MyWellness Network

What is walking pneumonia? Walking pneumonia is a relatively
minor lung infection that is caused by the Mycoplasma pneumoniae organism. And although the bacteria is causes infection in the lungs, the disease itself is so minute that it is possible the body can cure it without additional treatment.

This is why walking pneumonia developed its interesting name, since it is possible to do things normally despite what is going on inside your body. Of course, treating walking pneumonia nonchalantly is definitely not recommended, since the disease still produces uncomfortable symptoms and can be contagious.

So, what are the symptoms of walking pneumonia? Many of the major signs of walking pneumonia will mimic what a person experiences when they have a bad cold or a flu. These can include:

• headaches
• nausea
• a sore throat
• fever
• chills
• chest pain

There are also more troublesome, (yet manageable), signs of walking pneumonia that may include:

• rashes
• a lump in the neck
• ear pain
• increased respiratory rate

Walking pneumonia symptoms can be very similar to problems
associated with other illnesses, especially the common cold or the
flu. In fact, this is often why walking pneumonia symptoms do not get
recognized, because a person may be thinking they don’t actually
have pneumonia. And while it is possible that walking pneumonia
can be resolved by the body’s immune system, the recovery
process is much faster if the person gets antibiotics. This is why
a person needs to pay close attention to what they are experiencing.
If they are suffering walking pneumonia symptoms, they should
consider getting themselves checked out so they can determine a course of action. As you read on, you will learn about the basic walking pneumonia symptoms and how they differ from symptoms associated with a cold or a flu.

Fever

With a cold you may get a mild fever that lasts only a day or so.
And with a flu you get a fever that can last for a week, though it tends
to get better each day. However, if you have a fever as a
walking pneumonia symptom, it may last longer than a few days or
even a week. This is because the incubation period for walking
pneumonia is 1 to 4 weeks. During this time you will get
walking pneumonia symptoms that will last as long as the infection
does. And a fever is one of these ‘beginning’ symptoms.

Excessive Sweating

Sweating is very common with walking pneumonia but not as
common with flus or colds, even when a person has a high temperature.
So, if you are exhibiting other walking pneumonia symptoms, you may
want to look at your sudden, unexplained sweating as being indicative
of the condition.

Sore Throat

As a walking pneumonia symptom, a sore throat will not go away. It will
also not be relieved through over-the-counter medication. With colds,
sore throats can be relieved with over-the-counter medication, and they
usually only last around two or three days. With a sore throat caused
by walking pneumonia, the discomfort may be mild initially, but will get
worse as the disease progresses.

Nausea/Vomiting

Nausea and vomiting will last about a week if they are indicative of a flu
rather than walking pneumonia. However, if they are walking pneumonia
symptoms they may last for a much longer period of time.

Dry Cough

Of the walking pneumonia symptoms a person can get, the dry cough is one that is signature. This cough tends to be much more severe than what a person gets with a cold, which eases up over just a few days. Additionally, dry cough caused by walking pneumonia gets worse at night as more fluid accumulates in the lungs. With a cold the coughing outbreaks are pretty much the same throughout the day.

Other Symptoms

Other walking pneumonia symptoms that can not be confused with a cold or a flu may accompany the ones already listed in this article. Examples could include skin lesions or rashes, pain in the ears or even a lump in the neck. Not all people will get these types of walking pneumonia symptoms, but if they do they should definitely consider the possibility that they may have the disease.

Treatments

Once you get diagnosed, many opt for an all too common treatment nowadays…a bottle of antibiotics.

Now, you’re not shocked that antibiotics are commonly given as walking
pneumonia treatment. But you may be a little surprised when your doctor says that as long as you are taking the antibiotics, it is okay for you to go back to work like you normally did. With antibiotic walking
pneumonia treatment, not only can you get better without bed rest,
but you don’t have to worry about spreading the disease to other people. This form of walking pneumonia treatment handles the disease in such a way that it stays contained in your own body.

Do any other walking pneumonia treatment options exist?
Well, if the condition gets worse, you may be given intravenous antibiotic walking pneumonia treatment.

