This blog is a way of sharing the information and resources that have helped me to recover my son Roo from an Autism Spectrum Disorder. What I have learned is to view our symptoms as the results of underlying biological cause, which can be identified and healed. I say "our symptoms" because I also have a neuro-immune disorder called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

And, of course, I am not a doctor (although I have been known to impersonate one while doing imaginative play with my son)- this is just our story and information that has been helpful or interesting to us. I hope it is helpful and interesting to you!


Monday, November 18, 2024

The Rise in "Turbo Cancers" Following the COVID 19 Vaccination Program

This is a talk given by UK surgeon, Dr James Royle
‘Many of my multidisciplinary team colleagues, fellow surgeons, oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and specialist nurses all acknowledged to me sudden change in patterns, and dramatic increase in these incurable advanced cancers that we’ve observed in these past two years.’  The close temporal association between the increase cancers and the rollout fulfills the gold standard Bradford-Hill epidemiological criteria for causation."

He is making a presentation to medical colleagues focused on colorectal cancers and turns his attention to "turbo cancers", a term he acknowledges as a colloquial one that refers to a phenomenon of rapid onset cancers characterized by their "aggressive biological nature".  These cancers are striking people of all ages and are often detected at stage 4 when they are difficult or impossible to treat.   In many cases, these are recurrences of cancers that had been successfully treated years prior, and the patient had been cancer-free for many years.  These are fast-growing cancers with higher than normal mortality rates and a seemingly different biology- many metastases in cancers where that is normally rare, and cases of synchronous cancers; a previously extremely rare situation in which multiple colon cancers present at the same time in one person.  There was a dramatic increase in these cancers in 2021, shortly after the mRNA vaccines for COVID were rolled out.

Some people have suggested that this is a trend that has been happening over a longer period of time, but the rapid increase in these cancers is specific to the time right after the rollout of the mRNA vaccines.  It has also been suggested that these are genetic or inherited cancers, and therefore can't be on the rise, citing as evidence the increased expression of genetic mutations in these cancers.  The mutations are not known inherited mutations but instead seem to be the spontaneous mutations that occur in cancer cells, and occur more often in aggressive tumors, so the correlation may be the result of causation in the other direction.  This is a very important point- aggressive tumor biology, as is seen here, CAUSES more genetic mutations in the tumor cells rather than the opposite situation in which inherited mutations cause the tumor cells.

Recent research has found a link between mRNA vaccination and mechanisms of oncogenesis (the formation of new cancer) and auto-immunity via suppressed immunity.  The immune system suppresses cancer formation through mechanisms of surveillance and monitoring, and when those systems are impaired, cancers can more easily form.  This principal is not well understood by many people- that cancerous cells happen in our bodies all the time, but in nearly all cases our immune systems destroy them long before they can cause any problems significant enough for their presence to be known.  Our bodies are able to clear nearly all cancerous cells; it is actually a very rare event that cancerous cells are able to grow into what most of us think of as "cancer" that shows up on tests and can threaten our health.  Others have suggested that the sudden increase in colorectal "turbo cancers" is due to processed food in the diet, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle, but he points out that these things were present before the sudden change in prevalence and biology of the "turbo cancers".  

Another proposed theory is "stage migration"- that the lockdowns are responsible because they led to suspended cancer screenings and delayed diagnoses.  He says that in the UK they actually only suspend screenings briefly and they treated more, not fewer, patients because colorectal cancer was one type that they could work with despite the restrictions.  In the UK, cancer screenings usually begin at age 60 and the dramatic increases in cancers are mostly in younger people who wouldn't have been screened anyways.

The timing of the turbo cancers becoming suddenly prevalent immediately following the rollout of the vaccine supports a connection but is not proof itself.  There are at least 12 different proposed mechanisms with evidence to support them that could explain how the mRNA vaccines could "produce, potentiate, or accelerate" cancers, including t-cell exhaustion, "unacceptably high levels of bacterial plasmid contamination", and the presence of the SV40 tumor promoter.  These mechanisms have been discussed by many respected researchers and doctors (references below).  

"The shots are clearly causing generalized immunosuppression" and the immune system plays an extremely important role in monitoring for mutated cells that may become cancerous and removing them before significant disease can occur.  Dr Royle reports having submitted multiple "yellow cards" (the UK system for monitoring vaccine adverse events) but that none of his reports were followed up on, and he says that other clinicians are reporting similar experiences.  Dr Royle further reports that he was told by many of his colleagues that he was "brave" for speaking publicly about the concerns he has about the safety of the COVID mRNA vaccines, and that many of these colleagues told him they agree with him but are afraid to speak publicly for fear of retaliation.  

