Alright I might as well tell you all more about me.  My name is Chase Clift I am 16 years old, I live in Cedar Park – a suburb of Austin, Texas.  I  support the Confederate Liberation and Southern Nationalism without shame – without shame of the history and heritage of the land – The Southern States – that I love.  I support these movements because my eyes have been opened as to the infamy, cowardice, and rottenness of the United States of America.  What do I see today that makes me angry and depressed.  Do I see women in workplaces – Yes!! Do I see the people we chose joining groups that are for our destruction such as the Council for Foreign Relations, the United Nations, the Bildergroup group. – Yes!!!  Do I see a lack of justice against criminals who are guilty – Yes!!!!  Do I see R-rated movies released – Yes!!!  Do I see a medical system that is rotten to the core that has and is deliberately  murdering you and covering up the fact that the way you eat is responsible for so much, and for turning peoples backs to those who do natural cancer treatments – Yes, I can hardly tell you how it affects me – I feel it most keenly so keenly I can hardly express it.  Do I see a nation that admits the Muslim and Islam cults into the nation and society and tolerates them – Yes!!!  Do I see a nation that has removed the Bible from public places, Congress, Courtrooms and Schools – Yes!!!  Do I see a society that tolerates same-sex marriage (I cannot say gay here because it is not), and other moral evils – Yes!!!!  Do I see a lack of family orientated homes – Yes!!! Do I see a nation that has embraced political correctness – Yes!!  Do I see a nation that has adopted evil and satanic “holidays” such as Halloween and numerous others – Yes!!!  Do I see soldiers, people in public office breaking their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution – Yes!!!  Do I see an army trained to work against us – Yes!!!  What are you doing!!!!  Do I see the government gathering private computer data – Yes!!!  Do I see a president that has hid his identity, that is not eligible to be president – Yes!!!  Do I see a world order working with the government to cause destruction – Yes!!!  Do I see many embracing political correctness, sending their children to public schools, not instructing their children, not caring for their children like they should – Yes!!  Do I see an economy run down by big business, big government – Yes!!!  Do I see a workplace that denies 16 year olds work – Yes!!!  Do I see low standards of living – Yes!!! I am upset, angry, and outraged at the general conduct of America and its government – I hate it!!!

The government has got us into every war through lies and has done undercover jobs!!!  And you tell me that you are trying to restore America!!! You can’t!!!  America is on the verge of anarchy!!!

What I want is a nation that utterly outlaws cults – muslim and islam as well.  A nation where the where education and moral standards are high – where women are almost totally gone from the sphere of the workplaces – Where the King James version of the Bible and the Ten commandments are in public places, Congress, Schools, and courtrooms – A nation that worships God – a place where Christians can be free from the tyranny of foreign powers.  A nation where children are taught of the wonderful things that God has done and glorify Him.

America will never rise again – Face it.  The Southern states during the 1860s wanted to secede peacefully – Were they allowed to!!!  Why fight over slavery!!!  WHY NOT FIGHT FOR SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT – FREEDOM. Freedom!!! Freedom!!!  The South was enslaved financially like we are now – and you tell me you don’t want freedom!!!

Freedom is dear to me – Life is dear to me.  I want to have a job to support a wife and family – I want to teach my children the truths and values which are so dear to me.

The United States of America is not the place – It is the Confederate States of America – where people have opened their eyes to the truth and remember the Southerners who fought the First War Against Terrorism.  When did America start falling???  Simple, After Thomas Jefferson’s presidential term – Only to hang by a dangling cord during Buchanan’s term, when Lincoln became president – he cut the last cord to America’s  destruction – A destruction the South tried to escape from, only to burned, raped, robbed by Sherman, Grant and the Government of the period!!!  And the Ku Klux Klan a bloody murderous group which our flag, our battle flag has been identified with!!!  When will you open your eyes!!!!!!!

I will not apologize for my country (The Confederacy) and its heritage and history – and standing up for.

“Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the War; will be impressed by all the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision.”

“I am with the South in life or in death, in victory or defeat. I never owned a negro and care nothing for them, but these people have been my friends and have stood up to me on all occasions. In addition to this, I believe the North is about to wage a brutal and unholy war on a people who have done them no wrong, in violation of the Constitution and the fundamental principles of the government…We propose no invasion of the North, no attack on them, and only ask to be let alone.”

“If this cause, that is dear to my heart, is doomed to fail, I pray Heaven may let me fail with it, while my face is toward the enemy and my arm battling for that which I know is right.” General Patrick R. Cleburne, CSA

I can only echo those words.

“I want you to try to teach to your children and to your children’s children that ours was not a lost cause. I want you to tell them that we were fighting for the right …” (Columbia, SC, 1900)

“If we were wrong in our contest, then the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a grave mistake and the revolution to which it led was a crime. If Washington was a patriot; Lee cannot have been a rebel.” General Wade Hampton, CSA

“So the case stands, and under all the passion of the parties and the cries of battle lie the two chief moving causes of the struggle. Union means so many millions a year lost to the South; secession means the loss of the same millions to the North.  The love of money is the root of this as of many many other evils … the quarrel between North and South is, as it stands, solely a fiscal quarrel.” – Charles Dickens, as editor of All the Year Round, a British periodical in 1862

“In our government-controlled schools we are taught that Lincoln was our greatest president because his war ended slavery and saved the Union. As usual, the other side of the story – the side that reflects poorly on the government – somehow gets lost”. – Richard J. Maybury, The Abe Lincoln Hoax

“Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southern man apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance. Our cause was so just, so sacred, that had I known all that has come to pass, had I known what was to be inflicted upon me, all that my country was to suffer, all that our posterity was to endure, I would do it all over again.” – Jefferson Davis

“If I had foreseen the use those people designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men and my sword in this right hand.” General Robert E. Lee, CSA

“Sic semper tyrannis!” (Latin, “Thus always to tyrants!”) John Wilkes Booth

The South has always done her share and even more. Do we ever talk about the bravery of Southern men & women during the Civil War*?  Do we talk about the 90% of Southerners who didn’t even own slaves?  Have we even thought that 1860 was the beginning of Political Correctness?  Have we ever thought about the great men the South has produced i.e. Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, & J.E.B. Stuart?  Have you ever thought of the fact that Southern Culture is American Culture?  Why are many of you claiming that we are a democracy when we are supposed to be a republic?  Why are you accepting the politically correct account of the Civil War*?  Why are you allowing yourselves and your children to be brainwashed by political correctness?  When will you rise up Southerners to create a new Confederacy?  When will you realize that there is nothing to be ashamed of?!?!?