One may also explore natural ways to speed up the course of the disease, boost their immunity and find relief from the symptoms.

Diet tips for pneumonia

• Herbal teas such as rosehip and fenugreek, echinacea, olive leaf, ginger, lemon, manuka honey are beneficial to support immunity and reduce mucus production
• Water is the best way to flush the kidneys of any metabolic wastes produced during infections. Ensure that you are adequately hydrated as dehydration causes the cells to shrink and be less nourished
• Eat plenty of foods which will help reduce acid and alkalise the blood
• Include in your diet – lemons and lemon juice, miso soup, vegetable juices, plenty of ginger, garlic, onions, turmeric and chilli, soups and broths, barley grass, brown rice, decrease dairy (dairy foods contribute to phlegm production)
• Reduce coffee, tea, alcohol, sugar (sugar decreases immunity), processed and preserved foods
• Drink plenty of warm fresh lemon and ginger drinks to keep the warmth in the body and reduce inflammation

Lifestyle factors for pneumonia

• Keep warm and rest so you can fully recover
• Antibiotics destroy all good and bad bacteria in the body and without reintroduction of the good species of flora your immunity and digestive function may be compromised
• Sit in the warm sunshine for 10 minutes a day as the skin absorbs Vitamin D from sunlight and this acts on the immune system and improves health and vitality

Natural remedies for pneumonia

• The herbs Olive leaf, Golden Seal, Echinacea, Elder, Mullein and
  Andrographis will help to rebuild a depressed immunity by providing the
  body with much needed anti-oxidants and also act as trophorestoratives to the immune system as well as anti-inflammatory, decongestant and immune stimulating effects

• Probiotics are especially important if you have recently taken a
  course antibiotics to help restore good bowel flora and help the immune system to recover

• Colloidal silver, is a highly effective way to increase immunity due to
  its many immune stimulating actions

• Zinc is an important nutrient for the immune system and after illness
  strikes it is beneficial to improve your zinc status which will be diminished due to inflammation and infections

As always, seek a professional’s advice before starting any treatment or lifestyle change.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

The Source

(NaturalNews) How will the new Food Safety Modernization Act actually impact small, local farmers who grow food for CSA’s, local restaurants and grocers? To find out, I took a road trip to Texas and interviewed several small, local farmers to ask them, face to face, how the S.510 Food Safety Modernization Act would impact them.

I spoke to Farmer Brad from HomeSweetFarm.com and captured the conversation on video. You can watch it here:

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=3F59F82202D42A6E9CEFA2D1EABBFC4E

Here’s a quick excerpt from our conversation about S.510 and the small farm exemption in the Tester Amendment:

Farmer Brad: To me, that’s so un-American to say hey, you’re going to stay in this box, and you can never grow your business bigger than that. $500,000 [in revenue] is your cap.

Health Ranger: It’s destroying farming jobs.

Farmer Brad: It has made us start to totally re-look at our business plans and how we’re going to sell our food. We’re no longer going to sell wholesale, no longer going to sell to chefs or restaurants, it’s consumer direct only.

Health Ranger: So you’re actually pulling back from some of your expansion plans?

Farmer Brad: We are. We have actually, this last year as we’ve been watching this happen, we’ve been putting plans on hold, and pulling back our business… so again, that’s how this is going to affect the local food system.

Health Ranger: Right.

Farmer Brad: Because we don’t want to get too successful.

Watch the complete interview here:

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=3F59F82202D42A6E9CEFA2D1EABBFC4E

If you ever wonder who is destroying America’s economy…

The answer, of course, is the U.S. Congress. By slapping onerous new paperwork and reporting requirements on small farmers (who aren’t even the source of the food problem to begin with), the U.S. Congress is forcing farmers out of business and causing agriculture jobs to be shifted to Mexico and elsewhere.

When you hear American farmers saying they are going to “scale back” their businesses because they “don’t want to get too successful” (to fall under the authority of expanded FDA tyranny over the food supply), you know the country is headed for economic disaster.

