My mentor, Gina Gaudio-Graves told me about Blog Action Day, and told me to participate.
I do what she tells me to do.
Well, my challenge was that I wanted to talk about solutions.
Poverty is definitely not a solution for anything, accept possibly pride.
But hey, I can do this. So I wrote a post about what poverty causes and possible solutions I could think of. Continue reading article
A critical care unit is a good place to learn about the importance of oxygen.
You will find out in a quick hurry how closely they watch oxygen levels.
The sicker you are, the more closely the doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists will monitor your oxygen levels.
In a home care setting, oxygen is just as important to the quality of your life.
In critical care, we are trying to save your life.
In a home setting, oxygen often feels like a handicap. You feel like you are on a leash and it feels like a crutch, rather than the valuable health building tool that it is.
You and your family will likely grow tired of the tanks and tripping over the tubing, not to mention the growing electric bill.
Everyone is overjoyed to hear that they no longer need oxygen!
Hold on a moment before you give up that supply of oxygen!
“What? Doesn’t my doctor know what’s best for me?”
He/she wouldn’t take you off of oxygen if you still needed it.
“Would he/she?”
Well, I’m sure he/she wouldn’t take you off oxygen, if he/she THOUGHT you needed it.
Certainly, we can agree on that.
The challenge is that your doctor may miss your need for oxygen all together! Continue reading article
Life can keep you running 24/7!
Even my retired friends tell me they just don’t know where the days go.
They say they got more done when they were chasing their tails. Some have jumped into new activities that keep them just as busy as ever.
Sound familiar?
Do you take care of yourself?
The most important way to “catch your breath” is by finding the time to relax every muscle in your body and be still, for a few minutes everyday.
Down Time Is Important BUT So Is Being Active!
Catch your breath, and then find an active way to enjoy your day!
Many blessings,
Carrie Tucker, RCP
The Life Breath Coach
Heart Failure Solutions
PS– Remember everyday:
Plus pure water ~whole foods~sunshine~and laughter
Sometimes life can bring more than we bargained for.
Life is too short to be swallowed up in stress.
Ever felt like you just couldn’t take another step?
I think I get to that point everyday. You know what I mean? Raising kids is exhausting 7 days a week!
Today my three year old reminded me to stop and embrace the shelter that life offers you.
My son and I were on our daily walk this morning. We decided to go a bit further than usual and found a path we have never explored before.
It was over grown with grass, but we enjoyed the adventure, so decided to see where the path would lead us. After a fun downhill, romp we came to a clearing and were treated with a beautiful view of the ocean. Continue reading article
“My cholesterol medications are killing me?”
Not fast enough for you to take notice, but YES they are!
Is there a way to lower cholesterol without risking your life?
You likely think that eating a diet low in saturated fat is the most effective way to lower your cholesterol, but it might surprise you to know that physical activity and sugar intake have a whole lot to do with what your lab tests point to.
Cholesterol medications are given to you to correct your lab results from your blood tests.
Are you aware that lowering your cholesterol level will NOT statistically lower your risk of death?
Your doctor is happy to prescribe a pill that will bring down your cholesterol level, but is it really the best course of treatment for you?
Do You Know the Side Effects of the Drugs Your Doctor Wants You To Take?
There are 3 major classes of “lipid-lowering drugs”
and
They all have side effects
Ask your pharmacist which type has been prescribed for you, so that you will be able to realistically look at the side effects you may be facing should you choose to begin drugging yourself.
The oldest cholesterol-lowering drugs are Bile Acid Sequestrants.
These drugs cause poor absorption of fat-soluble nutrients. (vitamins A,D,E,and K)
You already have enough reason to avoid this drug. These vitamins, especially E, are extremely important to your heart health, and supplementing won’t help if you are on this type of drug.
Bile Acid Sequestrants have a laundry list of side effects
It doesn’t make sense to take a drug with undesirable side effects when there is a safe alternative that also binds with and removes cholesterol.
The alternative is dietary fiber.
The next group of drugs, Fibric Acid Derivatives, are down right deadly
The second class of drugs is generally used to lower triglyceride levels, though it is unknown exactly how these drugs work.
They do cause a number of uncomfortable side effects.
It gets WORSE!
The World Health Organization conducted a six-year study of 10,000 patients using Atromid-S, a Fibric Acid Derivative.
This study found that Atromid-S actually increased the overall death rate by 44 percent.
It did lower triglycerides levels enough to reduce the risk of heart disease and death by heart attacks, but the increased mortality from other causes more than canceled this benefit.
The excessive deaths caused by this Fibric Acid Derivative were associated to:
Lopid is anther Fibric Acid Derivative and according to the Physicians’ Desk Reference, has similar side effects.
Additional things to keep in mind:
The Alternative is to eliminate sugar and other refined carbohydrates, and add a large dose of fish oil.
