Clearly measles has a dark side. But why would it depredate one community while being easy to manage in another? The answer lies in the concept of “herd immunity”; indeed, this is where our understanding of this phenomenon came from.

A virus, spreading and endemic in a population where virtually every person meets the virus, and most individuals have had an “attack”, is not so aggressive when contacted. Numerous passes through the immune system of countless hosts weaken the virus and it is virulent for only a compromised few; those who suffer from malnourishment, or have some other pre-existing medical complaint. They are vulnerable, in other words. Everyone else shrugs it off rather easily.

But if a community has not met the virus before, they have no innate protection and the virus can wreak havoc, virtually unopposed. There is no herd immunity.

And that is why epidemics or pandemics (genuine pandemics) can be so devastating; the pathogen is new; there is no herd immunity. Everybody starts off from ground zero and has to build their own immunity to the pathogen. But even the most severe pandemic eventually weakens and the community becomes adapted to it. Cases that were largely fatal at first gradually become milder and milder. After some time, the pathogen is absorbed by mass immunity and can no longer run rampant but is always present, lurking. It is now said to be endemic.

Endemic: there all the time, surfaces regularly but the community has learned to live with it.

Epidemic: (epi- over and above the normal) a pathogen which emerges in large numbers and infects quite a lot of people. But usually this outbreak is smothered quickly and the community eventually takes it in its stride.

Pandemic: (pan- universal) the pathogen is free to sweep through the whole of Mankind. Not everyone will get the disease or die of it. But the devastation is widespread. The “Spanish flu” of 1918 was the first pandemic of modern times. More people died in that pandemic than died of wounds from World War I!

Measles has been an endemic disease in Europe, Asia and the Americas for centuries. But for the Polynesians, it was a deadly epidemic.

Just before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1968, the official position among CDC experts was that measles was a “self-limiting infection of short  duration, moderate severity and, low fatality.”¹

My, how propaganda works to change that! To read the media today, you would think a measles outbreak was as deadly as an Ebola uptick!

Nonsensical Vaccine Claims

The number one rule in medical science has, for the longest time, been: follow the money. Vaccination programs can be very lucrative, especially since Ronald Reagan passed a bill to release vaccine manufacturers from any liability for injuries to patients caused by a defective, or even criminally negligent, product.

So, the marketing arm of Big Pharma has been working overtime to prove that everyone needs to be vaccinated for everything (at huge cost, of course). That includes measles. As part of this marketing you will see “scientific” claims that vaccines work wonderfully well and never hurt anybody!

Trouble is, most vaccines don’t work or don’t work well—certainly NOT as well as claimed. I am tired of reading about measles outbreaks in highly vaccinated communities. It’s not that it happens; of course it happens. But the double-talk twisting and turning of officialdom and “experts” as to why these outbreaks occur, when vaccines are supposed to be effective! It’s a comedy, indeed a pantomime of lies and misdirection.

The usual is to blame the unvaccinated population for causing the problem. The bit they like to gloss over is HOW could unvaccinated people cause an outbreak among those lucky ones who are properly immunized? 

But failure is one thing, what about DAMAGE caused by vaccines? Readers will probably know that many doctors and scientists are now very concerned that a number of vaccines do produce real and lasting harm. From my position, some of you may know I was the first doctor to raise the alarm with the measles vaccine, back in 1983. All discoveries start with observation and I simply (but unquestionably) observed a parade of distraught parents, who brought in their addled child, who had started to deteriorate immediately after the measles vaccination.

There is cause and effect there somewhere. I never said it was mercury, or aluminum, but “something” was going on. When I went on TV and radio I was only allowed to say “it seems as if…” it followed the measles jab (The UK hadn’t started with MMR back then).

This is suppressed, of course, by pharmaceutical interests and their lackeys in the FDA, CDC, etc. There are armies of pro-Pharma, pseudo-scientific liars, deliberately queering the pitch until, now, it is hard to separate the truth from the sh*tstorm.

But there is something else you may not know, which is that vaccines have had very little effect on public hygiene and safety. Infectious diseases were once the number one killers of Humankind. The truth is that the position changed, with the advent of better nutrition, less poverty, better sewage disposal and cleaner water.

Most infectious diseases were almost wiped out by the time of the first vaccination programs. Death rates had dropped by over 95%, and for some diseases over 98%, before the era of vaccine interventions.

If you look at the graph of measles fatalities (deaths per 100,000 population) in the USA for most of the 20th century, the picture is very clear: measles vaccine had very little to do with conquering the disease.

Moreover, the position was similar in all Western countries (UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand). Progress was virtually identical and, again, very little to do with vaccinations.

But the position is much more complicated than even these graphs reveal. Measles vaccination is definitely not as successful as claimed and indeed may be the cause of ongoing sickness, despite spurious claims that measles was “eradicated” in 2000.

Measles Vaccine – The Truth

It’s not very effective. We must look beyond the media propaganda and scientific posturing of the vested interest groups and get the facts: the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

It has been clear from the start that mass vaccination against measles has not worked as claimed. There have been numerous “outbreaks” of measles in supposedly highly-vaccinated groups. 

Public health officials continue to ignore the significance of these outbreaks, insisting that stricter vaccine mandates are the only answer to measles. But if 95% or more coverage does not prevent outbreaks, what is the point of ordering even more vaccinations? It’s not logical.

Yet those who point to peer-reviewed literature showing evidence of vaccine failures are called “antivaxxers”, whereas really they are just pro-truth!

There is the usual subterfuge, to try and obscure this inconvenient fact, but if we rely on medical literature, not press releases or the huffing and puffing of boffins, we stand on firm ground.

Here are some examples:

• 1985, Texas, USA: A pivotal study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1987 analyzing a measles outbreak in Corpus Christi, Texas. It emerged that 99% of students were vaccinated.²

• 1985, Montana, USA: An article in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined an outbreak of 137 measles cases in Montana, despite a 98.7% vaccination rate.³

• 1988, Colorado, USA: A measles outbreak at a Colorado college infected 84 students, even though over 98% had documented immunity due to strict vaccination policies.⁴

• 1992, Cape Town, South Africa: A study in the South African Medical Journal documented an outbreak where 91% of children were vaccinated, and vaccine efficacy was only 79%.⁵

The truth is—shock, horror!—that vaccines sometimes (read OFTEN) fail, despite the numerous denials. There is “primary vaccine failure” (never worked in the first place). The idiot fairies in the industry say these did not “take”, whatever that means. And then there is “secondary vaccines failure” where it wears off, sometimes in as little as a matter of weeks. Great for business: we just do it again… and again and again. No refund for the matter of failure; you just have to pay again… and again and again!

Does it matter? Of course. If vaccines are not the answer, we must turn our attention to natural remedies which do definitely work. Pretending to have THE answer, while attacking those who have other and better suggestions, is the folly of fools.

The Leicester Method

(Leicester, pronounced LESTER) is an English city, right by where I was born). In 1884 the town went into wild rebellion! Despite there being a law from 1867 mandating smallpox vaccination for all births, terrible outbreaks were still occurring, one particularly bad one swept across England and Europe in 1871,  (in other words, immunization clearly did not work or save lives). The good burghers (councilors and aldermen) of Leicester said “To hell with this! We can do better!” And they did! 

Leicester Town Hall, the seat of local government

There were marches and protests against the three pillars of vaccination: Fraud, Force and Folly (their wording, not mine!) One march carried an effigy of Edward Jenner (the inventor of smallpox vaccine), hanging from a gibbet. Banners were displayed with the words: “Liberty is our birthright, and liberty we demand.” Apparently the protests were orderly and good natured.