America was once founded on ideas of opportunity and that hard work is supposed to pay off. People who invest in their small businesses and grow them should be rewarded, not punished. But now, thanks to the U.S. Congress and the Food Safety Modernization Act, small farmers who find even a little bit of success selling food (because selling $500,000 worth of food is still a very small scale operation, and the actual profit on that might only be $50,000 for a full year of work) are about to find themselves punished for being successful.

So much for free enterprise in America. So much for local food production. Watch for food prices to skyrocket in the coming years, and watch as America’s local food security collapses under the iron fist of the FDA driving small farmers out of business.

But that’s what the empire wants, of course: Complete control over food production so that people are forced to buy their food from the sources Big Government tells them to. Those monopolistic sources are, of course, the powerful, centralized mega-corporations planting GMO crops and spraying them with chemical pesticides. Thanks to the FSMA, we are now living under a bona-fide system of food fascism.

But don’t take my word for it: Ask the farmers yourself! That’s what I’ve been doing, and their answers reveal a disturbing truth: America’s food security is headed South.

Watch my interview with Farmer Brad here:

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=3F59F82202D42A6E9CEFA2D1EABBFC4E

And it might be a good idea to start buying some heirloom seeds while you still can, by the way. Before long, local food prices are going to skyrocket, and you’ll need to grow some portion of your own diet. That is, unless you want to eat mega-corporate “food” sprayed with Roundup and containing transgenic “biotechnology” approved by the FDA.

I bet that makes you hungry just thinking about it. GMO corn, anyone?

Leading Natural Product Brands Team Up to Produce Second Annual ‘Hemp History Week’
Dr. Andrew Weil, Alicia Silverstone and Members of Congress Join Campaign in Support of Industrial Hemp Farming
Hemp Industries Association (HIA) and Vote Hemp, 1/11/11
Straight to the Source

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Hemp Industries Association (HIA) and Vote Hemp are excited to announce that the 2nd Annual Hemp History Week will be held May 2-8, 2011. As a national grassroots education campaign designed to renew strong support for hemp farming in the U.S., Hemp History Week will feature events in cities and towns all over the country. The campaign will also feature a day of action and an online petition drive to encourage the Obama administration and Congress to change federal policy and allow American farmers to once again grow industrial hemp.

“During a time of economic distress, we need to be encouraging American enterprise and American job creation. It simply doesn’t make sense to restrict a viable industry because of unfounded fears. There are many success stories in my district about companies who use or sell hemp products, and I don’t believe we should be limiting their potential. The Hemp History Week campaign is a great opportunity to educate other elected officials and the American public about the tremendous benefits that the ability to grow hemp in America will bring,” explains Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon).

The 2011 campaign will promote the theme of “Hemp for Health and Sustainability” and has attracted endorsements from physician Dr. Andrew Weil, actress and author Alicia Silverstone, TV personality and consumer advocate Phil Lempert, registered dietician Ashley Koff, Ironman triathlete and nutrition expert Brendan Brazier and holistic health counselor Alexandra Jamieson. This year’s effort seeks to build on the inaugural campaign held in May of last year, which mobilized supporters of hemp farming nationwide, including hundreds of volunteers who organized around 200 events in thirty-two states, and generated tens of thousands of letters and postcards to the President and Attorney General in support of hemp farming. Volunteers are being called upon once again to organize events in 2011, with specific details about those planned events to be announced in early April.

“Through Hemp History Week 2011, we will continue to build support for a federal policy change, while celebrating America’s rich history with the crop,” says Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp. “Allowing American farmers to grow hemp will promote sustainable agriculture in the U.S. by supporting local farming, creating new jobs and ultimately fueling the economy,” explains Steenstra.

Hundreds of natural product retail outlets across the country have signed up to participate in Hemp History Week through promotions and in-store events. Hemp product promotions in retail stores will increase from 125 stores last year to over 400 stores this year, including most Whole Foods Market locations in the U.S.

