Showing posts with label antibiotic alternatives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antibiotic alternatives. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Read This Before You Take Yet Another Antibiotic

Deadly MRSA superbug has 50 percent mortality rate in hospital patients
A recent Henry Ford Hospital study revealed that a new strain of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the deadly bacterial "superbug" that becomes resistant to many antibiotics, is five times more deadly than other previously-seen strains. Fifty percent of patients who become infected with the new virulent strain die within 30 days; other MRSA strains kill only about 11 percent.

Called USA600, the new strain possesses uniquely noxious characteristics that researchers are linking to the significantly higher mortality rate. Study findings were presented at the 47th annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in Philadelphia.

Typical MRSA strains are problematic because they are resistant to virtually every available antibiotic drug. Most MRSA infections are allegedly treatable with vancomycin, a powerful intravenous drug, but the new USA600 strain has proven itself to be nearly impervious to the drug.

Deadly MRSA strains typically take hold on a person through skin and blood infections, as well as through surgical wounds. While predominantly contracted in health care facilities like hospitals and clinics, the disease is now starting to make the rounds in otherwise healthy people in the outside world.

Experts are associating the increased resistance of deadly MRSA strains to the over-prescription by doctors of antibiotics for all sorts of conditions that do not need them. According to Joel Fuhman, an M.D. from New Jersey, studies show that 90 percent of antibiotics are prescribed for viral diseases, against which they have no effect.

When antibiotics are prescribed needlessly for conditions like a child's ear infection, which is viral rather than bacterial, they do more harm than good by killing off the child's beneficial bacteria. As a result, the child's immune system is weakened making them more susceptible to developing other illnesses and being prescribed more antibiotics.

Europe's Centre for Disease Control warns that if excessive antibiotic use is not curbed, antibiotics will become all but useless and modern medical procedures like organ transplants and neonatal care for babies will no longer be possible.

Modern medicine must also reawaken to the incredible power of colloidal silver in stopping harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungal infections. Studies show that there is virtually no bacterial strain resistant to silver's powerful antibacterial effects. When developed properly for therapeutic use, colloidal silver packs a punch unlike any other antibiotic.

Visit Healthy Again For More Stories Like This One

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Buy Silver - Get Gold

We continuously read in the media how the value of silver and gold is on the rise and the value of the dollar is steadily sinking and according to some, at risk of becoming valueless.

We are encouraged to protect our financial foundation by buying both silver and gold as an investment for the future in the event of financial disaster.

I used the title in this post as a metaphor as to how I look at colloidal silver use.

By purchasing and using Silver Solution, a colloidal silver product, you get the Gold. Gold being first prize and that's great health. Great health can not be purchased, it has to be practiced.


By using Silver Solution as a first line of defense for an immune system boost, you are guiding your body to become strong enough to prevent sickness, ailments and disease from ever striking. You are building this strong body naturally with no side effects or toxic build up.


Back to my earlier metaphor of buying silver and gold, when you buy colloidal silver or Silver Solution, and invest in yourself by building up your immune system, you are laying a foundation much like your financial foundation. If disaster strikes, you are already strong and unaffected by this disaster, similar to owning silver and gold in order to not be affected should the dollar collapse.


Once your health is in jeopardy, you are relying on medication to treat the symptoms until your body can restore itself back to it's original level of good health. If it can. Often we become victims of the medication, relying on it to mask illness and disease, only to be held hostage by it's effects and contribute to our declining health.


By working from a position of strength and warding off illness and disease by building a strong immune system, we win the battle without ever going off to war.

Discover More Benefits Of Silver Solution and Immune System Support

Educate Yourself About Swine Flu

Educate yourself about Swine Flu and particularly about a vaccination to prevent Swine Flu. This is especially important when there is talk about instituting a manadatory vaccination for some. A mandatory vaccination that has been developed and tested all in a matter of a few short weeks.

Watch the video below and read the excerpt from Mercola.com on this extremely important topic.


Watch CBS Videos Online


Following is an excerpt from a post from Mercola.com. To read the entire post, please click the link at the end of the excerpt.

