Oxygen Cures Insomnia

I worked in a hyperbaric oxygen center that used several different oxygen therapies. I noticed that elderly patients who simply sat for 15 minutes breathing 60% oxygen every day reported remembering their dreams much more clearly and vividly and possibly having more dreams.

Manfred von Ardenne, a brilliant German researcher, found that combining exercise with breathing supplemental oxygen dramatically improved oxygen delivery to the body for days, weeks, even months after treatment. He observed that exercise caused the capillaries to dilate, allowing the high oxygen levels in the blood to contact the capillary walls, which triggered an improvement in the responsiveness of the capillaries.

Von Ardenne and many German researchers believed that aging and illness were functions of decreased oxygen delivery to the body. With chronic stress, illness or advancing age, the capillaries become permanently constricted rather than dilating and constricting according to the body's varying need for oxygen. Simply breathing oxygen can overcome this chronic deprivation. Combining oxygen with exercise gives prolonged physiologic improvement in oxygen delivery.

I also noticed in the clinic that people with adrenal insufficiency or chronic lung problems like asthma would have an intense reaction to starting oxygen therapy. They would have an immediate extreme boost in energy and sense of well-being, followed 1 or 2 days later by a huge crash of headache and fatigue, to the point they had to stay in bed. It was necessary to strictly limit the initial exposure of susceptible people to tone down this strong response.

I was surprised by this strong connection between blood oxygen levels and adrenal function. It seemed that suddenly receiving oxygen during chronic oxygen deprivation, from asthma, for example, stimulated a huge adrenal surge and crash. Adrenal function must be closely tied to blood oxygen levels.

I recently started using an oxygen concentrator in the evenings to help with my ongoing fight against stage 4 breast cancer. Since starting to work in Integrative Medicine, I've noticed how many integrative treatments are actually oxygen therapies. Hyperbaric oxygen, exercise with oxygen, ozone, vitamin C and hydrogen peroxide all increase oxygen delivery and kill cancers and their underlying infections by increasing oxygen radicals in microorganisms and diseased cells.

When I started breathing 90% oxygen in the evenings with the concentrator, I immediately noticed I slept much more deeply, slept through the night and remembered vivid dreams, which I hadn't experienced since starting chemotherapy 3 years ago. It seems my REM sleep is improved.

How does this work? Stress leads to vasoconstriction and elevated blood pressure. This constriction must reduce oxygen delivery to the adrenal glands, which registers as danger (fight or flight). The adrenals must respond by increasing wakefulness and causing sleep to be more shallow in case of attack. If you alleviate stress, you relax, your blood vessels dilate and your adrenals get the message that "the coast is clear" and your sleep deepens.

If, as von Ardenne believed, our capillaries become permanently constricted with aging and chronic stress, by the time we reach our 40s our adrenals are constantly perceiving danger and keeping us from sleeping like babies.

Supplementing oxygen sends the message that we're out of danger and the adrenals send out the hormonal message that we can sleep deeply again. It's simple but very effective.

Deep sleep is essential for our psychological and physical well-being. My exposure to Traditional Chinese Medicine has shown me that disease, including the infections that turn into cancer, occurs wherever there are blockages to flow in the body, such as pressure from bra straps or chronic hunching over. The decrease in flow must include blood flow, including white blood cells for immune defense and red blood cells to deliver oxygen. White cells need oxygen to create oxygen radicals to fight infection and cancer.

I strongly believe that oxygen supplementation does help reverse the effects of aging and help effectively fight disease. I think we should all be breathing supplemental oxygen, either with exercise or for an hour at bedtime. Breathe oxygen all night if you have sleep apnea or other conditions that greatly limit oxygen intake.

Colloidal Silver Treats the Infection That Causes Breast Cancer

A naturopath recently recommended colloidal silver to me for my stage 4 breast cancer. It's a 10 ppm solution - he said to mix a tablespoon in a large water bottle and sip it throughout the day.

