Category Archives: Health

More than just drugs and/or surgery. There are supplements, therapies, and a whole lot of healing going on – here are some of Aunty’s choices.

Hand Sanitizer recipe and virus update

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Aunty’s Seattle based daughter sent an easy hand sanitizer recipe that she and her chemist PhD pal (Marcy Kang) made.

8 ounces (1 cup) of 91% Isopropyl Alcohol

2 ounces of distilled water

10 drops of your favorite essential oil

Mix in a bowl, pour into 2 oz. spray bottles and label them. (makes 4 bottles)

Easy!  Right?  Well, with this coronavirus craze going on, finding isopropyl alcohol was very difficult because most stores were sold out.  The only place I could find it was at the Pillbox Pharmacy in Kaimuki.  It was much more expensive there and I also ended up buying a pint of their awesome Oregon strawberry ice cream but both, imo, were well worth it.  You could use the more normal 60% isopropyl alcohol but it won’t evaporate as quickly.

How did it turn out?  Quite nice, with a strong alcohol after smell, which is rather comforting in this day of coronavirus paranoia.

Speaking of which

Dr. Edwin Endo sent an email about this virus and what to do.

Here is the text:

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – A simple but good to know guide on Coronavirus

1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold

2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.

3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees (82-85*F). It hates the Sun.

4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.

5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours – so if you come into contact with any metal surface – wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.

6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.

7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.

8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but – a lot can happen during that time – you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.

9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.

10. Can’t emphasize enough – drink plenty of water!

THE SYMPTOMS

1. It will first infect the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days 2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.

3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.

4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you’re drowning. It’s imperative you then seek immediate attention.

Overkill and hype

It is better to be overly cautious but keeping our hands off of our face and clean are the 2 best ways to stop this virus from invading us.  In this day and age of internet news and reports, we sometimes have too much information and this can spread fear and survival behavior out of perspective.

Financially, it is killing the stock market and will affect Hawaii as a tourist destination, which will hurt us for a while.  We can’t do much about that but we won’t run out of toilet paper and water.

A year from now we will look back and breathe a sigh of relief.  For now, please keep on washing hands and don’t panic.

Like an Ohmmmmmmmm, for your lungs

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Aunty is not a doctor of medicine so this is not medical advice.  Aunty must say that as a disclaimer, and also because Aunty sometimes tries weird (and wonderful) stuff.

Decades ago, in my twenties,  I attended a workshop on iridology (the study of the eyes) from the renown Dr. Bernard Jensen.  He stressed diet (you are what you eat), herbs and healthy lifestyles, attitudes and choices.

He did not like the choices of the traditional medical doctors which were dominated with 2 therapies – drugs and surgery.  He, and Dr. Richard Schulz (HerbDoc.com) were constantly criticized for their radical and risky therapies of nutrition, cleansing and herbal remedies.  Their retort was to ask: what is more radical and risky:   a) cutting or interchanging parts out of the body and/or bombarding the body with chemicals that have the ability to blast through and destroy cells and systems; or b) clean out and flush toxins from the colon and other body parts and then use natural plants and herbs to aid in the healing process?

Choices

Aunty feels that the main difference in modern vs alternative (sometimes referred to as pseudoscientific) medicine is that modern medicine treats the symptoms and the subsequent side effects and natural alternative medicine treats the causes.  To be a believer in alternative medicine, one must also believe that the body is capable of healing itself.

This is not to say that Aunty does not believe in modern medicine at all.  Because of the dedication, research, and the leaps and bounds of medical discoveries, modern medicine helps and is sometimes the reason we live long and well.  It’s also faster – take a pill and your headache goes away, put a stent in your arteries and your blood flows again, get a pace maker and your heart beats the way it should.

