A new study shows that 25% of the elderly who are in home care have reactions to prescribed drugs. This is ONE in FOUR elderly that have REPORTED drug reactions!!

The elderly, the report states, are now taking 6 or more different prescribed drugs on a daily basis!

And even though these drugs are  theoretically “properly” prescribed, 25% of our most vulnerable population is having reactions to the drug Side Effects that are being properly prescribed for their medical conditions.

Having been an Emergency Room nurse for many years, it is my job to find out what medications people are taking and to write it down for their medical chart. I can attest to the fact that many of our elderly are taking even MORE drugs than that- sometimes upwards of 12 or 15 drugs per day!

“Medication side effects are the #4 leading cause of death in the U.S. annually” (JAMA 1998)

This would seem to be an impossible amount of prescription medications for a population who often has memory issues and difficulty even opening the bottles.

My experience in the emergency department leads me to believe that these adverse effects are SERIOUS issues. We’re not talking simply a case of nausea here. A case of nausea in an elderly person, often leads to days of vomiting and a trip to the emergency room for dehydration and a urinary tract infection.

A case of constipation can lead to abdominal surgery from a bowel perforation or a blocked intestine. Dizziness or diarrhea can lead to a fall, which can lead to a broken hip from which they will never recover.

If the alternative health community reported that 25% of anyone had a reaction to anything that they did- be it giving supplements, doing acupuncture or chiropractic treatments- the FDA would investigate and put them out of business immediately.

In fact in the alternative community, a few people getting sick from ONE poorly prepared batch of supplements from ONE specific company is enough to take away access to that supplement forever- as was the case with the amino acid supplement Tryptophan.

But for the AMA, drug reactions in 25% of a population is just business as usual

Instead of this study being a call to action to the medical industry to change their prescribing practices in the elderly- as usual, it becomes a reason to add more regulations to home care provider agencies- which doesn’t SOLVE the problem at all and only adds more paperwork and more cost to health care.

While seniors definitely need medical care, there are MUCH better natural alternatives than prescription drugs in MOST cases:

1) Ensuring proper Vitamin D levels- a practice that is NOT done by the vast majority of physicians in the US- has been shown to not only prevent falls in the elderly, but also to help decrease blood pressure, normalize blood sugars, prevent heart disease and relieve depression. And it can be given in ONE very large dose twice yearly in the doctor’s office (as it’s done in other countries simply to PREVENT deficiency)
2) There are hundreds of studies on the use of nuts and fatty acids present naturally in foods to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol.
3) Fiber can not only help with high cholesterol levels and blood pressure, but prevent constipation AND diarrhea
4)  Regular exercise promotes heart health, blood pressure reduction, increased bone density, depression reduction and prevents constipation.

Just these 4 simple things would probably eliminate the need for 4 to 5 different drugs that seniors take for: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, depression and constipation.

It is NOT normal to be taking drugs as we get older- yet we are surprised to hear about a senior who is NOT taking medications. Since most most chronic medical problems are preventable with lifestyle changes, our  society should be shocked to hear when someone DOES have to take a prescription medication !!

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner
http://www.easy-immune-health.com

Antacids, known as Proton pump inhibitors by the medical community, are a class of drugs normally prescribed for heartburn symptoms. With names like Prilosec, Prevacid, Nexium and Protonix- a large percentage of Americans are intimately familiar with these prescription drugs.

They are SO often recommended for heartburn that most people who take them have never had any testing to figure out WHY they have chronic heartburn.

Yet that is EXACTLY the question that they SHOULD be asking before they just hand over a prescription medication to you.

Despite the ease with which your doctor hands these drugs out, they could have some serious consequences in the long run that your doctor most likely didn’t tell you.

First, they do exactly what they say they do- block acid in the stomach. While this might relieve some symptoms of heartburn, isn’t our stomach SUPPOSED to have acid in it?

That is a big YES. The pH of our stomach is close to that of battery acid. And for good reason.