Despite threats of arrest and imprisonment, the town officials went into outright defiance and enacted local bylaws which switched from reliance on vaccination to reliance on quarantine and vigorous sterilization of infected homes. They had a “smallpox van” which galloped to the scene! Vaccination rates locally fell from 90+% to around 5%. There were screams of dismay and dire prognostications from the scientific cognoscenti, that a terrible epidemic would break out inevitably.

It never happened. Smallpox deaths plummeted, all but disappeared, in Leicester. It was an outstanding success. Smallpox was virtually stamped out. Several of the councilors and aldermen were given knighthoods by the King… no, wait. Sorry, I’m wrong. Vastly fewer citizens died, it’s true, but the Leicester Method experiment was a failure. The outcome was ignored and buried by official science. Business—yes, business—was soon back to normal.

Vaccination returned and smallpox deaths soared to “normal levels”.⁶

To your health,

Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

References

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14462171/
2. New England Journal of Medicine, 1987. PMID: 3821823
3. American Journal of Epidemiology, 1987. PMID: 3618578
4. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 1991. PMID: 1884314
5. South African Medical Journal, 1994. PMID: 7740350
6. Dissolving Illusions. Disease, Vaccines and Forgotten History. Suzanne Humphries MD and Roman Bystrianyk. Chapter 6 and 7.

As I wrote in my 1992 book on allergies, the cause of hay-fever, pollens, was first discovered by Dr. Charles Harrison Blackley in 1873, in a suburb of the city of Manchester, just a few miles from the medical school where I graduated. He sent kites high into the air with sticky plates to monitor levels, saved up pollens and tried sniffing them in winter (he was himself a sufferer) and rubbed samples into his skin, to produce what was a very elegant scientific proof that pollen was the problem. Blackley’s most important work was a book titled the Experimental Researches on the Causes and Nature of Catarrhus aestivus, published in 1873.

No less a person than Charles Darwin wrote to Blackley, “The power of pollen in exciting the skin & mucous membrane seems to me an astonishing fact”.

Catarrhus aestivus is Greek for “spring catarrh”.

Hay-fever is characterized by red, itchy eyes, sneezing and catarrh, but any seasonal symptom, made worse by pollens (for example, wheezing and rashes), is covered by the remarks that follow. 

Certain pollens can be identified because of the time of year when symptoms become manifest. For example, trees begin to pollinate in March and April, grasses in May and June and flowers from June onwards, though there are exceptions to these very broad generalizations. Sometimes the trigger is not a pollen but a seasonal mold.

The main problem is that there is nothing you can do to escape the pollen, or even reduce it, as you can with dust. Short of taking continuous antihistamines, with their tiresome side-effects, or isolating yourself indoors for the best days of the year, the problem has to be tackled some other way.

Desensitization sometimes helps but there are many pollens to test and unless you identify and treat the right ones, the results will be disappointing. And there always remains the dangers of classical allergy “desensitization”: it can be fatal!

Dr. Keith’s Big Secret!

But there is another helpful plan. A big secret which so intrigued the media in the 1980s and 90s that I was asked to broadcast all over the world, live and down-the-line phone interviews, to explain its magic benefits for hay fever sufferers. 

In a nutshell, it was this: IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO GRASSES ON THE BREEZE, STOP EATING GRASSES! Reduce the load! Cereal foods, like wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley and rice are all grasses (family: Graminaceae). We eat far more grasses than we breathe in the air! Duh!

Predictably, “experts” scoffed but those who took the trouble to try it discovered it works and I am pleased it is now common for doctors to recommend dietary avoidance to their patients, with or without any other treatment. You can do it by yourself, which is great, but of course this makes some doctors mad as hell!

Don’t just give up the grains foods, eliminate all suspect or troublesome foods. Which reminds me, if you haven’t already got yourself a copy of my latest, snappy book BANDIT FOODS, it’s time you did. It tells you how to track down and eliminate surprise foods that may be burdening your immune system and causing symptoms. It’s common…. VERY COMMON!

GO HERE TO GET A COPY.

The logic, once again, comes down to our total body burden. How many people ever think of going on a diet to combat hay-fever? It’s simple: if you eliminate any food allergies, the body is better able to cope with inhaled allergies. SO NOT JUST GRAINS: avoiding milk, food additives, tea, coffee and alcohol can also have a remarkably beneficial effect. It isn’t a sure-fire cure, but it is certainly worth a try and anything is better than feeling utterly wretched just when everyone else is having all the fun.

Try the simple elimination diet, or even my “half fast” (lamb and pears only for 5 days), at a time when the pollen count is high. Even if you don’t clear the symptoms, you may reduce your need for medication quite considerably. Don’t forget to follow up the diet with challenge tests, if it works. Find the real culprits. 

[Special note: allergy to Betula species (birch) commonly cross-reacts with foods in the nut-and-pip group and may overload. If you have a birch allergy, try the nut-and-pip free diet]

The Ragweed Problem

Ragweed is a nationwide allergy problem in the United States. Very few areas can claim to be ragweed-free. Ragweed, a rampant yellow flowering weed, is a member of the Aster Family. Two species are significant: the giant ragweed Ambrosia trifida and short ragweed Ambrosia aratemisiifolia. These species can flourish on very poor soil and out-compete most other plants, which is why they are so prolific. It is estimated that approximately 100 million tons of ragweed pollen per year are released in the United States alone.

The season runs from late August to early November. If your symptoms are at a peak late September and October, the chances are that ragweed is your problem.

Once again, elimination dieting can help. Foods which cross-react with ragweed include honeydew melon, cantaloupe, watermelon, squashes, zucchini, banana, cucumber and chamomile. You may notice that these foods cause symptoms in your mouth, such as itching of the tongue, roof of the mouth or throat. In which case avoid them at all costs.

Clean Air

It’s important to have a pollen-free environment during the summer hazard months. Back in those days there was nothing like today. Now we have HEPA filters galore (high-efficiency particulate air).

We have two “Air Doctors” in our house, one in the bedroom and one in the main living room. These boast what they call Ultra HEPA filters, which remove particles down to as small as 0.003 microns. This is 100 times smaller than the standard HEPA filter size of 0.3 microns. You can buy an Air Doctor on Amazon.

And remember the wisdom of this, which is that the Air Doctor filters not just pollen, but dust, dustmite, animal danders, molds, viruses, bacteria, particulates like smoke AND chemicals (it has an activated carbon filter too, which absorbs volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other chemical pollutants). It produces real clean air in your personal local environment. 

Breathe clear, sniff!! There is nothing quite so life giving as being able to breathe in good, clean air!

To Your Good Health,
Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

>> Download The Transcript

Another in the famous series of webinars about the power of micro-current therapy (MCT). We explore the groundbreaking potential of the Avazzia microcurrent therapy device in our webinar, “Resolving Chronic Pain, Disease, and More Naturally.” Discover how this non-invasive technology stimulates the body’s natural healing processes, addresses inflammation, and offers a powerful alternative to traditional pain management.

 GET YOUR AVAZZIA DEVICE TODAY! 

avazzia

You can find out your inflammatory status, if your doctor will cooperate, by being tested for CRP (C-reactive protein), TNF-alpha, IL-6 and possibly an ESR (a bit old-fashioned but definitely important if positive).

