Change

Some days we have it, some days we don't. Fatigue that is. Occasional drowsiness during the day or lack of interest is a common symptom of fatigue that effects the general population, and doesn't necessarily mean there is a physical, emotional, or psychological problem of any kind. It may mean you worked too hard in the garden yesterday or had a decision that wore you out mentally. These can be overcome easily by changing the habit or process in which you do that particular task. If you've made the change and your everyday responsibilities return without an abundance of fatigue, then you most likely don't suffer from chronic or persistent fatigue.

There are a number of factors that point to a reoccurring fatigue problem. Chronic fatigue usually lasts for six months or longer and interferes with daily function. The number one problem is an overgrowth of microorganisms in the body. After years of taking antibiotics or other medications, eating processed foods and sugar, and being exposed to chemicals, airborne particulates and other irritants, the body becomes less efficient, weakens and becomes a breeding ground for fungus. The longer a body is fed additives, sugars, and medications, the worst symptoms become. The body weakens according to the level of abuse throughout the years and what the body is exposed to. This is why there is a tendency for older people to develop disease.

Symptoms are the result of a buildup of fungus in the body, which alters the function of many internal organs and processes. In other words, fungus throws a wrench into typical human physiology. People reach a certain age - symptoms occur at varying ages - and they start to feel aches, pains, sluggishness, mild depression, and sleep disorders to name a few. The body is telling you a major change is necessary.

The number one step to take is change your diet - eliminate 99% of carbohydrates, eat plenty of vegetables, nuts and meat for at least six months. This change alone should increase energy levels. Also, take antifungals to kill off any microorganisms that have accumulated in the body and are causing problems for specific functions.

Fatigue has so much to do with inactivity, which is why exercise is so critical. If you are not used to physical activity, try something you enjoy doing, motivation will not be as difficult. There are so many different kinds of exercise available even if you live in a remote area where a gym is nonexistent. If you have stairs, try walking up and down them for 20 minutes a day. Get an exercise ball and work every part of your body, along with some type of cardio workout like walking or hiking.

Keep your mental health strong by surrounding yourself with others who are positive and active. Also, set up goals, short term and long term. Sometimes the last thing someone wants to do is the best thing for them. Schedule weekly visits with friends, join a knitting club, join a basketball league or golf league, meet relatives for a picnic. There are so many opportunities to break out of a rut and turn your thought process into a brighter outlook on life.

This is not intended to oversimplify a common, sometimes very debilitating disease. There are many factors that play a role in chronic fatigue. The advice above is a list of general techniques that, if tried, have helped others in the same situation. Sometimes all it takes is just a little advice to help change your life.

A Month-Long Amtrak Ride

The main reason for the long absence with this blog - family. A very broad category, but an important one.

First of all, a person can learn so much about health conditions when someone in the family has one, whether it is yourself or another person close to you. Some may be small, minor and easily treatable health conditions, and then there are those that will turn a person's world upside down and backwards.

Every day there are people having heart attacks, aneurysms, kidney failures, head trauma, suffering severe burns and so on. These people definitely suffer to varying degrees and either have persistent or chronic problems, which eventually leads to death, they adjust to a new way of living, or recover and go back to life as they had lived it.

All families are different. Here is mine - although I try to not take this blog to a personal level. Within the last few months there have been family members and two friends who suffered either a stroke, a heart attack, both, a severe foodbourne illness, have come out of remission from cancer, or lost their battle with cancer. This alters everything we like to call normal everyday routine. These people who are suffering may never get to go back to the 'normal everyday routine', or have to rearrange their idea of what normal is. And it doesn't matter how hard a person may fight for their lives or against the unknown, nature will play it's role in which road will be taken and how that road is travelled. It's like getting on an Amtrak train and telling the conductor you'll get off at whatever stop he determines. Just don't give any one of us the itinerary.

And, as far as the ages of the people each disease has affected? A niece, 20 years old; a father-in-law, 74; a cousin, 45; a friend's 12 year-old daughter; and a another friend, 72. A pretty broad range of ages, testifying to the 'it can happen to anyone' theory.

This is not a plea for sympathy, just an observation, and a vision of the hardship so many people go through daily when they're dealing with disease and trauma. Sometimes it takes going through tough times yourself to see - REALLY see - the physical, emotional and psychological pain both the sick and their families experience. It's not an easy road, but you know, it really does heighten a person's empathy and builds a stronger, more responsive self. And, in the grand scheme of things in life, being there for family is the best, most rewarding trip anyone could ever take!