It turned out to be phenomenally effective - I had a flare-up of pain (which always happens when I start a new, effective treatment) then the pain completely disappeared. I have no pain in my cancerous sternum or rib lesions. I also suddenly gained 20 pounds - the healthier I am, the more I weigh, probably because my TNF alpha (cachexin) levels decrease.

This is the healthiest I've been since I developed cancer. I am astonished. I'm recommending colloidal silver to anyone with cancer or a chronic infection or any disease treated with steroids, which I believe are all caused by infection.

Colloidal silver was used to treat infections before antibiotics were discovered. It DOES NOT turn you blue if you avoid making homemade colloidal silver in your kitchen sink with tap water. One type of silver solution has protein in it - there's a risk of Argyria (permanently turning blue) with it. I've used silver almost every day for 3 months and I'm not blue. I suspect the pharmaceutical companies spread rumors about colloidal silver to keep people on their expensive drugs with nasty side effects.

Silver acts by blocking enzymatic reactions in infectious organisms. Be careful if you have kidney disease - silver can be hard on the kidneys. Take small amounts well-diluted in water.

Silver gels can be used on the skin for skin infections.

Infection Has Been Found To Be The Cause Of Heart Disease and Stroke

A cover story from the Santa Barbara News-Press last fall reported that viral infection has been found to be the cause of heart attack and stroke. The story reported that Cytomegalovirus (CMV) may be the culprit. It is highly infectious and 40% of all adults have it by the age of 40.

My family has a significant history of heart attack and stroke - our #1 killer, not cancer. I've been struck by how my paternal grandparents died like bookends, almost identical deterioration and death. My parents also suffered almost identical long, slow deaths from heart attack and stroke.

Viral infection would explain this phenomenon. My grandparents were infected with the same virus and my father contracted it from them and passed it on to my mother.

My father had cholesterol levels over 300. Whenever his doctor got his levels under 200 with cholesterol-lowering drugs, he would have a series of lacunar strokes, where tiny blood vessels disintegrate. When he would quit the drugs due to their side effects, he would stop having strokes.

It occurs to me that the body may raise blood cholesterol to repair the damage to the blood vessels caused by this viral infection. Cholesterol plaques occur in blood vessels where they experience the most trauma, e.g. high-flow areas. Cholesterol deposits may actually plug the holes that form in blood vessel walls, like plugging the leaks in a retaining wall.

Lowering my father's cholesterol levels actually harmed him. He apparently needed sky-high levels to maintain the integrity of his blood vessels, to prevent disintegration of the vessels resulting in stroke. He also had an abdominal aortic aneurysm that enlarged only when he was on cholesterol-lowering drugs.

My father and paternal grandmother both developed adult-onset diabetes after becoming seriously ill with congestive heart failure. When I pulled a jar of jam out of the back of my fridge and found it was still good after being back there a long time, it occurred to me that sugar is a very effective preservative. It burns microorganisms just like it burns the walls of blood vessels in diabetics.

It seems plausible that when the virus that causes heart disease inflames and damages blood vessels, the body responds defensively. Triggering insulin resistance, thus elevating blood sugar levels, may be a defense mechanism, scorching viral particles in the blood stream like napalm. Too much blood sugar ultimately damages the blood vessels, but this side effect may not be as harmful as allowing the viral infection to progress unopposed.

When people with high cholesterol and blood sugar levels improve their diets and exercise regularly, their numbers usually improve. Healthy diets and exercise greatly strengthen the immune system and increase antioxidants in the body. I believe diet and exercise help normalize cholesterol and blood sugar levels by fighting the underlying viral infection. When the infection improves, the cholesterol and sugar levels improve.

I believe elevated cholesterol and blood sugar levels are a response to the viral infection that causes heart attack and stroke; they are not diseases in and of themselves. The severity of these levels is an indicator of how severe the infection is. It can serve as a useful marker.

I believe that if we find an effective treatment for this viral infection, cholesterol and blood sugar levels will normalize on their own. We need to focus on treating the underlying infection to improve these levels.