Even triclyceride levels in the thousands are relatively easy to treat with dietary changes.
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The third class of drugs is known as:
Statins
All of the generic names for these drugs end with “statin”, which is where the name comes from. They include some of America’s best selling drugs:
There have been 5 major studies of these drugs that prove that they lower risk of heart disease and death by heart attack, and other causes.
The medical community has been so impressed by these studies that they have gone overboard recommending these drugs.
The FDA actually approved Mevacor for use in people with normal cholesterol levels, and no sign of heart disease!
Some experts predict that half the population will be taking these drugs in the future, and there is a push to have them reclassified to over-the-counter status.
The National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines recommend aggressive drug therapy. If fully implemented, 36 million Americans, one in every 5 adults, would be taking cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Statin drugs are helpful only when concentrated effort with lifestyle changes and natural therapies fail.
Despite the current infatuation with these drugs, they are NOT without RISK.
Side effects of Statin drugs include:
Rhabdomyolysis is a condition involving muscle breakdown, and can be FATAL!
One statin drug, Baycol, was voluntarily recalled in August 2001 after being linked to 31 deaths.
Every one of the drugs in this class works in a similar manner and has similar side effects.
According to Public Citizen, a Washington D.C. consumer group, other statin drugs have killed an additional 81 Americans.
Julian Whitaker, M.D. warns of another adverse effect of statin drugs that he feels has contributed to the deaths from rhabdomyolysis.
It is not listed in the Physicians’ Desk Reference or the drug inserts, but Dr. Whitaker calls it:
“the most chilling of all the statin side effects”.
Statin drugs work by inhibiting the action of an enzyme that is required for the synthesis of cholesterol in the liver.
This enzyme is also necessary for the manufacture of co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10).
Statins deplete the body of CoQ10.
CoQ10 is essential for energy production. The heart is the hardest working, most energy consuming of all the muscles in the body, and therefore hardest hit by deficiencies.
Dr. Whitaker says:
“I consider the CoQ10 deficiencies caused by the growing use of statin drugs to be in large part responsible for our current epidemic of heart failure.”
You should hear what he has to say about the negative effects of statins on your brain. The brain contains an abundance of cholesterol. It is not difficult to see how these drugs would affect your ability to think and function.
Suicide and violent behavior have been linked to very low cholesterol levels for a long time.
Pretty serious reasons to take a closer look at statin drugs!
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Don’t fall prey to the hype surrounding these “miracle” drugs. Educate yourself as to why you should give diet and lifestyle changes a REAL try. There is help available when you open yourself to a new way of thinking about food and activity.
Alternatives to taking these risky drugs are to eat more fiber and less saturated fat and simple sugar. Be more active and take CoQ10 and other supplements that can support you in your health building effort.
If you have no other choice but to take a statin drug, in is very important that you also take at least 200 milligrams of CoQ10.
Keep in mind that other natural alternatives may be helpful in lowering your cholesterol level:
- fish oil
- omega 3 fatty acid supplements (flaxseed oil)
- inositol hexaniacinate (niacin and B vitamins, which has been found just as effective as statins in lowering cholesterol)
- red yeast rice and other cholesterol-lowering supplements.
Nothing else matters if you don’t have good health.
Get Your Copy of The Cholesterol Lie and Arm Yourself With Knowledge That Can Save Your Life!
Click on the link to get your copy
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Heart disease doesn’t get much news coverage unless someone famous dies of it. We don’t wear pink ribbons to bring awareness to it either, but heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the world.
You can have advanced heart disease and be unaware of it. The first sign of heart disease many times is a heart attack.
Heart Attack is a major contributor to heart failure!
It is common for women to develop heart failure within one year of having a heart attack.
Some treatments for heart disease actually contribute to heart failure!
The thousands of patients that I saw over two decades rarely made significant changes in diet and lifestyle before being prescribed drugs, and soon after started experiencing side effects from those drugs.
Many of them had surgery as well.
Much quality of life is lost when health building efforts are abandoned for harsh drugs and traumatic surgeries.
John was a patient I cared for a few years ago.
He was amazed that he had received a diagnosis of asthma.
“I thought asthma was a child-hood disease.”
Right away I noticed John’s pale color, and swollen ankles. So I checked his oxygen level right away.
John’s oxygen saturation was 87% when he answered his front door.
He only walked 10 paces and sat in his favorite chair, but it was several minutes before his blood oxygen level returned to a safe 92%.
As soon as John caught his breath, he insisted on showing me his prized orchid collection.
He took me through a beautiful garden with shades of orchids I had never seen before!
We exited the back of the garden, where he introduced me to the most charming and charismatic flock of birds I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.
By this time I was becoming concerned about John’s labored breathing and pale color, and I had to argue with him to let me pull his oxygen machine out of its corner.
