#the only other group of people that claim to have chronic Lyme disease are the self diagnosing doctor hating people on tik tok that will

[puthyflapps]

Crazy how Lyme disease seems to only affect the folk listed on famousbirthdays.com

[biomedgrid]

Biomed Grid | Miraculous Healing and Long-Term Medical Remission of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) – the role of Divinity within the Future of Medicine

Introduction

The ancient philosophers and theologians have been debating the existence of the Soul since time immemorial. University students studying academic philosophy become well versed in the various historical arguments for the “Proof” of God and/or the “Proof” of the Soul.

And while it may seem heretical to even discuss the idea of a “Soul” within the context of a medical peer reviewed journal, with the study of past life regressions and their suggested potential impact on present medical conditions, I would assert that this previously philosophical/theological inquiry has now fallen within the prevue of science [1] .

Furthermore, with the recent inclusion of consciousness-based modalities as a covered benefit into our health care system, such as meditation, yoga, Tai Chi and Reiki, we are now approaching the junction point where science and spirituality must meet and reckon with each other. Since the infamous split of mind and body by Rene Descartes, this moment of reckoning has been gathering momentum, heralded by the paradigm shift to mind/body medicine we are now witnessing. But I believe that this is only the first step of reconciling the truth of how our universe is constructed and understanding the nature and design of our place (as human beings) within the Whole.

Many consciousness-based modalities, such as yoga, meditation, tai chi and energy medicine all aim to correct an imbalance that exists as the root cause of a given patient’s disease state. The fundamentals of Ayur-Veda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) attempt to restore proper balance to a physiology struggling with a world filled with environmental toxins, non-nutritious food, impure water and the sensory overload typical of the new millennia. But at their deepest healing level, these traditional medical systems claim to reconnect the patient with their Divine Self, with their God, by teaching consciousness-based, self-improvement techniques which allow the patient to transcend beyond the human construction of their intellect, mind and emotions. This is, as I understand it, the ultimate goal of both yoga and meditation – to provide true a priori knowledge of the Divine Self and its primacy in the universe. This is the fundamental experience which is the “aha moment” and lays the foundation for lasting self-correction and/or even miraculous healing to occur.

World history has recorded the seeming miraculous healings ascribed to many different saints and healers but while “miraculous healings” or spontaneous medical remissions of various disease states have been scientifically reported previously, the exact mechanism, which allow for these seeming miracles or medical remissions is poorly understood. By contrast, I have recently published in multiple peer-reviewed and indexed medical journals a series of case studies, which have included the “miraculous healings” of Sarcoidosis, Chronic Lyme Disease, Fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s disease, Severe Chronic Debilitating Plantar Arthritis and Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma without the use of pharmaceuticals or antibiotics and where the mechanism of action used to initiate the “miraculous healing” appears to have a cause and effect relationship and thus is reproducible [2-5].

This case report now adds Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (case study #7) to the previous six case studies, which I have observed and now report to be successfully treated by a process, which Master John Douglas, an Australian energy healer, refers to as “Angelic Reformation.” These case reports are representative of the many hundreds of case studies I have documented (although most yet unpublished) over a ten-year period, while observing the work of Master John Douglas and the graduates of his Elite Development course. While certainly inspiring, admittedly all of these observations must ultimately be subjected to additional rigorous scientific methodology. Yet, the sheer number of miraculous healings I have observed and the fact that this body of knowledge can be taught to others who obtain similarly effective results is very promising, given our current confusion regarding the exact mechanisms of action and/or causation of autoimmune diseases, dementias and many other chronic disease states.

While not a conspiracy theorist by nature, I cannot help but notice the existing bias in our research paradigms and research funding, which seems to ignore the many telltale signs that many idiopathic and autoimmune diseases are probably caused by an underlying unknown infectious etiology. One cannot help but notice the resemblance of this mindset to the pre-existing bias before the recent scientific discoveries that many cancers and duodenal ulcers have an infectious etiology as their root-cause.

My own recent publications, which assert this same hypothesis, are derived from my observations of Master John Douglas, and his ability to clairvoyantly identify the infectious root causes of many “idiopathic” diseases. Recently many university-based scientists have asserted this same infectious hypothesis underlying chronic diseases, based on extensive evidence gained in the nonclinical basic science laboratories, which lay the foundations of our current pathophysiological model [6].

The publication of this case study on SLE is yet another addition to the evidence base that an underlying infectious etiology is the probable root cause of many of our idiopathic and autoimmune diseases.

Case Study #7 (CS #7)

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

CS #7 is a 40-year-old white female who first met Master John Douglas, a well-known Australian energy healer, in 2007 at a public seminar in Ojai, California while she was in “good health”. By 2009 her “good health” status had changed, and she was diagnosed with very early stage Systemic Lupus Erythematosus based on her lab work and constellation of classic clinical signs and symptoms.

She reports that her medical doctor said, “her disease process was incurable; the same physician introduced her to a support group of other Lupus patients, so she would be reality based about her future.” Dismayed by the attitude of this physician, she never returned for follow-up. She has no significant past medical, social or family history. She was not using recreational drugs, alcohol or taking any pharmaceuticals at the time of her diagnosis.

She describes her 2009 symptoms as, “severe pain inside my bones as if my bones were frozen. The pain was a constant 9/10 daily. I had a very low energy level and a constant undiagnosed flu-like syndrome with generalized muscle aches.” Formerly a professional dancer, she now required a hot bath first thing in the morning just to be able to move at all. Dancing was out of the question.

Attempting to find an alternative cure, she tried hyperbaric oxygen chambers, intravenous oxygen infusion, acupuncture and homeopathy. None of these modalities stopped her disease progression or offered her permanent relief.

Her symptoms continued to become progressively worse until 2010, when she again saw Master John Douglas for a personal healing session in Santa Barbara. As soon as she saw him, she reports that, “I had a complete shift in my well- being overall; I knew I would be cured.” By the time she left the session, she “experienced a 100% improvement in her symptoms.”

However, Master John Douglas warned her that, “her disease would not be fully healed until he could work on a deeper level.” This turned out to be true, as she experienced a slow relapse to about 20% - 30% of her former symptoms in the timeframe between seeing him again at future seminars. She did, however, attempt to go to every seminar he gave within the state of California, which amounted to seeing him 6 - 8 times annually. During this early phase of her recovery, she also reports using tourmaline detoxification foot patches daily, taking detoxification Epsom salt and sea salt baths 3-4 times weekly and using micronutrient mineral supplementation, all at the suggestion of Master John Douglas to help her body detoxify.

Her more permanent and complete miraculous healing occurred when Master John Douglas released a new audio guidedmeditation process called “Soul Repair”. Once Master John Douglas, as he reports, “was literally able to effect a healing at the Soul level,” and she was able to listen to the audio CD “Soul Repair” daily, her recovery became 100% stable, without any recurrence of symptoms. She, to this day, is still able to resume all of her former activities, even dancing.

Discussion

As I have recently reported elsewhere [2-5], Master John Douglas uses his clairvoyant senses to identify the infectious etiology and root cause of many idiopathic diseases. Although the infectious agents for these idiopathic diseases have not been discovered or reported in the scientific literature, he claims “to be able to directly visualize the existence of hundreds of unknown infectious agents through his enhanced (clairvoyant) senses, no different than we observe ordinary phenomena in the material world, such as the leaves on trees.”

The credibility of this assertion is supported by the fact that annually, open to the public, he teaches hundreds of students to replicate his findings at a seminar called the Elite Development Course. To date, over 500 people have been trained to detect these hidden infectious agents by a method called “scanning”, which enables the observer, phenomenologically, on the level of consciousness, to measure the unique electromagnetic wave signal emanating from each unique infectious agent, analogous to the way each element of the periodic table has a corresponding unique molecular weight.

Granted, most of these infectious agents have yet to be identified by virologists, microbiologists, parasitologists or any conventional medical apparatus. And while the inability to verify the existence of these infectious agents apart from consensus among Elite Course graduates is disruptive to our conventional medical paradigm, is this claim all that different from saying that prior to an electron microscope, many minute infectious agents were not seen with an ordinary light microscope or that the essential elements of quantum physics which were mathematically deduced could not be proven without the technological advancement which allowed for the building a linear particle accelerator? While admittedly this technology is consciousness-based and does not exist as an external device currently, philosophically I believe that there is no barrier to replicating these findings using an external device as technology advances.

Historically there was a time in the not too distant past where the idea of an infectious agent as the root cause of cancer would have been heretical. Yet now we know that in the developing world nearly 20% of all cancers are really secondary manifestations of disease due to earlier antecedent infections, such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human papillomavirus infection [7].

Similar to my other previously reported case studies of “autoimmune” diseases, I believe that (SLE) always has an underlying infectious etiology. The human physiology is simply too well designed and engineered to attack itself erroneously, without provocation.

Master John Douglas asserts that, “Lupus is caused by a mold, coupled with a coexistent symbiotic bacteria, which then eats the mold and the duo together deposit their toxins in any organ, such as kidney, liver or spleen. Killing the mold results in a cure.”

Yet in the early phase of her healing before the development of the Soul Repair audio CD, while her symptoms and quality of life definitely improved, a complete and stable miraculous healing was not achieved. This fact gives us, I believe, a glimpse into the deeper laws of nature that govern true miraculous healing – the laws of karma, which I believe are multi-dimensional, and that interact with more subtle energetic levels of creation which transcend our earthly physical body.