Approximately 98% of pathogenic organisms that we are exposed to come into our bodies through the food we eat and the fluids that we drink!!

Our stomach is the very first line of defense that we have against these 10’s of thousands of pathogens that our bodies encounter every single day of our life. And stomach acid is the defense that we evolved over 10’s of thousands of years to effectively kill these viruses, bacteria, protozoa and their cysts.

So why would you bother washing your hands after using the restroom if you are going to take an acid blocker and destroy the first line of defense for your digestive tract?

Decreasing the pH in your stomach is setting you up to get salmonella, giardia, “food poisoning” and a number of other digestive tract pathogens.

The battery acid action of your stomach also helps to digest your food, so changing this pH will affect the digestion of your food and the absorption of nutrients- especially calcium.

Calcium REQUIRES an acidic environment in order to be absorbed, and research is finding that these prescription antacids increase your risk of hip fractures- a potentially lethal event in the elderly!

Another long term consequence of taking acid blockers is that they INCREASE your risk of gastric cancer!

Yes, your doctor is prescribing you a drug that GIVES you an extra risk factor for stomach cancer. I’ll bet that he didn’t tell you THAT either, now did he?

Ironically,  the one thing that your doctor SHOULD test for if you have chronic heartburn- but that it’s likely that he won’t- is the H pylori bacteria.

The irony is that untreated H pylori is ANOTHER risk factor for gastric cancer.

So, if you DO happen to have the H pylori bacteria AND he gives you an acid blocker, then he has just given you TWO risk factors for gastric cancer when you could have eliminated BOTH of them with a simple blood test.

That’s enough to give you heartburn.

In Good Health,
Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner

(NaturalNews) New research published in Environmental Health and conducted in part by a scientist at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has revealed that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is contaminated with the toxic heavy metal mercury.

That means that many of the products using HFCS may also be contaminated with mercury. Carbonated sodas are sweetened with HFCS, as are candy bars, bread, salad dressings, pizza sauce, fruit drinks and thousands of other grocery items.

Mercury is so highly toxic that it causes severe neurological disorders. It can also result in the loss of hair, teeth and nails as well as muscle weakness, loss of kidney function, emotional mood swings and memory impairment. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercur…) (P.S. Somebody please update this Wikipedia page with this latest research about HFCS being a source for mercury exposure, too.)

The highest level of contamination found in the study was 0.57 micrograms of mercury per gram of HFCS. The EPA says that an average-sized woman should consume no more than 5.5 micrograms per day of mercury, meaning that the average American consumer may be eating five times the upper safety limit of mercury every day due to high-fructose corn syrup consumption if they consume the foods tested in the study.

That’s because the average American consumes 12 teaspoons of HFCS every day! So just by eating the standard American diet of processed foods, consumers are right now potentially exposing themselves to exceedingly high levels of mercury that far surpass the safety limits set by the EPA.

Buy groceries, get free mercury!

High-fructose corn syrup is used in almost everything, it seems. A second study conducted by David Wallinga, M.D., entitled “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup” reveals that nearly one-third of all grocery items sweetened with HFCS were contaminated with mercury.

Eating some sweetened yogurt? Mercury!

How about some salad dressing with HFCS? Mercury!

Want some ketchup on that burger? Mercury!

In fact, mercury is found in thousands of grocery products sold across the world right now. And it’s no exaggeration to say that mainstream consumers of popular food items are likely suffering from widespread mercury poisoning (especially if you add in the mercury exposure they’re getting from dental fillings).

Where does all the mercury come from?

Most people don’t know how high-fructose corn syrup is really made. One of those processes is a bizarre chemical brew involving the creation of caustic soda by exposing raw materials to pools of electrified mercury in a large vat. Through this process, the caustic soda gets contaminated with mercury, and when corn kernels are exposed to this caustic soda to break them down, that contamination is passed through to the HFCS.

