The solution is prevention, and in that arena your nose mucous is your friend. Nose mucous is loaded with immune cells that protect us from inhaled pathogens, and the CDC says that 90% of all bacteria that invade the body do so through the nose. The advice here is that a runny nose is you friend. Drying up your nose mucous with spray decongestants and antihistamines makes the body much more susceptible to infection. So the latest words from authorities like the Mayo Clinic seem quite contrary to current media advertising and past medical information (misinformation?). To stay healthy, keep your nasal mucous healthy.

In recent tests, about 40% of all adults tested carried Methicillin resistant stapholococcus aureas (MRSA) in their noses. This is the “skin eating” super bug that also causes death by toxic shock and numerous non lethal but debilitating health challenges…and is antibiotic resistant. Many other antibiotic resistant bacteria are carried in the nose and sinuses, but MRSA at this time is the worst of the bunch.

This mess was created by the cavalier use of antibiotics. In a recent clinical study in Switzerland, it was shown that the same treatment we use to reestablish a healthy balanced gut flora after antibiotic use is the same treatment that helps clear these antibiotic resistant bacteria from the nose and sinuses. Probiotics, in our case that would be iFlora, work by triggering the immune cells in your gut to tell the immune cells in your nose to fight off staph, strep and other pathogens. It’s called “distant site effectiveness,” and it is a significant advance in knowledge about how our immune system works. Scientists now believe that the mucosal sites of the body are all connected, and the command center is in the mucous of your small intestine.

Taking antihistamines, decongestants, codeine, and inhaling pollutants can damage cilia, the little nose hairs that move the mucous, and stagnant mucous breeds disease.

Drinking lots of water keeps your nasal mucous fluid, which is what you want. Taking probiotics that help build a healthy gut and reduce “leaky gut syndrome” also help build a healthy nasal mucous. Rinsing your nasal passages with a saline solution by way of a Netti Pot is also very helpful in reestablishing a healthy nasal mucosa. Of course last, but not least, is the use of a superior grade probiotic like iFlora.

I know so many people in the same situation, suffering daily. The list includes my mother and sister – both are vegetarians. My mom has a headache everyday and is addicted to excedrin – a habit which gives such relief in the short term, but inflicts such cruel damage to the body and creates an addiction worse than the original problem. There are so many short term solutions to these headaches, so much so that an entire industry is built around the headache.

But why are these headaches occurring? That’s the important question! After searching for this illusive answer for the past 10 years, I have come to some very shocking information regarding diet, health, and my very sturdy, but yet fragile ecosystem that I inhabit.

My life with food, nutrition, guilt and the reality of life…

I guess the question I struggle with today is not what made a staunch vegan start to eat meat. That answer is simple – the quest to find a cure for my headaches. My question is still the same one I have had for the last 10 years. Why do I have headaches?

First, let me tell you a little about my life so far. For most of my life I have been almost exclusively a carnivore. Given the choice, I ate meat with no desire for any other dietary substance. I was raised in a household with a mother who loved chicken and a father who ate red meat. But strangely enough, my parents both became vegetarians when I was 14. It was an ethical decision for them. My parents were great – they let my sister and me make our own decisions about our dietary intake. So we ate meat.

As any troublesome teen, I rebelled and ate as much as I could get my hands on. More meat please… hold the veggies. I even worked in a BBQ restaurant; free meat all day long, everyday. I felt great. I smoked, drank, did drugs – you name it, I did it! I was young and nothing seemed like it could do any damage.

Then somewhere in college I found myself as a vegetarian. I was opposed to the way animals were treated and grown. It did not seem right that the animals suffered so, but I have always been on the border whether consuming flesh was right or wrong. After all, right and wrong are simply perceptions – we all have them – and they are no more than that – perceptions, and perceptions change with circumstance.