MORE EVIDENCE:

The pseudo-uridine in the spike RNA was created and included to replace the normal uridine because the spike protein with the normal uridine was being broken down "too quickly" (at the normal rate) and they wanted to prolong the amount of time that the artificially created spike protein would be present in the body.  The reason they gave for not doing studies on how it would affect the breakdown of the artificially-created spike protein was that they assumed that it wouldn't impact how it was broken down.  Clearly this is a contradiction.  Eventual studies show that it takes about half a year for the spike with the pseudo-uridine to break down and leave the body.  There has been a trend of increasing diagnosis of late-stage cancers in young people, many of whom have no family history or other known risk factors for the cancers.  Some of the doctors raising the alarm are some of the most prominent and published in their respective fields, including Peter McCullough MD, MPH one of the most published cardiologists in the world; Paul Marik, MD who is the second-most published ICU doctor in the world; Robert Malone, MD who is one of the inventors of mRNA vaccine technology.

Interview with Dr William Makis (an oncologist from Canada)
Turbo cancers are aggressive cancers that are arising in COVID-vaccinated individuals, particularly in young people.  Dr Makis says he has diagnosed approximately 20,000 cancers in his career and has never before seen cancers behaving the way these turbo cancers are.  They present at a late stage and they grow very rapidly.  He explains that they present at a late stage, stage 3 or 4, because they grow so fast and aren't producing symptoms earlier.  For example there are now many cases of stage 3 or stage 4 breast cancer in women in their 20s and early 30s.  Another example are colon cancers appearing in people in their 20s and 30s- which has previously been very rare (there is a reason that colon cancer screenings don't begin until age 40-60).  Their growth is so rapid that when tumors are surgically removed, it is found that they have spread even though before the surgery there weren't signs that they had already spread.  

These cancers are occurring in people younger than they normally do, and this means that sometimes people that young aren't looking out for symptoms of cancer, or are less concerned about having aches and pains.  The evidence for this comes from many areas, but they show some of the massive numbers of "go fund me" pages for young people with late stage cancer, and it makes an impression. They also point out that there does seem to be a higher incidence of these turbo cancers in teachers and nurses, people who got vaccinated early as "essential workers".  When asked about whether this is just anecdotal, Dr Makis responds that he first noticed the trend when looking into the rise of sudden deaths in Canadian doctors, who had had mandates for COVID vaccination.  He also noticed the increase in aggressive, late-stage cancers in this group.  

The first potential mechanism that Dr Makis discusses is the issue of the pseudo-uridine that was introduced into the mRNA.  He says it seems to dampen the immune system by affecting the toll-like receptors.  This has downstream effects that haven't been well-studied, but one seems to be that the cancer surveillance systems are suppressed.  There are several ways that the vaccines seem to be altering the signaling of immune cells, including t-cells.  Other possible mechanisms include the risk that the mRNA is being integrated into our genomes by reverse-transcription, and DNA contamination has been discovered in the Pfizer and Moderna vials.  

(at 11:44) According to Dr. Phillip Buckhaults, PhD, who is a molecular biologist who studies cancer genomics (and who describes himself as an expert on the many ways that environmental factors can alter our genetic code, and whether those alterations can cause cancer), the fact that the Pfizer vaccine is contaminated with plasmid DNA could be causing health problems in people and is a sign that something is seriously wrong with the regulatory process that allowed this to happen.  This plasmid DNA was used as the template for in vitro transcription as part of the manufacturing process of the vaccine (plasmid DNA are small rings of DNA).  It is much easier for DNA to become integrated into our genome than it is RNA.  This DNA could be responsible for the increase in cardiac arrests, could lead to autoimmunity towards tissues, and could lead to the development of cancer depending on where the DNA gets integrated into the DNA- it could interrupt a tumor-suppressor gene or activate an oncogene.  This is a hazard for genome modification for long lived somatic cells such as stem cells.  Dr Buckhaults was able to directly study the contents of the vaccine vials given out at the university where he works because the person in charge of that program saved all of the vials used, and those vials contained a residue of their former contents. 

Kevin McKernon, former team leader of R and D on the Human Genome Project at MIT, reported that as much as 30% of the genetic material in the vaccine vials was plasmid DNA, representing a very high amount of contamination.  This DNA could also be picked up by our gut bacteria, or other bacteria in our bodies, and then these bacteria could theoretically be producing spike protein.  It is a good time for a reminder that spike protein is highly toxic to our bodies.  Several other factors here are the lipid nano particles, and the fact that we were all assured that the vaccine dose would remain locally in the arm where we now know that it is distributed systemically.  Dr McKernon has also found SV40 contamination in the DNA plasmids- this is an oncogenic virus.

Another possible mechanism of cancer causation is the IgG4 antibody shift that has been observed.  Repeated exposure to antigens can increase IgG3 antibodies, which are antibodies of tolerance.  It is our body's way of saying that since we are repeatedly being exposed to something it is NOT a threat.  In this way, boosters can be acting as "allergy shots" rather than vaccines.  You begin to produce the IgG4 once you've had the second injection, but once you have a third- a booster- the levels go up by 500%.  Your body then stops producing IgG1 and IgG3, which are the antibodies that respond to viral infection, but they are also the antibodies responsible for cancer surveillance.  

