Newsletter v1n14

"A smart man learns from his own mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others."

The DOCTOR YOURSELF (SM) NEWSLETTER Vol 1, No 14
May 11, 2001 "Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A."
Written by Andrew Saul, PhD. of http://www.doctoryourself.com , a free online library of more than 200 natural healing articles with over 3,000 scientific references.

SPECIAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSUE

The health disadvantages of being male start at conception, and continue throughout the man's 6-year shorter life expectancy. While women have a backup (XX) sex chromosome pair, men have an XY pair. This means there is no genetic safety net, no duplicate backup for gene defects such as hemophilia and colorblindness, and that is why it is almost always men who have these infirmities.

But this is just the beginning. Males are far more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD; far more likely to go to prison; far more likely to be victims of violent crime; far more likely to accept, and die from, a dangerous occupation; infinitely more likely to be drafted and consequently far more likely to die in service to their country. Males are more likely to be separated from their children by their job's demands if they are married, and separated from their children by the courts if they divorce. No wonder men die sooner from heart attacks, and are much more likely (at all ages) to die from suicide.

In fact, men are more likely than women to die of the fifteen leading causes of death, both from accident and from disease.

Pretty grim stuff, and these and more facts fill the books of Warren Farrell, PhD. Guys, if you have not yet read Why Men Are the Way They Are and The Myth of Male Power, you want to do so without delay. In spite of, or perhaps because of, all the statistics that Farrell presents (hundreds of references back up his statements), his books are not downers but are in fact very uplifting. He offers many insights and much practical advice, which I have personally found to be genuinely helpful. Here is reading that will make a guy feel better right away, and be a better man, and a better person. This has to have real benefits for the ladies in our lives, too.

Farrell, Warren (1986) Why Men Are the Way They Are. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07- 019974-4

Farrell, Warren (1993) The Myth of Male Power. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671- 79349-7

This month's DoctorYourself Recommended WEBSITE would therefore be http://www.warrenfarrell.com He has a new book, Father and Child Reunion, which I am going to read soon. If you want to review it for the Newsletter, please email me.

MORE ON MEN'S HEALTH

Enlarged Prostate, Prostate Infection, and Prostate Cancer are topics considered at http://www.doctoryourself.com/prostate.html

Male (and female) fertility (and infertility) is discussed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/fertility.html

Dr. Abram Hoffer's recommendations for cardiovascular disease are posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_cardio.html

The Red Green Show's Possum Lodge Men's Anonymous Pledge:
"I am a man... and I can change...if I really have to...I guess."

MOVE OVER, REGIS
Take the DOCTOR YOURSELF POISON IVY QUIZ:

"You can get the most practical poison ivy treatment information from which of the following popular sources?"

A) "Poison Ivy," as performed by the Coasters
B) "For the Love of Ivy," sung by the Mamas and the Papas
C) "Move Over Regis," as published in the DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWSLETTER
D) "I've Got You Under My Skin," as performed by Frank Sinatra

Well, "C" is your final answer, and by that, I mean VITAMIN C.

The easiest way to reduce the severity, redness and itching of poison ivy is to apply vitamin C topically, right on the skin. You can do this several ways. One is to take vitamin C powder and dissolve it in a very small amount of water to make a paste. Another is to wet the skin and sprinkle on the C powder. It will adhere even better if you spray a tiny bit of water over the powder after it is on your skin. A plant mister will work just fine. It all looks pretty strange, of course, but it works.

If waited too long to do this, or if you have a particularly severe case of ivy poisoning, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) powder may smart a bit. Use calcium ascorbate powder, which is non-acidic, and there will be no burning feeling.

This technique also works for belladonna rashes. Belladonna is a common climbing weed with upside down heart shaped leaves and beautiful little purple flowers that mature into dazzlingly bright red berries. This very poisonous plant can cause some wicked dermatitis. Treat it just as you would poison ivy: Wear gloves and a long-sleeved shirt when you handle it. You can easily eradicate the weed by pulling it out by the root with your gloved hands. Dispose of it in a couple of tied-off, recycled trash bags.

So, my outdoor-loving friends, toss out that calamine lotion and, instead, keep a bottle of vitamin C powder handy. You will be surprised how well vitamin C, directly applied, takes the itch out of the ivy and the 'donna, too. Why does it work? Because vitamin C is an antitoxin, explains Frederick R. Klenner, M.D. in http://doctoryourself.com/klennerpaper.html

DID YOU KNOW:
Quickly now: What animal has the world's longest sperm?
(Answer in the next issue. Okay, email me if you can't stand the wait.)

Reader's Question: "What is the difference between the different forms of vitamin C?"

Generally speaking, vitamin C is ascorbic acid. This is cheap and it works in quantity as an excellent antibiotic, antiviral, and antihistamine. Sodium ascorbate is the form of vitamin C most often used for IV's. Calcium ascorbate is buffered enough for sensitive peoples' oral doses. It is good to have a choice; all provide ascorbate ion, the business end of the vitamin C molecule.

You can quickly find a lot of very specific information on vitamin C with a site search at http://doctoryourself.com/search.html My website contains full-text, detailed articles by several medical doctors who use huge doses of the vitamin therapeutically.

DOCTOR YOURSELF Guest Article, by Anthony DiSiena, D. C.

How many people realize the daily assault on their immune system? Just think about it for a moment.

1) If you are exposed to second hand smoke, you are forced to breathe the third leading cause of preventable death. Studies clearly show cancers and heart diseases are caused by second hand smoke. Many states have regulations against the use of carcinogenic pesticides on fruits and vegetables while ignoring tobacco smoke's carcinogens, which cause over double the deaths! Your entire immune system is severely challenged by this assault.

2) If you purchase (non-organic) meats and poultry you are eating the antibiotics farmers feed to their livestock. Antibiotics destroy the balance of flora, good and bad bacteria, in your intestines. The rarer you cook your meat, the more the chance for the antibiotics to survive the cooking process. Unfortunately, the bad bacteria repopulate at a faster rate than the good bacteria. Our intestines depend on bacterial balance to maintain health. If the bacteria are out of balance, absorption of nutrients decreases because the bad bacteria multiply at a greater rate than the good bacteria. However, the absorption of the toxins produced as the number of bad bacteria increases. Many life threatening diseases can result of the decreased absorption of nutrients and increased absorption of toxins.

3) Soon non-organic foods can also be exposed to radioactive isotopes. Do you know the long term effects of eating irradiated foods? No? Well neither does the FDA! We can only wonder what new this assault will have on our already weakened immune systems.

Have you noticed more people are becoming allergic to common substances? Do you think there maybe a connection to the three daily assaults on the immune system written about above?

(Correspondence to Dr. Anthony DeSiena, Washington Street Chiropractic Center, L.L.C.; 771 Washington Street, Eugene, OR 97401)

HYPERTENSION (Is it because it is springtime and (everybody is whooping it up) that I am getting so many questions about high blood pressure?)

Mr. V writes: "My doctor has recently declared that I have blood pressure that has to be treated and wants to put me on blood pressure pills, (the reading was 150/100 ) Is there a way I can reduce my blood pressure without medication?"

Switching to a good, near-vegetarian natural diet would certainly be a good place to start; there is no downside to eating right. More fiber, less sugar and fat, and more fruits, vegetables and grains is great for the ticker. So are Dr. Jacobus Rinse's supplement suggestions, which we will come to shortly.

Your BP will be significantly higher when you are anxious, and a false reading may result in unnecessary medication. Take your own blood pressure at home, or have a friend do it. You may find that you already have a partial cure for hypertension: avoid high-stress doctors' office visits!

This is more than just rhetorical hyperbole, for a daily program of stress reduction (such as meditation) has repeatedly been scientifically proven to effectively reduce high blood pressure without drugs. And weight loss almost always helps, too.

Let's consider cardiovascular health in general:

DR. JACOBUS RINSE'S BREAKFAST WAS ALSO HIS MEDICINE:
HIS NUTRITIONAL PROTOCOL FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Only in his early 50's, Jacobus Rinse's doctors told him he had but a few years to live. Cardiovascular disease had ravaged his body. Medicine had little to offer him but hope, and not much of that. So Dr. Rinse, a chemist, decided to look into matters for himself. He hit the books and collected an enormous pile of nutritional research. Some studies suggested that he might be able to delay death with vitamins and other food supplements He had little to lose, so he tried it. His payoff? Rinse would live for another third of a century.

For 50 years, the following pick-me-up for the cardiovascular system has been used harmlessly and effectively worldwide. Science continues to uncover why it works, while countless people are satisfied that it works. (Quantities are approximate:)

Lecithin granules, two or three tablespoons (TBL)

Nutritional (or brewer's) yeast, one tsp or as much as you can stand

Powdered calcium-magnesium supplement, one TBL (or several tablets)

Wheat germ (vacuum packed or very fresh), two TBL

Oil (fresh mono-unsaturated oil such as olive is ideal); one TBL (personally omit this; it's just too early in the morning for me.)

Vitamin C powder, 1/2 tsp or more

Vitamin E, more than 400 IU (increase gradually, starting with 100 IU, if you have high blood pressure. Consult your doctor.)

Vitamin B-complex, one balanced formula tablet

And after this you think you'll be hungry? This food stays with you 'till lunch and takes only minutes to mix up in juice. My favorite "carrier" is pineapple juice but you could use whatever sweet juice you desire. I can go for 6 or 7 hours on just one good "Doc Rinse breakfast" without feeling hungry.

The Rinse formula may not be as appealing (or should that be "appalling?") as a big bowl of "Fruit Loops," but it has vastly more to offer a healing heart and circulatory system.

Notes on the Rinse Formula:

* Lecithin is cheapest bought in bulk at a health food store or food co-op. Specify granular lecithin, because the capsules are too expensive and liquid lecithin is enough to gag a maggot.

* Gradually increase the quantity of nutritional yeast. It is an acquired taste, and too much too soon can occasionally cause a skin rash in sensitive persons. No more than a couple of tablespoons daily would be needed.

* Calcium-magnesium supplements are best taken in the citrate (cheap), gluconate (even cheaper), or amino acid chelated form.

* Smell the wheat germ and the oil to ensure that it is fresh. If it smells bitter or sour, it is... and don't use it.

* Pure vitamin C powder (ascorbic acid) is about 2,000 mg per 1/2 tsp. Do not take so much as would contribute to loose bowels or gas.

* If I had the sure cure for heart disease, America's #1 killer, I'd be Surgeon General of the World and have my picture on the cover of Time magazine. But good nutrition can really make a difference.

For Further Reading:

Rinse, Jacobus (1975) Atherosclerosis: prevention and cure (parts 1 and 2). Prevention. November and December. Very important reading. Ask your librarian to get you these specific issues (or photocopies) through interlibrary loan.

Rinse, Jacobus (1978) Cholesterol and phospholipids in relation to atherosclerosis. American Laboratory Magazine, April.

Privacy Statement: We do not sell, and we do not share, our mailing list or your email address with anyone. You may notice that there is no advertising at http://doctoryourself.com and no advertising in this newsletter. We have no financial connection with the supplement industry. We also do not sell vitamins or other health products, except for Dr. Saul's books, which help fund these free public services.

Newsletter Ideas?
To submit a question or suggest a topic for the newsletter, email me at doctoryourself.com/contact.html

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This newsletter is not in any way offered as prescription, diagnosis nor treatment for any disease, illness, infirmity or physical condition. Any form of self-treatment or alternative health program necessarily must involve an individual's acceptance of some risk, and no one should assume otherwise. Persons needing medical care should obtain it from a physician. Consult your doctor before making any health decision.

Copyright c 2001 and prior years Andrew W. Saul doctoryourself.com/contact.html Permission to reproduce single copies of this newsletter FOR NON-COMMERCIAL, PERSONAL USE ONLY is hereby granted providing no alteration of content is made and authorship credit is given.