Category Archives: Uncategorized

Endometriosis and Chinese Medicine

December 2, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan 1 Comment

Endometriosis is a painful condition where the tissue normally inside of the womb, the endometrium, is found in other parts of the body. The endometrial cells build up blood for pregnancy, which is shed during menstruation. However if this tissue is found outside of the womb, it can cause bleeding in areas where blood is not supposed to be shed and it can cause major pain and inflammation. Typically areas of endometrium are found near the ovaries or fallopian tubes, the anterior or posterior cul de sacs of the exterior uterus, the peritoneum of the pelvic wall, the sigmoid colon or ureters, but it can be found as far away as the diaphragm, the lungs or the nose. Surgical incisions can be populated with endometrial tissue as well.

The causes are largely unknown. In some cases, the endometrial cells may be shed along with the menstrual blood, only to migrate to areas where they can attach to other structures. It is widely believed in Europe, for example, that sexual intercourse during the menstrual period can cause the vaginal vault to expand, permitting endometrial cells to get into areas where they otherwise would not, pushed upward by the sexual act. In Chinese medicine, sexual intercourse is seen as an upward, yang act which should not take place during the powerful yin periods where the body is and should be focusing downwards.

However in other cases there seems to be parallel development of extra-uterine endometrial cells. It seems highly unlikely that endometrial cells in the nose, which result in menstrual nosebleeds or in the lungs, have migrated from the womb. Since most cells in the human body can differentiate into any necessary structure, it is likely that the instructions for differentiation were incorrectly expressed. The process is estrogen dependent and may even persist beyond menopause.

Approximately 10 to 15% of women during their reproductive years are believed to suffer from endometriosis, including approximately 20-50% of those with primary infertility and 60% of those with pelvic pain. Current estimates are that 30-47% of women suffering from this disorder are infertile. A 1988 survey conducted in the US found significantly more hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune diseases, allergies and asthma in women with endometriosis compared to the general population. It seems to affect women with late pregnancies or no pregnancies worse, possibly because cysts can more easily build up.

Symptoms of endometriosis include pelvic pain, painful periods, pain between periods during bowel movements or other actions, painful sexual intercourse, nausea, dizziness, bleeding during menses in unlikely areas, blocked bowels, fever during menstruation and dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Current research has demonstrated an association between endometriosis and certain types of cancers, notably ovarian cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and brain cancer but not endometrial cancer. Complications of endometriosis include:

* Internal scarring which can lead to infertility
* Adhesions
* Pelvic cysts
* Chocolate cysts which are endometriomas filled with old blood
* Ruptured cysts where exit of the eggs from the ovaries is blocked
* Blocked bowel/bowel obstruction
* Infertility

Infertility can be related to scarring and anatomical distortions due to the endometriosis. However, endometriosis may also interfere in more subtle ways: cytokines and other chemical agents may be released that interfere with reproduction.

In Chinese medicine, endometriosis is seen as a kind of Blood or Phlegm stagnation. The main goal of treatment for endometriosis is to strongly move the blood to flush out stagnation. Herbs like dang gui, cyperus, red peony, safflower stamens, motherwort, ligusticum, persica seed, zeodary, red sage root and fennel seed may be used to strongly move blood. Pain killers like corydalis or Jamaica dogwood, frankincense and myrrh may be given.

There are five basic patterns that accompany blood or phlegm stagnation:

Qi Stagnation and Blood or Phlegm Stasis.
Kidney Deficiency and Blood or Phlegm Stasis.
Cold Retention and Blood or Phlegm Stasis.
Qi Deficiency and Blood or Phlegm Stasis.
Heat Obstruction and Blood or Phlegm Stasis.

In addition there may be patterns of Qi stagnation, Qi deficiency, Kidney deficiency, Cold stagnation or Heat stagnation. Different herbs are used for each condition. Common formulas, depending upon the pattern, include Shi xiao san, Shaofu zhuyu, Xue fu zhu yu tang, and Nei yi wan.

Western herbs that may help endometriosis focus on the liver, like dandelion and vitex. This helps normalize the estrogen dominance along with dietary change. In addition pain relief from Indian pipe, Jamaica dogwood or sweet melliot can be useful. Angelica and saffron may be used to move the blood, along with nutgrass tubers and frankincense or myrrh.

Uterine massage may be used to reduce stagnation in the pelvic area. This combines proper placement of the uterus, which can flop forward or backwards in its hammock of ligaments with flushing of the lymphatic ducts and blood vessels in the pelvis. Acupuncture is frequently used to move blood and treat the underlying pathology. Further acupuncture affects hormonal balance, which can help correct underlying conditions or at least moderate their effects.