These turbo cancers seem to be increasing in prevalence.  Standard treatments don't work and there are no new or specific treatments for these cancers.  Dr Makis reports being locked out of his office, and others trying to raise concern about the COVID vaccines as well.  His substack is makismd.substack.com

Studies referenced in the video:
Rapid Progression of Angioimmunoblastic T Cell Lymphoma Following BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine Booster Shot: A Case Report
"Since nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines strongly activate T follicular helper cells, it is important to explore the possible impact of approved SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines on neoplasms affecting this cell type. Herein, we report and discuss unexpected rapid progression of lymphomatous lesions after administration of a BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine booster in a man recently diagnosed with AITL."

Bell’s palsy or an aggressive infiltrating basaloid carcinoma post-mRNA vaccination for COVID-19? A case report and review of the literature
"The malignancy was of cutaneous origin and the case showed symptoms consistent with Bell's palsy and trigeminal neuralgia beginning four days post-vaccination (right side head temporal pain). The temporal pain was suggestive for inflammation and impairment of T cell immune activation...  In this study we describe all aspects of this case and discuss possible causal links between the rapid emergence of this metastatic cancer and mRNA vaccination. We place this within the context of multiple immune impairments potentially related to the mRNA injections that would be expected to potentiate more aggressive presentation and progression of cancer. The type of malignancy we describe suggests a population risk for occurrence of a large variety of relatively common basaloid phenotype cancer cells, which may have the potential for metastatic disease. This can be avoidable with early diagnosis and adequate treatment. Since facial paralysis/pain is one of the more common adverse neurological events following mRNA injection, careful inspection of cutaneous/soft tissue should be conducted to rule out malignancy. An extensive literature review is carried out, in order to elucidate the toxicity of mRNA vaccination that may have led to the death of this patient."

IgG4 Antibodies Induced by Repeated Vaccination May Generate Immune Tolerance to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein
"As the immunity provided by these vaccines rapidly wanes, their ability to prevent hospitalization and severe disease in individuals with comorbidities has recently been questioned, and increasing evidence has shown that, as with many other vaccines, they do not produce sterilizing immunity, allowing people to suffer frequent re-infections. Additionally, recent investigations have found abnormally high levels of IgG4 in people who were administered two or more injections of the mRNA vaccines."

Significantly, this paper outlines 6 potential ways that the IgG4 class-switching of antibodies could have negative unintended consequences for the host individual:
"We propose a hypothetical immune tolerance mechanism induced by mRNA vaccines, which could have at least six negative unintended consequences:

(1) By ignoring the spike protein synthesized as a consequence of vaccination, the host immune system may become vulnerable to re-infection with the new Omicron subvariants, allowing for free replication of the virus once a re-infection takes place. In this situation, we suggest that even these less pathogenic Omicron subvariants could cause significant harm and even death in individuals with comorbidities and immuno-compromised conditions.

(2) mRNA and inactivated vaccines temporally impair interferon signaling [142,143], possibly causing immune suppression and leaving the individual in a vulnerable situation against any other pathogen. In addition, this immune suppression could allow the re-activation of latent viral, bacterial, or fungal infections and might also allow the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells [144].

(3) A tolerant immune system might allow SARS-CoV-2 persistence in the host and promote the establishment of a chronic infection, similar to that generated by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), the human immune deficiency virus (HIV), and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) [145].

(4) The combined immune suppression (produced by SARS-CoV-2 infection [15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22] and further enhanced by vaccination [142,143,144]) could explain a plethora of autoimmune conditions, such as cancers, re-infections, and deaths temporally associated with both. It is conceivable that the excess deaths reported in several highly COVID-19-vaccinated countries may be explained, in part, by this combined immunosuppressive effect.

(5) Repeated vaccination could also lead to auto-immunity: in 2009, the results of an important study went largely unnoticed. Researchers discovered that in mice that are otherwise not susceptible to spontaneous autoimmune disorders, repeated administration of the antigen promotes systemic autoimmunity. The development of CD4+ T cells that can induce autoantibodies (autoantibody-inducing CD4+ T cells, or aiCD4+ T cells), which had their T cell receptors (TCR) modified, was triggered by excessive stimulation of CD4+ T cells. The aiCD4+ T cell was generated by new genetic TCR modification rather than a cross-reaction. The excessively stimulated CD8+ T cells induced them to develop into cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that are specific for an antigen. These CTLs were able to mature further by antigen cross-presentation, so in that situation, they induced autoimmune tissue damage resembling systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) [146]. According to the self-organized criticality theory, when the immune system of the host is continually overstimulated by antigen exposure at concentrations higher than the immune system’s self-organized criticality can tolerate, systemic autoimmunity inevitably occurs [147].