If this paradigm of multi-dimensional healing is true, then this case report adds further evidence to the already reported case studies involving past life regressions and the idea that both our physical and subtle energy bodies have an almost infinite complexity and are connected by inter-dimensional portals to other time/space continuums where residual pathology can reside, which must be dealt with for “true healing” to occur. Given this paradigm of inter-dimensional pathology and healing , it is interesting to note that until Master John Douglas was able to eradicate the mold/ bacteria on that most fundamental quantum energy level, which he termed “the level of the Soul”, complete miraculous healing was not achieved.

Study Limitations

Admittedly, this case report has many limitations. While a licensed medical doctor, who was confident in her diagnosis, established the original diagnosis, there are no corresponding lab tests, videos or even a second opinion to corroborate the diagnosis.

Even the role of the placebo effect must be considered as a variable triggering the self-reported transformation, which was subjectively experienced in the presence of Master John Douglas.

I also realize that as “scanning” is a consciousness-based technique, not common to the public at large, and only mastered by graduates of the Elite Development Course as taught by Master John Douglas, this limits the population of “experts” capable of confirming or refuting the accuracy of this report to under 500 current graduates. So it is entirely reasonable to question a “miraculous cure” that rests entirely on the resolution of symptoms as reported by the patient, except for the fact that 500 people are independently capable of measuring the presence of the frequency of an infectious agent and/or cancer cell signals which is killed by conscious intention and then observe that the resolution of symptoms is closely correlated in time with the disappearance of that infectious agent’s electromagnetic signal (as measured by the process of “scanning”).

Conclusion

Notwithstanding the obvious limitations of the study as listed above, I still believe that the sheer number of seeming “miraculous healings” which I have witnessed over a ten year period and the fact that this ability can be taught and reproduced by many licensed health professionals forces us to consider the possibility that an infectious cause and effect relationship exists as the underlying mechanism of the “miraculous healings” which have been reported. Furthermore, given the published evidence of other research scientists at major medical institutions, it calls into question why additional funding is not being focused on this hypothesis.

It seems prudent, therefore, for all non-pharmaceutical and non-surgical options such as the technology described herein to be further investigated, whenever the credible probability of their improved therapeutic benefit is known. Our goal as physicians is always to use the treatment option with the best therapeutic ratio, and thus minimize any iatrogenic component to our delivery of care. And while I realize that we are a long way off from having a solid scientific foundation to recommend the technology described herein, not to further investigate the reality of these observations in a more rigorous setting would be a mistake in my opinion [8].

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge Master John Douglas for his tireless work ethic and his passion to save humanity from the unseen dangers, which threaten life on this planet and to the real people in our anonymous case studies who were willing to share their intimate medical experiences for the benefit of science.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that no competing interests exist and that he has no financial gain from his relationship with Master John Douglas or the Elite Development course. While some peer reviewers have objected that a possible financial bias exists from even naming Master John Douglas or the existence of the Elite Development Course, in the interests of scientific transparency I do not see how this is any different from naming a proprietary pharmaceutical and dosage which is thought to have a positive effect for the amelioration of a given disease state. In both cases, proprietary issues notwithstanding, the roadmap, which was undertaken by the patient to achieve improvement must be transparent to the reader.

Read More About this Article: https://biomedgrid.com/fulltext/volume3/miraculous-healing-and-long-term-medical-remission-of-systemic-lupus-erythematosus.000639.php

For more about: Journals on Biomedical Science :Biomed Grid

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/should-crowdfunding-companies-restrict-campaigns-for-dubious-medical-treatments-shots/

Should Crowdfunding Companies Restrict Campaigns For Dubious Medical Treatments? : Shots

For deep-water divers who decompress too quickly, doctors may advise that they lie inside a pressurized glass tube and inhale pure oxygen to treat painful symptoms known as “the bends.” The oxygen boost is thought to reduce swelling and prevent infection.

The treatment, known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT, is approved for a few other conditions, like carbon monoxide poisoning and a form of gangrene. But some clinics around the country offer it for numerous other health problems, including migraine headaches, depression, strokes and even brain injuries. And HBOT hasn’t been proved to work for most of these, according to the FDA.

That hasn’t stopped many people from fundraising for the treatment — and many other unproven or alternative treatments — on crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and YouCaring (GoFundMe bought YouCaring in April 2018).

In two studies published recently, researchers ran systematic searches through crowdfunding sites to see just how pervasive this issue is. They identified thousands of campaigns raising millions of dollars for medical treatments that are not backed by science.

“It’s wasteful both for the patient and the donor, and potentially dangerous,” says Dr. Ford Vox, a brain injury specialist in Atlanta and the author of one of the studies.

Crowdfunding for medical bills, treatments and related expenses has become common, often filling in the gaps when people don’t have insurance or their insurance doesn’t cover all their expenses. In 2017, one-third of the money raised on GoFundMe globally was directed toward self-categorized medical campaigns, according to the company. The platform hosts about a quarter million medical campaigns each year that raise more than $650 million.

But some portion of those funds are for treatments of questionable value. Vox’s study, published in JAMA in October 2018, looked at five alternative treatments to serious medical issues: Homeopathic treatments for cancer, hyperbaric oxygen treatments for brain injuries, stem cell treatments for brain and spinal cord injuries, and long-term antibiotic treatments for chronic Lyme disease. And Vox says they could potentially lead to harm, either from side effects of the treatment or from the lost opportunity to receive treatments known to be effective.

Vox and a team of researchers identified more than a thousand active campaigns for the five treatments posted from 2015 to 2017. The campaigns asked for more than $27 million and had raised nearly $7 million. Because it looked at only the five treatments during a narrow time frame, Vox says this research is merely a snapshot of what could be a much larger issue.

“The biggest issue I’m concerned about is potentially feeding this whole dubious area of medicine, quote unquote, that has always existed,” Vox says. He says that as the crowdfunding market expands, and the sheer dollar amount raised by campaigns increases, “so does the money going to this alternative medicine marketplace.”

Another study published in JAMA in May 2018 focused specifically on stem cell treatments. The authors searched crowdfunding platforms for people seeking treatment at more than 300 direct-to-consumer stem cell clinics and found 100 campaigns seeking $7 million total.

“It doesn’t take much time rummaging around crowdfunding sites to realize that there are a lot of campaigns for people seeking stem cell therapies,” says Leigh Turner, a bioethicist at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics, and one of the study’s authors.

Stem cell therapies use stem cells in injections or tissue transplants to try to treat or prevent diseases. The FDA has approved stem cell treatments that use cells from cord blood to treat a limited group of disorders affecting the body system that produces blood. It warns most other types of stem cell therapy are unproven, and can be unsafe.

“A shining moment”

Michelle and John Witkowski had reached a point of desperation when their niece started a GoFundMe fundraiser so Michelle could get a stem cell treatment for her multiple sclerosis.

“It was a shining moment,” John says, when they learned about StemGenex, one of the direct-to-consumer stem cell treatment facilities Turner identified in his paper. A friend’s wife who had the same particularly aggressive form of MS had gotten stem cell treatment there and said she regained feeling in her left arm, which she hadn’t been able to use for a while. The Witkowskis just had to figure out how they were going to pay for the nearly $15,000 treatment.

John says they were not the asking type of people. That is, even after liquidating their 401(k) plans and spending roughly half a million dollars on treatments throughout Michelle’s 10-year battle with MS, they were hesitant to ask people for money.

Yet they felt they had to try. “The idea of something that may be able to help gives me hope, something I haven’t had in a long time,” Michelle explained on her GoFundMe campaign page.

That hope may have been misplaced. Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, the director of UCLA’s Multiple Sclerosis Program, says that while there is legitimate research on stem cell therapies for MS and other illnesses, there are no definitive results yet.

“There are people at well-vetted institutions doing this work, and when it is safe, it will be approved,” she says. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to do things that are not FDA-approved.”

Turner understands why people fundraise for alternative treatments when they’re in desperate situations. But he thinks both the clinics that offer these treatments and the crowdfunding sites bear responsibility for promoting unproven treatments — and false hopes.

Right now, Turner says, clinics can basically advertise how they please, which allows them to market to vulnerable individuals.

“Should you be allowed to just kind of put up a website and claim that you have a stem cell treatment, you know, and then start charging people thousands or tens of thousands of dollars?” he asks.

In their GoFundMe campaign, the Witkowskis asked for $20,000 for Michelle’s treatment and the accompanying expenses. While their fundraiser shows they made $2,500, John says they raised much more than that. Friends and family members donated directly to them or wrote checks to the treatment center, StemGenex. And when a hat was passed around at John’s office, he remembers he collected a couple of thousand dollars.

But after the stem cell therapy, Michelle didn’t seem to get any better.

“Nothing helped. There were no victories. It’s such a bummer,” John says. Michelle died just a few months later.

In late October the FDA issued a warning letter against StemGenex, the clinic where Michelle Witkowski got her procedure. The letter says that the agency considers StemGenex’s product to be a drug, and that the company’s manufacturing and quality control procedures are not in compliance with federal regulations regarding drug manufacturing. It also warns that their marketing violates federal law.

In addition, a pending lawsuit alleges the company’s marketing practices are deceptive. StemGenex denies the allegations.

StemGenex did not reply to numerous requests for comment on this story.

Turner and Vox both say that because crowdfunding sites are involved in a transaction that directs funds to unscientific treatments, they should be involved in mitigating the issue, by educating people about the risk of unproven treatments or by putting systems in place to identify problematic campaigns.