Castor oil packs are a time tested way of getting relief from pelvic pain. A cotton or wool flannel cloth is soaked in castor oil, to which a few drops of clary sage essential oil may be added. The cloth is laid over the abdomen, covered by a piece of plastic to protect towels and bedding from oil stains, covered with a hot towel or a towel and heat source such as a hot water bottle or heating pad. This is mostly palliative although it will enhance pelvic circulation.

Standard western treatment includes birth control pills which suppress but do not cure the condition, surgical removal of endometrial tissue although it frequently grows back, total hysterectomy and drugs. Drug therapy for endometriosis is often unsatisfactory. Most of the current drug therapy is aimed at altering the estrogen-based hormonal stimulus of the endometrial tissue, like progestins, testosterone or gonadatrophin-releasing hormone. The condition is not easy to treat with any modality, but treatment, diet and lifestyle changes can help manage it.

Diet plays a significant part in the treatment of endometriosis. This is one case where coffee is actually contraindicated. High fiber foods, sea vegetables, fruits and vegetables, and low levels of fish or lean pasture-raised meat are recommended. Dairy and soy should be avoided since they are estrogenic and may be aggravating to autoimmune conditions.

Anti-inflammatory supplements such as curcumin or turmeric, fish oil, evening primrose oil, and clary sage can be taken. Vitamin D levels should be brought up so that blood levels of 25hydroxy D3 are 50-100. Calcium and magnesium levels should be balanced and magnesium increased. You should also keep up antioxidants, flavanoids and adaptogenic herbs like astragalus, ginseng or holy basil.

Support groups and computer forums can offer significant support, as well as a group of people who have experienced different types of treatment. Check out http://www.mdjunction.com/endometriosis

See also:

http://www.acupuncturebrooklyn.com/how-tos/how-to-use-a-castor-oil-pack-by-karen-vaughan on how to make a castor oil pack.
http://www.itmonline.org/journal/arts/endometriosis.htm for an exhaustive article on Chinese medicine and endometriosis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis

http://www.articlesbase.com/women%27s-health-articles/endometriosis-part-208-ednometriosis-and-essential-oilclary-sage-818372.html

cholesterol, diet, heart-disease, herbs, sunlight, Uncategorized, vitamin-d, western-medicine

Vitamin D, Statins and Red Yeast Rice

September 11, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan Leave a comment

As those of you who read my blog are aware, I am not a big fan of statins. The first reason is that cholesterol is not really the problem. The second is that statins depress the body’s own anti-inflammatory compound CoQ10. But recent research shows that, against our logical assumptions, Vitamin D levels may rise when statins are taken.

Cholesterol is good? Yes. Cholesterol is the building block of hormones, and it is the body’s own bandage for inflamed arteries. When the inflammation is high, cholesterol rises and if it isn’t enough to lower you get cardiovascular disease. It doesn’t get rid of the inflammation to remove the body’s bandage, you need to look at diet and stress and other causes of inflammation. Besides if you block cholesterol with statins, you block the body’s formation of CoQ10 which is our natural antioxidant. And that can cause a painful disease called rhabdomyolysis where the muscles ache and cramp.

But isn’t it helpful to prevent heart disease? Sort of. You are less likely to get a second heart attack, but not a first one. You may be less likely to die from a heart attack but no less likely to die from other causes within a normal study period. And it probably isn’t because it reduces cholesterol, but because it is anti-inflammatory (replacing your body’s own anti-inflammatory coenzyme with its own effect).

How about Red Yeast Rice? Red Yeast Rice is a kind of statin, and is the source for lovastatin which it contains. Red Yeast Rice is somewhat less dangerous- it spreads itself out among liver detoxification pathways without clogging a few important pathways. And the dosage is lower, which is common in a whole herb and does not impair its action. But it still reduces CoQ10, and adds some liver taxation I use it rarely.

The information about Vitamin D and statins is a surprise. Vitamin D and cholesterol have the same precursor, and those of us in the natural medicine field assumed that statins would reduce absorption of Vitamin D if you took a medication that reduced the precursor. In a Turkish cardiology study, 91 patients with high blood lipids were tested before and after an eight week course of Rosuvastatin (Crestor). Their blood levels of Vitamin D (25 hydroxy D) went from 14 to 36 on average, and a number of other measures of Vitamin D improved. Why? Well we don’t know, but it could have to do with the breakdown products of the drug and the precursor fitting into the receptors.

