Cancer-fighting properties of Slippery Elm

While I was researching Slippery Elm Bark, I discovered that this is one of the ingredients in a tea known to be beneficial to cancer sufferers - a traditional north Indian herbal remedy. I have such a tea product in the Health Highway product range. In addition to the Slippery Elm, it contains Burdock, Sheep Sorrel and Chinese Rhubarb.

I decided to look up the story of Nurse Caisse, who is famous for her blend of cancer-healing tea using ingredients such as those above.

The story contains some startling and wonderful stories of healing. It is interesting that in response to the question of whether her tea formulation would heal cancer, she responded:
"If it does not cure cancer it will afford relief, if the patient has sufficient vitality remaining to enable him to respond to treatment". In treating her own mother, she said "giving my mother 18 years of life she would not have had without ESSIAC. It made up for the great deal of persecution I have endured at the hands of the medical world".

What a wonderful woman, and what a wonderful, healing product. I hadn't personally tried this product in my range, but with the results I am getting on Slippery Elm Bark powder, I might add the tea into my health regimen as a preventative measure.

I wonder how horrified and disappointed Rene Caisse would be to see the state of our world, that cancer is rife and the number one killer of children. This simple exchange in the story struck me:

About a year later I was visiting an aged retired doctor whom I knew well. We were walking slowly about his garden when he took his cane and lifted a weed.
"Nurse Caisse," he told me, "if people would use this weed there would be very little cancer in the world."

Imagine that - "very little cancer". I have many close friends and family members who have or are fighting cancer. My neighbour has attended two funerals this year of children under nine who have lost their fight with brain cancer. Is there anyone whose life has not been touched? I must re-read Phillip Day's book "Cancer: why we are still dying to know the truth".

As with so much of our health, answers lie in education. We need not be victims.

If you would like more information about the herbal tea, or if I can help you with any other health information, please contact me at the Health Highway.

Be well! Deidre.

Slippery Elm Bark

Trying a new natural therapy on myself and number one son - so far so good. It seems to have a broad range of applications. For myself, I liked the idea of overall healing - but particularly the soothing quality for the gut and intestinal tract. It is also supposed to be very supportive for the female hormones. My other interest was its healing properties for the teeth, Asthma and dry cough - I've mixed it with honey and spread it on Sao biscuits for the little one and he went to bed without a cough tonight, which was great! I am taking it in my morning shake - a big scoopful. It has a really pleasant taste too. Here are some of the sources I used:

http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/article/slippery_elm

http://www.healthline.com/natstandardcontent/slippery-elm

I browsed a range of other sites but they didn't provide much more information. I noted that it is a common ingredient in cancer healing - Essiac was mentioned. I must check the ingredients on the Essiac tea in my own range and see if it is in that. Perhaps another post on this matter later.

Stay well! Deidre.

Male infertility

I have blogged several times on the SBS documentary, "Men in Danger". I just discovered that this can be purchased online from Enhance TV http://www.enhancetv.com.au/shop/product.php?productid=107221&cat=316&page=4

The program indicates that male sperm production has dropped 50% in the last 50 years and that the factors are largely environmental. Another article I found today which is related to this topic is "Males of All Species Are Becoming More Female" on finding Dulcinea, Librarian of the Internet.

Stay well! Deidre.

Rural and remote infertility

I've been mulling over issues of conception, pre-conception care and pregnancy care recently, looking at my very bouncing baby son and thinking how different the whole experience has been this time around.

When he was conceived, we were living in a major regional centre - where we had also received our years of infertility treatment which led to the conception of our first child. I started to wonder: how do women in remote and rural areas access infertility treatment? How do they manage the months of injections, the critical timing of sperm collection, treatment and use. Could the complimentary methods I have tried be of more use to them? Less invasive? Easier to manage themselves?

This is an issue I will be looking into further!

Morning sickness

Some of my last few posts were on the topic of morning sickness - something I unfortunately suffered quite badly.  A good friend recently went to a public lecture by renowned health researcher and activist Phillip Day.  Apparently he commented that morning sickness was often related to dehydration.

I was interested to hear that.  I have been struggling with hydration in these first few months of breastfeeding.  A checkup with my naturopath 4 weeks after my son was born showed I was suffering dehydration quite badly.  I have been trying to drink a lot more filtered water since then and am becoming much more aware of my hydration levels.  By that I mean I am better at reading the signs and symptoms of dehydration.  Better at listening to my body.

I have noticed that when I increase my water intake, the baby is much more satisfied with his feeds.  A great reason to stay motivated to drink and drink and drink!  I have also felt less hungry, and I notice I get a slight headache if I do not drink while he is feeding.  

I recently bought a nice SIGG water bottle which holds just under half a litre.  If I drink one for every feed at 3 hourly feeds its keeping my fluid intake at a good level.

Maybe if you are suffering morning sickness, try drinking more water and see if it helps!  My naturopath suggested adding a tiny pinch of celtic sea salt to the water to help its absorption at a cellular level.  Glad I have the Sigg bottle though because I remember hearing somewhere that salt increases the absorption of aluminium and the glass lining on the Sigg bottle will prevent this. 

New post, new baby

Well, its been a while since I posted to my blog - how time flies!  I have had a bit of a break to have a baby (a very healthy bouncing baby boy) who is thriving.  He is now 3 months old.  There is nothing like the joy of a new baby and we are grateful and thankful for his health and beautiful nature.

7 years ago I was told I had a less than 2% chance of conceiving a child naturally and years of infertility treatment eventually resulted in our first beautiful boy.  It was after his birth that I met a wonderful lady called Chris who introduced me to many of the issues about chemical exposure and related health issues.  At first I was shocked into action -for the sake of our only child who was so precious to us and had cost so much in every way to bring into the world.

We never expected that the changes we brought into our house to reduce our exposure to potentially harmful chemicals would lead to a spontaneous pregnancy and give us a second child in our 40's.  Both of our children are precious gifts and it is a joy to continue to care for them and for ourselves by finding safer alternatives to protect our health.

There is so much to post on infertility, on our general health and chemical exposure.  I hope there are lots of families out there on similar journeys but perhaps I can inspire you by telling some of our story too.

If I can help you with any information, in any way, please contact me at the Health Highway.

More on Aspartame

Back on the Aspartame bandwagon today - a new study was brought to my attention which links Aspartame consumption with both Dermatitis and Migraine. The study by Jacob and Stechschulte explains that "upon ingestion, aspartame is broken, converted, and oxidized into formaldehyde in various tissues". Of the patients studied, avoidance of Aspartame was the clear solution for alleviating their problems with both migraines and dermatitis. Problems reappeared when the patients went back to using products containing Aspartame.

I've blogged previously on the concerns of Aspartame. Its amazing how often it appears in our food supply - if you want to avoid it, you need to check those labels!

I recently blogged about my morning sickness and my decision to change supplements. It was interesting that the Vitamin B supplement I chose comes in a fizzy tablet and a regular tablet. The fizzy tablet carries warnings on the packet about containing Aspartame and Phenylenaline. So even a simple supplement needs to be checked! (Needless to say, I chose the straight tablet without the Aspartame).