Uggghh.  Aunty has recently had bouts with vertigo.  I try to “ride” it out – the way you ride a rollercoaster and try to just go with the flow of the ride rather than jump off.  I know it will stop soon, and then I can relax.

The wonder of our bodies is that it gives us signals when something is not right.  I usually don’t go to the doctor, but this made me go get a checkup.  Dr. Lana Arakaki (great new doctor) did a simple test in the room, and yup, I had BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) on one side.  The good news is that it is treatable with exercise (the exercise that makes it happen will help it go away) and she gave me little pills that help with motion sickness.

I always have had anemia, and thought that was the problem.  However, my blood sugar and cholesterol levels are now quite high.  I also have horrible calcium levels of an old lady with osteoporosis.  Very strange – could it be my poor eating and exercise habits as well as my near addiction to chocolates, cheetos, and coca cola are wearing on my poor body?  Boohoo.  It is time to pay attention.

One of the BEST suggestions was to get massages to reduce the stress in my body.  I went to Dick Murakami of Hikari Massage on King Street.  955-5125.  OMG, he is absolutely the best shiatsu masseuse I have ever had.  I plan on returning, and making massage a part of my life not only for the benefits, but for the sheer and wonderful pleasure of it.  Heaven on the floor.

My TaiChi sensei sent me info from Master Hong.  According to Master Hong , vertigo is due to lack of oxygen to the brain. One should check sugar level.  Kidney and Liver – imbalance.  Kidney- on the physical level –affects bone marrow–bone–oxygen to the bain. Liver -is in excess (migranes) deficiency – dizziness.  Recommended exercise : Liver, Gallbladder and Kidney Healing Qigong exercises.  I shall be looking into these.

I will now dig out my Nikken machine that whirls water into a tornado and oxygenates water.  I used to drink that all the time, but stopped for a few years.  There may be a lot of truth in my body and brain needing oxygen.  The oxygenated water makes me fart for the first week or so, and then it gets used to it.  Good stuff.

Dietary changes, exercise, oxygen, and massage.  It’s about time I started doing what is good for me, not just what I like to do.  For this, too, shall pass.  Thank you body, for the wake up call.

[after about a week, I feel back to normal with just slight episodes of vertigo when I turn a certain way on the bed or get up from the bed or chair.  It feels great to be near normal again.  It is like being given a second chance to do what needs to be done.]

Here is my daily regime.  I still have my coffee with cream (a little less cream now) and my bowl Honey Bunches of Oats cereal for breakfast like I have for the last 20 years.  I now eat fruit if it is on the table that Uncle cuts.  With my breakfast, I take one tablet of Super Food 100 from the American Botanical Company.  This provides me with the good green nutrients that I lack because of my lack of vegetables in my diet, as well as vitamins.  Very natural stuff.

I need to do more exercise, so I shall, though I am taking a little break from TaiChi right now until I feel 100% stable.  TaiChi and Master Hong’s Body Pyramid exercises are my kind of speed, since I am not a aerobics kind of person (though it would be good if I were).

Midday, I take one tablet of Protect, again from the American Botanical Company.  Protect is for people like me who do not eat the proper diet, and don’t exercise as much as they should.  It is cheating in a way, but it suits the situation for now.  We also give the dogs some of it sprinkled on their food every day.  I have noticed that they seem to be younger – more spring in their step, more alertness, less sluggishness.

In the afternoon, I take another Super Food tablet (if I remember).  I also try to eat healthier – less fatty stuff, cut down on my Coca Cola addiction, eat more vegetables, limit my candy eating.  I am not doing it cold turkey, but just cutting back and improving my habits a little.  Maybe a little more next time if my physical exam does not show enough improvement.

I also go out and water my grass and garden more – good to get away from the computer and workroom and gets some sunshine and fresh air.  A daily walk shall become part of my life soon.

At dinner, I take a capsule of Intestinal Correctional #1, again from the American Botanical Company. This is one of the absolute best thing I have found that has probably kept me healthy for all these years of poor eating, pooping and exercise habits.  I have adjusted the daily dose down to one capsule – and I am good to go every morning.  You know what I mean when I say “go”.  I go to the toilet.  Good stuff.