A renewable resource offering a long list of health and nutritional benefits, hemp is one of the fastest-growing categories in the natural foods industry. Hemp is a rich source of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids (EFAs), providing super omega stearidonic acid (SDA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), highly-digestible protein and naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin E and iron, while being a good source of dietary fiber. It is a complete protein, containing all 10 essential amino acids, with no enzyme inhibitors, making it more digestible by the human body. Hemp seeds are also gluten-free.

Hemp History Week is made possible by the support of leading natural product brands that are known for manufacturing the highest-quality hemp products. Hemp can be used in a wide variety of products, including food, cosmetics, clothing, building materials, auto parts and many more. Sponsors of Hemp History Week include Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, French Meadow Bakery, Living Harvest Foods, Manitoba Harvest, Merry Hempsters, Nature’s Path Foods, Nutiva and Sequel Naturals. Sustainable hemp seed, fiber and oil are also used by major companies such as Ford Motors, Patagonia and The Body Shop.

Arran Stephens, founder of Nature’s Path Foods, North America’s top-selling independent organic cereal company, says “We believe our products exemplify all of the goodness that hemp has to offer as a nutritious, gluten-free, non-GMO superfood. Nature’s Path is proud to have been part of the growth of the hemp industry since the beginning. This May, we look forward to celebrating America’s rich history with hemp farming, while educating consumers about the benefits of hemp foods.”

Other U.S. hemp manufacturers have been relentless in their struggle for the right to buy hemp from U.S. farmers. “For nearly ten years, the Bronner family has financially supported efforts to lift the ban on non-drug industrial hemp farming because it is an environmentally-sustainable crop,” states David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, the top-selling brand of natural soap in the U.S. “Despite our efforts, we are forced to continue purchasing the twenty tons of hemp oil that we use annually from Canada. This is a lost opportunity for American farmers and businesses, which is becoming more absurd and outrageous with each growing season that passes.”

The HIA estimates that U.S. retail sales of hemp products exceeded $400 million in 2010, yet American companies making hemp products have no choice but to import their raw materials, due to the federal government’s ban on hemp farming. While demand for hemp products continues to rise, it is becoming a challenge for Canadian growers and processors, the primary suppliers of hemp seed and oil to the U.S. market, to keep up and meet that demand.

“Nutiva’s sales have grown at an annual rate of 41% since 2006. In 2009 and 2010, we were named by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing businesses in America,” says John W. Roulac, founder and CEO of Nutiva. “By allowing U.S. farmers to grow and sell hemp seed, it will help the entire industry to meet the growing demand for hemp products.”

To date, seventeen states have passed pro-hemp legislation, and six states (Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia) have already authorized the licensing of farmers to grow the crop. However, despite state authorization to grow hemp, farmers in these states risk raids by federal agents if they plant the crop, due to the failure of federal policy to distinguish oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis (i.e., industrial hemp) from psychoactive varieties. Meanwhile, the Canadian government recently funneled nearly $1 million into their hemp industry, as they look to increase production capacity and make even greater inroads into the American market.

“My co-founders of Manitoba Harvest and I are proud to have successfully petitioned our government to legalize hemp in Canada over a decade ago. We are very appreciative of the Canadian government’s support and hope that the U.S. government will see the opportunities with industrial hemp as well,” says Mike Fata, co-founder and CEO of Manitoba Harvest. “With consumer demand for hemp products growing, why shouldn’t American farmers also be allowed to benefit from this huge opportunity?”

For more information on Hemp History Week 2011, please see the completely re-designed campaign Web site at: www.HempHistoryWeek.com.

From Live Well Holistic Health Center

Autumn, with its crisp, cold weather, is ‘Vata’ season, according to Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda describes three ‘doshas’ or qualities ascribed to all things. The Vata dosha is often compared to the wind, being erratic and changeable, quick, cooling and drying.

Autumn is a time of high energy, unpredictable weather, and increased activity. To counter the unbalancing qualities of this season, try to follow the general guidelines below. You will likely catch fewer colds, have less dry skin and chapped lips, and feel better overall.

First and foremost, protect your neck from the cold and wind. According to traditional Chinese medicine, the neck is the most vulnerable to those elements and the number one way we catch colds. So never go out without a scarf.