Do I recommend asking your doctor for Crestor to build Vitamin D? No. There are several formulations of high value D3 on the market, from drops to fast-dissolving dry pills. They go from a tiny pill with 5000 iu to capsules of 50,000 iu. If one doesn’t work well to increase your serum (25 Hydroxy D) Vitamin D levels to a level of 50, look at others. You may build up your dose to a higher level. And you should consider supplementing your D3 vitamins with even a little midday sun exposure without sunscreen because sunlight energy can’t be reduced to one isolated vitamin. (Your body will not make too much.)

If all else fails, then I would try taking the Vitamin D with some Red Yeast Rice for a period of up to two months while you load Vitamin D. Red Yeast Rice has not been studied like the Rosuvastatin so you are experimenting on yourself but chances are good that it will work. Add extra Co-enzyme Q10 to protect your liver and your muscles. And when you get your levels up, stop the Red Yeast Rice.

flu, Uncategorized, vitamin-d

Vitamin D Regulates the Immune System

September 2, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan Leave a comment

I am an herbalist, and that is where I turn first, in most cases. But Vitamin D is an exception. It is a hormone used by most of our cells in over 2000 functions,. As humans ranged north of the African savannah where we evolved and started wearing more clothing, we started lowering our D levels.

Vitamin D has the ability to kill off bacteria and that property has been so important that we have retained that property as primates for over 60 million years

Vitamin D also prevents the over stimulation of our immune system which could cause it to attack ourselves. This is important for the Swine Flu which can be dangerous if there is an excessive inflammatory response, called a cytokine storm.

Most deaths in the 1918 flu pandemic and more recently from SARS, happened when young healthy people who had a strong immune response provoked a cytokine storm which allowed an excessive response that quickly killed them off. We speculate that with higher levels of Vitamin D, the regulatory function that caused the excessive inflammation might not have occurred.

This article tells how the process works, but the takeaway is to keep your Vitamin D levels high (blood level around 60) which may require 10,000 iu or more daily and if you get the flu increase it.

Aug 19 2009, 10:20 AM EST

Regulation of Antimicrobial Peptide by Vitamin D Found to Have Been

Conserved for 60M Years Continue reading Vitamin D Regulates the Immune System →

gut-bacteria, obesity, probiotics, Uncategorized

Our Symbionts, Ourselves

July 31, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan 2 Comments

Only 10% of the cells in our bodies are human. Ponder that. We have easily a hundred trillion bacterial cells, not just in our gut but all over our body. They make us work: breaking down food into something we can assimilate, fighting infection, signaling our cellular processes, converting sunlight to Vitamin D, forming biofilms to protect us. We have fungi that break down wastes, yeasts that ferment and transform extra sugars, worms that can prevent autoimmune disease. Some of our bacteria themselves have viruses. We are walking colonies of organisms in a human superstructure.

I was lucky to have attended Berkeley in the ’70s when the theories of Lynn Margulis on evolution from bacteria were taking hold. Margulis holds that we started as colonies of microorganisms which specialized or cooperated with other kinds of colonies to form superstructures we recognize as species. She noticed that brain cells and sperm share characteristics with spirochete bacteria, positing that they evolved from bacteria that were gradually incorporated into the superstructure.

Since the 1880s when the mitochondria that power each of our cells were discovered, scientists have noticed their similarity to bacteria. They have their own DNA and yet live not only inside of our bodies, but inside of our cells and we would have no energy without them. Margulis calls them endosymbionts (“inside symbionts” or “inside organisms that live intertwined with us.”) We are composites of human and microrganism cells: some are totally independent, some form biofilms over our teeth or guts, some are incorporated into the superstructure.

This is true of plants and animals as well. Termites can’t digest wood themselves. It is not their gut bacteria, but the organisms that are symbiotic with the gut bacteria of the termites which can break down the cellulose. Plants have chloroplasts which act like mitochondria and their own microorganisms. Fungi provide a subterranean internet which allows forms of chemical communication throughout a forest.

Although we have some human genes, the microbes together contribute at least 1,000 times more genes to the whole. That is right, your genes aren’t entirely your own either. We use those genes, and they affect the epigenetic expression of our human genes.

The collective term for all your microflora is the microbiota, and it acts like a large organ. The microbiota breaks down food we can’t digest, processes toxic drug residues and filters them out of the nutrients we send to the blood, it makes vitamins that we need and generally protects our immunity. When it suffers an assault, say a course of antibiotics or a very bad diet, we get sick, just as we would if our lungs or liver were assaulted. We need to care for our symbionts.

