Sinus Infections - A Few Natural Options

Sinus infections are the best, aren't they?  It's so fantastic how you can't hear, can't breathe, and the rhino sitting on your cheekbones feeling is really supreme.  It's almost as good as swimming a 200 fly.  What can you do when you get hit with one of these doozies?  

Well, you can go trip out on pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), whose side effects include fear, anxiety, tremors, hallucinations, dizziness, excitability (I need this.  I need to be MORE excited in general.), and convulsions.  Oooh.  Cool.

Or.  (Yeah, pick the "or".)  You can try a couple of natural remedies.  (Hey, why not?  Better than convulsions and hallucinations?  I mean, unless that is your idea of fun...)  

I think the best remedy is a combination of physical irrigation combined with some herbal and dietary adjustments.  What does that look like?  I am so glad you asked!  

So, let's start with the "physical irrigation" thing.  You've heard of a neti pot, right?  If you go to the large get everything store, you can find it in the drug area.  It is also sold at pharmacies and health food stores.  The one you can find most often is made of blue plastic.  The idea is of Asian and Ayurvedic origin.  The gist of it is that you get some good clean water (not tap water, no really, not tap water - unless you boil it and cool it down), add a little mix of salt and baking soda (making a saline solution), stand over your sink, put one end in your nostril, tilt your head and watch as water magically flows out of your other nostril like you are a human waterfall. It. is. great.  

At first, I was moderately terrified of this, as being a swimmer and thinking of water going up my nose was not really the experience I was looking forward to.  But I pulled up the big girl panties and man-ed up.  It was totes no bigs.  If you do it without saline in it, you might want to kill yourself, but if you go with the mix, you're good to go.  I did have the packets of stuff at first that came with the blue plastic neti pot, but I recently ran out and opted instead to just make it (since it was bedtime and easier for me to do at the time).  

You need: salt and baking soda.  If you have a mortar and pestle, that's even better.  The ratio is as follows: 1/3 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons of baking soda.  Mix them together, mortar and pestle to your heart's delight (when it is all powdery small, it dissolves faster).  Use 1/2 teaspoon in 8 ounces (1 cup) of warm, clean water.  A note on the plastic neti-pot.  If it's all you've got, go for it, it's better than nothing.  If you have any other choice, think about warm BPA shooting up your brain and pick stainless steel or ceramic instead.  I got mine online here  if you care.  No, I don't get anything if you order from them.  I'm just letting you know.  I usually use my neti-pot at night before bed, and then I put a few drops of peppermint essential oil on the palms of my hands, rub them together, and inhale like a beast.  It clears me up, and no drainage sore throat in the morning.  
 

Do you like my cape? In a rosebush?

The herbal way to attack a sinus infection is by using the hero of the natural world - turmeric.  If you don't know about turmeric, you betta ask somebody!  This little guy comes complete with a cape, fights inflammation, infection, and baddies like nobody's beeswax.  You can gargle with turmeric and some warm water, you can take it in capsules (500 mg - I take one every day), you can mix it with your saline and shoot it up your nose.  No, I'm not kidding.  I haven't tried it, but I have heard of people doing that.  

What's even more crae crae than that is shooting cayenne pepper up your nose.  Honestly, I'm not going to do that and I don't care how organic and great it is, but if you weren't aware and were extremely desperate, you could try it.  Otherwise, people use apple cider vinegar to reduce their boogery-ness (it's a medical term, I know).  It is an immunity booster that can help you overall.  You can take shots of it in water or (do you see a theme?) you can shoot it up your nose with some saline.  I also use something called Muco-stop.  It is a combination of enzymes that will basically digest the mucus and get rid of it that way.  When taking enzymes for this reason, you have to take it two hours after a meal and one hour before.  

Regarding dietary changes, as with any illness, avoid sugar and sweets like the plague.  Those little bacteria and viruses thrive and multiply on sugar.  Handing them sugar is like giving their army a tank and a million bazookas and having them multiply exponentially.  Eat real food.  Give your good guys the guns they need by eating the pungent, stinky things of this world like garlic (whole roasted cloves, yes, please), onions, ginger, and horseradish.  (You could take a shot of fire cider, too.  That stuff will scare anything out of you.)  Drink your kombucha while you're at it.  Probiotics in your gut are the stuff your immune system longs for.  

And get better soon.  

Peace, love, and nose waterfalls, 
Ms. Daisy

My natural medicine cabinet: muscle aches, ovarian cysts, parasites

This week I've been talking about the contents of my natural medicine cabinet.  If you've ever wondered about how to deal with a cold, the flu, a sore throat, or a headache in a more liver-friendly way, take a look at the previous posts.  

Natural Medicine Cabinet: Part 1
Natural Medicine Cabinet: Part 2

Today kind of covers some issues that are a little different: muscle aches, ovarian cysts, and parasites.  Yummy.  

Let's start with muscle aches.  If you have done something insane a la weekend warrior, or you thought you were 21 when you are really near double that (or more), you may end up spending a few days walking like an old grumpy hunchback who feels the pain of age at every foot fall.  