I want a place where Christianity flourishes not “religions” such as Muslim or Islam which has no place in civilization – which contrary to what some of them claim they are NOT PEACEFUL they are bloody and promote murder. I do not want to see any public or government officials (all positions) joining groups such as the UN, Bilderberg, Council for Foreign Relations or any such organization for the destruction of their own people – any such person joining any secret or international group is guilty of treason!!!  I want a place where there is no Medical System because of the constant use of drugs, the murder of millions of babies, their war against Natural Medicine which I happen to feel because my mother does a natural cancer treatment – wherever we go we are rejected because people have allowed themselves to be indoctrinated – I am not against having doctors or hospitals; its just the way they’ve been taught – taught to use synthetics, chemicals, and drugs!!!  And the supported use of pesticides and insecticides and any related products on our crops as well as genetically modifying the food we eat.  Big business and big government is  not the answer to any problem.

This is not written to offend – its true every word whether you like it or not.

Please support the Confederate Liberation Society for the construction of a New Confederacy http://www.confederateliberation.com/ or join on Facebook

Via Instapundit:  The post at fightaging.org, The Doom that Fell Upon Medical Progress in the US, only touches upon the tip of the iceberg of the needless human suffering caused by the exploitation of patients — the consumers — by “our” medical system.  In the underlying post they cite, American Healthcare Facialism, Prof.  DiLorenzo from the Ludwig von Mises Institute captures more of the problem, from a political and bureaucratic perspective, caused by state interference.

The problem is older and more deeply rooted in human nature.  G. B. Shaw observed in 1902:

No doctor dare accuse another of malpractice. … But the effect of this state of things is to make the medical profession a conspiracy to hide its own shortcomings.  No doubt the same may be said of all professions.  They are all conspiracies against the laity and I do not suggest that the medical conspiracy is either better or worse … but it may be less suspect.

The medical community’s monopoly is based on technical knowledge that was wholly their property.  The laity was largely prevented from acquiring this knowledge or even the means of acquiring it.  The internet has profoundly altered that balance of knowledge.  Motivated “patients”, i.e., consumers, now frequently know more about their diseases than most of the doctors they encounter, much less the nurses or others of the doctor-lite crowd.  The doctor is no longer the sole, literate, non-religious man in the village.

We have granted the medical profession, and all the other allied “professions” and medical institutions, a monopoly over our medical care.  It has gone so far as to prevent us from taking medicines that we need without their permission.  That monopoly is no longer justified by the balance of knowledge — and hence, power — that now exists.

Prof. DiLorenzo points out the influence states have in inhibiting competition.  Again, using doctors as a conspicuous example:

Physicians have long enjoyed a degree of monopoly power derived from state legislatures that delegate to the American Medical Association (the doctors’ union) the “right” to limit entry into medical schools through accreditation. Only graduates of accredited (by the AMA) medical schools are licensed to practice medicine. [Not quite true.  Graduates from foreign schools can practice after passing a harder test than is required of AMA school graduates.]  The AMA has used these state-granted privileges to limit both the number of medical schools and the number of medical-school graduates. The reduced supply of doctors drives up the price of medical care and the income of AMA members.

The physicians produce an artificial shortage of doctors for the express purpose of providing full, highly paid employment for all physicians, even the most incompetent.  Implicitly, they are telling us — the people, the consumers — that their prosperity and job security are more important than our lives and health.  Like the military’s up-or-out policies — if you are passed over for promotion a certain number of times, then you are discharged — we need to graduate so many doctors that the incompetent cannot stay in practice.  And we need to demand the transparency of results — medical outcomes — identified by individual physician, to know which doctors are good and which are not.

The word “patient” indicates that, traditionally, we are to be passive, medically, in the care the doctor provides.  This is exactly what must change if we are to rectify the priorities of the health care system.

We must return to first principles, those upon which our republic was founded.  We must be clear in our use of words.  This is not a matter of Democrat/blue/left/progressive vs. Republican/red/right/conservative.  This has nothing to do with the political parties of the twentieth or twenty-first centuries or on which side of the hall the French factions congregated in the eighteenth.  These are all false, one-dimensional scales that mislead rather than enlighten.

This is a matter of liberty vs. tyranny.  Tyranny has its own eternal allure.  ” I am weak, I want someone to take care of me, make decisions for me.”  This motivates children, the weak and the slavish.  At the other end of the true scale is Liberty.  “I am strong, I can take care of myself and my loved ones, I will decide what is in my own best interests.”  These attitudes motivate the strong and the free.

In the true meaning of the term, Liberty is what we strive for.  The only progress that we can make is toward greater individual strength and enlightenment to support greater liberty.  Heading back from Liberty towards Tyranny is regression.  As usual, the terms have been stood on their heads in the current national health-care-reform debate:  a Liberal means one who wants the government to have a greater and more tyrannical role, and a Progressive is one who sees movement towards Tyranny as “progress.”  a Progressive is actually a Regressive, a Liberal, a wannabe Tyrant.

We must privatize the health care system, break up the monopolies, encourage competition, demand transparency of outcomes, and take back our power as free adults and as consumers.  We do have the power.  It is up to us to use it.

India is one indicator of the possibilities brought about by an abundance of doctors and freer access to medicine.

I discusssed here how we were starting down the road of partial vaccinations and Moses had his first MMR shot on September 9. Since that vaccination 7 weeks ago, Moses has not been able to sleep through the night (previously he was sleeping through the night), and has had three different bouts of high fevers, an ER visit, a strep throat diagnosis (accompanied with an antibiotics prescription), and thrush (which was the result of the antibiotics for the strep throat, and now he’s on an antifungal medication), and other various maladies.