Between the Lines

Wielding Microbe Against Microbe, Beetle Defends Its Food Source,
(Oct. 10, 2008)

New Sequencing Technique Could Boost Pine Beetle Fight, Improve Cancer Research (Sep. 29, 2009)

Parasite Causes Zombie Ants To Die In An Ideal Spot (Aug. 13, 2009)

Visualizing Brain Invasion by a Fungus (Apr. 27, 2010)

Efficient Consumption Of Copper Allows Fungus To Infect The Brain (Feb. 9, 2007)

HIV-Related Death: Predicting Fatal Fungal Infections (July 4, 2009)

Killer Fungus Threatening Amphibians (November 24, 2009)


All of these headlines, taken from the ScienceDaily website are specifically about fungus, however, are diverse in the biological chain and have further implications than the average person realizes.

One article focuses on how a particular insect secretes a fungus to feed its larvae and an antibiotic-producing bacterium to fight the fungus of a potential enemy mite. To some people this means nothing, but looking at overall potential "...this suggests the antibiotic could have broad-spectrum activity against other fungi and parasites, a possibility the team is now investigating. And the discovery of a novel antifungal compound is especially exciting because many of these agents can serve double-duty as anticancer drugs," says, University of Wisconsin-Madison evolutionary biologist and symbiosis expert, Cameron Currie.1

Focus on the mountain pine beetle unearths a new approach to halting the epidemic in the Northwestern U.S. and British Columbia. This article researches the fungus that attacks the pine trees in these regions turning the wood of the pine a bluish color, which then attracts the beetle, rendering the wood less marketable in the building sector. Studying the function the fungus' makeup can help the timber industry and also, according to Dr. Steven Jones, Head of Bioinfomatics at the BC Cancer Agency’s Genome Sciences Centre, “This study has much wider research implications. What we learned from assembling the draft sequence of a fungus, we can now apply to sequencing human genomes...We're now using this novel approach to decode cancer tumours.”2

The fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is known for causing meningitis and encephalitis, yet isn't harmful until it leaves the blood stream and enters the brain. Through new intravital microscopy scientists may see how the fungus enters the brain. Once the fungus stopped from traveling through a capillary, it is pushed by a protein urease into the brain. A team of researchers from the University of Calgary, Canada, suggest "...that therapeutics that inhibit urease might help prevent meningitis and encephalitis caused by infection with Cryptococcus neoformans."3

There are innumerable articles that justify plainly why some people believe the fungus theory to disease. Reading researched articles can unveil so much in the scientific world, yet sometimes its what isn't said that says so much more.


1 University of Wisconsin-Madison (2008, October 10). Wielding Microbe Against Microbe, Beetle Defends Its Food Source. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 24, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com? /releases/2008/10/081002171921.htm
2 University of British Columbia (2009, September 29). New Sequencing Technique Could Boost Pine Beetle Fight, Improve Cancer Research. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 24, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com? /releases/2009/09/090915154851.htm
3 Journal of Clinical Investigation (2010, April 27). Visualizing brain invasion by a fungus. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 24, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com? /releases/2010/04/100426212910.htm

Not Just Physical

Good physical health is important. It is also very important to have good psychological health to defray the various physical problems that can stem from psychological issues. In certain cases, the psychological may need to be addressed for the physical symptoms to be eliminated. Mental status is a process that takes hours, days and often months of analyzing why an individuals brain responds the way they do. Until ghosts of the past or stress is chipped away and exposed, many people go through life in a state of denial, anxiety or unsatisfactory existence, constantly searching for the balance in their lives. Most likely, all that person needs is a release and a feeling of freedom. This sounds simple, but is usually a very complicated process.

Many of you have probably experienced stress, trauma or tragedy in your life. Reflecting on that time, weakened physical health may have occurred simultaneously. Did you start overeating which caused weight gain? Did depression set in and enthusiasm disappear? Did you experience exhaustion and not want to get out of bed? Become irritable, short-tempered or lose focus on the future? Did you have a heart attack, increase in blood pressure, or increase in substance abuse? Psychologists have determined that hardiness and resiliency levels determine how a person responds to life changes and whether they can easily overcome the adversity.

Over the past decade there has been larger, worldly issues that create stress, depression, and anxiety - the war, fear of attacks in the U.S., and a large number of natural disasters. It is difficult for people to be resilient when their home has been destroyed by water, an earthquake, or a family member dies in the war. These all add to the growing psychological problems in the country.