By Dr. Mercola

You’ve probably noticed the escalating hype and hysteria surrounding the swine flu pandemic as colder months approach and the number of worldwide cases climbs.

It’s true the virus is spreading.

Much more important, however, is the fact that reported cases continue to be symptomatically mild, requiring little or no medical intervention. And deaths from the H1N1 virus remain extremely low, at less than one half of one percent of reported cases as of July 6.[1]

Despite this fact, the United States has committed to spending another $1 billion on ingredients for an H1N1 vaccine, according to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, with plans for a mid-October vaccination program intact.[2]

Plans are also underway to implement vaccine programs around the world. In Germany, for instance, the health ministry announced the government had plans to order 50 million vaccine units and up to 22.5 million people may be vaccinated in the first stage of the plan starting in September (even though no fatalities have occurred in the country to date).[3]

The cost of the vaccination program is estimated at two billion euros -- even though only 800 infections, none of them fatal, have been reported in the country.
The White House Speaks About Swine Flu

If you’re on the White House email distribution list, you received an email recently announcing the “H1N1 Influenza Preparedness Summit” held on July 9. The note was signed by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security, and Education.

The message said, in part:

“We are working together to monitor the spread of 2009-H1N1 and to prepare to initiate a voluntary fall vaccination program against the 2009-H1N1 flu virus, assuming we have a safe vaccine and do not see changes in the virus that would render the vaccine ineffective.”

Two things in this paragraph stand out. Number one -- the vaccination program is still voluntary. A plan for mass swine flu vaccinations is not good news, but it appears that at least for now, the choice is still up to you.

The other item which stands out in that paragraph is the phrase, “... assuming we have a safe vaccine.”

How safe is a vaccine that has been developed, “tested,” and shipped for mass distribution in a matter of weeks? The answer -- it isn’t.

Unfortunately, President Obama is fully onboard with the prospect of mass injections of inadequately tested, potentially deadly vaccines.

"We want to make sure that we are not promoting panic, but we are promoting Read More

Monday, June 22, 2009

An Alternative Approach

Alternative Medicine or Naturopathic Medicine is based on the belief that the body can heal itself. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

Yes, the body can certainly heal itself if it's in a natural state or environment, but can it heal itself when it's in an unnatural state?

When we routinely pump unnatural substances like soda's, artificial sweeteners, nicotine, processed foods, over the counter and prescription drugs (all are synthetic), refined sugar and flour, tap water that is chlorinated, air that is polluted....

Wait let me catch my breath...never mind I can't my lungs are too full of well...everything that shouldn't be there and not enough of what should be...like oxygen.

Think about it.

Do our bodies really stand a chance if we continue to put garbage in and no garbage is coming out?

When I first began thinking about this concept I was confused. Afraid. Definitely unsure where to turn. Until I began to really research. I mean really look beyond TV ad's and "news" shows.

You can too.

Don't rely on the news you are fed. Go looking for some answers.

Ask yourself some thought provoking questions.

For example: If drugs really cured us of our illnesses, where would be drug companies be besides out of business? Do they really want us to get better?

What about doctors? If we weren't stacked up in their waiting rooms waiting to be cured and "treated" with drugs, would they have enough business to sustain the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed?

If we were healthy with simple cures and best practices that helped us lead a natural life would insurance companies be profitable?

Ask yourself who turns the wheels of your health? Is the answer the bottom line on a profit and loss statement?

Think about it. Is that who you want holding the end result of your good health in their not so objective hands?

So what can you do?

Well, first read. Your curiosity to something brought you here, didn't it? Read and read some more.

Here are some best practices to start with:

  • Eat raw, fresh foods as much as possible.
  • Read labels on processed food, educate yourself as to what some of this "stuff" is.
  • Drink filtered or bottled water, then drink some more.
  • Look for alternative natural solutions to the synthetics you have become used to.
  • Think about cooking from scratch instead of a box, microwave container, or eating fast food.
  • Read and research a little more every day.
  • Find the right natural supplements so you may obtain a higher level of ideal health.
  • Build a healthy immune system to prevent your body from becoming sick.

