Studies and Progress Notes (October 2007)
* * SPIRITUAL AWARENESS AND WHOLISTIC HEALING * *
Spiritual healing for infertility
Abstract:
“Fertility and conception have been a concern through the ages. This case report documents the use of healing touch (HT), a noninvasive energy-field therapy, with the intent to facilitate conception and a healthy pregnancy. After 18 months of being unsuccessful in conceiving, a 40-year-old female sought HT to enhance the possibility of conceiving naturally. She had normal menstrual cycles, and both she and her husband had normal fertility tests. The client conceived after several months of HT therapy, which also included stimulating reflexology points on the ankle designed to affect the uterus and ovaries and encouraging positive affirmations. HT therapy continued throughout a trouble-free pregnancy and during birth. The client gave birth to a healthy baby boy without the use of pain-relieving medications. Perinatal educators and other health-care practitioners who work with women having difficulty conceiving or experiencing difficult pregnancies may wish to consider recommending the use of HT and/or other complementary therapies with the goal of fostering more positive reproductive outcomes.”
Source: Kissinger, Jeanette and Kaczmarek, Lori. Healing Touch and fertility: a case report. J Perinatal Education 2006 Spring; 15(2): 13–20.
doi: 10.1624/105812406X107771.
IJHC – WHR Observations
While a single case does not prove that it was spiritual healing that made the difference, this is one of many others reports that I have come across anecdotally. I find it credible as a distinct possibility because spiritual healing has been confirmed in controlled studies to promote growth of plants and bacteria; appears to harmonize health in countless ways; and is specific for stress and anxieties (again confirmed in research) – factors that are frequently associated with infertility.
** FUTURE RESEARCH IN WHOLISTIC HEALING * *
The IJHC/WHR E-Zine features monthly suggestions for future research in healing.
READERS ARE INVITED TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS FOR TOPICS TO STUDY
If your topic is chosen, you ill receive free access to the IJHC for a month, including the current issue and all back issues.
Spiritual healing for infertility
It would not be difficult to set up a study of spiritual healing for infertility, or to piggy-back this onto a study of other interventions for infertility. Spiritual healing is non-invasive and can be offered as prayer/ meditation/ mental intent from a distance, so that there would be no extra requirements for the subjects of the study other than to sign the informed consent to participate.
For outlines for research design for spiritual healing studies see research.html
* * WHOLISTIC APPROACHES * *
Wholistic healing is vastly safer than conventional medicine
Abstract
“Background The US Food and Drug Administration has operated the Adverse Event Reporting System since 1998. It collects all voluntary reports of adverse drug events submitted directly to the agency or through drug manufacturers.
Methods Using extracts published for research use, we analyzed all serious adverse drug events and medication errors in the United States reported to the Food and Drug Administration from 1998 through 2005.
Results From 1998 through 2005, reported serious adverse drug events increased 2.6-fold from 34 966 to 89 842, and fatal adverse drug events increased 2.7-fold from 5519 to 15 107. Reported serious events increased 4 times faster than the total number of outpatient prescriptions during the period. In a subset of drugs with 500 or more cases reported in any year, drugs related to safety withdrawals accounted for 26% of reported events in that group in 1999, declining to less than 1% in 2005. For 13 new biotechnology products, reported serious events grew 15.8-fold, from 580 reported in 1998 to 9181 in 2005. The increase was influenced by relatively few drugs: 298 of the 1489 drugs identified (20%) accounted for 407 394 of the 467 809 events (87%).
Conclusions These data show a marked increase in reported deaths and serious injuries associated with drug therapy over the study period. The results highlight the importance of this public health problem and illustrate the need for improved systems to manage the risks of prescription drugs.”
Here is a list of drugs causing at least 500 deaths annually, listed by rank/number of deaths
Oxycodone 1/5548 Opioid analgesic
Fentanyl 2/3545 Opioid analgesic
Clozapine 3/3277 Antipsychotic
Morphine 4/1616 Opioid analgesic
Acetaminophen 5/1393 Analgesic
Methadone 6/1258 Opioid analgesic
Infliximab 7/1228 DMARD (Disease Modifying Antirheumatism Drug)
Interferon beta 8/1178 Immunomodulator
Risperidone 9/1093 Antipsychotic
Etanercept 10/1034 DMARD (Disease Modifying Antirheumatism Drug)
Acetaminophen-hydrocodone 12/1032 Combination analgesic
Olanzapine 13/1005 Antipsychotic
Rofecoxib 14/932 NSAID
Paroxetine 15/850 Antidepressant
Source: Moore, Thomas J. Cohen, Michael R. Furberg, Curt D. Serious adverse drug events reported to the food and drug administration, 1998-2005, Archives of Internal Medicine 2007;167:1752-1759.
Institute for Safe Medical Practices, Huntington Valley, PA
IJHC – WHR Observations
What is most disturbing in this review is that the numbers of deaths are steadily rising every year. This may be an artifact of increasingly better reporting, as the estimates of annual drug-related deaths in this article is considerably below estimates from other reports.
Another disturbing thing is that drugs causing less than 500 deaths annually don’t seem to matter.
