First, I want to thank you for sending your testimonials and letters of thanks to me. I appreciate your referrals, trust, and confidence in my recommendations and products.
Thank you for supporting me in my mission to help others.
Many of you write to ask where you can find a local doctor who specializes in fibromyalgia or who uses my protocols. Unfortunately, I often must write back that I don’t know of a doctor in your area who treats fibromyalgia. I’m amazed that so few doctors understand fibromyalgia and CFS.
I’ve been conducting workshops to doctors around North America and recently finished a book for doctors on treating fibromyalgia and CFS. I hope to get this book and my protocols in the hands of physicians in your area. Then I’ll be able to email you that yes I do know someone in your area who is familiar with my protocols.
I’m finishing up my third book (a self-help manual for fibromyalgia and CFS) and my fourth book should be in book stores in 2006. If you would like to pre-order the patient's self-help manual you may order it at my online store using the link below. It will be out in March. You will save $20 by pre-ordering it. Offer ends when the books arrive from the printer around the middle of the month.
Use this link to pre-order the Patient's Self-Help Manual and save $20
Most of my speaking engagements for 2005 will be to doctors. However, I do plan on speaking to various North American support groups as well. My wife and I are expecting our second child in April. This happy news has restricted my public speaking engagements for the first part of this year.
Because of this I’ve decided to make more time for phone consultations. I’ve also decided to reduce the price of my phone consult from $125 to $89.95 for those who sign up and purchase a consultation before February 14th. You'll save over $35! I am also offering email consultations at the same special rate. For the first 24 people who purchase a consultation, I'll give you a free copy of my one-hour tape entitled, "Treating and Beating FMS and CFS." (a $12 value) Use the link below to purchase online by secure credit card transaction.
I wish you all the best for 2005. Start the year off right. Feel Better. Get Healthy. Get Well.
You'll Find More Phone/Email Consultation Information Here
Vitamin D Deficiency and Disease
Many Americans, particularly African Americans, may be suffering from unrecognized deficiencies of the key nutrient vitamin D. A deficiency which increases the risk of bone problems and, a growing number of scientists are saying, perhaps a host of other diseases,
Pediatricians around the country have been reporting on children suffering from rickets, a bone disorder caused by vitamin D deficiency. Adults with undiagnosed vitamin D deficiency have been shown to suffer from more musculoskeletal pain. Low vitamin D increases the risk for the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
Emerging evidence suggests a deficiency of vitamin D may be associated with an assortment of serious illnesses, including many forms of cancer, high blood pressure, depression, and immune-system disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes.
Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to sunlight. It’s nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet.
Milk and a few other foods are fortified with vitamin D and it occurs naturally in a few others foods such as fatty fish, but most people get very little through their diets.
A person would have to drink ten glasses of milk a day to get the RDA of vitamin D.
40% of the U.S. population is deficient in vitamin D. 48% of young girls (ages 9-11) are deficient in vitamin D. 76% of pregnant females are severely deficient in vitamin D predisposing their newborn children to type diabetes, arthritis, and other illness. 81% of children born to these mothers were found to be deficient in vitamin D. Up to 80% of all nursing patients are deficient in vitamin D.
The farther you are from the equator, the longer the exposure needed to generate the minimum amount of vitamin D. North America and much of Europe is far from the equator.
"The highest rate of prostate cancer is among African Americans, followed by people who live in countries in northern Europe. How are blacks like Scandinavians? They don't look alike, but in some important ways they have to be alike," said Gary Schwartz, a cancer researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "One way that they are alike is both groups have very low levels of vitamin D."
Individuals with dark skin pigmentation may need as such as 20-30 times more sun exposure than persons with fair skin.
Sunscreen lotions block your body’s ability to produce vitamin D by 95%.
Obesity impairs vitamin D utilization in the body. Individuals who are obese may need twice as much vitamin D.
Infants who receive 2,000 units of vitamin D a day reduce their risk of developing juvenile diabetes by 80%.
Much of this material comes from The UV Advantage, Michael Holick, PhD, M.D. This book is available in bookstores and at Amazon.com
Vitamin D Supplementation May Reduce the Risk of MS
New research shows women who take multivitamins that contain vitamin D are less likely to develop multiple sclerosis than women who do not take supplements.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health examined the results of two large studies involving more than 187,000 women. Researchers assessed the women's diets and use of multivitamins at the start of the study and every four years after that.
Results show 173 women who participated in the study developed MS. Those who had the highest intake of vitamin D from supplements were 40-percent less likely to develop MS than those who did not take supplements. However, those whose intake of vitamin D was from food alone did not have a lower risk of developing the disease.
Researchers say since supplemental vitamin D was mainly from multivitamins, it is difficult to isolate its effects from the effects of the other vitamins. However, they say none of the other vitamins were significantly associated with risk of MS after adjusting for total vitamin D intake or vitamin D from supplements.
Nutr Rev. 2004 Sep;62(9):354-9. Related Articles Links Chronic vitamin D deficiency as possible cause of symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia; muscle weakness, aches and pains.
Vitamin D and Pain
Vitamin D deficiency is a problem of considerable magnitude that has reemerged as a major public health issue in the United States and several other developed countries. Vitamin D plays a crucial role in calcium homeostasis in the body. Hypovitaminosis D leads to osteomalacia and increased risk of fractures, especially in the elderly. Preliminary research suggests that vitamin D can prevent certain types of cancer and autoimmune diseases. A recent large study has shown the association between severe hypovitaminosis D and persistent, non-specific musculoskeletal pain, further suggesting that patients with no apparent cause of pain should be assessed and possibly treated for vitamin D deficiency.
