I'm glad I posted this too!!!

Now when Alan goes for his next visit to Dr. Fred, do we say "Give him a blood test for PCB's?

I wonder if his insurance would pay for this. Don't think it would make a bit of a difference in his outcome, he's had PN for 18 years and we didn't eat then like we eat now!! (I basically grow what we eat in my kitchen). I have a pantry and I grow all my sprouts and they are DELICIOUS. Our blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol shows our bodies like eating this way.

Don't know if this will ever impact his PN but I want to find out WHY WE ARE BEING POISONED, and WHY it's being allowed.

Good grief.

Melody

Please read this:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/pcb/lab_tests.html

continue reading "next section" until it ends.

Just read the whole thing. It's ironic, that on the way back from doing a wash I told Alan about the PCB's and he said "how do I get rid of it"? and I said "chelation, maybe?"

Now I don't think so.

How truly sad.

I guess we'll never know.

thanks much

Melody

John had his blood serum check for solvents, pesticides, etc and IMO, it's a waste of money. And it's not cheap. I can't remember what it cost but I was shocked when I got the bill and the results only to have the doc say there was nothing he was going to act on based on the results. If my memory is correct, the blood serum test only show recent, high level exposure. And if you want a better picture of exposure, then you need a biopsy of your fat. They basically pull out a core of fat from your "more fleshy" part of your body. Everyone has an accumulation of toxins in their body. How and when it will effect you, depends on many things. What's toxic for one person, may not effect another.

Many of these synthetic toxins are stored in fat and accumulate over our lifetime. One approach to detoxing them is to sweat it out and a supervised sauna program can facilitate that.

Two good books you may want to read...one is by Dr. Sherry Rodgers, Detoxify or Die. And the other, is Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Silent Spring was written over 40 years ago and is still relevant today because what was done to the environment in the 1950's, 60's and 70's, is still effecting us today.

Marlene has a point. Blood will only tell you what is circulating. And if they do find something in blood, in general, no ranges or limits have been established on these compounds.

Most of them are ubiquitous. Polar bear cubs are full of PFOAs. Male fish are estrogenized, and it isn't pretty.

Most of these compounds are very hard to get rid of. As Marlene said, most are stored in fat, which makes them stick around a very, very long time. We are stuck with this garbage in our systems. I think all we can do is try to minimize our exposure to the substances we can control, such as in our food, in our cookware, perhaps in some of our clothes. Problem is that is very expensive and laborious to do.

Unless you grow your own food, which is horribly labor intensive (believe me, I know), it is hard to know what you are getting. 'Oregon Tilth' certification is the best certification out there as far as I know, and I don't know how well they enforce it. It is the premiere certification in 'green circles'.

Joining a CSA, or community supported agriculture will likely get you pretty natural food. Buying from farmers that use organic or natural food is good. I sell my fruits and veggies. I have yet to make a real profit....maybe next summer. I cringe at the prices at 'organic' stores. Thing is, organic is very expensive to grow. Horribly labor intensive. If you go straight to the grower, you eliminate the middle man and it is cheaper.

I would not do chelation or any other expensive treatment when their is no evidence it helps.

Hi. I agree, we probably can never do anything about Alan's PN. But we can do SOMETHING about what we now put in our bodies, and that's why I SPROUT!!!

I cannot tell you the difference in the way I feel and how easy it is. I simply grow my own baby plants (all organic), and I make the most colorful salads and foods. Alan loves them (thank goodness).

Alan once weighed over 300 lbs and used to drink (when he was in his late teens and early 20's), and he smoked rather heavily until he was 31. He quit for one simple reason. He was an insurance investigator and he read all the reports and all these people who had died had one thing in common. THEY ALL SMOKED. So he threw away his pack of butts and that was it.

But maybe the damage to his nervous system had already begun. Hasn't drunk or smoke in over 30 years but what we do early in life, can sometimes come and bite us.

At least we eat good NOW!!

Thanks for all the good links and good info.

Hopefully 2010 will bring us great strides and better treatments and solutions for PN.

Melody

I know being in a huge city, you may not have CSAs available, but you can join a local organization that can direct you to locally grown food. A good thing about big cities, is that you DO have access to lots of organic food stores. For me, it is a 30 mile drive. I have no choice but to grow my own or buy local.

I am struggling with acquiring some laying hens at this point. Hubby is not happy about that, lol. He doesn't want to take care of them in winter, (I seldom do outside work when it is below 20 degrees-can't take it.) and I won't butcher them in the Fall, since they can lay quite well for two years, and I am loathe to kill a young animal. He has to chop their heads off, after I hypnotize them.....then I have to do the 'processing'. I can't kill a bug.

Hubby says just buy eggs and meat from my friend....eh, I hate to bug her all the time and half the time she is sold out.

Here we have access to a lot of organic eggs, bison meat, chicken, oh, and honey. We have lots of local organic milk producers, but you have to buy milk at the store, since farmers here can not sell raw milk. I buy 'Organic Valley', which comes from a lot of farms in our state.

I am so glad you are growing things! You can do something no matter where you live!

You are completely correct, we must do something. Do nothing is not an option.

Now if I could get rid of those 100 butternut squash in my basement!

Mel,
There is no published study or hard evidence
that relates neuropathy to smoking - none whatsoever !
Probably because no study has ever been done, relating smoking & PN.
All the docs say stop, but that is general in preventative measures or because of existent problems.
I am scheduled for a CT of my chest in Jan, because an x-ray of my chest earlier this month showed evidence of my 45+ yrs of smoking. I know I'm gonna haveta stop in the near future, because my doc said emphysema was showing on the x-ray.
I thought it was bronchitis, but now I know its all (COPD ??) related.