We also noticed that he started getting a lot more prone to tantrums during the day and was a whole lot crankier and was also getting more night terrors within the first month after the MMR. And, then things progressed to the point that brought us to our wits’ end.

Ah…  it’s all coming together now.

I’m starting to put two and two together and attribute the change in behaviour (well, definitely at the very least, the difference in sleep change) to the MMR vaccination. So, I feel even more strongly to discontinuing with the rest of the vaccinations we were planning. I believe my husband is now also on board and rest is history.

Thirty years ago, a patient walked in a doctor’s office, was seen by their physician for a few minutes, given a prescription or other instructions, and out the door they went. With the proliferation of easy-access information (there are too many medical information/”symptom” sites to count) the contemporary doctor visit is occasionally made more effective, but an unintended consequence is showing itself – patients are frequently doing their own research (which we encourage), and asking more questions, and the time a physician spends with patients increases, meaning fewer patients seen per day. For a physician or Practice Group, that is a financial problem, and the cost will eventually be passed along to the health care consumer.

Consider some of the following information from the National Coalition on Health Care:

• National health spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion in 2009, accounting for 17.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). By 2018, national health care expenditures are expected to reach $4.4 trillion—more than double 2007 spending.
• In just three years, the Medicare and Medicaid programs will account for 50 percent of all national health spending.
• Economists have found that rising health care costs correlate with significant drops in health insurance coverage, and national surveys also show that the primary reason people are uninsured is due to the high and escalating cost of health insurance coverage.
• A recent study found that 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses.  Of those who filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance.
• According to another published article, about 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs.

Having a patient advocate helps you with more than just your health. We help contain your costs by getting effective and efficient health care from your doctors and other care providers. While our services are not free, they are a very small and affordable cost to protect your only true possession, you.

My Nurse First specializes in helping families cope with the challenges of medical issues. Contact us [advocate@mynursefirst.com] to learn how we can help you or someone you love. http://mynursefirst.com/answers.htm

Be well

James Smyle, CEO

We think we’re ill, we go to the doctor.  On a good day, we’d get 10 minutes of their time – just long enough for them to print off a prescription that will hide the symptoms of the problem we’ve briefly outlined, our file is moved from the in tray to the ‘that’s another one out of my hair for today’ tray and we’re on our way clutching that supposedly magic piece of paper.

We pick up the drugs we’ve been prescribed, start taking them and within a short while start to feel better, in as much as the symptoms have subsided.  We carry on with life, grateful that the doctor managed to ‘cure’ us with relatively little effort on our part.  Until the next batch of symptoms gets too noisy to be ignored.  And so we return to the doctor and the whole process starts again.  A good question to ask at this point might be: where does it all end?

Unfortunately such a huge percentage of society lives like this that we rarely question the process and whether or not it actually works.  I know from experience that I did just that.  I was young and incredibly naïve.  I believed that the doctors were there to help.  I believed the solution to my problems lay in those shiny packets and the complex daily routine of swallowing a plethora of coloured pills.

It makes me feel more than a little queasy to think how many pharmaceutical drugs I consumed between the ages of 15 and 28.  What started as an undetected blood sugar imbalance (as far as I can tell) ended with diagnoses for M.E. and Bipolar Disorder Type II, and a life in pieces, or perhaps shreds would be a better description.  That’s the short version.  The slightly longer version can be found on my About page and the full version would take about as many volumes as the full Oxford English Dictionary (currently 26 I think), and that’s if I first managed to work out what exactly happened in those first few decades of my life.

It appears that experience has taught me well, in as much as I no longer think like that.  I wouldn’t go the doctor unless he could tell me something I needed to know in order to fix things myself.  I would only go to a hospital if I broke a bone, or had a similar problem; they’re pretty good at fixing bones, unfortunately I’m rather sceptical about the rest.  Generally speaking, I wouldn’t trust a single one of them with my health, and here’s why:

Experience tells me that they’re not interested in getting me well, they’re merely interested in getting my ‘health’ file out of their in-tray and back in to the surgery’s ever expanding filing pile.  Their interest lies in getting the show back on the road and meeting their targets (I dread to think what they consist of) even if that means covering the exact same symptoms that are designed to signal to me that there is an imbalance somewhere in my life that needs my attention.

Today’s medical and health care systems have become more interested in prescribing vastly over-priced chemical concoctions that don’t work over finding relatively simple solutions that do – the reasons for which I might find myself ranting over another day, but for now I’ll just hazard a guess that money lies at the route of their decision making process.

A large percentage of what doctors learn in med school is apparently out of date by the time they become fully qualified.  With seemingly all too lax requirements on any kind of continued professional development, who do you think keeps them abreast of the ‘latest scientific info’ on health and disease?  Er, well, it appears that the pharmaceutical companies do, albeit often by the back door.  A conflict of interest I hear you ask?  No shit Sherlock.

It’s probably also worth bearing in mind that the majority of research done into the efficacy of pharmaceutical drugs is funded by, oh look, the pharmaceutical companies again.  Licence for ‘liberal’ interpretation of the results is just the start, but that’s a whole book in itself.

If the aim of the pharmaceutical industry was to help get people well then they’re approaching things from an incredibly odd angle… the industry makes profits that put bank managers’ bonuses to shame, and by a country mile at that.  For as long as we use prescribed ‘medication’ to treat our ill health (or lack of balance), we’re actively encouraging them to do so.  And whilst profits are just one aspect of this rather dubious behaviour, I’m going to stop right there, merely leaving it as food for thought; to go any further would start an avalanche that would end in several thousand pages of evidence, general ranting and the like and personally I think it more productive to focus on what our other options are.

Before we do that, however, let’s take a look at why the drugs, unlike Ronseal, don’t do what they say on the tin…

Why the Drugs Don’t Work

Pharmaceutical drugs don’t fix problems, they merely mask the symptoms.  Symptoms are warnings that something is out of balance – which may be mental, physical or spiritual, or, as is more often the case, a combination of these aspects.  The NHS hasn’t realised this yet – in fact, they’ve only identified two of them, namely mind and body, and they still insist on separating them with greater force than Germany during the Cold War.