Even without a blood test, you can tell if you are inflamed: pains, aches, stiffness, redness and heat are sure signs of inflammation. And of course some conditions speak loudly of inflammation: diabetes, arthritis, skin rashes, blood pressure, heart disease… even cancer and Alzheimer’s are all basically inflammations.

Inflammation doesn’t just “happen”, it is caused. To help you all live longer, I have identified the 7 most common and most important inflammations. Here we go…

1. Food Allergy and Intolerance

This is MUCH bigger than just casein and gluten, touted by the wannabe “health researchers” who keep popping up on the web. The Scott-Mumby rule is that ANY FOOD OR DRINK CAN DO IT. There are NO “safe” foods; there are NO “superfoods”. I have had people made sick nearly unto death with lettuce, beans, tomatoes, apples, carrots, onions,

True, some intolerance foods are commoner than others: wheat and grains are bad news, nightshades (potato, tomato, peppers, eggplant, etc.), dairy produce, eggs (can be severe), almonds, and of course all manufactured foods, including GMO crops.

But we are all different and you won’t know your own “bandit” foods till you take the trouble to test and track them down (guessing hardly ever works). I wrote a book years ago to help you do that. It’s called Diet Wise and has lately been re-released under the title One Diet for Life. (www.DietWiseBook.com)

It’s a self-help book and if you do this right, you’ll only need to make the journey once. But nothing else in life or health is going to work if you are, effectively, poisoning yourself with what you eat. Duh!

2. Chemical Sensitivity

Decades ago, I introduced the term “human canaries”. These are the unlucky individuals who react to even small traces of ambient chemicals. Like canaries down the coal mines of old, these people are a warning to all of us. We are living in what I call a “chemical blizzard” and we are ALL going to be ill one day. Science and the medical profession let these people down very badly. They claim the average person is not harmed by typical exposures (not at all true, by the way). But it’s hardly the point is it, if these people can NOT tolerate the same exposure as an average person?

Look at this curve; it’s called a bell curve and is a classic in medicine and biology.

It can apply to many measurements, such as height and weight. But it also applies to chemical tolerance. What it shows is that some people have a very high tolerance; they wouldn’t suffer much. Some people are very intolerant and can’t endure what others might. The vast majority of people fall somewhere in between!

Is it fair to say “The majority are symptom-free at this concentration, therefore it is safe?” Isn’t that just unethical and casting those on the left end of the curve into purgatory? Is that what The Almighty would want? No, it’s what greedy irresponsible corporations want: profits at any cost, including human cost.

A naturally chemically sensitive person will be severely inflamed by our modern world.

3. Obesity

This may not be obvious but there is a very strong, direct connection: obesity causes systemic (body-wide) inflammation but inflammation makes you gain weight. It’s a double-whammy.

Part of the problem is that belly fat contains a LOT of inflammatory chemicals. That’s what makes belly fat much more dangerous than fat around your heart  kidneys. Many organic chemicals (solvents, degreasers, detergents, cosmetics, etc.) are fat-soluble, as opposed to water-soluble.

Consequently, we can none of us afford to be overweight. If you are, you need to treat it as a medical emergency, not just an inconvenience. Get that weight off, starting now. Keto, low-carb and intermittent fasting are all good. But I urge you to start with tracking down allergy and intolerance foods first (section1.) It works MAGIC against inflammation.

4. Sleep Deprivation

Another “medical emergency” if you suffer from it. Lack of sleep is a wrecking ball that will soon demolish your health and vitality. It leads to inflammation, which may seem surprising, but this is well-established scientifically.

I wrote a little book about it. I also offer a Sleep Defender formula, with valerian, 5-HT, L-theanine and melatonin. It works like a charm. Try it here.

5. EMFs

No surprise here. We are all becoming increasingly aware of the immense biological toll of electric power cables, dirty electricity, WiFi, microwaves, cellphones, x-rays, scans, and Bluetooth, etc. We even generate EMFs from our own teeth, when metal fillings interact with salty saliva in the mouth (the very first batteries were just metal plates separated by layers of damp, salt-soaked fabric).

The problem with this burden is that it is very unnatural. We are now at millions of times the intensity of the natural background radiation in which we evolved. There are definite biological changes taking place in our bodies. The shills and phoney corporations all say “It’s not a problem. We have tested it and there are no biological effects.” 

But that’s an outrageous lie. They measure only heating in the tissues, say there is none and so dismiss the whole thing. It’s like they invent their own rules and then use them to cheat. THE THERMAL OR HEATING EFFECT IS A FALSE STANDARD. Cooking your flesh is something that would only be meaningful if we lived in a microwave oven. We don’t.

The truth is that there are serious and damaging biological effects at today’s ambient levels of exposure. Cancers are only part of this. Our neurological systems run on vanishingly small EMFs, in the region of a few millivolts or microamps. Any EMF exposure will negatively impact that. It’s a process called induction. EMF fields round about will stir up the same fields in our bodies; it’s a sort of sympathy/resonance thing.

You need to minimize your exposure. In practice that means, first and foremost, that you do everything you can to stay away from your cellphone. Don’t think that being in a poor reception area protects you somewhat; it’s the opposite. When the signal is low, the phone will ramp up its power a million-fold, to try and get a connection.

Keep it where you can hear it, if you must. Only connect if it rings. Even then, use speakerphone or hold it at arms length. Some people use remote phones but beware: EMFs can travel up the wires and get straight into your head, via your ears! Choose your equipment carefully.

6. Sugar.

Without doubt, the single most inflammatory substance we put in our bodies is sugar. Period.

It’s impossible to overstate how dangerous this substance is. In centuries past, heart disease, diabetes, etc. were unknown. In 1700, the average Briton consumed 4 lbs of sugar per year! By 1800, Americans ate an average of 18 lbs of sugar per year. Today that has risen 10-fold to 180 lbs a year. Remember, that is the average, so some people will eat far less than that, some will eat FAR MORE.

As a result, diabetes, atherosclerosis, dementia, obesity, even cancer, are far more prevalent than they once were. Professor John Rudkin wrote a great book called Pure White and Deadly. They crucified him for it (literally), we have all the documentation showing the evil plot of the sugar manufacturers to destroy this poor man and his work.

They also set out to destroy the human race (you, me, everyone) by burying the truth as deep as they could. They KNOW that sugar kills mercilessly; yet they still go on manufacturing and selling it.

It’s in EVERYTHING: bread, hams, breakfast cereal, yoghurt, salad dressing,   sauces and spreads. As well as, obviously, in cakes, muffins and cookies, plus fruits and some vegetables. The average American consumes 22 spoons of sugar daily, according to the American Heart Association. 

AND, don’t forget milk is mainly a sugar food (more so than fat). Skimmed milk is WORSE, because without the fat, it’s basically just water and lactose.

Sugar KILLS. Inflammation is the mechanism.

7. Insulin Resistance

In a way, this is directly related to #6. However, not quite! The key point to grasp is that insulin is highly inflammatory in its own right. It’s the WORST thing on this list in that respect.

When you eat too much sugar, your body produces insulin, to try to sequester it away into body fat. After a while your body stops listening and blood sugar soars. That’s called diabetes! The insulin climbs and climbs and climbs, still struggling to cope with the excess sugar in the blood (mainly glucose, of course).

But insulin is inflammatory, damaging heart, kidneys, liver, brain, blood vessels. It becomes a vicious cycle because, as in #3, inflammation promotes weight gain and weight gain promotes more inflammation. Insulin is in there, making it all worse.