What to do!  No, not Bengay.  No, not even Icy Hot.  May I recommend the arnica sprays/gels/tablets?  Arnica is crazy awesomesauce when it comes to dissolving the pain of sore muscles.  I have used Traumeel (gel and tablets), and the gel is crazy good.  There is also Magnesium oil (plus arnica), but for some people they initially feel a stinging sensation.  It doesn't last, though, and only some people get it, so don't be too scared.  The Traumeel (as you can see on the box) is counteracted by peppermint, so if you're using Dr. Bronners peppermint castile soap (which you TOTALLY should be!), you'll have to switch to lavender or something for the duration.  Same for your toothpaste and whatever you have that has peppermint in it.  One of my littles had a sledding accident and had a back injury - the Traumeel gave instant relief (and yes, we did go to the emergency room in case you thought I just slathered on some Traumeel and crossed my fingers).  

As I've said before, I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, nor am I approved by the FDA (F-duh), so seek professional medical attention when you need it.  (Oh how I love you, you litigious society!)

Okay, getting a little bit less common: ovarian cysts.  
 

Also helpful: DIM

I mean, at least 50% of the population cannot possibly have this problem, so I have to categorize it as such.  About four months after giving birth to an early stillborn baby, I had some issues in my ovaries.  It felt like sharp-toothed rats with knives and swords were living in my ovaries and trying to murder me from the inside out.  Perhaps it was because of a crazy hormone imbalance, but that's what was going on.  I was sad because I was certain that I was dying of cancer - first a dead baby, now a dead me.  Come ON, life!  Can't you give me a break?  

After suffering for a few months, I decided to go to the doctor's office and get an ultrasound to face my fate.  The poor ultrasound technician was ironically the same person who had to run out of the room at my 20 week appointment (six months earlier) to get the doctor and midwife to tell me that there was no heartbeat in my unborn son, so she was NOT TOO EXCITED to see me again, horrified at what news she'd have to tell me now.  Because she remembered me and felt sorry for me, I think she tolerated my questions a bit more than  she would have otherwise.  She scanned my ovaries and I saw some weird stuff (I figured it was giant cancerous tumors and I better spiffy up my last will and testament), so I asked her point blank if she knew what that was, if it was totally abnormal and I was going to probably hear really bad news.  She admitted she was not really allowed to tell me anything and she was not a doctor, but she was pretty sure it was just some regular cysts, even though there were like eighty million of them.  The doctor called and confirmed that I was not going to die anytime soon (thank you very much).  This did not help me in the department of 30-60 stabbing pains an hour for 4 months, though.  I couldn't bend or move (or breathe or walk) without feeling horrible stabbing pains that would at times cause me to become momentarily paralyzed.  

But now that I knew what they were, I could attack them.  Honestly, I didn't know where to start, but I started reading.  The most helpful and specific information came to me through a website run by RNs, doulas, and others in the medical field who have a penchant for natural treatments.  (Find them here)  I did Wobenzym, DIM, and maca root.  They have other suggestions like a castor oil flannel pack (I've heard good results about that).  The link provides dosages and you can figure out exactly what you should take throughout the day.  I believe they also offer a service for private one-on-one counseling if you have specific questions and concerns and would like someone to follow you through your issue.

After a week, I realized the stabbings were decreasing significantly.  After two weeks, it was even less.  After a month, I was down to only about one pain a day.  After that point, it spread out infrequently and then went away completely.  At that point, I obviously stopped taking the Wobenzym, DIM and maca.  I have not had a problem since then and from later ultrasounds, they have gone away.  Thank you, Jesus.  

Lastly, the parasites.  

Ominous...kill the parasites...

My husband saw some crazy thing online a few years ago and was convinced we were just crawling with parasites, which really grossed me out to the point that I wanted to be sure I wasn't crawling all over inside with some tapeworm the size of my kitchen table. At this point I ran to the health food store and asked what would be a good parasite detox and took it.  I really don't think it was necessary, I didn't see any weird living (or previously living) anacondas coming out of me even after a couple weeks, so I stopped.  But maybe it helped.  I didn't feel any different, however.  But maybe YOU would.  I liked the smell of it, it has clove in it, so I didn't mind taking it (reminder: this is not a good and valid reason to take something medicinally), but I decided I was probably okay and then gave it up.  

Otherwise, you could get one of those zapper things.  Have you heard of them?  It actually works when you have a cold, too!  Strange but true.  It says it works by stimulating your immune system.  That's all I want to say about it, mostly so you don't think me weirder than I am.  

Yeah, like that's possible.  

Peace, love, and get well, 
Ms. Daisy

My natural medicine cabinet: the flu and sore throats

Last time, I offered a peek into the madness that is the medicine cabinet of Ms. Daisy.  Let's sneak on back to see what we can do about some other common maladies we face in this here life of ours.  

The Flu?

If you've got the flu, well, my dear, I am sorry.  That is not fun.  I'm just going to stay waaaay over here while I tell you a few things that might help you feel better and recover faster.  

First off, do you have any Norwex enviro cloths (microfiber with silver in it) around the house?  Get someone to wipe down your surfaces and doorknobs with water and one of those cloths to kill the baddies that are crawling all over the place.  If you haven't got one around, you can get one here.  