It has been proposed that the amount and duration of the spike protein produced are presumably affected by the higher mRNA concentrations in the mRNA-1273 vaccine (100 µg) compared to the BNT162b2 vaccine (30 µg) [31]. Thus, it is probable that the spike protein produced in response to mRNA vaccination is too high and lasts too long in the body. That could overwhelm the capacity of the immune system, leading to autoimmunity [146,147]. Indeed, several investigations have found that COVID-19 immunization is associated with the development of autoimmune responses [148,149,150,151,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164,165,166].

(6) Increased IgG4 levels induced by repeated vaccination could lead to autoimmune myocarditis; it has been suggested that IgG4 antibodies can also cause an autoimmune reaction by impeding the immune system’s ability to be suppressed by regulatory T cells [102]. Patients using immune checkpoint inhibitors alone or in combination have been linked to occurrences of acute myocarditis [103,104,105,106,107], sometimes with lethal consequences [102]. As anti-PD-1 antibodies are class IgG4, and these antibodies are also induced by repeated vaccination, it is plausible to suggest that excessive vaccination could be associated with the occurrence of an increased number of myocarditis cases and sudden cardiac deaths.

Finally, these negative outcomes are not expected to affect all people who have received these mRNA vaccines. Individuals with genetic susceptibility, immune deficiencies, and comorbidities are probably the most likely to be affected. However, this gives rise to a disturbing paradox—if people who are the most affected by the COVID-19 disease (the elderly, diabetics, hypertensive, and immunocompromised people like those with HIV) are also more susceptible to suffering the negative effects of repeated mRNA vaccination, is it then justified to booster them? As Omicron subvariants have been demonstrated to be less pathogenic [133,134,135,136,137], and mRNA vaccines do not protect against re-infection [14,138], clinicians should be aware of the possible detrimental effects on the immune system by administering boosters."

Class switch toward noninflammatory, spike-specific IgG4 antibodies after repeated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination
"Shortly after the initial two mRNA vaccine doses, the immunoglobulin G (IgG) response mainly consists of the proinflammatory subclasses IgG1 and IgG3. Here, we report that several months after the second vaccination, SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies were increasingly composed of noninflammatory IgG4, which were further boosted by a third mRNA vaccination and/or SARS-CoV-2 variant breakthrough infections. IgG4 antibodies among all spike-specific IgG antibodies rose, on average, from 0.04% shortly after the second vaccination to 19.27% late after the third vaccination."

Appearance of tolerance-induction and non-inflammatory SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific IgG4 antibodies after COVID-19 booster vaccinations
"Findings demonstrate robust IgG responses after primary Covishield or mRNA doses; declining to baseline within six months. First mRNA booster restored and surpassed primary IgG responses but waned after six months. Surprisingly, a second mRNA booster did not increase IgG levels further. Comprehensive IgG subclass analysis showed primary Covishield/mRNA vaccination generated predominantly IgG1 responses with limited IgG2/IgG3, Remarkably, IgG4 responses exhibited a distinct pattern. IgG4 remained undetectable initially but increased extensively six months after the second mRNA dose, eventually replacing IgG1 after the 3rd/4th mRNA doses. Conversely, initial Covishield recipients lack IgG4, surged post-second mRNA booster. Notably, mRNA-vaccinated individuals displayed earlier, robust IgG4 levels post first mRNA booster versus Covishield counterparts. IgG1 to IgG4 ratios decreased with increasing doses, most pronounced with four mRNA doses. This study highlights IgG response kinetics, influenced by vaccine type and doses, impacting immunological tolerance and IgG4 induction, shaping future vaccination strategies."

The appearance of anti-spike receptor binding domain immunoglobulin G4 responses after repetitive immunization with messenger RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines
"The seropositivity of anti-RBD IgG4 after the vaccination was 6.76% at 1 month after the second dose, gradually increased to 50.5% at 6 months after the second dose, and reached 97.2% at 1 month after the third dose. The seropositivity and titers of anti-RBD IgG1/IgG3 quickly reached the maximum at 1 month after the second dose and declined afterward. The elevated anti-RBD IgG4 Ab levels observed after repeated vaccinations were unlikely to increase the risk of breakthrough infection."

Mechanisms and implications of IgG4 responses to SARS-CoV-2 and other repeatedly administered vaccines
"Vaccine-induced immunoglobulin G (IgG) profiles can vary with respect to the predominant subclasses that characterize the response. Among IgG subclasses, IgG4 is reported to have anti-inflammatory properties, but can also exhibit reduced capacity for virus neutralization and activation of Fc-dependent effector functions...  The clinical implications of vaccine-induced IgG4 responses remain uncertain, though collective evidence suggests that proportional increases in IgG4 might reduce vaccine antigen-specific immunity. Additional work is needed to determine underlying mechanisms and to elucidate what role IgG4 may play in modifications of vaccine-induced immunity to disease."

