PCB's and Peripheral Neuropathy
 

Hi All:

I was watching videos about Monsanto (the company is poisoning us all), and I kept googling, and I just typed in the words "PCB's and Peripheral Neuropathy" and guess what I found out?. Oh, if this has been posted before, I apologize. I did a search on this forum and couldn't find links to PCB's and neuropathy.

Here's an exerpt!!!

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As early as 1969 or earlier, scientific journals printed articles describing well-known PCB damage to the peripheral nervous system. Today, this damage is considered a standard symptom of PCB poisoning. The 36 studies listed in this report examine and confirm the link between PCBs and this nervous system disorder.
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Here's the link to this article.

http://www.foxriverwatch.com/neuropa...bs_1intro.html

On one of the videos I viewed, it mentioned that we ALL have various levels of PCB's in our blood stream but some people are more susceptible to toxic side effects than other people.

Comments are MOST welcome. I wonder if I can get Dr. Fred to have Alan's PCB's level tested. Years ago, Alan did have a previous doctor order a chemical test to see if Alan had been exposed to chemicals and that came back negative. Now I don't know if this test could have shown his PCB level. Maybe this is a special test?

You know I'm not going to stop until I get SOME answers.

Melody

Mel,
PCB's are toxic. Toxic PN is one of the major types.
This has been known for quite some time,
but it never hurts to be reminded.
Newbies should be made aware.

Thank you Mel. It is good to be reminded.

Other toxic compounds include BPA, which the FDA has failed to act on, despite its own deadline to do so. This is the third deadline they have missed. Some states have enacted their own legislation. 93% of all American's have it in their bodies, 90% of newborns as well.

PFOA's (teflon) is also an issue.

We don't have to worry about spontaneously combusting either, since we are full of flame retardant.

Over 400 unregulated substances are found in drinking water, including SSRIs, hormones and other drugs, in our highly medicated society. Water purification plants are not set up to remove these compounds. Well water is an issue as well, with nitrates, arsenic and other chemicals.

And we wonder why autoimmune disease and PN, and other neuroendocrine disorders are so prevalent. Yes, we are being poisoned.

Thanks for reminding us.

Hmmmm, and I was worried about the Hormones in the MILK!
 

Wow you guys, thanks for reminding me about all the chemicals that are being dumped into our water and our soils on a daily basis.
I have been worried about all the hormones and chemicals that are fed to the animals we eat, and their milk we drink. They give the growth hormones to the cows and chickens, then our kids get them as they are developing. No wonder our kids are more obese than ever! No wonder our girls are entering puberty at younger and younger ages than before.

I personally have changed my diet to all Organic, but even that is only regulated somewhat... We are starting our own garden in the back yard this summer for our family. (No I'm not going off the deep end... I just thought it would be fun to do with the granddaughter!)

Mel, it's good to see you are still being our Consumer advocate! Keep it up girl!

PCB's are found in electronics, flourescent light fixtures, paint, concrete, electrical wiring coating etc. Buildings built before 1977 are loaded with pcb's. When pcb's burn they release dioxins and furans which in themselves damage nerves. I have been exposed to high levels of pcb's in the past. Thanks for posting this Melody.

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.

Oh Mel, I forgot to mention that many large cities deliver organic milk to your door. In glass bottles no less. That beats buying a cow!:D

Bob:

When you are ready to quit, YOU'LL QUIT.

All I know is that when I go for a walk around the corner, and I walk up 18th avenue, all I see is people smoking, and when they walk past me, I have to inhale all their smoke. I cross the street, only to find the same situation. To me, (and I don't understand this at all), MORE people OF ALL AGES, seem to be smoking. And I have to breathe in what they are breathing out.

Makes one want to go out and by a face mask.

And a person came up to me and said "Merry Christmas and I almost died for the smell of smoke". But I gather that because I'm a non smoker, I will smell smoke on someone and they don't smell it on themselves because they are a smoker????

And while there is no direct link to smoking and PN, there is carbon monoxide in smoke, (as well as tar and other lovely stuff), so why someone WOULD TAKE UP THIS HABIT is beyond my comprehension.

I mean, I can fully understand YEARS ago, when it didn't give the warnings on a pack of cigs. But they do NOW, and they have all these commercials showing the people's lungs and harmful effects.

I have asked many women why they continue to smoke and the answer IS ALWAYS THE SAME.

I don't want to be fat.

You gotta love that response.

Mel

While you can change your eating habits and stop smoking, just living we are surrounded by a vast array of toxic chemicals. Upholstery, coolants,preservatives, electronics, etc. the list is endless. There is only so much you can do unless you live off the grid and even then you have to get water from somewhere.

Fasting....? Aloe juice....!
 

Has anyone tried fasting on a regular basis?

Fasting is supposed to help the body eliminate the buildup of toxins and other crud that builds up in the body over time to promote better health and healing.

I also drink pure aloe juice to help the "innards" stay healthy.

"....Has anyone tried fasting ......"

No....... but I've done my share of 'slowing' :p :confused:
(barr-rump-bump!!) :winky: :cool:

if i slowed anymore id be in reverse.

It is a no proof, overall no win type situation. Levels of PCB's appear in basically everyone because of its ubiquitous presence in our daily lives. There is no level set to determine how much causes damage, its on an individual basis. Unless you are blood tested right after an exposure, the levels will drop off anyway either by elimination or storing in fat. There is nothing you can really do about it. Chelating or fasting may actually be harmful because of rapidly releasing the pcb's into the rest of the body from the fat that they are stored in. Much like one of the diseases it causes, peripheral neuropathy, pcb damage varies with the person. People can and have been in the same place as other people , had the same exposure, yet some have had no ill effects, some develop cancer, some develop nerve damage, some develop autoimmune diseases and some respiratory. The whole thing is very frustrating.