“As an organization, GoFundMe needs to think much more carefully and critically about the extent to which they’re creating a website that can lead to the spread of misinformation, and what they can do to promote health literacy,” Turner says.

GoFundMe uses algorithms to detect campaigns that violate its terms of service, including ones that raise funds for “illegal drugs, narcotics, steroids, controlled substances, pharmaceuticals or other products that make health claims that have not been approved or verified by the applicable local and/or national regulatory body.”

But Turner says he thinks they aren’t applying these standards rigorously enough. He wonders if GoFundMe will alert crowdfunders trying to raise money for treatments at StemGenex about the FDA’s warning letter.

GoFundMe addressed Turner’s comment in an emailed statement to NPR: “With these new concerns being raised surrounding certain stem cell clinics, we are taking a thoughtful approach to addressing stem cell campaigns while continuing to provide a safe and secure place for people to fundraise for their needs and causes.”

“This is my body”

Zubin Master, an associate consultant at Mayo Clinic’s Biomedical Ethics Research Program, questions the extent to which crowdfunding sites bear responsibility to monitor medical campaigns like Witkowski’s. “They’re not in the business of scientific oversight,” he says.

And according to Master, FDA approval alone may not be enough to go on when determining whether people should be allowed to fundraise for a particular treatment on the platform.

Master says there is a gray area in what is considered a legitimate treatment. Physicians are allowed to innovate, to try off-label uses of medications for instance, and the FDA does not scrutinize each step of the care they provide, he says. In fact, if certain regulatory requirements are met, the FDA permits patients with life-threatening conditions to access non-FDA-approved treatments with physician oversight under the Expanded Access program. Master says direct-to-consumer stem cell clinics do not typically meet the requirements for this program.

Overall, Master says, some unproven treatments may be more legitimate than others (for instance, they may be the subject of rigorous research). So, for crowdfunding companies, trying to judge among a spectrum of treatments is “like drawing a line in the sand.”

Master wonders how GoFundMe, with 50 million users, would logistically weed out campaigns for nonscientific treatments on a case-by-case basis. “I’m not sure where you would draw the line,” Master says.

The emailed statement from GoFundMe said it has policies, tools, and experts to “ensure the safety and protection of our community.”

The statement went on to say: “Our role is to provide people with social fundraising tools to raise money for their cause or need. While we hope to be a helpful resource for personal fundraising, we believe it is not our place to tell them what decision to make.”

Pete Canfield ran a GoFundMe campaign seeking stem cell treatment for his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2016. Doctors had told him the disease, which had reduced his breathing capacity, was terminal. He says he made the decision to try the stem cell treatment with his “eyes open, understanding that it was not a verified procedure.”

He says he feels it was his right to try an experimental treatment. “This is my body and I get to make the choices about what I’m going to do with this body, for the most part,” says Canfield.

Canfield sought $10,000 to pay for a $6,000 stem cell therapy at another one of the direct-to-consumer clinics Turner identified in his paper. Additional funds were for his travel to the clinic.

He didn’t have much luck, just raising over $1,000, but he paid for the rest out of pocket. In the end, the stem cell therapy did not work for Canfield. Still, he says he doesn’t regret trying.

“Going to experimental procedures is quite often an act of desperation,” he explains. “It’s what we see as the only option: ‘I have to do this because if I don’t do this, there’s a good chance I’m going to die.’ “

Rachel D. Cohen is a freelance journalist and a former intern on NPR’s Science desk.

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[suchawonderfullife]

4. My Catalyst- The power of a kind gesture

How I stumbled across this treatment center is a little weird as I wasn’t actively searching for treatment overseas, actually it wasn’t even in my thought process. However, I believe the universe gives you everything at the right time, when you’re truely ready and everything is a stepping stone to where you are supposed to be. When something is meant for you, the universe will give you a little tap on the shoulder, if you don’t listen it’ll send you the same message, but maybe with a clip around the ear. If you fail to hear THAT message, the universe will actually punch you in the face and tell you to wake the fuck up. It’s physics ;) haha. 

So around 3 and a half years ago when I started seeing my holistic Dr (the one who cured himself of Lyme) and I was only a few appointments in, there were stories of Lyme on shows like A Current Affair. With patients who were gravely ill and had travelled to Germany for hyperthermia treatment. They were claiming to have great success with this treatment and had got their life back. My parents and I were like holy shit! Maybe I should go to Germany?

We spoke to my CFS Dr and natural Dr about it and both BEGGED me not to go. They said “don’t do it, it’ll destroy you and we will be left to mop up the mess” (not kill me, but in laymen's terms they meant- it’ll fuck you up!). I joined groups on Facebook of these specific clinics and started researching, but something also didn’t sit right with me about it. It’s a controversial treatment, quite harsh on the body, with no long term documentation of what it does to your organs 5, 10, 20 years post-treatment. It also ONLY targets the Borrelia Burgdorferi bacteria (lyme disease), but with lyme you carry multiple co-infections. I have at least 4 co-infections that are just as destructive as the lyme. So I blow $50-$70K to only kill the Borrelia and I’m still stuck with the other co-infections. I sat with this dilemma for a while as I watched my friends go overseas and read many testimonials and anecdotal experiences in the Facebook groups. The general consensus (in my opinion) was not good. I do not recommend this treatment for long-term chronic patients like myself. It has helped SOME people, but in comparison to the one’s who come back sicker, or originally improved but who relapse, I don’t believe it is worth the risk. A family friend also had this treatment for cancer and does not recommend it as it did permanent damage to one of their organs. They were mortified when my parents said they had considered sending me there. The only other clinics I knew overseas were the mainstream one’s that pump you full of antibiotics and there is no way I was going to do that. 

A year ago, a friend on Facebook sent me a message notifying me of a “Lyme Summit” taking part in America. I’d never heard of it. And can I just add, this lady (named Jennifer- thank you beautiful lady) is an acquaintance, someone I have met once in real life. She went out of her way to tell me about this summit out of the goodness of her own heart. This summit was the catalyst for this entire journey and my potential to now get better. So don’t underestimate the power of a kind gesture and thinking of someone else. I looked it up and it was a week of interviews with highly regarded Dr’s in America who treat Lyme in various ways, sharing their findings and treatment methods. I could have paid a small fee to have access to the 5-6 interviews playing each day, or I could pay $100 to have access to the 30+ interviews to listen to whenever I want. So I paid the $100. The summit was fantastic. It was mainly holistic Dr’s talking about detoxing, diet, FIR saunas, Vit C infusions and holistic treatment centres. This is where I heard from a Dr. who works at the Lifeworks Wellness Centre. His theory on Lyme residing in the mouth, jaw and teeth is something I had heard before. So they have a dentist working on patients as part of their treatment, coupled with holistic methods I have also heard good things about. 

I started researching this clinic and corresponding with them. It was like a light bulb went off in my brain. I didn’t know centres like this existed and this is what I needed to get better. I started discussing my plans with my partner and parents. Only problem was that going to America to this clinic would cost me anywhere between $40-$70k. So we would have to fundraise. We created a gofundme and I continued to speak to past patients, the clinic itself and do my own research. My hesitations with this clinic were that they required you to stay for 1-3 months (they wouldn’t know how long until you arrived), so being an overseas patient made this tricky. Furthermore, some of their treatment methods (IV minerals and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) do not have long-term evidence of sustainable recovery. People do tend to feel better with these treatment initially, but I want to know if 5,10, 20 years later I’m still better. I can’t find the evidence. I still had mostly positive feedback and a good feeling about this place though, so I do recommend people look it up (and it is still my second choice of clinic). 

I told another Lyme friend of my plans and she is the “go to” person for treatment advice. She said “have you looked into the Hansa Center? I met a lady who went there and she is doing really well because of it.” I had never heard of it, but my mind was already pretty set on the Lifeworks Wellness Center. I can be stubborn sometimes. I did look them up, but I wasn’t well enough to read and absorb all their information. So I had a quick glance and joined their mailing list, couldn’t hurt I thought. Our fundraising and planning was taking off and I was pretty set on Lifeworks. 

I started getting emails from the Hansa Center as they send out a regular newsletter with some sort of health related article attached that’s written by one of their Dr’s. The first piece they sent me was about how they treat Lyme Disease and that conventional Lyme Treatment is like treating a house with termites. If you simply eradicate the Lyme, you are left with a badly damaged house on the inside, that must be repaired. They elaborated on their belief of repairing the body as a whole so that it is able to fight for itself, rather than simply flushing out the disease. The disease or diagnosis is actually irrelevant to them, as they focus on rebuilding what has been damaged so that the disease can no longer thrive. This made so much sense to me as it everything my natural Dr has been doing with me and believes in. So I started doing some more research on the clinic. 

Dr. Jernigan (the head of the Hansa Center) has a blog. I found his blog and started reading more of his articles. I watched their seminars on youtube and the information they were providing was amazing. One of the Drs explained in a seminar how they created their own herbal remedy that kills lyme bacteria. They then compared it to antibiotics that kill Lyme. He said the way to measure the rate at which the bacteria is dying is through the urine, as the dead bacteria is excreted that way. They showed a chart which indicated the patients that used the herbal remedy extracted 10x more dead lyme bacteria, than the patients on antibiotics. How incredible is that? Another seminar talked about research showing that every virus you have ever had in your body is never fully eradicated. It was something like 95% gets killed off, but there is a small % that never leaves the body and it can all be traced in your saliva (something like that, I read it a while ago). That includes every cold you’ve ever had, not just serious viruses. So if your goal with Lyme Disease is to simply kill all the bacteria by antibiotics or herbals that flush it out, yet you don’t repair what’s wrong with your body (which is how the illness was able to thrive in the first place), you will never get better. Your body is physically incapable of eradicating any virus 100%. 