It’s a mess. The result? You die! Literally: diabetic patients die early, NO MATTER HOW CAREFULLY THEY CONTROL BLOOD SUGAR WITH DRUGS, ETC.

Bet your doctor never told you that.

The Way Out

“The best way out is the way through…” Robert Frost, poet.

The ONLY way out is to cut back on carbs a lot and cut out sugar completely. That means your blood sugar starts to fall; you start losing weight; which means you need less insulin; which means inflammation starts to die down; which means you lose weight quicker; which means you are soon healthier and—if you keep it up—eventually inflammation is conquered and you live well.

It will take a little time. But hey! Who is in a hurry to die?

This one action (cutting out carbs and sugar) is the key to living longer. All your numbers—weight, inflammatory markers, blood sugar, fasting insulin—all start trending to normal.

Do a good job and you should live an above average lifespan and certainly a much better health span!

Just do it!

To your good health,

Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

A man called Alan Titchmarsh is a pretty big cheese on English TV. He started out as a TV celebrity gardener and was very good. Eventually he got an amusing gig called Ground Force, in which he revealed his incredible sense of humor.

Alan Titchmarsh is these days rightly considered a UK “national treasure”!

That was no doubt a factor in him getting to become a TV presenter. I followed his career, because I love gardening, and eventually Alan got to head up a major BBC lunchtime non-gardening initiative called “Pebble Mill At One” (Pebble Mill was the BBC headquarters in Birmingham but shown nationally across Britain).

So I was quite impressed when I was invited on to his show, to explain about food allergies. We had a feature case, a delightful lass called Josie, who had been the center of media attention that week, because I had found and proven that she got drunk (yes, intoxicated) eating potatoes.

Not so weird, I had plenty of cases like that; different foods, of course. As I explained to Alan on air, a food allergen will act like a toxin and if it poisons certain parts of the brain, like alcohol does, a person will be first stimulated (like somebody inebriated or silly) and then pass out (drunk under the table, as we say), as it gets worse.

We did nearly an hour of live TV on this theme.

With me so far?

Well, Alan has a great new TV series called “Love Your Weekend”, on Sunday mornings. And it so happens I can get the program on my French TV. Once again, it’s a magazine format and his guests are many, varied and interesting.

BUT—and a big BUT (no sniggering at the back)—I am dismayed to find the chief sponsor for his program is Jeyes Fluid, the chemical firm.*

Not just that but their ad slogan is “clean space, clear mind”. THAT I strongly object to; it’s a lie (and now we’ve arrived at our destination):

Chemicals do NOT and never will = clear mind. I have had thousands of patients knocked silly by ambient chemicals in the environment, to the point of not being able to think straight. I’m going to stand up for them.

I was one of the first pioneers among doctors finding and treating patients with environmental chemical sensitivity (ECS). In time it became obvious that some individuals were sensitive to environmental chemicals. It is hard to describe this as an allergy; probably the term ‘low-grade poisoning’ would be better since many of these chemicals would make anyone exposed to them in sufficient concentration feel ill.

The problem is just that certain individuals react to smaller doses. We are all subject to a barrage of alien chemicals in our bodies (Greek word: xenobiotics, meaning alien to life). We have chemical pathways in our bodies designed to remove toxic substances: a process called detoxication or more correctly biotransformation. The trouble is these new man-made chemicals have no equivalent in nature and so we do not have the right systems in our body to fully eliminate the toxicity. In fact, in its attempts to deal with the problem the body sometimes, by mistake, actually coverts these xenobiotics into something even more toxic¹

It’s a self-perpetuating problem, since the alien chemicals can poison the enzyme pathways that are there to remove them. The result is that sick and sensitive people get sicker and sicker. Pioneer UK psychiatrist Richard Mackarness christened these patients “chemical victims.”²

The media used extreme phrases like “allergic to the twentieth century” and there is no doubt that for these sufferers, our modern techno-chemical society is a nightmare. Increasing numbers of people simply cannot accommodate the everyday load of ambient chemicals and it begins to undermine their health in many unsuspected ways.

In my radical 1986 book Allergies: What Everyone Should Know (London, Unwins) I introduced the term “human canaries”. The phrase seems to have caught on. This likens chemically sensitive people to the canaries taken down mines in olden days. If the bird fell dead it meant that the air was dangerous and a warning to humans to get out fast. It seems to me that we have many human canaries today but few people are heeding the warnings.

Let me give just one case example: a very pleasant lady who simply could not  cope with fabric treatment chemicals. She would go in to a clothing shop and before she had walked 10 paces, she would forget why she was there! So she would pick a pair of cheap panties, pay and leave, thoroughly humiliated.

She probably had more pairs of knickers than Imelda Marcos had shoes!

Overload

The phenomenon of chemical overload and the chemically-sensitive patient is one that we have created for ourselves with our advanced lifestyle. Toxic volatile chemicals, such as benzene, formaldehyde, methacrylate, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene, phthalates and styrene, can come from many sources in the home (this particular list of substances are all given off by new carpets).

Then there are more chemicals at work; some are recognized occupational hazards and strictly controlled, but the majority are not considered “occupational”: photocopy fluid, glues, plastics, paper treatments, inks, dyes, fabric treatments, flame-proofing, and so on.

I particularly object to the concept of spoofily-named “air fresheners”, when all they do is add more chemicals to the air, in an attempt to disguise existing contaminants. It is rather like taking dirty trench water to wash away stains — “Not logical”, as Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy, not Dr. Spock the pediatrician) would have said.

In my view it is unarguable that we will all go under if we don’t soon start to reduce the total chemical load in our environment. This is not merely green politics but an out and out survival issue. There is dirty work afoot and that, of course, means Big Business dollars getting in on the act and perverting truth. We are told we need most of this chemical junk, that pesticides “save lives” and “help grow more crops”, which we need to feed the planet, and so on.

I am not in the agribusiness, I’m a doctor. My take on this is very simple and very blunt: the word “pesticide” is a con trick. Plant and animal physiology does not recognize human value judgements, such as “useful” and “nuisance” life forms. The correct word is biocide, which means that it kills any life (including us), not just pests.

And there’s another con trick the spin merchants work on us: the idea of “responsible” or “controlled use” of toxic substances and talk of “reducing” usage levels is meaningless and dishonest: chemicals in the environment persist. Last year’s output is added to that of the year before, to this year’s, next year’s and so on. It’s cumulative.

There are already enough xenobiotic substances in our environment, working their way through the water table and eco-system, to keep us all sick for decades, even if output was curtailed tomorrow, which you will agree is a pretty unlikely event in any case.

Sorry Alan, for this outpouring. I love you and your sense of humor. I listen in rapt awe when you talk about plants. But pick your backers more carefully, please! They are trying to piggy-back you to get the “green” ticket!

To your good health,

Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

References:

1. Casarett and Doull’s Toxicology. Basic Science of Poisons. Third Edition, Editors: Klaasen CD, Amdur MO, Doull J, Macmillan, New York 1986.

2. Mackarness R. Chemical Victims, Pan Books, London, 1980.

*Footnote: Jeyes Fluid is a brand of disinfectant, patented by John Jeyes in 1877, and granted a Royal Warrant to the British Royal Family in 1896. While no longer used for this purpose, Jeyes Fluid has been used in historical medical treatments: patients were once bathed in water with Jeyes Fluid added, as an antiseptic treatment. It contains chlorocresol (ugh!), tars, phenols and iso-propyl alcohol (batty Hulda Clark would turn over in her grave!)

