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Hail My Symptoms

By On · Add Comment · In body aches, cough, fever, immune system, Innate Inteligence, medicine, microorganisms, sneezing, swine flu, symptoms

Well, I’m feeling under the weather today. Swine flu, I think. Again. Third time this year. I’m feverish, body aches, severe runny nose, sneezing, not sneezing but feeling like I have to (hate that), and slight chills.

But it just reminds me that my symptoms are welcome. Yes, welcome–thank god for symptoms–because they are my body’s way of protecting me from dangerous microorganisms.

The fever increases my body temperature to a level not safe for many microbes. The runny nose, sneezing, and cough expel any unwanted germ from my mucous membranes, where they like to attach before invading. The chills and body aches are the environment’s response to the ongoing war between my immune system and the invaders it’s fighting. Think of it as the beating any battlefield takes during wartime–Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, a Sumo dohyō, you get it.

I’m not generally a drug-taking guy. Saying that, I will take a med if it’s useful to me at the time. So, you all remember when I cracked my tooth a year ago? Motrin’d it. Didn’t mess around–I was hurtin’ big time. Then there was the time I had appendicitis. Morphine’d it. Thank goodness for narcotics–they’re useful, no doubt. But I don’t run to antibiotics, or cold medicine, or anything like that when I’m sick because I’m really of the belief that the body knows what to do and when to do it–it has an incredible innate inteligence directing it. And I’m confident in my body’s Innate Intelligence to handle most things that come its way.

So I’m celebrating my innate ability to heal by embracing my body’s symptoms. I’m at work today and everybody coming in knows my status. If they are freaked out about it, they are not required to stay. I wash my hand one thousand times a day, anyway…but I double that when I’m symptomatic.

Anyway, I kind of value the times when I feel under the weather, because, frankly, it allows me to get some much needed rest, so I ain’t complaining. Five more hours and I’ll get to become more intimate with my bed.

My Gift to My Family

By On · Add Comment · In atlas, C1 vertebra, chiropractic adjustment, cold, cough, fever, Gordon the Express Train, neck adjustment, runny nose, sick, vomit

As I’ve been keeping you all updated, Delilah, my daughter, has been sick. She’s got a nasty cold, the one that many of you have probably had, too; you know, runny nose, incessant cough, fever. She has been better–that is, no fever–but the cough has been waking her (and us) at night. She sometimes coughs so much that she throws up. Much of that, I think is because she doesn’t yet know how to blow her nose or clear her bronchioles, so she’s swallowing all the mucus. When she vomits (it’s more like an upchuck) it’s a mucousy spittle.

Anyway, yesterday was pretty bad in that she hadn’t slept but a few hours. The cough kept her up most of the night–it was awful. Since I hadn’t adjusted her in awhile, I thought I’d check her neck. I had her turn her head left, then right–she had way more movement to the right. So we laid her down, and she struggled a bit. I told her that if she’d let me adjust her I would take her to Barnes and Noble at the Grove and we’d get that Gordon the Express Train from the Thomas the Tank Engine series. She let me. Bribery works really well, I’ve found.

So I went ahead and set her up, neck turned all the way to the left (see picture above), and with a quick move–crack!!!–her neck blasted, louder than I’ve ever heard in a child. Then came the tears. But I just reminded her of Barnes and Noble at the Grove, and of Gordon, and the crying lasted for all of about…oh, ten seconds.

I don’t know if the chiropractic adjustment made her cold any better–her nose is still running today (anyway, that’s health in my opinion, but that’s another blog post, altogether)–but I’ll tell you what happened immediately, she started getting sleepy, and shortly thereafter, she crashed. She stayed asleep for about three hours. And when she woke up, no runny nose, great appetite, very playful–I was psyched, to say the least.

Like I said, she’s still battling the cold. Her nose is a little runny, and she coughed a bit last night; but it didn’t keep her up. She got her Gordon the Express Train, and there were lots of smiles along with it. And she got her atlas (C1 vertebra) adjusted, which, cold or no cold, is good for her health. I’m so happy I have this gift to give to my family.

Laser Printers Release Toxic Emissions

By On · Add Comment · In cancer, cough, laser printers, temperature, toxic dust
I noticed one of my staff members coughing incessantly. “Get that hack checked out,” I’d snarl at her. She had, and nothing out-of-the-ordinary could be found. We’d try to figure it out, ourselves. Biofreeze, she thought. No way; I hardly use it. Air conditioning. Maybe, but every place in L.A. is air conditioned. Something you’re eating? Doubtful; it’s worse at the office.

“It’s me,” I said.

“Without a doubt, but you cause headaches, double vision, and extreme irritation to the point of wanting to commit homicide.” Oh…

But then I came across this story: Australian researchers have found that laser printers release a fine, toxic dust that can cause damage “on the scale of inhaled cigarette smoke“–whenever they were in use. Damage that can results from repeated exposure range from lung irritation to cancer. Apparently, it’s the rise in temperature of the internal printer components, toner and lubricating oil that causes the release of particles. The emitted particles then react with the air and ozone to produce the toxins. The printers’ temperatures, and consequent emissions, peaked at one minute of continuous printing, and then declined. They peaked again at two minutes of continuous printing.

There is variability among both printers and cartridges–I’m including a list of high-emitting laser printers below, but I’ll keep my ears open for any more news on this front. I’m sure nobody will be surprised to hear that the printer manufacturers have fiercely disputed the findings of the Queensland University of Technology research team, but facts are facts. Ink jet printers did not show any toxic emissions.

So, my advice: print small jobs that take less than one minute, let the printer cool, perhaps another couple of minutes, and then print the next small job. Larger jobs can be broken up in the same way, taken to Kinko’s, or started right before lunch when you can leave the room as the toxic particles are forming. Leave windows open if possible; or run an air purifier. And never, ever stop looking for the cause of your hacking cough.

The high-emitting laser printers:

  • HP Color LaserJet 4650dn
  • HP Color LaserJet 5550dtn
  • HP Color LaserJet 8550N
  • HP LaserJet 1320N
  • HP LaserJet 1320n
  • HP LaserJet 2420dn
  • HP LaserJet 4200dtn
  • HP LaserJet 4250n (old)
  • HP LaserJet 4250n (new)
  • HP LaserJet 5(a)
  • HP LaserJet 8000DN
  • HP LaserJet 8150N
  • Toshiba Studio 450

Kids Cough Less With Honey

By On · Add Comment · In children, cold medicine, cough, healing, home remedies, honey, natural products, over-the-counter medications
A new study shows that a spoonful of honey goes a long way in quieting nighttime cough in children. When compared to cough syrup or no treatment at all, honey showed better results. Chalk one up for natural home remedies.

The authors of the study, which appears in the December issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, believe that the honey may work by coating and soothing an irritated throat. The importance of these findings come on the heels of federal health advisories, which have recently warned that over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines shouldn’t be used in children younger than 6 (129 reported deaths from these products since 1969). As a result, manufacturers are taking some products for babies off the market.

I am personally pleased by these findings, not because I’m a “natural products” guy–I think medications are necessary in many instances–but because I really believe that people run far too often to what I think are useless OTC medications. No medication can carry out the healing process–only the body does that; they are simply easing symptoms that accompany, and are necessary for, healing to occur. So give the kids a dollop of honey and let it ride, baby–just let it ride.

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