Because of this “perception” issue, my perceptions changed several times over the next few years. I was a vegetarian, then a carnivore, then a vegetarian, and so on… but I never really ate veggies when a carnivore or meat when a vegetarian. But what I had always been sure about was that, as a consumer, it was my responsibility to do what I felt right, and to uphold my ethical and moral beliefs with my decisions. My life was so easy then – eat meat and enjoy, no veggies required.

Then I met Sandi, my wife and owner of Eden Alley Vegetarian Cafe. She cooks so amazingly that I realized I could give up meat and not miss it. Her cooking is layers upon layers of flavors disguised as simple vegetarian food. Whole food nutrition that tasted better than anything I had ever encountered. So, I gave up meat without a doubt that I was moving in a healthier direction.

I stopped smoking somewhere in here too, and life was great! Running a vegetarian restaurant makes it easy to be vegetarian because there’s food I could eat everywhere around me, and great tasting food at that.

But I found that I missed the texture of meat – the chew. Then I discovered meat substitutes. The joy of processed foods that had a similar texture to meat. Textured vegetable protein and wheat gluten were constants in my diet. Oh the joy of the chew without the death and suffering of an animal.

Could life get any better? I was married to the hardest working, greatest woman I had ever met, helping to run an amazing restaurant.

Then the headaches started. Slowly at first, but with astounding pounding pressures that would leave me curled up on our bed wanting to die.

So, the search for the cure started. In my quest, with such excrutiating headaches that I wanted to crawl in a hole and die, I went to the one place that seemed they could help me – the Headache and Pain Center – it’s in the name. Well, I was told that the chances of finding the cause of my headaches was so low that I shouldn’t even bother. Their solution was to place me on antidepressants, but I wasn’t depressed. No matter, supposedly, they help headache sufferers too.

Even ten years ago I knew that this was the wrong approach for me. It did not answer the question as to why I had headaches. The headaches were obviously the symptom of something. What it was was the answer I was looking for – not just something to mask the pain of the message my body was sending me.

So, the quest continued. I started to look at everything I put into my body. What was the trigger for these awful pains that left me feeling less than the supercharged person I was without them?

As I was now, again, a vegetarian, helping to run a vegetarian restaurant, I was eating a typical vegetarian menu consisting of tofu, beans, rice, breads, eggs, dairy, etc. Then my doctor tells me I have high cholesterol. What, now that I am not eating meat? So, I started Lipitor to control my cholesterol. However, my headaches become more frequent. Even though my cholesterol is slightly lower, my doctor tells me my blood pressure is high. So, I am now taking a blood pressure lowering drug.

This was just great. I am not a big supporter of pharmacueticals and was not to happy taking these drugs… like my life depended on it! I have always believed that nature has the answer to our health, so taking prescription medication simply went against what I felt was right, but because my doctor said I really needed it, I took it. That was the start of the end of my trust for the medical community and what they perceive to be the truth of our biology.

I started switching doctors, looking for one that might have a clue about solutions to causes instead of masks for symptoms. I asked them all if the Lipitor could be contributing to my headaches and high blood pressure. They all said there has been nothing written about that. But I said, I have never had high blood pressure until I started on Lipitor. It did not make sense to me, and so I question authority – it’s just the nature of how I was raised, thankfully. Long story short, once I got off cholesterol lowering drugs, my blood pressure was fine and I had fewer headaches. But of course, there was no correlation!

So what was causing these headaches still? Soy? As a vegetarian, I was ingesting a lot of this stuff. I confirmed it time and time again in my many trials. Eating tofu made my head split open. Thus, I felt the answer to my painful life was found, but it was only the beginning.

Then I found Dr. David, and now, after one visit to Dr. David for NAET, no headache! No headache, what kind of magic is this?

Does it really matter what’s behind it if it works? To me it does. I love learning and understanding. So, I have bought all the books about this written by the founder of NAET, Dr. Devi Nambudripad and am loving the read. My first was “Say Goodbye To Headaches” of course.