How foods penetrate the leaky gut causing allergic reactions — The Probiotic organisms line the lumen and villi, protecting against large particles entering and helping prevent leaky gut or allergic reactions.

Parts of the natural health community has expressed fear of the larger symbionts- witness the rush to kill off “parasites.” Our immune systems have co-evolved with parasitic worms—living alongside then for millions of years has shaped the way our immune systems react to pathogens. We have five interleukin genes, which affect the immune system’s response to disease. These genes have evolved to deal with a variety of different pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi and worms. Yet when the body has no parasites, none of the minor worms that have co-evolved with us, the part of our immune system that would attack the parasites attacks us instead, causing autoimmune diseases that are not present in areas of the world where people must deal with worms. And in fact there have been trials where providing benign worms to people suffering from asthma or Crohns has resolved the condition.

The gut is home to some hundred trillion bacteria, as well as other microbes, providing a living wallpaper to protect your body from irritating proteins or pathogens that come in with food. There are two major classes: firmicuites which include lactobaccili like acidophilus and bacteriodetes which include nonpathogenic varieties of E. coli. Fat and thin people have different balances of firmicuites and bacteriodetes, according to recent research by Ley and Gordon. Fat people have more firmicuites which help break down sugars and extract nutrients from food better.- we get more out of our food whether we need it or not. Thin people have more bacteriodetes which in overgrowth can cause diarrhea. The researchers were able to induce obesity in lean germ-free mice by implanting the gut bacteria of fat mice. Europeans have been able to get e-coli probiotics, which might assist in weight loss, but the FDA forbids their import into the US. (I tried!) fatmouse

Bacteria which we associate with disease, like H. pylori which is suspected as a cause of ulcers and esophogeal erosion also help us: H. pylori is associated with lower adenocarcinoma rates. Acidophilus which breaks down food is desirable in the gut but can eat away tooth enamel in the mouth. Fairly benign staph bacteria can outcompete serious bacteria like MRSA which are resistant to drugs and when they are eliminated by antibacterial soaps and sprays, the truly nasty bacteria are left.

So ease up on the antibacterial soap, throw out your Hulda Clarke parasite zapper and only worry about those worms that hurt your health or yeasts which have proliferated out of control because competitive organisms are not keeping them in check. And don’t avoid live fermented foods if you have a candida overgrowth: you want competition for the buggers. Miso, kefir, kombucha, yogurt, buttermilk, olives, blue cheese, sauerkraut, live pickles and kimchee are full of probiotics that can all help reinforce your gut flora. And don’t forget the prebiotic foods like inulin or FOS found in Jerusalem artichokes and onions, dandelion roots or chicory which feed your gut bacteria but cannot be fermented by yeasts.

Sources:

Endosymbiosis: Lynn Margulis http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0/history_24

Ecological and Evolutionary Forces Shaping Microbial Diversity in the Human Intestine http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867406001929

Gut Reaction: Environmental Effects on the Human Microbiota http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2685866&blobtype=pdf

Immune Gene Evolution May Be Driven By Parasites http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=22816

The Body Politic http://seedmagazine.com/content/print/the_body_politic/ (picture from this article.)

Gut Bacteria Do More Than Digest Food http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/aug2010/features/gut_bacteria5.html

Vitamin D, Health and the Flu

July 9, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan Leave a comment

Clients are often surprised at the high levels of Vitamin D3 that I recommend: new research has shown that the 400 iu available in most vitamins is far too low and children today, indoors or covered with sunscreen, are getting rickets. If you were uncovered at noon in the equatorial regions where we evolved, you would get 25,000 iu of Vitamin D in a couple of hours. So unless you work out of doors in the South, don’t wear sunscreen and only wash with water (soap within 48 hours interferes with the body’s manufacture of Vitamin D), you aren’t getting enough from the sun. (See my last post where people living in Hawaii exposed to the sun were not getting enough.)

And if you go to the Vitamin D Council website, you will see ample discussion of the new recommendations. I personally take 10,000 iu daily, which is the minimum to raise your blood levels and a level that is reasonable to avoid toxicity even if you don’t take blood tests. For clients with cancer I suggest four times that dose, but they get tested.

Toxicity is rare, not documented in the literature except anecdotally, and in levels of 120,000 iu daily for protracted periods. Levels of 300,000 iu given once weekly by prescription are generally acknowledged as safe, but usually require testing. Persons with scleroderma or abnormal calcium metabolism should not take high levels (and should watch calcium as well.)