Another toxic chemical, glutaraldehyde, is also used in the production of HFCS. It’s so toxic that consuming even a small amount of it can burn a hole in your stomach.

But don’t worry: The Corn Refiners Association insists that HFCS is a “natural” ingredient, and their Chicago-based PR firm Weber Shandwick is now also claiming that HFCS has been declared “natural” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

It hasn’t really, of course, but that doesn’t stop the press releases from claiming it has. (If you think a liquid sugar processed with glutaraldehyde and contaminated with mercury is “natural,” then you’ve been duped. There’s nothing natural about a processed food ingredient made with toxic chemicals.)

A Weber Shandwick representative calls me every time I post an article about HFCS, by the way, usually with demands that I remove the entire article. I’ve invited the Corn Refiners Association to a phone interview to defend their position that HFCS doesn’t cause diabetes or obesity, and to answer questions about whether HFCS is really “natural.” So far, they have declined to be interviewed. It seems they don’t want to face real questions from an honest journalist who refuses to be censored by powerful corporations.

One thing I’ve got to say about the Corn Refiners Association is that they have a well-funded PR machine running around the internet trying to make everybody remove stories that say anything negative about HFCS.

I’ve noticed that the Corn Refiners Association is a master at spinning the truth. For example, the president of the CRA, Audrae Erickson, said this in a statement responding to the mercury findings: “Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two reagents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years.”

Well sure, that’s true. But what is Erickson NOT saying? She’s not saying that ALL the HFCS is made without mercury. She just says that somewhere in the industry, somebody is using a mercury-free version of the caustic soda. That doesn’t mean all the HFCS is mercury free, yet if you don’t read her statement carefully, you might be misled into thinking that. Her statement, in fact, leaves open the possibility that 99% of all HFCS might still be manufactured using mercury.

Note carefully that Erickson does not say all HFCS sold in the U.S. is free from mercury. Instead, she makes a clever statement that results in most readers assuming that’s what she means. The CRA is well known for using this kind of language spin tactics.

NaturalNews challenges the CRA to state that all HFCS is free from mercury (see below).

The HFCS fairy tale

The CRA isn’t just in the business of pushing HFCS, by the way. It’s also in the business of denial. For example: Virtually everyone who understands holistic nutrition agrees that HFCS promotes diabetes and obesity. But in much the same way that Big Tobacco executives once swore that “nicotine is not addictive,” the Corn Refiners Association insists that high-fructose corn syrup does not promote diabetes or obesity.

So don’t worry about the mercury in your HFCS. Or the other toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing process. That’s all natural, we’re supposed to believe. And high-fructose corn syrup is a healthy, wholesome, all-American sweetener grown without pesticides by poor Midwestern farmers who have given their lives and souls to create a sweeter, happier America.

Or at least that’s the fairy tale version of the story. In reality, HFCS is created by corporate agriculture giants using toxic pesticides and herbicides on the crops who subject their corn to numerous toxic chemicals in the creation of this potentially mercury-contaminated processed sweetener that promotes tooth decay, obesity, diabetes and possibly even neurological disorders thanks to the mercury.

Yum. I can’t wait to gobble down another chocolate candy bar sweetened with this stuff…

Politics at the FDA

There’s an angle on this story that nobody is yet reporting. The lead author of this study, Renee Dufault, used to work for the FDA. In fact, she investigated the use of mercury at chlorine plants, where the manufacturing process results in the chlorine being contaminated with mercury. With chlorine being dumped into the public water supply, this is obviously a health concern.

Renee Dufault retired from the FDA last year. Only now, nearly a year after her retirement, has she dared to release her findings about mercury and high-fructose corn syrup.

Can you guess why? As an employee of the FDA, there’s little question she would have been pressured into silence about the HFCS mercury contamination issue. A lot of powerful corporations that wield steady influence over the FDA would not be happy to see the truth come out about HFCS and mercury. So she waited until after retiring from the FDA to go public with these findings.

