A: Vaginal atrophy and/or dryness is usually a consequence of a drop in estrogen. True vaginal atrophy – where vaginal tissue deteriorates drastically – is rare. It’s more likely that what you’re experiencing is vaginal dryness, and not only menopausal women suffer this. Estrogen production may drop while breastfeeding; douching, and yeast and other vaginal infections can also result in chronic vaginal dryness.

You are right that there has been little research into this problem as an isolated symptom. When mentioned, it‘s usually part of a catalogue of menopausal symptoms that have either improved or not with a particular drug or remedy.

After menopause as hormone levels change, the vagina can become thinner and narrower, and its natural secretions can decline. But a dry vagina is not a given in menopause. Some women have thinning of vaginal tissues but no dryness at all, while others have perfectly normal vaginal tissues, yet complain of dryness.

Although we don’t recommend reckless supplementation with phytoestrogens, this may be one case where soy phytoestrogens may be beneficial, though there are no data on which type of soy isoflavone is best for this condition. Each type has a unique impact on estrogen-sensitive tissues, and the various types of soy may have very different effects on the lower genital tract (J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 1995; 80: 1685-90; Maturitas, 1995; 21: 189-95). You may need to experiment to find the supplement best for you.

Black cohosh has been shown to benefit a range of menopausal symptoms, including vaginal dryness. Side-effects are few, but include occasional stomach upset, but the herb’s long-term effects have not been studied. It may lower your blood pressure, so don’t take it if you’re already taking an antihypertensive.

According to some herbalists, dandelion and oat-straw tea (rich in plant estrogens) can help restore normal vaginal lubrication.

You could also try using a simple, non-irritating, non-drying soap when washing. At night, wear a nightgown or long tee-shirt that allows air to circulate around your vagina. Avoid alcohol, caffeine and the antihistamines found in many cold remedies as all can dry the mucous membranes.

Staying sexually active to exercise the vaginal muscle is often advised, but seems to ignore the fact that a dry vagina can make sex painful. If you wish to maintain vaginal muscle tone, try integrating Kegel exercises – tightening and releasing the muscles around the vagina and anus several times in succession – into your daily routine. These exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, improve sexual satisfaction and can help women of any age with urinary incontinence.

Keep you adrenals healthy since these glands continue to produce small amounts of estrogen. High levels of both vitamin C (at least 1000 mg daily) and pantothenic acid (50-300 mg daily) may be useful in supporting adrenal function. One study showed that vitamin E supplements can produce positive changes in the blood vessels of the vagina after just one month (J Obstet Gynaecol Br Emp, 1942; 49: 482).

You may need to use a personal lubricant until you find the remedy that works for you. Some women find a water-based lubricant such as KY Jelly or Replens helps to alleviate the problems associated with vaginal dryness. Mineral oil-based products, such as petroleum jelly and baby oil, should not be used because they tend to coat the vaginal lining and inhibit your own natural secretions. Vegetable oils do not appear to cause this problem, and applying vitamin E capsules directly to the vaginal area every night for six weeks, then as and when you need it, may also prove beneficial.

High Fructose corn syrup is known to be a danger because it is so inflammatory. It creates inflammation in our bodies. You think of it as a sweetener and a sugar. The chemical fructose is actually in the aldehyde family and is not digested like glucose. It can only be digested in your liver, and in so doing it is changed into LDL fats. Those LDL fats hang around in your liver and give you fatty liver because you have no way of regulating the speed at which you digest the fructose. With that comes inflammation through the FOX1 gene. Fructose is just plain trouble.

So, what’s the big deal? Well, I have been led to believe that high fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose and 45% glucose. That’s pretty close to the proportion of table sugar, which is exactly 50:50. Hence, we have confidently been stating that drinking a fully sugared soda is as bad as having so many teaspoons of table sugar, but no worse. What the article from the journal, Obesity, shows is that we have been sold a subtle bill of goods by the soda industry. While the common knowledge is that HFCS is 55:45, the industry is actually given a 20% leeway in which the fructose content of soda can range. In other words, the fructose content of the soda can be as high as 20% off their registered label of HFCS or 55:45.