In contrast with these figures is the fact that wholistic healing approaches almost never cause fatalities.
You may be interested to know that I have inserted this referenced fact in Wickipedia under ‘Alternative Medicine’ (section on Safety) and it is invariably removed by someone who diligently wants the public not to know this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_health
Exercise is good for your brain
Recent research shows that mice and people who exercise have an increase in new nerves in the brain.
Source: Pereira, Ana C; Huddleston, Dan E; Brickman, Adam M; et al. An in vivo correlate of exercise-induced neurogenesis in the adult dentate gyrus,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0611721104v1
Published online before print March 20, 2007, 10.1073/pnas.0611721104
NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/sports/
playmagazine/0819play-brain.html?ex=1188273600
&en=842c3ba0d994a5cf&ei=5070&emc=eta1
IJHC – WHR Observations
Fitness is not just for the body. Fitness is a wholistic health practice.
Fitness is also healthy for taking breaks from work and study routines, enhancing performance in both. Fitness also can connect us with the environment, taking us into nature and inviting us to be concerned for nature. Fitness can also connect us with spirit, as exercising can be a meditation, and as connecting with nature opens us to connect with the All.
* * COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES * *
Water therapy (hydrotherapy) for children with cerebral palsy
From Ivanhoe Broadcast interview
“What’s tough for kids with Cerebral Palsy? What challenges do they face?
Dr. Morgan: One of the major challenges for children with cerebral palsy is they fatigue very easily when they walk or run. If they start fatiguing, then they’re less likely to be active. If they’re less likely to be active, they’ll be more sedentary and there are chances for other health problems to develop. In addition, it’s just so important to be able to walk. When you can’t walk, it’s hard to participate in a lot of activities at school or at home. One of the aims of our project is to improve their ability to walk.
It just makes it kind of tough to be a kid.
Dr. Morgan: Absolutely. It's tough to jump around and walk without feeling so tired you have to rest while other kids are continuing with physical activity.
Why do you think underwater treadmill might be a good solution?
Dr. Morgan: There is growing interest in aquatic therapy. People are using pools for rehab. I thought there might be a role for an underwater treadmill. I had seen a few of these, and I started thinking there are a lot of advantages of having people walk in water. Walking through water improves leg strength. If patients can continue to walk in the water, it also increases their cardiovascular function. It reduces stress on their joints because the weightless environment supports more body weight. In the past, people with injuries or arthritis used water exercise because there are a lot of advantages. We wanted to use an underwater treadmill in a different population, children with cerebral palsy, for whom walking is sometimes a very difficult and challenging activity.
How will this therapy help children with cerebral palsy live "normal" lives?
Dr. Morgan: One thing we hope is this training will help these kids become more active. We’re measuring their walking ability, like how many steps they take per day and how many of those steps are high activity and moderate activity as opposed to low activity or no activity. One thing we hope to see with this training program is they’ll be more active after training. They’ll take more steps, and more of those steps will be high activity and moderate activity relative to low activity or no activity. For these children, being more mobile can really enhance quality of life, because they can keep up with their brothers and sisters when they go anywhere where you need to be mobile. They can keep up with their peers.
What kind of feedback have you received from parents of kids in the study?
Dr. Morgan: We have parents answer an open-ended question about how the study has improved their child’s quality of life. Each family has found something specific. The parents of one child said he’s a lot more balanced when he’s walking. He’s not wobbling so much. Another parent said her child doesn’t fall as much. Another parent said when she goes into a big store her child can keep up with her. She doesn’t have to put him in a stroller or in a cart where he might not feel as comfortable; he can walk with the family. Another person said they went to an amusement park, and they didn’t need to push him in a stroller. There are a lot of advantages each parent has indicated to me as a result of their child being in the study. Some parents become almost emotional because they’re interested in improving their child’s ability to be functional. Parents are interested in having their child be more mobile. When they see these improvements, they’re very happy. We’re happy to be a part of that process…”
Source: Ivanhoe Broadcast Interview September, 2007
Walking Underwater - In-Depth Doctor's Interview. Don Morgan, Ph.D., explains how aquatic therapy can help patients with cerebral palsy.
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/
p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=16926
Don Morgan, Ph.D.
Department of Health and Human Performance
Middle Tennessee State University
P.O. Box 96
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
(615) 898-5549
dmorgan@mtsu.edu
IJHC – WHR Observations
Fitness is healing. It is lovely to see this invitation to children with cerebral palsy to build their strength through hydrotherapy. This is a low-tech facility that could be provided readily in local pools.
More CAM reviews at
www.naturalhealthvillage.com
www.mdlinx.com/FamilyMDLinx
www.ucalgary.ca/~camig/litsearch.html
AMSA website
www.amsa.org/humed/camresources/camnews.cfm
* * TECHNOLOGY * *
Virtual Web technology
“Build a virtual apartment and put it on your website. Work with friends to make a huge MMORPG. Share your puzzle game with friends. We have a vision: to let you build anything, and play everything, from anywhere. Eventually, anyway. We have to finish first.