I still have to figure out what to do for my very low calcium levels (-3.9) which is osteoporosis.  I shall start to drink black tea from Master Hong to lower my cholesterol. [I have also discovered Strontium, recommended by Aunty’s professor of nutrition friends.]

Update:  Aunty’s vertigo has gone away.  Massages every three weeks have made Aunty feel pampered and spoiled.  I do believe the vertigo was brought on by a slight cold and a stressed out body.  My routine massages are the solution, and I am sticking to that story with pleasure!

Anti Infection formula is a small little bottle of tincture that will send you screaming in pain upon initial contact, and then make you glad to be alive.  My kids hate and love the stuff.  The baby in the family is an aggressive soccer player.  In the middle of the high school season, she did a slide tackle to remove the ball from a player.  In the process she scraped the entire side of her right thigh and knee.  At first it looked like a scratched up mass of leg with some deep cuts in the knee.  I treated her knee cuts with Anti Infection (she screamed) and let her use the trainer’s standard treatment of ointment and light bandages.  After the first day, her knee wounds began to scab and heal.  The entire outside of her thigh was bleeding and beginning to pus.  After a week of the standard treatment not working, she was ready for the real stuff.

I must give her a lot of credit.  She was already in intense pain.  The entire skinned area was oozing pus, and she had to scrape the ointment and pus off before I would apply the Anti Infection.  I put the tincture in a small spray bottle, and sprayed the entire area.  The poor baby screamed and cried.  Anti Infection stings like crazy if the wound is infected.  If it is clean and not infected, it does not hurt at all.

Within an hour, you could see a difference.  The bleeding stopped, there wasn’t any pus, and slowly the scabbing commenced.  I would spray more on during the next few days and it was really amazing to see how quickly her scraped up leg healed.  Her deeper knee wounds which were originally treated with Anti-I had already healed within the first week.

I have used this formula every single time I get a cut or wound.  Works every time, the wounds never get infected, and the healing is complete in a very short period of time.

This is important.  Really really important.

Aunty could have been the poster child for constipation, but it was so normal not to go, I didn’t know I was constipated!  Imagine never having the inconvenience of going to the bathroom while on trips, camping, in school or out in public.  I thought it was terrific and didn’t even give it a thought as to where all that waste in my body disappeared after each meal.  I don’t know what woke me up, but I did wake up.  I needed to poop, and I needed to poop every day.

Intestinal Correctional Formulae #1! to the rescue.  I don’t leave home without it.  I am as regular as an alarm clock.  Just a bit of caution with this stuff.  It has cayenne in it, so the first few times you use it, you have “hot shit” as BF Patricia would say.

Here’s my edited email from good and wise professor friend, Dr. Alan Titchenal when I asked him about my very low bone density, and what my options were since I didn’t want to take Fosomax:
As always, it was great to see everyone again, catch up a bit, and cover lot’s of territory on what’s interesting us or bugging us.  I guess we are getting older, because the topic got into health challenges a bit.  To follow up on our conversation about bone loss, osteoporosis, and treatment/prevention alternatives, below are a few articles on bone health that include information about the strontium drug (used in Europe) and supplements (sold in the U.S.).   Here are a few articles:  by Dr. Alan Titchenal and his lovely wife Dr. Joannie Dobbs, both highly qualified Professors of Nutrition at the University of Hawaii Manoa.  They write weekly articles on health and nutrition for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

European Strontium Drug Spurs Supplement Sales in U.S.
Living a long and healthy life requires keeping the body in good condition, including the skeleton. After age 50 the risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures increases greatly.

European drug helps bone loss
Living a long life greatly increases a person’s risk of experiencing the pains of excessive bone loss.

Healthy bones are important for senior citizens
ONE OF THE GREATEST health challenges for those who live a long life is to maintain healthy, strong bones.

Supplement helps bones grow stronger
Age greatly increases a person’s chance of experiencing the pain of excessive bone loss.

If you decide to try this option, bear in mind that some of the products on the market did not have the labeled amounts in their product (mentioned in the second article).  A widely available product that did test out well is called “Doctor’s Best Strontium Bone Maker.”