Now that we've got the external germ spreading taken care of, let's fix you up.  The Oscillococcinum is great if you can take it right at the onset.  You might save yourself a few barfs.  If you're past that and you can tolerate eating anything, sip some ginger tea for your belly.  Chop up some ginger and steep it in boiling water (I add lemon and honey, too, but do what you want).  If you are manly enough, get one (or as many as you can stand) of those minced bits of ginger in your mouth and mash it up (I'd keep the liquid in while you do so so as not to burn the inside of your mouth off).  Ginger is great for upset stomachs.  If you are not a ginger person, sad for you.  You could do the same with garlic.  Otherwise, I would suggest some kombucha, which will fight the baddies in your guts.  If you don't like kombucha, well, that just means you are obviously the type who runs around with your fingers in the air, skitting about on your tip toes.  What else?  Are you looking at that jar of green mush and wondering what I'm going to suggest next?  Well let me tell you!  That is Bieler broth.  It is basically slightly steamed and blended green beans, zucchini, parsley, and celery.  (Specifics here .) Keep the water with which you steamed the veg to blend.  I add a bit of Celtic sea salt for the magnesium balance (which can get out of whack when you have distributed the contents of your insides into a toilet).  If you can keep anything down, this is a very gentle way to get your vitamins and minerals so you can get better.

What about a sore throat?  

If your sore throat is due to nasal issues, you should be using your neti-pot before you go to bed to kind of clear that out and prevent that issue.  If you have a straight up sore throat (and you're scared you're going to go down the road to strep), then take a look at what natural medicine has to offer you.  My 101 year-old Grandma will tell you just what to do: get a mug, cover the bottom with a thin layer of salt, splash in some vinegar and add water as hot as you can stand.  Gargle that LOVELY mix until it is gone and your sore throat will be exponentially better.  No, it doesn't taste good.  In fact, I plug my nose, but by golly, it works.  Otherwise, if you just start to feel iffy, take a shot of apple cider vinegar.  It has worked really well for me.

If you have something you're worried might be strep (or pink eye), go hit up that Sovereign Silver.  Give it a couple or a few squirts a few times a day (throat or eyeball), cut your sugar to ZERO, and you may find within a few hours to a few days that you are as good as new.  I just read an article about someone using Spanish radishes or something for this same thing, so that might be worth looking into if you have the interest (haven't tried it myself, though).  I have to add (because people are really awesome) that no, I am not a doctor, I do not play one on TV (although I did win best actress in my high school acting class), I am not approved by the FDA (pronounce it F-duh), and I am not a substitute for medical assistance.  But it's worked for me and a bazillion people I know, so take it for what it's worth.  

If you have some other scary infection, you might want to take a look at oregano oil.  That stuff kills nearly everything.  You can do the oregano oil or the Sovereign Silver topically as well as internally, but don't just go drinking the stuff whenever you want in whatever quantity you want.  Read your dosage and research.  Kids can do silver, but cut their dose to at least half of what an adult dose is.  And overdosing on silver will turn your skin permanently blue, so pay attention so you can avoid people continually asking you if you are a superfan of the Avatar movie.  

Remember, fine people, children cannot take all of the same herbal or natural remedies that an adult can.  Just because it is natural does not mean it cannot be toxic.  Do your homework, please and thank you.   

Peace, love, and feel better soon, 
Ms. Daisy

My natural medicine cabinet: headaches and cold remedies

Were you just sitting around the house wondering what is in my natural medicine cabinet?  Oh, I know you were!  Well, good thing I can read minds, because I'm bringing it to you right now.  

If you come over to my house and have some issue, don't expect me to hand out Tylenol, Motrin, Bengay, and Tums.  No way, Jose.  You're going to get to know the alternative in alternative medicine around here.  I have a basic array of things that will deal with the most common things: colds, sore throats, flu, headaches, muscle aches, and a few things that are not very common (like shrinking ovarian cysts and things in case you think you have parasites - yeah, it's a long story, but no, I don't have any).  

When I started reading all of the side effects and about how your liver pretty much hates you when you start downing over the counter (and prescription) meds, I dove in to research what on earth people do besides the usual answers that you can find at Walgreens.  

Today, I present...my herbal and natural medicine cabinet.  

So what's your problem?  

You've got a headache?  First let me ask you how much water you've had today.  Are you dehydrated?  That will give you a rip-roaring headache.  Don't drug it if that's the problem, just go get some water.  If that's not the case, then skip the Motrin or the Excedrin and try one of these: white willow bark or a Petadolex. 

White willow bark is the stuff that Dr. Bayer (of Bayer aspirin fame) used to make his aspirin.  Except you can't patent stuff in nature, so he had to break it down and re-build it to mimic what had worked for a few thousand years: white willow bark.  Otherwise, if you have a migraine, give Petadolex a try.  After I was poisoned at my brother-in-law's rehearsal dinner with who knows what (even though I called and talked to the manager about their ingredients), I had to figure out what I was going to do with the migraine I had on the day of the wedding, especially since I had to do a reading and HELLO, more importantly GET DOWN ON THE DANCE FLOOR.   The accupressure wasn't doing anything, water was not the issue, and I just needed something to make me not want to die.  That was Petadolex.  That stuff is amazing.  It contains butterbur and has no known side-effects or drug interactions.  It saved the day.  And I got to request L.L. Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out, so it was pretty much a perfect wedding.  

What if you have a cold?  