Guess what the researchers found? Coke and Pepsi both push the limit of the 20%. Instead of being 55:45, they run 64:36. That’s not just high fructose, that’s REALLY high fructose. The deceit is that fructose is so bad for you. Instead of getting a drink that is 50% fructose (really awful for you), both Coke and Pepsi are TWO THIRDS fructose (really over the top bad).

What’s their incentive to do this? Money. Fructose is cheaper. Fructose is sweeter, more stable and it’s easier to transport. There is no consideration of your well-being when it’s put in the sweetened beverage.
This is food politics at its very worst. American food giants are cynical in their disregard for your safety and well-being. This is not accidental. It is well known to the soda industry what the effects of fructose are. This is cold calculated money.

Were fructose to be brought to the market today and introduced as a drug on the market, it would have a hard time passing muster with any hospital research committee. If any dietician or nutritional specialist would show its effects to a rational audience, and claim it as a valuable and useful food, it would never be permitted in the market place. Because it is so ubiquitous, and in so many foods, we stand by quietly and let ourselves be exposed to it in every venue.

WWW: What will work for me. Time to rethink. If you are concerned about your personal health, you must simply stop all sugared sodas. They aren’t just made with sugar, they are made with two thirds fructose. Our next series will be on the connection between diabetes and cancer. When you understand the link between fructose and diabetes, and diabetes and cancer, you will start looking at sugared soda as the way to commit slow death by cancer. And you thought soda was just empty calories. Oh my.

This is definitely a problem for any sport that involves using the arms. In my clinic I’ve seen many early stage cases that involve only the warning symptoms of stiffness, some minor weakness, and an uncomfortable awareness of the elbow and forearm. In more severe cases, patients come in wearing braces and often have already had cortisone shots and spent time in physical therapy, but are still experiencing pain, especially after any exercise.

So, what can acupuncture do for this? Reduce pain, relieve inflammation, encourage blood circulation and speed healing. The results are particularly noticeable in a situation like this involving damaged tendons where there is limited blood circulation.

Dr. Peter Dorsher, an MD with acupuncture training, presented a great study on this at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in 2001. He treated 22 patients and found that the symptoms were relieved after 4 treatments. Eight and half months later, 77% still had no symptoms and had regained full use of their arms. He noted that some of these patients had had symptoms for months and tried many different therapies before acupuncture without success.

The techniques use for treatment include needles around the affected area, microcurrent electric stimulation, moxa (the application of heat), cupping (suction to bring stagnant blood out of the area), and therapeutic exercise.

Figuring out why the irritation occurred in the first place is also very important. Preventing injury and preventing RE-injury is better than treatment. I always ask patients WHY this is happening NOW. Have they changed their technique or experienced general changes in health? Higher stress in other areas of your life can lead to chronic muscle tension which makes the tendons more vulnerable to tearing. We also look at the condition of the Blood and Liver Qi. Blood (particularly Liver Blood) bathes and nourishes the muscles and tendons. If the Blood and Qi (energy) become blocked, you are more vulnerable to stress damage.

One of the areas where we can shift our tastes slightly and make a significant impact on our health is by steering away from the traditional ground crops providing us with corn, soy, safflower and vegetable oils. We can include different oils, ones that have been proven over the years to be associated with wonderful health benefits. Here, you’ll learn about another “Golden Elixir” from tropical parts of the world that burst with flavor and simultaneously, make us healthy.

It’s common knowledge that the hydrogenated oils in our American diet have not done us much good, health-wise. They have interfered with essential fat absorption, creating a cascade of inflammation in the body, and have been linked to asthma, heart disease, cancer, prostate issues, neurological disease, and decreased immune system function.

The high level of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats in our oils has allowed our omega-6/omega-3 ratio to skyrocket 10 to 20:1 instead of the rejuvenating ratio of up to 5:1. It’s time to tip the balance towards health, and experimenting with new recipes and incorporating them into our diet is exactly what we need.