To take medication is the equivalent of removing the lights in your car’s dashboard.  The same lights that act as warnings, letting you know when you’re low on oil, fuel, due for a service or left the handbrake on because last night was a big one and the head’s a little fuzzy.  Although thankfully the headache has subsided since munching a few high strength ibuprofen; never mind that the headache was caused by dehydration and shrinkage of your brain or the fact that those ‘magic little pills’ and others like them could rot your guts, eventually leaving you with enough toxins floating around your bloodstream to cause extreme exhaustion at the most minor of efforts and for you to be diagnosed as having M.E..

Alas, I digress; to ignore the symptoms is to welcome a greater imbalance (and therefore more severe illness) further down the line, only exacerbated by the body’s inability to process the un-natural compounds in the medication.

So why do the pharmaceutical companies make their pills from un-natural compounds?  In order to get a patent, and therefore generate those all important dollars, a new drug has to contain a ‘new’ compound.  Because no naturally occurring compounds can be patented, these have to be artificially created and, since they’re not natural, they cannot be broken down properly by the body or by the environment.

Neither the human body nor the environment were designed for such compounds, and over time they start creating all sorts of other imbalances (side effects), which require more  ‘medication’.  It’s a vicious cycle and the only way is down.

So what are the alternatives to conventional medicine?

Take a wee look in Mother Nature’s direction.  If man thinks he knows better, then he’s sorely mistaken.  We haven’t yet got past the basics of how the human brain functions or worked out what it’s capable of, yet we have the arrogance to think we can create potions in labs to cure all ills.  Get with the program Man, Mother Nature had that covered before the existence of Jesus’ Bedtime Stories and here’s the key difference; in the words of the Verve, ‘the drugs don’t work’, whereas Mother Nature’s do.

Unfortunately you won’t find much ‘official’ evidence to back this up, simply because the money’s not there to fund the studies.  But just Google it, or ask anyone who’s jumped ship and gone natural whether Mother Nature has helped them.  Whichever way, and with my sincere thanks to the Internet, the information’s all there, if only you’ll care to look for it.

Why Mother Nature’s Cures Do Work

Health and well-being is largely, if not solely, a case of balance.  We get out of balance, we become ill.  We correct that balance, we become well again.  Not rocket science, although commonly overlooked, particularly in our world of quick fixes and instant results.

To get out of balance takes time, and as is right, to get back in balance also takes time.  And effort and persistence and dedication and belief – qualities that have rather been overlooked in favour of buying a bigger house, wearing designer clothes and hanging out in the ‘right’ places, but don’t get me started on that little lot, I simply haven’t got the time today.

We’ve become lazy.  Scarily so, and in so many respects; the natural law of Cause and Effect would state that it’ll come back and bite us on the ass and now it’s doing just that, really quite hard in some cases – mine included.

Most of us are fortunate enough to have been born in a state of perfect balance and therefore perfect health but years of abusing our minds and bodies results in a vast range of imbalances and their accompanying illnesses.

If we want to be healthy and remain in a balanced state then we must live accordingly.  There are no shortcuts to maintaining or regaining our health, just methods that work well and others that work not quite so well, or not at all in some cases – need I mention what that category might include?  No, thought not.

Over the past three and a half years I have dedicated a large portion of my time to finding natural ways to improve my health – in all areas; mental, physical and spiritual (despite having a fond dispassion of the word itself).

The time has finally come for me to share what I have learned, and in future posts, I will be detailing a few of the things I’ve tried and tested to share my experience of what has worked for me, what has not and the hows and whys.

In the meantime, remember that if we insist on handing the responsibility of our own personal health – arguably one of, if not the most valuable thing we’ll ever possess – to the medical profession, we’re doomed for failure, misery and a life spent shuttling to the doctor’s surgery, in between our pill munching sessions of course.

If we want a life of happiness and health, we have to make it for ourselves, and that includes making informed choices of how to treat our incredibly complex and insanely wonderful minds and bodies, and taking the responsibility necessary to ensure we’re making decisions that our mothers would indeed be proud of.

We can pump ourselves full of chemicals if we wish, but we need to remember that it’s rarely going to bring us back into a state of balance, and very likely to do just the opposite.

So before you reach for that nice shiny packet, promising all manner of instant healing properties, remember the words of The Verve when they said that “the drugs don’t work, they just make you worse”.  Then ask Mother Nature what’s in her endless store of real remedies and cures, and opt for some of those instead.

See also:

Guess Who’s Educating Your Doctor? by Tara Parker-Pope for the New York Times Blog http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/guess-whos-educating-your-doctor/

A Review of ‘The Truth About the Drug Companies: How they Deceive Us and What to do About It’ by Marcia Angell, M.D. from the New York Review of Books http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244

First we see numerous evidence of schools indoctrinating children to love President Obama and his political policies, now the children are being USED for propaganda. CNN aired children singing a very politically driven song promoting Obamacare agenda. Talk about making your stomach turn! It makes me sick how kids are being manipulated to push government run health care.

Other Youth Indoctrination Videos:

Kindergartners Taught to Praise Obama

Kids Made To Chant Change Has Come

Election Propaganda for Obama Using Children

Everyone has bad days. I try to have at least one per week.  Depression, however, is a profound and sustained despair, marked by anxiety and  thoughts of self-destruction.  This mental state that feels inescapable is serious and should not be overlooked or dismissed.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Depression is possibly a greater health hazard than smoking, excessive alcohol use, or mild drug use.  Close to 80% of those who suffer from symptoms of Clinical Depression are under no treatment whatsoever.

Depression is defined as an inability to perform normal functions for a given period of time. In the real world, Depression is visceral, both personally to the sufferer and to those surrounding him/her. Many people cannot function at work or maintain a clear train of thought. They cannot generate the motivation to perform the simplest tasks or activities of daily living. They struggle to provide adequate and appropriate care for those in their charge, such as children of dependent parents or a spouse. They fail to maintain lasting social relationships. They abandon hobbies or other personal or extra-personal interests.