So here is NAET in a nutshell – Greg’s nut shell of a brain.

My body knows what it needs, and what it doesn’t, what bothers it and what helps it. So, Dr. David just asked the right questions and used muscle checking – a method that has been used for centuries – to get the answer.

In my first visit, he checked for the most common 18 allergens and digestive disorders known to this system. Of these, I tested positive for 11 of them.

Currently, my body cannot process protein from any other source than cow. Luckily, that’s what I’ve been eating as of the last few weeks – 100% grass fed, no grain. My body had already figured that one out – but nice to see the proof.

My body is unable to assimilate a whole heap load of nutrients from the foods I have been eating as a vegan. The doctor believes, and stated his proof, that a vegan diet is not sustainable for more than a few years for the majority of people. He did say a small percentage of people thrive on being vegan, but apparently not me. He used to be a vegan, coincidentally. He stated that a vegan diet is one of the best things you can do for your body. It is the greatest cleanse and does wonders, but once it is done cleansing, it can have bad effects if continued – and that is seen in my world for sure. Of course, this is his opinion based on the facts he sees – no offense meant to anyone.

So what exactly caused my myriad of headaches for the last 10 years, a really bad vegetarian diet? Well, an overly dominant excess of soy and gluten proteins in the form of “meat substitutes” that made up my diet for the first few years after I turned vegetarian, has given me a “leaky gut“. This allows proteins to escape my gut into the rest of my body. My immune system, which is in perfect shape, sees these proteins as enemies and tries to destroy them and sends the alarm message out – a headache.

I had been a carnivore, so in my early days as a vegetarian, I really missed the chew of meat. Fake meats were everywhere at the health food store. Soy and gluten proteins masquerading as meat solved the chew issue for me, so I ate them to excess. Couple that bad diet with cheese and dairy – a truly crappy vegetarian diet – how could I not have allergy issues? Unfortunately, at the time, I had no idea about a balanced diet in the vegetarian realm.

Of course, many years ago I learned the dangers of a diet completely based on “isolated” proteins, which were stripped from their natural home in the soy-bean and the wheat and grains, and have thus moved away from that predominance, but the damage had been done.

So what now? Currently, I stay on a limited diet consisting of 100% grass-fed cow, egg, and most vegetables and fruits. As my NAET treatments continue, I will go through some different phases, but ultimately, my body will be cured of most, if not all, of its allergies, and of course, my headaches.

And what will my diet consist of then? What will my body say it is supposed to be eating? Stay tuned…

So my beliefs of right and wrong, left and right, up and down – my unique perspective on life – have been my guiding light, my beacon in the night. These beliefs have determined my diet; a diet I have turned into a lifestyle. I mean really, what I eat has taken over what I am. Ok sure, one way we humans differentiate between animals is their diet: this one’s an herbivore, carnivore, or what’s this – an omnivore.

Well, that’s me now for the first time in my life – an omnivore. I’ve spent time as a carnivore, then an herbivore, guess this makes sense. Is there really nothing more to me, that is more important, in determining who and what I am than my diet? Really, I mean my diet.

Now, thanks to NAET, I have the entire rainbow of foods to choose from without the fear of the headache. Wow, gotta’ choose wisely.

We’ve heard the saying all our life: “you are what you eat,” but it doesn’t seem that many people really ever consider this to be true. I mean consciously we would all probably agree with this statement, but in reality very few people actually live as such. I sure found this to be true. Crap in crap out.

I was ruining my body. Now Dr. David and Betsy have given me the chance for a whole new life, without fear. Thank you both for giving me a second chance to understand my body’s needs, not just my philosophical desires.