Here’s a link to one of many sources of this product on the Web:
http://www.vitacost.com/Doctors-Best-Strontium-Bone-Maker

Reasons why we should all eat natto. So what if it is stinky and slippery. Read the part about preventing senility.

Our #1 killer has now been hunted down and stopped by Dr. David Williams.

Dr. David Williams has scoured the planet and returned with solutions to virtually every common health problem.

High cholesterol does not cause heart attacks or strokes, and lowering your cholesterol will not give you an ounce of protection from either one.

Until now, if you had a heart attack or stroke, and if you were fortunate enough to make it to a hospital within a few minutes, the emergency room staff could often help. They could immediately inject you with a very expensive clot-busting super-drug to temporarily alleviate the blockage and hopefully limit the damage. But at $20,000 per catheterized I.V. dose, this miracle drug isn’t in every hospital…and you won’t know whether yours has it until it’s too late. Dr. Hiroyuki Sumi of Japan and his team of researchers recently made a ground-breaking discovery:

They found that a 100 gram dose of a traditional Japanese food called “natto” exhibits the same clot-busting activity as a $20,000 therapeutic dose of that super-drug. But while the drug is effective for only 4 to 20 minutes, the enzyme in natto maintains its activity for 4 to 8 hours.

They have discovered the world’s only natural clot buster. And that, my friend, makes natto, The Discovery of the Century.

Heart attacks and strokes are caused by blood clots. Plaque plays a huge role, but the most current research shows that plaque leads to blood clots, which are the real heart stoppers.

Here’s what happens.

Despite having the same name, the plaque in your arteries is not at all like the crust your dental hygienist scrapes off your teeth. Arterial plaque is made up of oxidized LDL and other fats that glob together and penetrate the inner lining of your artery wall.

New research also indicates that plaque doesn’t actually coat the artery wall, it resides inside the wall. As it grows it can eventually rupture, causing a blood clot. If the clot floats downstream and blocks the flow of blood to your heart you have a myocardial infarction, aka a heart attack. If it hits your brain, you have a stroke. Natto stops both cold.

Plaque is a toxic mixture of fats that festers and grows beneath a thin layer of cells. As it grows it gradually impedes blood flow. When it becomes inflamed it ruptures, causing a blood clot. When a clot gets lodged in a vessel in your heart or your brain, it blocks the blood flow and causes a heart attack or stroke.

Natto increases circulation even through restricted arteries, breaks up clots, and keeps this from happening.

The Japanese Secret for Heart Disease

So, why haven’t you heard of natto? Because a simple, inexpensive, unpalatable Japanese remedy has no chance of breaking through the medical establishment’s iron curtain.

For years, the pharmaceutical companies have been getting millions of people hooked on ineffective and downright dangerous blood thinners and cholesterol-lowering drugs– and getting millions of doctors hooked on the profits and perks that come from prescribing these drugs.

What would they get for prescribing natto? Nothing but a lot less business from a lot healthier patients.

Historically, the Japanese have had dramatically less heart disease and greater longevity. These statistics have been used to illustrate the benefits of eating more fish. But this recent research on natto shows
what is probably an even greater factor in Japanese longevity.

The potent enzyme in natto prevents clots from forming. Not only major clots caused by ruptured plaque, but the thousands of tiny clots and blood-sludge that are the result of a natural, age-related decrease in your body’s production of clot-busting enzymes.

But what’s even more astonishing, it not only prevents future clots, it dissolves existing clots–safely, naturally, and effectively. Dr. Sumi’s research has given us the “magic bullet” clot buster we’ve all been praying for.

I hope you’re beginning to see the staggering implications of this.

Never before have you been able to boost your circulation so safely and naturally, restoring it to the healthy pace of an 18-year-old’s. Now, rather than waiting for an emergency infusion of a clot-busting super-drug, a very inexpensive daily amount of natto will keep you out of the emergency room in the first place.

Plus, it will help protect you from a host of other problems related to impaired circulation, including macular degeneration, senility, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and others too numerous to name here.