The good news is that depression is very treatable. Most patients, even those with severe depression, show improvement after they seek treatment. The worst thing to do about Depression is nothing. Do not suffer in silence. Women are better than men at seeking help, but still too few women do so. Depression is NOT A WEAKNESS. It is not a FAULT. Overcoming the perceived social stigma is paramount to gaining access to the resources which can help you or your loved one.

While every guru, pitch-man, and charlatan will try to sell you relief in a pill, prayer, or oil, there is no magic cure for depression. Consider the power of hope.  A positive mental attitude may be of more clinical and psychological benefit than we can quantify or qualify…and much less expensive.

Consider speaking to a professional. Several types of mental health professionals treat depression. These include professional counselors, social workers, nurse psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. “Talk therapy” or psychotherapy gives you a chance to express what you’re feeling in a safe forum. Resolving the emotional issues behind your depression can free you from their grip.

Antidepressive drugs are commonly prescribed such as SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), Tricyclics, and many others. These help if your depression stems from a chemical imbalance and are necessary in many cases. If your doctor prescribes antidepressant therapy, give it time. It may take four weeks or more before you notice a change in your mood, and possibly longer before you feel the full benefits of medication.

There are too many (depressing) statistics to list. While I have heard many claim that it takes bravery, courage, etc. to overcome Depression, I believe it begins with a very simple decision of asking for help from a qualified and competent resource. From there, your particular needs can be determined and addressed. We all know doing nothing will result in no result.

With first-hand experience in dealing with patients, (as a paramedic, and later in Cognitive Psychology) I watched the growth and personal recovery from Depression. Invariably those who are  more content with life are physically healthier, and more mentally able to cope with their particular stresses. You can live more fully, more completely, and be more satisfied with your life choices.

Please do not allow something in your control to control your life. You are driving, we can help you find the right road.

My Nurse First specializes in helping families cope with the challenges of medical issues. Contact us [advocate@mynursefirst.com] to learn how we can help you or someone you love suffering from Depression. http://mynursefirst.com/answers.htm

James Smyle, CEO

MY NURSE FIRST

For additional information review the following link which summarizes many important things we know about treating depression:

http://healthlifeandstuff.com/2009/09/treatment-of-depression-in-2009/

As the vaccination program for H1N1 gets underway, its easy to assume to much. I’ve caught myself assuming that readers here are fully informed already regarding the true nature of the “pandemic” H1N1 flu and the true nature of the vaccination program since internet is filled to bursting with revelations coming from within the medical community itself. How could anyone on the web miss stumbling across the facts of our current situation?

Medical personnel are in revolt against taking the vaccine themselves. Sure, some will take it to keep their jobs. Others will be fired. A few are brainwashed believers . A very likely reduction in medical personnel just as hospitals overflow with sick people fearing the worst. And as we shall see, the vaccination program is likely to produce the very thing it supposedly prevents.

That’s the bad news. The good news? Healers can emerge from the shadows. Foundations of true health will begin to receive increased recognition. This is the perfect time for a Granny Woman revival?

Rather than assume you already know everything about the situation, I’ll post a few of the more informative websites, videos, etc. here. I’ll be adding to it over the next few days so keep checking back. Please use the comments section to tell us what you are doing. Have you run across additional “new” information?

For starters,I recommend Dr. Carley’s website http://www.drcarley.com/

Here’s part three of her excellent video series (in 15 parts)

I received some good and bad news yesterday. The good news, Cimzia was approved by my insurance company! That’s really good news because it was only approved by the FDA in May 2009. I figured they would question it. The bad news is two fold but of much less impact. First, the copay is $40 as opposed to $25 for Enbrel. Cimzia has a $500 copay help for the first year so that will help. Second, the prescription got held up because my doc only put in for a maintenance dose…two shots a month. The pharmacist called back and said that Cimzia recommends two shots every two weeks for the first 6 weeks then down to the maintenance dose of two shots every month. That will mean that I won’t get my first dose until next week.

So, I wait patiently while all the paperwork gets worked out. In the meantime, the pain and fatigue continues. Throughout the last year I’ve learned to navigate the medical system and the experience is not always so pleasant. My insurance company requires that I use a specialty pharmacy that is out of state and not my local pharmacy (owned by the same national chain). That’s been ok but their databases are not synced resulting in multiple conversations with both the local and speciality pharmacists. I can say that the specialty pharmacy folks are wonderful and I believe that is because they are used to dealing with complicated medications, diseases, and patients.

Through all of this I’ve learned that I have to be my own best advocate. This means taking time out of my busy day not only for doc appointments but to make phone calls between the various providers and organizations. Sometimes I feel like a pest…call the pharmacy to check, call the doctor’s office to check, leave a message with the busy nurse, call back, request a fax, call the next week to check on the status of the prescription, check with the insurance company, repeat information multiple times, check the status of a shipment through the parcel company, fill out a form for copay assistance, and the list goes on. As much as the people show care and compassion, they don’t have the time and/or personal interest to always go to bat for me. So, in addition to fighting RA, I find that I have to expend energy navigating the multiple layers of the medical system. I don’t have solutions but am keenly interested in the debate around national healthcare for the first time in my life.

Photo Creative Commons License http://www.flickr.com/photos/11186165@N07/

As I mentioned in an earlier article my mother is doing a natural cancer treatment for pancreatic/liver cancer that she has been doing for around 7 years; She does a 100% raw diet which to we all do except for one cooked meal a day.

One of the things which distinguishes such a cancer treatment is that the public has been indoctrinated by the Health care system against people who do natural cancer treatment so that they reject the people who do so – I feel it naturally, there have been people I would like to know but I am rejected – much of this has to do with the Medical System.

The Medical System has since the early 1900s covered up many dangerous chemicals that are put in the food we eat such as ice cream that has: Diethylglycol a cheap chemical used in antifreeze and paint removers, Piperonal which is used to kill lice, Aldehyde C-17 which is an inflammable liquid used in aniline dyes, plastic and rubber, Ethyl Acetate which is used in cleaner for leather and textiles.. its vapors have been known to cause chronic lung, liver and heart damage.. the list goes on and on of many different chemicals in different foods as well: But that is not all, they tell us that cleaners are safe when the opposite is true.

