Tag: Dr. Thomas S. Cowan

Interesting Information: Vaccines In Your Body: How They Really Work (Or Don’t)

Interesting Information:  December 4, 2013

Vaccines In Your Body

How They Really Work (Or Don’t)

I’ve looked for some time for a simple explanation of how vaccines work (or don’t) in your body.

Shane Ellison, also known as The People’s Chemist, explains in his Over-The-Counter Natural Cures that vaccines come through the “back door” of the body–through a puncture wound–which breaches the body’s first line of defense:  the skin.  Vaccines are supposed to “trigger” the immune system, but because they are entering the body through the back door, “they fly below our immunity radar, rendering many of them ineffective” (96).

Ineffective at least in part means a short shelf life.  I’m beginning to read that drug companies and most doctors are realizing that vaccines have a limited range of effectiveness–maybe up to two years.  So now, in my opinion, they have a conundrum:  should they recommend booster shots,  a practice that would mean more money, but which would certainly increase the harm from vaccines, which could result in everyone stopping drinking this particular koolaid mixture, which would mean no money.  I’m betting they will play around the edges of keeping the status quo.

But what goes on inside the body once a vaccine has entered it? 

Why is the vaccine response ineffective?

I finally got my answer in an article by Thomas S. Cowan, MD, in the Spring 2013 edition of The Weston A. Price Foundation’s journal, Wise Traditions.

The link:  Preventing and Treating the Flu – Weston A Price Foundation.

Dr. Cowan explains that we have two immune systems:  the cell-mediated or Th1 (thymus derived) immune system and the Th2 immune system which targets extracellular (outside the cell) infecting agents (like worms) or foreign proteins and which “produces antibodies that call for a killing response before the offending agent gets into our cells and makes us sick” (50).

Dr. Cowan explains that the Th1 system is intracellular (inside the cell):

It primarily works through the production of white blood cells that essentially digest and then excrete cells (for example, in our throat or bronchial tubes) that have been infected with a virus or bacteria.  The consequences of a cell mediated response, that is, the digestion and excretion of dead and infected cells, are what we call sickness.  In other words, fever, rash, cough, mucus and so forth are not caused by the virus but by the body’s response to the virus.

When you get a naturally occurring infection “both immune systems respond, first the cell-mediated to clear the virus, then the antibody or humoral system to make antibodies to remember what happened so our cells don’t get infected with the same pathogen more than once.”

The degree of “severity of any particular illness is a function of how many cells are infected and the strength of our cell-mediated response.”  And, “whether we get repeated sickness is related to whether we can make an effective antibody response.”

So, and this part is important, if we have a strong immune system, we throw off infection quickly and gain immunity to that infection/illness for life.

Dr. Cowan writes that “the cell-mediated exercise is largely responsible for immunity to cancer, auto-immune disease and other chronic conditions.”

So, vaccines “deliberately” try to “bypass the cell-mediated immune system and only provoke a humoral response.   And Dr. Cowan notes with sly humor that “if a vaccine provoked the cell-mediated immune system, it would just make us sick and no one would agree to them.”

And, so, vaccines shift us into “what is called a Th2 dominant mode, an imbalance in which the humoral immune system is too strong and the cell-mediated immunity is suppressed.”

Here’s the kicker:

This leaves us with no avenue to clear the poisons that we have just been injected with from our tissues; it leaves us with chronic inflammation as our bodies struggle to clear these inflammatory toxins, such as mercury, formaldehyde and dead viruses, and an increased susceptibility to chronic disease.  An overactive humoral immune system often leads to auto-immune disease, where the humoral immune system attacks our own tissues.

Dr. Cowan goes on to name sugar and refined carbs as trouble in that they “blunt the immune response and should be avoided as much as possible.”

Dr. Cowan discusses preventative and helping strategies, like cod liver oil and elderberry extract.  For more detailed advice and remedies you many want to keep on hand, you can read the article for yourself.

Some questions to ponder:

If vaccines are hobbling the normal working of our immune system function, could that help account for the horrific rises in cancer?