So I researched this place more. I messaged every patient who left a review on their Facebook page to ask if they’d share their experience with me. About 6 replied and were happy to answer my questions. I was looking for patients who had been treated there at least 2-3 years ago and were still in good health. I wanted to know their level of health before they went compared to their level of health now. Some patients might say they’re “so much better”, but if they arrived at 5% health, an improvement to 50% might be their idea of “so much better,” which doesn’t help me. I wanted concrete, tangible, anecdotal evidence. And I certainly got it. All of those 6 people were doing very well and highly recommended going there. Some were working full time, running in fun runs, back at school full time and simply able to live a normal life again free of such immense suffering. 

I also spoke to a woman from my own city who was treated there. We spoke on the phone. In all honesty, she relapsed from mold poisoning. I then messaged the clinic in a panic thinking I need to treat my mold poisoning before I go, or I won’t respond properly to the treatment. Dr. Jernigan replied to me personally with a very long explanation as to why that’s not needed and his reasoning was quite correct (in my opinion). He explained the reasons she may have relapsed. He acknowledged that mold poisoning is quite difficult to treat but they do treat it if it comes up as one of my top 10 health problems. He also explained that if I simply focus on one thing at a time, the mold, then the lyme, then the heavy metals, then this then that etc, I will be treating myself forever. For how complex I and many others in my position are, it is impractical. What they do is repair the body as a whole, so that I will return to health faster. Lots of people carry the Lyme bacteria, are exposed to mold and have heavy metals in their systems from vaccines and environment exposures, yet they never get sick. It’s my body systems that are the problem, not the outside entities that have contributed to me becoming so sick. 

Moreover, in regards to the woman who relapsed after treatment at Hansa, I don’t know this woman personally and there are many reasons why she may have relapsed that have nothing to do with the clinic and the care they provided. I have to look at this in an objective manner. Some people (not saying particularly this person) don’t follow advice or treatment protocols, re-expose themselves to mold or other toxins they are already poisoned with and every bodies chemistry and illnesses are so complex and different. So I can’t simply look at one person who didn’t get better, next to over a handful who did and assume the treatment mustn’t work. She still highly recommended the clinic and said it helped her a lot. Hansa doesn’t promise to “cure” you either. They have an 85% success rate in patients responding positively to their treatment. A small minority do not respond for whatever reason. That’s why it’s so important to do your research. 

Moreover, I think getting better will be a life long journey for me. I don’t expect to go to a clinic for a few weeks, be made better and be able to do whatever I want (i.e. eat bad food, drink, not get enough sleep, push my body further than it is capable). I expect to go to a clinic and have them jump-start my recovery, but I will be working hard for a long time and then having to maintain habits of detoxing, medications and lifestyle choices many people wouldn’t ever need to consider or have probably heard of. 

I then had to break the news to my parents that I’d found a different and better clinic (for me). This was going to make me appear flimsy and indecisive. My parents were (understandably) hesitant and a little closed off to the idea of a different clinic. They then did their own research and saw what I saw. The beliefs and morals of this clinic were exactly what my natural Dr had been telling me for the last 3 years. They also didn’t offer HBOT or IV minerals (good, because I can’t find the long term benefit in that), they don’t do dentistry (to my disappointment), but they offered a list of holistic and natural detoxing and healing methods that are in alignment with what I’ve responded well to here. They also have over 1,000 natural remedies and tailor make your supplements to exactly what your body needs. OH! And they treat patients with the same brand of essential oils I’ve been using for the last 2 years. They’re speaking my language. 

So I emailed the clinic and asked for more information. They sent me their patient intake form. This was lengthy, over 10 pages from memory. I had to give very detailed information on my illnesses. I also had to write a 1 page essay on my experience with my health. I remember constantly checking my email, just waiting for their reply. Something inside me just wanted this so bad, like my heart and soul and entire being knew this is what I needed and I was desperate to be accepted. A few days later at around 1am (my time), I received a reply and opened it nervously. They had accepted my application and believed I was a suitable fit for their treatment program. I was ecstatic and relieved. I had found my answer. This is the place I will go to get better and I will do whatever it takes to get there. 

Then began the planning of when I would leave and what this trip would entail. It would mean a minimum of 2 trips to the clinic over a 6 month period. We settled on going around May for the first trip and November for the second (had to be worked around family members life events also). I worked out the cost of 2 trips would come to around $57,000 and how long it would take me to save that kind of money. Upon much number crunching and working out time frames and logistics, my parents agreed the best idea was for my partner and I to move back home with them to save money. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have such supportive and selfless parents and a partner who would sacrifice so much for me to get treatment. 

October last year (7 months ago), we left our current house the minute our lease was up and made the big move to 77km away, back to my parents. This was a major task that took several months of planning and left me with significant pay back for weeks after. My research hasn’t stopped either. I’ve read blogs, medical forums and spoken to more patients. I’ve probably read posts from over 50 different people detailing their experiences. All it does is constantly re-affirm my decision that this clinic is my best shot at recovery. 

I also recently read another article of Dr. Jernigan’s that’s about what to expect on your first appointment at Hansa. When they conduct all their tests, work out what’s wrong with you and the best methods of treatment. He talked about your health being like a vault and that you need to find the right 10 digit combination to unlock that vault. Some Dr’s are great at what they do (like my natural Dr), but they may only be able to give you 1 or 2 numbers to the combination. That’s why I got to 50% health and I can’t get above that. My natural Dr is brilliant at what he does, but he can’t fix all of me. My CFS Dr is also brilliant, the testing I’ve accessed thanks to him has helped me understand exactly what’s wrong with me and I’ve been fortunate to have access to medications that have improved my quality of life dramatically. However, being that he is a mainstream Dr, he is more along the lines of understanding what is wrong with me and treating symptoms with medication, rather than being able to fix and heal my body long term. I don’t think any mainstream Dr has the capacity to fix me in that way anyway. 

Dr. Jernigan also talked about that every time you try a new treatment that doesn’t work, you do damage to your body that then has to be repaired on top of your already sick body. This is why I cannot keep throwing money at this treatment and this Dr and this special kind of water and this pill that gives you energy. It’s not going to work for me. I’ve tried so much already (believe me, like a SHITLOAD of treatments, not just 2 or 3 things, I’m talking DOZENS) and it hasn’t worked. It’s been 12 years and I’m tired of being sick and spending thousands every month on simply existing or trialling something that I really can’t afford and doesn’t end up working anyway. I need a team of Dr’s in a highly specialised clinic that can look at EVERYTHING and know exactly where things went wrong and how to repair it. No Dr in Australia will be able to do that. But the Hansa Center can :) :) :) :) 

*NOTE: Do not take anything I’ve said about the clinic or the Dr’s as verbatim. I am merely “quoting” them from my own interpretation and memory of what I have read or heard, so not all facts may be entirely accurate.*

[everettxjenkins]

Controversial Guidelines Of Treatment Of Lyme Disease Is Left In Action

Controversial Guidelines Of Treatment Of Lyme Disease Is Left In Action. After more than a year of study, a particularly appointed panel at the Infectious Diseases Society of America has determined that questionable guidelines for the treatment of Lyme disease are correct and be in want of not be changed vigrx box. The guidelines, first adopted in 2006, have long advocated for the short-term (less than a month) antibiotic remedying of new infections of Lyme disease, which is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a bacteria transmitted to humans via tick bites. However, the guidelines have also been the pinpoint of fierce unfriendliness from certain patient advocate groups that believe there is a debilitating, "chronic" form of Lyme ailment requiring much longer therapy hghster.men. The IDSA guidelines are important because doctors and insurance companies often follow them when making therapy (and treatment reimbursement) decisions. The new review was sparked by an examination launched by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose office had concerns about the process utilized to draft the guidelines read full report. "This was the first challenge to any of the infectious disease guidelines" the Society has issued over the years, IDSA president Dr Richard Whitley said during a hurry conference held Thursday. Whitley popular that the special panel was put together with an independent medical ethicist, Dr Howard Brody, from the University of Texas Medical Branch, who was approved by Blumenthal so that the panel would be sure to have no conflicts of interest. The guidelines curb 69 recommendations, Dr Carol J Baker, armchair of the Review Panel, and pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Baylor College of Medicine, said during the urgency conference. So "For each of these recommendations our review panel found that each was medically and scientifically justified in lightweight of all the evidence and information and required no revision". For all but one of the votes the committee agreed unanimously. Particularly on the continued use of antibiotics, the panel had concerns that prolonged use of these drugs puts patients in peril of serious infection while not improving their condition. "In the circumstance of Lyme disease, there has yet to be a single high-quality clinical library that demonstrates comparable benefit to prolonging antibiotic therapy beyond one month," the panel members found. As to the living of a chronic, persistent form of Lyme disease, the panel concluded that "symptoms that are commonly attributed to long-lasting or persistent Lyme, such as arthralgias, fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, are seen in many other clinical conditions and are, in fact, familiar in the general population. It would thus be clinically imprudent to make the diagnosis of Lyme illness using these nonspecific findings alone". Baker noted that so far there has been no comment from Attorney General Blumenthal on the panel's decision. "I deem the attorney general was misguided by the [Lyme disease] activists. I do not ruminate his contention against the Infectious Diseases Society was either justified or warranted". Whitley noted that the Society will be reviewing these guidelines again in another two years and at the same while the US Institute of Medicine is working on its own shot on the disease. However, the committee's affirmation of the guidelines is seen by some to be a whitewash because, they claim, the reconsider process was biased. Dr Robert Bransfield, president of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, said: "How can there be such all-out consensus with any scientific issue? It's beyond comprehension". Bransfield added, "It makes me mind-boggler about the accuracy of the process. This is what everybody was expecting that they would do: a manipulate that would rubber-stamp it and basically validate what was there before. It's a concern because it does compromise the best interest of patients". Another critic, Dr Raphael B Stricker, a San Francisco medical doctor who treats chronic Lyme disease, said that "when the panel votes eight-nothing on almost every only recommendation, that suggests that there is something dishonest with the process. "Until we get a really objective review by an objective panel that's not all in Infectious Diseases Society of America's pocket, you are flourishing to get the kind of thing you see with this, and that's a problem". On the other tangential of the issue, Phillip J Baker, executive director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, said he was gratified by the outcome. "I have always felt, and so did many of my colleagues, that the guidelines are based on steadfast and established evidence". Baker has sympathy for people suffering from the pain and fatigue associated with persistent Lyme disease. But "These people are suffering from something and no doubt they need appropriate medical care. But they are not suffering from a persistent infection that can be treated by long-term antibiotic therapy deerantler. They have something genuine that needs to be treated, but it's not due to Lyme disease".

