National Resources for LGBTQIA Elders

• The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging: “Inclusive services for LGBT Older Adults: A Practical Guide to Creating Welcoming Agencies.”
• GRIOT Circle: Addresses needs of older LGBT citizens, especially people of color. Primarily in New York City, but there are members throughout the country.
• SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders)
• NCLR: LGBT Elder Law Project
• Mautner Project: National Lesbian Health Organization

Utah Resources for LGBTQIA Elders

• SAGE Utah
• Contact the SAGE Utah Program Manager, Charles Lynn Frost: charles (at) utahpridecenter.org. 801.913.8884

So much money has been raised, but where are we at in getting towards the cure?

For a person who has a small tumor –the choice to get a mastectomy does not improve the chance of cure. For most people breast conservation has the exact same cure rate. Other situations mastectomy does improve cure.

Once breast cancer is diagnosed. There is a package approach that seems to lead to the best cure rate. Better surgical radiation and chemotherapy are the answer.

An alternative idea that is not well developed or practiced at this point:
Immune stimulation –making the cancer itself create an immune reaction.

Ideas to prevent rather than treat:
-Vaccine to prevent the disease
-cleaning up the environment to remove the cause –toxins that are linked to the cause of breast cancer.
Increasingly identifying specific genetic correlations to the type of breast cancer that the individual has.
Getting research that focuses on eradication of the disease is troubled because of the paradigm of funding. The challenge is due to the studies being more difficult (for example of what types of toxins are causing the cancer. These types of studies require very intense interviewing and following for years, besides they are not very sexy for the pharmaceutical companies.
Prevention and early detection- in the ‘race for the cure’ the cure doesn’t really actually get discussed much. Under 40,000 deaths/year but the incidence has stayed the same for decades despite the amount of money being spent. Which is what you would expect based on the priorities that are in place with the research.

Something has set off your reflux acid stomach.

But hey, it’s no problem! Everywhere you go these days it’s pretty easy to just pick up some Prilosec, or any of the other generic antacids, the omeprazole and other -azoles now available without a prescription or evaluation by a doctor.

Problem solved.

Or maybe not.

Maybe you just created a whole new set of problems for yourself.

What Stomach Acids Do

Blocking stomach acid is not always a good idea. You need stomach acid. It is there for a reason. Several reasons actually:

• Breaking down your food into small enough bits so you can absorb nutrients.
• Protecting you from absorbing proteins that are highly complex and possibly triggering an immune response that you don’t want.
• Breaking down bacteria present in the environment – specifically C. diff which can give you massive diarrhea.

As reported by the FDA, “FDA notified the public that the use of stomach acid drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may be associated with an increased risk of Clostridium difficile–associated diarrhea (CDAD).”

That’s right, your stomach acid helps you avoid a nasty, uncomfortable situation by reducing the chances that you’ll contract something like C.diff. And if you “kill” your stomach acid everyday with antacids, they won’t be able to help you out. If you contract C.diff you can always undergo a fecal transplant, but really who wants to do that?

What To Do About Acid Reflux

Of course you don’t want to suffer the symptoms of reflux all the time, either. If you have acid reflux symptoms more than a couple of times a month, you should see a doctor because something else can be going on.

Remember, your acid reflux isn’t just an annoyance to “deal with” by taking a pill – it’s usually an indicator that something is going on in your body that you should pay attention to.

First, let wikipedia give you a brief overview of what direct primary care is all about.

“patients may pay a combination of visit fees and/or fixed monthly fees which grant them access to a set of medical services”

Now imagine that service being delivered to you at home. House call doctors are apparently making a comeback. The cost of these services runs 426$ on average. That seems pretty out of reach for most people. Reducing costs and combining these two ideas and make it affordable, wellness focused, naturopathic primary care.

That is the Malus Health Organizations vision in a nutshell. You get a personal on-call physician who comes to your home for visits. And, it’s affordable.

Any questions?

I can’t advocate for this presentation specifically, but I will be attending and believe it will have some useful information for those interested in undertaking a detox program.