Start making small changes every day. Before long you just might see those timid baby steps you started out with become long confident strides moving toward ideal health, naturally!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Swine Flu Update

BY MARIA CHENG and FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writer Maria Cheng And Frank Jordans, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA – The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years — as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.

In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 — its highest alert — after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.

The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
"At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterized globally as being moderate in severity," WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade. "(We) remain in close dialogue with influenza vaccine manufacturers."

On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths. Read More

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

What Is Colloidal Silver?

Considering all the media coverage of the Swine Flu or it's more recent name of H1N1, the growing threat of the Superbug MRSA's resistance to antibiotics. Combine this with the fact an estimated 43 million people are living without health insurance, it's no wonder so many of us are turning to alternative natural healing.

An increased interest has been realized in the use of colloidal silver to treat bacterial infections as well as a plethora of viruses.

The first question many people ask is: "What exactly is colloidal silver?"

Well first, plain old silver itself kills bacteria. Think of the silver pails that cow's milk goes into or a silver spoon that goes into the proverbial wealthy baby's mouth which actually happened in Europe during the plague. Even early settlers in America would throw silver coins into their wells to keep the water bacteria free and potable. Now fast forward this thinking and picture Band-Aids recent marketing campaign. Yep, silver is the solution to fighting bacteria. Just Google Curad + silver and see the results.

Now you see from very early times to current times silver has amazing healing qualities. The good news is we don't have to stop at bandages. Colloidal silver is simply nano (massively small) particles of silver suspended in water. These particles are so small they don't settle, or loose their molecular identity. They just hang suspended in the water or solution waiting to go to work providing you with natural healing.

When ingested, these particles go to work in our bodies killing bacteria and viruses so we may enjoy health naturally. Bacterial organisms need a supply of energy to live, the silver blocks this energy supply and the bacteria or virus is no longer able to survive.

Colloidal silver kills an astounding 650 or so strains of bacteria and viruses. A conventional antibiotic kills approximately a half dozen or so. Not much of a comparison is it?

Combine these advantages with the fact that some colloidal silvers are non toxic even when tested thousands of times above the normal dose with no adverse side effects. Perhaps you can now see how using colloidal silver to treat countless varieties of bacteria and viruses allows us to enjoy good health naturally.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Cruise Ship Passenger Dies From Flesh Eating Bacteria

by Scott Carmichael on May 7th 2009 at 2:00PM

Have you had your breakfast/lunch/dinner yet? Because this story is bound to upset your stomach.

While on a Mediterranean cruise, 58 year old Raymond Evans hurt his knee during a fall. The injury was nothing serious, but the ships doctor put Mr. Evans on an antibiotic regimen, just to be safe.

Despite the shots, his widow said his condition started to deteriorate, and that the back of his knee was turning black. This developed into a "blotchy blackness" that spread to his chest, elbow and fingers, and he was admitted into the ships hospital.

When the ship docked in Alexandria, Egypt, Mr.Evans was transported to the intensive care unit of the city's hospital where he died hours later. The total time from noticing the blackness on his knee till death was just 24 hours.

A pathologist told the official inquiry that Mr.Evans had been infected by the flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis (warning: graphic images on that page!).

The pathologist concluded that Mr.Evans had not caught the bug during his fall, because the symptoms of the flesh eating bug usually start hours after being infected, so the most probable source was something on the cruise ship that entered through his wounds.

This is of course just another example of the health risks involved with cruise ships. For years, cruise lines have struggled with the norovirus as we previously covered here, here and here. Still, common sense and basic hygiene precautions should help keep you perfectly safe when you get on board.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Swine Flu Continues To Spread




By VOA News
13 May 2009

The swine influenza A-H1N1 virus is still spreading around the world.

Belgium on Wednesday confirmed its first case, becoming the 34th country to report an infection of swine flu. The World Health Organization says worldwide, the number of confirmed cases stands at more than 5,700.