Second, begin shifting away from cold, raw foods like salads and cold cereal and toward warm, unctuous (more oily), nurturing, cooked foods such as oatmeal, soups and casseroles.

Third, get a little extra rest by adding another half hour (and full hour by Winter) to your night’s sleep.

Lastly, a technique from Ayurveda to further protect yourself from the drying effect of the cold and wind is to take a little ghee, cooking oil, nose oil (we have some for sale at Live Well) or even butter on your pinky fingers and lubricate inside your nostrils and ears. Trust me, its great, and it really helps kids.

So stay warm, get your rest, keep lubricated, and hopefully you’ll enjoy a cold-free Autumn! If that’s not the case, we’re here to support you, so please don’t hesitate to call us.

Live Well Holistic Health Center
Dr. Martin Orimenko, DC, ND, FIACA
16 East Lancaster Avenue, Plaza 16 Building – Suite 104
Ardmore, PA 19003
610.896.1554

And saying goodbye to factory farms, Monsanto and GMO’s.

Yes it’s a long road to this goal. Americans, young and old, are awakening. It is very encouraging. We want to know who produces
our food and where it comes from. Organic, local, healthy…all good.
Farmers are good, the FDA is bad.

Watch this inspiring young man and future organic farmer, 11 year old Birke Baehr, explain what’s wrong with the American food system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Id9caYw-Y\

Here is some other great info:

How to stop the usage of GMO’s Within a Week

The Future of Food (from Forbes Magazine)

Toxin From Biotech Corn Detected in U.S. Streams, Study Finds

Hi America, Please don’t get your family flu shots…Wake Up!

“Toxins In Toxins Out (Part II)”, by Matt Monarch – Raw Food World

The following information is for education only and is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, or treat illness. It is valuable to seek the advice of an alternative health care professional before making any changes.

It seems that a VAST number of people got inspired by my article from two weeks ago entitled, “Toxins In, Toxins Out”. In that article I discussed that detoxification is a natural, ongoing body process that is continually in motion, no matter what type of diet you eat. I believe that one of the reasons people were motivated by this article is because they realized that they will be going through detoxification whatever they eat, whether it’s a 100% Raw Food Diet or a Standard
American Diet; so they thought that they may as well choose a healthier route.

I have heard of many people attempting to go raw now, after reading that article. This article today is a kind of sequel to “Toxins In, Toxins Out”, so if you haven’t read that first article yet,
it might be a good idea to do so, HERE. The
purpose of this article today is to shed light on the difference between detoxification when you are in the overall process of becoming cleaner
compared to when you are on a gradual trajectory to becoming more toxic, while at the same time hopefully giving you some extra inspiration and motivation to plow on forward.

In the previous article, we stated that a person is either becoming cleaner or more toxic every single day, based on whether they are eating less or more than their average consistent diet. When a person is eating more than their average consistent diet, they are gradually becoming more toxic and the detoxification that they experience usually doesn’t have the opportunity to go much deeper than what they consumed the day before. However, if you start to eat less than your consistent diet, you can easily detox what you ingested the day
before, PLUS you can start to move onto older waste matter that has built up in your cells, bloodstream and body in general.

This older waste matter is usually MUCH more concentrated and uncomfortable to release than the simple elimination of residues from your daily diet. For most of us, we have been building up this kind of toxic old material within our bodies for quite some time. Instead of this old waste matter being COMPLETELY visible in your appearance, one
way your body stores away this toxic waste matter is in a gaseous form within your cells. This built-up storage of toxins within the cells enables the body to adapt to certain conditions more easily, such as toxic diets, poor air conditions and other toxic situations. If you consistently fill up your body with toxins, instead of these toxins
always showing up in your outward appearance, these toxins can instead become more and more concentrated within your cells and body. Now, if you “open the floodgates” by improving your diet, a miraculous outpouring of concentrated DENSE toxins is released. The only way to stop this outpouring is to take a step backwards and eat along the lines of your previous diet, so that you continue to get your “fix”, just like the heroin addict desperately looking for a hit.