Going through the process of Spring Cleaning as well as my own personal grief process after the death of my grandmother, has stirred something up for me. I have become inspired to include an energetic aspect to my detox program this season for anyone who is interested.

On April 17th. The full moon following Spring Equinox (and by coincidence Palm Sunday), I will be offering Reiki I attunements for the first 10 people to sign up on a donation basis.

Reiki is something that has guided and assisted me in my personal and spiritual development for 20 years. I was first given the Reiki I attunements at age 18, and I was trained as a Reiki teacher/master in the Usui tradition ~10 years ago. I find this energetic healing technique to be profoundly calming, healing and focusing of the life force energy to creating shifts on a deep level.

Contact me with questions or to sign up.

Keeping your body in optimum, or hell -even acceptable working order, is going to require some basic maintenance. Doing a semi-annual fasting detox regiment is basic care, like getting your oil changed every 3000miles.

If there were an EPA overseeing the state of your body, you might find yourself listed as a superfund site! Living hard and fast in an urban environment takes its toll. Even if you’re keeping an otherwise healthy lifestyle, breathing the air and drinking the water is not without its issues. Over time your body’s ability to deal with so much toxic build up from the environment gets overwhelmed. The slightest cold virus, combined with the rest of the toxins in your body, will knock you off your feet.

Just taking some time away from eating can be a like a vacation for your digestive organs. Religions have advocated for fasting specifically in the spring time -Christians have Lent, the Bahá’í fast the whole month of `Ala’ March . Mainstream medicine doesn’t seem to know what to think, although some physicians do advocate for it.

Personal anecdotes of those who practice fasting and the way they feel before, during and after a fast can be extremely compelling. The question for many is -what is the right and wrong way to do this? What is the best type of fast for ME? And when do I need to consult a doctor about this?

Fasting doesn’t necessarily have to mean going without all food altogether. A gentle fast can include eating a raw food diet of fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, and drinking bone and vegetable broths, smoothies or fresh vegetable juices. These dietary changes can be done for one or two days every week, or for longer periods less regularly. There are thousands of resources, from books to blogs, detailing safe and effective fasts.

I find “The New Detox Diet” by E. Haas, MD to be a very well rounded resource; which includes sample plans (based on your self assessed level of toxicity) and recipes.

After 7-10 days of removal, dive into a fasting regimen that suites your life and lifestyle. Herbal teas, tinctures and supplements can play a really wonderful supportive role in helping to tame the cravings and mobilize your organs to detoxify with less drama.

Fasting can also hurt. In the short term it can cause uncomfortable and unnecessary side effects of headaches, nausea, dizziness. For some it can be dangerous and unadvised. Trying a short fast and ease into it –consult your doctor about it if you have any medical conditions. When it is done well, this can become a powerful tool for increasing your well being.

Next: I will review some of the pro’s and con’s of three very popular fasting diets.  The Master Cleanse, Juice fasting, & The Candida diet

New members to sign up for membership in Malus Health Organization in January will be entered into a drawing. There will be 3 winners and 3 bonus packages to choose from.

-1hour massage with Angie Ringwald, LMT.

-3 1hour soak/sauna sessions at Common Ground Wellness Center.

- 2 Immune IV pushes.

email tineke(at)malushealth(dot)org to schedule your first appointment!

In the afternoon we broke into groups and envisioned answers to this question: Being as specific as possible, what would health care look like in some perfect future?

It is a lot easier to complain that something sucks, and proclaim that our system shouldn’t be this way. It’s much more difficult to get specific and say, “I want my health care to: ______________.”

The group of folks I was with came up with some familiar sounding requests:

What People Want in Health Care

• Resources to care when they are sick (aside from the emergency room)
• Access to their own medical information
• Early intervention available from a doctor who knows them
• All members of society to be valued to receive care — they want compassionate care for people in crisis
• Specific individualized education, not just about how to not be sick, but about how to be well.