Pobrecito.  You are suffering.  You need to get some sleep, my dear.  And I know you aren't eating any sugar, right?  Wouldn't want to feed those baddies and make yourself feel worse.  No ice cream!  No cookies.  But you may have some homemade bone broth.  Please go take a nap on the couch, I am going to make you a cup of ginger, honey, lemon tea.  Let's fight this thing on all sides.  What can we hit it with?  Glad you asked.  If you are a child, I'm going to give you some Coldcalm (adults can take this too).  It is an herbal mix that will clear up your nose and sore throat.  If you take it soon enough at the onset of a cold, you can kill it entirely.  If you're too far in, well, it can help the symptoms.  If you are an adult and it is very nasal-y, go for either the Fenu-Thyme (that's my favorite - when you sweat the next day you will smell like maple syrup) or the OregaRESP (that's hubby's favorite).  If you are so boogery, you can try the MucoStop too.  If you want to kill something in your sinuses, I love shooting my nose with Sinu-Orega. 

Don't forget to neti-pot (I use a stainless steel one and make sure you have good clean (not tap) water. Don't put bacteria and spores up your brain hole, but if you insist on it, don't blame me for your stupidity.)  Do try to get some rest, though.  And don't be surprised when I make you soup with a bunch of cloves of garlic in it.  When you're sick, it's your responsibility and job to give your body the best and not indulge yourself in whatever your tastebuds whimsically desire.  

The next time around, I'll hook you up with stuff for the flu and sore/strep throats.  In the meantime, I hope you feel better, dahling.  

Peace, love, and tuck your feet in tight under that cozy blanket, 
Ms. Daisy

Don't Get Sick!

'Tis the season for sick to swirl amongst the masses.  With many family gatherings (and you have no idea what "many" is until you've met my peeps) and work parties, and boogery sniffling children at church who sneeze on the people in the pew in front of them - you have quite the chances of exposing yourself to utter plethoras of germy wonders.  Why just last week, I got to hold a small actively barfing child.  It's pretty much everywhere.

Must.  Resist. 

Must.   Stop.  The.  Germs.

But how?

Well, I am not a doctor, although I pretty much pretend that I am, and in fact, at certain points in time I feel that I am at least 70% more awesomer (this grammatical structure is nearly proof of it RIGHT THERE) than doctors, so take my little plan of wonders however you want to take it.

But I digress.

Okay, so last week I was exposed to the boogery-est, most coughing in your face offsprings, and as I previously mentioned, as an extra bonus, I got to hold onto a barfing little.   (Please mail all Awesome Mom Awards right this way.)  I was pretty much bathing in germs, wearing them on my clothes, styling my hair with them, pushing them into my eyes and drinking them (tastes great with kombucha and chia seeds).  Now it is okay to occasionally get sick, but it is not okay to get sick when you are supposed to have a weekend of double parties and host twenty something people in your eleven square foot house.  You have to be legit healthy and halfway to crae crae with energy.  I needed all of my faculties and then half of someone else's to pull this off.  No sicky allowed!

What to do?

I pretty much went ballistic with every single immune boosting thing I could possibly think of.  Let me share the list.

I started feeling the tickle thing in the back of my throat and then the weakness and the cold sweaty thing and I "oh no you didn't-ed" right over to my awesome non-pharmaceutical medicine cabinet and started with Cold Calm and a few squirts of Sovereign Silver.  I popped Cold Calm every twenty minutes or so for two hours and I started feeling better - just in time for party #1 with the divas.  I then proceeded to drink boiling water poured over chopped ginger, half a squeezed lemon, and a spoonful of raw honey (which probably wasn't "raw" anymore after I dunked it in that hot of water.  Yeah.).  Now you can't just waste that ginger, you gotta eat those spicy bits.  Down the hatch.  Luckily, my dear sweet friend made a turkey and she had roasted an entire bulb of garlic - so I threw a clove of that down the hatch too.  Breath what?

The next day was filled with organic food sourced vitamin C, homemade chicken broth, more garlic, more ginger and a nap.

I was feeling better and better.  I think I floated over and past the coughing, boogery wonders, and then the feeling in the stomach hit me.

Oh crap.

No-no-no-no-no-no-no to the exponential infinity power.  It was T-minus twenty hours until the party at my house.  Stress + lack of sleep = lowered immune system = I am in trouble.  I was not going to restore loads of energy because there were still a pile of things to do (um, throw self across the floor playing volleyball in a league full of uber-competitive players, for one) and clean the house.  This. Cannot.  Be.  Happening.  WhatamIgonnado?

Don't panic.  Eat a pile of ginger, drink a giant bottle of Kevita coconut kefir, and alternate chugging down the kombucha.  Basically, ingest every probiotic possible.  And pray to God for help.

God helped.

So far, I've made it out okay.  If you ever are starting to feel sick, that is the time that you should boost your immunity, increase your probiotics, and consider it a serious job to get yourself some true nutrition (and see your food as serious instead of for fun - no sugar, just nutrient dense goodies). 

Here's my quick cheat sheet for some suggestions to think about if you come across any of the common winter yucks.

Sore throat:
- Sovereign silver squirts in the throat (Seriously?  You don't have this yet?  Run.)   
- shots of organic apple cider vinegar (with water if ya' ain't manly enough to take it straight) - and then slam down your cup and make a breathy, growly, manly sound while squinting your eyes in a way that may or may not be considered dramatically necessary
- gargle a mixture of hot water, salt, and vinegar
- netipot (stainless steel preferred, let's not BPA the inside of your brains) in case you have nasal drainage, which affects your throat
- up the Vitamin C dose (>1000 mg/daily)
- no sugar in your diet until it's gone (don't give the bad guys bullets)

Stuffy nose:
- netipot (mine is here )
- Sinu-orega nasal spray (HOLY COW this works.)