[how2to18]

MANY YEARS AGO, a patient I’ll call Alice had weakness, fatigue, brain fog, and joint pains that I was unable to diagnose. Eventually she took matters into her own hands. After connecting on the internet with others who suffered similarly, Alice determined that she had chronic Lyme disease. Through this online community she found a physician with a reputation for being Lyme literate — meaning that, unlike most doctors and medical organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he believed that in certain people (the majority of them women) Lyme infection can persist after the standard 14- to 21-day course of antibiotics and cause symptoms such as those Alice experienced. He prescribed high doses of doxycycline and erythromycin over many months. Sometimes the treatments made Alice feel better and sometimes, when she sensed that the drugs were killing large numbers of borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochetal bacterium that causes Lyme, she had painful Herxheimer reactions or “herxes,” as chronic Lyme patients call them.

Depending on your perspective, Alice had either reclaimed her autonomy from a patriarchal medical system dismissive of patients, particularly of women with difficult-to-diagnose conditions, or she’d fallen prey to a charlatan who charged her large sums of money to treat a fictional disease.

Few medical topics are as divisive as chronic Lyme disease or, as it is often referred to in medical journals, “chronic Lyme disease.”

A June 2018 editorial in the American Journal of Medicine asserts that chronic Lyme disease does not exist and that “Lyme literate physicians” are quacks in cahoots with shady labs that perform tests rigged to confirm the specious diagnosis. The editorialist, Phillip J. Baker, PhD, of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, argues further that the notion that Lyme is a “strange and mysterious” disease about which not much is known is false. Lyme testing is quite reliable, he states, and the scientific evidence on which current international guidelines regarding diagnosis and treatment are based clearly contradicts testimonies of individuals who claim to have chronic Lyme. The reason more resources aren’t being directed toward researching chronic Lyme disease is that there is nothing to research.

Within days of the publication of Baker’s editorial, an article appeared in Slate that might as well have been written to refute it directly. In “The Science Isn’t Settled on Chronic Lyme,” Maya Dusenbery and Julie Rehmeyer argue that doctors’ refusal to acknowledge the possible existence of chronic Lyme disease is driven less by science than by sexism. Dusenbery recently wrote about sexism in medicine in Do No Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick. In her 2017 memoir, Through the Shadowlands: A Science Writer’s Odyssey into an Illness Science Doesn’t Understand, Rehmeyer wrote about myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), another condition that, like chronic Lyme, affects mostly women and which many doctors consider psychosomatic. They don’t claim to have an answer to the question of whether or not chronic Lyme exists but, rather, suggest that gaps in our current knowledge of Lyme make the question worth asking. They point to the unreliability of symptoms and blood tests in diagnosing Lyme early, and to data indicating that some people may have abnormal spinal fluid and brain scans long after standard treatment for Lyme, as well as to other uncertainties that would seem to make Lyme merit further study, especially given that the infection, once mostly confined to the northeastern United States, is now endemic throughout much of the world. The reason medical scientists don’t study chronic Lyme isn’t that they’ve proven it doesn’t exist, Dusenbery and Rehmeyer write, but rather, “the attitude of ridicule for chronic Lyme is part of why we don’t bother to research it.”

These opposing views of chronic Lyme seem irreconcilable: chronic Lyme is either definitely phony or possibly real; chronic Lyme patients are either “head cases” or people suffering from a serious and poorly understood disease; doctors who dismiss chronic Lyme are either responsibly practicing evidence-based medicine or they’re sexist jerks.

¤

When I first opened Porochista Khakpour’s new memoir, Sick, about her pursuit of recovery from chronic Lyme over many years, I felt sure I knew where she stood in “the Lyme wars,” as the controversy has been called in both medical journals and the media. The very title of the book declares: “I really am sick.” The cover photograph, of Khakpour staring straight ahead, wide-eyed, oxygen prongs stuck in her nostrils, feels both defiant and accusatory. This is not a woman who is merely suffering. This is a woman who has been made to suffer.

Indeed, for the most part, doctors, particularly male doctors, come off badly in Sick. As a child, Khakpour is given insufficient anesthesia during ear surgery; as an adult, the ER staff laughs at her; a “gloomy” psychiatrist she consults looks “like black and white newsprint”; and a flashy L.A. physician who touts himself as “VIP Medical Concierge” reassures Khakpour, unreassuringly: “Don’t worry. We’re gonna run every test there is.”

With each medical encounter, Khakpour risks harm. Doctors usually don’t make her feel better, and often make her feel worse. Their disbelief in chronic Lyme erodes her humanity, leaves her “faded.” She has a positive Lyme test (many people diagnosed with chronic Lyme don’t) but this earns her little credibility with “so-called medical professionals.” Khakpour is well aware of their scorn:

I had been to the hospital so many times for my Lyme disease, not just explaining but overexplaining, as if I had something to hide. Lyme is a disease that many in the medical profession, unless they specialize in it, find too controversial, too full of unknowns, to buy it as legitimate. It’s thought of as the disease of hypochondriacs and alarmists and rich people who have the money and time to go chasing obscure diagnoses.

When doctors fail her, Khakpour seeks relief from healers who offer supplements, Chinese herbs, bee sting therapy, psychic readings, and other alternative treatments. This effort is not only expensive — Khakpour estimates she’s spent $140,000 on chronic Lyme — but it also results in a frustrating, self-perpetuating cycle familiar to many with conditions about which doctors are skeptical: doctors’ dismissal drives Khakpour to look for help outside conventional medicine, which makes doctors dismiss her even more.

It’s easy to see why Sick has been grouped in several reviews with other “illness manifestos,” recent books by women who insist on the validity of women’s experiences of and decisions about their own bodies, even when — especially when — those experiences and decisions are deemed invalid by a male-dominated medical establishment. These books include both Dusenbery’s and Rehmeyer’s as well as Abby Norman’s Ask Me About My Uterus, in which Norman recounts her struggle to have her endometriosis pain acknowledged and treated appropriately by doctors. They also include Michele Lent Hirsch’s Invisible, about how the health problems of young women such as herself are negated and, at the other end of the age spectrum, Barbara Ehrenreich’s Natural Causes, her declaration that, in her 70s, she is no longer buying the health industry’s prescriptions for immortality. Unrest, a 2017 documentary by Jennifer Brea, who suffers from ME/CFS and has become an activist for recognition of and research into this condition, is also frequently discussed in this context.

But Khakpour is no activist, and Sick is not an illness manifesto. Though Khakpour never abandons her belief that she has chronic Lyme, she doesn’t insist that her readers believe she does. Nor is it necessary to accept the legitimacy of chronic Lyme to embrace Khakpour’s story. She holds firm to the diagnosis, but she’s open to its many possible meanings.

Khakpour considers the possibility that she’s had Lyme for most of her life, having contracted the disease from a tick bite while hiking in the California mountains that reminded her father of Iran, from which the family fled after the revolution in 1978. Or perhaps she acquired the infection much later, and it compounded the PTSD she developed as a child refugee. Dislocation, not Lyme, is Khakpour’s central theme. She organizes Sick geographically rather than chronologically, with the names of the many places she’s lived — “New York,” “Maryland and Illinois,” “Santa Fe and Leipzig” — serving as chapter titles. Khakpour never feels at home where she lives, or in her own body. She often conflates her Lyme with her perpetual sense of displacement: “I have never been comfortable in my own body,” Khakpour writes. When her Lyme flares, she describes herself as feeling “off,” by which she seems to mean “not right” and also, in the literal sense, “not there.”

Many memoirs use illness as a prism through which to refract, and magnify, the themes of a life. Where Sick differs from most illness memoirs — indeed from most memoirs generally — is that it is not a tale of redemption. Khakpour eschews the arc that takes the memoirist from sick to well or, at least, to enlightened. At the end of Sick, Khakpour admits that she’d intended to write a more uplifting book: “The Book I Sold was a story of triumph, of how a woman dove into the depths of addiction and illness and got well. She got herself better. She made it. The Book I Sold might even imply you can do it too.”