According to the American Psychological Association, "trauma disorders are a common and costly problem in the United States. An estimated 5.2 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or approximately 3.6 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). In 1990, anxiety disorders cost the U.S. an estimated $46.6 billion. Untreated PTSD from any trauma is unlikely to disappear and can contribute to chronic pain, depression, drug and alcohol abuse and sleep problems that impede a person's ability to work and interact with others."

This growing need for solutions to psychological health will also affect a population physically. People can currently address their psychological problems more openly because of increased acceptance in the past few decades. And helping a person's psychological health will also help their physical problems, too.

C. gattii Invasion!

In mid-April online news broadcast a story about a species of fungus which migrated from its usual tropical and subtropical climates to the northwestern coast of the United States. It was first discovered when 200 people became infected with the fungus on Vancouver Island in British Columbia in the late 90’s. Experts say it may have arrived in North America by importation of trees and plants, and more than a decade later has travelled along the coast of Oregon and Washington. Northern California is potentially the next target.

The airborne fungal spores - Cryptococcus gattii, or C. gattii - can harbor themselves in the body for 2 to several months, and cause some life-threatening symptoms. Researchers are mainly concerned about the intensely toxic fungal spores inhabiting a non-specific group - any age range, different backgrounds, non-smokers, and has also affected some domestic and wild animals.

For humans, the symptoms include shortness of breath, an extremely painful persistent cough, headache, fever, and night sweats. Antifungal treatments are the most effective, taking 10 to 12 months to eliminate symptoms. One woman told CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) the cough was severely painful and it took a year to build her energy levels to normal.

There isn’t a preventative for infection, but don’t let this alarm you. Anyone living on the Northwestern coast of the United States should be aware of the symptoms and should be tested for the C. gattii fungal infection, beginning an antifungal regimen immediately. Or, for precautionary measures, start taking daily doses of antifungals and probiotics to decrease the severity of the infection or keep it from initially taking over your body.

A Scary Word

Why is it that fungus is generally thought of in an unsavory manner? It could be because fungus is associated with rot, old food in the refrigerator, unsightly looking material in the garbage can, and unusually colored organisms that grow in the backyard or woods. If the fungus isn't visible it can be noticed by its distinct smell, especially mold in the home. Fungus can grow just about anywhere it feels advantageous, especially in dark, moist areas.

There are many people who are unfamiliar with fungus, it's origin, background, and its effects on the human body. A woman called our office the other day and said her face was breaking out because she started taking Olive Leaf Extract. Without hesitation, she was told, "It's just the fungus being killed off." She was horrified. Fungus!

A larger number of people have heard of fungus, or yeasts and molds, because it's visible in our homes, yet fungus in the body is more discreet. Our association with Doug Kaufmann, a fungal expert, and host of Know the Cause has increased our awareness of the internal effects on humans. Doug says "localized or systemic (throughout the body) mycoses (fungi) are not rare." In fact, fungal disease was more widely talked about in the medical field before the prevalence of bacteria and viruses. Everyone has some type of fungus in the body because we have all been exposed to antibiotics, birth control pills and polluted air, food and water.

The next time fungus is mentioned, remember, it's not just related to the home. It can be eliminated from the home and from the body if carefully approached. Don't let fungus scare you, either, because we are humans and we have the ability to overcome anything if we try.

Spring Change

Some people wait until something serious happens, either to themselves or someone else, to make a change in their lifestyle. A lifestyle change refers to getting an adequate amount of sleep, eating less of certain foods, exercising more, taking supplements, becoming sober, or thinking positively. These are just a few areas in a person's life that can be changed - some easy and some not so easy.

It can become frustrating for anyone looking from the outside in on a life full of destructive choices. The effects of this choice or choices, more often becomes apparent to friends and family before it is noticed by the individual. Choosing the right time to confront someone about concerns regarding poor choices can be a touchy subject, but in certain cases it could mean life or death. Bottom line is, a person has to make the decision to change on their own, but it doesn't hurt to place a bug in the ear to start the thought process.

Living by example is also a good way to influence another person. There is more impact on an individual when surrounded by friends and family with the same priorities, principles and morality. Motivation from others is a great way to stimulate response and action. What's better than doing anything alone? Doing it with a friend or relative. Plus, a person's motivation can be increased when the mind is distracted from the actual work at hand.

So, what better time to analyze your lifestyle - springtime. The change doesn't have to happen in a few hours - take a few days, or a week. Don't set expectations too high either, because it could lead to disappointment. Take baby steps, and think about what the change can do positively for you and those close to you.