- sniff at eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils
- no sugar in your diet until it's gone
- homemade chicken broth with onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and celtic grey sea salt

Yucky stomach:
- drink a mazillion ounces of kombucha (this is an approximate dosage)
- alternate with a bazillion ounces of coconut kefir (also approximate)
- chomp up some whole ginger bits
- avoid high fat/dairy or whatever else makes you feel worse
- Bieler broth (steamed green beans, zucchini, parsley and celery with the water it steamed in, dropped in a blender until it is green soup mush)

The best way to float over the sickies is to have a good immune system in the first place.  Keep exercising, eating well, getting enough sleep (>8 hours per night), and having a positive attitude.

In no time at all, you'll be up for secretly (or overtly) racing the other people in the pool and on the sidewalks.

Peace, love, and have some more garlic,
Ms. Daisy

Fire cider

Have you ever heard of fire cider?  Neither had I until something like last night.

I read the ingredients and thought, "Oh wow, that totally sounds like it tastes like dog butt!" (Pardon my French.)  And then my second thought was, "I am pretty sure that is the most powerful combination of germ killers in the entire natural world all in one place.  I am going to make it in case anyone gets sick."

So here I am.  I bought the horseradish root today along with some whole turmeric root, but besides that I had the rest of the ingredients.  I began my experimentation just an hour or so ago.

I had to step away from my culinary processes because my eyes were burning out and tears were involuntarily pouring from my face.  Am I making you want to try this?  I bet!

I think you probably have to have some serious uh...cojones...to try this thing.  I don't think I actually fall into that category, but since I want to, well, ain't no stoppin' me, baby.

So what the heck is in this stuff, you sit by and wonder in bewilderment?  Let me tell you what my version contained and then I'll link you over to the original (and perhaps traditional) recipe. Mountain Rose Herb's fire cider recipe.

I chopped up the following like a wild, sassy, sous chef:

1 insanely wild ginger root the size of my hand
1 long crazy turmeric root that looked like a smallish carrot
8 cloves of garlic (I minced these to near squoosh)
1.5 organic onions (I had a half of one left over, hey, why not toss it in?)
1 piece of horseradish root about 7 inches long and 1" in diameter on its wider side
2 lemons, juiced and then their rinds ripped apart like I was a T-Rex
several shakes of organic dried rosemary (I think of rosemary and instantly the words "woody stalk" come to mind.  Why? Probably the hair dye.)

That totally insane pile of anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-biotic, anti-fungal, anti-bad germ anything all went into a glass jar.  Actually, two.  The jars were not so huge, so I thought it would be more appropriate to split them up.

Then, and only then, did I pour so much organic Braggs apple cider vinegar all over that stink pile that it came to the top.  I put a piece of parchment paper in between the liquid and the jar lid as I'm pretty sure that stuff could eat a hole in your sidewalk if left for enough time.  I shook it up and then took a picture of it.  I think this step is optional, but I bet most people do it.

Now, according to the directions, I'm supposed to shake it daily but keep it in a cool, dry place for a month.  At that point, you strain out the stuff (since the lady at Mountain Rose Herbs said it will start disintegrating) and keep the liquid.  You then pour a whole hot mess of local organic honey into it so that you don't die when you taste it.  Well, she didn't say that part, that was me.

And then, if anyone threatens illness around you, you just grab a teaspoon and your handy dandy fire cider jar and follow after them and they will miraculously get better (either because they are terrified that you will make them sip it or because it will work on them).

So, what do you think?  Totally crazy?  I guess people swear by it.  I'll try anything...once.  Maybe more if it is good.  Check it out below, a famous herbalist who lives in the mountains is going to show you her version of it, if you'd like to see what your eyes couldn't believe someone would concoct in print - here it is on video.

On that note, gonna go shake my fire cider.

Peace, love and are you feeling well today?
Ms. Daisy

Eat Dirt!

Hello, lovelies!  Just so you know, the title isn't an insult or an attack, it's my new crazy idea for you.

I have been reading Dr. Weston A. Price's book on his amazing work (Nutrition and Physical Degeneration).  This book is OFF THE HOOK, YA'LL!

If you aren't familiar with it, here's the basic deal.  Dr. Price was born in 1870 and published his book around 1937.  He was of Welsh origin and was born on a 200 acre farm in Southern Ontario.  He grew up to become a dentist and a researcher.  

The book is written in layperson terms (albeit using very dated language  - you have to just get over it and realize that his common language of the time did not hold the same volume of offensivity as it does today, ex: savages/primitives/calling everyone on earth "Indian", which, by the way, drives me up an insane wall).  An-y-way, he travelled the world in search of native people groups who were sheltered and untouched by current  "modern" diet (white flour, white sugar, refined messes of pretend foods laden with preservatives, etc.).  

His travels led him to the Loetschental Valley in Switzerland (which is my idea of heaven), people of the First Nations in Northern Canada ("Eskimos"), Native Americans, Melanesians, Polynesians, isolated African tribes, Australian Aborigines, Torres Strait Islanders, New Zealand Maori, and the native people of Peru.  Seriously, thank GOODNESS he went when he did.  I don't know if there is anywhere that survives on true traditional diets anymore.  His purpose was to reach people who had not been exposed to the modern diet in order to see what was going on with their teeth (remember, he was a dentist).