And why not? We love new stimulating and tantillizing dishes that can create a brand new experience in the culinary realm!

When asked to think of a tropical setting, many people think about palm trees, sandy beaches, pina coladas, fresh coconut milk sipped straight from the coconut, and of course, happy islanders.

The tree of life in tropical settings has always been the coconut tree, which provided food, drink and fuel to islanders for thousands of years. It was a necessary staple to their survival.

Study after study found that the happy islanders had more going for their health than we did as Americans. Their rates of cancer, diabetes, and degenerative diseases are nowhere near ours in the United States. Many health practitioners and researchers believe that the oils the tropical islanders consume are very protective.

History Set Our American Preferences

In the last few decades in America, edible oil (corn, sunflower, safflower, soy, and vegetable) manufacturers have marketed their oils heavily, emphasizing health benefits of unsaturated oils, and the lone coconut ended up with a bad rap about its saturated fat content along with a fear that it could cause plaque accumulation in the arteries. However, coconut oil liquefies once inside the body, and scientists have determined that arterial plaques are mostly a result of a combination of rancid unsaturated fats (lipid eroxidation) with the effects of adrenaline produced from stress.

Coconut oil research has now cracked open benefits of this life-giving tropical delight: better thyroid function, a stronger immune system, smoother skin, and better blood sugar regulation, even for diabetics. These are exactly some of the major issues we want solved in the 21st century.

It’s the coconut’s short and medium chain fatty acids with carbon chain lengths of 2 to 6 and 8 to 12, respectively, that still are a requirement for our biochemistry; one that hasn’t been met in recent years because of our consumption of trans fats and domestic animals fed grain. All medium-chain fats can enter cells easily, and one of them, lauric acid, according to Dr. Mary Enig, is strong in anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-protozoan, and anti-fungal properties. Capric acid, another of coconut’s healing fats, has strong anti-microbial actions. Adding coconut oil regularly to our foods can strengthen our immune system.

A Little Piece of the Tropics for Your Thyroid

With so many chemicals and pesticides in our environment with known negative effects on the thyroid gland, coconut oil is a perfect natural solution. G.W. Crile and his wife found that in the Yucatan, the metabolic rate of the people was 25% higher than people in the U.S. By 1950, it was established that unsaturated fats without a high level of antioxidants suppress the metabolic rate and create hypothyroidism. The more unsaturated an oil is, the more it suppresses tissue response to thyroid hormone and the transport of thyroid hormone to the rest of the body, according to Dr. Raymond Peat, Ph.D. Coconut oil supports thyroid function and thyroid governs metabolic rate, and weight control. Many health practitioners are prescribing a little piece of the tropics: three tablespoons coconut oil per day added to the diet for those with thyroid abnormalities, and they�re finding that over time, the thyroid gland is normalizing itself and the pounds seem to melt off.

Recently published research also shows lipid-normalizing activities, helpful for those with elevated cholesterol and protection against alcohol damage to the liver. Women have discovered a fountain of youth in coconut oil, raving about benefits to the skin’s external appearance when applied topically. One woman stated her cosmetologist said she had never seen such rapid improvement in human skin before.

Off the Tree and Into the Kitchen!

Coconut oil’s unique taste adds a burst of tropical flavor to traditional wok dishes (simply substitute coconut oil for other oils), sauted vegetable dishes, in smoothies, in muffin and pancake recipes (substitute the oil).

The added benefit of cooking with coconut is that it has a high heat point or smoke point. This means that the oil is stable and will not break down. For cooking, it is fabulous for sauteing eggs, fish and many leafy green vegetables, with the exception of mushrooms, which it is not particularly good with. It is also great to add to soups and top on grains. Using it to spread on hot toast is better than butter! Yum! For baking replace the same amount of butter called for in the recipe.

Find ways to incorporate this restorative food into your life. Go to www.chefteton.com to learn how to use this delicious oil to soften tough leafy greens like Collard Greens and Kale as well as many other tasty ways to incorporate this restorative food into your current recipes.