Is the Medical system to be trusted??? Certainly not!!!   They have went and burnt material (and burning down a house in one instance)  proving that the cure for cancer is diet. I am not saying that you have to be 100% raw – I don’t believe so myself. Think of the fact that God made food for us  and that all of it does not have to be cooked to be edible!!!  Try at least to not eat so much processed foods and start having the food that God made for you in its natural form.  There are some if not many who really want to help people but they need to be educated to tell people what is in their prescription and advise them to go to the root of the problem – DIET.

Well, we have started down the road of partial vaccinations. Some background on our thoughts on vaccinations here. My husband feels strongly about partially vaccinating (yes to pentacel and MMR) and no to the rest. I would prefer not to vaccinate, but am open to partial vaccinations.

Thimerosal (which contains mercury and has been linked to autism) is not used as a preservative in either MMR or pentacel. More info on which vaccines contain thimerosal in Canada here, and in the US here.

A.’s last vaccination was at 6 months old (he received pentacel at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months).  He’s now 3.5 years and received his first MMR vaccination yesterday. Interestingly, his system seemed more reactive the morning of the vaccination (i.e., before it was given) — almost as though his system could already sense what was to occur. But, I had a calm feeling and felt that everything was going to be alright (similar to how I felt the morning of A.’s peanut challenge).

Sure enough, everything went fine. And just like with the peanut challenge, his system seemed less enflamed after he received the vaccination.

(An odd coincidence of the morning was that the only other child in the “medical day care” waiting room was a child who was allergic to eggs who was receiving an MMR shot — and she has the same last name as my son [a very unique last  name]. We very rarely bump into any one who has the same last name as our family, so it seemed like a pretty big synchronicity).

I consulted with A.’s naturopath last week and she suggested giving him a pellet of the arnica homeopathic remedy the morning of, directly after, and the evening of the vaccination. She also suggested that spirulina post-vaccination would detox his system. I decided against using the spirulina as the last time he received spirulina, he had a pretty big detox reaction, but the arnica homeopath seems gentle enough on his system.

Next on the schedule:  October: Pentacel; and November: MMR.  And, hopefully that’s it until he’s 4.5 years.

(By the way, if you’re choosing not to vaccinate, I think that’s great. I’m not encouraging you to vaccinate or not to vaccinate. I think it’s a very personal decision. As always, I’m just sharing our story and experiences.)

I’m writing to you at 5 a.m. this morning because my cat woke me up. He went to the bathtub and did his usual scratching. I had to let him out of the apartment. Coincidentally, my stomach was billowing with pain again. I had to gone to the gynecologist. I was given a transvaginal ultrasound, probed by a transducer wrapped in gel. The gynecologist showed me that i had a cyst on my left ovary. She suspected that it was a hemorrhagic cyst, due to is irregular, odd shape. She didn’t seem too concerned and asked me to come back in 8 weeks to see if the cyst had diminished or enlarged. Multiple doctor’s visits and this is all I get — a little less indifference would have been nice. I am a little upset with the entire medical system. Why didn’t anyone tell me to go to the gynecologist earlier? Why is it so difficult to convince doctors to give you extra tests, just to be sure? I feel like you have to justify your pain to them, even though you live with it and endure it every single day. Yet, they waltz in, acting as if they know your body better than you do. I’ve been getting checkups now for the past 3 years and it doesn’t seem to speed up the process of finding what’s wrong with me, If it’s just a normal cyst, why do I wake up most nights in pain? Why does my lower abdomen continue to get bigger? Why do I feel bloated 90 percent of the time? This is not my imagination. I am not a hypochondriac. Yet if the test results keep coming back normal, I don’t know what to do next. I know that there is something wrong with me down there. Doctors need to take patients more seriously and err on the side of caution by aggressively testing them when they have had longstanding symptoms.

Well, if you are a regular reader, you know that we have had some recent remarkable breakthroughs in my son’s health (he can now eat peanuts!).

I thought I’d also give you an update on other things that have been going on for him. In May, my sensitive guy developed a huge cyst under his eye (so huge that it was starting to obstruct his vision and required a day surgery to drain), which thankfully has completely healed.  The day before his surgery, I prayed that everything that needed to be drained from his body empty into the cyst so that it could be removed from his system.

As an aside, between the ages of 0 and 2, our son developed approx. 8 large cysts on his scalp which also needed to be drained, and another cyst in his neck area that needed to be surgically drained when he was 2. I think that creating cysts was one way that his body dealt with removing toxins from his system.

A blessing of the most recent cyst was that A. got his eyes tested and we found out that he is very far-sighted.  We had no idea and it was probably something that we would otherwise have not found out about until after he’d started school, so the blessing is that we found out so early.  He wears glasses now and after about a month’s adjustment period, he now wears them without a problem. He looks so cute in them — like a little Harry Potter.

We have no more follow ups with the dermatologist scheduled.  Not because A.’s skin has cleared up, but because we haven’t been following his advice (i.e., to use protopic, which has a “possible cancer risk”).  The dermatologist assured me that the medication is completely safe to use, but we still don’t feel comfortable putting anything on our son’s skin that may be a potential cancer risk.

We’ve continued to use the 1% hydrocortisone ointment sparingly on A.’s skin when it’s particularly flared up, and generally only do it for 2 weeks at a time and then give his skin a break, but moisturizing a lot of Glaxalbase.  (It took us a lot even to start using hydrocortisone on A.’s skin — we essentially didn’t use it for the first 18 months of his life despite his extreme eczema — hoping that we would find a “natural” way to deal with it.  As I mentioned here, we tried many things).

When we have follow up visits with specialists, I often feel as though I am doing something wrong (by not following their prescriptions), but then I ask my Self whether it’s in my son’s highest good for me to be using the medications, and I get a “no”.  So, I guess that’s the truth I’ll stick by.  And, I guess it’s also cause for celebration that we have one less doctor to visit.  As I mentioned here, we have a lot of doctors following our son as it is.