What he found was absolutely amazing.  In each case, even though the foods were all different (people living by the sea ate tons of seafood, the Swiss ate the rye they grew and lots of high quality butter and cheese, some African groups ate almost exclusively meat, milk and blood), they had no cases of dental ill-health.  Their teeth were straight, their palates were wide (so that the teeth were able to come in straight), there were no dental caries (cavities) or disease.  

This corresponded to their overall health.  We do hear of this today, but I believe we hear of it in a backward way.   You hear that people who floss and have good oral hygiene are more likely to have good overall health.  I believe that instead of thinking brushing your teeth and flossing are the key to good health, that rather it is proper nutrition that promotes not only good dental health, but also the production of overall health to your entire body.  I do believe you ought to be brushing and flossing, but I think your whole body will respond to proper nutrition, including your teeth.

Now, to the dirt.  In the "Practical Application of Primitive Wisdom" section, Dr. Price talks about how "primitive" treatment suggested that allergies be cured (and prevented!) by the use of kaolin clay.


I decided to be a bit of an adventurer here.  I have some bentonite clay (Redmond brand - a brand that is for internal and external use).  I usually use the bentonite clay in my homemade deodorant recipe and for facial masks (when I think of it, which is about once a year).  I have been having allergy sniffles for about 3 or 4 weeks and I thought, HEY, what the heck, what if I tried this?  So I did.  I totally ate dirt, ya'll.  (I mixed it with water, shook it like I was shakin' what my mama gave me and threw it down the hatch.  1/2 teaspoon of clay with about 6 oz. of water, in case you wanted to know the exact amount of craziness I participated in.)

I only have done it once so far, so I don't know if I'm quite cured yet, but I'll let you know.  So this spurred me on to check out other uses of bentonite clay.

It is crazysauce the amount of things bentonite clay can do for you!

You probably know that you can help your bee stings and bug bites by making a paste of baking soda and water.  Let me tell you, lovie, that ain't got nothing on bentonite clay.  

I was excited (and disturbed) to find that my dear hubby had some poison ivy so I could try out my new concoction.  (Same day as my eating dirt experiment - the joy!)  I made a paste and told him to slather it on in a thick and crazy way (I'm pretty sure if I were a physician, that's how I'd put it on the prescription label for instructive purposes).  We put it on around dinner time and I told him to just keep it on for as long as he could stand it.  I am not sure, but I think he either washed it off right before bed or slept with it on his wrist all night, so it was on for a while.

Dudes, I am telling you what.  He woke up this morning and there was NOTHING THERE.  I don't know if this is normal or if we are just special, but the itch stopped and there isn't any red on his wrist.  He was freaking out more than I was.  I smiled, gave him a pat on the head and said something like, "Stick with me, kid.  You'll be all right." Secretly I was cheering and clapping in my head.

Bentonite clay works by being an adsorbent.  Yes, I'm not dyslexic, I said aDsorbent, not absorbent.  It has a crazy property of grabbing toxins and delivering them to your excretory system (like my beloved kombucha!).  I am supposing that the allergic stuff got sucked out through his pores.  Or magic.  Either one.

But the myriads of uses for such clays are prolific and multitudinous!  Just listen to this.

Externally:
- stops itching from insect bites, poison ivy, chicken pox
- gets rid of ZITS!
- soothes eczema, burns, psoriasis and MRSA (some people say it cured their MRSA when nothing else worked)
- fabulous face mask-ization
- cures diaper rash
- calms and cures mastitis
- use in a bath for detoxification and softening skin
- use as an ingredient in your homemade deodorant!  ;)

Internally:
- oral health: you can use it to brush your teeth (I don't know if you should consider this as internal or external, it's sort of in between)
- oral health: you can use it with water as a mouth rinse - some people swear it helps remineralize your teeth (I prefer Standard Process' Bio-Dent, personally.)
- some people take 1/2 teaspoon in the morning with water to help with morning sickness during pregnancy.  Ask your midwife or OB/GYN, first, though just to make sure it is okay for you.
- 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon in a cup of water for digestive aid and detoxification
- some people use it for alternative cancer treatment
- reduction of the effects of radiation

There are piles more of anecdotal cures that you could resesarch if you have the passion to do so.  I thought it was rather exciting enough stuff to share with all of you, anyway.

Peace, love and go get some dirt (NOT FROM YOUR BACK YARD, which, by the way, is what my hubby thought I did at first when I said I ate clay),
Ms. Daisy

1 gallbladder + 2 gallstones = surgery? Part 2

This is Part 2.  If you missed Part 1, please go here.

So after I nearly exploded from the irreprehensible behavior and carelessness of the surgeon, Dr. Stupidpants, I took a deep breath and got ready for the other end of the spectrum - a naturopath.

Have you ever seen a naturopath?  Rather, have you ever gone to a naturopath for health matters?  If you said no, well, I think you ought to try it.

Here's the thing.  You know how doctors now actually have no idea what is the original cause of your problem and they just want to give you prescription drugs to mask your symptoms?  Yeah, naturopaths don't do that.  They try to find out the source of what's wrong in your body and actually FIX it.  So weird, right?  I know.  It's like the hard work of being a detective and finding out what is wrong with individual people has gone by the wayside (isn't that a great phrase?  "The wayside".  Wow.  I bet there are whole piles of things on that wayside by all the talk I hear with that phrase!) and in its place we see roulette wheels of multicolored prescription pills.