Storing Made Easy

Coconut oil is also shelf stable. No need to refrigerate it. It will, however, become liquid in warm temperatures. When storing, it is best to remove a small amount from the larger container and place it in a dish that you use often – refilling that dish as it empties. Keeping it near the stove will help it remain soft for easy use like buttering toast. This way you can grab it easily when cooking, and your frequent use will keep the larger jar from becoming contaminated with smaller food particles. Contaminating it with food particles will begin a process of spoiling the entire jar of the coconut oil If you do refrigerate it, then the contamination will be avoided, but then the coconut oil is difficult to use because it is solid and hard. So, keep a small amount handy that you will use in a short amount of time.

Fortunately high quality food grade coconut oil is available and affordable in most natural food markets. Look for one that is vibrantly white in color with the aroma of divine coconut. If you do not like the taste of coconut, you can find coconut oil that has had the coconut flavor removed. Extra virgin is the best.

Using the delicious treasure of coconut oil will give us the health we all desire and deserve while our taste buds soar to a divine level.

Article Resources

Pure Virgin Coconut Oil: The Smarter Fat That Helps Promote Weight Loss.
www.mercola.com

Research by Dr. Mary Enig. Coconut: In Support of Good Health in the 21st Century.
www.coconutoil.com

The Benefits of Coconut Oil by Dr. Raymond Peat.
www.coconutoil.com

Virgin Coconut Oil and Diabetes.
www.coconutoil.com

Mary Enig Ph.D. on the Effects of Coconut Oil on Serum Cholesterol Levels and HDL’s
www.coconutoil.com

Essential Fats. FAQ’s.
www.tropicaltraditions.com

]]> 6717 https://healthy.net/2006/07/02/short-takes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=short-takes Sun, 02 Jul 2006 10:49:15 +0000 https://healthy.net/2006/07/02/short-takes/

* In a recent study, one third of 773 individuals involved in a road accident as a driver, bicycle rider or pedestrian experienced some level of anxiety, depression, fear of travel or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 3 to 12 months later and, in most cases, persisted. After one year, about half the group had phobic travel anxiety, nearly 60 per cent had general anxiety, and half were diagnosed with PTSD (Am J Psychiatry, 2001; 158: 1231-8).

* New research in nearly 1300 men suggests that, during a severe asthma attack, men are less likely than women to notice the symptoms of the attack. The reason for this is unclear, but it may be that men perceive less discomfort because of greater lung size and muscle strength, or because they generally develop asthma at an earlier age than women. Men also tend to only seek medical attention when symptoms are too severe to ignore, the researchers noted (Ann Emerg Med, 2001; 38: 123-8).

* What’s lurking in that paddling pool? Physicians in Canada have found the first outbreak of a new type of Pseudomonas infection called ‘hot foot syndrome’. This discovery was made when 40 children, aged 2 to 15, developed intense pain in the soles of their feet within 40 hours of using the same wading pool. A hot, red swelling began after a few hours, along with pain so severe that the children were unable to stand up. Three children were given oral cephalexin (an antibiotic) while the others were treated with cold compresses, analgesics and foot elevation. In all cases, the condition resolved within 14 days, although it recurred in three children after they revisited the same pool (N Engl J Med, 2001; 345: 335-8).

A vasectomy is a minor 15- to 30-minute operation usually carried out under local anaesthesia. It involves cutting the tubes that carry the sperm (vas deferens), and sealing them off with sutures or surgical clips. Recovery usually takes about two days, though patients are advised to avoid strenuous exercise for a week. There is normally a two-month wait after the surgery before the vasectomy can be confirmed, usually by a negative sperm result.

Vasectomies are free under the UK’s National Health Service, but can cost up to $1000 in the US. And changing your mind may be even more of a pain – costing up to £2200 in the UK and around $13,000 in the US.

What doctors tell you

* Inflammation of the testicles (orchiepididymitis), in one study, affected 4 per cent of vasectomy patients (Actas Urol Esp, 2004; 28: 175-214), and some 1 per cent also have bruising and swelling of the epididymis (Contracept Technol Update, 1990; 11: 185).

* Sperm granulomas, or pea-sized lumps of scar tissue in the scrotum, were seen in three of 30 vasectomised men (J Clin Ultrasound, 2004; 32: 394-8). They are usually not serious or painful, but they may require surgical removal.

* Chronic scrotal pain affects around one in seven (14.2 per cent) patients after vasectomy (BJU Int, 2004; 93: 571-4).

* Scrotal haematoma, a blood blister, is the most common immediate complication seen with vasectomy (Rajast Med J, 1972; 11: 51-61). It can affect up to 2 per cent of vasectomy patients (Contracept Technol Update, 1990; 11: 185), but should disappear within seven to 10 days.

* Impetigo is a contagious skin infection caused by bacteria – usually Staphylococcus aureus and/or group A beta-haemolytic streptococci (GABHS). Although infections are possible with any type of surgical trauma or skin wounds, it is unusual, especially in young fit men.

* Be aware of the psychological implications that may accompany sterilisation. It needs to be understood that the operation will prevent a man from fathering children, and the prospective patient needs to consider whether this fact will have a negative impact on his attitude towards his sexuality. In some cases, the patient is left feeling incomplete as a man after the operation. This can lead to unhappiness and a loss of libido.

What doctors don’t tell you
The risks of these complications may be higher than doctors like to admit. One study involving 300 patients who had undergone a vasectomy concluded that the procedure was safe, despite reporting adverse effects in up to 18 per cent of the men. The reported problems included bleeding (ecchymoses, or little haemorrhagic patches), inflammation, gangrene (as a complication of infection), sepsis (infection) and endocarditis (an inflammation/infection of the endocardium – the inner lining of the heart and its valves – requiring antibiotics) (Actas Urol Esp, 2004; 28: 175-214).

* Chronic scrotal pain is the most common vasectomy complication: it may affect a third of patients – in one follow-up, four years after surgery (Br J Urol, 1992; 69: 188-91) – and have an adverse effect on the quality of life (J Urol, 1996; 155: 1284-6).

* Impetigo sepsis occurred in one out of the 300 vasectomised men in the study mentioned earlier and required hospitalisation (Actas Urol Esp, 2004; 28: 175-214).

* A possible link with prostate cancer is inconclusive, although vasectomised men may have an increased risk (Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis, 2002; 5: 193-203). An expert panel recommended no changes in clinical practice due to inconsistent results across 16 reports (Contracept Technol Update, 1993; 14: 69-73). However, two studies found that sterilised men were almost twice as likely as their unsterilised counterparts to have prostate cancer (Consum Rep Health, 1994; 6: 8-9) and, more recently, Canadian retrospective data have suggested that such a risk is likely to increase after 10 years (Health Place, 2001; 7: 131-9).

* Post-vasectomy pain syndrome is recognised by some medical professionals, and involves epididymal congestion, tender sperm granuloma and/or nerve entrapment. Vasectomy reversal may be a possible cure (J Urol, 2000; 164: 1939-42).

* Erectile dysfunction (impotence) was put down to vasectomy in around 10 per cent of men in a Swiss study, with a reduced libido reported during the first two postoperative years in a further 22 per cent of cases (J Psychosom Res, 1994; 38: 759-62).

* Death, albeit rare, can result from vasectomy surgery. One study found that, out of 160,000 such operations, two resulted in death – one due to a scrotal haematoma, with death occurring as a result of infection; the other due to general anaesthesia (Contracept Technol Update, 1990; 11: 185).

But the drugs can’t work if they’re injected into the wrong place. Doctors have been found to miss the correct injection site up to 25 per cent of the time – regardless of how experienced they are (J Bone Joint Surg Am, 2002; 84: 1522-7).

The most common type of facial palsy, it affects around 40,000 people in the US, 8000 in the UK, and one in 5000 worldwide, each year. It afflicts men and women equally and at any age, although it is more common with age. Diabetics, pregnant women and those with colds/flu or an upper respiratory tract infection are more susceptible to Bell’s palsy.

Its main feature is one-sided facial weakness or paralysis, with poor or no muscle control. Symptoms include involuntary facial twitches, difficulty in closing the affected eye and a corner-of-the-mouth droop. It can also produce dry eyes or excessive tearing, a dry mouth, taste disturbances and hearing problems.

What causes it?
Although the cause of the neural inflammation is still under debate, a likely culprit is the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), which accounts for at least 60-70 per cent of cases. Almost everyone is exposed to the virus at some point through infected saliva by, for example, kissing, or sharing towels or cutlery. Most HSV-1 carriers aren’t even aware of it, as the virus can lie dormant in the body.

A weakened immune system – due to stress, infections or chronic autoimmune conditions, for example – is the most likely trigger for reactivating HSV-1. When this happens, antibodies are produced, leading to an inflammatory response.

The prognosis for Bell’s palsy is generally good. Around 75-80 per cent of cases will resolve without treatment (Am J Otol, 1982; 4: 107-11), with major improvements within three weeks. Patients with partial paralysis tend to have better outcomes, with 94 per cent making a full recovery (BMJ, 2004; 329: 553-7). However, those with complete facial palsy, severe nerve degeneration or who fall into the high-risk group (diabetics, pregnant women, over-60s) have poorer prognoses.

What doctors tell you
There is no standard treatment or cure for Bell’s palsy. Many doctors prescribe antiviral drugs or steroids, usually acyclovir or prednisone. However, a review of the available evidence shows no significant benefits from steroids (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002; 1: CD-001942; Laryngoscope, 1984; 94: 1472-6), and mixed results with acyclovir (Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2001; 2: CD-001869). As steroids come with a well-known list of side-effects, these risks need to be weighed against the fact that most cases of Bell’s palsy resolve on their own.

Another treatment, reserved only for those whose nerve damage is severe, is nerve decompression, where bone from the nerve’s route along the base of the skull is surgically removed to allow the nerve to heal. It is best done within two weeks of total facial paralysis (Laryngoscope, 1999; 109: 1177-88). However, this is a highly complicated procedure with an unpredictable success rate, and little evidence of substantial patient benefits to justify the risks (Acta Otolaryngol Suppl, 1988; 446: 101-5).

Tina Tan

* Try hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy, which involves breathing pure oxygen at up to twice the normal atmospheric pressure. Complete recovery from Bell’s palsy took 22 days with HBO2 vs 34.4 days with prednisone (Undersea Hyperb Med, 1997; 24: 35-8).

* Try acupuncture. A Chinese study of 480 patients found that acupuncture with moxibustion (burning herbs at the acupoints to boost the effect of treatment) was significantly more effective than taking prednisone, vitamins B1 and B12, and dibazole, or taking this medication together with acupuncture and moxibustion (Chin Med J [Engl], 2004; 117: 1502-6).

* Try massage/chiropractic treatment. Patients who received therapeutic massage with traditional Chinese and Western medicines experienced significantly improved facial function (Hua Xi Kou Qiang Yi Xue Za Zhi, 2004; 22: 211-3). Combining high-voltage electrical muscle stimulation with chiropractic manipulation has also accelerated progress toward normal facial muscle function (J Manip Physiol Ther, 1993; 16: 347-52).

Now, 100 years later, what do you suppose is among the biggest predictors of death due to heart disease? Teeth – or more exactly, gum disease. This one risk factor is just as important as smoking, obesity, blood pressure or an unfortunate family history in determining whether we will die before we should (Ann Periodontol, 1998; 3: 127-41).

Why is what goes on in your mouth so dangerous? Teeth sockets are a royal highway for disease pathogens, leading straight to your bones and bloodstream. A tooth abscess is a kind of osteomyelitis, or bacterial bone infection. The bacteria quickly migrate to other parts of the body to cause septic foci.