In fact, Reuters is now reporting that Dufault told the FDA about her findings, but the agency did nothing to act on them. Is anybody really surprised?

Lies about mercury

The Corn Refiners Association, predictably, is attacking these study results, claiming “This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance…”

That’s because the samples used in the study were taken in 2005. The CRA seems to imply they’ve cleaned up their act since then and are now using a mercury-free process (see statement from Erickson, above). But note that the CRA carefully avoids claiming all HFCS is free from mercury. Their official reply to the Environmental Health article is a perfect example of corporate doublespeak.

Specifically, note that the statement avoids promising that all HFCS meets the FDA’s definition of the term “natural” or that all HFCS is free from mercury.

NaturalNews challenges the honesty of the Corn Refiners Association in making these seemingly deceptive statements. We request that if the CRA is really to be believed, it must publicly state that all HFCS sold in America today is free from mercury and that all HFCS meets the definition of “natural” as described by the FDA.

Don’t hold your breath on that. I can already tell you the CRA will never make such statements because it knows they would be provably false. The truth is that last thing the CRA wants to make public, in my view. I think it’s really in the business of creating the illusion of truth through clever P.R. tactics.

Did the CRA know about the mercury contamination of HFCS?
But let’s give the CRA the benefit of the doubt for a minute here. Let’s suppose that right up to 2005, HFCS was routinely contaminated with mercury, but now suddenly it’s all mercury free.

Doesn’t anybody wonder why didn’t the CRA recall the mercury-contaminated HFCS when it became aware of the issue?

If all HFCS is now manufactured in a mercury-free process (which is highly doubtful, by the way), then that means at some point the CRA must have realized HFCS was contaminated with mercury and it made a decision to switch to a mercury-free process. Why was the public never warned about the pre-2006 mercury in HFCS? And why weren’t foods containing HFCS recalled from store shelves due to their mercury content?

If the CRA’s present-day statements are to be believed, it means the group must have been aware of the mercury contamination of HFCS through 2005 and yet it did nothing to make that fact known to the public.

So even if HFCS is free from mercury today, the CRA has a lot of explaining to do. The group either knew about the mercury contamination and did nothing to warn the public, or it didn’t know about the mercury contamination, putting it in a position of remarkable ignorance about the safety of a product it has routinely claimed to be “safe” and “natural” for many years.

So which is it? Is the CRA run by liars, or just fools?

My offer for a phone interview with a CRA representative remains open. If anybody from the CRA wants to get on the phone with me and defend HFCS, the door is wide open. You know how to reach me.

Disclaimer: This article is an opinion piece. All statements are my own opinion and are obviously not agreed to by the CRA, which vigorously defends the safety of HFCS. Almost as if their jobs depended on it, come to think….

By Mike Adams, The Health Ranger

http://www.healthranger.org

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently passed a new law “protecting” health care providers from discrimination based on their beliefs.

This law was passed in a midnight session by the Bush Administration at one of his last acts before leaving the White House.

Does that tell you that this law was not on the list of first priorities for the president?

In fact, this law doesn’t ‘protect’ health care providers, but allows anyone who wants to – to pass off their agenda on patients and be protected by the government.

As a health care professional for over 13 years, I feel very protected already. There are already laws in place protecting me and allowing me to refuse to do any service that I don’t feel is within my ethical or moral beliefs.<br><br><br>

But this law is not designed to protect me, it is designed to pass off the Bush agenda of placing limitations on abortion.<br><br><br>

This law will allow, for example, someone who does not believe in abortion to go get a job in an abortion clinic, not disclose their beliefs to their employers ahead of time, then- once hired- refuse to perform in any capacity related to performing abortions.

AND the government will protect them from being fired.

The far reaching consequences of this are not just the promotion of abortion agenda. Whether you believe that abortion should be allowed or not- you should STILL be very afraid of this law.

The consequences  are such that your doctor could refuse to inform you of legal treatment options for your health condition.

