Positive Health Online

A Homeopathic Reply to Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance should be welcomed if it spells the demise of the factory farm, whose very existence depends on suppression of disease. Growth promoters inflict misery on billions of ducks and chickens, dragging their overweight, injured bodies over excrement laden with ammonia. Antibiotic drugs keep down disease that would otherwise make it impossible for pigs, poultry and cattle to be crowded into pens and feedlots, stressed, deprived of normal behaviour, driven out of their minds.

If there were no factory farms, there would be no threatened pandemics of bird flu virus and SARS. To feed some 22 billion incarcerated animals, the poor go short of water and of food. The planet cannot sustain intensive farming, its habitats destroyed, its species driven to extinction.

Antibiotic resistance raises alarm. It need not do so. Some natural alternatives against bacterial diseases were described by Suzanne Laurie (Positive Health March 2004 pp34-38). In addition, homeopathy with its enormous repertoire of remedies and nosodes, underpinned by optimum nutrition, can meet bacterial challenge by stimulating the immune and other defence pathways to cure or prophylactically protect animals and humans.

Prophylactic remedies are normally non-specific. One can take Gelsemium to ward off flu or maintain a herd of cows free of mastitis by adding a suitable nosode to their drinking water. But therapists are aware of the caveat that the efficacy of a remedy to cure may depend on selecting the one best suited to the condition or make-up of the individual. Making the correct choice is essential when faced with the urgency of infection.

However, from treating numerous human cases and my animals, I have found that almost all bacterial infections can be rapidly cured by the formulation described, irrespective of the condition or species of the victim. It works as fast as antibiotics, it works where these have failed. It has no side-effects. It does not destroy gut microflora. And bacteria do not develop resistance to its stimulation of immune defences.

The basic formula (Journal Nutritional and Environmental Medicine 12: 118-119. 2002.) is as follows: One tablet each of Aconite 6x, Iodum 6x, Arsenicum album 6x are taken together every 4 minutes for 5 doses over several days. Hepar sulph 6x must be included if pus is present as in an abscess, and its clearance is assisted by also taking Silicea 30c 1/day.

The number of days of treatment depends on the severity of the condition. As a rough guide, take Aconite for two days, Iodum for 3 to 4 days, Arsenicum album and Hepar sulph for 3 to 6 days. The timing is not critical. Do not worry if you are interrupted and have to run over it. It is the repetition that is important, i.e. the number of hammer blows, not the interval between each blow.

If the bacteria produces a toxin, this is more difficult. It too must be eliminated with an appropriate remedy. In the case of Staphylococcus aureus I found removal of this painful toxin in skin infections was achieved by including Carbo animalis 6x in the formulation for 4 to 6 days. Phosphorous 6x or Rhus tox 6x are often helpful. Other detoxifiers may need higher potencies.

Optimum nutrition must be ensured. A body weakened by trace element or vitamin deficiencies may not be able to respond to homoeopathic stimulation. I always advise taking a selenium and zinc supplement for at least ten days. These two elements are the most likely to be deficient.

If the infection leaves a trail of tissue damage, then the appropriate remedies will be required to restore their health and function. These can be started at the same time as the 6xs or later. But there are caveats. Do not use an x remedy with a higher potency of that remedy. They will interfere. Do not take herbal Echinacea, or in any potency for two days before or after Arsenicum album. In some respects they are inimical. Start the other xs and Arsenicum after two days if necessary. Consult a text book or a homeopath regarding known inimicals.

So far the formulation's beautiful non-specificity has never let me down; except in one case of leukopaenia – a reduction in the number of white blood cells – where the count was so low as to compromise resistance. It will not treat viruses, for which specific remedies must be sought. And I have not had the opportunity to check whether it is effective against other intracellular pathogens such as the Mycobacteria in Tuberculosis. I suspect that for these a different approach is necessary. Testing is needed against all types of bacterial challenge and in many individuals to find out its shortcomings.

Finally, at the first sign of infection, be it bacterial or viral, take Aconite 6c or 30c. Don't wait to see if anything will develop. Aconite activates the first step in an immune reaction.

