Summer is over and the question I am being asked most frequently in my practice is, "what do I do about Swine flu?" My patients are wondering whether or not they should get vaccinated and the simple answer I give most of the time is ..NO!
From what you may have read, you might think that the swine flu vaccine is the answer to swine flu. Unfortunately this is not true and until we know that the vaccine is safe, I cannot in good conscience recommend it to most of my patients.
From the outset, let me say, I am not anti all vaccinations, rather I am pro vaccine safety and freedom of choice.
This is why am I not recommending the swine flu vaccine
1) At this stage, for the most part the swine flu seems benign.
Over a million people in the US have already come down with swine flu, many of them without even knowing that they had it. The vast majority of people who get the swine flu recover after a week or so of high fever, aches, and respiratory distress. It's not pleasant, but except in rare circumstances, it is not fatal. Most people who've been infected by swine flu think so little of it, they believe they just had a really bad cold or a regular flu. So unless the swine flu evolves to a much more virulent form, there's no need for mass vaccination.
2) We don't know if the vaccine will be effective.
Vaccines are only useful against the specific viral strain that was available at the time of their manufacture. But influenza viruses mutate quickly, and as the WHO has already said, the real concern with H1N1 swine flu is that it will combine with seasonal flu in the Fall, creating a new strain that will of course be immune to all available vaccines.
3) We don't know if the vaccine is safe.
The FDA has authorized an expedited approval process for the swine flu vaccine but we don't know yet if it is safe. Even GlaxoSmithKline, one of the vaccine manufacturers has said, "The total population studied in clinical trials will be limited, due to the need to provide the vaccine to governments as quickly as possible. Additional studies will therefore be required and conducted after the vaccine is made available."
In other words, the only thing that is safe, is to say that no one knows. Since it's never been used before and they have not had time to conduct any sufficient human testing, by getting vaccinated you are being a human guinea pig.
4) Vaccine manufacturers have been insulated from liability by the government.
The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius has granted legal immunity not only to the makers of the 2 drugs being used to treat swine flu, Tamiflu and Relenza, but also to the swine flu vaccine makers, for damages due to their use against swine flu. By effectively manipulating the legal system, the Pharmaceutical Industry through their powerful lobbyists have acquired almost complete and total insulation from any liability for their vaccines and adjuvants, which are additives added to generate a stronger immune response. It is believed that it is these adjuvants which often cause the problems. The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu was in 1976. Thousands filed claims for side effects such as paralysis caused by the vaccine and a number of people died. I am sure that the researchers know more now than they did last time and no one can say for certain that bad things will happen again or that you will suffer dire consequences if you get vaccinated. But this time you have no legal recourse even though this vaccine involves new factors, which makes it therefore experimental and unpredictable.
By shielding the manufacturers from any responsibility for any harm caused, the pharmaceutical firms have no financial incentive to make the safest product. In fact, they have a negative incentive to test it for safety, because if they are aware of problems, then they could potentially be held liable for willful misconduct.
Instead I advise my patients to build up and strengthen their immune systems to prevent viral infections.
Here are my top 10 recommendations:
1) Optimize your vit D level
Adequate levels of Vitamin D are essential for our immune systems to function optimally. Unfortunately there are no significant dietary sources of Vitamin D, most of our intake comes from exposure to sunlight. If you live far from the equator, you simply don't get enough sun through Fall and Winter to make all the vitamin D you need. So unless you supplement during this period, your innate immunity will be compromised. Vitamin D plays such a crucial role in so many aspects of your body's functioning, that supplementing with it makes sense whether you decide to get the flu shot or not.
We know that influenza always gets worse during the winter months. Now there is good evidence to suggest that this is because as sunlight hours lessen during the winter, the people living in the northern hemisphere become vitamin D deficient and are susceptible to influenza infections of all kinds. Here's a great article available at NIH pertaining to this topic.
There is also some evidence that supplementation with a sufficient amount of vitamin D can help to prevent the onset of a flu or cold.
The current recommendations from the Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. Institute of Medicine: from 200 to 600 IU/day depending on one's age, are way too low. These values were originally chosen because they were found to prevent osteomalacia (bone softening) and rickets. It is now recognized that vitamin D has many additional physiological functions, for which these levels are totally inadequate. A number of scientists are therefore calling for the Food and Nutrition Board in the U.S. and its counterparts abroad to reassess their current recommendations.
To optimize your vit D levels, you will need to
Although the current normal range is between 20 and 50ng/ml, this is much too low for optimal health. You want your level to be between 50 and 70ng/ml. This is the most important step you can take to prevent the flu!! It may require a number of months taking 5,000 to 10,000 IU of Vit D3 daily (especially during winter) under a doctor's supervision, to optimize your blood level. Monitor your 25 hydroxy vitamin D status every 3 months until you are in the optimal range, then cut back to a maintenance dose of at least 2,000 IU a day.