This outpouring of CONCENTRATED toxins when a person improves
their diet is the reason why people get sick when they eat a 100% Raw Food Diet. It is also one of the reasons why many raw foodists
report to have outrageous gas elimination that sometimes burns and smells like death. The outpour of these CONCENTRATED toxins is, I feel, the number one reason why people have a challenging time going
100% Raw. For me, the practice of periodic colon hydrotherapy has been the primary reason I have been able to succeed on a 100% Raw Food Diet for almost 14 years now, as hydrotherapy pulls these CONCENTRATED toxins right out. We go raw and we are scrambling around and shaking for our fix of the toxins from our previous addictive diet. Although not as extreme, on a physiological level, we are going through withdrawals just like a heroin addict goes through withdrawals when eliminating heroin.

Here is an excerpt from my FAVORITE raw food book on the planet, ‘Man’s Higher Consciousness’; a staff nurse in a certain hospital accepting drug addicts tells of her experience in caring for such patients. She says:
“If I had ever been tempted to take drugs, I had discarded the
idea quickly after working in a hospital ward for drug addicts for the past two years. There can be no torment of the damned that exceeds
the agonizing pains that a drug addict goes through to conquer the habit.

All our patients entered the hospital ward voluntarily, but as they were
not released until completely off the drug, it was a pitiful sight to watch them. The first day they were bolstered up by friends’ and relatives’ good wishes, and had mustered up every bit of will-power that the drugs had left them. By the second or third day all will-power had vanished as the dosage of the drug was slowly reduced, and they became abject, tortured, screaming idiots as their nerves begged for the drug.”

It is the same process with food. Many people seem to have no real
concept of how far we’ve come with our diets in the opposite direction
from what man may have originally consumed. If I were to take a shot
of heroin right now, it would surely kill me. However, in one generation
a human can build up tolerance to be able to handle quite a bit of heroin. It wouldn’t be erroneous to say that over MANY generations,
man has adapted SO FAR from his original diet that we would be going through detoxification quite intensely by choosing to eat raw. Luigi Cornaro lived on 12oz of food per day in the 15th century and outlived the MASS majority, despite having a ‘weak constitution’ from birth. After four decades of eating this 12oz diet, a friend convinced him to eat 14oz one day and it almost killed him, just like taking a shot of heroin would surely kill me. There is no doubt in my mind that the original diet that man consumed when he first arrived on this planet was absolutely MINIMAL in terms of solids, if indeed it involved any solids at all. It makes sense to me that a human would not come into existence if everything he needed to survive was not already there in his IMMEDIATE environment (i.e.: pristine air).

YES!… no matter who you are, you are detoxing every single day. However, when you improve your diet, the detoxification intensifies
and usually becomes much more uncomfortable. One of the first keys
to success on your journey to becoming “cleaner” is to understand the
reasons that you may be having difficulty with your new lifestyle. In my opinion there is no better way to transform and rid the body of these old, deep-rooted toxins than to eat a “cleaner” diet, while at the same time to cleanse the colon on a periodic basis: this combination helps dramatically to relieve the detox symptoms.

The first case of contagious, aggressive, especially drug-resistant form of tuberculosis was fond in the United States. It is called “extremely drug-resistant (XXDR) TB”.

“Drug resistance is starting to be a very big problem. In the past, people stopped worrying about TB and it came roaring back. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are all connected by the air we breathe, and that is why this must be everyone’s problem.”

Read More…

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Unnecessary hysterectomy costs the U.S. medical system $17 billion per year. That’s Billion, with a B. This does not even begin to tally up the costs of caring for women damaged by hysterectomy, oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) and related procedures. These findings are explained in The H Word, by Nora W. Coffey and Rick Schweikert. Coffey is the president of the HERS Foundation, located in Bala Cynwyd, PA. Schweikert, a playwright, wrote and directed un becoming, a play depicting the needless hysterectomy of a woman.