Our goals are sort of idealistic. We think there are all kinds of things on the Internet that would be improved if anyone could have a virtual place of their own. Right now, there aren't enough good games, for example, and they all seem to be about elves in tights or soldiers in battle armor. Metaplace allows more diversity. Right now, there are lots of people who want to use virtual worlds for research, or education, or business, but it's just too darn hard to get one going. Now you can create a world in just a few minutes and start tailoring it to your needs. Basically, we wanted to democratize the process of making online spaces of all sorts.
As part of that, we also committed to an open markup standard for our network protocol - anyone can write a client for any platform they want. We decided to use Web standards for everything we could, which is why you can have a game world that is also a website, or use Web data to populate your world. The scripting language (we call it MetaScript, of course) is based on Lua. You get the idea - no "not invented here," no closed proprietary approaches.
We knew it was all coming together when one of our team made a game in a day and a half. And then stuck that game on a private MySpace profile. You can inherit someone else's world (if they let you) and use it as a starting point. You can slurp whole directories of art and use them as building blocks. Cut and paste a movement system or a health bar from one world to another. Use an RSS feed for your NPCs. We made puzzle games, RPGs, action games... and set up doorways from one to the other. Basically, coming to work in the morning is a lot of fun…”
Source: http://www.metaplace.com/
IJHC – WHR Observations
This is going to revolutionize the virtual media, making it more life-like. There will be new applications in research and wholistic healing. One of these is a linking from one website to another. This has the potential to bring people closer together and to understand each other better.
* * ENVIRONMENT (HEALING OUR PLANET) * *
Chemical in plastic prompts scientists' warning
“In an unusual effort targeting a single chemical, several dozen scientists on Thursday issued a strongly worded statement warning that an estrogenlike compound in plastic is likely to be causing an array of serious reproductive disorders in people.
The compound, bisphenol A (BPA), is one of the highest-volume chemicals in the world and has found its way into the bodies of most human beings.
Used to make hard plastic, BPA can seep from beverage containers and other materials. It is used in all polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, as well as other rigid plastic items, including large water-cooler containers, sports bottles and microwave-oven dishes, along with canned-food liners and some dental sealants for children.
The scientists, including four from federal health agencies, reviewed about 700 studies before concluding that people are exposed to levels of the chemical exceeding those that harm lab animals. Infants and fetuses are most vulnerable, they said.
The statement, published online by the journal Reproductive Toxicology, was accompanied by a new study by researchers from the National Institutes of Health finding uterine damage in newborn animals exposed to BPA. That damage is a possible predictor of reproductive diseases in women, including fibroids, endometriosis, cystic ovaries and cancers. It is the first time BPA has been linked to female reproductive-tract disorders, although earlier studies have found early-stage prostate and breast cancer and decreased sperm counts in animals exposed to low doses.
No studies so far have looked for effects in people.
The scientists' statement and new study — along with five accompanying scientific reviews that summarize the 700 studies — intensify a highly contentious debate over whether the plastic compound poses a public threat. So far, no governmental agency here or abroad has restricted its use...”
Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/
nationworld/2003819420_plastics03.html?syndication=rss
IJHC – WHR Observations
The precautionary principle for ecological sanity states: “If an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action.”
Research is suggesting that plastics may release chemicals that are harmful to our health.
The plastics industry would like us to start at the point of accepting that plastics are a part of our lives and have the public prove they should not be used.
The precautionary principle suggests that the plastics industry should bear the burden of proving their products are safe. More, below, under human ecology.
* * HUMAN ECOLOGY* *
Paul Hawken. The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, NY: HarperCollins 1993.
Our planet is threatened on the one side by pressures of overpopulation and on the other side by pressures of nearly exhausted natural resources and pollution that are threatening to make our world uninhabitable. Paul Hawken does a masterful job of explaining the problems we face and suggesting creative solutions to these problems.
Hawken points out that our pursuit of material gain has grown to be such an accepted goal and one that has been so successful for the industrial nations of the world, that it is difficult for most people to realize that the western standard of living cannot be sustained much longer. Writing in 1993, he observes that in North America we have used up 97 percent of the original forests and are consuming more wood and wood products than we can produce domestically. Our farmers and ranchers pump out an excess of 20 billion gallons of water daily from underground reservoirs than can be replaced through rainfall.
Whatever possibilities business once represented, whatever dreams and glories corporate success once offered, the time has come to acknowledge that business as we know it is over. Over because it failed in one critical and thoughtless way: It did not honor the myriad forms of life that secure and connect its own breath and skin and heart to the breath and skin and heart of our earth. (p. 6)
Limits of sustainability have been reached and in most of the world have been exceeded…
(See more in IJHC January, 2006 Volume 6, Number 1)
IJHC – WHR Observations
It would be hard to imagine a world in which plastic containers were not used for foods and drinks.
It is harder yet to imagine a world in which a world council of wise elders sits in consideration of the effects of an action or product on those who might be adversely affected by the product – with power to decide whether that product ought to be allowed on the market.
Humanity has not developed the organizational tools to deal with global issues.
We must do this. URGENTLY!
If life as we know it on our planet is going to survive.