2) Get adequate sleep, this is an indispensable requirement for a strong immune system.
3) Get adequate exercise, this keeps you robust.
4) Take actions to lower your stress levels
Do breathing exercises, meditate, practice yoga, spend time doing something that makes you happy. Feeling spent, overwhelmed, and/or mentally run down has a causal relationship to your physical health.
5) Wash your hands frequently but not excessively
It decreases your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don't use antibacterial soap because of the risk of creating resistant bacteria. Rather use a simple chemical-free soap.
6) Avoid sugar and processed foods as they decrease your immune function dramatically.
7) Eat phytonutrient rich meals (lots of colorful salads and dark greens)
8) Eat lots of garlic, it works as a broad spectrum antibiotic.
9) Take a probiotic daily (look for one with 10-20 billion organisms).
A strong immune system relies heavily on having a strong foundation in the gut.
10) Keep a supply of antiviral herbal supplements on hand.
As opposed to antiviral drugs, antiviral herbs do not cause resistant strains because they are multifaceted and contain literally thousands of different medicinal compounds. Thus they are able to attack viruses with a full spectrum of synergistic substances. Andrographis, Olive leaf extract, Grapefruit seed extract and Elderberry extract, all have antiviral properties. Use one or a combination of some of them as a prophylactic measure, for ex.whenever you travel (airports) or enter a potentially compromised environment such as a large office, auditorium, stadium, theater etc.
And if you really want to go all out, here are 4 more tips:
11) Take 1-2 grams of fish oils daily, its beneficial for immune function.
12) Take 2 grams of Vitamin C daily, yes it does help.
13) Stock your home pharmacy with an immune building formula.
Look for one that contains Cordyceps and Astragulus. Take it throughout the flu season.
14) Keep homeopathic Oscillococcinum on hand
Take it at the earliest sign of a cold or flu. Early intervention is essential. If you are exposed to someone with the flu directly, you can take one dose twice a day for two days. You can also take one vial once a week throughout the winter, and two or three times a week during flu season, as a preventative measure.
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Frank Lipman MD is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of Integrative and Functional Medicine. A practicing physician, he is the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in NYC, where for over 20 years his personal blend of healing has helped thousands of people reclaim their vitality and recover their zest for life.
To bring his approach to a wider audience and not just his NYC patients, he recently created Eleven Eleven Wellness and Total Renewal, a leading edge integrative health program to get your health on track.
He is the author of REVIVE: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again (2009) (previously called SPENT) and TOTAL RENEWAL: 7 key steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health (2003).
Dr. Lipman lectures throughout the world on chronic disease prevention and is very involved with and sits on the Board of two non profits from his native South Africa, the Ubuntu Education Fund and Monkeybiz. He also has an intense passion for World music and is a frustrated DJ.
To hang with Frank, visit his blog, follow him on Twitter or join his Facebook community today.
Follow Dr. Frank Lipman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drfranklipman
http://www.homeowatch.org/history/oscillo.html
PART 1 of 2
Safety of 2009 H1N1 vaccine is actually based on:
(1) Government supervision of vaccine production in 2008 and previous years.
(2) Vaccine makers testing their vaccines lot by lot each year.
(3) The additional testing lot by lot by government in 2008 and previous years.
(4) The trials of those vaccines in 2008 and previous years
(5) The passive (VAERS in US, similar in other countries) and active (VSD) monitoring of reports of adverse effects
(6) The millions and millions of people vaccinated in 2008 and previous years with zero or very close to zero serious adverse effects found by vaccine monitoring.
This is the key point: The only change vaccine makers made for 2009 H1N1 was to change from growing the three 2008 virus strains to growing the A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)v strain. That's why each year the vaccines can be made, approved and distributed in a few months with zero or practically zero serious side effects.
Because 2009 H1N1 is really new to the human body (except for the elderly) they did more testing than usual so public health officials could determine what was needed to get a proper immune response. They didn't know whether they had to add adjuvants (stuff that irritates the spot where you're vaccinated that's been used safely in vaccine for years) and whether adults, children or pregnant women needed two doses.
Continued in part 2
Of course the trials showed the vaccines had zero side-effects. Even better, an adjuvant isn't necessary (no US vaccine has it, 98% of Canadian vaccine has it). And fortunately, only 6 month to 10 year olds need 2 doses.
And as people get vaccinated, there will be reports of adverse effects, almost certainly more than that in previous years. And they'll be tracked and investigated. And in the end 2009 H1N1 vaccine will just be another in the long line of flu vaccines with zero or practically zero side effects. Masochists can look at http://www.medicine.emory.edu/id/ecirve/faculty_speaker_slides/Iskander_Influenzavaxsafe_EmoryOct05fin.ppt
If you don't have powerpoint, search for "powerpoint viewer" and install it.
