Health & WellnessS


Magic Wand

Can you zap your brain back to health?

Zen Vuong
Science Daily
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 08:52 UTC
brain storm electric
© unknown
Rather than taking medication, a growing number of people who suffer from chronic pain, epilepsy and drug cravings are zapping their skulls in the hopes that a weak electric current will jolt them back to health.

This brain hacking -- "transcranial direct current stimulation" (tDCS) -- is used to treat neurological and psychiatric symptoms. A do-it-yourself community has sprouted on Reddit, providing unconventional tips for how to use a weak electric current to treat everything from depression to schizophrenia. People are even using commercial tDCS equipment to improve their gaming ability. But tDCS is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and scientists are split on its efficacy, with some calling it quackery and bad science.

Here's the issue: Until now, scientists have been unable to look under the hood of this DIY therapeutic technique to understand what is happening. Danny JJ Wang, a professor of neurology at the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, said his team is the first to develop an MRI method whereby the magnetic fields induced by tDCS currents can be visualized in living humans. Their results were published on Oct. 4 in Scientific Reports, a Nature Publishing Group journal.

Comment: Related articles:

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Arrow Down

Cannabis reduces creativity, but user generally not aware

Leiden University
Science Daily
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 08:31 UTC
Regular users of cannabis are less aware of their own mistakes, and they are not good at creative thinking, concludes new research on the effects of cannabis
cannabis marijuhana
© ShutterDivision / FotoliaKowal studied the direct and chronic effects of cannabis on dopamine-related functions, such as creative thinking and the ability to recognize one's own mistakes.
Regular users of cannabis are less aware of their own mistakes, and they are not good at creative thinking. This is the conclusion drawn by psychologist Mikael Kowal from his research on the effects of cannabis. PhD defence 6 October.

Dopamine

Kowal conducted experiments on 40 regular users of cannabis. The control group of 20 non-users were given a placebo. Kowal studied the direct and chronic effects of cannabis on dopamine-related functions, such as creative thinking and the ability to recognise one's own mistakes. The brain chemical dopamine is important for the proper working of the brain and also plays a role in learning performance.

Comment: Related articles:

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Pills

Flashback Study: Antibiotics kill gut bacteria, stop growth of new brain cells

Natalie Shoemaker
Big Think
Mon, 23 May 2016 02:36 UTC
Meds
Our lives are intertwined with microbes. These creatures have developed a symbiotic relationship with the plants and animals of this Earth, evolving with us. We can't see them, but life on our planet is dependent on this vast community of bacteria.

It hasn't been until recently that we've begun to notice the powers they hold. For instance, some studies suggest the bacteria in our gut influence the health of our brains and may even determine whether we are lean or obese.
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Heart - Black

The FDA is BigPharma's lapdog, not a watchdog for the public

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
FDA drug approvals
Many Americans have heard of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but few know the details of what they actually do. According to their own website:1
"FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation's food supply, cosmetics and products that emit radiation."
Unfortunately, this agency has a history of close ties to industry, including regulatory decisions that favor said industry instead of looking out for the public.

In September 2016, meanwhile, the House Energy and Commerce Committee launched an investigation into the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI), particularly their handling of food, drug and medical device cases.

FDA Criminal Office Is Being Investigated

The committee is seeking answers to a number of questions, which they expect back by mid-October 2016.

Among them is why does the director of the FDA's criminal office, which is based in Maryland, work out of a South Florida office near his home? (This director, by the way, was paid more than $25,000 to move to Maryland less than two years ago, according to Reuters.)2

The House committee is also seeking statistics on OCI's arrests, convictions, case initiations and money recovered. A Reuters investigation previously found that more than half of all OCI cases are closed with no action taken.3

Comment: More evidence that the FDA has been totally corrupted by the pharmaceutical industry:

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Books

The drugs may be the problem: Inconvenient truths about big pharma and the psychiatric industry

Gary G. Kohls, MD
The PPJ Gazette
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 17:10 UTC
toxic psychiatry
© wayneramsay.com
The title of this column, The Drugs May Be The Problem is also the title of a Citizens Commission on Human Rights-sponsored seminar that I will be presenting on October 8, 2016 in St Paul, MN.