Almost all the deaths from the virus have been in Mexico. Mexican authorities on Wednesday raised the death toll there to 60, though authorities say the outbreak in Mexico is declining.

Swine flu has also killed one person in Costa Rica, one in Canada and three people in the United States. On Wednesday, the U.S. said it had confirmed more than 3,300 cases of the virus. U.S. officials say they expect more.

On Tuesday, Finland and Thailand each confirmed two cases, the first for both countries. Authorities say each of those four patients had recently traveled to Mexico.

China also confirmed its second case on the mainland, while Hong Kong confirmed two as well.

Other swine flu cases have been confirmed in Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Austria, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.


The WHO has released a report warning that although a flu virus may be considered mild, it can change over time as it spreads around the globe.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The New Silver Solution - Safe to Use

Patented:

This is the only colloidal silver producer with a product so unique and effective that it was deemed a new product, and therefore approved for patent by the United States Patent Agency.
The New Silver Solution has the Only 2 Patent Approvals on a colloidal silver product in the last 80 years. The patent has also been filed internationally, as well as specifically in Japan.


To View The Patent Click Here


According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Poison Control Center, colloidal silver is considered harmless. Dr Samuel Etris, a senior consultant at The Silver Institute, reports that there has never been any allergic, toxic, or carcinogenic reactions to colloidal silver. The U.S. Government's Center for Disease Control confirmed that fact in 1995.

Even when it was tested at 200 times the normal adult dosage, the NEW Silver Solution® was found to be completely non-toxic - unlike many antibiotics and other silver products.

Testing


There are numerous independent universities and private laboratories that have been and are currently doing test work on the The New Silver Solution. Test work completed so far includes: antibiotic test comparisons; bacteria work; yeast work; safety and toxicity data; independent tests against other colloidal silver products; water treatment tests, etc.

New Data

We are constantly striving to gain new and important information on the effectiveness and uses of its product. We currently have four new studies and a double-blind clinical trial currently underway, with several more studies already in the planning stages. The new studies include: major disease studies at independent universities and laboratories, a double blind clinical trial on mouth sores, an EPA surface disinfectant study for our EPA surface disinfectant filing, and a new series of water disinfectant tests from an independent certified water purification laboratory. Dr. Bjorn Nordstrom, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, has used silver in his cancer cure method for many years. He says the whole thing is very simple. This brought rapid remission in patients given up by other doctors.

Humanitarian Aid


The New Silver Solution is the only colloidal silver approved by an international health consortium as an antibiotic alternative, for use in its hospitals and water treatment units in Africa, South America, and Asia.



Source:

Nutronix International

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Treat or Prevent?

It appears the Swine Flu is stubbornly pushing it's way into cities, towns and countries around the world as well as into the limelight of the media.

As of today, the cases in the US have risen to 20 and are scattered throughout the lower 48. It seems that some of those fallen to the virus have recently returned from Mexico where the virus seems to have sprung from while some have not.

It is said that this particular strain of flu originates from pigs, hence the name, and is typically transferred by pig to human contact. It is, however, capable of transferring from human to human contact where it allegedly mutates and becomes stronger, thus making it more difficult to both treat and fight off. Swine Flu is not believed to transfer to us by eating pork.

In the event we are struck by this virus, the medical community as well as big pharma are quick to tell us there are antiviral drugs available to treat us once we are sick.

My personal plan, not giving advice here, but rather sharing my best practices which haven't let me down for quite some time, is as follows. I prefer to prevent the onset of any flu, virus, bacteria or germ, rather than trying to treat it after it attacks me. A strong immune system will prevent disease, bacteria and virus from entering your body in the first place.

My personal arsenal for a strong immune system?
  • One Tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar with honey twice per day.
  • A Green Superfood once per day, usually with a home made smoothie.
  • One Tsp of Silver Solution once per day.
  • A whole food multiple vitamin, my choice is an Acai vitamin.
  • An Omega 3-6-9 supplement.
  • Fifteen minutes of direct sunlight every day.
  • A minimum of ten 8oz. glasses of water per day.

