Doctors and insurance companies have brainwashed us into believing that screening exams or early detection exams are the same thing as prevention. This is absolute nonsense. In fact the idea for this article came about by hearing an ad for an insurance company that offered “Free Prevention Screening Exams”. A “Prevention Screening” is an oxymoron like “Jumbo Shrimp”. The only way that the term “Prevention Screening” would make sense would be if you saw people in order to make sure that they were doing all that they could to prevent disease. But that is NOT what happens at a disease screening.

Disease Screening is much like pregnancy testing. A friend of mine is trying to get pregnant right now and about 2 weeks after she ovulates, she does a pregnancy test. She is doing Pregnancy SCREENING. Is she PREVENTING pregnancy by doing her ‘Pregnancy Screening Exam’? No, she is actively ATTEMPTING to GET pregnant. Screening and Prevention are two distinctly different entities. Doing a screening exam is to detect something that has ALREADY happened- like pregnancy or cancer. In order to PREVENT something, you must do something BEFORE the event to stop it.

There is NO PREVENTION being done at all when you get a :

Breast Self Exam
Mammogram
Pap Smear
Prostate exam
Treadmill test for heart disease

These only do anything at all when you actually HAVE the disease. They are DETECTION devices, but do not in any way prevent or delay the onset of any disease in any way whatsoever. Yet most of us have a false sense of security after our annual physical exams. We think that they checked us out, so we must be in good shape. We don’t have to worry about it until next year.

But prevention is anything but that. We should BE preventing these diseases every day of our lives, by using st and use these screening exams only as ways to prove that we are doing things right or to show that our prevention methods have been a failure. While pap smears have decreased mortality over the years, Mammograms Have Been an Utter Failure in order to decrease mortality. That’s because they are a SCREENING exam and not a preventative measure. But now, there is one test that is a RISK SCREENING test for breast cancer. The Estrogen Level Test for Breast Cancer Risk screens you for your RISK for breast cancer- which means that you can be forewarned about your RISK for breast cancer and do something about it. What a great idea.

Be sure to also take a look at the Breast Cancer and Vitamin D page. Talk about reducing risk! How about a 50% risk reduction!?

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

If you are a woman who has ‘Female Hormone Imbalance Symptoms’ its likely that your ovaries have not simply decided to turn against you, but that the underlying cause of your hormonal problems lies somewhere entirely different. The adrenal glands are the ‘master glands’ that control whether you make stress hormones or you make female hormones. Under normal circumstances, women are able to make adequate amounts of both sex hormones AND stress hormones, but so many women are under such constant stress, or at least PERCEIVE that they are under constant stress, that they are continually in a ‘fight or flight’ response that leads to Adrenal Gland Fatigue.

And whenever we perceive that we under a stressful situation, our adrenal glands produce stress hormones such as cortisol. But cortisol and ALL other hormones, including thyroid hormones, male hormones and female hormones, share a precursor hormone called pregnenolone that is the ‘limiting factor’ for production of these hormones.

But because stress hormones are designed to be released in the event of an EMERGENCY, cortisol ALWAYS take precedence over thyroid and sex hormone production. So, in the case of women who constantly perceive themselves to be under stress, a condition called ‘Pregnenolone Steal’ will occur. When cortisol takes the lion’s share of precursor hormones, then all other hormones take the back seat, leading to hormone imbalance symptoms.

In true emergency conditions, this condition lasts for minutes to hours at the most, but when people today are in CONSTANT states of perceived stress, it’s no wonder that there is an epidemic of female hormone imbalance symptoms and thyroid hormone imbalances that cause so many women to be fatigued, have PMS, infertility, fatigue and other hormonal disorders.

Yet, if balance is restored by easing the stress on the adrenal glands through the reduction of emotional stress, inflammatory stress and dietary stress, then the excessive load can be taken off of the adrenal glands and diverted back to their rightful place in the hormone lineup and the epidemic of hormonal imbalance symptoms can be corrected.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

The Mayo Clinic discovered that Parkinson’s Disease is Related to Constipation, but they miss the boat entirely when they say WHY they think that this is so. Again, western medicine is all about making it NOT UNDER YOUR CONTROL that you are sick. So, they claim that the reason constipation is related to Parkinson’s is because of a faulty autonomic nervous system functioning!?

This hypothesis is almost ridiculous since there is SO much published information about Parkinson’s being related to toxin intake. And HOW do you think toxins get removed from the body? In part, many toxins are removed by the BOWELS. And actual ‘Health Oriented’ physicians have said for decades (maybe even centuries) that “Death Begins in the Bowels”. Certainly this study suggests that, at least, poor health begins with constipation.

There is so much evidence that high fiber intakes, high intake of pure clean water and plenty of exercise contribute to better health and giveRelief for Constipation. But the Mayo Clinic chooses to believe that getting Parkinson’s has NOTHING to do with LIFESTYLE choices. Instead, it MUST be the autonomic nervous system.

How many people have EVER gone to the doctor complaining of chronic constipation where they ‘go’ every 3 or 4 days, and their doctor says, “Oh, that’s fine” and treats it as a non-issue. Well, going every other day or every 3rd or 4th day is NOT OK, it’s Chronic Constipation. It is a chronic problem to NOT have a bowel movement (or two) EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

Again, the ONLY healthy bowel state is one or more formed stools EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even every other day is NOT HEALTHY and leaves toxins in your bowels that are reabsorbed into your bloodstream and contribute to disease! If you do NOT have a bowel movement at LEAST every day, you need to take action to do so. The best way is to incorporate more fiber into your diet using fresh fruits and vegetables and NO processed foods whatsoever.