Hypovitaminosis D-induced pain. Mascarenhas R, Mobarhan S. Department of Internal Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL 60153, USA.
Vitamin D Supplementation
Michael Holick, author of The UV Advantage and others argue that instead of the 200 to 600 international units a day that current recommendations suggest, most people should be getting at least 1,000 units a day.
Order High Dose Vitamin D Here
Eat More Fish
A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that those who ate tuna or other baked or broiled fish once a week have a 30% less chance of having a stroke. This benefit was not seen in those eating fried fish.
Calls for the Ban of Celebrex and Bextra
Public Citizens Group (www.citizen.org/hrg/), publishers of the book and newsletter “Worst Pills Best Pills,” has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to take the painkillers Celebrex and Bextra off the market. The research group charges that both of these drugs increase the risk of heart attack. A similar drug, Vioxx, another COX-2 inhibitor, has already been withdrawn.
A better solution for Arthritis: My Arthro Formula Here
Better solutions for Inflammation & Pain: My Formulas Here
Read More Information about Dangerous Side Effects of drugs here in my Health Alert
Worst Pills Best Pills Advises –Do Not Use Cymbalta (Duloxetine)
The January 2005 issue of Best Pills Worst Pills News reports that this serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) has been shown to cause liver toxicity. This medication can also cause high blood pressure. Cymbalta has been marketed has an antidepressant that also helps block pain. The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics found that Cymbalta was “nothing special” and concluded their October 11, 2004 report by saying: Whether duloxetine offers any advantage over venlafaxine (Effexor) or an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) like fluoxentine (Prozac and others) remains to be established. The manufacturer’s claim that duloxetine is the antidepressant for painful symptoms associated with depression is unsupported - no comparative trials are available.
Chronic Back Pain Shrinks Brain
A study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, has found that chronic back pain may age the part of the brain responsible for memory and information processing by up to 20 years. According to one of the authors of the study, loss of brain density is related to pain duration, indicating that 1.3cm of gray matter are lost for every year of chronic pain. Researchers found that sufferers of chronic pain lost 5% to 11% of gray matter per year (the same as 10 to 20 years of aging).
This study may explain why individuals with FMS and other chronic pain conditions often have mental clarity “fibro fog” problems.
Chiropractic Care found to be more effective
A recent Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found chiropractic care to be more effective than medical care at treating chronic low back pain. Another study by Duke University Evidence-Based-Practice Center found that neck manipulations (adjustments) are appropriate for treating tension headaches. “If more patients with musculoskeletal complaints were encouraged to utilize scientifically supported interventions, such as those used by doctors of chiropractic, many unnecessary hospital stays, surgeries, dangerous medications and high costs they generate could be avoided,” says American Chiropractic Association President Donald J. Krippendorf, DC.
New Non-Stimulant Weight Loss Product “Slim-N-Trim” Now Available!
Slim-N-Trim is a new dietary supplement made from white kidney bean extract, Phaseolous Vulgaris (Phase2).
Phaseolous Vulgaris inhibits the absorption of carbohydrates during the digestive process. Phaseolous Vulgaris has been recently popularized under the trade name Phase 2™ and incorporated as part of the South Beach Diet™. During the digestive process, your body converts carbohydrates, found in starchy foods such as potatoes and pasta, into sugar. Your body does this by breaking-down the carbohydrate molecule with alpha amylase, an enzyme that is produced in the pancreas. These sugar calories are either burned off, through exercise, or stored as fat cells for future use. Unfortunately, inactivity means that these stored fat cells accumulate. The result is weight gain.
Phase 2™ is an amazing, non-stimulant, all-natural nutritional ingredient that is derived from the white kidney bean. It is the first nutritional ingredient that has been clinically & scientifically proven to neutralize starch, found in your favorite foods such as potatoes, breads, pasta. rice, corn and crackers. Phase 2™ is a safe yet powerful nutritional ingredient, clinically studied to reduce the absorption of starch calories.
Research on Slim-n-Trim Phase 2 White Kidney Bean Extract
University of Scranton researcher, Prof. Joe A. Vinson, reports that Phase 2® reduced starch absorption by 28% when 0.75 grams of the ingredient was mixed with a full meal and served to participants in a random, blinded fashion. Three previous human pilot trials conducted by Vinson confirmed that 1.5 grams of Phase 2® were effective in reducing starch calories (an average of 66%) when study participants were fed a high carbohydrate, high fat meal of bread and margarine.
Lose Weight, Reduce Blood Fats, Increase Energy
KEARNY, NJ, DEC. 10, 2002—Patients who took a concentrated starch neutralizer extracted from the white kidney bean, lost nearly a half pound per week (3.8 lbs. over eight weeks), on average, or better than 200% more than those on placebo. Patients on the starch neutralizer also lost 1.5 inches around their waists, on average, or 43% more than those on placebo.
“The results are encouraging, and look very promising,” said chief researcher, Jay Udani, M.D., Medical Director, Integrative Medicine Program, Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
“One of the most surprising results of the study was the impact that the starch neutralizer had on triglycerides, a form of bad cholesterol,” said Udani. “There was a dramatic, 26-point drop in triglyceride levels, on average, for patients taking the starch neutralizer, while those on placebo averaged only an 8 point drop in triglyceride levels. The difference between the two groups was more than 300%.
“The ability of this product to reduce triglycerides may be an important adjunct in maintaining a good cardiac profile.”
Another surprising result, according to Udani, was the effect of the starch neutralizer on energy levels.
“Those patients on the starch neutralizer reported a 13% increase in energy, while those on placebo reported no improvement in this area. This is important because the starch neutralizer is not a stimulant.”
No significant adverse effects from the starch neutralizer were reported by any of the patients participating in the study.