Hysterectomy and oophorectomy are offered as the best or only option to women with problems ranging from fibroids to heavy menstrual bleeding and pelvic pain. These operations almost always occur without the information required for informed consent. Frequently, they are performed when a woman is under the knife for exploratory surgery. In 98% of these cases, the pathology report comes back normal or with a condition that could have been treated conservatively, meaning that the woman’s reproductive, sexual, and
endocrine organs were removed for no medical reason. The toll in the
Delaware Valley is the same as if the Wachovia Center was filled twice a year, every year, with women whose female organs had been removed!

Anna (not her real name) met the Protest and Play tour in Denver, Colorado. Her experience is more the norm than the exception: “The first of Anna’s three suicide attempts came in the first year after her hysterectomy, but she said that was due to depression related to her complicated childhood. After the surgery she was diagnosed with depression, had back surgery, and began sleeping in a separate bedroom from her husband.” If 49 out of every 50 hysterectomies could be avoided at a savings of $17 billion, and the operation leaves women with an increased incidence of heart disease, osteoporosis, sexual loss, and urinary and bowel problems, why does the
medical establishment still promote it? Coffey and Schweikert take on the AMA, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, hospitals, medical schools, and even Congress. The H Word is a must for any intact or hysterectomized woman of any age. It is also a major contribution to the national health care debate.

See contact information to obtain a review copy of The H Word and to book Nora W. Coffey and Rick Schweikert for speaking engagements and book readings/signings.

By Americans for Safe Access, Medical Marijuana Therapeutics/Research

HOUSTON — The American Medical Association (AMA) voted today to reverse its long-held position that marijuana be retained as a Schedule I substance with no medical value. The AMA adopted a report drafted by the AMA Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH) entitled, “Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes,” which affirmed the therapeutic benefits of marijuana and called for further research. The CSAPH report concluded that, “short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.” Furthermore, the report urges that “the Schedule I status of marijuana be reviewed with the goal of facilitating clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods.”

The change of position by the largest physician-based group in the country was precipitated in part by a resolution adopted in June of 2008 by the Medical Student Section (MSS) of the AMA in support of the reclassification of marijuana’s status as a Schedule I substance. In the past year, the AMA has considered three resolutions dealing with medical marijuana, which also helped to influence the report and its recommendations. The AMA vote on the report took place in Houston, Texas during the organization’s annual Interim Meeting of the House of Delegates. The last AMA position, adopted 8 years ago, called for maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I substance, with no medical value.

“It’s been 72 years since the AMA has officially recognized that marijuana has both already-demonstrated and future-promising medical utility,” said Sunil Aggarwal, Ph.D., the medical student who spearheaded both the passage of the June 2008 resolution by the MSS and one of the CSAPH report’s designated expert reviewers. “The AMA has written an extensive, well-documented, evidence-based report that they are seeking to publish in a peer-reviewed journal that will help to educate the medical community about the scientific basis of botanical cannabis-based medicines.” Aggarwal is also on the Medical & Scientific Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest medical marijuana advocacy organization in the U.S.

The AMA’s about face on medical marijuana follows an announcement by the Obama Administration in October discouraging U.S. Attorneys from taking enforcement actions in medical marijuana states. In February 2008, a resolution was adopted by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country’s second largest physician group and the largest organization of doctors of internal medicine. The ACP resolution called for an “evidence-based review of marijuana’s status as a Schedule I controlled substance to determine whether it should be reclassified to a different schedule. “The two largest physician groups in the U.S. have established medical marijuana as a health care issue that must be addressed,” said ASA Government Affairs Director Caren Woodson. “Both organizations have underscored the need for change by placing patients above politics.”

Though the CSAPH report has not been officially released to the public, AMA documentation indicates that it: “(1) provides a brief historical perspective on the use of cannabis as medicine; (2) examines the current federal and state-based legal envelope relevant to the medical use of cannabis; (3) provides a brief overview of our current understanding of the pharmacology and physiology of the endocannabinoid system; (4) reviews clinical trials on the relative safety and efficacy of smoked cannabis and botanical-based products; and (5) places this information in perspective with respect to the current drug regulatory framework.”