It is also the standard of choice for most people, and an easy way out.  Going the all natural route of diet or cleansing, changing one’s lifestyle and actually exercising and revamping attitudes takes a lot of effort, and it goes against the mainstream way of life, subjecting the ones who do the “radical” naturopathic route to ridicule and condemnation sometimes, “Oh yeah, so-and-so didn’t believe in going to a regular doctor, did only natural stuff and he died.”  A question to ask then is, has anyone ever died due to the intervention of modern medicine?  Drug overdose, mistakes and misdiagnosis, surgical errors, etc.?

It doesn’t hurt

So, in a roundabout way, Aunty comes back to the “Ohmmmmmmmmm” of this subject, for this “self healing of lungs” is neither naturopathic or modern medicine.  It’s other realm kind of stuff from Master Sha.  Whether or not you believe him to be a healer or not, this leap of faith into a different kind of exercise may make you a believer in your self, and your body’s power to heal.

Basically, it is: Sitting up straight, contracting the perinium (down there, ahem), placing a hand over the lower chakra (just below the belly button) and the other hand over the lungs, imagining golden light while chanting “Compassion”.  It sounds weird but very do-able.  Aunty’s doctors will probably not think much of it, but if it works for even one person, the weirdness is worth it.  Greater lung capacity and removing blockages is a good thing, right?

This Normal Aunty still goes to the doctor and sometimes (but not always) takes his advice.  Naturopathic Aunty takes nutritional supplements and herbal formulas for elimination (tmo, lol).  Weird Aunty is always looking at other methods for cures and maintenance of good health and wellness, because Aunty believes there is so much more that we do not yet understand until we search or take notice of what is revealed.

And thus, I share, for truly, I wish you good health, great lungs, and a long and prosperous happy life.

Your normally weird Aunty

 

 

What to do for a cold

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Aunty rarely gets sick.  It could be because she reaches for Congaplex by Standard Process Labs at the first hint of a sore throat, sniffles, or being around others who are sick.

However, this time, with no Congaplex in sight, this cold that started as a slight sore throat became a cough with a fatigued body.  Yuck!

*Update alert!  Ever hear of the hydrogen peroxide trick?  3 drops in your ear, for 10 minutes.  It cackles and crunches in the ear.  Then, remove with a qtip.  Supposedly works 80% of the time to kick out beginning colds and flu!

So Aunty is staying home (couldn’t testify about Monster Houses today, boohoo) and away from air conditioning and drinking lots of warm liquids.  Here is what Aunty is doing, and feeling better.

Oil of Oregano

Oil of Oregano was recommended by Jini of ListentoYourGut.com.  This stuff can burn the lips, so it is important to do as instructed – load up dropperful, tilt back head, insert into open mouth and squirt in.  Close mouth and swallow.  Let this sit in the throat.  It WILL be hot but manageable.  Then, drink water.  Oil of Oregano absolutely kills any bacterial infection and works very well for flu/strep throat and sinus issues.

Stop Eating

There was a saying, “Feed a cold, starve a fever” but Aunty believes in not eating when sick.  Perhaps a little bit of rice and chicken noodle soup.  A bit of crackers.  Nothing greasy or sugary.  By doing this, the digestive system of your body gets a break and you also stay out of the kitchen and stop spreading germs.

Drinking liquids

Years ago, Dr. Bernard Jensen (renown iridologist) taught us about a drink for fasting or while sick.

Maple syrup, 1-2 TSP

Fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste

Dash of cayenne pepper

Hot water

This is actually very delicious and has enough calories to give you energy.   Aunty made a big bottle of it and took it to class yesterday.

Vicks Vapor Rub and Air Detox

Peppermint and eucalyptus oils have such wonderful smell, and Aunty rubbed Vicks Vapor Rub on her chest and sprayed a paper towel with Dr. Schulze’s Air Detox.  This paper towel is very handy to breathe through as well as use to wipe off common areas of exposure such as door knobs and handles.

Tapping

Something new that Aunty tried, with skepticism is “tapping“.  Here is a video explaining the process of boosting your immune system (so you get well).  It was quite revealing to Aunty – and by golly, it works!  Take a number reading, from 1-10 of how bad you are feeling before, then after.

