2013 Will Be The "Worst" Year For The US [In My Adult Life]

[WiseOne]

I admit I've been laughing up my sleeve at the headache "subthread"....  have any of you thought about seeking out a headache specialist?  After analgesic rebound and simple tension headache, the next obvious culprit is occipital neuralgia, which is very common especially among people on this forum with our terrible computer posture.  Find the spots on the back of your head where the occipital nerves emerge.  If massaging them helps your headache, that's it.  Then go invest in some Vick's Vaporub, the "duct tape of medicine".

It's true, though, that medicine is focused on treating the really big bad guys, and not so much life's minor annoyances.  Which kind of makes sense.  If you have a dent on the front of your dishwasher, you won't go out and buy a new one just to save yourself the annoyance, or spend millions on research on how to prevent dishwasher door dents.  Also keep in mind that under our medical system, doctors are paid to document, write scripts, and do procedures, not to think through a problem.  The salary of an imaginary physician who doesn't do procedures and who spends at least 15-20 minutes with each patient would be limited to maybe $80,000/year - not much of a payback for all the education and work it takes to qualify for that job. That does patients a terrible disservice, but at this point it's almost an unfixable problem.  And in my more pessimistic moments, I think that the goal of CMS/ACA/etc is to "dumb down" medical care even further.

[Gumby]

Well, this is quite the book.  I can't take medicine or eat/drink caffeine , MSG, sharp cheese, citrus fruit, nuts of ANY kind, yogurt, onions, lunch meats, pepperoni, sausages, freshly baked goods, and dozens of other foods.

I have issues with many of those foods.  I wonder if your liver detoxification is subpar.  Have you tried taking liver detox boosting bioagents, such as NAC or Siliphos?  Done any liver flushes?

Also, have you had your toxic element load tested?  You could be high in lead, mecurry, flouride or manganese which act as neurotoxins.

I'm curious as to what chronic use of Excederin does to someone over the long term. (My wife uses Excederin about 2 or 3 times a week when she feels a slight headache coming on).

My limited understanding is that Acetaminophen pretty much shuts down the liver's ability to clear toxins/hormones (by stopping the production of glutathione?). So, with every dose of Acetaminophen the liver becomes weaker and weaker, and the headaches are more and more likely to return — since the liver can't clear the toxins from the body, which tends to cause headaches, which causes people to reach for Excederin, etc., etc. A vicious cycle ensues.

Is that accurate?

I could be completely wrong about that, but that's what I've been able to piece together. You often hear that NAC (and liver flushes and liver support) are often used to improve a weakened liver.

And if this is all true (and maybe it isn't), it's sort of a crime that Western Doctors don't do more to help us keep our livers healthy.

[edsanville]

I admit I've been laughing up my sleeve at the headache "subthread"....  have any of you thought about seeking out a headache specialist?  After analgesic rebound and simple tension headache, the next obvious culprit is occipital neuralgia, which is very common especially among people on this forum with our terrible computer posture.  Find the spots on the back of your head where the occipital nerves emerge.  If massaging them helps your headache, that's it.  Then go invest in some Vick's Vaporub, the "duct tape of medicine".

I'm glad my last ten years of constant head pain is causing some amusement for somebody out there .

Yes, I've tried dealing with posture and I've tried all kinds of different massages.  Sometimes it seems like they help a tiny bit, but never substantially.  The book I'm following right now claims that there really is no such thing as a "tension headache,"  or a "sinus headache," and that all headaches (with the exception of some cluster headaches) arise from the same migraine reaction.  The reaction occurs when a person's total triggers exceed their migraine threshold.  Some people have lower thresholds, because of genetics, or some other reason.  If this diet works, I guess I'm just one of the "lucky" ones. 

I know my washing machine is just dented, but I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.  Chronic health problems can substantially lower your quality of life for long periods of time.

[edsanville]

Well, this is quite the book.  I can't take medicine or eat/drink caffeine , MSG, sharp cheese, citrus fruit, nuts of ANY kind, yogurt, onions, lunch meats, pepperoni, sausages, freshly baked goods, and dozens of other foods.

I have issues with many of those foods.  I wonder if your liver detoxification is subpar.  Have you tried taking liver detox boosting bioagents, such as NAC or Siliphos?  Done any liver flushes?

Also, have you had your toxic element load tested?  You could be high in lead, mecurry, flouride or manganese which act as neurotoxins.

I've had a few blood tests done, but I don't know if they specifically looked at those elements.  The blood tests always came up normal. 

I'm afraid to ask, but how does one do a "liver flush?" 

The kryptonite chemicals, according to the 1-2-3 book are caffeine, MSG, and tyramine.  Caffeine seems relatively easy to avoid, but there is a LOT of hidden MSG out there, and tyramine is naturally found in lots of things like cheese and nuts.

[Gumby]

have any of you thought about seeking out a headache specialist?

For what it's worth, the author of the book he's reading is a headache specialist. This is his short bio...

Dr. David Buchholz, an Associate Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins, has a private practice in Baltimore, Maryland. The former head of the Division of General Neurology at Johns Hopkins and Director of the Neurological Consultation Clinic, he has published more than 150 papers and delivered more than 450 lectures, nearly all on the subject of headaches.

However, not everyone agrees with his opinions. For instance...

http://www.thedailyheadache.com/2007/11 ... -heal.html
(oddly the woman who writes the blog is wearing my crazy glasses)

Anyway, it seems that a ton of people have had success with the headache elimination diet, but clearly there are some people it won't help. Either way, it's nice to see resources for people looking for the underlying cause of their pain — rather than just treating the symptom.

[Reub]

Gumby, are you a member of a crazy glasses cult?

Be honest.

[Gumby]

Gumby, are you a member of a crazy glasses cult?

Be honest.

Only after 9pm

[MachineGhost]

I've had a few blood tests done, but I don't know if they specifically looked at those elements.  The blood tests always came up normal. 

A blood test isn't the best way to detect a chronic toxic element load, only acute, so I'm assuming no.  See if you can find the thread where I discussed and posted my toxic element results.  Search for "uranium" in Other discussions.

I'm afraid to ask, but how does one do a "liver flush?"

The fundamental premise is that you ingest a large quantity of oil all at once to induce a huge increase in bile production which will help flush out all of the bile duct highways in the liver.  If you have stones in your gall bladder (or ducts), the increased bile may help clear them out but not necessarily all on the first go.  Here's a simple recipe to take on empty stomach in morning: 1 cup of some kind of organic acid juice (apple is good, but lemon, grapefruit, orange could work as well), 1 cup of distilled water, 1/3c to 1/2c olive oil (light is probably best, but I use EVOO) and if you can tolerate it (it is toe curling to drink and you will also stink for a whole day), up to 5 cloves of fresh garlic cloves (to help kill any infections that may be lurking in the liver).  Blend in a blender for about two minutes and drink it down as fast as possible, then go lay down on your right side for about 20 minutes.  After that, 2 cups of some heavy herbal tea (peppermint is good) or something similar to help move the remaining oil out of the stomach.

Just writing this makes me want to go do one again.  It's pretty fruity tasting with EVOO and apple juice.  Yum!

[Storm]

I've had a few blood tests done, but I don't know if they specifically looked at those elements.  The blood tests always came up normal. 

A blood test isn't the best way to detect a chronic toxic element load, only acute, so I'm assuming no.  See if you can find the thread where I discussed and posted my toxic element results.  Search for "uranium" in Other discussions.

I'm afraid to ask, but how does one do a "liver flush?"

The fundamental premise is that you ingest a large quantity of oil all at once to induce a huge increase in bile production which will help flush out all of the bile duct highways in the liver.  If you have stones in your gall bladder (or ducts), the increased bile may help clear them out but not necessarily all on the first go.  Here's a simple recipe to take on empty stomach in morning: 1 cup of some kind of organic acid juice (apple is good, but lemon, grapefruit, orange could work as well), 1 cup of distilled water, 1/3c to 1/2c olive oil (light is probably best, but I use EVOO) and if you can tolerate it (it is toe curling to drink and you will also stink for a whole day), up to 5 cloves of fresh garlic cloves (to help kill any infections that may be lurking in the liver).  Blend in a blender for about two minutes and drink it down as fast as possible, then go lay down on your right side for about 20 minutes.  After that, 2 cups of some heavy herbal tea (peppermint is good) or something similar to help move the remaining oil out of the stomach.

Just writing this makes me want to go do one again.  It's pretty fruity tasting with EVOO and apple juice.  Yum!

Sorry, but that sounds a little extreme to me.  You can get a much safer result by just drinking a couple tablespoons of lemon juice mixed with 1 tablespoon of EVOO every morning before breakfast.