An allergic reaction is what your immune system causes when confronted with something to which it has developed a sensitivity.  Allergies can come in many different forms.

Most Common Allergens

• Foods
• Dust
• Insects
• Animal dander
• Plants and mold
• Latex
• Prescription or over-the-counter drugs

The front-runner for most allergic reactions is food…and more than 32 million Americans (including more than 5 million children) have been diagnosed with a mild to severe allergy to a specific food.

That doesn’t count all the people who have undiagnosed allergies – who don’t even know they are allergic!  Do you know the most common (and uncommon) signs of food allergies?

When most people think about food allergies, they are familiar with those shown in movies.  Anaphylaxis shock due to an allergy to one of the Big 8 (eggs, seafood, milk, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, soy, and wheat) is used as a “plot device” to create drama or suspense in books and movies because without treatment, it can lead to coma or death.

There are approximately 30,000 cases of emergency room visits in the United States involving anaphylaxis annually and around 200 people die as a result of severe reactions to allergens.

The “well known” signs of food allergies…

• A tightening of the airways and inability to breathe
• Swelling in the throat that feels like a blockage
• Severe drop in blood pressure
• Lightheadedness to the point of passing out

There are other symptoms and signs of food allergies that you might ignore because they aren’t severe enough to cause you concern.  The problem with ignoring them is that the more you expose yourself (even unknowingly) to a food that stimulates an immune response, the greater your risk of your reaction worsening over time.

For instance, someone who is allergic to peanuts (or any of the 8 most dangerous allergens) may have an episode that is mild the first time.  The next time, their body’s reaction will be slightly worse…and then worse the time after that until eventually, they risk anaphylaxis.

Some allergies are so severe that anaphylaxis is induced with the first episode!

Now, an undiagnosed food allergy may cause a lesser response.  In fact, it may be a food that consistently “doesn’t agree with your stomach” or other similar effects.  Symptoms of an allergic reaction involving food can develop quickly (within minutes) or take as long as two hours.

Food Allergy Signs You Might Be Ignoring

• Itching, tingling, or numbness in or around the mouth

• Splotchy or itchy spots on your skin

• Unexplained “puffiness” above the neck (can happen elsewhere on the body)

• Irritated sinuses, congestion, or difficulty breathing

• Stomach upset that includes cramps in the abdomen, bloating, gas, diarrhea, or nausea

• Feeling dizzy or lightheaded to the point of passing out

• Fatigue, lack of energy, or moodiness after eating

• Pain in the muscles and joints

• Trouble sleeping

• Problems with concentration or recall

Sensitivity, intolerance, and allergies to foods – especially entire food groups – can lead to other conditions and nutritional deficiency.  Finding the underlying cause to what is making you sick is more important than many people realize.

Get to the Root of the Problem!

Long-term exposure to foods your body can’t handle results in inflammation.  Unchecked inflammation is the root cause for as much as 90% chronic conditions and diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

When the problem is with the foods you consume, symptoms may overlap and be misdiagnosed.  Most doctors treat the symptoms rather than the whole body and often miss the big picture!

The secret to being mentally sharp, physically fit, and looking ten years younger is not about what you should eat…it’s all about what you should stop eating!

That part of the equation is so critical to your overall health.  I’ve written about it in my book “One Diet For Life” but don’t let the name fool you!  “One Diet For Life” isn’t some fad weight loss plan or a rambling about the latest and greatest “miracle pill.”

It’s all about the foods *you* can and cannot tolerate.  Specific to you as an individual that won’t work for anyone else on the planet…not even a parent, sibling, or child.

That’s right!  The key to fantastic health cannot be duplicated from person to person because what works for you might not work for me (and the opposite is also true).  Naturally, there are “healthy” foods that all of us need but that doesn’t mean that everyone can tolerate them equally.

A natural side effect of eating the best foods for you is better health, feeling amazing, and being in a better position to control your weight.

I was one of the pioneers in the food allergy movement in the 1970s and 1980s.  Over the years of treating my patients, I learned that the most important thing about nutrition is not what you are lacking, but what you are eating that your body isn’t able to process well.

You need a system that allows you to work out what’s right for your individual body.  Sure, it can take focus and time but the result will be how good you feel eating the best foods (that your body loves) and avoiding the wrong foods (that send your body into chaos).

It all boils down to listening to your body, not ignoring the milder signs of food allergies, and doing what makes it feel great.

Get my book “One Diet For Life” right now and let’s work out your optimum eating plan together!

My friend Lloyd has a harrowing story. One day, it started becoming VERY painful for him to use a cell phone. He didn’t know why. So he started looking into the research. And what he found goes WAY beyond anything you’ve heard about.

He found that the last time cell phone safety standards were updated was 1996…

He found independent research that PROVES just 30 minutes a day of cell phone use can increase your brain cancer risk by 40%…

And he found that hidden disclaimers in your cell phone manual (have you read it?) freely admit that keeping your cell phone close to your body is DANGEROUS.

Now, it’s not all doom and gloom. See below. Let me just take the platform for a short while:

Back in 1984 I started noticing that some patients at my “extraordinary allergy clinic” in Manchester, UK, began complaining about headaches and feeling unwell when they switched on the television.

The obvious joke was crappy programs!

But seriously, my first interpretation was chemical residues from wired heating up, when the TV was switched on. Lots of people were known to be sensitive to trace chemicals, so it made sense for a while.

But within a year, it was obvious that the real cause was the EMF field given off by the TV. Patients were getting charged up and feeling dizzy and sick, when near any EMF device (no cell phones in those days, remember).

It’s a phenomenon called electro-magnetic induction. It’s basic physics, yet denied by most so-called scientific “experts”.

I already had a unique population of patients, many of who carried serious electric charges. My long-suffering nurses were constantly getting severe static electricity shocks, even sparks would fly sometimes!

That’s when I started teaching electrical grounding. I was a leader in this. Here are my notes in a 1988 book The Allergy Handbook, published mid-80s:

What does an electrically sensitive patient do to cope with our modern environment? As with all allergies, we say avoid it! That isn’t easy, of course, though some are so ill they need to move to the country (avoiding overhead transmission lines), to get away from the worst urban concentrations.

If you can’t avoid it, other steps may be necessary. One patient finds he is helped by wearing a copper plate on his back, wrapped in fabric to fit a wide belt. Others have tried metal screens, from foil to chicken wire, and some swear it helps.

Science tells us, however, that to be truly effective, such a screen would need to be many inches thick, and clearly this is impracticable. My personal advice is to avoid this sort of approach until we understand the subject better. It is possible for metal to concentrate the field, instead of dissipating it. This would clearly be harmful.

Another approach is earthing (grounding). One way to do this, silly as it sounds, is to go outdoors barefoot. Contact with the earth will remove static build-up within the body. Feeling the grass between your toes may be more than just a poetic way to feel good. It may the best way we have to dump toxic electrical burdens.

This is the exact opposite effect to our modern buildings, where synthetic carpets and dry air-conditioning help to build up considerable static charges. Such static build ups contribute to the sick building syndrome.

If outdoor earthing isn’t practical, trail a wire round your wrist while sleeping and connect it to the central heating pipes or some other metal ‘earth’. Standing barefoot on an earthed metal plate is another solution BUT BE CAREFUL. You must avoid the temptation to do this while handling electrical appliances. A comparatively minor accidental shock could well turn into a fatal one if you ignore this caution.