By the time I plugged it in and put him on it, John’s oxygen level was 82%.
As soon as his color returned, John removed the oxygen, and insisted on pushing it back into it’s corner, even though he was gasping by the time he made his way back to his chair.
I gave John my speech about protecting his heart muscle and his quality of life by making sure that his oxygen level was never below 92%.
“My doctor said my heart is fine!” insisted John.
“I am just concerned about your oxygen level when you are caring for your garden and your birds,” I explained.
“If you use oxygen, that activity would be good for you, but without oxygen, you will stress and weaken your heart muscle.”
John smiled and patted me on the back.
“I just had an EKG and my heart is fine, please don’t worry about me.”
“Promise me that you won’t exert yourself, without oxygen?” I plead with him.
He went to patting my back again, “oh don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine,” he said as he lead me to the door.
I couldn’t reach John for a second appointment for more than 10 months, and when I finally caught up with him he had just returned from the Mayo Clinic where he sought help for his “recurring pneumonia”.
It was at the Mayo Clinic that John received his heart failure diagnosis.
John was very angry, not at all the same person I had met 10 months earlier.
“The medical people on this island are terrible!” he almost shouted at me. “I had to go all the way to California to find out that my heart has been damaged and it is too late to do anything about it!”
I was a little taken back, but tried to calm him down. Though I reminded him that I had expressed concern for his heart when I had given him instructions to use oxygen during my last visit, he seemed to have no memory of that conversation.
“No one ever told me about my heart!” he seethed between clenched teeth.
So, I did my best to tell him what he COULD do to regain and protect his quality of life, but he was just too angry to listen. John just couldn’t get past his resentment so that he could find a positive place to begin making the changes he needed to make.
John was on a slippery slope until his death.
I have always felt that his anger and resentment did him in.
John had plenty of good years left.
Heart disease CAN lead to heart failure
Heart Failure is the devastating weakening that results in your heart enlarging.
It isn’t a heart attack, but it IS end stage heart disease!
If you listen to the organizations chasing the almighty dollar, they will give you minimal materials and support on diet and lifestyle before they lead you down a dangerous path of drugs and surgery.
Drugs and surgery are NOT an answer to ANYTHING!
The American Heart Association released a statement in January,2008 stating that they had reached their goal of reducing the number of deaths from coronary heart disease.
They go on to say “we are pleased with the progress this new data shows, but we know we can do much more”.
They also have a report on their site boasting that drugs and surgical procedures had reduced the number of deaths from “acute heart failure”.
Nowhere on their site could I find anything about the CLIMBING death toll for Heart Failure!
They do talk about the need to reduce risk factors, and they say “we must make it a priority to institute lifestyle and behavior changes”.
Yet on their site drugs and surgery get all the attention. Diet and lifestyle are mentioned briefly here and there without much detail, though information about drugs amounts to commercial promotion.
Did you know that The American Heart Association claims to have invested over $543 million in research, professional and public education, advocacy and community service programs to help all Americans live longer, healthier lives.
Where did this money go?
Are they supplementing food bank programs with fresh whole food? NO.
Are they doing all they can to educate and support the average American to make diet and lifestyle changes? NO
They are not even warning us that Heart Failure is on the rise!
They are claiming victory and watering down the message that change is necessary! WHY?
The truth is NOT good news!
You need to hold this organization accountable or STOP giving them our money.
With $543 million dollars, Heart Failure Solutions and our ethical partners would make the effort to reduce heart disease palpable in EVERY community!
Is there similar waste going on in other organizations that you support?
Check out EVERY organization before you donate!
You can contribute to Heart Failure Solutions in the side bar to your right. There is MUCH work to be done, this CAN’T be about profit!
This is about PEOPLE!
You can only care for others as well as you care for yourself.
Try this acronym to remind yourself of all the nurturing you need each and every day.
BLESS yourself with nurturing and you will BLESS the whole world.
B Breathe
Discover how your breathing makes you sick and what you can do about it.
L Love
Learn how to navigate life from your heart space.
E Eat
Find out why not all food is medicine.
S Sit
The BLESS action plan really begins with cultivating stillness.
However, you will find it very difficult to be Still until you heal enough to face the fire within.
Sit upright in quiet stillness and find your inner strength.
S Speak
Sacred Breathing will give your Voice strength.
Share your story to give others hope!
Will Your Be the Next Blessed Life?
Become a member of the “Life Breath Club” today!
Click on the link below to learn more about member benefits.
Life Breath Club Member Benefits
This is a private membership to protect your medical privacy.
It’s FREE!
Many BLESSings,
Carrie Tucker, RCP
The Life Breath Coach
Heart Failure Solutions
PS– Remember everyday:
Plus pure water ~whole foods~sunshine~and laughter