The situation is not helped by techniques such as crowns. They may make teeth appear attractive on the outside but, often, those metal or plastic caps do nothing more than disguise a pocket of purulent infection that can explode when immunity is compromised.

The late Patrick Stortebecker, professor of neurology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, carried out a series of experiments in the 1960s which are both highly illuminating and rather scary. He injected tooth bone margins with radiopaque dyes, then X-rayed the skull. As most head veins don’t have control valves, blood is able to travel both forwards and backwards; his radiopaque dye appeared all over the head, far from the initially injected tooth (Stortebecker P, Dental Caries as a Cause of Nervous Disorders, Orlando, FL: Bio-Probe Inc, 1986, p 34).

If a given tooth were infected, the results could be very adverse indeed. Bacterial toxic matter could be propelled up into the cranium and set up an infection inside the skull.

Stortebecker himself mentioned the risk of cavernous sinus thrombosis (clots) and suppuration (pus). If the cavernous sinus (a large venous reservoir at the base of the brain) should clot and fill with pus, widespread meningitis and brain abscesses are inevitable.

Stortebecker found another disease model that is very persuasive. He considered that what he found was the principal factor in the development of multiple sclerosis. Through extensive research, he was able to show that most plaques of nerve demyelination (when the protective myelin sheath surrounding nerves are stripped away, an unmistakable sign of MS) were located close to blood vessels (Stortebecker P, ibid, p 116).

No one had made this important observation before. Stortebecker speculated that the back-pressure on veins shunted toxic matter into the brain, causing a focus of inflammation and loss of myelin. What was particularly convincing was that the MS cases with optic neuritis (leading to blindness) also generally had bad teeth and inflammatory plaques in the brain whereas those with leg weakness or paralysis and demyelination plaques in the spinal cord had pelvic or other lower-body foci of disease.

Sadly, Stortebecker is gone now and, apart from a handful of us, his work is completely ignored. It has not been possible to interest anyone in the medical establishment to carry out more studies in this area. Dentists don’t want to even think about it. Doctors say it’s a dental problem and nothing to do with them – yet another sorry example of how specialisation has made medicine both foolish and ineffectual.

The problems of infection are not helped by modern dental methods. Recent research by Ralph Turk and Fritz Kronner in Germany has shown that even the act of drilling a tooth causes severe energy disturbance (Turk R, ‘Iatrogenic Damage Due to High-Speed Drilling’, presented at the scientific session at the dedication of the Princeton Bio Center, New Jersey, 13 June 1981).

Turk describes the modern dental turbine rotor as a sort of time bomb and claims that its damaging intensity has been completely missed by the vast majority of dentists. There are many likely reasons, not least of which is the fact that, despite water-cooling, the temperature in the tooth rises by as much as 10 degrees on just a few seconds of drilling. In biological terms, the tooth has been cooked. This denaturation clearly damages the tooth and its ability to resist bacterial invasion. From more than 6000 cases studied, it was uniformly seen that, as soon as a tooth was visited by a high-speed drill, focal bone infection began in connection with that tooth within two years.

Most dentistry is, by nature, toxic. Modern methods rely heavily on materials such as metals, plastics and polymers, ceramics and prosthetics of all sorts. Most of this foreign material is stressful to the body and a considerable drain on the immune system – and therefore a major contributing cause of fatigue and chronic ill health. Given what we now know about allergies, we can only urge people to try to prevent dental problems in the first place. A good diet and adequate dental hygiene may still be, even in this era of antibiotics, a lifesaver.

As for drilling, it is possible to reduce the damage by taking sensible antitoxic procedures before, during and after a dental programme. Such elementary measures would include vitamin C, charcoal (to absorb toxins), and homoeopathic support and immune drainage compounds that can provoke speedier removal of toxins. Any good homoeopath or herbalist will be familiar with drainage techniques and be able to offer you a treatment of choice.

Dr Mumby is the author of Virtual Medicine (Thorsons, 1999), which describes immune drainage remedies in more detail.