2009 H1N1 trials in kids
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/20/h1n1.flu.kids.trial/index.html#cnnSTCText
Pregnant women
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20090910/First-trial-of-2009-H1N1-influenza-vaccine-testing-launched.aspx
Vaccinating pregnant women protects the baby.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0708630
Don't think they did trials on nursing mothers. But still good for them and for their infant.
http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/vaccination/preg
Me - I'm confident that my government's desire to protect us all (and the economy) is genuine: it has been ever so, in the past. I can't believe that it would embark on any subsidised program which it thought, for one minute, would bring about the illness or demise of the population. Rather, in OZ, for decades, it's been the government's plan to rapidly increase our relatively tiny population (about 22 millions) given that Australia is almost the size of the continental USA.
In a country which enjoys free medical and hospital treatment (no, we're not Nazis, nor do we have death panels) the government simply believes that prevention is better (and cheaper) than the cure.
Fortunately common sense has prevailed in Australia and the government deserves commendation for getting on with the vaccination program.
Those who work with influenza show no complacency about the H1N1.
"CBS 60 Minutes: 300 death claims from 1976 swine flu vaccine, only one death from flu"
http://www.examiner.com/x-6495-US-Intelligence-Examiner~y2009m7d10-CBS-60-Minutes-300-death-claims-from-1976-swine-flu-vaccine-only-one-death-from-flu
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=1296
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4SmFxyust0 Judge Napolitano on Forced
Vaccinations in Massachusetts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXSB2oca7f8
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/epidemic-of-fever-phobia_b_305615.html
Lipman obviously does not read Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bulletins, or he would know that almost all of the influenza viruses identified as of this week remain similar to the viruses chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine. He doesn't keep up with current reports that the vaccine continues to be effective.
Lipman makes the laughable argument that if vaccine manufacturers are insulated from liability by the government, then that means their vaccines are unsafe.
Lipman apparently does not know that the H1N1 vaccine is being made with the same processes and plants that have been making the regular seasonal flu vaccine. GlaxoSmithKline is using the same adjuvant system that they've tested on 39,000 clinical trial patients in the past flu seasons. You've also got to laugh at a doctor who says "It is believed that it is these adjuvants which often cause the problems." It is believed by whom? Based on what evidence? Which problems? How often?
Luckily, my family has a family physician and a pediatric physician who read and understand CDC and WHO information, so we'll be getting seasonal and H1N1 flu shots.
Canada is using GSK's AS03 adjuvant. It hasn't had a mass vaccination use. And to be honest, flu vaccines are so safe that you won't find any problem without millions of vaccinations. But it uses squalene an oil produced by the human body and its similar to MF59 which have been used without trouble in 40 million European vaccinations.
The vaccine is a great match for the strains infecting people and even if the strain changes and becomes more dangerous, the vaccine should still work.
I know this article is off HuffPo's board so few are looking in but I have to tell you the good news.
I just saw on CNN that resistance is forming.
New York state was first to mandate the flu shot & the health care workers were first to protest.
They didn't state numbers but from what it looked like, it was impressive.
They played Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" in the background & even told about all the deaths from the vaccine back in 1976.
CNN added a lot of hype, though, in opposition to the nurses & other medical professionals protesting by giving platform to the lying shills like the CDC director, the State directer & others who added rhetoric & propaganda but their message will be seen through for what it is by those paying attention.
I never imagined it would be the medical professionals themselves helping us but they are coming out in big numbers,thank goodness.
"Another who thinks labeling people according to belief has merit."
so according to your own statement has no merit?
When I was 11 years old, my parents attempted to treat my ruptured appendix with homeopathic medicine. If my grampa didn't intervene and tell me to demand being brought to a hospital, I would be dead.
Homeopathy has been shown over and over again to have nothing more than a placebo effect, when properly tested.
Enough with this dangerous advice.
If people want to believe in it & use it in conjuction with all else they learn about, what's really the problem with that?
Are you just trying to keep the subject off the fact this matter is about what we can do instead of taking the flu shot?
Homeopathy is suggested by the author - so I AM precisely addressing "what we can do instead of taking the flu shot?"
14) Keep homeopathic Oscillococcinum on hand.
Also, speaking of credibility and breaking points, homeopathy is nothing more than water with a magic spell. Seriously, this is the 21st century people.
Actually your Freudian slip that resulted from a typo is correct.
It was a "grad" conspiracy in that many in the medical fields were duped because they were fooled & brainwashed. You're correct in that they did "graduate" from the school of deception on this matter.
Remember they believed in blood letting for hundreds of years before the people woke to the uselessness & danger to it.