Heavy metals like mercury and aluminum damage the brain–do vaccines set in place future cases of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s?  Especially if the body can’t clear these toxins properly?  Neurological diseases are also on the rise…

Mainely Tipping Points 24: Tapped: The 8 X 8 Glasses of Water Myth

Mainely Tipping Points 24

Note:  This essay is the second in a series of 3 essays on water, which started with viewing the documentary TAPPED and reading Elizabeth Royte’s BOTTLEMANIA.

 

TAPPED:  The 8 x 8 Glasses of Water Myth

The documentary TAPPED traces the history of how the bottled water industry successfully encouraged people to drink a whole lot of water every day, which translated into people buying easily transportable single-serve bottles of water.  The prevailing dictate insuring daily hydration for the average person is 64 ounces, or eight, eight-ounce glasses of water a day, or 8 X 8.    

But, this recommendation, which is repeated by even such an august mainstream medical organization as the Mayo Clinic, not only has no scientific backing whatsoever, it could be dangerous for some people (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283).  Mayo notes the lack of science, but includes the 8 X 8 recommendation without qualifying until near the end of its posting the fact that much of the 64 ounces can come from ingested food.  Other liquid sources, like coffee, tea, fruit drinks, and, even, soda, also contribute.   

Elizabeth Royte, in BOTTLEMANIA (2008), surfaces the work of Heinz Valtin, a retired professor of physiology from Dartmouth Medical School who specialized in kidney research (35).  Karen Bellenir discusses Valtin’s work also in a “Scientific American” article that appeared on 4 June 2009:  “Fact or Fiction?  You Must Drink 8 glasses of Water Daily” (www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eight-glasses-water-per-day.com).  Bellenir notes that Valtin “spent 45 years studying the biological system that keeps the water in our bodies in balance” and that Valtin can find “no scientific evidence supporting the notion that healthy individuals need to consume large quantities of water”—though Valtin acknowledges that for people with specific health concerns, like kidney stones or chronic urinary tract infections, drinking more “can be beneficial.”

Bellenir reports that in 2004 a panel of the Food and Nutrition Board “revisited the question of water consumption” and concluded that “ `the vast majority of healthy people adequately meet their daily hydration needs by letting thirst be their guide.’ ”  In 2008, Bellenir writes, Dan Negoianu and Stanley Goldfarb reviewed the evidence about water intake for the “Journal of the American Society of Nephrology” and determined that there “ `is no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water.’ ” 

Royte and Bellenir both write that the 8 X 8 myth likely started in 1945 with a recommendation from the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, which now functions under the auspices of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine.  This board recommended about 64 ounces of water for the average person, but noted that much of the daily need for water is met with the water content in ingested food.  How did the back end of this statement get so thoroughly lost and how did the resulting unscientific and, even, dangerous, 8 X 8 get so thoroughly embedded in our culture? 

Royte notes that Valtin says he’s “tired of trying to prove a negative.”  He believes that the “burden of proof that everyone needs eight by eight should fall on those who persist in advocating the high fluid intake without, apparently, citing any scientific support” (35-36).  Royte notes also that Valtin analyzed “published surveys of healthy populations and found that most people weren’t drinking that much” (35).  Valtin, writes Royte, said “ `The body can’t store water.  If you have more than you need, you just pee it away.”

Drinking too much water leads to all sorts of problems, the most serious being death.  Drinking large amounts of water in a short period of time can lead to hyponatremia, or “water intoxication,” where the kidneys cannot excrete enough excess water and where the electrolyte (mineral) content of the blood is diluted, which results in low sodium levels in the blood (Royte, 36; Mayo Clinic).  Royte notes that hyponatremia can lead to “brain swelling, seizures, coma, and then death” (36).

Dr. Ben Kim, in “Why Drinking Too Much Water Is Dangerous,” notes that consistently imbibing too much water can damage the kidneys.  Further, excess water increases blood volume within a closed system, which places an unnecessary burden on your heart and blood vessels.  Kim is a chiropractor, but he has a wonderfully succinct analysis of this issue   (http://drbenkim.com/drink-too-much-water-dangerous.html). 