The Omega 3s

These products are the stars of the media circus around the essential fatty acids (EFAs). It seems like everyone is selling a superior fish oil these days. Although these EFAs are especially important in growing children for healthy brain development through the formative years, they are much less important in the adult. If we keep in mind that the brain is 60% fat by weight, having adequate EFAs for brain development is obvious. In infants and children, the brain is in a state of rapid growth and development, whereas in adults, the need for these Omega 3 EFAs decreases enormously. Although all our organs and tissues need the Omega 3 EFAs, compared to the requirements for brain healing and development, the need is small.

The Omega 6s

These EFAs are the real unheralded heros, but they are in such abundance in the diet that they get short shrift in the literature. Unfortunately for us, our FDA has allowed food manufacturers to process these Omega 6 EFAs to eliminate spoilage and increase shelf life. Many manufactured foods that contain processed EFAs can sit on a shelf for years without spoiling: the Twinky is a good example. The Omega 6 family of EFAs are the most abundant in our diet, and now we know that they are also the most important. It’s the adulteration/processing of these Omega 6 EFAs that plays such a huge role in cancer.

The Ratios Tell The Story

What really matters is the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3, not only in the brain and nervous system, but in all of the body organs and tissues. In the brain and nervous system, the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 EFAs is one to one. In every other organ and tissue, the Omega 6’s are much more important. In muscle, which makes up about half of our adult solid weight, the necessary healthy ratio is between seven and eight to one, Omega 6 to Omega 3. In lining tissue, that would be skin, sinuses, lungs, stomach, small & large intestines, urogenital system, joints and the lining of the blood vessels, etc., the ratio is one thousand to one, Omega 6 to Omega 3. That’s correct, one thousand to one, Omega 6 to Omega 3.

Where’s The Fat?

Of course we know that fat can be found in adipose tissue, but that’s storage fat, and when was the last time you heard of a cancer in adipose tissue? Exactly! So where are the rest of these EFAs found, and what’s their job?

The cell membrane surrounds the cell and then convolutes about throughout the cell contributing to its shape and size. This cell membrane structure is made up of an outer coating of protein, a middle layer of EFAs, and an inner layer of protein. That’s kind of like a sandwich with fat in the middle and protein on the outside. Fat also plays many other important roles, but for this discussion, the EFAs that make up the middle layer of the cell wall structure are the ones of interest.

These middle layer EFAs are the cells oxygen magnets. Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph.D., researched, discovered and published his findings regarding a major underlying cause of cancer as far back as the 1950s. This work is popular in Germany where he practiced and did his research, but is just coming to the attention of the establishment in this country. Warburg demonstrated unequivocally that lining tissue cells deprived of oxygen eventually begin to create their energy by combusting more sugar than oxygen, by the process of glycolysis. In time, this leads to a cancer cell. Although this sugar-cancer connection was established over half a century ago, most oncologists are still unaware of this research. Simply put, cancer lives on sugar.

Oxygen in the lungs is drawn through the lining of the lungs, the lining of the tiny capillaries in the lungs, and into the hemoglobin molecule within the red blood cell (RBC). It’s safe to say that this hemoglobin molecule has a very powerful attraction for oxygen. When that RBC reaches the lining tissue and again is squeezing through a narrow capillary, something must have a greater attraction for that oxygen molecule than hemoglobin to pull the oxygen from the RBC and into the lining tissue cell. The something that has this tremendous attraction for oxygen is fat. The EFAs that make up the middle layer of the cell wall structure are what pull the oxygen from the RBC, and in this case we’re talking about the Omega 6 EFAs, mostly the parent oil, Linoleic Acid.

The Crux Of The Problem

Once food is processed to keep its shelf life, the fat has been changed into a different form that no longer has an attraction for oxygen. One of the processes, and the most utilized until recently, was the hydrogenation of fat, converting healthy fat into trans fatty acids that have no oxygen attracting ability. Now that the consumer is becoming aware of the damage done by trans fatty acids causing cancer and heart disease, the big food processors have devised other means to preserve shelf life. Unfortunately, anything that interferes with the oxygen attracting ability of fat will be just as dangerous as trans fatty acids/hydrogenated fats.