These tricks can easily become a habit, and patients swear by the beneficial results. It begins to sound cranky. I think it is better to keep these remedies for times when you really need them and not become psychologically dependent on such props.

Synthetic fabrics, of course, create static, and are best avoided. Wear only cotton and silks where possible, especially next to the skin (underwear). Women might like to know that tights with a cotton gusset and soles to the feet are available. These will allow discharge to the floor; and reportedly feel better.

So here’s another “I told ‘Em!”, a quarter of a century before the pack. I recently remarked to Stephen Sinatra on me being probably the first pioneer to write about the value of earthing. He was astonished, to say the least! He thought he was the discoverer.

Here’s a bit more from the same book:

There is something special about allergic patients and electricity. Many of them seem able to cause damage to electrical equipment: kettles burn out, plugs explode, TV sets stop working, electric clocks go backwards…

These and many other strange occurrences tell us that something out of the ordinary is happening. We don’t as yet know what it is, but to scoff – just because you don’t understand – is the hallmark of a fool. Sadly, there are plenty of these, even among so-called experts.

Some cases on record are truly remarkable. Certain individuals seem able to disrupt whole computer or telephone systems, merely by their presence. A number of strange individuals have been struck by lightning, many times over (see The Guinness Book of Records). There are even cases of people able to illuminate light bulbs just by holding them in their hands.

Surprisingly, these curious individuals seem unharmed by their unusual electrical nature. The unfortunate fact, however; is that the majority of electrical sensitives are made ill by their experiences and, until recently, theirs was an unhappy lot. Nobody knew the cause of the trouble. They were, if you like, ‘allergic to electricity’.

See my later book Medicine Beyond for other examples, such as the “electric girl” Angélique Cottin of La Perière, France. At the age of fourteen a strange condition befell her in which any object she went near would retreat from her, as if pushed, like magnets repelling each other. The mere touch of her hand was enough to send heavy furniture flying away from her. No one could hold down the furniture or stop it moving violently.

Get Medicine Beyond here: LINK 

Now We Understand Better

My experiences began over 30 years ago. Now the condition of electrical sensitivity is widely recognized. So much so, my friend Lloyd has brought together over 30 of the world’s top experts on this underreported epidemic (including yours truly). And they’re set to go public with their discoveries on June 14th.

If you’re suffering or worried about any of the diseases on that list, I urge you to attend, it’s FREE plus I am featured in it. Go here now to get signed up!

One bright spark to another!

Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

I wrote this in my 1986 book, Allergies: What Everyone Should Know (Unwin, London). I was feted by the BBC for numerous interviews about this ground-breaking book. But one interviewer—Nancy Wise of the BBC World Service—was obviously not convinced.

She sent a roving microphone out onto the streets on London, outside Bush House, and they stopped people to question them about it. I had no idea of this trick when I agreed to the interview or even when I showed up! But in fact Nancy told me this, live on air! The outcome was that 18 out of 20 people stopped said “Yes, I do have a food allergy.”

You need to ask the right questions. Many people say “I don’t have any allergies to food,” but will admit that chocolate gives them a headache, or eating onions causes their joints to swell, eggs give them bellyache, or whatever…

Suffice it to say that Nancy was impressed and she gave me a very friendly interview.

I have always held to the view that reactions to food are very common indeed. A great many of the problems are simply missed (not observed) and Amelia Nathan-Hill, I think it was, coined the expression “the unsuspected enemy”. It sums it up nicely. Doctors are not going to find food allergies if they don’t look for them (using an effective testing method).

What I investigated in my early years was rubbished as “mumby-jumbo” in the local hospitals. Eventually they had to eat crow. Nevertheless, orthodox doctors have fought tooth and nail over the decades, to insist that food allergies are very rare: 5%, then it went up to 7%, 10%. Recently, I notice, it has suddenly gone up to 20%!

According to the January 4 report in JAMA Network Open, among more than 40,000 US adults surveyed, 10.8 percent reported the kinds of severe symptoms that are consistent with a recognized food allergy, and another 8.2 percent said they believed they had food allergies, but their symptoms suggested other causes.

That’s the usual scientific hubris: it couldn’t have been a food allergy; it was more likely to have been… (whatever the doctor wants to dream up “scientifically”). It’s weird how doctors think they know more than their patients! The point is, taking the reporting as given, one in five adults are aware of having a reaction to food.

That’s a long way from reaching the 95% mark, but we’re getting there.

It will be higher when doctors realize that food and other allergies can cause an almost blinding array of symptoms, from depression, ADHD and anxiety, to arthritis, eczema and irritable bowel. Recognized allergy symptoms, such as dermatitis, hives and asthma are only a small part of the whole.

“The main message from the survey is that one in five adults have some kind of food related conditions that are causing them to avoid certain foods,” said Dr. Ruchi Gupta of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “And one in 10 has what looks convincingly like a food allergy – and of those, only half are getting a proper diagnosis by a physician.”

It was a rather strange survey, truth told. Gupta and her colleagues turned to two internet-based panels of people, who agreed to fill out surveys for a small remuneration: the AmeriSpeak panel and a panel put together by SSI Dynamix, a market research company. All told, 40,433 US adults completed the food allergy survey, for which they received $5 each.

Those deemed to have a food allergy had least one convincing food allergy symptom, which meant a severe reaction involving the skin or oral mucosa, gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular or respiratory tract.

People who didn’t have these reactions were assumed to have a food intolerance, such as celiac disease or lactose intolerance, or a non-allergy mediated reaction in the mouth.

It’s a moot point that has been debated over the years. Gastroenterologists and immunologists INSIST that food allergy means only a reaction mediated by antibodies. When there is no immunological evidence, that allows them to dismiss the patient as an idiot or faker, who doesn’t know what he or she is talking about.

So if he or she eats apples and gets severe migraines (one of my many cases), he or she is deluded. It “couldn’t be” and therefore it must be all in the mind! The patient was weak-minded and was making up the story of reactions to food in order to cover their inadequacy. Back in the day, the patient was often referred to a psychiatrist.

IT WAS NEVER QUESTIONED THAT THE DOCTOR HAD MISSED THE REAL DIAGNOSIS BY FAILING TO EVEN LOOK FOR IT!

Back To The Survey

Among those who were determined to have a “real” food allergy, 48 percent reported developing at least one of their allergies in adulthood, while 26.9 percent developed food allergies only in adulthood. The most common foods causing allergies in these adults were shellfish, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and fish.

Fewer than a half of the people with food allergies (47.5 percent), said they had gotten a diagnosis from a physician, 38.3 percent reported they had been to the emergency room for a life-threatening reaction, while fewer than one quarter (24 percent) said they had a prescription for epinephrine to be used in case of a severe reaction. So the problem is still being negligently under-diagnosed.

The thing that seemed to startle orthodox doctors was that food allergies are being developed in adulthood. Apparently, patients are not supposed to do that! (why? Because doctors haven’t thought of it yet!)

Dr. Gupta herself reported hearing adults saying they used to be able to eat a food like shellfish, but had to give it up because of severe reactions, she was most surprised that among those with food allergies, “almost half reported developing at least one food allergy as an adult. That’s a big number.”

Food allergies haven’t been studied much in adults, so “I think this is a really important article,” said Dr. William Reisacher, director of allergy services at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. “There was definitely a need for a study like this. The results are very compelling. It was thought that maybe four to five percent of adults had food allergies. This is double that.”