Aggressively lowering cholesterol levels prevents blood vessel repair and leads to vessel disintegration and stroke. Cholesterol-lowering drugs are the #1 prescribed class of drugs in the world. We're on the wrong track here. It'll cost the big pharmaceutical companies a lot of profit, but we need to stop the cholesterol-lowering drugs and focus on curing the underlying infection.

Until a cure for viral infection is discovered, we must help ourselves with diet, exercise and antioxidants like Omega-3 and CoQ10 to fight the infection.

The Trojan Horse Theory of The Start and Spread of Cancer

In my last post I described the known scientific fact that fungal organisms invade cells and shut off programmed cell death (apoptosis), a very likely mechanism for carcinogenesis. This known fungal action made me wonder, Why? Why would fungi evolve to behave in this manner? How do fungi benefit from shutting off apoptosis?

Then, it occurred to me. When apoptosis is shut off, the cells divide uncontrollably, rapidly producing huge numbers of cancer cells. If fungi are inside the cell reproducing themselves, all of the new cells produced by the uncontrolled cell division will contain fungi just like the original infected cells. One of the tell-tale signs under the microscope that a cell is cancerous is that the cell's cytoplasm appears "foamy". I suspect this foamy appearance is caused by many newly-formed fungal organisms. They are not visible as fungi unless they are treated with stains that are specific for fungi.

So, when fungi proliferate inside cells and shut off the cells' apoptosis, the result is huge numbers of fungi-containing cancer cells. The fungi are relatively hidden from the immune system inside the cells, so they can continue to proliferate without interference from the body's defenses. The cancer cells can break off from the original infection (primary tumor) and enter the lymphatic system and blood vessels, carrying the fungi to all parts of the body where they can start new infections (metastases).

When so many cancer cells and new fungal organisms are created they greatly outnumber the number of white blood cells in the body, the patient dies. Then the fungus can feed on its victim with no interference from the host's defenses.

I call this theory the "Trojan Horse Theory" because cancer cells serve as Trojan horses for the fungal infection, hiding the invaders and transporting them past the host's defenses to new parts of the body. I picture them like bad teenagers stealing a car and taking it on a joy ride, careening recklessly around the body, bent on no good.

This theory fits with the natural behavior of fungi. Unlike viruses, they do not need a living host to reproduce. All they need is food to feed on and the only thing keeping them from gobbling us up is our immune systems. Causing cancer enables them to overwhelm our immune systems, kill us, and consume us entirely (rot).

It would be a simple matter to PROVE THE PRESENCE OF FUNGI INSIDE CANCER CELLS in the lab. Perform immunohistocytochemistry on microscopic slides of hormone-dependent malignant tumors: An antigen that binds a protein found only in fungi, not mammals, needs to be obtained. Bind the antigen to a fluorescent compound that fluoresces under the microscope. Then stain the microscopic slides of tumors with the antigen-fluorescein compound and examine the slides under the microscope.

These slides will show the cytoplasm of the cancer cells FILLED with fungi. Under fluorescent light, the cancer cells will light up like fireworks under the microscope.

Slides of cervical cancer could be used as controls for comparison, since cervical cancer is caused by a virus, human papilloma virus (HPV).

Staining slides is a relatively inexpensive research technique, but would quickly and easily allow visualization of fungi inside every hormone-dependent cancer cell.

Please contact me if you are acquainted with cancer activists or cancer researchers who might be interested in discussing this "Trojan Horse Theory of Carcinogenesis" with me.

Every Cancer Begins As An Infection

I am certain that all cancers begin as infections. The medical education I received at the University of Chicago and the experiences I've had as a Stage 4 breast cancer patient have made that crystal clear to me. Every mystery about cancer, everything we do not understand, is explained and crystal clear when you look at cancer as the result of an infection altering the body's functions.

I've started a literature search online to find the mechanism by which a fungal infection could trigger carcinogenesis (the "start" of cancer). The very first reference I found had the answer, a review entitled, "Fungal Invasion of Normally Non-Phagocytic Host Cells," by Scott G. Filler and Donald C. Sheppard, PLoS Pathog 2(12): e129.doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0020129.