When the prescriptions screw you up, you can get another prescription to fix the symptoms that were caused from trying to mask the original symptoms.  Wow.  It makes so much sense, doesn't it?

Yeaaah.

Anyway, back to the naturopath.  Some naturopaths do weird things, unconventional things...and these weird things strangely work.

For example.  Okay, you know how everything in the whole earth has some charge on it (positive, negative or neutral...is neutral considered a charge?  Anyway, you know what I mean.).  And our bodies are made up of chemical and electrical charges and flows - well, some people swear they can kind of tell what's going on somehow (I don't understand this science, so its all fuzzy from here).  (Not by boiling toads or doing weird witchy things.)  

ANYWAY.  I'll have to read more on that and report back to you some other time.  

My hubby had this constant smell of garlic in his nose.  (I thought he must have had some weird sinus infection or something.)  The naturopath said he was looking for phosphorus.  He took a liquid phosphorus (food) supplement for about 4 days and then one night the weird garlic smell went away.  The next morning he was going to take his supplement and he almost barfed.  His body got what it needed and told him in body language it was done with taking that.  He went in and asked her about it, she said the same thing.

In regards to the gallbladder, right now my poor hubster is eating a diet that he considers some kind of horrid sick torture.  It is a celiac vegan non-fat diet.  Basically, the poor guy can eat fruits, veggies...and quinoa.  My hubby is a foodie.  Steak, bacon, coffee, and cooking on the Big Green Egg are PASSIONS for him.  Now the poor guy has water and quinoa for breakfast.  It's a hard knock life.  But he's resting his gallbladder and his liver and getting stuff back into balance.

It's a heck of a lot better than the Dr. Stupidpants and his passion of slicing and dicing live humans in their gut regions option.

Keep your organs, peeps!

Peace, love and feel free to send any non-fat, vegan, celiac recipes right this way,
Ms. Daisy

1 gallbladder + 2 gallstones = surgery? Part 1

Howdy doody, m'peeps!  What I'm about to tell you here is some crazysauce with a cherry on top.  

It began like any other normal day...well, sorta.  For me.  For the hubby, it was a different story.  He woke up and went to a golf outing (please pity him for his unpleasant job).  Because my dear hubby is on an I.C. diet - that is, whatever "I see, I eat", he had a busy time of chomping it all up that day.  High fructose corn syrup cinnamon rolls made of 2198712 ingredients, inhumanely killed nitrate filled luncheon meats wrapped up in (I FREAKIN KID. YOU. NOT.) American "cheese" (which is pretty much the definition of our country's food ideals in all of its sick an vulgar glory being that it is NOT FOOD and is neon orange), antibiotic-injected ammonia washed diseased beef steaks, and the list continues.

Well for some reason (re-read with eyeballs bulging and the most sarcastic look on your face you can muster), he felt slightly unwell that evening after he came home.  The pain was severe.  He thought he was having the worst case of heartburn anyone could ever imagine.  He made me go to the store at 10:30 at night and buy poison for him, and by that I mean Tums and Pepcid, even though I was doing accupressure on his feet and offering him fennel tea.  (I returned the Tums and Pepcid, by the way, just in case you were wondering.)  Nothing helped.  Not even a little.

The next day (after sleeping very little), we had made plans to hang out with friends.  These friends are sweet and they made us a meal.  This meal included steak and a myriad of other things (including my homemade berry pie).  Being on the I.C. diet, he had a bit of everything.

And then we went to the E.R.

He was acting as if a sharp-clawed alien was crawling through his bellybutton and eating his organs from the inside out.  

They suggested he may have gallbladder issues.  But since the awesome ER was so busy, they couldn't see us and we ended up going home before being seen.  WAY TO GO.

The next day was Sunday and we called the on-call doctor.  She said that he sounded as if he may have gallstones and to make an appointment for the following day to come and get an ultrasound.

We did.  The ultrasound confirmed the presence of two gallstones.  The doctor (TOTALLY LIED) said we should talk to this surgeon, not because he would need to have surgery necessarily, but because this guy was a gallbladder specialist.  (LIES TO THE EXPONENTIAL MILLIONTH POWER.)

Today we went to talk to the charlatan surgeon.  Remember the time I found out my Dad was spraying mercury on his throat and I was about to invent new swear words?  Chalk this up as a similar day.  

I have to tell you this because I am about to die of implosion if I don't.  This guy was the maniac psycho that L.L. Cool J must have been talking about in Mama Said Knock You Out.  Yep, f'realies.

We go in.  We sit in A CLOSET.  Yes. Not kidding.  It had a mini-exam table in it and a bi-fold door and made you feel like a very important person NOTATALL.  Dr. Surgeon McStupidpants comes in, shakes our hands and asks my husband how old he is.  He looks at the form my husband just filled out for him and remarks, "You're healthy!"  He draws a picture of a liver, a stomach, a gallbladder and a pancreas.  He points to the gallbladder and says, "This, you don't need this.  It's for nothing.  Lie down."

My husband lays back on the table (as we play Twister trying to get around each other in the closet to trade places).  Dr. McStupidpants pulls up his shirt and says, "I cut you here, here, here and here.  Very easy.  You be back home - one day!  Here, do the paperwork."

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmwhatthecrapjusthappenedhere?

I interrupt Dr. Stupidpants, "Excuse me, Dr. Stupidpants (I only thought that bit), what percent of patients still have gallstones after their gallbladder is removed?"  (I have been researching, my peeps!  It happens.  The liver takes over your gallbladder's function and you can get them again, except for now, you're totally screwed since if you take out your liver you instantly die.)

Do you know what this joker says?  "ZERO PERCENT!  Gallbladder all gone, goes to gallbladder heaven, ha ha ha!  Keep in a jar, ha ha ha!  Say, 'Look! Big gallstone!'"

This dorkface had now lost all credibility possible.  My husband had to ask him to look at the ultrasound pictures (which he could not figure out how to open) to see his gallbladder to see if we may determine a) how many gallstones there are and b) what is the current state of the gallbladder and c) if there is anything of note we should be aware of.  

Did he talk about the function of the gallbladder?  No.

Did he ask us if we had any questions?  No.

Did he offer any options besides "I cut you here, here, here and here"?  No.

Did he look at my husband's anatomy before deciding on surgically removing his gallbladder?  NO.

Did he tell the truth about possible complications post-surgery?  No.

Did he put us in a closet?  Yes.

If I would have looked at him pensively and asked him to take out my gallbladder too, would he have?  YES.

Did he have awards on his wall saying he was a great doctor?  Yes.

Was his mom apparently on the council that decided to give him that award?  Who knows, she's probably dead, he probably took out all of her organs and threatened the others who were voting on it, "You say no, I cut you here, here, here and here!"

Yep.  Next time, I'll tell you what we ended up doing.  Let me give you a clue: it wasn't getting surgery with this joker.

Peace, love and I punch him here, here, here and here,
Ms. Daisy

Pink Eye, Conjunctivitis, Eye Goop and Getting Rid of It

Since yesterday was a holiday AND we were having people over, it only stands to reason that my offspring woke up with pinkeye in the morning.

This was bound to happen.  My offspring are very good at timing their illnesses to times when even if you wanted to put a call in to the doctor or nurse, they're not going to be there and your only option is to go to the emergency room (since it's the only thing open) and pay you know, like $599.00 for fifteen minutes and then $47.50 for the meds.

Now compound this with the fact that people are expected over and you have a perfect storm just waiting to happen.  In fact, one year we DARED to host Thanksgiving at our house and we found out the day before that our dog had just acquired FLEAS.  FLEAS! (Have I mentioned to you before NOT TO GET A DOG?  Why aren't you listening?)  We threw the dog outside, sprayed it with everything and anything we could find, fumigated the house, opened all the windows, vacuumed and/or burned everything in sight and boiled what couldn't be burned or vacuumed.  This was a very lovely time and such a dear memory.

Anyway, back to the pinkeye.  Really, I should have been expecting SOMETHING.  Well, here was the something.

What to do?

I must admit something here.  The other offspring was prone to conjunctivitis as an itty bitty and I had stored waaaaay in the back of the cupboard some of those old eye drops they give you for lovely situations like this.  But the most recent one was um...well...let's say four years old.  I wasn't too sure of the effectiveness and in the second place, I was wondering what the heck was in that stuff anyway.  But I was DESPERATE!  DESPERATE I SAY!  So on this holiday morning, I dropped two drops of these mystery eye drops into my child's eyeball.  Then I kind of felt bad.  

I do not have any breastmilk on hand (if you're ever in this situation, and you've got some, yes, it seriously works), so I did what I usually do.  I ran over to my Herbal Medicine for Children book to see what they had to say.  They had blends and tinctures and concoctions but none of these things I had on hand, so I had to go to the health food store.  I thought, well, if I stuck poison into this goopy eyeball, I will fix it up by getting some good stuff and not use the poison eyeball drops anymore, I promise.  (Oh the tangled webs of reason devised in the minds of humanity!)

So off to my favorite health food store, the store where they all know everything about everything and if they don't, they'll find out for you.  I wandered up to a nice older lady and asked her what she might recommend for eye goo junk.  She asked what specifically I meant and I had to offer up the shameful "pink eye" (rhymes with stink eye).

I was thinking she'd take me over to the eyeball section and pass off some eyebright tincture or something, but ALAS, NO!  I was wrong!  Without a hesitation, she emphatically said, "Silver!"

Huh?

She brings me to this other section of stuff.  She hands me this thing called Sovereign Silver (it's a teeny glass bottle and it has a spray top).  She says it is an antibiotic spray and will kill anything.  Woah.  Word.  I have heard of it.  I will try it.

Yes, yes, I know that silver (or any heavy metals) in above the limit amounts will kill you from toxifying your body.  Don't freak.  I am on it.

I take it home and give the little eyeball a squirt or two and have my patient blink repeatedly until I say stop.  We repeat this fun every 3-4 hours.  Child wakes up this morning and the eye looks half as red and had no goop upon waking.  One section of it has returned almost completely to normal.

Dude.  Crazysauce.  You can also use it on cuts (like instead of hydrogen peroxide).  I am a little cautious and wouldn't use it every time anything came up, although it says you can ("According to the EPA - CASRN 7440-22-4 - daily oral silver reference dose applied to 10 ppm, one may ingest 178,850 servings safely over 70 years.").  The dosage is anywhere from once daily to seven times daily depending on your purpose so I figure my one squirt in the eyeball 4 times a day for two or three days will be okay.

Anyway, thought you might like to hear there are other options out there.

Peace, love and destroy the eye goop!
Ms. Daisy