I stole the main title from Dr Peter Breggin's ground-breaking book Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications. I, along with thousands of Big Pharma skeptics, regard Breggin as a valued mentor. I have spent many hours studying his books and they occupy a significant section in my personal library.

Peter Breggin is the giant of psychiatric whistle-blowers and a huge thorn in the flesh of the super-wealthy and super-powerful multinational psycho-pharmaceutical corporations (and much of academic psychiatry) ever since his first ground-breaking book was published in 1991.

The title of that book was Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock and Biochemical Theories of the 'New Psychiatry'.

2016 happens to be the 25th anniversary of Toxic Psychiatry and I am dedicating my seminar to Breggin. Soberingly, Breggin's books are essentially banned books in polite medical establishment circles. His titles are rarely found in mainstream book-seller's stores. His courageous truth-telling has resulted in his being treated as a banned author. His ideas are considered heretical in mainstream psychiatry, which makes his books continue to be somewhat popular for psychiatric survivors who know they have been sickened or made worse by the drugs.

Comment: The medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry have oversold the value of psychiatric drugs based on flawed science. For a more in depth look at this corporate 'psychiatric madness' listen to the Health and Wellness show: ‌Big Pharma Karma - Magic bullets and the astonishing rise of mental illness
Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, ADHD, major depression, anxiety disorders -- there is a rising epidemic of 'madness' in America. Nearly 78 million Americans take psychiatric drugs and there are over 6 million people rendered permanently disabled by a psychiatric disorder. What was once viewed as a temporary emotional and psychological crisis has now become a lifelong illness that is only treatable with psychiatric medications. One has to wonder, when it comes to psychotropic drugs, is the cure worse than the illness? A review of the scientific literature shows quite clearly that it is our drug-based paradigm of care that is fueling a modern-day plague that comprises of debilitating and worsening psychological symptoms, an inability to work, disastrous medication side effects, altered mental functioning and brain shrinkage.

On this episode of the Health and Wellness show we take a closer look at the ill-advised biological notion of mental illness, 'magic bullet' drugs and their ill effects and how the course of a so-called mental illness is different depending on where you live. Join us as we explore how psychiatry and Big Pharma pushed the chemical imbalance myth that took hold of the public mind and set the world on the road to crazy town.


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Question

Vaccines provide herd immunity?


Alliance for Natural Health
Tue, 13 Sep 2016 16:13 UTC
herd immunity
© toolsforfreedom.com
That's the vaccine makers' main argument. But it is false.

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson recently reversed his opposition on mandatory childhood vaccination. When asked what caused him to make a U-turn and adopt what would seem to be an anti-libertarian position, he said:
I've come to find out that without mandatory vaccines, the vaccines that would in fact be issued would not be effective....It's dependent [on having] mandatory vaccines so that every child is immune. Otherwise, not all children will be immune even though they receive a vaccine.
This line of argument is one of the main pillars behind forcing parents not only to vaccinate their kids but to do so on the government's schedule, which includes more and more vaccines given on the same day, plus a vaccination at birth aimed to prevent a sexually transmitted illness. But is the herd immunity argument true? No.

The herd immunity hypothesis states that a very high percentage of a community must be vaccinated in order to protect everyone (the herd) from a disease. This is supposed to work because there are not enough vulnerable individuals to allow the disease to spread. Those few who are unable to receive vaccines on medical grounds are then supposed to be protected by the inability of the infectious agent to spread.

Comment: Read more about how Herd mentality is for the birds:

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Syringe

Prayer request needed as a result of the flu shot gone wrong

Catherine J. Frompovich
Activist Post
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 14:50 UTC
flu vaccine
© healthline.com
One of the retired physicians with whom I network just emailed me a prayer request for a young man who received a flu shot "gone wrong."