Your doctor could know that a procedure, such as a stem cell transplant,  and well believe that it could help you or your child, but decline to inform you of the availability of this procedure because it violates their ethics.

This law is fine in a case like abortion where the vast majority of people KNOW about the option of abortion, but what if you are NOT aware of the option that a doctor refuses to tell you about and you are left in the dark!?

Think this is a remote possibility? In fact, this is a DISTINCT possibility and one of the unintended consequences of this not well thought out law.

As a health care professional, I certainly don’t feel more protected from this law. As a health care CONSUMER- it scares me to death!!

Another problem with this law is that it is another drain on our already drained health care system. The costs to hospitals, offices and outpatient clinics to implement this is NOT going to be cheap- as it never is whenever the government decides to make more regulations.

Each health care center is now going to have to create new policies, new hiring guidelines, train HR workers, implement new paperwork and revise old paperwork, educate established and incoming employees, hire a new person to oversee all of these new regulations, etc.

This is an expensive and time consuming process that costs a LOT of money.

This law is the last thing that our health care system needs and it will NOT be “protecting” anyone.

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

“Helping you overcome chronic health problems”

In a groundbreaking move and without waiting for the Federal Government to raise the RDA, Wisconsin’s Aurora Health Care is urging all residents to take 1000 – 2000 IU’s of Vitamin D per day.

While this may not seem to be big news to you, Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a wide variety of ‘diseases of modern civilization’ while showing a remarkably low level of toxicity- much less than doctors and the media would have you believe.
So, Wisconsin has decided- based on current Vitamin D research- to encourage people to take doses twice to quadruple the amount of Vitamin D recommended by the US RDA!

This really IS groundbreaking. It shows that there ARE doctors and institutions out there that ARE looking at the overwhelming amount of Vitamin D research out there and are willing to take action despite the INACTION of our government agencies.
Kerri Knox, RN

Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

“Helping you overcome your health problems”

A study in 2002, showed that inexpensive diuretics treat hypertension BETTER than newer drugs that are twenty times the price.

A NEW study shows that prescriptions of these older, cheaper and more effective drugs have not increased while prescriptions of newer drugs did!

The doctors that I work with always claim to use ‘evidence based medicine’ where all of the best practices are weighed and the most effective treatments used. But studies like this show that, in reality, this is NOT how doctors treat patients.

Doctors tend to use whatever treatment is shouted about the loudest- and that shouting is usually done by the drug companies.

As always, your health is YOUR responsibility and hypertension does not need to be treated with drugs AT ALL!

If you find that you have high blood pressure, you can either continue with your life as it is, take a drug and change nothing else. Or you can choose to see that diagnosis as a wake up call to change your life and improve your health.

High blood pressure is NOT a disease, it is a SYMPTOM of underlying problems with your health that you are not addressing.

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

“Helping you overcome your health problems”

When most people get sick, they go to the doctor expecting help. Often help comes in the form of antibiotics to combat infections. As a society, we are beginning to understand the repercussions of this constant use of antibiotics in the form of drug resistant bacteria that could make antibiotics completely ineffective in the future- but there are other risks too.

A new study shows that 13% of ALL cases of acute liver failure are caused by ONE SINGLE class of drugs- antibiotics!

This is sad news for those who experience liver failure due to these commonly used drugs- and is another good reason to take preventative measures to improve your immune system in order to avoid having to take antibiotics.

Antibiotics should ONLY be used for life threatening emergencies , yet doctors still prescribe antibiotics unnecessarily almost half of the time. And by unnecessarily, I’m referring to conditions where the patient is likely to heal themselves with or without the use of antibiotics.

The biggest recipients of unnecessary antibiotics being colds, flu, bronchitis and ear infections- NONE of these require antibiotics as they are generally self-limiting -and not even bacterial in origin in most cases.

For some reason, our society has begun to think of common illnesses as horrible events that we should fear. But they are often a way for the body to rid itself of toxins and a way of forcing the sufferer to slow their life down for a few days in order to heal.