Dr. Thomas S. Cowan, an MD who is also a homeopath, in THE FOURFOLD PATH TO HEALING (2004), has an extended, excellent explanation of how the heart and the blood system interrelate (137-147).  Cowan, like Kim, writes that “increasing total volume in the system makes it harder to move the blood because the excess water volume makes it heavier.”  What you eat, combined with the presence of oxygen in the blood, helps the body release the water it needs.  Specifically, the metabolism of healthy fats, especially saturated fats, liberates more water than either protein or carbohydrates.  Thus, people who exercise and eat a diet “consisting plentifully of healthy fats and low in carbohydrates” have “the healthiest hearts and circulatory systems” (145).  Fat deficiency, writes Cowan, cannot be solved by drinking more water; this practice “only makes the circulation more sluggish” (146).    

Kathryne Pirtle, in “Acid Reflux:  A Red Flag,” “Wise Traditions,” Summer 2010, 35-43), writes that too much water dilutes stomach acid, which leads to acid reflux.  (Yes, low acid, not high acid causes problems, so, if needed, take hydrochloric acid with pepsin to increase acid in the stomach.)  Pirtle says that in addition to mineral depletion and imbalances, too much water intake “can contribute to digestive disorders, as well as kidney disease, degenerative bone disease, muscular disorders and even cardiac arrest from electrical dysfunction.”  She also notes, that “paradoxically, over-consumption of water may cause constipation” because “when too much water is added to a high-fiber diet, the fibrous foods swell and ferment in the intestinal track, leading to gas, bloating and other uncomfortable digestive symptoms” (39).

Pirtle notes that “traditional peoples did not drink large quantities of water.”  Rather, “they stayed hydrated with raw milk, fermented beverages and bone broth soups, which have incredible nutrient qualities and do not upset the body’s homeostasis.”  And, like Cowan, she notes that traditional people “also consumed plenty of traditional fats like butter, cream, lard and coconut oil” as “fats render much more water during metabolism than proteins or carbohydrates” (39). 

The efficacy of thirst with regard to adequate hydration is a hotly debated topic.  Both Royte and Bellenir note that some elderly have trouble experiencing thirst some time.  Bellenir notes that “some drugs can cause problems with thirst regulation.”  Processed foods, with their heavy loads of salt, sugar, bad fats, and chemical brews, create thirst.  And, thirst is the body’s way of  trying to cleanse itself.  But, such cleansing can form a vicious cycle if constantly repeated because nutrients are flushed out as well.

TAPPED and Royte both trace the growth of bottled water as an industry.  Real growth starts in the late 1970s when the French company Perrier began creating an American niche market for its distinctive dark green bottles of spring water.  Perrier’s $6 million advertising budget targeted urban professionals.  In 1978, sales were $20 million; in 1979, after an Orson Wells television ad, sales were $60 million (Royte 30).

In 1989, Coke and Pepsi got into the game.  They put water into lightweight, clear plastic bottles and spent, TAPPED reports, “hundreds of millions of dollars telling us to `drink more water.’ “  They associated bottled water with celebrities, told us drinking water would make us thinner, and told us bottled water is “purer” and, thus, “safer,” than tap water.  And, we did “drink it up.”  By 2007, bottled water was an $11.5 billion business.

Bellenir writes that Dr. Barbara Rolls, professor of nutrition sciences at Pennsylvania State Unversity, argues that “ `drinking water and waiting for pounds to melt away does not work.”  Further, “ `hunger and thirst are controlled by separate systems in the body.’ “  So, people do not confuse hunger for thirst. 

Barbara Lippert, an Adweek Media critic, observed in TAPPED:  “We’ve become like big toddlers.  We’ve got the nipple to our lips constantly.  We constantly need to know there’s something there just for us and that we can just throw away.  We want everything individualized, personalized.  We don’t want to wash it or take care of it.  And we want it immediately available.”  TAPPED punctuates Lippert’s comments with pictures of grown people walking with and regularly swigging from water bottles.  

 “Tapped” punctuates Lippert’s analysis with film of grown people on urban streets carrying and regularly swigging from water bottles.  These people are metaphors for how industry advertising reduces us to individualized infants—a reduction that reduces also the power of community.