Actually I grow a lot of my own food and it is all natural. It hasn't cured me yet. I do believe in avoiding fried foods and processed foods.

It really is my understanding that autoimmune disease are the result of your immune system attacking your body. It reminds me of the family dog biting the kids. Well that dog may need a muzzle. I am not on any immune suppressants at this time. If I get worse, it may happen.

I am not only in this life for quantity of time. I want quality. If I can't do the things that I want to do, then I'll take whatever drugs help me, even if they only help for a short while.

As far as diet, I used to eat fried foods. I never ate vegetables. I ate bags of chips. I was too fat. I drank way too much liquor and beer. And I was perfectly healthy. This dang myesthenia gravis came on two years after I improved my lifestyle. Maybe I should go buy some beer and fried chicken.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ultrawel.../1/ZAhu6oa_2Ss

Mark Hyman, MD is what medical care should be in north america.

sadly, the pill pushers are still the status quo.

I do not know Mark Hyman Personally. I have had no academic discussions with him and was not under his care.

From looking at some of his you-tube videos, His list of publications, and trying to learn a bit more about "functional medicine" and the functional university ( I read some of what they have on their site, and also asked them to send me some of their teaching cases).

I have reached the following conclusions:

1. This is a very well-spoken charizmatic physician.

2. There are very few original thoughts or ideas in what he says or in his publications. He mostly writes very good reviews about what is known.

3. the vast majority of his publications are in a journal in which he is on the editorial board.

3. He is making an excellent academic (and I believe also well-paying) career out of this.

4. There is nothing novel in the "functional medicine" approach. It is based on studies published in the medical literature (some out-dated) and scientific journals. They do put more emphasis on nutrition and environmental exposure, but again they do not have any novel data or their own original research. Much of what they suggest is based on reasonable and intelligent assumptions. Yet, they sell it as the "medicine of the future".

5. the kind of medical practice they encourage is very time consuming (so unfortunately not practical without major and required changes in the health care system), and expensive to the patient ( much of it will probably not be covered by most health care plans). They do suggest health care reforms, but not in the position to do much about it. (and in that they are not different from many physicians around the world).

6. They do not advocate abandoning medications, but do advocate carefully reading the medical literature and using them wisely (and in that they are no different from many good physicians around the world).
Although, some of the you-tube videos may be interpreted in that way.

If I summarize what he says in plain language (without the spins and hypes) it would be:

The combination of being overworked, having significant emotional stress (due to a hard divorce), poor nutrition (like most american physicians I was grabbing junk food which I quickly ate, not to waste precious time) and an infection made me collapse.
instead of understanding this, I went to numerous physicians, who looked at me like pieces of a puzzle. They gave me names that meant nothing and symptomatic treatments without trying to seriously understand what is wrong with. Even the psychiatrist just gave me antidepressants.
None of them bothered to look at me as a person. None of them realized that what I need is some rest, proper nutrition and emotional support. None of them realized that I was not ill or depressed just overworked and under enormous stress. I too (being an over-ambitious person failed to understand that).
Trying to understand what is wrong with me, I went back to what I learned in medical school (well, I know I said what I learned there didn't help, but where the heck do you think is my knowledge in biochemistry and metabolic cycles from?). I realized how important it is to have proper nutrition and letting my body rest.

It also made me realize that the american medical system is treating so many people in my condition as suffering from diseases which require medications, instead of advising life-style changes and proper nutrition.
Going back to basic biology (which I failed to realize its importance in medical school) also made me read some more. I found out that while I was busy working as a GP, there has been enormous amount of research going on.
I learned about systems biology, epigenetics and numerous other biological research. I was fascinated by it (even though I never got a very deep understanding so failed to understand the current limitations of applying this kind of research to medical practice). I also realized (like many other physicians, among which are the former editor of the prestigious journal NEJM) that many of the medications I was giving my patients on a regular basis are based on poor evidence. And that there is too much influence of large pharma companies. (what a revelation!)

As I gradually recovered (with better nutrition, rest and emotional support), I started to realize that this is a true gold-mine. I can treat (basically healthy) people or people with relatively mild chronic diseases (in which the harm of pharmacological treatment clearly outweighs potential benefit) and make their life better, I can teach other health care professionals and share my "insights" with them, and I can join the editorial board of a journal which advocates what I have learned and publish numerous papers that way.

There is nothing wrong in any of that, as long as it doesn't lead to people reaching wrong conclusions and as long as he is aware that he too is selling a product and has a lot to gain from it.

the GP's in amerika are all more than happy to send you off to a specialist and wash their hands of the liability.

so you get to see 6 new wizards and a big bag of assorted pills.

at the end of the process, however long it takes, you feel even worse for the experience and still have no game plan.

His intent in the vid was to show how to connect the dots in functional medicine and get to the end result.

not mask symptoms with a bunch of white powder.

