I haven't had the Big D in about five or six days. Since I took Imodium (sorry, all you queasy people) and since I've been avoiding every little thing on the IgG list that is remotely inflammatory. I have to say, it's been working. I am taking pro-biotics (Floratsor and something called 'medical food', VSL#3) and my Thyroxal, but other than Fish oil and Vitamin D that's it. Ooo, I have been drinking peppermint tea every day and some water with peppermint oil in it--supposed to calm the tummy down. I have even reduced my Thyroxal dose by one pill to see if my body can pick up the slack--jury is still out. I have some arthritis that bothers me, but otherwise...?
I can hardly believe that I haven't had any problems for almost a week. I am afraid writing about it will jinx whatever progress I've made. :/ I have noticed that insoluble fiber (like chia seeds, corn, nuts...) really makes things worse. This is interesting to me because it supports the theory that I just have IBS (which I still think is kind of a crap diagnosis) and because lots of things that are insoluble are things that have either made me sick in the past or are on the IgG list. Interesting.
Now for the plants part!
All I want to say in this post is that plants and herbs can be medicinal, and it seems to me that they don't screw up bodies as much as laboratory-created drugs, but that could just be because there's not as much research into them.
This link is from the American Society for Microbiology: Clinical Immunology and Traditional Herbal Medications. This article defines herbal medicines as "complex mixtures of minimally processed medicinal plants (e.g., plant parts that are boiled to make a tea). In conjunction with other components of traditional healing philosophies, such as acupuncture or massage, herbal medicines are used to treat a large range of symptoms and ailments, including liver disease, asthma, and other immune problems, menstrual problems, colds, headaches, and various cancers."
They go on to explain why there might be a resurgence in interest in herbal medicines: "Many herbal preparations alter immune function and have had an amazing array of immunomodulatory effects attributed to them...In both mouse and in vitro studies, herbal medicines reportedly affect cytokine secretion, histamine release, immunoglobulin secretion and class switching, cellular coreceptor expression, lymphocyte proliferation, and cytotoxic activity, to name but a few examples."
They go on further to cite examples where traditional Chinese herbs have slowed or stopped cancer growth and how Chinese herbs can help eliminate asthma symptoms.
From the International Journal of Food Microbiology, we have The In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Dietary Spice and Medicinal Herb Extracts. This is a really long study where a bunch of herbs were put in with different bacteria to see what the effect would be. The idea is that plant phenols in herbs and spice extracts could help kill food borne pathogens. The article is interesting because it pinpoints which herbs were most anti-biotic and which bacteria (E.Coli) were the least sensitive to herbs. They list thyme, oregano, clove, and cinnamon as having antimicrobial compounds in them. Thyme (thymol) is what is in a lot of Method cleaning products because it kills lots of germies!
There is an excerpt of the book The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine online. It's a cool book because it is organized by ailments (i.e. Arthritis) and then what sorts of herbs help that particular condition. Then it goes into an explanation and expansion of why you'd use certain herbs for that particular ailment. For heart problems it lists taking garlic (and a full two pages on why), black cohosh, cayenne (which lowers cholesterol), and Valerian root. The reason this book is so wonderful is because it looks useful for lay-people but also useful as an academic argument FOR using herbs.
To sum up--plants are drugs. I like to think less processing and bastardization of God's green Earth is better, so I would prefer to take an herb over a drug if possible.
This blogger has an interesting quote: "...in order to achieve the maximal benefit for the health of the public, we need to apply adequate and uniform standards of scientific evidence for safety of all pharmacologically active substances, and we should fairly regulate the health claims made for any such products. This means purging ourselves of the sloppy thinking represented by the false dichotomies between natural and synthetic (something which has no bearing on safety or efficacy) and of herbs vs drugs."
Where I disagree is natural vs. synthetic. I think it does have a bearing on the whole issue, I think our super amazing bodies can distinguish the difference. Our bodies natural thyroid hormone doesn't promote osteoporosis, but taking Levothyroxine long-term (which is what is recommended for all hypothyroid patients) DOES promote osteoporosis. Why? They don't know. They made a drug in a lab to fix a problem, and, oops, unintended side effects. Guess we humans don't know everything.
I understand that plants in their raw form are hard to 'standardize'. I still think they're better for our bodies.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.