Some of the more interesting conversations for me were around these two topics:

Integrated services (health and education and the food supply system, all with the same goals)

One of the women in my group, someone who was an immigrant and works in social services for immigrants said,

“Teach low income people to prepare low income meals that will be nutritious. People end up using food stamps to buy pop and other sweets. They do not know how to eat well, immigrants have never seen the kind of food that is available to them here, they do not know how to adjust. Do not allow people to buy pop with food stamps. Teach people who are immigrating — give them two months of education about how to eat for wellness.”

Another woman who was an administrator in Portland public schools said,

“We need more education about food and nutrition and healthy lifestyles on all levels: schools, media, physicians’ offices. We need all populations to have adequate access to produce and fresh foods. We can be teaching people to take care of gardens through participation in community gardens where people can grow the healthy food for themselves.”

Aging and the medicalization of the aging process: An aging population is stressing the system. If we don’t address the cultural component of the fear of and refusal to accept natural aging, the system will break. Other sentiments expressed were:

“Let’s look at life as more of a cycle and understand the big picture of health and care for all. Sort out what is normal. For example, look at how much money has gone into the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer treatment that has not been effective.”

“We need access to information about what is really effective [in terms of health care] and what is to be expected as we age.”

Many other interesting conversations were had throughout the well-organized day. Kudos to Liz Baxter and Julie Magers for putting it together. Further reports on this subject will be found in the coming weeks on The Archimedes Movement website.

The result of the intense rush of activity and the change of the seasons seems to leave many people in a depleted and worn out state, just when they need their immunity the most.

If you find yourself worn out with a cold or the flu, it is rather tempting to just stock up on DayQuil, or drive across the bridge to Vancouver to score some Sudafed and power through what you need to get done. There is no undoing that last round of too many parties the weekend before your annual review or midterms, let’s just move forward and see what kinds of things might actually help you bounce back the quickest.

Simple Ways to Keep Colds at Bay

Sunshine: The best way to get vitamin D is to make it yourself, which your skin does in response to sun. This involves getting outside and exposing yourself to sunlight. Get 15-30 minutes of sun daily (or as much as possible when the clouds break). This will help you regulate your sleep/wake cycle as well as improve your immunity. Sorry, but tanning beds are not going to cut it here. Supplement vitamin D to keep your immune system in better working order. (Ginde, A. Archives of Internal Medicine, Feb. 23, 2009; vol 169: pp 384-390)

Mold: Trying to control mold is almost an automatic fail here in the lovely but not-quite-cold-enough, and oh-so-damp Pacific Northwest. Try anyway. Reducing the load of spores in your lungs will reduce the possibility of colds going deeper into your respiratory tract. Symptoms of mold allergy (runny nose, itchy nose and eyes, fever, cough) can look a lot like a cold and mold blooms tend to happen at the onset of cold season. Also, assess your indoor air quality — sweep those vents out before you crank the heat up in your house.

Chicken soup: Boil a whole chicken into a “bone-broth” on medium heat for several hours. Add garlic and veggies to taste. It will reduce inflammation and is an easy, excellent (re: delish) source of nourishment.

Vitamin C: Mega doses can be anti-viral. Take too much and it will give you diarrhea, but try taking just less than that. It is cheap and can make a difference.

Zinc: Sucking on lozenges during a cold can put zinc right where it needs to be in order to interrupt the life cycle of the virus. Zinc should not be taken everyday as it can deplete other essential minerals.

Echinacea: There are a lot of oversold but rather useless cold remedies out there. Echinacea has been studied quite a bit, and the jury is out about its usefulness. Used in combination with other herbs and from more local and trustworthy sources, Echinacea might be a good adjunct for healing, but taken alone it is not a cure all.

Flu shot?

There is a ton of marketing about this. Someone apparently really wants us all to get the vaccine.

Fact: The flu shot they give you this year is mainly to protect you from last year’s flu.

To get or not to get a flu shot can be a complex question. Talking to you doctor can be helpful in assessing your personal risk factors for exposure, and your ability to handle the flu. Your own healthy immune reaction is the best immunity against the flu.