Vitamin D is a pro-hormone, rather than a vitamin, important for all kinds of metabolic function and affecting 2000 of our genes. Current research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major factor in the pathology of at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease and infectious diseases. Now there is evidence that the vitamin affects susceptibility to the flu.

Here is information from the Flu Wiki forum discussing Vitamin D and the flu:

Vitamin D Status and Susceptibility to Influenza and its Complications

by: The Doctor

Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 23:30:43 PM EDT

A considerable quantity of research data published in the peer reviewed medical literature over that past 2 decades has shown that many people within the developed and underdeveloped world are vitamin D deficient. There are a variety of reasons for this finding including diet, lifestyle and use of supplements.With regard to risk for pandemic influenza, the most important thing this data suggest for those deficient in this key vitamin is that they are much more likely to contract influenza than the vitamin D replete and are at higher risk of experiencing severe complication from this infection including cytokine storm, post influenza pneumonia and death.

http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3530

diet, fluids-and-electrolytes, Uncategorized

Health Myths about Hydration

May 28, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan 3 Comments

We all need water. Water helps hydrate our tissues and flushes our kidneys. We are 85% water and we need to replace water lost through urine, stools, sweat and breathing. Water even carries qi, via hydronium ions, so you want to drink enough if you are feeling lethargic.

But there are many myths about water consumption:

There is no evidence that we need eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day. This myth started when the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council recommended approximately “1 milliliter of water for each calorie of food,” which would amount to roughly two to two-and-a-half quarts per day (64 to 80 ounces). Although in its next sentence, the Board stated “most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods,” that last sentence is virtually never quoted.
You do not need to drink before you get thirsty. Evolution did not select for a water deficit. Your thirst is your body’s mechanism for determining how much water you need to drink. We have a well-balanced osmoregulatory system that maintains water balance through the antidiuretic hormone and thirst.
Contrary to popular opinion our water needs do not have to come from pure water. We can get our water needs from foods or other liquids. In fact in Chinese medicine, eating watermelon is a cure for the disease known as Summerheat, because it replenishes fluids and electrolytes. ( Prior to air conditioning, there were riots in Beijing when watermelon trucks could not make their way into the city!)
That said, water is a wonderful beverage which is cooling, hydrating and non-caloric. We need to value pure sources, preferably not from sources trucked across the world or the country. Fill your stainless steel or glass bottle and sip from it all day.
Water can either hydrate your tissues or flush your kidneys. To hydrate yourself, drink no more than one half cup at a time. Drinking more triggers your urinary reflex. It helps to sip from a water bottle, slowly over time. On the other hand if you are detoxifying and need to flush your kidneys drink more at one time.

Image via Wikipedia
Coffee is not net dehydrating, despite the caffeine. Caffeine is a dry salt that is diuretic. However coffee is an aqueous (water) solution with magnesium, potassium, flavanonids, chlorogenic acid, Vitamin E, niacin and essential oils as well as caffeine. There is more water than caffeine in coffee, but you soon lose approximately 1/4 of the fluid as compared to water. With tea you lose even less.
But the water loss is temporary. A small study done at the University of Nebraska tested the body weight, urine output, and blood of eighteen subjects after they consumed caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages. They determined that there was “no significant differences in the effect of various combinations of beverages on hydration status of healthy adult males.” The Institute of Medicine expert panel on water and electrolyte intake asserts that the diuretic effects of caffeine are transient, and that coffee, tea, and colas can contribute to total water intake. In other words, caffeine will make you pee now, but not more than you otherwise would over a day. Nonetheless, peeing sooner means that your tissues are less likely to be hydrated, so don’t make all of your liquid caffeinated beverages.
Dark urine doesn’t means you are technically dehydrated, but you are not drinking as much water as you probably should. At normal urinary volume and color, the concentration of the blood is within the normal range and nowhere near the values that are seen in meaningful dehydration. Still, do your kidneys and skin a favor and flush them out with enough water. Pale urine is better for you.
You can drink too much. There is a condition known as SIADH, which causes the brain to swell when water is excessive and can destabilize the heart. This is the condition that killed the Boston marathoners. Drinking electrolyte beverages will not prevent SIADH because the sugar will pull sodium out of the bloodstream into the intestine, allowing more water build-up. It is better to give salty food, particularly that which contains minerals.

Water is important, but hydration can come within food, in “unclear” beverages, and even with caffeinated drinks. Have food with minerals before you work out, then drink water. But as long as your urine is pale (aside from after vitamins), you are drinking enough.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/08/020809071640.htm

“Caffeine, Body Fluid-Electrolyte Balance, and Exercise Performance,” Lawrence E. Armstrong, http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559762

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