To your ideal health!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Antibiotic Threat

There was a time when the question, "When will infectious disease be wiped out?" was a realistic, seemingly achievable question.

Now the new realistic question seems to be, "When will the next deadly plague occur?"

We have read about and feared AIDS and MRSA. Super bug is now a part of our vocabulary as often as the "24 hour bug" was twenty years ago. We find E. coli and Salmonella in our produce and peanuts and who knows what else on an alarmingly regular basis. Old diseases like tuberculosis are "making a come back".

Many infections are able to withstand most, if not all antibiotics. We, however, continue to take antibiotics for the most minor ailments thus causing a plethoa of bacteria and viruses to develop immunity to the drugs that were ironically created to eradicate infections in the first place.

According to the NY Times, there is a "new" bacteria to add to the list. It is Clostridium difficile, an infectious bacterium that attacks as a stomach bug. It causes an estimated 350,000 cases per year in hospitals alone and kills an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people per year.

The disturbing problem with this bacteria is that antibiotics can actually trigger this bacteria to strike. Because antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria in the body, often times upon completion of an antibiotic our immune system is missing the healthy bacteria. If we come in contact with C. difficile, it can create an opportunity for this bacteria to flourish.

The article further states that in some cases the only treatment for C. difficile is to remove the patients colon, and relapses are not uncommon once a patient has recovered.

To read the article in it's entirety, please click here.

Stories like this continue to reinforce to me the importance of a healthy immune system, in addition to thinking twice about taking antibiotics as well as any other pharmaceutical drug unless absolutely necessary.

It also provides yet again incentive to explore the many choices available to us for alternative antibiotics and many other products that help us live healthy and naturally.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Tainted Vaccines - A Conspiracy?

This article is reprinted from Mercola.com
Were Tainted Vaccines a Conspiracy to Provoke a Pandemic?

Last month vaccine maker Baxter International sent a mix of flu vaccine and unlabelled H5N1 virus (the human form of bird flu) to an Austrian research company. Expecting the shipment to contain only flu vaccine, the Austrian company then sent portions of the contaminated product to the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany.

It was only when researchers at a Czech Republic laboratory injected ferrets with the vaccine, and they unexpectedly died, that the contamination mistake was discovered.

But is “mistake” really an accurate term to describe this?

If this batch of live bird flu and seasonal flu viruses had reached the public, it could have resulted in dire consequences. Even though H5N1 doesn’t easily infect people, the flu virus does. So if people were exposed to both of these viruses, they would have become hosts for the combined viruses, and would have become highly contagious and able to transmit the deadly bird flu virus to others.

There is actually a name for this mixing of viruses; it’s called “reassortment,” and even The Canadian Press has pointed out that it is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created.


Could the Contamination Have Been a Plot to Start a Deadly Pandemic?


A spokesman for Baxter said the virus material was supposed to contain a seasonal flu virus and was contaminated after “human error.”

Yet, other sources say Baxter International adheres to something called BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3). This strict set of laboratory safety protocols is in place to prevent the cross-contamination of materials, and according to some may have made it virtually impossible for the live bird flu virus to contaminate a flu vaccine by accident.

Czech newspapers are among those questioning whether this was a deliberate act to start a pandemic, and there’s even been talk of plans to use the vaccines to carry out a form of population control.

But then there’s the issue of motive. Would Baxter have had any reason to carry out such a malicious and deadly scheme?

Well, if a bird flu pandemic suddenly broke out, the demand for bird flu vaccines would certainly skyrocket … and the profits from such a mass vaccination program would be astronomical.


Does the Past Give us Any Clues?


You may be thinking that such a conspiracy is too far-fetched to be accurate. But it is worth mentioning that some scientists say the most recent global outbreak -- the 1977 Russian flu -- was started by a virus leaked from a laboratory.

Further, drug companies are certainly not best known for their sterling moral values.