Ok, No offence to many of you out there. But as Obama tries to reform the medical welfare system people protest because they don’t want to help others then them selves!!, let me elaborate… In a debate yesterday in Wheeling, West Virginia. A woman carefully asked if they please could hurry up with the reform so that her daughter could be helped with her rheumatism since at the moment there was no way of paying for it. The response came quick… A man in a shirt stood up and said loud and clear: why should I pay for your daughter? Well there you have it people, the actual American reason for protesting against the reform… The product of a Supercapitalistic society. As soon as ones tax money helps other people people shout out Communism and Socialism as if they knew the meaning of these words!… is equality for all wrong? I call it Welfare. In Sweden we have a higher tax which everyone is willing to pay because we care for the less fortunate in our nation… as a matter of fact we have the best welfare in the world because of this… are we Communists now suddenly.. No definitely not! Maybee Obama sees the countries with the best welfare in the world and believes America has something to learn… who knows!

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson had free himself…

Free from any diseases obsession, any sickness torturing… Away from criticism… Away from defamation…

He went to heaven… continue his singing and dancing!

Even though, it had been some times after his death, the ultimate reason for Michael Jackson’s death had not been announced. On that day of Michael’s death announcement, one of my patients asked me, “Dr Li, can acupuncture save a life of a patient who suffer cardiac arrest?” At that moment, I gave a her a definite  answer, “Yes!” I was deeply impressed. Each time, when I think back on this incident, it still have inspired strong feelings in me.

First of all, ever since the rise of Western Medicine and its continuous entry into China, Western Medicine has a rapid development. Western Medicine is gradually being accepted and recognized by people especially when looking at the efficiency of Western Medicine giving treatment to certain diseases. Along with protections and support from certain policies,  Western Medicine has occupied most of the medical market.

Well, I have to say, this causes many people misunderstand that just only Western Medicine is “Science”, “Scientific”. At the same time, people misunderstand that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is just only an idealism. It doesn’t have well-organized theoretical system, no precise experimental data, no “scientific prof”. In short, people think that Western Medicine is always correct. It is only when those diseases cannot be treated by Western Medicine, it is then an alternative for them to seek treatment from Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is like TCM is fighting a losing battle.

A matter of fact, this is totally wrong!

People get it totally wrong. This kind of misunderstanding is one-sided. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine are completely two different medical systems. Both have different theoretical foundation, ways of giving treatment, and methods of analyzing. We can’t just compare an apple with an orange.

The theoretical basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine is originated from the book, Book of Changes or I Ching. It is formed and perfected to HuangDi NeiJing, more than 2000 years ago. TCM has a well-organized theoretical system. It has a precise method, called Syndrome Differentiation for examining and diagnosing on both the diseases and the syndromes. It involves analysis and synthesis of the clinical data obtained by the four examination methods (questioning, inspecting, listening & smelling, and palpationing).

One of the Syndrome Differentiation method - Syndrome Differentiation according to Eight Principles. It is a method of examining and diagnosing both the diseases and the syndromes based on eight principles. The eight pricinples are Yin, Yang, exterior, interior, cold, heat, deficiency (xu) and excess (shi). In addition, qi, blood, phlegm and fire were also included within these.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a natural way, that emphasizes on “Unity of Human and Nature”. Simply to say, Traditional Chinese Medicine is particular about the as-a-whole concept and balanced concept. As-a-whole concept means that Traditional Chinese  Medicine  does not treat one organ, one disease individually and separately. But, link it up with other organs and other systems, the nature environment,  weathers and climates, and other factors. Human body is a whole system, with all the organs and systems are inter-related. The nature is a whole system, with human body, the environment, the weathers, the climates and other factors that are inter-related. The relations of a whole system, can be both in generation cycle (Shen Cycle) and restriction cycle (Ko Cycle), seeking for a balanced point. Natural ways are used to restore and to maintain the balance of body, as to achieve the purpose of curing a disease.

The Five Elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine, showing the generation cycle and the restriction cycle.

Moreover, Western Medicine is a confrontional medicine and analytical medical science. It looks more into micro things, until tiny little things like the gene of a cell. For Western Medicine, everything goes in for evidences. Even when treating a disease, they used a suppressing method to cure the disease. Thus, alway miss out things when focusing on just one. We can’t say that the death of Michael Jackson has totally no relation with drug abuse.

Secondly, people think that Traditional Chinese Medicine is “Slow Healer”. Saying that, when handling emergency cases, Traditional Chinese Medicine cannot compete with Western Medicine.

This is just another prejudice and misunderstanding!

Based on all the medical records from past till now, and my own clinical experiences, Western Medicine is just too far behind to catch up with Traditional Chinese Medicine on handling certain emergency cases.

Can’t get it?

Ok… Just take a simple example, the cardiac arrest. How Western Medicine handle it? It adopts a method of injecting the epinephrine through veins. While Traditional Chinese Western Medicine uses needle to stab at certain acuponts like Renzhong, Suliao, Shixuan, Yongquan and etc. Comparing the effect, acupuncture is even faster and better. Basically, it can achieve the effect of “Immediate effect after acupuncture”. I had used more than once this method, as to recover from ac cardiac arrest, as to save a person’s life.

The theory is very simple and natural. We all understand the principle of “Ten fingers connect to heart”. When one person is going to die, the sudden cardiac arrest is the moment of “Yin Yang separation”. Those acupoints like Renzhong, Suliao, Shixuan, Yongquan and others are the connection points for both the Yin Meridians and Yang Meridians of human body. Acupuncture at these few acupoints can immediately stimulate the qi, vital energy of the channels. Thus, achieving the aim of recovery from cardiac arrest.

This is as mentioned in 《黄帝内经 – 素问．阴阳应象大论》HuangDi NeiJing SuWen (Questions of fundamental nature) -Theory of the manifestation of yin and yang from the macrocosm to the microcosm, “Yin Yang, is the principle of the nature; is the law of the world (everything on earth); is the parents of changes and transformations”.