Here's my best guess as to how I came down with MG.

I am part of a family with a very strong genetic disposition to autoimmune diseases.

After the birth of one of my babies, and the physical stress of some painful complications, I came down with Graves disease. My understanding is that after childbirth, the immune system is naturally ramped up, in order to prevent infection--and perhaps also switching gears from the natural immunosuppressive state of pregnancy (so that the mother's body doesn't reject the baby). Because I have a genetic predisposition to autoimmune diseases, this was a dangerous time for my immune system--the perfect time for it to go wrong, what with childbirth and the physical stress of the complications.

I used thyroid suppressants to deal with my Graves disease. I knew they entailed risks. But untreated Graves disease is life-threatening--I was headed for a thyroid storm. I was also very sick, and somewhat crazy. I did not have the luxury of doing a six-month experiment with raw veganism while my heart raced and skipped, my mind went out the window, and I shook too hard to hold the baby. That would have been extremely risky, too. I weighed the risks and took the drug. I didn't want the radiation because I was nursing the baby.

There is evidence that the drugs I took can cause MG. There's evidence that the drugs I'm taking now for the MG can cause cancer and liver damage. Why do I put my body at risk for these things? Because the other option is to take different risks--such as an MG crisis--that I judge to be greater.

I may one day find that Imuran was the wrong decision, just as my thyroid-suppressant drugs might have been the wrong decision (though if I had weaned my baby, she might not be alive now. She had an undiagnosed life-threatening heart defect. Her cardiologist told me that breastfeeding her probably saved her life). But based on what I know now, it's a reasonable decision. It's making me much better. I am having regular blood tests.

The bottom line is: there are no risk-free decisions! Deciding not to take drugs, and do raw veganism, is risky, too (for people with life-threatening symptoms, it could be fatal). Some people have mild MG that is not life-threatening at the moment, and for them, the risk-weighing is different. It's why I never took Prednisone. Some people are in danger of dying tomorrow without risky drugs. For them, Prednisone is a sensible risk to take.

You could look at my story and say, "See, she took drugs for her thyroid, and look what happened--she got MG!" But the unspoken assumption is that if I hadn't, I'd be better off. That's not necessarily true. I might be dead. My daughter might be dead. I might (I believe I would) still have Graves--I might be in a mental institution, with a ruined family, or suffering from crippling osteoporosis.

I plan to keep taking Imuran even if I go into full remission, because I am afraid of getting RA, MS, lupus, or ALS.

I am delighted that raw veganism works for you, though I do worry about the risks you are taking (especially B12 deficiency). It's not reasonable to conclude that it would work for everyone. It's also not clear that raw veganism really improved your MG. Perhaps it's a coincidence. Perhaps it wasn't MG that was causing most of your symptoms (some of them, like light-headedness and tingling, aren't typical MG symptoms). Perhaps you had ocular MG plus a nutritional deficiency that the vegetables treated. You don't know.

Abby

Abby, you said, "There is evidence that the drugs I took can cause MG."

What specific drugs are thought to be related to MG?

Statins?
Psychoactive drugs?
Antidepressants? Benzos? sleep aids?

I would really like to see a link somewhere.

And if you get off of them, will you get better?

Health Ranger investigation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhj3u3LoooM

49,000 doctors received kickbacks from Glaxo for prescribing more powder to the retail public.

Glaxo paid $3 Billion in fines in 2012. pocket change for the lads and a slap on the wrist.

the medical system kills over 784,000 in the usa per annum.

" death by conventional medicine...."

M.D. (master druggist ) et al.

s

Methimazole, a thyroid suppressant. I actually took propylthiouracil, but I understand the action is similar. Methimazole is thought to have an immunomodulatory effect: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1798220

I have had Graves disease for 16 years, but it had been in remission for several years when I had a big flare-up three years ago. I took the thyroid suppressant drug in the spring and noticed the first symptoms of MG in the fall.

Abby

i still have MG and may never be in full remission.

each case is different and that is why to slot everyone into a standard 120 over 80 blood pressure bench mark in amerika in order to sell more toxins in a bottle is all wrong.

John bergman taught cadaver dissection in med. school and has personally sliced up 1000 bodies on the slab.

no m.d. on the planet has more gross anatomy experience and understands the science than this lad.

he knows the science inside out.

lets start here...............



detox and blood pressure chemicals

" the difference of 40 is all you need to know....."

the rest is all smoke n' mirrors and made up by big pharma to push more powder down the retail chain.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHKolQi1To8&feature=plcp

excuse me, my bad.......

John only sliced up 500 bodies in 8 years of med. school teaching.

..........................................

vaccines.

don't forget to add the polysorbate 80 to the brew and "not suitable for human consumption......"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w62g4iOZhI&feature=plcp

" there is no ethical, moral or scientific reason to inject a newly born infant with a hep. B vaccine......"

" some auto immune is clearly related to immunization..........."