In 2006, for instance, it came out that the drug company Bayer sold millions of dollars worth of an injectable blood-clotting medicine to Asian, Latin American, and some European countries in the mid-1980s, even though they knew it was tainted with the AIDS virus.

So while it is unthinkable that a drug company would knowingly contaminate flu vaccines with a deadly bird flu virus, it is certainly not impossible.


How to Prevent All Flu’s, Even the “Deadly Ones,” Without Vaccinations


Whether or not the conspiracy theory is true, this whole scenario brings up two very important points:


1. Vaccines can be contaminated with dangerous substances (even above and beyond their already dangerous components)
2. Vaccines are not the answer to protecting yourself from flu outbreaks of any kind


Remember back in 2005, when headlines warned that the U.S. was facing a cataclysmic extermination event, with a calculated 2 million Americans succumbing to the bird flu, and the best-case scenario taking only 200,000 lives?

The case of “the impending pandemic of the Avian Flu” might as well have been a fictional mini-series, as it never materialized. What was really going on was a scenario filled with greed and political corruption.

By igniting fear in the public and massaging some key statistics, the powers-that-be were able to justify the expense of a massive vaccine stockpile to ward off the bird flu.

At $100 per dose, the United States used taxpayers’ dollars to purchase some 20 million doses of the highly questionable Tamiflu, lining the pockets of then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who was president of Gilead Sciences when they created the drug.

But I digress. If you want to read more about all the lies and corruption surrounding the avian “super-flu” that never was, read my book The Great Bird Flu Hoax.

For now, my point is that there are always going to be threats of flu pandemics, real or created, and there will always be potentially toxic vaccines that are peddled as the solution.

But you can break free of that whole drug-solution trap by following some natural health principles.

I have not caught the flu in 20 years, and you can avoid it too, without getting vaccinated, by following these simple guidelines, which will keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you’re far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with.


Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels. Getting appropriate amounts of sunshine (or taking a vitamin D supplement when you can’t get healthy amounts of sun exposure) is one of my KEY preventive strategies against the cold and flu, as it has such a strengthening effect on your immune system.

Avoid Sugar and Eat Right for Your Nutritional Type. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.

Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu.

• Deal With Stress. We all face some stress everyday, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.

If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.

Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads.

Take a Good Source of Omega-3 Fats Like Krill Oil. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health.

Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands with plain soap and water will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. But don’t overdo it. Washing your hands too much can actually remove much of the protective layer on your skin and increase your changes of acquiring an infection.

Eat Garlic Regularly. Garlic works like a broad-spectrum antibiotic against bacteria, virus, and protozoa in the body. And unlike with antibiotics, no resistance can be built up so it is an absolutely safe product to use.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Antibiotic Overkill

After contracting the Mad Dog Itch and the resulting futile trips to various doctors who shook their heads and gave me a variety of ineffective prescription drugs, I made a commitment to take the correct vitamins and supplements, eat better, and make my body healthier to prevent illness from striking. In the event I got sick, however, I surmised would still go to the doctor and get an antibiotic. I have since thought otherwise. First let me say we are completely overwhelmed by antibiotics. We run for one at the first sign of a symptom. We demand one for every infection and every perceived infection, ear, throat, respiratory, tooth, cut, you name it. Then there are viruses, we want antibiotics for those too, but the reality is antibiotics do nothing for viruses. Now here's the scary part, many doctors will give you one, (just ask, you'll see) even when you have a virus....."just in case" they will say.

Allow me to share a little scenario on the vicious cycle of antibiotics. First of all, antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses. This statement in and of itself is vitally important due to the major overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Let's say you scurry to the doctor in panic mode because your throat is sore and you had strep throat two years ago and you certainly don't want to go through that again. The doctor sees no sign of infection, but gives you a "just in case" prescription of antibiotics and after a few days of taking them you feel better. The reality is you actually had a virus that came and went all by itself. The antibiotic you pumped in your body had to do something, so off to work it went eagerly killing good bacteria right and left. So now you are enjoying a yeast infection because good bacteria that naturally corrects the overproduction of yeast has met it's untimely demise from the antibiotic. While you are busy fighting that nasty yeast infection, you realize you feel bad, downright awful. Before you know it you have a cold that turns ugly and evolves into a sinus infection. Since your body was depleted from good bacteria, it's worn out and just doesn't have the fight it used to. Ironically this is the same fight a healthy body would have to kill off this infection. So of course off you go to the doctor to get yet another antibiotic and this time it has to be bigger and badder than the last one because the first one is no longer effective as your body is now immune to it. And so on and so on.