Helen Fullerton PhD
5 Bryngelli
Carmel
Llanelli SA14 7TL
hf1000000@hotmail.com

Choline During Pregnancy Enhances the Brain

Taking a nutrient called choline during pregnancy could 'super-charge' children's brains for life, suggests a study in rats. Offspring born to pregnant rats given the supplement were known to be faster learners with better memories. But the new work, by Scott Swartzwelder and colleagues at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, US, shows this is due to having bigger brain cells in vital areas. Choline, a member of the vitamin B family, is found in egg yolks, liver and other meats – "exactly the kind of things people were told not to eat" due to their high cholesterol content, says Swartzwelder. He believes their results in the rats could translate to humans; indeed the US Institute of Medicine added choline to the list of essential nutrients, particularly for pregnant women, in its 2003 recommendations. The implications of the study's findings are "potentially huge" Swartzwelder believes: "If it turns out that it's true in humans and can make people smarter for their whole lives and forestall age-related memory decline – that's potentially a very exciting prospect." Hannah Theobald, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, calls the study "really interesting" but cautions that more research needs to be done before any recommendations can be made in humans.

Anatomy and Physiology
Behavioural studies have shown giving choline to pregnant rats improves learning and memory in their offspring. The pups also suffer significantly less from failing memories as they get old. However, it was not known whether choline's effects were on the general brain environment or whether it fundamentally changed the brain's cells. "Our study is the first time anyone has shown that prenatal choline supplementation actually changes the anatomy and physiology of single brain cells," Swartzwelder told New Scientist. No adverse effects could be seen in the rats, he adds. The team gave pregnant rats three to four times their normal intake of choline for six days. Gestation lasts about 21 days in rats, and the period during which the rats were fed extra choline roughly corresponds to the start of the third trimester in women.

Electrical Signals
The pups born were raised to adulthood and the area of the brain critical for learning was examined. The neurons of rats born to mothers given extra choline fired electrical signals more rapidly and for longer periods, indicating a capacity to communicate more easily. The cells from rats receiving prenatal choline supplements were substantially bigger than those from rats that did not. "We are looking at consistent changes in the range of 20 to 25 per cent," says Swartzwelder. "These are bigger cells with more dendrites, the areas of the cell specific to receiving incoming signals." He says the combined changes induced by choline in the physiology and anatomy of the brain cells would 'hotwire' the system.

Better Membranes
The team does not know exactly how choline boosts brains, but it is known to contribute to the building of cell membranes during the embryo stage of development. "My bet is it has something to do this," Swartzwelder says.

Comment by Dr Mercola
The implications of the study's findings are potentially huge. If this turns out to be true in humans and has the potential to make people smarter their entire lives and forestall age-related memory decline – that's potentially an extremely exciting prospect.

One of the simple things pregnant women can do to increase their choline intake is to start eating raw eggs. Eggs are very high in choline and when eaten in the raw state the nutrients are less damaged and the risk of salmonella in healthy eggs is very low.

As a matter of fact, you would have a better chance at winning the lottery than catching salmonella from a healthy chicken.

Please also remember that omega-3 fat, especially from clean cod liver oil is another very powerful food nearly every single pregnant woman needs to be taking.

Not only will this dramatically reduce the risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication, but it will also virtually eliminate the risk of premature delivery. Also, like choline, it will also dramatically increase the intelligence of your child.

Source:
NewScientist.com news service
Via: Chris Gupta
www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/04/05/nutrient_during_pregnancy_supercharges_brain.htm

Common Bacteria Linked To Alzheimer's Disease

There's a link between the common respiratory bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae and amyloid plaques found in the brains of people with non-hereditary Alzheimer's disease.

That's the news from a study by researchers at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine's Center for the Study of Chronic Diseases of Aging.

The research in mice appears in the April issue of the Journal Neurobiology of Aging.

The researchers have spent several years studying this link. This new research builds on their previous finding that C. pneumoniae is present in 90 percent of brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

In this most recent study, the researchers showed that when the bacteria was sprayed into the noses of mice that are not predisposed to amyloid plaques, it caused progressive deposition of amyloid plaques, creating a partial model of Alzheimer's disease.

"We believe this could be a trigger mechanism for the pathology in Alzheimer's disease," lead researcher Brian Balin says in a prepared statement.

"People have been suspecting this for decades but could not find anything. It is very difficult to pinpoint an infectious cause for a progressive, chronic disease. We also believe that our isolation of Chlamydia pneumoniae from the human Alzheimer's diseased brain and induction of pathology in normal mice is proof of principle that this can be a causative mechanism turning on pathology," Balin says.

Source: HealthDayNews
Via: Chris Gupta
www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/03/24/bacteria_linked_to_alzheimers.htm