How Big Is The Problem?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), eighty-five percent (85%) of the cancer found in the industrialized world is lining tissue cancer, or Adenocarcinoma. They make up the bulk of the breast, prostate, lung, sinus, mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon cancers, as well as most cancers of the urogenital system. Before World War II, when consumers ate mostly fresh foods and few processed foods, cancer was a much smaller problem. In fact, before the Second World War, relatively few people died of cancer. By 1971, the government declared a war on cancer, and now cancer has surpassed heart disease as the number one killer in the USA. Obviously, medical science isn’t winning this war, so if we want to protect our families, we will have to take action for ourselves.

What’s The Solution?

Well, there isn’t just one solution to reducing cancer risk, but a big contributor is reducing the processed fat we get in our diets. Given time and a good supplemental dosage of the parent essential oils the body will replace the damaged fat that has been incorporated into our lining tissue cell walls with healthy Omega 6 EFAs that have oxygen attracting capacity. This can take many months but is worth the effort. This is, very possibly, the biggest nutritional breakthrough since I started studying and practicing nutrition over forty years ago.

What’s The Test?

Obviously, we need a test to let us know we have accomplished our goal. Most medical tests are expensive, this one isn’t. Just pay attention to your poop. That’s right, if your stools float, it means a little bit of fat is getting through your gut and therefore not being absorbed. I usually suggest starting at four YES parent essential oil capsules a day for three months. If your stools haven’t begun to float, you increase the dosage to five capsules per day for another month. If they still don’t float you increase the dosage to six capsules per day for another month, etc. Once you get floating stools, you stay at that dosage for a month before cutting the dosage back by one capsule per day for a month. If after a month, your stools are still floating you cut back another capsule per day for another month. If your stools start sinking again, you simply add back one YES parent essential oil capsule until you once again have floaters. This way each person is adjusting his/her dosage to individual need.

Who’s Responsible?

Most of this work is the result of impeccable research by Professor Brian Peskin. Brian Peskin can be Googled. His books are the talk of the alternative/complimentary medical community and can be comprehended by most people with a solid high school education.

Availability

YES parent essential oils are available through Preventics and can be found on our price list, the order order blank and on the online order form – listed as Parent Essential Fatty Acids under Essential Oils & Fatty Acids. This product is still patent protected, so unfortunately Preventics is unable to have it made at a considerable discount. The YES parent essential oil supplement supplies 120 capsules (725 mg each), for $49.95. Hopefully, in time, our purchases will become large enough to get a significant discount from the manufacturer, which we will then be able to pass on to you.

The biggest push for soy consumption comes in regard to its reputed ability to protect against various cancers, breast cancer among them. However, there is no evidence that unfermented soy offers any protection whatsoever, and in fact, the facts point in just the opposite direction. Scientific studies very specifically show that unfermented soy increases cancer risk. In fact, unfermented soy is also linked to heart disease, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, malnutrition, thyroid dysfunction and cognitive decline. Soy is particularly damaging when used in infant formulas.

The powerful companies behind soy have bought and paid for our congressmen with their lobbying dollars and have managed to get some of their employee’s promoted into top positions with the FDA. That is how they have managed to keep the research that is negative to soy from the public, which is exactly how they did it with Aspartame, the artificial sweetener that’s more dangerous than sugar.

In almost every case, fibrocystic disease is curable. Approximately 25 years ago I had the privilege of attending a lecture on a protocol developed by a Dr. John Myers. He had devised an approach for the successful treatment of fibrocystic disease. The first part of his protocol was a basic vitamin program similar to the Basic Self-Help Program that you find in my newsletters. To this you add extra vitamin E, so the dosage goes to 800 units a day (two of Preventics Vitamin E – E-Mixed Tocopherols). To that you must add 100mg of extra vitamin B₆ (two of Preventics Vitamin B6-50), and 400mg of extra Magnesium (one of Preventics Mag Chelate Plus). The final ingredient is iodine.