Do the drug companies care? Heck no, they are selling you multiple drugs and after all that's what they are in business for, to sell lots of drugs. The more the better for them. Does the doctor care? Perhaps, but if we were all healthy and didn't run to his office for every little bug, how long would he continue to have enough customers to sustain the nice, cushy lifestyle he has become accustomed to?

So what to do? If you are sick, really truly sick and there is a drug that will save your life, will you take this drug? Of course you will, I will too. However, to back up a few dozen steps, the ideal scenario is to prevent your body from becoming sick in the first place. Build your body into a fortress of ideal health that bacteria and viruses can not penetrate. Rid your body of toxins to build up your immune system. A strong immune system is your first line of defense to combat bacteria and viruses. In the event you need to fight a virus or infection, educate yourself and consider some natural treatments before resorting to drugs. Alternatives are out there.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

MRSA - Not Just In Hospitals Anymore

A Deadly Bug Invades Our Towns
By Dr. Ranit Mishori
Publication Date: 12/07/2008

A few years ago, I began noticing an unusual number of patients coming in with what they described as spider bites. In clinics and emergency rooms across the U.S., colleagues were seeing it, too: Young people and old, male and female, complaining about a skin sore not unlike a pimple, often red and swollen, sometimes oozing and painful. The only thing was, very few of these patients recalled being bitten by a spider or any other kind of insect.

That’s because, in most of these cases, it wasn’t an insect. But it was a bug—a bacterium called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known to most of us now as MRSA. These patient complaints were clear signs of what is now a MRSA epidemic.

According to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, MRSA caused more than 94,000 life-threatening infections and nearly 19,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2005. One study in The New England Journal of Medicine found MRSA 59% of the time when adults came to emergency rooms with skin infections.

MRSA is not new. It has been plaguing our hospitals for decades. It kills by infecting the blood and lungs of very sick patients or those recovering from surgery. But at least doctors knew—o r thought—that if you weren’t a hospital patient in weakened condition, MRSA wasn’t going to find you.

“That is no longer true,” says Dr. Robert Daum, a pediatrician and infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Chicago. “Hospital transmission is not what’s driving the epidemic disease we see everywhere.” New strains of MRSA have been born outside hospital walls and are finding anybody and everybody. That includes, says Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “otherwise healthy people in the community, including children.”

Consider Susan Wagoner, 49, a businesswoman from Scottsdale, Ariz. MRSA first appeared as a small abscess on her upper leg. Even though she was treated with antibiotics, the abscess grew larger, and then another one developed elsewhere. The pain became excruciating. As weeks turned into months, her illness forced Wagoner to quit her job, and she says, “I began looking into funeral arrangements.”

Grant Hill, the NBA all-star, contracted MRSA a few years ago as a skin infection near his ankle, and he had to spend a week in the intensive-care unit. “I was lucky to survive,” Hill says.

Not so lucky was an 18-month-old in Chicago named Simon Sparrow, in good health before MRSA got into his lungs. Once it took hold there, even the most aggressive treatment could not rescue the toddler.

These new strains of MRSA—not all as deadly as the one that afflicted Simon—are showing up all over the community: Read More

Thursday, January 8, 2009

MRSA In The News

Click here to view a CNN Video about the Superbug, MRSA

Once again MRSA (staphylococcus aureusis) is in the news. CNN tells us that MRSA could soon kill more people annually than AIDS. Currently MRSA affects over 100,000 people annually in the US alone.