I tell my readers this heartbreaking story because of what we are facing with regard to the CDC's horrendous proposed Rule that has an open comment period until October 14, 2016 and which will empower the CDC to snatch anyone they please who CDC 'goons' think is sick and not vaccinated, quarantine them and administer vaccines against a person's will, without that person's consent and with no recourse at law for that person and with fines up to one-half million dollars. See my articles here about what's going on with the CDC that you may want to know about and file your dissenting comment by October 14, 2016.

Below is a copy and paste job from the email I was forwarded that speaks volumes about the current flu vaccine:
Please pray for xxx xxxxx's cousin, Kenny Conley. He had a life-threatening reaction to the flu shot that is causing paralysis and organ failure. He has been placed in a medically-induced coma and is fighting for his life. He is only 26 years old and has a wife and 3 month old baby. Please lift Kenny and family up in your prayers.
Additionally, this other message was part of the email thread:
I decided to send this to you as an extreme example of a vaccine reaction. We agree about not getting vaccinations, but will never see this type of report in the news. I wonder how many more of these happen to people that we know nothing about.

Comment: Flu vaccine madness: FDA expediting approval for deadly flu shot linked to autoimmune disorders, paralysis & death

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Health

Study finds doctors' political biases influence their medical decisions when treating patients


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 09:17 UTC
doctors, politiced healthcare

Doctors are trained in science, but it appears that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't room for politicizing when it comes to treating patients. A new study found, when it comes to certain issues, care varies based on a physician's party affiliation.

Curious about whether doctors are able to leave their politics at the door during routine check-ups, researchers at Yale University dug into the voter registration records of more than 20,000 physicians.

The researchers then surveyed more than 200 of them to see how they would act in various scenarios that could arise during a patient check-up, or when reviewing a person's medical history.

Physicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties gave the same advice on such matters as riding a motorcycle without a helmet, depression, or alcohol abuse.

However, other issues were treated in very different ways, depending on the doctor's party affiliation.
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Attention

Cause of mysterious rash outbreak at California elementary school still unknown

Annette Arreola
NBC4 News
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 20:43 UTC
rash
© NBC LA
Tests done Wednesday at an elementary school in Lake Forest where students and staff have been afflicted with rashes were negative for live pests, a spokeswoman for Saddleback Valley Unified School District said.

The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District did a "follow-up assessment" Wednesday morning at Lake Forest Elementary School, said Tammy Blakely, assistant to the superintendent of the school district.

District officials are working with the Vector Control District, the Orange County Health Care Agency, the city of Lake Forest and Safety First Pest Control to "identify and address the issue" of the outbreak of rashes, Blakely said.

"The entire campus was sprayed, both inside and outside classrooms, and all field areas this weekend with a general pesticide that is safe for use at schools," Blakely said.

The tests Wednesday morning "came back negative for any live pests," she said. "Out of an extreme abundance of caution, the entire campus will be sprayed again this weekend, both inside and outside classrooms, and all field areas to ensure that all concerns have been addressed.''

So far, about 30 students and 10 staff members have been afflicted with the rash, Blakely said. The outbreak was first reported on Sept. 15.
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Syringe

SOTT Focus: Vaccine State USA: Mandatory vaccinations are here - California law requires total compliance

Doug DiPasquale
Sott.net
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 20:50 UTC
vaccine
© vaccineresistancemovement.org
For those who have been paying attention to things on the mandatory vaccinations front, to say things are heating up would be an understatement. In just the last month, the Powers That Be have been making moves to continually erode health freedoms in favour of a 'total vaccine state', certainly in the US. These moves include:
  • Mandatory vaccinations for school children
  • Persecution of non-compliant doctors
  • The erosion of the last bastion of vaccine avoidance: medical exemptions
  • Attacks on freedom of speech, including the silencing of a documentary that exposes the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for the cesspool of corruption that it is
Oddly, much of this is centered around the state of California.

The stereotype of 'the golden state', where New Age hippy yoga gurus meet plastic-surgery-obsessed, too-fast-for-life Hollywood types, surfers, bikers and every other 'born-free', 'take-life-as-it-comers'. Not exactly a place you'd expect to be ground zero for the encroaching medical fascist state.
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