Don't forget, too, that many doctors & scientists from past to present have been warning "US"
That's been evidenced here at Huffington Post as many have & are still coming forward in truth to this matter.
As for the past!
The cover up & conspiracy has gone on for so long that, that in itself is a crime;
"DOCTORS AND SCIENTISTS CONDEMN VACCINATION"
http://www.vaccinationdebate.com/
Remember that this practice was prescientific, and that it was the medical community who exposed it as dangerous quackery. Furthermore, the conspiracy that you are proposing would necessarily be so large that it would collapse under its own weight. It is so improbable that it's beyond absurd. What's more, you've presented no real evidence that it exists. You've simply asserted that it does.
"Don't forget, too, that many doctors & scientists from past to present have been warning "US""
Yes, individual doctors and scientists may have quirky beliefs, but this is simply an argument from authority. There beliefs run counter to the scientific consensus, and that consensus emerges from a vast number of converging line of evidence.
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=743Vaccine
And then he spouts absolutely everything that an extreme anti-vaccine would say. He even manages to say that HIV is a hoax.
I mean if you're going to fake something up, at least it should be plausible. And this isn't.
Consider the Source and Follow the Money when it comes to vaccinations;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deirdre-imus/on-vaccinations-consider_b_165347.html
"New York : As soon as swine flu vaccinations start next month, some people getting them will drop dead of heart attacks or strokes, some children will have seizures and some pregnant women will miscarry"
http://www.fightbackh1n1.com/2009/09/dont-blame-h1n1-swine-flu-shots-for-all.html
The government doesn't require vaccine makers to test for certain biological contaminants and pharmaceutical companies certainly don't volunteer.
Because the vast majority of physicians are unaware of this common source of chronic illness they don't test for it or have protocols to treat it. I imagine most doctors, after taking their fees, tell patients suffering from these illnesses that it's "all in their heads."
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/659.html
http://www.fightbackh1n1.com/2009/09/h1n1-swine-flu-vaccine-panvax.html
We know FDR was probably stricken with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which was probably due to vaccinations in the first place?
Study raises doubt of polio;
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-10-30-fdr-usat_x.htm?csp=19_wxia
you know the sun only rises because the rooster crows.
GBS is a rare over reaction of the immune system. Since vaccines are designed to activate the immune system, there is some reason to believe vaccines might cause GBS. But if vaccines can cause GBS, shouldn't influenza itself cause GBS and in much higher numbers?
That's been hard to study, but a recent report says there's a much higher chance of getting GBS from the flu at a rate from 1 in 14,000 to 1 in 25,000. Compare that to a 1 in a million or less chance of getting GBS from a vaccine.
Based on the above, a reasonable prediction for the UK is that 800 additional cases of GBS will be caused by the flu itself as compared to 20-40 cases caused by the vaccine. So just on the GBS front, you're better off getting the vaccine.
And that's not even talking about the major and very much more common side-effect of the flu --- dying from it. Or having someone you love die from it because they either can't get the vaccine or the vaccine doesn't work for them and you infect them.
This is really, really good reading
Swine Flu, Anti-Vaccinationists and Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
http://layscience.net/node/625
I can't seem to find that article.
Can you post it here?
I've been at several political threads & have been commenting but I can't seem to find, "senate votes down public option"
I did see this one;
Public Option Amendments Fail In Senate Finance Committee;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/first-public-option-amend_n_303228.html#comments
And I will be posting a special message there & other places at appropriate intervals.
If there's another place you want me to be, please leave the link here or email me at my moniker @yahoo.com.
You say;
"If the facts and the evidence contradict your beliefs you must change your beliefs to fit the evidence"
On the contrary, the evidence is much & we are many.
We the voices of parents & concerned citizens who witnessed truth to the matter of vaccinations are the evidence & it's mounted to the "point" that we're shaking the very foundation of this nation.
Get out of the way, you who know the truth & work against it because it's coming out no matter the lies & spin or how many you assign to deceive the people.
"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time"
Its hard to believe you are a rationally thinking individual when you respond to a post about ONLY facts mattering by claiming "We are many" as if there is some sort of truth in numbers.
When you make statements like, "We the voices of parents & concerned citizens who witnessed truth to the matter of vaccinations are the evidence & it's mounted to the "point" that we're shaking the very foundation of this nation." It is immediately transparent that what you constitute as evidence entirely ignores the scientific method.
Water has memory? Earth is only 6000 years old? Same anti-science, anti-intellectual bunk.
Evidently, you know nothing of this matter!
So please stop with the ridiculous gibberish & add something concrete or productive opposed to the worthless banter you take up space with in this most urgent matter.
Opinions are worthless unless you have fact to back it up so let's see what you have, if anything, elcapitan.