The best way to determine a deficiency of iodine is to get a bottle of tincture of iodine from the pharmacist and paint a square on your abdomen about the size of an audiocassette case. If you are deficient in iodine, you will absorb this through the skin in less than 8 hours. When you are no longer deficient your body will cease absorbing it and it will remain for 24 hours. Do not be surprised if the iodine patch is gone very quickly. There is a serious iodine deficiency all across our country, which is especially severe in the mid-west. Some people are allergic/sensitive to iodine and should see an NAET practitioner to clear the allergy (if my office in the Kansas City area is not convenient for you, go to the NAET.com website to locate a practitioner near you). About the only side effect from this approach is tender skin. In some individuals, the skin under the iodine application area will become tender or sensitive. If that happens, you simply move the patch to another area or discontinue the treatment for a few days.

When the fibrocystic disease is particularly bad, the application of iodine directly to the breast areas most affected improves results even more, although extra care must be taken not to stain white undergarments. With fibrocystic disease of the uterus and/or ovaries, it helps to paint the iodine patches on the skin directly over the organs. Almost without fail, by the time the iodine patch lasts 24 hours before fading, the fibrocystic disease is gone. Many women have reported back to me that their OB/GYN told them that their uterine and/or ovarian cysts that were bigger than an orange have disappeared.

Once the iodine patch refuses to disappear in the allotted 24 hour period, many of my patients prefer taking Preventics Kelp, because it eliminates the risk of staining clothes.

An additional benefit of this treatment is improved Thyroid function, the main topic of one of our newsletters. It was the increase in the number of calls from that newsletter that prompted this follow up.

The most common comments were those regarding increased energy. It is not unusual when doing the iodine patch test to see a considerable increase in energy because often the Thyroid is marginally under-functioning because of a lack of iodine, and in the presence of the deficient mineral the Thyroid again begins to function optimally.

Still another common comment had to do with weight loss, which takes place sluggishly if at all when the Thyroid is marginally under-functioning. With adequate iodine, and a Thyroid that is working the way it is supposed too, weight loss is much easier to achieve.

Have fun with this test. Check yourself 3 or 4 times a year to be sure your iodine levels are adequate for optimum Thyroid function, and enjoy better health. This is the kind of preventive medicine that keeps you out of the doctor’s office.

A personal note from Dr. David:

By now I hope we all know that eating locally grown food is good for the planet. It reduces shipping and our dependency on foreign oil and foods flown and shipped in from foreign countries. These foods, grown to be shipped long distances are harvested before peak nutritional value. When we buy them we pay more and get less in the way of critical micronutrients.

Local food, picked ripe, contains greater amounts of the essential critical nutrients, and if the local crop is organically grown, it contains a significantly greater amount of these essentials. Additionally, it has only been since the advent of rail and air travel and refrigeration that foods not indigenous to an area have been available. The human race adapted to eating locally for ten thousand plus years up until the age of refrigeration, and in the opinion of many experts, we have not had time to adapt to eating outside of nature’s plan.

Now, how do we go about eating a more healthy local diet? We stress eating the foods that are indigenous to the area in which we live in the seasons when they are available.

Last month I attended a meeting of the Kansas City Food Circle, a group of area farmers who grow and promote healthy, local, naturally raised, organic foods. This is where you can get information, for example, about where to get organically grown veggies and grass fed and grass finished beef. You can also get information about local restaurants that feature “locally grown” on their menus. There’s information about all the local farmers’ markets with times and dates, and a wealth of other helpful information.

I have learned that by buying direct I seldom pay more because I’ve eliminated the middle man, and I get enhanced nutritional value for my dollar, and that results in improved health and lower medical bills. Go to www.kcfoodcircle.org, for your family’s sake.

Paul Schaal specializes in Network Spinal Analysis.