Except that Khakpour doesn’t feel transformed by her illness in a positive way. In Unrest, Brea, though profoundly impaired by ME/CFS, expresses gratitude along with grief: “You have to be able to hold two things in your head,” Brea says. “This illness destroyed my life but what it showed me, I could never give that back.” For Khakpour, there is no silver lining. The list of plagues Khakpour endures — and seems always on the brink of not enduring — from Lyme and from life includes: paralyzing weakness, crippling fatigue, suicidal depression, panic attacks, insomnia, drug addiction, racism, family discord, war, homelessness, financial catastrophe, car accidents, and disloyal lovers, to name a few. The narrative tension in this messy and beautiful chronicle exists not so much between the heroine and her trials, but between the writer and the reader. In Sick, Khakpour challenges us to do what countless doctors, friends, romantic partners, and her parents have failed to do: witness her pain without turning away.

This is not nearly as depressing as it sounds. In fact, it’s not depressing at all. Despite her woes, Khakpour is excellent company. She has many friends and includes in her memoir an email she sent to them after a Lyme relapse left her dizzy and confused: “would you mind occasionally checking in on me?” She could also use some help walking her dog and riding the subway. This email appears early in Sick, and at first it’s hard to imagine it receiving an enthusiastic response. As her memoir unfolds, though, Khakpour’s intelligence, humor, and the generosity with which she exposes her vulnerability make us certain that her friends would be eager to help her. We’d help her.

Part of what makes Khakpour so compelling as a narrator is that she rejects the limited menu of identities we usually afford the ill and disabled, in life and in memoirs: brave or pitiful. Khakpour is sick but never only sick. She’s a party girl, a stunner in designer clothes. She wins prestigious fellowships and lands glamorous jobs. She has lots of sex.

The one place Khakpour does feel at home is writing. As a child, she retreated from her parents’ loud arguments by making up stories. “[S]torytelling,” she writes, “from my early childhood was a way to survive things.” Storytelling continues to serve as Khakpour’s refuge through a young adulthood marked by illness, addiction, poverty, and bad relationships. We breathe relief each time Khakpour’s writing leads her to a safe harbor: a college mentor, an MFA program, a book contract, a teaching gig. Yet, another familiar narrative Khakpour resists is that writing, including the writing of Sick, has healed her. She’s wary, too, about her “wish to tie the threads of narrative so neatly,” to have Lyme make sense of her life. She leaves her conclusions ambiguous. Khakpour finishes Sick: “The story didn’t end as I imagined so many times: in the end I would make it.”

Does she mean she would “make it” à la Mary Tyler Moore (“You’re gonna make it after all”)? Or that, in the end, what she would make was the story itself?

¤

Alice, my patient with chronic Lyme, continued to see me for primary care, despite knowing I had concerns about the prolonged antibiotic treatment her Lyme doctor was administering. Ultimately, her weakness worsened and she was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease, which I thought in retrospect explained all her symptoms. She discontinued the antibiotics and quit seeing the Lyme doctor but, to my surprise, Alice never stopped believing she had chronic Lyme. Who was to say that the chronic Lyme had not coexisted with or even accelerated the degenerative condition? she asked me. Or that the antibiotics she’d taken for Lyme hadn’t held this other disease at bay for a few years?

I wish Sick had been available when I knew Alice. I think Khakpour could have helped me understand our relationship better. At the time, I thought that the reason Alice pursued alternative therapy was that she was grasping for the certainty of a diagnosis, the promise of a cure. That was true, but I was grasping for certainty, too: the certainty that Alice’s pursuit was misguided. I plan to recommend Sick to my medical colleagues. Khakpour has made a major contribution to patients and doctors in moving the intractable “Lyme Wars” narrative beyond unhelpful binaries such as “real” versus “psychosomatic.”

The last time I saw Alice she was bedridden and could no longer speak. With great effort, she scrawled a message to me, one with which I agreed completely. It read: THIS IS VERY BAD.

¤

Suzanne Koven is a primary care physician and writer in residence in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She writes regularly for The Boston Globe and other publications, and contributes the interview column “The Big Idea” at The Rumpus. Her website is www.suzannekoven.com.

The post Beyond the Lyme Wars appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/lady-gaga-postpones-tour-blac-chyna-ready-rap/

Lady Gaga postpones tour and Blac Chyna ready to rap

Just days after canceling her scheduled performance at Rock in Rio, singer Lady Gaga announced that she will be postponing the European leg of her Joanne World Tour. On Sunday night, Gaga wrote a lengthy post on her Instagram page, in which she told fans that she would be unable to fulfill her European tour commitments at this time. The “Perfect Illusion” songstress explained, “I have always been honest about my physical and mental health struggles. Searching for years to get to the bottom of them. It is complicated and difficult to explain, and we are trying to figure it out. As I get stronger and when I feel ready, I will tell my story in more depth and plan to take this on strongly so I can not only raise awareness, but also expand research for others who suffer as I do, so I can help make a difference. I use the word "suffer" not for pity, or attention, and have been disappointed to see people online suggest that I'm being dramatic, making this up, or playing the victim to get out of touring. If you knew me, you would know this couldn't be further from the truth. I'm a fighter. I use the word suffer not only because trauma and chronic pain have changed my life, but because they are keeping me from living a normal life. They are also keeping me from what I love the most in the world: performing for my fans. I am looking forward to touring again soon, but I have to be with my doctors right now so I can be strong and perform for you all for the next 60 years or more. I love you so much.” Lady Gaga, Instagram post: In her recent documentary special for Netflix (Gaga: Give Foot Two), Gaga opened up about her struggle with severe, chronic pain. It was revealed that the beauty has been dealing with fibromyalgia, which involves the increase of certain chemicals in the brain that signal pain. Feel better Gaga! Rob Kardashian has agreed to pay $20,000 a month in child support, ending a vicious custody battle with his former fiancée, Blac Chyna. As part of the agreement, Chyna dropped her domestic violence allegations against the reality TV star. The pair had announced their engagement and pregnancy in May 2016, then split a month later. A month after the baby was born in November, Kardashian wrote in an Instagram post that Chyna had taken the baby and left his home. The subsequent battle over custody included Kardashian posting “revenge porn” on social media of Chyna, posts that have since been deleted. She accused him of cyberbullying, and was granted a temporary restraining order against him. According to the agreement, the two will share custody of Dream and Kardashian will pay $20,000 a month for child support. Blac Chyna is putting her relationship with Rob Kardashian behind her and focusing on a rap career, sources tell us. “She’s met with four labels . . . [is] collaborating with very big artists, and there’s going to be big news coming soon,” an insider confirmed. “Yes, she is trying to rap and no, [it’s] horrible,” the cynical music source sniffed. “All the majors are listening, and, sadly, she will likely get a deal. If she lands it, somebody will be stupid enough to give her a seven-figure advance.” We’re told the former exotic dancer has already turned down a deal with a major label. “She wants the music to be right,” a source close to her told media outlets. In an all-new exclusive interview with Allure magazine, reality star Kim Kardashian talked candidly about the aftermath of when she was held at gunpoint while being robbed by a group of thieves in her Paris hotel room. Although Kim recounted what happened on her family’s reality show last season, the star went on to spill even more details to Allure about how she reacted and recovered from the scary situation. Kim told the publication that post-robbery, her daughter North West gave her a special present to keep her “safe” for if, and when, she returned to Paris. The star revealed, “[North] gave me a little plastic treasure box, and she put her little jewels in it – like fake little plastic jewels – and she was like, ‘Mommy, this will keep you safe when you go to Paris.’ To have something really sweet like that is more important to me than all the jewelry.” Later on in the interview, Kim explained that she and her husband Kanye West have decided to abstain from extravagant gifting. The makeup mogul said, "We don't do gifts. [Kanye and I] talk about it all the time, about not getting too much and trying to be as grounded and well-rounded as possible. I don't like presents anymore. We just did absolutely nothing [for our anniversary]. We spent two days in Santa Barbara, and we slept. You know what? I think we went to IHOP. That's what we did." You can read more of Kim’s interview in the October issue of Allure magazine. While Kevin Hart’s private life is spinning out of control due to a $10 million extortion scandal, his ex-wife, Torrei Hart, has plenty to say about the demise of their marriage. When Inside Edition asked what caused their eight-year union to end, Torrei, 39, flat-out said, “Lies and infidelity.” There’s always been a timeline issue. Torrei and Kevin married in 2003 and divorced in 2011, but Kevin’s new wife, Eniko Parrish, who is also pregnant with his third child, claims they have been together for eight years, which puts the start of their relationship in the middle of his first marriage. Kevin, 38, has openly admitted, in his stand-up routines, to cheating on Torrei. “Yes, people, I cheated. Am I ashamed of it? No, no I’m not,” he infamously said during “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain.” “Do I wish I could take it back? No, no I don’t.” Kevin’s behavior has caused current drama in his life. A woman threatened to leak sexually suggestive video of Hart with a stripper named Montia Sabbag in exchange for $10 million. On Sunday, the unidentified woman said she wanted to “expose” the star as a cheating liar. Sabbag denies having anything to do with the video. Hart jumped to Instagram to apologize for his behavior. “I made a bad error in judgment … Sending so many apologies to my wife and kids,” he said. “I gotta do better and I will. I’m not perfect, and I never claimed to be … I love you all.” When asked if she thinks Kevin would cheat again, Torrei said, “I don’t know. I can’t say yes, I can’t say no. All I can say is if it happened to me, it could happen to anyone.” One-time pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne has beaten superstar Beyonce at something, but she may not be totally happy with her victory - she's been named the most dangerous celebrity on the internet. Cybersecurity firm McAfee said Tuesday that Lavigne, whose last album came out in 2013, was the most likely celebrity to land users on websites that carry viruses or malware. Searches for Lavigne have a 14.5 percent chance of landing on a web page with the potential for online threats, a number that increases to 22 percent if users type her name and search for free MP3s. Bruno Mars was second in his debut on the list, followed closely behind by Carly Rae Jepsen. Zayn Malik (No. 4), Celine Dion (No. 5), Calvin Harris (No. 6), Justin Bieber (No. 7), Sean "Diddy" Combs (No. 8), Katy Perry (No. 9) and Beyonce (No. 10) rounded out the top 10 list. It's a dubious step up for Lavigne, who was ranked No. 2 in 2013. Lavigne, whose hits include "Sk8er Boi," ''Complicated" and "I'm With You," has been out of the spotlight for several years as she battles Lyme disease. McAfee had a few suggestions for why Lavigne scored so high on the 11th annual list: Interest after the artist said she's working on a new album, a feature story on her by E! Online and an internet conspiracy that she has been replaced by an impostor. Lavigne is the first female musician to take the No. 1 spot and replaced Amy Schumer, named the most dangerous celebrity on the internet in 2016. In 2015, it was Dutch trance DJ van Buuren. The survey is meant to highlight the danger of clicking on suspicious links. McAfee urges internet users to consider risks associated with searching for downloadable content. The company used its own site ratings to compile the celebrity list and used searches on Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Conservative commentator Jedediah Bila has announced her departure from ABC's "The View." Bila made the announcement on Monday's program, saying she was leaving to work on a new book and had "a lot of opportunities" to consider. Bila served as the chat panel's resident conservative. Co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar both sent Bila off with kind remarks even though they noted that their opinions are often on the other side of the political spectrum. ABC has not announced a replacement for Bila, who joined the show last year. Bila was a contributor to Fox News before joining "The View." Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire that heavily damaged Neko Case's 225-year-old Vermont home. Barnet firefighters were called to the indie musician's home at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. The Caledonian Record reported the fire could be seen from miles away. Case wasn't at the home when the fire happened. The caretaker helped get three dogs out of the house. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. The musician has been nominated for three Grammy awards as a solo artist, and she's also a member of the indie rock band The New Pornographers. The home was featured in a 2012 article in Country Living. Actor and artist Donald Glover has a lot to be proud of these days. Not only has he received notable praise for his music, in which he performs under the stage name Childish Gambino, he has also been commended for his work on the small screen. On Sunday, the 33-year-old former Community star attended the 2017 Emmy Awards, which were hosted at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Donald showed up to the event with his brother Stephen, as well as his Atlanta co-stars Lakeith Stanfield and Brian Tyree Henry. As you may know, Donald’s current TV show Atlanta has proven to be a huge hit amongst audience members and critics alike. This adoration translated to a slew of Emmy nominations this year, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Donald Glover), Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Donald Glover), Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Atlanta), and Outstanding Comedy Series (Atlanta). Donald ended up winning for both Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, which makes him the first black director to ever win an Emmy in this particular category. Atlanta is set to return for season 2 sometime in 2018. Nick Jonas is showing support for his former Disney pal, Selena Gomez. As we recently reported, Selena Gomez revealed that she got a kidney transplant a couple of months ago. The young starlet bravely took to her social media page to share the very personal story of her operation with her fans and followers. On Sunday (September 17th), Nick did an interview with the hosts over at SiriusXM’s Hits 1 radio show. During this, the “Find You” singer addressed Selena’s recent announcement. The star gushed, “I didn’t [know]. I was just as surprised as everyone else when I woke up and saw her Instagram, but wow. That’s just incredible, and the strength she’s shown through all of that is inspiring.” Nick went on to add, “I’m pumped for her. I’m happy to see she’s doing well, it seems, and she was able to get the surgery and her friend helping her is a beautiful thing. So it’s all amazing.” As you may or may not remember, Nick and Selena had a short fling back in their Disney days. In fact, Selena starred in Nick’s former band’s (Jonas Brothers) music video for their 2008 hit song “Burning Up.” However, their relationship did not last long, as they were reportedly only together for a few short months around the time that the song and music video were released. In addition to launching her cosmetics line and her latest collaboration with Puma, singer Rihanna has been busy raising some serious funds for a good cause. Over the weekend, Rihanna, along with countless other celebrities, who were in attendance, came together for the 5th annual Diamond Ball. The Diamond Ball is an event founded by Rihanna that raises money for the Clara Lionel Foundation, which aims to provide money for global education, health, and emergency response programs. The guest list was star-studded. In addition, there were several big-name performers, including DJ Calvin Harris and rapper Kendrick Lamar. Comedian Dave Chappelle hosted the event, which took place at Cipriani in New York City. During the night, Rihanna got on stage to thank her guests for coming and helping her fundraise for such a worthy cause. The star told the crowd, “Together, we are funding groundbreaking and effective global education, health, and emergency response programs. We are investing in the future and helping to improve the quality of life for young people and their families around the globe.” According to numerous media outlets, Rihanna raised over $5 million at this year’s Diamond Ball. Last week, singer Selena Gomez revealed that she underwent a kidney transplant at the beginning of this past summer. In addition to receiving ample support from her fan base, Selena’s celebrity peers have also been reaching out to the young star and offering their support. While talking with tabloid publication US Weekly at a private event this week, Selena’s former Disney co-star Demi Lovato praised Selena and her decision to share such a personal story. Demi gushed, “I think that [Selena] is a very strong woman. I’m very happy and proud of her.” Almost immediately after Selena shared the story of her operation, fellow singer Lady Gaga also offered words of encouragement to the young star. On Friday (September 15th), Gaga posted a loving tweet addressed to Selena, which read, “Prayers [and] love to [Selena Gomez]. You are a warrior princess. What an inspiration.” Lady Gaga, Twitter post: https://twitter.com/ladygaga/status/908831020446883841 Unfortunately, Gaga is facing some health problems of her own. On Thursday (September 14th), the “Born this Way” singer announced that she had to cancel her scheduled performance at Rock in Rio due to “severe pain.” On Instagram she posted a picture of an IV in her arm, with a caption that explained, “Brazil, I’m devastated that I’m not well enough to come to Rock in Rio. I would do anything [for you] but I have to take care of my body right now. I ask for your grace and understanding, and I promise that I will come back and perform for you soon. I’m so sorry, and I love you so much.” Lady Gaga, Instagram post: Shortly after posting to her Instagram, Gaga further elaborated on her health situation. On Twitter, she posted, “I was taken to the hospital – it’s not simply hip pain or wear [and] tear from sour. I’m in severe pain. I’m in good hands [with] the very best doctors.” Lady Gaga, Twitter post: https://twitter.com/ladygaga/status/908405525452345350 Well wishes to both Selena and Gaga!

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[chickennuggetsanddinos]

I don’t normally do these, but...

First and foremost, a disclaimer: I do not mean to offend with what I’m about to rant about. I recognize that some people need to eat specific diets because of health and medical reasons. I also recognize people eat diets for moral reasons, such as those who a vegetarian or vegan. I commend those who do that and envy your restraint and moral fortitude for doing so. You keep doing you. Additionally, I am neither a doctor, nutritionist, or in any way qualified to give advice on health or nutrition. I am merely voicing an opinion from the standpoint of someone trained in empiricism. My problem does not lie with what a person should and shouldn’t eat or why. My problem is with those who put themselves on a specific diet which A) Makes no sense, B) Has no scientific backing for those who do not have specific medical concerns triggered by food, C) touts itself as a “cure” for anything, and D) makes itself out to be something attainable by all people and something you should do because (insert whatever conspiracy theory here about food)

My issue lies with the “Whole 30″ diet. The only reason I have the issue is because when I visited my family for the first time in two years last week, they were preparing to start after I left. Being trained in the scientific method and practicing skepticism, I began to do a little research. I was displeased with what I found. I was even more displeased with the fact that my family believed this would be the magic solution to their health problems and that they did not consult with any trained professionals or do any research looking at the effectiveness of what they were about to do or consider the fact that there could be unwanted ill effects, which seems irresponsible to me.  For those of you who may not know, “Whole 30″ is a strict, elimination diet that promises to “help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system” (https://whole30.com/step-one/) They say: “Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset”. Their language use is very careful; throwing “could”, “might” and “may” when they’re discussing what this diet treats, legally covering their asses so as to not be sued when it, ultimately, doesn’t work. They claim to treat things, such as seasonal allergies, fertility issues, digestive issues, low energy issues, and even mental issues (such as ADHD. Autism, thankfully, is not listed because their lawyers knew better). 

