Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Acetaminophen, also known as Paracetamol, is a commonly used drug in modern medicine, which has been considered ‘safe’ even for children in normal dosage. New studies are raising some questions about its safety and long-term ill-effects.

In the last 30 years there has been a dramatic rise in the incidence of childhood asthma and this has perplexed doctors, scientists and researchers alike.
This increase in incidence was noticed soon after doctors stopped using Aspirin (because it was causing Reye’s Syndrome in children) regularly and started using Acetaminophen instead.

An initial paper published in 1998 suggested the use of acetaminophen to be causing increased asthma in children. Over time, more than 20 studies have reached the same conclusion, with data of over 200,000 children being analysed.

In November 2011, Dr. John T. McBride, a pediatrician at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio, published a paper in the journal Pediatrics arguing that the evidence for a link between acetaminophen and asthma is now strong enough. He now explains how acetaminophen might provoke or worsen asthma. Researchers found that even a single dose of acetaminophen can reduce the body’s levels of glutathione, a peptide that helps repair oxidative damage that can drive inflammation in the airways. Acetaminophen causes increased bronchial constriction and wheezing.

This association linking acetaminophen with asthma is consistent across age, geography and culture. Studies also found an increased risk of asthma in children whose mothers who took acetaminophen during pregnancy. A big analysis in 2008 found that children who had taken acetaminophen for a fever during the first year of life had a 50 percent greater risk of developing asthma symptoms, compared with children who had not taken the drug. The risk rose with increasing use — children who had taken acetaminophen at least once a month had a threefold increase in the risk of asthma symptoms.

This leads us to question the use of this drug. Are parents unknowingly, in their haste to quell even mild fevers, pushing their children towards a chronic disease like asthma? Parents do it unknowingly. Doctors often do it despite knowing. Are pharma incentives worth turning a blind eye to the welfare of patients?

I hope this study and all the preceding ones will not be pooh-poohed by the Pharma companies who will come up with some other study (sponsored by themselves and hence baised) refuting these.

May knowledge and awareness prevail.

References:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/11/04/peds.2011-1106.abstract?rss=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/health/evidence-mounts-linking-acetaminophen-and-asthma.html

http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/127/2/604.full

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/13/acetaminophen.may.double.asthma.risk/index.html

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http://debbybruck.hubpages.com/hub/Fosamax-Drug-Effects-Causing-Severe-Femur-Fractures-Brittle-Bones

Ever since drugs to combat osteoporosis started being prescribed, I began to wonder whether they would not be interfering with the normal bone health regulation cycle. Healthy bone is, at all times, being built and remodelled; old bone cells being killed within the body. Osteoblasts are the bone building cells and osteoclasts are the cells that take away old cells, unhealthy cells and hence help to remodel bone tissue. As age progresses, the bone building activity reduces, hence the breakdown of bone cells takes on a predominant role.

Drugs for osteoporosis inhibit the activity of osteoclasts. Common sense then tells me that under the influence of these drugs, healthy bone remodelling will not occur as it should. Old bone cells, unhealthy bone cells will not get destroyed as they should. Could this even lead to an increase in bone cancers? If there is a major reduction in osteoclastic activity, bone might then get too dense and rigid, lacking the amount of elasticity that it needs; this can then make the bones hard and brittle, thus increasing the risk of fractures after even slight trauma.

Studies are now showing that the osteoporosis drugs ARE in fact, leading to more brittle bones and more fractures. The excessive calcium deposits are leading to eye problems, heart ailments and embolic stroke.

To read more details, please click on this link

http://debbybruck.hubpages.com/hub/Fosamax-Drug-Effects-Causing-Severe-Femur-Fractures-Brittle-Bones

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Last year, in November 13, 2010, the prestigious Journal of Rheumatology published an article with the following heading:

“Homeopathy has clinical benefits in rheumatoid arthritis patients that are attributable to the consultation process but not the homeopathic remedy”.

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/11/08/rheumatology.keq234.abstract

World famous Greek homeopath, George Vithoulkas responded with an answer to Rheumatology Journal but they refused to publish it.

The article was then sent to another peer review journal “HOMEOPATHY” and here is the answer for those who are interested in defending homeopathy and understanding the truth.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475491611000555

Now, the answer to Rheumatology Journal by Prof. Vithoulkas is available through the website of the International Academy of Classical Homeopathy.

http://www.vithoulkas.com/images/stories/Articles/letter_to_the_editor_homeopathy_rheumatology.pdf

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I had put up this fantastic article as one of my health resources and to my dismay I found that the original article has been removed from the internet. The author has been hounded and no wonder!