A personal note from Dr. David:

I was delighted some years ago when I discovered that a dear friend was studying a new wellness technique called NSA, for Network Spinal Analysis. Although developed by a chiropractor, NSA is a departure from chiropractic in that it addresses energetic health at levels beyond spinal integration.

The beauty of NSA is that it results in self adjustment, once it is entrained, and does not rely on physically moving the bones of the back. In fact, in NSA, vertebrae never get physically moved by the practitioner.

I had an airplane injury experience as a teenager, and tried every type of chiropractic available to no avail. With NSA, I correct my own structural problems, and have eliminated over 40 years of pain and discomfort that did not respond to any other therapy.

This treatment is intensive in the beginning, and requires time and dedication, but the payoff is worth the effort for those who are willing and wanting to take responsibility for their own health and well being.

A personal note from Dr. David:

I have had a number of patients refer me to the Noffkes since our old natural meat provider retired, and when I interviewed Sheri Noffke on the phone, it reminded me that farmers who produce naturally grown product are usually alike when it comes to straightforwardness, commitment and integrity.

I think they will carry on splendidly where our old providers left off. I suggest you sign up for their newsletter so you can stay on top of the way they run their business, and when various products are most available.

Grass fed beef and naturally raised chicken is essential to the building of healthy families, and I recommend this type of protein to all my patients. It is what I keep in my own freezer and serve my family and friends.

If you try these products, I believe you will continue to buy them for superior taste and for their health benefits.

Also see my articles on Eating Local, Thinking Global and Protein Is Our Most Misunderstood Food.

Laurie Fickle specializes in Chiropractic, with emphasis on pediatric cranial and spinal manipulation.

A personal note from Dr. David:

It is rare that a chiropractor specializes in child care. Working effectively with infants and children takes a special gift that transcends education and technique and I have seen that gift in action in Dr. Laurie’s practice.

I’ve collaborated with Laurie Fickle since starting my NAET practice and finding my practice so pediatrically oriented.

The patients we refer to her, whether damaged by forceps delivery or immunologically challenged by a toxic environment, always seem to respond with an increased surge in well-being once her care is involved.

Parents are guarded when it comes to chiropractic, and it is always a pleasure to hear from the parents we have referred who are delighted with the gentle and effective measures they have witnessed at her practice.

The local Chapter provides support for the treatment of Chronic Fatigue/Fibromyalgia Syndrome (CFS/FM).

A personal note from Dr. David:

Having practiced as a nutritionist for the past forty plus years, I must admit that few conditions have befuddled me as much as CFS/FM. At first I thought it was just a matter of acquiring more knowledge. Unfortunately, the additional degree’s I acquired didn’t seem to provide that necessary knowledge.

I have, as I have grown older and hopefully wiser, found no solution to CFS/FM. Medicine, as we know it today, needs a consistent symptomatic pattern on which to attach a name. This must occur before a drug is discovered to mitigate that consistent symptomatic pattern. The emphasis here is on the word “consistent.”

With CFS/FM, so many different symptomatic patterns present themselves from patient to patient that the path I have seen produce the most positive outcomes is when a sufferer both self educates and additionally finds a lay adviser who has in most cases experienced CFS/FM themselves. The two then find their way through a maze of specialists who eventually contribute small to medium sized pieces of the therapeutic puzzle.

For a doctor to spend the hours necessary to guide a patient through this maze would be enormously time consuming and financially prohibitive. When I am confronted with a new case of CFS/FM, I refer them to the Fibromyalgia Coalition.

There is, I am pleased to say, an area where my expertise has been helpful as a specialist in Allergy/Nutrition. Allergy/sensitivity often plays a significant role in CFS/FM. Sometimes a really significant role and sometimes a much smaller role, but almost without fail, a sufferer with CFS/FM experiences reactions to foods, supplements, environmental toxins, and airborne irritants.

Contact for support group meeting information and/or referral to a lay advisor.