In this review, the authors describe how fungal organisms trigger healthy cells like skin and lung cells to absorb them. This means that in any fungal infection, the infecting organisms are located INSIDE the cells, where they can disrupt a cell's normal functions.

In addition, the review describes how some fungi block apoptosis in the cells they infect. Apoptosis is programmed cell death, the chemical signals that tell a cell when it's time to die, that give cells a definite lifespan. Without programmed cell death, the cells become immortal, multiplying out of control. Loss of apoptosis is the very heart of carcinogenesis.

An example given in the review describes how Aspergillus fumigatus (tree mold), a common human pathogen, infects lung cells (type II pneumocytes) when the mold spores are inhaled and how Aspergillus blocks apoptosis in the lung cells. This is a clear, simple mechanism for the start of lung cancer. Everyone inhales mold spores, probably on a daily basis. When the spores are absorbed into our lung cells and apoptosis is blocked, the cells are transformed into cancer cells. Our immune systems detect the altered cells and destroy them before they can multiply into tumors. Smokers are unable to destroy these cancer cells because their physical defenses and immune systems are damaged by the tar and nicotine they inhale, so the cancer cells multiply into malignant tumors.

I am dumbfounded that this information is already in the literature but has been overlooked by researchers. EVERYONE wants to find the cure for cancer and the assumption that cancer is caused by defective genes has NOT led to a cure despite decades of research. The death rate due to cancer has never improved! The answer is under our noses and the basic facts are already in the literature.

Every cancer begins as an infection. Some start as viral infections, like cervical cancer, some start as fungal infections, like my breast cancer. Other types of human pathogens may cause cancer as well. We'll know when we start looking for the causative organisms in malignant tissue specimens.

The cure for the most common types of cancer is so close! Medications that cure these infections already exist and are already FDA-approved. We just need to make the connection so these effective medications can be used to save cancer patients!

If you know any medical researchers or cancer activists you believe would be interested in what I'm saying and would want to pursue it, PLEASE forward this blog to them or email me so I can contact them.

Cancer patients are dying every day. We need to begin administering effective anti-infective medication to them ASAP. Every day lost means more lives lost.

Cancer Is The Best Thing That Has Ever Happened To Me

My oncologist has a plaque in his office that reads, "Every Journey Has Its Blessings." I feel blessed by the wonderful people I've met on my journey, doctors, friends and complete strangers, and their amazing kindness. My wonder at the kindness I've experienced has made me a better person.

I think we're defined by the difficulties we overcome. We're at our best when we have to rise to the occasion. We need challenges to become the very best we can be. Rolling over Stage 4 breast cancer like a tank has revealed strength I never knew I had.

There have been some very dark times. I've had setbacks that made me believe my time was very short. I would lie in bed at night staring into the darkness. Some people find religion at such a time; what I felt was an overwhelming need to be part of something that would survive my physical death. It strengthened my feeling of connection to everyone struggling with cancer. It strengthened my resolve to keep other people from dying of cancer by making it known that all cancers start as infection so that a cure can be found.

I saw an author on a talkshow recently who had written a book about her cranky, pessimistic approach to her own cancer treatment and how she thought all the talk about improving cancer survival by being positive and upbeat was a load of crap. I can (sort of) see her side because I've certainly been pessimistic about my chances of survival.

There's a lot of research that has shown that positive attitudes strengthen the immune system and enhance survival with cancer. Research has shown that women with breast cancer and men with AIDS have significantly longer survival when they attend support groups. Read the book, "Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life" by David Servan-Schreiber for more proof.

The thing is, you have to GRIEVE! You have to grieve for the hopes and plans you had for your future life and for the excellent health you had and for the fear of pain and helplessness. When you reach a point of acceptance of the drastic change in your life, REBOUND! Start kicking butt, starting with your own. Never stop fighting. I'm often told to live in the moment, but I can't. I have to keep fighting. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't.

The important thing is that you have to grieve and you are entitled to it. Have a good wallow - you deserve it. Then kick some butt.

Let's get cancer cured so no one has to endure those long, dark nights.