Circulation is the single biggest factor in determining your lifelong health or early demise, and natto is your #1 best method for keeping your blood flowing as strong as the Nile until the day you die of something other than any circulatory disease.

Googled it –

Medical benefits

It is often said in Japan that natto is good for one’s health, and these claims can be backed by medical research. One example is Pyrazine contained within natto. Pyrazine is a compound which, in addition to giving natto its distinct smell, reduces the likelihood of blood clotting. It also contains aserine protease type enzyme called nattokinase which may also reduce blood clotting both by direct fibrinolysis of clots, and inhibition of the plasma protein plasminogen activator inhibitor 1. This may help to avoid thrombosis, as for example in heart attacks, pulmonary embolism, or strokes. An extract from natto containing nattokinase is available as a dietary supplement. Studies have shown that oral administration of nattokinase in enteric capsules leads to a mild enhancement of fibrinolytic activity in rats and dogs. It is therefore plausible to hypothesize that nattokinase might reduce blood clots in humans, although clinical trials have not been conducted. Another study suggests the FAS in natto is the substance which initiates fibrinolysis of clots, which accelerates the activity of not only nattokinase but urokinase.

Natto also contains large amounts of Vitamin K, which is involved in the formation of calcium-binding groups in proteins, assisting the formation of bone, and preventing osteoporosis. Vitamin K1 is found naturally in seaweed, liver and some vegetables, while vitamin K2 is found in fermented food products such as cheese and miso. Natto has very large amounts of vitamin K2, approximately 870 micrograms per 100 grams of natto.

According to a study fermented soybeans, such as natto, contains Vitamin PQQ, which is very important for the skin. PQQ existing in human tissues is derived mainly from diet.

According to the recent studies, polyamine suppresses excessive immune reactions, and natto contains a much larger amount of it than any other food.Dietary supplements containing the substances extracted from natto such as polyamine, nattokinase, FAS and vitamin K2 are available.

Natto also contains many chemicals alleged to prevent cancer, as for example daidzein, genistein, isoflavone, phytoestrogen, and the chemical elementselenium. However, most of these chemicals can also be found in other soy bean products, and their effect on cancer prevention is uncertain at best. Recent studies show natto may have a cholesterol-lowering effect.

Natto is also said to have an antibiotic effect, and its use as medicine against dysentery was researched by the Imperial Japanese Navy before World War II.

Natto is claimed to prevent obesity, possibly due to a low calorie content of approximately 90 calories per 7-8 grams of protein in an average serving. Unverified claims include improved digestion, reduced effects of aging, and the reversal of hair loss in men due to its phytoestrogen content, which can lower testosterone that can cause baldness. These conjectured physiological effects of eating natto are based on biochemically active contents of natto, and have not been confirmed by human study.

Natto is also sometimes used as an ingredient of pet food, and it is claimed that this improves the health of the pets.

Nattokinese is denatured natto in capsule form. Natto is fermented soy beans – a Japanese food that looks and acts like goo that would rival swallowing a goldfish in do or dare challenges. My sister had a clot in her neck that was causing a 75% blockage. She was on cholesterol medication and under a doctor’s care. She decided to try Nattokinese and in less than a month, her blockage was down to 25%!

A bonus side effect of this was the elimination of her arthritic pain.

She told a few friends about Nattokinese and how it helped with her arthritic pain. They, too, can now attest that it has relieved their pain!

I take Nattokinese when I have a headache. I can’t really say if it helps, but I am better soon after. Healthy Habits, LLC has it on sale almost all the time.

Modern medicine is a wonderful thing.  Drugs and surgery can do wonders.

Natural healing techniques can also do wonders – usually slower, but sometimes faster, better and without side effects.

What upsets me is when people shun natural healing and call it quackery by telling me a story about somebody’s brother’s cousin’s wife’s grandmother who died because she didn’t go to the doctor and instead treated herself with natural stuff, so all that natural mumbo jumbo doesn’t work.  I then calmly ask them how many people they have heard of that have died under a regular physican’s care or on the surgery table, and they didn’t do any mumbo jumbo.  One man’s cure is another man’s poison, and vice versa.