No, Dr Reisacher, it was four or five times more than that.

Reisacher was among those surprised at how many people had developed food allergies in adulthood. “It makes you wonder what is happening in adults causing all these allergies,” he said.

Try answering yourself junk food and mass vaccinations, Dr. Reisacher!

The new study “points to the fact that this is not something that receives a lot of attention and it needs to receive more attention,” said Dr. Corinne Keet, an allergy specialist at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. “We think of food allergies as a childhood disease and clearly there are a lot of adults who have food allergies and their management and treatment may be different from children’s.”

According to this Dr. Keet, “Almost half of the people who thought they had food allergies in this study did not. That’s a lot of people on unnecessary elimination diets that could have consequences in terms of cost, worry and nutritional impact.”

Keet is really wrong. The surveyors said it was ASSUMED that they did not have a legitimate allergy. Their position was that some reported symptoms “suggested” there were other causes. No testing was done to exclude a food allergy in that group of patients. They simply dismissed the reports that didn’t suit their prejudice.

So Keet is talking off the top of her head. Making it up as she goes along. You see how easily and quickly science and facts get twisted and mis-reported.

Just for fun, I tried to find an image of me back in my pioneer heyday! I couldn’t find me doing tests (had one of my nurses). The best I could find was this one, with the original shock of hair!

(circa 1985)

To your health and happiness, as always!

Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor

SOURCE ARTICLE:

Food Allergies Common in U.S. Adults – Medscape – Jan 04, 2019.

Charles Dickens knew about food allergy and hearing voices. He had Scrooge attribute the ghost of Marley to a bit of food he’d eaten. “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

In fact brain allergy symptoms could be almost ANYTHING, because the brain is the seat of our perceptions.

I’m not saying this to boast, because I was far from the first—just an early adopter. My true mentors were great pioneers: Herbert Rinkel, William Philpott, Bill Rea and the great, the unsurpassed, Theron Randolph. Philpott even wrote a book (1980), with a man I never met, Dwight K. Kalita, called Brain Allergies: The Psychonutrient Connection.

It’s a book every doctor should be FORCED to read. In it there is the amusing story of healing so many patients at the psychiatric hospital, these two pioneers were thrown out! They were ruining business by curing patients mainly with diet. Incidentally, I was also very impressed by their discovery that stopping smoking would cure half the patients anyway.

Smoking is particularly destructive to schizophrenics and, remarkably, orthodox doctors have noticed this too. HOWEVER, THEY STILL HAVE NOT COME TO A CONSENSUS TO STOP PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS FROM SMOKING! Duh!

All this brings me to my pivotal book PSYCHIATRY WITHOUT DRUGS (originally published as “Transforming Mental Health”, which was not my choice). The theme of the entire book is that almost NOBODY is mentally ill. The real root cause of the patient’s struggles in mind and spirit is always found to be some physical issue, like hormone imbalance, extreme chemical sensitivity, vitamin and mineral deficiency, stealth pathogens, systemic inflammation, or—my special favorite—food allergies. Often, of course, there was a mixture of these issues.

The patient’s problem was his or her lifestyle, not “mental illness” (which is almost impossible to define anyway). Things often got complicated because a person mis-diagnosed and left to suffer mentally for decades is likely to end up psychologically disturbed, as a result of that failure and neglect, not as a prime disease. Depression was the very least of these responses I saw. Wouldn’t you feel depressed if you’d spent years hearing voices and psychiatrists said (as they still do) “There are no voices, you’re crazy”?

OF COURSE THERE ARE VOICES. We all hear them inside our head. Noisy and silly voices are not a disease or illness; they are a disorder, at most. I’ll abandon  that thread here but not without remarking that my book PSYCHIATRY WITHOUT DRUGS: SAFE HOLISTIC SOLUTIONS TO STRUGGLES OF MIND AND SPIRIT features the “Hearing Voices” movement, in which patients are tossing their pills, ignoring the psychiatrist and talking to their “voices”, which then settle down, once acknowledge as REAL!

Hearing Voices was founded in n1987 by Dutch couple: Prof Marius Romme, psychiatrist, and Sandra Escher, social worker, seen together here:

There have been few more humanitarian developments in Western medicine in the last 50 years!

So What’s This About?

It’s not about Dickens or Christmas! It’s about yet another very interesting study, along the lines of my fabulous book. It showed how much probiotics could help bipolar disorder: about 100 times more effective than stupid, dangerous drugs! But then, a hug works wonders that meds can never do!

Bipolar disorder (used to be called manic-depressive psychosis) can be a debilitating disease. It’s very hard on patients, family, colleagues, and friends too. The manic phases can profoundly disrupt people’s quality of life. The person can be so active, ambitious, positive and without boundaries, that he or she becomes a menace. This is the patient who will be found naked in the park, on a mission to teach the world about love.

Sadly, recently in Arizona, a naked man wandering the stress in distress was shot dead by a policewoman, armed to the teeth with weapons, because (I quote) “The moment was very intense”. Who was the real psychopath here? Where does this jittery officer suppose a naked man could hide a weapon? Or was she overcome with the size of his weapon? (joke)

The strange thing is the way the bipolar patient cycles, up and down. There are times when he or she is entirely “normal” (on the way up or the way down, same). But the hardest times are when he or she is most active. The patient is a menace to their own self.

Reminds me: I got called to attend a raving manic case one night, about 3.00 am. “Armed and dangerous” was the report. When I arrived, I thought “Thank God, there are two cops to help me out.” But they just said “He’s in there, Doc “, pointed through the door, and left me to it! The patient was sitting dejectedly, holding a knife and sobbing. He probably just needed someone to talk to. Unfortunately, I was bound in those years to forcibly admit him to hospital for care.

Back to the 2019 study: researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine designed an interesting protocol to determine if probiotics could help people who had been discharged after a manic flare-up to avoid rehospitalization. The study randomized 66 patients with bipolar disorder who had been admitted to hospital for mania. They were divided into two groups of 33 patients and given either a combination of two probiotic species (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium) or a placebo.

All patients were asked to continue taking their regular bipolar medications and followed for a total of 24 weeks. Importantly, before the start of the study, the researchers identified which patients had higher markers of inflammation (that is, people with most overall inflammation in their body).

The results were striking, to say the least. Probiotics more than HALVED the rates of rehospitalization (51% in the placebo group and 24% in the group who took probiotics. Put another way, the reduction in readmission was 74% lower in the probiotic combination compared with the placebo group. DON’T LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THE PLACEBO GROUP WERE TAKING DRUGS SUPPOSED TO SUITABLY MANAGE THEIR CONDITION.

But the most significant finding was an almost 90% reduction of hospitalization in the group with the highest inflammation score and who took probiotics. Additionally, patients who took probiotics and were rehospitalized stayed in the hospital on average 2.8 days, compared with 8.3 days for those taking placebo (almost 2/3rds less in the probiotic group).

No drugs could even come close to that success.

The latter stats speak to costs because it’s not cheap to keep a psychiatric patient in hospital—and don’t get me started on the inhuman brutalization of patients in there, or the eventual costs of THAT (it’s the first thing I address in the introduction to my book though: A PROFESSION WANTING OF HUMANITY).

Mental Disorders and Gut Health

There is growing body of evidence that mood disorders may be related to overall inflammation and to changes in the bowel flora (aka. the microbiome), We have learned that probiotics may help improve a variety of health conditions, in part due to their anti-inflammatory effect.