Take the time to listen to your body- take a few days to heal yourself from illness instead of relying on dangerous drugs to suppress symptoms.

Kerri Knox, RN

Functional Medicine Practitioner

Tamiflu is a prescription medicine designed to shorten the duration of the flu and has been touted as the all encompassing savior of the flu season. Leading hospitals and even entire governments to stockpile the medication.

But it doesn’t seem like it’s savior status is going to last much longer and all of the money spent on stockpiling is going to go to waste.

It’s being found that Tamiflu is ineffective in 99% of flu cases this year!!

However, is the flu really what ‘they’ say that it is. Is it the next scourge of mankind. Does it REALLY kill 36,000 people a year- when as an RN for over 14 years in ER’s and ICU’s, I’ve never had a single person with the flu die that I can even think of.

And if, in fact so many people die of the flu, wouldn’t hospital admission rates for the flu be pretty high? Yet I have RARELY take care of anyone with the flu besides people that come into the ER, get diagnosed and sent home with a prescription for Tamiflu- and even then, that is not very frequent.

Many have questioned the Centers for Disease Control’s statistics of 36,000 deaths per year, citing evidence that most of the deaths were actually from pneumonia and NOT from the flu and that this statistic has not improved despite HUGE increases in flu vaccine administration.

And even how we GET the flu is in question. Much of what we know about transmission of the flu is taken from what we know about colds. But the flu is NOT a cold and it’s likely that it is not transmitted in the same way.

In fact, the ONLY evidence we have that it is transmitted from person to person is the case of an airline flight that had someone with the flu on it and a short time later dozens of others also got the flu.

But the only studies done on flu transmission showed that volunteers DID NOT contract the flu- even when secretions from sick people were put directly into volunteers’ throat and nose (yuck!).

Right now, there are researchers who believe that the virus is harbored inside of your body and gets ‘expressed’ when you get stressed and get low on vitamin D- like you do in the winter. That’s why there tend to be multiple outbreaks- even in different countries- at the exact same time.

But no matter how the flu is transmitted, your best defense is PREVENTION! While most health authorities stress handwashing- that strategy may or may not work against the flu.

So your BEST bet is to boost your immune system health from the inside out.

-Get your Vitamin D levels checked and keep it within normal ranges.
-Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and lean meats
-Avoid processed foods, sugar and white flour products
-Eat organic foods whenever possible
-Drink plenty of pure clean water and stop drinking sodas!
-Add Cultured foods like kefir, yogurt and RAW sauerkraut
 to your diet. These foods provide good bacteria for your
 intestines that help to keep the immune system strong
-Get regular vigorous exercise

You can’t rely on Tamiflu or handwashing to protect you from the flu. YOU are your best defense against the flu- don’t let the health authorities tell you any different!

In Good Health,

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

OK. There is no doubt that vaccination has reduced and even eliminated many diseases in the world. But over the years, my research has led me to believe that vaccinations are NOT all that they are cracked up to be.

In part, this is because I feel that our immune systems can do the job of vaccines as good as, if not better than the vaccines themselves. But in larger part because of the ‘stuff’ that is IN vaccines. Our bodies are just NOT meant to have mercury, coal tar, formaldehyde and other preservatives and toxins injected into it.

No matter that the party line is that this stuff has no effect on our health, from a common sense perspective- it just CAN’T be good for you.

Well, here’s another reason to do your due diligence about vaccination for yourself and your children

http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000647_Bayer_vaccines_HIV.html

This article states that Bayer, the pharmaceutical giant, KNOWINGLY distributed HIV contaminated vaccines!!

Wow! Seriously, how could something like this happen- let alone happen without anyone getting prosecuted AND continuing to be treated as a scion in the health industry.

So, while vaccine manufacturers are knowingly passing off HIV tainted vaccines as ‘safe’, what else are they NOT telling you?!

Always think for yourself and NEVER blindly accept ANY medical advice without doing your own research.

In good health,

Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitoner