Fast Relief from Colds and Flu!! (Pt.1)

People are often confused about what they can do at home to battle colds and viruses. Well, there are many recommended supplements, herbs, formulas and drugs, but the main purpose of them all is to bolster the immune system so it can do the hard work and kill the germs. I like to help my immune system out even more by following a few steps which can kill many of the germs in our throat, mouth, and sinuses and ease the burden on the immune system by stopping germs before they get into the body.

The idea is to kill as many germs as possible. I’ll usually gargle with a disinfecting mouthwash almost every hour when I first begin to feel sick. Each time you gargle you are cleansing your mouth of tons of germs. In addition, I use a nasal solution several times a day to kill the germs in the sinuses. You can make your own nasal solution by mixing one teaspoon of buffered Vitamin C powder in about four ounces of distilled water. The best method of use is to dip your nose into the mixture without sniffing; take your nose out of the mixture; and then sniff the mixture left on your nose. Personally, I only use ‘buffered’ vitamin C when sniffing into the sinuses.

The first thing I do when I feel I’m coming down with any type of cold, flu, or infection is take a dose of vitamin C. I usually take about 5 grams in the morning and at night. Vitamin C helps bolster the immune system, serves as a powerful antioxidant and is an electron donor (which we’ve discussed the value of previously in our ORAC post). It should be noted that too much vitamin C can soften your stool and cause diarrhea and that if this happens I recommend you cut back your dosage until your stool returns to normal. In the end, I try to take the highest possible dose that I can without affecting my bowel movements. I once was unfortunate enough to catch Rocky Mountain spotted fever and took a dosage of about 60 grams of vitamin C per day and surprisingly, I wasn’t afflicted with diarrhea despite the amazingly high dosage!

My second technique for fighting infections is to take large dosages of selenium. Though Selenium is toxic at high dosages (most doctors would not recommend over 400 mcg per day), I find that 800 mcg of selenium per day, for a few days, serves as a powerful adjunct to bolster the immune system. I lower these high dosages after a few days and in my experience, a couple of days at that dosage has shown me no ill effects over the past ten years. Regardless of my personal observations, I would not recommend high dosages of selenium for anyone until they have done research and spoken to their doctor about this mineral. The form of selenium I take is called methylselenocysteine. I also boost my vitamin E intake from 400 IU to 800 IU. Vitamin E is an important antioxidant in the body. I take the Gamma form of vitamin E which is mixed with Tocopherol. There are multiple forms of vitamin E and I prefer to use supplements that combine several different vitamin E ingredients.

Be sure to check back in the next few days for the second part of my method for finding quick relief from the flu, colds and infections!

Inositol: Battling the Shakes of Parkinson's

Your nervous system really consists of two things, the nerves and the nerve coverings. The nerve covering helps conduct the nerve signals. When the nerve covering is working poorly, it can affect the nerve system.

Approximately 5 years ago, I devised a supplement protocol for my older brother who was suffering from phase 1 Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s dementia. After starting the protocol I devised, his Parkinson’s stabilized and even improved! We will tell the whole story through this blog, but as of now we will discuss the specifics of the protocol that improved his nerve function.

I started by looking into the possibility that the Parkinson’s shakes could be controlled through optimizing nerve function. The first thing I researched was the myelin sheath (the nerve covering). I initially consulted the book Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 10th edition (a present I received from a friend) which states that diabetic neuropathy in animals can often be induced, “which exhibits prolonged conduction times similar to those seen in human diabetes.” Our nerves operate best when they are working at optimal speed. When nerve conduction slows down this can lead to degeneration of the nerves. Since I read this information in Harrison’s, I have seen many other examples which support my conclusions.

The book continues to state that, “the involved nerves were found to have a marked decrease in myoinositol content that could be reversed either by insulin treatment [this was an article about diabetic neuropathy] or by feeding myoinositol [pg 675].” I considered what I read and reasoned that prolonged nerve conduction could possibly be improved by feeding a person myoinositol. My background in nutrition led me to the supplement Inositol, which causes your body to produce myoinositol when ingested! I reasoned that including Inositol in my brother’s protocol might help keep his nerve conduction optimal and possibly combat his Parkinson’s shakes.

I knew that before I administered anything to my brother, it was essential that I figure out the proper dosage. Whenever I need nutritional information I refer to Dr. Michael Colgan, a world renowned nutritional scientist. He won’t print anything unless it has been thoroughly researched and supported by reliable sources. In his book, Your Personal Vitamin Profile, he states that, “nerves contain fifty times the Inositol level of the blood. Inositol is essential to proper conduction of nerve impulses. The level in nerves declines with age and so does our speed of reactions. It has no known toxicity. The best natural sources of Inositol are lecithin and wheat germ.” The key point I took from this passage was Inositol’s lack of any known toxicity. After evaluating this information, I came to the conclusion that a dosage of 1 gram a day would prove itself safe and beneficial.

After some deliberation, I reevaluated my initial decision and decided to increase his Inositol dosage to 3 grams a day, as part of a health and protein shake. Three grams may sound like a major increase, but I reasoned that an individual suffering from Parkinson’s would need more Inositol than a person that did not have a degenerative disease. Later I learned of another supplement called IP6 (Inositol Hexaphosphate), a form of Inositol involved with messaging in the body, which I included in hopes that it would work synergistically with the regular Inositol and increase their effectiveness.

Everyone: The first step I took in battling my brother’s Parkinson’s was to improve his nerve conduction. I felt that poor nerve conduction could be a symptomatic factor of Parkinson’s, independent of any dopamine considerations. My older brother’s reaction times have improved since he started taking the Inositol powder every morning in his health shake. By improving his nerve conduction we have improved stability in his limbs, which goes a long way towards helping control his Parkinson’s shakes.

The Diabetic Formula

In 1999, I started a company that focused on fighting diabetes using a blend of supplements and herbs to control blood sugar. Since then, many other products have appeared and advertised their help for diabetic blood sugar control.

Unfortunately, flak from doctors made it difficult for me to succeed. I developed a formula called DK50, which caused improvements in the condition of many diabetes sufferers, only to have their doctors command them to stop the treatment. At the time, supplements meant to help diabetics were not main stream and many doctors stood firmly against something they considered unscientific, even if it helped their patients. Though supplements are widely available today to help diabetics, my ideas were a bit too far ahead of their time and after 4 years of struggle, my partner and I were forced to give it up.

I was saddened because I knew I had a formula that addressed the one issue that all such formulas to date do not address, which is the hepatic sugar released by the liver. The alternative formulas today simply attempt to balance the blood sugar that goes up when diabetics eat too many carbohydrates. This works well enough, but when the liver starts adding sugar to the bloodstream this can send blood sugar levels soaring, even with the best of care.

Additionally, in the book Harrison’s “Principles of Internal Medicine,” a medical book used in med school (a gift from a friend), I discovered a section on diabetes that presented a possible cure for diabetic neuropathy! I was amazed that this medical book had a simple possible cure, yet I had never seen it anywhere, leaving amputation as the basic treatment for neuropathy once it had progressed too far. Why are the doctors not using their own cure for neuropathy listed in their own textbooks, which might lead to the avoidance of amputation?

I added this supplement from the medical textbook to my protocol, as well as another supplement that addressed nerve conditions of the eyes that diabetics are susceptible to and a supplement for the shooting nerve pains that diabetics get in their legs. Considering the new discoveries up to now, I would also add another supplement to help combat heart disease in diabetics if I were to start DK50 again.

I have decided to use this blog to disseminate the DK50 formula to the public. I hope and pray that this will benefit diabetics. I know first hand many of the horrors of diabetes and the DK50 formula was meant to address them. I couldn’t make it a successful endeavor in 1999, but maybe in the year 2009 the Internet can get it out to the public. To date I have not seen any formulas that address the stress release of blood sugar from the liver nor the side effects of diabetes. Through this blog I hope to do both.