This study adds to the growing body of data that suggest gut flora has an effect on psychiatric states. As Marcelo Campos, MD, wrote for the Harvard Health Blog, June 25th, 2018, “We still do not know if an intestinal microbiome disarray is the cause of mania and bipolar disorder. However, this research supports an assertion that overall inflammation is associated with gut inflammation, which in turn can modulate mood disorders, or at least severe cases of mania for bipolar patients.”

But evidence for a “gut-brain axis principle” is more robust, especially after some studies showing that the type of bacteria that live in our bowels could cause brain inflammation. This most recent research indicates that we could potentially manage the symptoms of severe cases of bipolar disorder merely by changing the makeup of our microbiome.

I’d go further and say that changing the diet (food allergies) is even more crucial. I treated hundreds.

The new Johns Hopkins study was small, but the selected patient population had a more severe form of bipolar disorder. All the more remarkable then that they were helped so dramatically. Similar studies for patients with milder symptoms of depression and schizophrenia found little to no effect when comparing probiotics to standard treatment.

But it’s cheap and safe to add probiotics to regular mood medication and it has the potential to save a patient from an onerous and more or less ineffective system.

I’ll drink to that… And to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Cheers!

Don’t forget the book

ORDER NOW. PRINT OR DOWNLOAD

References: 
1. Bipolar Disorder. 2018 Nov;20(7):614-621. doi: 10.1111/bdi.12652. Epub 2018 Apr 25

I’ve said before that most so-called “scientists” today do not investigate the truth. They try to prove some pre-determined point of view (“We conducted a trial to prove that…” sort of approach) You can often tell what they are after by seeing what they chose to measure.

Here the industry is setting out to trash the reputation of probiotics (despite thousands of studies showing clear benefit). They chose yoghurt, NOT probiotics, but we’ll let that pass for the moment. This was with some pretty hokey “science”.

Not that the clinical findings can be ignored but that their interpretation of results could be way off the mark.

Goof #1: First of all they studied YOGHURT, not probiotics. There’s the world of difference. Yoghurt is a dairy food, which could be a major confounding problem, as we will see. Real probiotics for humans would be bifido bacteria, not lactobacillus, as in yoghurt.

Goof #2. Vagueness, not precision. “…if you inadvertently colonise your small bowel with probiotic bacteria, then you have set the stage for potentially developing lactic acidosis and brain fogginess,” says the study’s lead researcher and gastroenterologist Satish S.C. Rao. Note the use of the word “potentially”, not provably.

Goof #3. Probiotics plus sugar in food caused brain fogginess. Therefore the cause was the probiotics, they say, NOT SUGAR. That’s idiotic. Sugar causes brain fog and lethargy in all individuals, not just those taking probiotics.

Goof #4. “Probiotics should be treated as a drug,” Rao says, “not as a food supplement.” Since when is yoghurt a drug? But Rao says the experience of the patients he and his team clinically observed over three years shows nobody should casually or indiscriminately be taking probiotics without taking medical advice.

I think all that Rao and his team actually proved was that you should NOT take advice on probiotics from a trained doctor. You’ll get sick. That much he DID PROVE, incontrovertibly! The rest is mainly hogwash.

Dairy Allergy

Many years ago (1980s) I was interviewed by the BBC (before I got christened the world’s “Number One Allergy Detective” Sunday Mail 1990). I found myself saying that if I was allowed to ban just one food for humans, I’d ban milk. At a stroke I could cure hundreds of millions of individuals, from diseases such as migraine, irritable bowel, arthritis, eczema, diabetes and even cancer (they wouldn’t let me say the latter, of course).

Yes, I could have picked wheat. But on the spur of the moment I chose milk. It causes more misery, brain fog, emotional disturbance, wrecked organs, chronic fatigue, bowel disturbance, immune suppression and other mischief than even grains (DON’T write to me about raw milk. Milk carries and creates a whole raft of disorders).

Oxford don Robert Burton (1577 – 1640) wrote a great classic called The Anatomy of Melancholy (he himself suffered from severe depression from time to time).

But Burton was smart. He observed that, “Milk, and all that comes of milk, as butter and choose, curds, etc. increase melancholy (whey only excepted, which is most wholesome).” I’ve quoted all this in my diet masterpiece DIET WISE. He didn’t know what a food allergy was. But he knew well that milk can be a virtual poison.

So did Rao’s team eliminate milk allergy as a possible influence? Of course not. The idiots didn’t even seem aware that that’s what they were mainly measuring.

What They Did Find

One finding was incontrovertible: taking a lot of probiotics causes a lactic acidosis. That itself is enough to make a patient feel groggy and headachy. But we knew that, back in the 1980s, long before probiotics were on the rise.

In fact it’s caused by an allergic reaction, NOT probiotics bacteria.

Don’t get me started here because this is the origin of the deadly myth that eating “alkaline” foods and water cures every disease known to man. So does cider vinegar: aka. acetic acid! Both acid and alkali does the same job? Cure all?

This stupid myth needs to die because it KILLS people. About 50% of people with cancer will die quicker if they alkalize (Emanuel Revici). Have you ever read that on the Web with these self-styled health researchers? Of course not. They all circulate the same mistakes.

But we knew back in the day that if someone had a strong allergic reaction, he or she would turn rapidly acid (lower pH), mainly due to lactic acid. All it needed was a dose of “alkali salts” (2 parts sodium bicarb to 1 part potassium bicarb) to relieve the symptoms. We followed that with a mild laxative (Epsom salts) to clear the food residues from the bowel as quickly as possible.

I told all this in my book DIET WISE too!

The entirety of the rest of the myth about acid-alkali is just that: myth. Scientific nonsense. Your kidneys will not tolerate a departure from neutral pH. Drinking alkali water and swallowing “alkaline foods” (all foods are both acid and alkaline, even lemons!) just stresses your kidneys, which has to put things back how they should be!

If you ever felt better by avoiding “acid” foods then you were simply allergic to the food. pH has nothing to do with it.

My point? If you feel lousy taking probiotics, STOP! It will soon clear. Find another source. But you know the single quickest way to improve your bowel flora is not to supplement with probiotics at all. It’s to get keto on an intermittent fasting program. It works within hours, never mind weeks.

I told THAT story in another book: THE ULTIMATE SCIENCE OF WEIGHT LOSS

Bottom Line

Eat right, eat well and fast occasionally, you’ll be healthy and live long.

That’s also the answer to Rao’s silly study. Don’t eat sugar, in any form whatever. That causes overgrowth of bacteria, including probiotic organisms. That will result in feeling bad.

In the study, patients who reported confusion and difficulty concentrating — in addition to experiencing gas and bloating feelings — were found to be harboring large colonies of bacteria breeding in their small intestines, with high levels of D-lactic acid being produced by bacterial fermentation of sugars in their food.

They reported some striking cases, such as: One patient had recurrent near syncopal (fainting) episodes after carbohydrate-rich meals. Another patient’s symptoms caused her to be bed-ridden for up to a week after consuming a large carbohydrate-rich meal. But surely the cause is the sugar, not poor old lactobacillus microbes?

Another patient had symptoms of bloating and brain fog with a blistering rash on the palms. That’s surely a food allergy, not a probiotic reaction. Duh! C’mon Rao. You’re not even taking a stab at logic here!

Prof.

SOURCE ARTICLE: Clinical and Translational Gastroenterologyvolume 9, Article number: 162 (2018)