. Carefully listening to a person’s story and a few specific tests help me find the cause in most people.

It is important to understand that this concept of inflammation is not specific to any one organ or medical specialty. In fact, if you read a medical journal from any of the specialties you will find endless articles about how inflammation is at the root of problem.

The issue is the lack of communication between specialties. Everyone is treating the downstream effects of inflammation, instead of addressing the cause: multiple problems that are really linked together by inflammation. Take for example, a man who came to see me because he wanted to climb a mountain and asked for my help to get healthy. He was 57-years old and on about 15 medications for about five different inflammatory conditions including high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, colitis, reflux, asthma, and an autoimmune disease of his hair follicles called alopecia.

I asked him how he felt and he said great. I said, I am surprised because I see you are on so many medications. Yes, he said, but everything was very well controlled with the latest medication given by the top specialists he saw in every field: the lung doctor for his asthma, the gastroenterologist for his colitis and reflux, the cardiologist for his high blood pressure, the endocrinologist for his pre-diabetes, the dermatologist for his hair loss.

I asked him with all these top specialists he saw, did anyone ask him why he had five different inflammatory diseases and why his immune system was so pissed off. Was it just bad luck that he “got” all these diseases or was there something connecting all these problems? He looked puzzled and said no.

I then searched for and found the cause of his problems: gluten. He had celiac disease, an autoimmune disease related to eating gluten, the protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt and oats.

Six months later he came back twenty-five pounds lighter. He had regular blood pressure, no asthma, no reflux no more colitis. He said he was having normal bowel movements for the first time in his life. And even his hair was growing back. He was off nearly all his medications.

7 ways to avoiding inflammation

Once you figure out the cause and get rid of it, how do you live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle? Here is what I recommend. It’s disarmingly simple, but an extraordinarily effective way to achieve UltraWellness:

  1. Eat a whole foods, high fiber, plant based diet which is inherently anti-inflammatory. That means unprocessed, unrefined, real food and high in powerful anti-inflammatory plant chemicals called phytonutrients. Nothing full of sugar or trans fats.
  2. Get an oil change. Eat healthy fats from olive oil, nuts, avocados and omega 3 fats from small fish like sardines, herring, sable, and wild salmon.
  3. Exercise. Do I need to say more?
  4. Learn to actively relax to engage your vagus nerve, the powerful nerve that relaxes your whole body and lowers inflammation, by doing yoga, meditation, deep breathing or even taking a hot bath.
  5. If you have food allergies, find out what they are and get stop eating them.
  6. Take probiotics (“good bacteria”) daily to help your digestion to improve the healthy bacteria in your gut, which reduces inflammation. (Look for those that contain 10 billion CFU of bifidobacteria species and lactobacillus species. Choose from reputable brands.)
  7. Take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement which helps reduce inflammation.

Taking a comprehensive approach to inflammation and balancing your immune system will help address one of the most important systems of the body.

In the future we may no longer have specialties like cardiology or neurology or gastroenterology, but new specialists like “inflammaologists”. But by understanding these concepts and core systems, the basis of UltraWellness, you don’t have to wait.

In the next lesson I will cover how out-of-balance hormones make us sick and how to get them back in balance.

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Healing allergies makes me sleepy by Gypsy

January 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Okay, I give up. I’m completely exhausted. Trembling doesn’t seem to have any effect on anyone in the vet’s office or even Carol. They pet me and tell me it’s okay and I’m alright but it’s not okay! I’m scared of, of ….of something! I don’t know what it is that I’m scared of but it’s out there and I have to be ready to, um. Well I have to be ready.

Today I got treated for Cedar and a bunch of other tree allergies. I don’t think it’s working yet because I’m still wheezing but Dr. Huckabee says to give it some more time. She says I have to stay indoors for two hours after a treatment so that I won’t trigger a response from whatever is outside that I’m allergic to. Apparently I have several allergens and for a while my new diet will consist of buffalo, duck and rabbit only. This is all too strange.  After the treatment I was told I couldn’t even go relieve myself.  It didn’t really matter though because I was too tired and needed a nap. I couldn’t wait to get home.

Two strange things happened when we arrived home. First, I was too tired to bark at the workmen who’ve been here all week. And then, something else happened. Seeing my fatigue, Carol took advantage and drugged me with Zyrtec  She was so sweet about it that I didn’t realize it before it was too late. She actually put it in some of my favorite cheese. For mercy sake is there no honesty anymore? Believe me, I gave her the look and she knew she had hurt my feelings. I guess it was a good one because when I woke up about two hours later I found some new treats. Mmm, buffalo is pretty good stuff.

Hey, maybe there is something to this stuff. I feel better. I can actually take a breath.

Sniff, sniff, sniff. What‘s that stuff in the bag over there Carol? Rabbit food? Oy vey! What’s next, nuts and twigs? Sheesh!

Gypsy

Filed Under: Gypsy’s Corner
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