My tech-savvy husband showed me the website waybackmachine.org from which I could find a cached copy of the article.
So here it is, uploaded as a pdf.
Dr. Andrew Moulden’s Interview – What You Were Never Told About Vaccines _ vactruth

All parents need to read this and take informed decisions about vaccination.

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At a time when the whole world is concerned about the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the nuclear repercussions, this article and the comments that follow will be of interest to all.
Though the Japanese and American governments are downplaying the situation, possibly with the idea of not creating mass panic, it is always better to be prepared for any eventuality.

http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-papers/overview-of-reactor-problems-in-japan-homeopathic-remedies-and-nutrients-for-radiation-symptoms/

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Leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by the spirochaete Leptospira, which is transmitted to humans from the infected urine of rats. Once affected, a patient may develop high fever, chills, severe headache, muscle pains, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, jaundice, redness of eyes and rash. Complications include kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure and respiratory illness.

Cuba goes through a yearly cycle of Leptospirosis epidemic, especially after the hurricanes flood the countryside and water pollution reaches its height. Many people are left homeless, flooded out and under the stress of a disaster situation.

Cuba, being considered an outcast by the USA, has had to become self-reliant in terms of production of medicines, health care programmes, etc. This is advantageous because research is no longer hampered by the all-powerful lobby of pharmaceutical companies and hence, Cuba has been able to search for the most effective and inexpensive ways of dealing with widespread health problems.

Until 2007, the Finlay Institute distributed its own allopathic vaccine against leptospirosis; however, the yearly high incidence of the disease, almost to epidemic proportions continued.

In October-November 2007, three provinces of the eastern region of Cuba were affected by heavy rainfalls causing flooding of big areas and damage to sanitary and health systems. The risk of leptospirosis infection reached extremely high levels with about 2 million people exposed to potentially contaminated water. This time, not having enough vaccine stock to vaccinate all the at-risk population, the Finlay Institute prepared a homoeopathic remedy to be used as a preventive – leptospirosis nosode 200 CH, using 4 circulating strains. Coordination with the public health infrastructure allowed the administration of 2 doses of the nosode, at 9 days’ interval, to about 2.4 million people. About 92% of the total population from the at-risk areas were administered the doses. Another dose in the 10M potency was given after hurricane Ike hit the island. This programme cost US $200,000, much less than what the cost of the regular vaccine would have been which was around US $3,000,000.

Even after the allopathic vaccination, the usual expectancy of infection is several thousand, including some deaths. Careful research conducted showed that after the homeopathic prophylaxis the incidence of leptospirosis dropped to almost zero, just 10 cases were reported and no deaths occured even after three major hurricane hits. The rest of the country which had not received the homeopathic prophylaxis, showed the expected incidence of leptospirosis.

This application of homoeopathy in such a large population with such dramatic results and scientifically documented as it has been, is tremendously encouraging and shows how homoeopathy can be used effectively, cheaply and within an existing health care structure, if the administration really wants to achieve good health without any financial influence.

Sources and references:

http://www.homeopathyeurope.org/news-and-press/news/stunning-cuban-experiences-on-leptospirosis

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/197128.php

http://www.facultyofhomeopathy.org/media/press_releases/leptospirosis_infection_in_Cuban_population.html

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Homeopathy+prevents+Leptospira+epidemic.-a0231544963

Journal Spectrum of Homeopathy, No. 1, 2010. Narayana Publishers.




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Once again, someone respected in the field of science and research has come up with evidence that water could retain the memory of substances it has been in contact with – thereby confirming what homoeopaths have known all along.

French virologist Luc Montagnier, at an international conference recently, presented a new method for detecting viral infections that bore close parallels to the basic tenets of homeopathy.

This acceptance of homoeopaths’ claims comes at a time when homoeopathy is being maligned and opposed in the UK, mainly by groups with conflicting interests like pharmaceutical companies who perceive homoeopathy’s growing popularity as a threat.

For more details, visit
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/nobel-laureate-gives-homeopathy-a-boost/story-e6frg8y6-1225887772305

About Luc Montagnier
http://www.faqs.org/health/bios/61/Luc-Montagnier.html

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For the first time in the history of modern medicine, homeopathy has been invited to express its views in a World Neurology Conference.
Prof. George Vithoulkas was invited as an honorary guest to express Homeopathy’s views, in an opening speech at the “2nd World Congress on Controversies in Neurology (CONy)”
There is a ‘must-watch’ video on the site:
http://www.vithoulkas.com/content/view/1977/lang,en/

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