Dr. Galland on Leaky Gut

The Huffington Post ran an article on Leaky Gut Syndrome by Leo Galland. It may be useful to some readers, but I find the link to Dr. Galland's article Breaking the Vicious Cycle to be more helpful. I've bookmarked it because there's so much information to consider.

Three points that caught my eye are:

1. "Following exposure to allergenic foods, permeability sharply increases. Most of this increase can be averted by pre-treatment with sodium cromoglycate."
2. "Dietary supplementation with betaine hydrochloride is usually helpful but intermittent short courses of bismuth, citrus seed extract, artemisinin, colloidal silver and other natural antimicrobials are often needed."
3. "Quercetin and related flavonoids inhibit the release of histamine and inflammatory mediators. Taken before eating, they may block allergic reactions which increase permeability."

Carbocaine

I had minor foot surgery and the doctor used a local anesthetic called carbocaine. She said it was milder than some of the alternatives, which seemed like a good thing since I have had unpleasant reactions to novocaine. Well, I had the same reaction to the carbocaine injection. I got nauseous and light-headed. A nurse had to help me to the car. Fortunately my husband was with me and drove me home.

Virus Linked to Chronic Fatigue

A virus has been linked to chronic fatigue. I hope this results in better treatments for CFS.

Cyber Diagnosis?

I found an interesting article on diagnosing yourself on the internet. Amanda Stevens concludes in it that WebMD's Symptom Checker and the Mayo Clinic Symptom Checker are reliable sites for finding information on your condition. Sounds like solid advice.

Excessive tea drinking linked to skeletal fluorosis

Excessive tea drinking linked to skeletal fluorosis: "New research conducted on four advanced skeletal fluorosis patients suggests that the fluoride in their tea could have been responsible for the condition."

The people studied were drinking a gallon or more of tea daily!

Interesting Article on Pseudomonas Infections

Research could lead to non-antibiotic treatments for hospital infections tells how "Lack of an adequate amount of the mineral phosphate can turn a common bacterium into a killer, according to research to be published in the April 14, 2009, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science... Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of ...hundreds of bacteria that colonize the human intestinal tract, usually causing no apparent harm. However once its host is weakened by an illness, surgical procedure, or immunosuppressive drugs P. aeruginosa can cause infection, inflammation, sepsis and death."

Read the article here.

Not Much of a Vacation

I just got back from a week-long trip. I'm not going to call it a vacation because we only had short periods of fun surrounded by stress and fatigue. My spouse broke our no-yelling-in-the-car rule so many times that I've come up with a new policy: separate vacations!

Eating Meat an Evolutionary Advantage

There was an interesting story on NPR about how a Meat-based Diet Made Us Smarter. It tells how eating calorie-packed meat freed our ancestors from having to eat all day long. It also required tools (like stone knives).

Another point: cooking made food more digestible. (Raw-food faddists will find this as objectionable as vegans find the main point of the article.)