A case of IgG4-related ophthalmic disease after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: case report and literature review
"A variety of autoimmune diseases occur after SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination, of which IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an important type. IgG4-RD can involve multiple organs of the body. The ocular manifestation of IgG4-RD is called IgG4-related ophthalmic disease (IgG4-ROD). We herein report a patient diagnosed with IgG4-ROD. The patient developed ptosis and vision loss after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, and the symptoms worsened after SARS-CoV-2 infection. After excluding other diseases like myasthenia gravis and Eaton-Lambert syndrome that may cause ptosis, the diagnosis of IgG4-ROD was confirmed by pathological examination."

Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease Manifesting as Isolated, Typical, and Nontypical Gastroesophageal Lesion: A Research of Literature Review
" Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an autoimmune inflammatory and fibrotic condition. The disease is characterized by tissue infiltration with dense lymphoplasmacytes and IgG4-positive plasma cells...  The majority of lesions were inflammatory tumors, ulceration, nodular lesions, chronic gastritis, and malignant lesions. Key Messages: IgG4-RD may be manifested by isolated, typical and nontypical forms of gastroesophageal lesions and should be taken into consideration in the differential diagnosis. Corticosteroids may be the sole diagnostic treatment for this condition."

A rare case of IgG4-associated disease caused by COVID-19: Case report and literature review
"An increasing number of cases have reported that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to immune system dysregulation and induce autoimmune diseases, but the mechanism is unclear. We treated a patient who presented with an unknown fever after infection with the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 2023. After excluding the possibility of infection, malignancy, and other connective tissue diseases, we considered the diagnosis of IgG4-related disease in consideration of the patient's pathology and clinical findings. In this article, we summarize our diagnostic experience and summarize the case reports of IgG4-related diseases associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections since the COVID-19 pandemic."





Saturday, November 16, 2024

How "Anti-Abortion" Laws are Pro-Death, not Pro-Life

Reproductive care is health care in more ways than many people have thought through.  The fact that anyone can consider the anti-abortion laws that exist and that are being planned as I write this to be "pro-life" is a sign that life has already become so devalued that it's loss isn't even seen or recognized when it comes to pregnancy and birth.  The lives of women, both in terms of quantity and quality, are invisible, as are the lives of their families and other children and the children they may have had in the future.  If the goal were to reduce the number of pregnancies that are ended intentionally or that end in accidental ways, the solutions would start in other parts of society- we would take meaningful steps to reduce rape and to support pregnant women so they could afford to have and raise a baby unexpectedly.  We would be horrified at the extremely high infant mortality rate for black babies and other babies of color and take immediate steps to provide optimal care for those babies to bring the death rate down.  We would ensure that pregnant women receive appropriate prenatal care and that infants received the care they needed in the early years.  There are many, many things that we would do- but not only do we not do those things, we are allowing our health care system to degenerate such that more and more babies and pregnant women are losing their lives.  Anti-abortion laws, as they stand, are in no way "pro life". 

A Woman Died After Being Told It Would Be a “Crime” to Intervene in Her Miscarriage at a Texas Hospital
"Barnica is one of at least two Texas women who ProPublica found lost their lives after doctors delayed treating miscarriages, which fall into a gray area under the state’s strict abortion laws that prohibit doctors from ending the heartbeat of a fetus.

Neither had wanted an abortion, but that didn’t matter. Though proponents insist that the laws protect both the life of the fetus and the person carrying it, in practice, doctors have hesitated to provide care under threat of prosecution, prison time and professional ruin.

ProPublica is telling these women’s stories this week, starting with Barnica’s. Her death was “preventable,” according to more than a dozen medical experts who reviewed a summary of her hospital and autopsy records at ProPublica’s request; they called her case “horrific,” “astounding” and “egregious.”

North Texas woman says her baby fell on a Dallas freestanding ER floor after she gave birth
In a state with anti-abortion (so-called "pro life") laws, it is horrifyingly ironic that this baby nearly lost her life due to such utter disregard for human life.  The US has a profoundly disturbing history of such incompetent treatment and such complete lack of basic care for black women and their babies that the infant and maternal death rate is many times higher than it is for white mothers and babies.  This just highlights the hollowness of the so-called "pro-life" movement who are nowhere to be seen when it comes to these excess deaths.  In addition, this level of care is the "new normal" in America as we allow private equity and profit-based health care to destroy the health care system and leave only the most minimal skeletal remains, all in the name of short-term value extraction.

Monday, September 9, 2024

Corruption in the US Healthcare System and its Effects

The healthcare system in the US has been plagued with various forms of corruption and morally abhorrent practices since its inception.  Most of these factors aren't know to most Americans, who have a very simplistic understanding of how our system was created and how it works.  The influence of money and power has shaped many aspects of the system from how medical schools function, what they teach, and who they train to the formation of the American Medical Association and how it pushed its rival associations out of the picture.  