Load up on vitamins and good stuff

We all know that vitamin C is good for colds, so drink a lot of orange juice or take supplements.  B12 patches also help to give you energy and help you heal faster.  Green tea, clothing that keeps you warm but not hot, socks, and

REST!

Take it easy.  Allow your body to heal itself by not doing what you don’t have to do.  Pamper yourself and you will soon be well.

SLEEP….

This is probably one of the most important tips when sick.  When we sleep at night, the body’s immune system kicks in and the healing begins.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to sleep when battling a cold that keeps us up at night and makes us so terribly uncomfortable.  Aunty would toss and turn and watch the clock.  Finally after a couple of nights of poor sleep, she went out and picked lemon balm leaves that grows like a weed, poured hot water over the leaves, and drank the tea before bedtime.  It really helped to calm and aid in a good night’s sleep, and then the real healing began.

Not sure about taking sleep aids such as sleeping pills or cough syrup with codeine.  To each their own and now Aunty will take better care of her lemon balm bush that she would whack at to get rid of.

Aunty’s Quite Wonderful Broken Bones

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ToshiSee this cute little doggie?  His name is Toshi.  He is our daughter’s 7 year old Sheltie, and he is dangerous for old ladies who try to keep up with his running while walking on uneven Kaimuki streets.  That is how Aunty tripped, flew forward, and broke 2 bones in her left forearm recently.

As Aunty struggled up, holding her dirty misshaped wrist and battling shock, Toshi was not concerned and of no help.  This dog is far removed from the hero dog that he looks like – Lassie – the problem solving smart dog we all grew up admiring on our black and white TV screens in the “old days.”

Since no one was home, Aunty drove, one handedly to Kahala Urgent Care just before they closed for the night.  The entire staff was sooo nice and efficient, washing and wrapping Aunty’s many wounds, taking an Xray, being seen by a real doctor, putting the entire elbow, forearm and wrist in a splint, and sending Aunty home with discharge info and instructions to see an orthopedic doctor asap the next day.

Not choosing the emergency room

Why didn’t Aunty go to Queen’s emergency instead and have it possibly taken care of in one visit?  Aunty heard that after 6:00 pm, the ER staff is made up of the rookie doctors, because Queen’s is a training hospital.  No rookie (deceivingly known as “resident doctors”) for Aunty.  Also, their triage admission process is agonizingly long and requires sitting, waiting, moving, sitting, waiting, on and on.

Kahala Urgent Care was close by, uncrowded, and they did a great job of stabilizing Aunty’s arm.  It was also SO reasonable in price, HOW do they make money?

Dr. Atkinson and Thelma

thelmaAunty called the first name on the list that Kahala Urgent Care recommended, Dr. Robert Atkinson at Hale Pawa’a Building on Beretania Street, (808) 536-2261.  Thelma answered the phone.  Thelma!  A really nice young woman with an old fashioned name.  We hit it off and Aunty went in that day to see Dr. Atkinson.  Surgery was scheduled for the next day in the same building, on the 6th floor.

The 6th floor was top notch, clean, excellent nursing and operating staff, bright and modern, with a state-of-the-art operating room.  Aunty’s surgery went well, and a good friend took Aunty home to recover with a partial splint and a bandaged arm.  A follow up appointment for a hard cast was scheduled in a week.

Tammy and the Beautiful Cast

tammyAunty’s hand was still swollen and her wounds were still raw and open at her followup appointment so with a gentle suggestion from Aunty’s newest pal Thelma, Dr. Atkinson directed Aunty to see Tammy of the Hawaii Hand & Rehabilitation Services located in an adjacent office on the same floor (so convenient that the Xray room, rehab, casting, and doctor are all on the 7th floor!)

Tammy is a pretty Okinawan looking young woman who really knows her stuff.  See her picture with Aunty?  She followed Aunty’s coaching about angling her body, bending her elbow, and pulling back her face from her ears the way that Jalna shared in her photo shoot tips.  She looks good, yeah?