If that does not work for you, then you may need to include a Fiber Supplement into your diet on a DAILY basis. Another reason for chronic constipation is Magnesium Deficiency. Adding the right Magnesium Dosage can help as well, as magnesium is detoxifying and one of the (helpful in this case) Side Effects of Magnesium is loose stools.

So, if you want to choose to believe that your future health is out of your hands and is mostly related to ‘Autonomic Nervous System Functioning’ or genetics or whatever, then you can continue to have ill health. But if you want to believe that YOU are in control of your health- then making sure that you have at least ONE bowel movement every day is a good start. If you are unable to accomplish that, then you should take a look at Constipation Relief For Women, a comprehensive program to free you from constipation.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported the results of a study that says that the Elderly With Chronic Pain Fall More. This is NOT news at all, and while they claim, “Despite a growing body of scientific evidence supporting associations between a number of risk factors and falls, efforts to translate these findings into effective fall prevention strategies have been limited.”

Are they just not reading the literature? There is a LARGE body of evidence from peer-reviewed double blind placebo controlled trials that Vitamin D Helps to Relieve Pain in those who are Vitamin D Deficient- which is nearly ALL elderly, and also that Vitamin D Prevents Falls.

While that sounds CRAZY that these older people who have pain and are falling could be helped by the administration of Vitamin D, it is absolutely true and doctors are simply ignoring the evidence. In fact, This Study Reported in JAMA was an analysis of 5 studies on the subject of Vitamin D and Falls in the elderly. They ONLY included high quality studies that met peer reviewed criteria. And their conclusion was ” Vitamin D supplementation appears to reduce the risk of falls among ambulatory or institutionalized older individuals with stable health by more than 20%.”.

So, we ALREADY have an effective way to reduce fall risk in the elderly by 20% AND the same intervention could reduce pain in many of them, but no one really cares. They would rather continue to spend money on studies, give narcotic pain relievers and try to get throw rugs out of their houses than to actually get down to the REASON why these elderly people are in pain and are falling.

ONE simple intervention could fix both of these problems at once. Are you listening out there. The elderly are Vitamin D Deficient and are in pain and falling because of it. Is anybody really out there. Does anybody really care?

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

When is Alzheimer’s Disease NOT Alzheimer’s Disease? When it’s actually undiagnosed Vitamin B12 deficiency. Yet vitamin B12 deficiency- despite having identical symptoms in many cases- is almost never even considered as an alternate diagnosis- leaving tens of thousands suffering unnecessarily.

B12 Deficiency is a Problem in the Elderly

Alzheimer’s Disease is a growing personal and family problem as well as a HUGE financial burden for society. With a rising percentage of the population becoming senior citizens, and with those seniors living longer, Alzheimer’s Disease is becoming an ever growing crisis. There are over 4 million people in the US alone who have been diagnosed with this ‘incurable’ disease. Horribly, it leaves these seniors unable to remember even the simplest memories and completely dependent upon round-the-clock caregivers. While millions is being spent on research for drugs, stem cell treatment, genetic manipulation and pharmaceuticals to combat this growing problem, doctors in clinical practice are completely overlooking the scientific studies showing that at least some of these Alzheimer’s patients are suffering unnecessarily with simple vitamin B12 deficiency.

Vitamin B12 deficiency becomes more and more common as people get older. With some researchers estimating that over 800,000 elderly in the US have undiagnosed deficiency, this is NOT a small problem. Even worse is that few clinicians know about vitamin B12 deficiency or are trained to look for its symptoms. Many elderly who should be screened for this simple vitamin deficiency are, instead, diagnosed with ‘incurable’ diseases that rob them of any possible quality of life. That Mental Changes from B12 Deficiency can look EXACTLY like dementia was noted in 1902! Since then, this topic has been studied many times, and it has even been shown that CAT Scans and MRI’s that show lesions and degeneration of the brain and spinal cord are often REVERSIBLE when these lesions are caused by vitamin B12 deficiency! Yet, using these modern techniques, the presence of brain and spinal cord abnormalities is almost always used as evidence for patients and families of the Irreversible nature of their disease- when that is not necessarily the truth at all!

Then in 1956 researchers began to recognize these neurologic problems as EXTREMELY EARLY symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency and that patients with dementia sometimes had dramatic reversals when treated with vitamin B12 early after their diagnosis. They also found that MANY of these cases that responded well to vitamin B12 therapy showed no abnormalities on blood tests at all. In other words, the researchers could find nothing CLINICALLY wrong with these patients, including Vitamin B12 deficiency, except for dementia! Yet 50 years later, doctors still rely EXCLUSIVELY on blood testing to determine the need for Vitamin B12 therapy. The number of patients who could potentially benefit from this therapy is NOT small. A two year study done at Abyad Medical Center and Middle-East Longevity Institute in Lebanon showed that Vitamin B12 Therapy improved the cognitive function in MORE THAN HALF of the patients with dementia who completed the study!

But doctors just are NOT reading these studies, and a trial regimen of high dose Methylcobalamin B12 Supplements that costs less than $100 is virtually NEVER instituted by doctors who use ‘evidence based medicine’ that requires them to have diagnostic studies to support their decisions. But this doesn’t take into account the evidence supporting a trial regimen of vitamin B12. With virtually no reported side effects or toxicities, this easy and inexpensive would DEFINITELY save at least SOME Alzheimer’s patients from complete destruction of their mind. But because we can’t PROVE who is going to benefit ahead of time, and we have a medical culture that prefers pharmaceuticals to nutrients, Alzheimer’s patients who could have benefited if B12 therapy was instituted soon after diagnosis are left with no memory and no hope.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com