Large scale changes in the types of health problems facing the American public began in the 1960s with the recognition of auto-immunity and the meteoric rise in prevalence of auto-immune conditions, which remain poorly understood and for which treatments are not very effective or reliable.  A similar rise in prevalence in atopic diseases- diseases involving allergic and allergy-type responses- began not long afterwards, beginning in the 1980s.  Cancer rates have skyrocketed, and there has never been an area of research in which more money has been spent and yet so few advances have actually been made.  Many of what are claimed to be advances have more to do with playing with statistics and altering definitions than with actual improved patient outcomes.

Medical research has increasingly been funded by sources with vested interests in the outcome, calling into question the neutrality and validity of the results.  Research has become slewed towards drug development rather than other types of prevention and treatment which might be more effective and safer but are less profitable.  The encroachment of private investment into medicine has reached its peak destructiveness in the form of private equity investments that are doing little more than buying up hospitals, medical practices, pharmacies, insurance companies, and other medical businesses, raiding them for their assets, and then leaving the carcasses in bankruptcy.  This has jeopardized the safety of most Americans and led to more deaths and serious harm than we will ever know, just so that the already obscenely rich can become slightly richer. 

Sanders Says Senate Hearing Will Put 'Greed on Display' With or Without Healthcare CEO

A company called Steward Health Care has made massive profits, paid its private owners millions in dividends, and the CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre paid himself $4 million and purchased a mega yacht thought to be worth $40 million, while incurring massive debt and driving all 31 of its hospitals into bankruptcy.  

Further, "On Thursday, CBS News reported that in 2017 Steward executives including de la Torre illegally conspired with Maltese officials in order to secure a hospital contract, according to a whistleblower.  While a spokesperson for the executive denied any wrongdoing, whistleblower Ram Tumuluri alleged in a complaint to the U.S. Congress that "in touting Steward's supposed competitive advantage in Malta... de la Torre boasted that he could issue 'brown bags' to government officials if necessary to close transactions."

Medicare Advantage is rife with corruption

Medicare Advantage plans 'intentionally using prior authorization to boost profits': Senate report


Saturday, August 31, 2024

Physical Symptoms of Stres and Trauma

Windows to the Soul: How Trauma Negatively Impacts Your Eyes
Our bodies have a clench and withdraw response if we can't fight or flight, such as when we are children.  This entails tensing up, clenching fists, curling inward, raising knees to chest, essentially curling up in the fetal position.  Physically, this posture is an attempt to protect the vital organs from anticipated harm and  is associated with feeling helpless.  Muscle tension is one of the most common symptoms of stress and anxiety, caused by muscle contractions from going into the fight/flight response.  This includes the blood vessels and viscera constricting as well and when this muscle tension goes on for a long time, as in chronic stress, and can result in headaches, pain behind the eyes, TMJ, limited range of movement, joint discomfort, chronic pain, and difficulty concentrating.  It can lead to migraines when the tension releases and blood flow into the brain suddenly increases.  

"Energy flow in the body is managed by contractions of the diaphragms (there are many diaphragms in the body).  For children with Complex Trauma, the high arousal of stress is managed through powerful, chronic contractions in all the diaphragms of the body, most promisingly in the respiratory diaphragm (affects breathing) but also in the diaphragms at the base of the skull and in the eyes (Tentorium cerebella), feet and joints.  This changes the depth of their breathing and affects their breathing, but it also creates pain in their face, head, and eyes."  All eight of the bodies diaphragms constrict when they sense stress or danger.  

"Fetuses and infants are primarily visceral systems and central nervous systems without a developed musculature.  The only protective responses to them are to shut down and freeze (clench and withdrawal) the central nervous system and the visceral system" - Larry Heller

Trauma also affects the eyes by making them hypersensitive and affecting pupil dilation.  Trauma in young children activates a part of the brain stem called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) whose job it is to filter out the sensory input that the individual doesn't need to be consciously aware of all the time, such as textures of clothing or hum of lights.  In children who have experienced trauma, the RAS will allow through more or even all of the sensory input into the brain which can overwhelm the brain and lead to sensory processing problems and sensitivities.  

At 11:09 there is a slide that outlines the four kinds of eye movements.  When a person perceives danger and their sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight system) is activated, it causes certain changes in the eyes and how they focus that leads to tunnel vision.  This is so that the person can focus on the threat, which is the only important thing in the moment.  The pupils in the eye normally got larger or smaller depending on light, but when a person looks at things with certain emotional charge, such as fear or surprise, their eyes widen even more.  This response is especially strong in children who have experienced trauma.  For people with PTSD, their pupils have been found to stay the same when shown novel images and to dilate more than normal in response to scary images.  This can cause older people to have difficulty driving at night because their pupils don't constrict when they see bright lights, including headlights or streetlights.  