MRSA, a strain of staph infection, is resistant to antibiotics, therefore earning the title of Superbug. MRSA is typically contracted in hospitals and is highly contagious.

To prevent the spread of MRSA, health care professionals recommend washing hands often and to eliminate sharing anything that can transfer bacteria to others, for example soda cans, water bottles, wash cloths etc.

An alternative choice, colloidal silver, is available and has been clinically proven to kill staph infections including MRSA. Following is a portion of an article about a study that proved colloidal silver's ability to eliminate MRSA:


March 31st, 2006 - Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, UT Noted Molecular Biologist and Microbiologist Dr. Ron Leavitt, Ph.D. has recently conducted tests to determine the ability of American Biotech Labs' nanoparticulate Silver Solution to destroy pathogenic microorganisms. His testing results against many of the world's most virulent pathogens were outstanding, including the scourge of institutional infections, staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureusis the bacteria that causes infections in millions of Americans annually, killing more than 100,000 every year. The nano-silver product killed this highly contagious bacteria in minutes. Dr. Leavitt's findings were so definitive that he stated, "There are no potentially pathogenic bacteria tested that this nano-particulate engineered Silver Solution has not killed."


To read the rest of this article, click here.

Silver Solution has been tested at 200 times the normal dosage rate and has not been found to be toxic even at this extreme dosage. This, combined with the bodies resistance to conventional antibiotics as well as the side effects experienced by some, makes colloidal silver a growing alternative choice to many people opting to live their lives more naturally.


Click here to read another article referencing studies on colloidal silver.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Antibiotic Alternatives

Antibiotic's and more specifically antibiotic alternatives are of particular interest to many of us. We keep hearing about MRSA and it's resistance to conventional antibiotics as well as all the stories about salmonella and E-coli food poisoning in the news lately. It is becoming clear that we need to establish new treatments, not just for the likes of MRSA and food contamination, but the more common everyday bacteria like ear infections, strep throat, UTI's and candida to name just a few. I found the article below on the FDA's website:


Facts About Antibiotic Resistance

Disease-causing microbes that have become resistant to drug therapy are an increasing public health problem. Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, and childhood ear infections are just a few of the diseases that have become hard to treat with antibiotic drugs.
Other facts:
Though food-producing animals are given antibiotic drugs for important therapeutic, disease prevention or production reasons, these drugs can cause microbes to become resistant to drugs used to treat human illness, ultimately making some human sicknesses harder to treat.
About 70 percent of bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used to treat infections.
Some organisms are resistant to all approved antibiotics and must be treated with experimental and potentially toxic drugs. Some research has shown that antibiotics are given to patients more often than guidelines set by federal and other health care organizations recommend. For example, patients sometimes ask their doctors for antibiotics for a cold, cough, or the flu, all of which are viral and don't respond to antibiotics. Also, patients who are prescribed antibiotics but don't take the full dosing regimen can contribute to resistance.
Unless antibiotic resistance problems are detected as they emerge, and actions are taken to contain them, the world could be faced with previously treatable diseases that have again become untreatable, as in the days before antibiotics were developed.

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/antiresist_facts.html

It's very nice the FDA recognizes we have a serious problem resulting from the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. What's unfortunate is that there are effective ways to treat infectious bacteria and even viruses (which antibiotics are powerless to treat) and the FDA won't approve these alternatives or allow those that offer them the ability to sell them unless they attach a disclaimer indicating the product is not approved by the FDA. This doesn't mean a product isn't effective, it just means the FDA doesn't have their stamp of approval on it, which could translate to the fact there isn't enough money to be made from these products and more specifically the products can't be called drugs and marketed as such. And if there isn't mega money to be made, well it just doesn't fit into the grand scheme of things.

It's unfortunate that in order to find an effective natural treatment for bacterial infections as well as plenty of other ailments, we are on our own to find good reputable resources. Alternative natural treatments don't have the over saturation of TV commercials, print ads and even Internet advertising that we constantly see for conventional drugs. That leaves those of us who are searching for alternative choices wading through all the thousands of products and information out there in order to make an educated decision.