Archived News of the Week

Aging Angst
(plus news on Skin, Cholesterol, ADHD and Nasal Rinsing)

What Fresh Hell is This? Every morning I wake up in total gratitude that I am not dead. I am old now so I suppose it's possible that I could die in my sleep from some undiagnosed problem, like an aneurysm in my Circle of Wills (brain) or perhaps a sudden heart valve malfunction. To avoid the surprise of waking up dead, every night before I fall asleep, I offer God a confusing prayer: "Please let me die in peace and in no pain and in my sleep, but NOT NOW!" So He is sitting up there scratching His head and pulling His beard wondering whether He should zap me now or wait until later. I always opt for later, and so far, so good.

Woody Allen, my favorite neurotic crank head says: "My relationship with death remains the same. I am very strongly against it... there's no advantage to getting older. I am 78 now. You don't get any wiser, you don't get more mellow... nothing good happens. Your back hurts more, you get more indigestion. Your eyesight isn't as good. You need a hearing aid. It's bad business getting older and I would advise you not to do it."

When you get older, you wonder what's going to show up next. (Just you wait, you young whippersnappers!) What is that red mark on my shoulder that wasn't there yesterday? Should I call Kaiser to get it looked at? At least it's not black. Are there red melanomas?

Or, my right hip hurt last month and now my right knee hurts, overwhelming the pain signals coming from my hip. So, I guess my right hip still hurts, but I'm just not aware of it which is sort of comforting in a weird way. I don't want surgery, so what do I do? I invest in 4 or 5 unguents, ointments, oils and salves hoping that one of them will magically reduce the pain in my right knee. Some of them work some of the time, especially my special cannabis Extra Strength Pain Cream. And why is the third finger on my right hand suddenly trying to head south? It kind of hurts too. My knuckle is swollen! Do I have rheumatoid arthritis? Or maybe - yes of course - I have psoriatic arthritis. I do have that rashy red thing on my shoulder...

The pie chart of the brain changes dramatically when you reach a certain age. Before this age of doom arrived for me, certain slices of my brain-pie were things like "Vacations!," "Walking the Camino in Spain!" "Become a neurosurgeon!" "Look at my transgender issues!" Now  we of a certain age weigh vacations with "Am I able to walk to the plane?" and "Can I have my own bathroom in the condo?" and "Will I be able to find anything at all to eat in Mexico if I am gluten, dairy and nightshade free?"

Forget the Camino  that's laughable now. I like the Ritz Carlton not 50 lb. backpacks. Then since I am not 30 anymore, I guess the neurosurgeon gig is out of the question unless I can find a medical school in the Congo. And at my age, what difference does it make about transgender, or any other gender for that matter?

How Interesting is This? Ten years ago the American Family Physician discussed the effectiveness of two bloodstream anti-fungal drugs  Lamisil and Sporanox for treating toenail fungus. The results were unimportant for what I am going to tell you. "Fully 81% of the patients on Sporanox experienced a decrease in serum cholesterol levels." This points to the fact that systemic fungal (yeast) infections actually cause high cholesterol.

And the statin drugs taken by millions of Americans are actually anti-fungal drugs. Dr. Elizabeth MooreLandecker published in 1971  more that 40 years ago  that "lipid metabolites, including sterols are produced by fungi." Sterol is the final 6 letters of the word "cholesterol". Fungi also make triglycerides. So, instead of the high-risk stain drugs, a more comfortable and safe treatment for high cholesterol might be one of my safe anti-fungals plus a Paleo Diet with no sugar, grains and little fruit.

Reflection Angst: A few years ago, I invested in one of those round, swivel magnifying mirrors thatattaches to the wall beside your bathroom sink. It was a big mistake for my aging ego and one that plunged me once and for all into irrevocable Senior honesty. I realized then with much whimpering and moaning into that glass of horror that I can no longer pass for 50. But I am stuck with it now. I can't turn away from looking at myself. It's mesmerizing  sort of like watching the cobra sinuating out of a basket on a side street in Mumbai. Or maybe Donald Trump.

I can look at the most minute line, dry spot, crepe and wrinkle now and have worrisome conversations with myself about: So, why isn't that dry spot (teeny tiny, can't see without magnification) by the corner of my mouth going away? Should I get it looked at? Why is my right eye lid drooping in a reptilian manner  it didn't last year? Am I now going to resemble a Gecko for the rest of my life? Is it bad enough so that I can get Medicare to pay for my eyelid lift?

Or, you just may accidentally catch a glimpse of yourself in a store window. First of all you wonder who that old person is and isn't it interesting that she is wearing the same pink Vail visor that you are wearing. After you have realized that that old person is you and you have stopped the embarrassing caterwauling, you tell yourself to throw those shoulders back! Stand up straight! Hold that stomach in!