As for patients with flu and high fever, both treatment methods of giving Chinese Medicine for internal and external usage, and acupuncture treatment, are giving the same significant results. There are many clinical cases of patients with continuous fever that cannot be cure by Western Medicine, came forward for Traditional Chinese Meidicine treatment.

In addition, during SARS in year 2002, GuangDong Provincial Chinese Medicine Hospital integrated both Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine in treating SARS patients. The effect was far better than just only using Western Medicine to cure. The most important is that none died of SARS. Even now, Traditional Chinese Medicine has showed it advantage on prevention and treatment for AH1N1. There are many such cases, should we say that the label of “Slow Healer” for Traditional Chinese Medicine is to be removed?

Furthermore, due to the limitations of both the Western Medicine and Western Medical practioners themselves, a portion of wise people had started to look squarely at these problems. They had taken a cautious attitude on having Western Medicine treament, and turn to seek for some natural methods for treatment. To Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is it, the opportunity, but at the same time also a challenge. I personally think that currently Traditional Chinese Medicine faces the issues of the TCM system and the professional.

The issue on Traditional Chinese Medical System

For a long period, because of over pursuit of economic benefits and neglect of development of TCM, it is now at a subordinate position rather than a primary position. It is weird that only based on a reason of “In line with International Standard”,  Traditional Chinese Medicine is being subordinated into Western Medicine evaluation system. Using Western Medical standards as to measure the effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment. It is as funny as using a ruler to measure the weight of an object.

Funny and weird, right?

I have an “interesting” example here.

Among the teaching materials used in universities for the profession of acupuncture – each and every acupoints have their own names and how they are named. But now, when you open up a acupuncture acupoints wall chart, you will see all these numbers and alphabets, like “RN8″, “SP6″. The name for acupoints had became symbols! Symbols had cut off the messages being carried and the cultures being beared on each acupoints like “ShenJue”, “SanYinJiao”. With symbols only, how can we truely comprehend the true meaning of  Traditional Chinese Medicine?

Can this be a type of progress? Can it considers as in line with international practices and standards?

As we all know, Traditional Chinese Medicine is the culture of China. If really talking about in line “taking the track”, let the foreigners to do so, to take our track.

The issue on Talented and Professional Practitioners

As for the issue of talented people, first and foremost, it is in the training and assessment system. Supposingly, Traditional Chinese Medicine is a natural and open medicine. Nowadays, the existing training and assessment system had seriously restricted the development of talented Chinese Medical professions.

Although, each year, China has thousands of students graduating from TCM colleges and universities, they are vast and overwhelm when come to the point of clinical practices. Some even surrender very early, changing their routes from “Middle” 中 to the “West” 西.

There is also an important reason behind, i.e. “Money“. It is an indisputable fact that the income of a Chinese Medical doctor far less than of a Western Medical doctor. If a profession does not has a “money” plan and future, that can’t even improve his life to have a peaceful life, what do expect him to be happy with his profession? Therefore, it is not that Traditional Chinese Medicine is useless, but successors, lacking of people who really master in this techniques and skills.

It is inaction to complain and to blame on others… It is naive to count on others, to expect things from people. People of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as long as we have a firm confidence, we are ease to learn and work, we can develop and carry forward Traditional Chinese Medicine and benefit people!

Yesterday was the peanut challenge and A. passed it with flying colours.

We were very close to cancelling again (he’d been feverish within 48 hours and his eczema seemed flared), but I “checked” in and got the message to do it, and we did and it was a complete non-issue.

In case you don’t know what’s involved with a peanut challenge: the person is fed 5 doses of peanuts, with 15-20 minutes between doses. The first time, the patient is asked to simply hold the peanut and then rub it on their lips.

• 0.5 g (1/2 a peanut)
• 1 g (1 peanut)
• 2 g (2 peanuts)
• 4 g (4 peanuts)
• 8 g (8 peantus)

So that’s 15.5 peanuts in a three hour period.

My husband was extremely nervous and anxious, but I was reassured by the message I got before the test that it would all be alright. And, I told myself that it was in as safe a place for anything wrong to happen, and if anything wrong did occur, at least we would definitely know that all of the precautions around peanuts were justified.

It also helped that my mom was visiting and present for the challenge. She helped to keep A. happy during the three hours, playing with him, and keeping my husband and I calm as well.

The peanuts didn’t even affect A.’s eczema or anything. The weird thing is that his skin actually looked better today than it did before the peanut challenge.

It’s a complete relief, and feels like a complete miracle. To put this in perspective, this was the boy who was reactive to everything (including things like rice). We are very thankful. Extremely thankful. Overjoyed. In awe and disbelief.

It completely changes our whole perspective and paradigm and I feel like A. will eventually outgrow his sensitivities to most things.

As I mentioned here, we’re slowly starting to introduce other foods at home, but it’s been a very slow process because his skin has still been pretty reactive. I think since June, we’ve reintroduced: rice (but not rice milk yet), broccoli and raspberries. 

As I mentioned before, A. has had three anaphylatic reactions in the past.  One was to stevia (a natural sweetener), and the other two times, it wasn’t obvious to what he reacted to. The more I think about it, I think one time was to him chewing on a bookmark (he literally ate half a bookmark), and the other time was to hand sanitizer (we put it on his hands, and he likely had his hands in his mouth sometime after that). So, I think that the reactions were probably to chemical and not foods, per say.  This makes us feel a lot safer introducing new foods, and that the anaphylatic reactions were likely just weird “flukes”.

Now that the peanut challenge is over, we’re encouraged to feed him peanuts once a week, and not over do it.  We bought some organic peanut butter and my husband enjoyed his first peanut butter and banana sandwich in years. Sometime over the weekend, we’ll give A. a bit of peanut butter on his glutenfree, eggfree, milkfree bread and see how he does!

According to Rasmussen Reports,

Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters nationwide say that cost is the biggest health care problem facing the nation today. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 21% believe the lack of universal health insurance coverage is a bigger problem.

Only 10% believe the quality of care is the top concern, and two percent (2%) point to the inconvenience factor of dealing with the current medical system.

HT: Greg Mankiw