What impressed Aunty the most was how she “made” Aunty’s HOT pink gorgeous cast out of a flat sheet of plastic, expertly fitting, shaping, cutting, forming and adjusting – into a work of art that Aunty is SO happy to wear!  It is hard, super light weight, easily removable (Aunty was worried that she would get itchy in a regular hard cast), and comfortable.

Tammy went through a worksheet of hand exercises to speed along recovery and mobility.

Aunty is ready to hit the town

Aunty is going stir crazy at home as well as watching the weeds in her garden laugh and grow. Aunty’s wounds are almost healed with the application of Anti-Infection that kills ALL bacteria on contact but can cause screeching pain at first.  Aunty has also been on her BEMER machine (a future post) and using its infrared light attachment directly over the largest wound.

These therapies and the excellent care that the above fine professionals have provided, along with the help and food from friends and family have made this latest journey of a broken arm quite wonderful.

Aunty has cancelled some of her previously scheduled commitments, is taking it easy, and has a really good reason for not working at projects that have been put off anyway.

Life is good, even with a broken arm.

 

 

 

4-7-8 Breathing exercise for life, and magnets

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breathingAunty first heard about this 4-7-8 breathing exercise from Kay of Musings.  This supposedly helps you fall asleep, and so Aunty, on the few occasions when it was hard to fall asleep at night, would breathe in, hold, and exhale continuously, and find herself becoming light headed – but still wide awake.

Then, a link in one of Dr. Mercola‘s articles was to Dr. Andrew Weil’s instructional video on only doing 4 breath cycles at a time, once or twice a day, and NOT as many as one is able to do.  This cycle of 4 originated in India and has health benefits of anxiety relief, lowering blood pressure (one of Aunty’s new health concerns), and can give one a refreshing boost as well as ease of falling asleep.

Here’s Dr. Andrew Weil explaining how to do this exercise:

Actually, Aunty did put her digital blood pressure cuff on while doing this breathing exercise and it DID result in a nicer lower blood pressure reading!

Aunty will be starting this practice daily. Sometimes while sitting on the toilet in the morning since nothing else is going on at that time.  *It seems like Kay of Musings and Aunty are on the same info plane because just yesterday, Kay posted about blowing while constipated.  What a coincidence, and SO worth a try!

Another practice (unrelated to toilet habits) that Aunty believes in is magnet therapy.  Kay has trigger finger and Aunty suggested she use magnets to help heal the area around her joints.  Sometimes Aunty grabs a business card magnet – those freebie things that come in the mail or are attached to phone books when they are first delivered – and lays it on the area of pain.  For Aunty, this is usually her neck and/or shoulders.  Perhaps it is her imagination, but it almost feels like the pain is lifted away.

In any case, these are 2 free methods of wellness that Aunty wanted to share with you today.  If anyone wants Aunty’s 4-7-8 breathing magnet as well as 3 other of her magnets, please email Aunty (aunty@hawaii.rr.com) with your U.S mailing address and Aunty will gladly mail out a set of her 4 magnets.  You can use these magnets as reminders on your refrigerator or file cabinet, or for temporary magnet therapy.

Wishing you peace, happiness, and wellness!

magnets

5 morning stretches – so easy, and they work!

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exercisesOne of the better health newsletters that Aunty subscribes to is Live in the Now.  The articles that arrive in my inbox are daily, and quite interesting.  The sales copy of its Stop Aging Now product line which correspond to health issues are compelling.  The “deals” are enticing.  More times than not, Aunty takes the bait and orders from them.

The latest is a topical skin treatment with vitamin C that sounds very promising for Aunty’s aging skin.  Another is a product called Synergy7 – a detox formula that helps the liver function at optimal levels, which Aunty figures she needs since she is still a poor eater – choosing food for its taste rather than benefits.  So, most likely, Aunty’s liver is in need of a detox and boost.  Perhaps her “liver spots” that are in her genetic blueprint (great grandmother’s face was like a map of liver spots) will be conquered.  [Note:  the Cambodian BeBe cream is still keeping Aunty’s dark spots at bay, with occasional Nerium night cream treatments.  Mai’s Beauty Salon will be bringing the cream in for sale now!]

The latest email had a link to “5 Stretches Everyone Should Do Every Morning.”   3 of them can be done while lying on the bed, and very easy to do – lower trunk rotation, hamstring stretch, and bridging.  One of them is done while sitting, and also very easy to do – upper trapezius stretch that feels GREAT for the neck and shoulders.  The last one is done while sitting or standing – an upward reach up and to the side, holding for a few seconds while breathing in slowly, and exhaling slowly, then moving to the other side.

Aunty printed these out to follow until they can be done as an automatic thing to do in the morning upon waking up or at other times during the day while sitting at the computer.

Being a senior citizen has so many benefits, except for the loss of a youthful body and health.  As we age, we need more help and awareness of doing what is good for us, and not doing what is bad.

My wish is that we can all be well, wealthy, and happy.  Be well, dear friends and family.  Wealth and happiness to you, too.

Looking forward to 2017

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snoopy-happy-new-yearLani Kwon, a life coach that Aunty had the pleasure of listening to, sent Aunty an email with a link to an insightful article, entitled “Let go or be dragged into 2017”.

Based on numerology, the numbers 2, 0, 1, 6 add up to 9 – which is a very fiery, emotional, intense number that also signifies the end of cycles with sudden shocks, dramatic endings, and tying up loose ends. Which will lead us into 2017.

These numbers 2, 0, 1, 7 add up to 1 – which is beginning again. Time to re-energize, clean up, move forwards. The article mentioned the Mari Kondo way of tidying (post coming, for sure in 2017!) which Aunty has been in the process of doing, and it has been transforming the living spaces in our home.

Aunty really is looking forward to 2017. It will be a good time for us all, and so, HAPPY NEW YEAR my friends, family and readers!

Whatcha doing?

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2013-04-03_20-26-12Nick Polizzi is the Director at The Sacred Science team.  Aunty forgets how she found them, but it began with watching a documentary that they did in the jungles of Peru, taking 8 very ill people to a healing camp.  No running water, no electricity, bugs and critters, strange rituals, and primitive smashed root and bark meals prepared by people that did not speak their language, at all.  One of the rituals was the smoking of ayahuasca, that Aunty’s numba one, ichiban shiatsu masseuse Dick, of Hikari Shiatsu used to talk about.

Aunty was blown away after watching the hour long documentary.  It was honest, human, and what modern medicine would call miraculous, but in Peru, in the depths of the jungle, was commonplace.

Aunty now has a copy of The Sacred Science (you like borrow?) and also subscribed to Nick’s emails.  He is kinda intense, but in a good way.  Most of the time, Aunty skims through and then files away, but today’s email was special, and worth a shout-out.

He shared advice that a shaman friend gave him, “Don’t let the illusions of your past or future rob you of the infiniteness of your present.”  He also shared a Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa, an Indian poet and playwright from 16 centuries ago:

Look to this day,
for it is life, the very breath of life.
In its brief course lie
all the realities of your existence;
the bliss of growth,
the glory of action,
the splendor of beauty.
For yesterday is only a dream,
and tomorrow is but a vision.
But today, well lived,
makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow
a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.

Isn’t that pretty awesome?  What will you do with your today?

 

Eat to starve cancer and obesity

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foodlistWhen Aunty was young, which seems eons ago, hardly anyone had cancer.  Now, it seems commonplace, heart breakingly commonplace, and too often – harsh and fatal.  We live in a different time, with different environmental factors as well as different lifestyles, and we need to take charge of our choices before it is too late.

This TED Ed talk by Dr. William Li of the Angiogenesis Foundation explains why and how we can eat common foods to beat cancer and obesity before it becomes symptomatic or a problem.  Please take 20 minutes to view and absorb this valuable lesson.  Meanwhile, please drink green tea, eat broccoli sprouts, tomatoes, garlic, red grapes, strawberries, and other yummy great foods.