Maybe we should talk now about keeping our skin as healthy and as youthful as possible and for as long as possible. My readers are very smart, so you already know that huge amounts of expensive creams plus a facial every other week will not be nearly enough to retard the ravages of aging. It all starts with your diet. Plus great gobs of water. Drink at least ½ of your body weight in ounces every day. Here are some foods to concentrate on, too, all of which are great for the skin: Apples, Pears, Blueberries, Grapefruit, Avocados, Coconut, Cinnamon, Chile Peppers, Flax, Pumpkin, Sunflower and Sesame Seeds,Chis and Hemp Seeds, Dried Beans, Buckwheat, Organic Plain Yogurts, and all veggies, the more colorful the better.

And, here are some supplements for the skin, most of which I take: Alpha or r-Lipoic, Tocotrienols, Q100, Minerals, Ascorbyl Palmitate (a fat soluble vitamin C) and the omegas. Let's not forget Carnosine, the Taylor Swift of the nutritional supplement world. But unlike our latest pop stars and their 15 minutes of fame, this new-ish supplement is here to stay as it is already back by tons of research. Carnosine is a great anti-aging supplement in that it keeps our telomeres long and healthy, your skin supple and it reduces those fine lines and wrinkles. It is also great for your eyes and memory.

I usually put on Skinceuticals CE Ferulic Serum right on my clean skin and currently I am following up with Crème de la Mer moisturizing cream. Actually I have quite a few different moisturizers that I rotate. You guessed right  not all of them are organic and some contain chemicals. I have tried most of the organic, healthy creams and many of them simply do not do the job for me. Vanity oftimes will win out in the decision of what to put on your aging face, and there will come a time when you would slather your entire body with crude oil if you thought it would work to keep you young and fresh looking.

Another Interesting Tidbit About Fungus, Molds and Yeasts: It could be that Amoxicillin, the common antibiotic, might be the cause of ADHD in children. Although Amoxicillin is given routinely to kids with colds, a 2001 research paper opened with this: ... "Approximately 6 to 16% of boys and 2 to 9% of girls [who have taken Amoxicillin] meet the diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder." If 16% of boys suffer from Conduct Disorder (ADHD) then that equals 10,000,000 boys and that's a lot of Conduct Disorder. Amoxicillin side-effects may include agitation, anemia, anxiety, changes in behavior, colitis, confusion, convulsions, diarrhea, dizziness, hives, hyperactivity and a lot more etcetera. Guess what? Every time you take an antibiotic, you destroy the lovely homogeneity of your gut which then allows fungus, molds and yeast to proliferate. Another guess what? They gave autistic boys Nystatin, a common anti-fungal drug, and this reduced the boys' hyperactivity, it increased eye contact and even helped their bowel habits.

One single dose of Amoxicillin can create an aberrant gut milieu and in turn an aberrant brain milieu. The gut is the brain  the brain is the gut. And not just Amoxicillin - all antibiotics are fungal poisons and several of the mycotoxins created by the antibiotic destruction of the gut flora are known to be neurotoxic. Just one single dose can do this. That happens with all of us  from ages 2 to 80  who are unfortunate enough to take antibiotics. But because of their immature immune systems, children suffer the worst. Try natural means first, O.K.?

Nasal Irrigation for Cold Prevention: My life changed  my morning ablutions, that is - a few years ago at a seminar on infections. The doc who was presenting it mentioned nasal irrigation as one of the most important things to do to prevent colds and flus. He said "You wash every other orifice, why not your nose?" And kaboom - I had an epiphany  "Of course! Duh!  and have been rinsing my nose ever since, every single day, 365 days a year. At first, I was a purist and used the Neti pot but I hated it. I can't rinse with the Neti pot without the water dribbling down my face and onto my shoulder. It just seems to pour where I don't want it to go, plus the sensation of drowning as the water pours into your nose is not pleasant either.

So now I use the Neilmed Sinus Rinse system: Go to Pharmaca and buy the Neilmed squirt bottle which you will insert into each nostril every day for a squirt and blow. You will also buy some premixed and premeasured envelopes whose contents (salt and baking soda) fit perfectly into the Neilmed squirt bottle. After you buy a gallon of distilled water, you are ready to go.

Do your daily squirt and blow once daily in each nostril or if you are getting sick, three times a day. It will clean all your little nose hairs which are paramount in capturing the viruses and bacteria that you encounter daily, it will change the pH of your nose to more alkaline and it just might kill any rogue bugs which are just waiting to pounce. Besides, it's fun to see what was lurking in your nose...

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