I do love my ob/gyn, Melanie Lau in the Queen’s Physican Building.  Smart, funny, excellent surgeon and practitioner, Farrington grad.  She saved me from my terribly heavy menstrual periods with a well performed hysterectomy (or hysterical as my girlfriend Patricia calls it.)  I love my regular check up doctor, though I don’t go as often as recommended. Okay, too much information, but I do love and appreciate Dr. Lau’s advice, care, and expertise.

One thing I don’t like are drugs.  Prescription drugs can be a blessing on one hand, and a curse on the other with the side effects that need other drugs to counter.  Some people really do need to take prescription drugs.  I am just very glad I am not one of them.  Grand Master Hong Li has been known to help people with severe diseases through exercise, diet, and changes in their lifestyle.  He says to continue the drugs and treatments prescribed by a medical doctor.  His theories work in conjunction with them.

I use herbal preparations from Dr. Richard Schulze’s Original Clinical Formulae.  All of Dr. Schulze’s tonics, tinctures and products are made from the real stuff.  Herbs planted and harvested without toxins, prepared the way it is supposed to be prepared, and they work for me like nothing else I’ve tried.  They don’t taste good – healing herbs usually don’t.  One product that Dr. Schulze is missing from his product line is hair restoration, lol.

Go to Digestion and Elimination page and Cuts and Wounds page for those specific problems.

Good friend Starley Barley sent me this video on the importance of good eating for good health.  Super important, always knew it, but to be like a hunter/gatherer will take Aunty major baby steps and shifts away from take out and convenience.  In return, Aunty (and Uncle!) will be stronger, smarter, healthier.  Here’s a video on Dr. Wahls:

Another fine company that I do business with is Healthy Habits, LLC out of Arizona.  They do not have the same kind of professional website like Dr. Schulze’s.  Their products are not herbal and natural but I can attest to the fact that their products are great and they do work (the ones that I have tried, that is.)

Natto is one of those foods that you either love or hate.  The thing of it is, it is powerful good stuff when it comes to good health – Clot buster – Nattokinese.

Nikken products are very good.  Friend Clare used to bring me gallons of “magic water” – filtered water with mineral traces processed through an oxygenating machine (makes you burp and fart until the body adjusts to it) and I do believe it made me feel better after the initial burp and fart stage.  I love their Kenko Therm wraps – made for the ankle, knee, elbow, and wrist.  It helps heal with gentle pressure – it feels like someone with warm hands is holding your joints.  I often wear a Kenko Therm knee wrap on each knee when I am stuck on a long plane ride or seminar.

I also use magnet therapy on aches and pains.  I used to buy those little round magnets on little round bandaids in Japan and stick them over the sore places on my body.  It felt like the pain was drawn out.  Since I don’t go to Japan anymore (and it was expensive), I now use any kind of cheap little magnets, stick a piece of dermicel tape on it and tape it on various parts of my body.  As the pain or muscle knot diminishes, I move the magnet to a different spot.  Warning – don’t keep it on for more than 24 hours as your skin might start to burn.  Also, keep magnets away from computers.  [Side bar note:  before turning in your room key card to the hotel, swipe the back with a magnet.  This will erase your credit card, name, and address information from the card.]

Thanks to neighbor Louise for this super duper tip to body flushing.  You know that the naturopathic  healers ALL stress how important it is to cleanse your bowels and it is very true.

However, this isn’t all that natural because it involves 7-Up, so I am not filing this under “Natural Health”.

I didn’t get the exact formula, but I think you can make up proportions to taste.  She rolled her eyes when she said it works, so it must really have worked for her mom.

Prune juice (sweetened will go down better) and 7-Up, heated up slightly, but not too much.

That’s it!  Probably acts like Drano in the intestines.  I would let you know how it works on me but I’ll have to wait until I am constipated.  If you try it, let me know how it works.  Validation on this therapy would help.

Update:  TaiChi friend Helen gave me an even easier flush recipe:  3 prunes eaten with Sprite.  Makes her go within the hour. [side note: I’ve found the best prunes are from Trader Joe’s. Not too dried up, not too wet, but just right.]

With such great information and formulas, it almost makes me wish I was constipated to test it out, lol.