Chelation is only for certain heavy metals. I don't think there is a substance to absorb or remove PCBs.

Hi. If you think you're frustated NOW, try watching Jesse Ventura's new tv show Conspiracy Theory. I watched it the other night and now I'm compeltely befuddled. According to this show, a group called The Bilderberg's meet once a year and they are trying to de-populate the world. We have too many people. Over 7 billion and they feel it should be 500 million. They had people on this show (doctors and professionals), saying that they will de-populate the world using vaccines, and if it doesn't kill us it will render us sterile. Then the guy went on to talk about how our food supply is poisoned by all the food additives, and aspertame, and the pharmaceutical companies are killing us with drugs.

Then they got to talking about our water supply. It seems that there are chemicals that are added to water (and I'm not talking about chlorine ), that when added to our tap water, kills off the harmful bacteria, etc.

He mentioned one chemcial that went completely over my head and the guy said "This should NEVER be added to drinking water, it's completely toxic, yet the FDA does nothing". "neither does the EPA".

I just stood there watching my tv and said "what on earth are we going to do if any of this is true". I mean, look at the rate of autism. People attribute it to the vaccines, and yes, the determination was made that IT WAS NOT THE VACCINES, but the numbers don't lie. 30 years ago it was 1 in 3000 or something like that, and now it's 1 in 150. Number's don't lie.

This had to be the most frightening program I have ever watched and when I told Alan he said "I know all about The Bilderberg Group, and Alex Jones and David Ick. " Alan believes all of this stuff and feels that BIG BROTHER is trying to get us off the planet so the super elite can have the good life.

Good Lord.

All I wanted to know was shall I boil my water before I drink it? Will that kill any chemicals that might have been added to my tap water. I grow most of my food and I'm not buying any processed anything, but good lord if the water turns out to have chemicals that later on can hurt our immune system, (Oh yeah, that's what the guy said "They are trying to harm our immune system with all the food additives and beverage additives".

Food Additives and Beverage Additives can affect the immune system, causing Auto Immune things going on. How on earth can we rule out that these cause varous disorders, diseases, and NEUROPATHY?

Good Grief.

Mel

Mel

You can't believe everything you see and read....especially Jesse.

I would take it with a grain of salt. It is entertainment. I doubt that a greedy group could cooperate with each other to accomplish a task such as depopulation. Yes, we are overpopulating the planet. People see empty land and think there is room to build. There isn't. It is about more than empty land, it is about all kinds of resources.

Anyway........THIS IS IMPORTANT.....

Don't boil your water. Boiling only kills organisms. If you are dealing with a chemical, you can increase its concentration and make it more toxic. You boil to kill germs, but not to get rid of contaminants.

You can get a reverse osmosis system, such as we use. We have a big one, but you can get counter top models. This is not like the Brita filter advertised on TV. RO systems reconstitute water. Britas are fine for removing chlorine and I think lead too, but not for the 400 other chemicals found in water.

figures dont lie but liars figure

i have first hand encounters with conspiracy theory types and can tell you that they are off the wall. I have had them tell me that i dont know what im talking about for something that i was at. What would i know i was just there.

having said that, that is not to say that there are not groups of elites who meet to influence the direction of economics and politics. I am certain that they do. How effective they are and for how long is open to debate.

One of my daughters is a water scientist. There is little about drinking water, or any water, that she has not told me. Most of it isn't good. About the show, without having seen it, I guess that what they probably added to water is either chlorine or flouride.

She eats only organic food and is vegetarian, which I can't do. Tried it and got myself sick.

I also can not afford total organic food, and my ability to make things from scratch is going down the tubes, with being sick. Hubby has no clue about what to cook either.

Anyway, don't buy bottled water as it isn't any better. Don't boil it. RO is the only option at this point.

My tap water is so full of nitrates that it grows plants fabulously.

And keep on sprouting.

I am with Echoes in that some conspiracy theorists are kinda 'different'....not that there isn't some truth in what they say.....you just gotta find it.

Something i have noticed over the years here is that many of the posters were really pretty healthy and in good shape before they were afflicted with PN. Im not saying that we are representative of the average person who has PN but it is something that has struck me over and over in reading peoples histories. I myself hadnt been to a doctor in over 8 years, ran 8 miles a day and didnt smoke or drink. You never really know whats around the corner.

Good observation. I noticed in some of the autoimmune disease forums, that endurance athletes, especially aging ones, seemed over represented. Hmm. There are lots of average people and those that were sick their entire lives, but a significant proportion seem to have been steady exercisers.

I did sprint triathlons until age 50, and before I got into that, cycling, not minor mileage, either, usually 150 miles per week. I noticed after age 40 that something was wrong, but kept it up. Around age 47, something was undeniably wrong and others could tell. Now it is tough to move.

It may be the chronic inflammation that daily high intensity exercise causes.

Hi everyone.


First, THANK YOU for all the great links and info. I am going to check into Reverse Osmosis, and that should be very interesting because I have NO IDEA what this even is. But I'm game. After all, I have 22 mason jars, on a sprout rack in my kitchen growing all kinds of beauties. And i have to buy more seeds next week. I do this every 3 months. I'm buying more broccoli seeds (organic) because they are having a big sale, so I'll store them in my freezer, and every time I sprout them, I tell myself "Ah, lots of anti-oxidants".

so here's to EDUCATING OURSELVES, NEW EXPERIENCES, NOT GIVING UP WHEN WE THINK WE JUST MIGHT DO SO, and most of all

NOT BELIEVING EVERYTHING WE SEE AND HEAR AND READ ABOUT.

Living in fear is not living at all.

Take care all of you.

Melody