The parasympathetic nervous system, also called the rest and digest or rest and repair system, has the opposite effect.  It allows your pupils to contract in bright light, it improves up-close vision, and it increases tear production, which keeps the eyes more comfortable and less irritated.  

In infants, the eyes play a key role in their ability to do the basic things they need to do to survive- they need to communicate, to connect with safe caregivers, and to regulate.  "Scientists have discovered that signals pass back and forth between a mother and child as fast as 1/300th of a second."  The eyes contain a massive amount of information about the state of our nervous system, and looking into a caregiver's eyes gives a baby the information it needs to read the emotional state of the caregiver, which is what regulates the nervous system of the baby.  The baby is looking to see if the caregiver is attuned to them, accepting of them, present, open, loving, nurturing, regulating, and safe to connect to.  In general we use what we see in people's eyes to read their emotional state.  

In a family with generational or complex trauma, the baby may not see those things in the eyes of their parents.  Instead the parents may be distracted, fearful, distant, uncaring or cold, not accepting of the baby, basically dysregulated not safe to connect to.  This creates fear, panic, and rejection in the baby.  At first the baby will try to get the parent's attention to connect by crying, reaching out, or other means.  If that doesn't work the baby will either shut down and dissociate or become dysregulated and cry.  This can lead to emotions of anger and fear building up in the child that will affect them later.  

In complex trauma this is happening over and over every day, which causes the child to go into the clench and withdraw response.  This can affect the eyes in a number of way.- It can make it hard for the child to make and maintain eye contact- the child might be afraid to look into eyes and see rejection, disgust, anger, disinterest, or the child may be afraid that other people will see the dysregulation in their eyes, they may have internalized shame, and they may want to hide their inner world.  Another effect is that the child's eyes may take on a "glassy stare" as if they are looking past people, not paying attention, not focusing on who is in front of them.  They might even look catatonic.  They may make intense eye contact that is unnerving because they aren't trying to connect, they're studying the person they're looking at to see if that person is safe or about to change moods or harm them.  This is a kind of hyper vigilance.  This video also claims that people who were in the clench and withdrawal response often as children may have a more sallow complexion around their eyes.  Some people, in high stress, may even develop eye tics.

So, what can people who experience the negative effects on their eyes from trauma do about it?  One thing is to pay attention to muscle tension in your body, pay attention to pain that indicates clenching, and take steps to relax and release the tension.  You can have someone you trust look into your eyes and tell you what emotions they see there.  Practice eye contact with someone you trust to become more comfortable with it.  intentionally unfocusing your eyes can help you "turn on" your parasympathetic nervous system and help you relax.  Somatic therapies that include things like music therapy, pet therapy, yoga and breathing exercises, walking in nature, all can help by putting you into the parasympathetic system. 




 

Friday, July 5, 2024

The Birthplace of COVID 19

Discussions about one of the most important topics in recent history, the origin of the COVID 19 vaccine, have been censored from the beginning.  This goes against the everything that science is and stands for.  When you see censorship, you know that science had been abandoned and is not present in any form.  Science is a methodology for answering certain kinds of questions, it is a method for finding things out.  There can be no per-conceived ideas of what the answer should or shouldn't be, can or can't be.  Scientific inquiry is always guided by observable evidence, NEVER dogma- no matter what the implications.  Science does not take sides.  It was obvious from the beginning that the question of where COVID 19 came from was not being investigated in a scientific manner, that the process of inquiry was being guided by dogma and personal interests.  

There were obvious signs all along.  One is the term "wet market" itself, which was used to conjure up images of dirty and unsafe handling of food animals, one that played on western racist ideas of Asian people eating "disgusting" and exotic animals.  The name "wet market" is essentially a translation error.  A long time ago, there were food stores that sold only dry goods, and stores that sold fresh food as well, and ended up being called "wet markets" because "wet" is the opposite of "dry".  So a "wet market" is a food market where fresh food such as fruits and vegetables and meats are sold.  Any farmer's market in the US is therefore also a "wet market".

It is of vital importance that we figure out how COVID 19 came to be and how the pandemic happened, both because people need to be held accountable if there was any negligence or wrongdoing, and because we need to do everything we can to minimize the risk of a pandemic such as this happening again.  Understanding the viral origins of the pandemic is essential.   

Origins of COVID-19: An Examination of Available Evidence
Full Committee Hearing  June 18, 2024
Homeland Security, Governmental Affairs
"The COVID 19 pandemic was one of the worst public health crises our country has ever faced.  We lost more than 1 million Americans to the virus."