Their page says “ So how do you know if (and how) these foods are affecting you? Strip them from your diet completely. Cut out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. Let your body heal and recover from whatever effects those foods may be causing. Push the “reset” button with your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and the downstream effects of the food choices you’ve been making “ which, in and of itself, is not a bad statement. I’m sure that all of us could benefit from cutting out some of the food from our diet. That $.39 cup of instant ramen I have in my pantry is most likely a poor choice for me to eat and it would most likely be better for me to actually eat something like a salad for lunch. But, there are a few barriers to me doing so that I will get to later in this rant, so buckle up and just wait. The basic rules of this diet are as follows (which can all be found at https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/): 

You must cut out all:  Sugar, natural or artificial (which means sugar, honey, stevia, maple syrup, sweet’n’low, etc.) Dairy Grains, either in whole or processed form (even oils such as corn) Alcohol, even in cooking (which makes many flavor extracts out as well as they contain alcohol) and ideally tobacco products. Legumes (i.e. peanuts, all beans, all soy products, tempeh, or soy-based additives in foods) Carrageenan (a derivative from seaweed which turns gelatinous when mixed with water), MSG (or it’s other forms), or sulfites Baked goods, junk foods, or treats with “approved” ingredients (meaning you can’t take a muffin and make it using avocado oil and coconut flour. “That’s what got you in trouble in the first place” the website says)

Also, you can’t weigh yourself for the 30 days

However, there are exceptions to these rules, which are as follows: 

You may use Ghee or clarified butter, because the milk fats are no longer present You may have fruit juices, either to drink or cook with You may eat green beans, snow peas, and sugar snap peas, because they are “far more “pod” than “bean,” and green plant matter is generally good for you”(notice again the “generally” so as to cover their asses) You may use all vinegar, except malt vinegar, which contains gluten You may use Coconut aminos as a soy sauce substitute, even if it has “coconut nectar” in the ingredients You may have salt even though table salt contains dextrose (which is sugar) because otherwise the Potassium iodide would oxidize away and leave you without an essential nutrient

People with suspected food allergies benefit from these type of diets, however, the major difference is that you usually cut out one or two at a time, document the results, and then move on based on your data on an allergen elimination diet. Ya know, like the actual entire scientific and empirical process dictates. Do you know why that’s the case? Because, by only messing with one or two variables at a time, you can easily make an association between food X and symptom A. You can more easily demonstrate a functional relationship, causal or correlational. When you mess with more than 2 variables (3 at the most) in one go, you don’t have enough control over what you’re doing to be able to say with any type of certainty that food X (Y, Z, so on) is systematically associated with an abatement of symptom A (and/or B, C, and so on). You have absolutely no way of knowing, using the Whole 30 diet program, if your issue was the grain, the legumes, the dairy, the sugar, or any of the other things you cut out from your diet at the same time. That’s the biggest emphasis I want to make in this section. Since it’s all being removed at the same time, it makes it impossible for you to make an empirically sound claim.  Now, again, do not get me wrong. Those with undiagnosed food-triggered conditions, such as sensitivities or allergies, will most likely see a benefit on this diet. You will also, most likely, lose some weight on this diet, which would most likely benefit many of us as we consume way too many calories and carry some “extra weight” (myself included. I gained 30 pounds in a year because I was in grad school, off and on medications, and had a major life change as far as my activity level went. It was my fault and I’m working on reshaping my life to lose it and go back to a healthy weight. I’m not perfect nor am I claiming to be). However, once the 30 days are over, you are free to go back to eating and drinking as you had before (which most people will because when you deprive yourself of things, you want it more and you will begin to do drastic things to get it. It is a well studied phenomenon and dietitians generally advise against cutting things out like that for weight-loss because of this very fact). So, that means that if you go back to your eating habits pre-30 days, you will 1. most likely not find what you may be allergic or sensitive to unless you reintroduce one food at a time and take data on symptom progression and 2. most likely gain the weight lost right back.  Additionally, I find it hard to see how cutting these specific food types from your diet will have any direct impact on non-food related illnesses and disorders. Perhaps in 10 years, I will eat my words. We only recently discovered that 90% of bodily serotonin is made in the gut by the microbiome, but we’re still not sure how that plays a role in our overall mental health. It’s only a thing we observed. We don’t yet know the role any manipulation of the microbiome might have on the outcome of mental health. Studies are being done as I type, but for now, no claims can be made because we have no evidence. However, Whole 30 claims that their diet can help treat illnesses that, as of now, have absolutely zero connection to food, such as Lupus. In fact, on their site (https://whole30.com/step-one/) they claim “More than 95% of participants lose weight and improve their body composition, without counting or restricting calories. Also commonly reported: consistently high energy levels, improved athletic performance, better sleep, improved focus and mental clarity, and a sunnier disposition. (Yes, more than a few Whole30 graduates said they felt “strangely happy” during and after their program)...Finally, testimonials from thousands of Whole30 participants document the improvement or “cure” of any number of lifestyle-related diseases and conditions.high blood pressure • high cholesterol • type 1 diabetes • type 2 diabetes • asthma • allergies • sinus infections • hives • skin conditions • endometriosis • PCOS • infertility • migraines • depression • bipolar disorder • heartburn • GERD • arthritis • joint pain • ADD • thyroid dysfunction • Lyme disease • fibromyalgia • chronic fatigue • lupus • leaky gut syndrome • Crohn’s • IBS • Celiac disease • diverticulitis • ulcerative colitis”. There are no citations for these claims, no data comparing this to control groups, and they even say that their evidence comes from testimonials. I would like to point out a little saying: The plural of anecdote is not data. You absolutely cannot rely on the stories of others as valid and reliable evidence because there was no control and such things are subject and biased.  Again, not to be misunderstood: Everyone has bias. In fact, I am exhibiting bias right now by typing this. I am biased against diets such as these. But, my bias does at least have some evidence behind it in the form of peer-reviewed, evidence based studies (which Whole 30 lacks, which knocks their credibility out). And, I’m not trying to discredit the stories of those for whom this diet led to an improvement in their health and wellbeing. What I am trying to discredit, though, are the claims that these results will happen for everyone. They are very careful with their language usage, as I pointed out earlier, but reading through still gives the impression that this diet is the magic cure, which it most certainly is not and can never be.  Now, before I end, I’d like to discuss my final point (D): That this diet is neither easy or attainable for everyone, unlike what the site claims.  The site claims that Whole 30 (https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/): The diet is not hard (they say fighting cancer is hard, losing a loved one is hard, but cutting out the foods is not hard) The diet does not require planning You don’t have to eat something you don’t want You don’t have the option to have a “slip”, so don’t even think about it It does not require effort.  These are lies. They are bold faced lies and they know it. Let me go ahead and break each of these claims down, show how they are lies, and point out how the statements may also be a toxic mindset.  1. The diet is not hard. That’s utter horseshit. Yes, beating cancer is hard. Yes, losing a loved one is hard. It’s also hard to go to the store, take the time to read the label of EVERYTHING you now have to buy, and it’s hard to actually get some of the ingredients “approved” on this diet, especially if you are A) low income and/or B) live in a food desert. Additionally, making some of the “approved” ingredients is difficult. Do you know how much time it takes to make clarified butter? I do and it’s a lot, especially if it’s your first time and you have literally zero idea what you’re doing. Also, the withdrawal symptoms your body is going to go through on this diet are going to be shit and not everyone has a day or two to feel like ass and then get back on our feet. You don’t want to be irritable, crabby, and shaky at work trying to get your things done. Not everyone can take those couple of days off and then come back right as rain. By saying your diet is not hard, you are making people who have very little options for their food feel like shit because they “should” be eating X, Y, and Z, but they have $50 for the week and 4 people to feed and they can’t justify a $10 bottle of avocado oil. Finally, cooking can be difficult for those who have not grown up in a situation where they were taught to prepare and cook foods or they work such hours that make cooking a daunting task (like those on 3rd shift, or those who work more than 30 hours per week) 2. The diet requires no planning. Again, horseshit. Unless you are able to hold a vast of information in your working and short-term memory such that you do not have to plan for your shopping and your meals each and every day, you must plan for this diet. I watched my sister spend hours researching foods, hours making a list for compliant foods, go to multiple grocery stores to get said foods, and spend a full day prepping for the weeks meals. I should also mention my sister is married, works 12 hours per week (max) and has very little responsibilities outside the house. Imagine how that would work if she held a full-time job outside of her house in addition to homschooling her two children (which she does, but it’s summer vacation where they are now, so she’s not actively doing it), and took more than one class at a time (again, she takes a course per semester at the community college for a degree she has no intention of using to get a job). So, that brings us to a total of about 2-ish days of planning for the following 7 for a family of 4 who has a stay-at-home parent. What about those who don’t have that? By saying this diet requires no planning, you make it seem as though all who are in any position in life can do this with no issues or barriers because it’s so easy.  3. You don’t have to eat something you don’t want. This is the only statement I’ll say is technically true. 

4. You don’t have the option to “slip”, so don’t even think about it. This diet says should you eat something on the non-approved list, you’ve undone everything you’ve been working towards and your 30 days resets. For a diet that’s all about “food freedom”, this seems a bit restrictive to me. Additionally, having the mindest of “I can’t eat this because my diet says not to” or “I can’t eat that because I’ll have to start over” constitutes you punishing yourself for no other reason than someone said so. That’s not a freedom of choice. That’s someone dictating your choices for you.  So, there you go. There’s my rant. Again, I’m not an expert on food and health, but I do have 6 years of training in human and animal behavior, the scientific method, and skepticism. I’m not telling you how to eat, because I’m unqualified to do so and I have a lot of work to do on my diet, personally, so if I were to even give advice, I’d be a hypocrite (which I am unwilling to do). All I want to do is to point out the utter nonsensical nature of this thing and how it can actually be doing more harm than good. Please, if you’re thinking of starting a diet, consult with your doctor and do your research on the effectiveness, benefits, and risks involved. Go into something as serious as your health as informed as you can be so you don’t end up doing any damage or getting yourself sick. That’s all I really want is for people to be happy and healthy.