The following are comments made by Dr John Campbell talking about these hearings.  He points out that the evidence doesn't point towards a natural spillover event to explain the origins of COVID because the virus would have popped up at various places and times, which it didn't; we haven't found an intermediate animal, we haven't found an evolutionary history of the virus, and there are no antibodies to the virus in the natural reservoir.  What the evidence does show us- gain of function research was being done at the Wuhan lab, evidence including e-mails was intentionally destroyed, and open scientific inquiry was not allowed.  This is the video in which Dr Campbell talks about the hearing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEyRQLEmNGk&list=PL00DD377C0ACD51FB&index=8

Testimony of Senator Rand Paul:
Contents of e-mails that have been recently made public by FOIA request include:

"The lab escape version of this is so friggin' likely to have happened because they were already doing this type of work, and the molecular data is fully consistent with that scenario." -Christian Anderson 

"Ian Lipkin stressed the nightmare of circumstantial evidence to assess regarding the possibility of inadvertent release given the scale of bat coronavirus research pursued in Wuhan.  

Bob Gerry said "I really can't think of a plausible natural scenario where you get from the bat virus, or one very similar to it, to COVID 19, where you insert exactly 4 amino acids, 12 nucleotides, and all have to be added at the exact same time to gain this function.  I just can't figure out how this gets accomplished in nature.  It's not crackpot to suggest this could have happened given the gain-of-function research we know was happening at Wuhan."

Ralph Berrick (a world-famous researcher of gain-of-function who collaborated with Dr Shi at the Wuhan lab) said "So they (the Wuhan lab) have a very large collection of viruses in their laboratory and so as you know proximity is a problem, it's a problem." 

"Dr Fauci himself, privately acknowledged concerns about gain-of-function research in Wuhan and mutations in the virus that suggest it might have been engineered, just days before he commissioned the proximal origin paper.  Despite these private doubts, publicly these so-called experts and their allies were dismissing the lab leak theory as a conspiracy.  Within days, Anderson, Lipkin, and Gerry were putting final touches on what would be remembered as one of the most remarkable reversals in modern history.  In their "proximal origin" paper, these scientists concluded "we do not believe that ANY type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible."  Privately they were saying one thing, publicly they were saying another."

Media went along with this and censored discussion of viral origins that didn't support the official story.  Information and evidence was withheld by researchers and people in the federal government from the public and from congress.  One example is Dr David Morenz of NIH deleting emails regarding early discussions and then commenting "I think we're safe now" to Peter Daszac at EcoHealth Alliance.  NIH and HHS have withheld documents regarding gain-of-function research from congress, despite congress passing a law to make the evidence public.  The people involved are saying there wasn't gain-of-function research but won't allow anyone to look at the supposed discussion.  "This has been a deliberate, prolonged effort to deceive the committee about certain gain-of-function research experiments that the agencies have been withholding.

"What we've found as we've gone through this is that at every step there's been resistance, so the hearing today is to try to find out whether or not we can get to the truth.  Do we know for certain it came from the lab?  No, but there's a preponderance of evidence indicating that it may have come from the lab.  Do we know viruses have come from animals in the past?  Yes they've come from animals in the past.  But this time there's no animal reservoir, no animal handlers with antibodies, there are a lot of reasons why...there are indications that this could well have come from the lab".  He goes on to say that there will be scientists from both sides presenting evidence, and there should be a spirited debate.



Friday, June 21, 2024

Medical Gaslighting

The Martha Mitchell Effect

Martha Mitchell was married to the attorney general in the Nixon administration, John Mitchell.  She spoke up about the illegal activities that she was witnessing, but her claims were written off as delusional until the actual events of the Watergate scandal became public, when she was vindicated.  Sometimes a patient reports events to a doctor or other health care provider that the provider finds difficult to believe and considers to be delusions even when what the patient is reporting is actually true.  This is called the "Martha Mitchell effect" in reference to her experience of being wrongfully considered delusional.  This is particularly likely to happen when a patient's symptoms are the result of the malicious actions of another person, such as harm resulting from harassment or abuse.  This might include poisoning, stalking, gangstalking (group harassment), or gaslighting.  Abusers sometimes deliberately do things to their victims that make the victim sound crazy if they report it.  This is also more likely to occur if the patient reports harm from a medical procedure, treatment, or another medical provider, or from someone who is powerful or well known.

This effect was seen recently when some people presented to the hospital during the COVID 19 pandemic suffering adverse events from the COVID vaccines and were diagnosed as delusional when they were suffering actual side effects that were later acknowledged by the medical establishment and public health authorities.


Chinese Sesame Ginger Condiment

 Ingredients:

6-7 inch piece of young ginger root, chopped as fine as possible
1bunch green onions, sliced into very thin rounds
1 tsp sea salt
1 T toasted sesame oil

Combine the chopped ginger and green onions in a mortar or bowl (made of glass or ceramic).

Rub and grind the salt in with the pestle or a metal spoon to break down the ginger and green onions, to grind them into a paste-like consistency.  

Add the sesame oil and stir well.  

Let it sit for at least an hour before using.