Recent Posts

07/28/2014: Bernadette from Chicago, US: "I have a really intense relationship with food. I have ulcerative colitis and I found that the wrong diet can and has sent me to the hospital. I have tried any diet plan you can think of, probably, and a great variety of food combinations. The blood type diet is the only one that has ever worked for me, and it works really well. I am an O so I just eat some lean meat and I make fruit smoothies with honey. I try to keep it simple. Highly recommended."

[YEA]  07/27/2014: Elaine from Edmond, Oklahoma: "I can vouch for the Witch Hazel and stitches from child birth. I asked my mother to bring me a bottle of WH as I was in a lot of pain from hemorrhoids. I had learned that WH was good for that. So, I put about a third of a cup in my Sitz bath. The relief to the hemorrhoids was almost immediately. But I noticed the pain relief to my stitches was even faster! And my doctor mentioned it was healing faster than usual."

07/27/2014: Johnny from Harlingen, Tx, Us: "Apple cider vinegar straight up? No water dilution?"

07/27/2014: Brenden from Tasmania, Australia: "Local company Hunters stocks 50% h2o2 for $120 for 25L drum they have a few retailers around AUS"

07/27/2014: Al from Alvena, Saskatchewan, Canada: "Just a note about testing positive for H-pylori, if you have ever had it your blood will always test positive, as it is an antigen test, but at different levels. Levels of 8 or higher should be followed up with a breath test which will return a positive result only if you are infected. A negative result on the breath test is an indication of not having it. My blood test result was 7.8 five months after triple therapy and a breath test was positive. I have been prescribed quad therapy but am having good results with mastic gum and apple cider vinegar so am delaying the quad therapy."

07/27/2014: Al from Alvena, Saskatchewan, Canada: "I have had two previous antibiotic treatments for H-pylori infections. The last treatment resulted in my CEA level having a drastic increase. I just recently found out that if you have an antibiotic resistant strain of H-pylori that the common treatment just allows the H-pylori to increase the number of bacteria present due to the lowering of the acidity in the stomach. The same thing happens when you consume baking soda to reduce stomach/blood acidity to eliminate a yeast infection if H-pylori is present.

The big problem for me is that I have had colon cancer and CEA is an indicator for recurrence of cancer and is also produced by H-pylori. My CEA was gradually increasing and was close to 20 (normal is less than 3), so I had a gastroscopy and colonoscopy which resulted in finding the H-pylori infection. Treatment resulted in a spike in CEA so with no answers from my doctor I started taking baking soda to ensure there was no yeast infection in my blood. That resulted in a further spike in the CEA and stopping the baking soda resulted in a return to a slow increase in CEA.

After extensive reading I found that acid reduction does increase H-pylori reproduction and found out about mastic gum and its natural ability to kill H-pylori. I started taking mastic gum two weeks ago and supplemented that with one to two ounces of apple cider vinegar daily, with the mother, to increase stomach acidity resulting in a small drop in the CEA from a high near 40. This test was done 11 days after the first dose of mastic gum and showed a 4% drop in that time frame. I have also seen a cessation of some symptoms as a result.

What I have read about mastic gum it is recommended that it be used for three months to completely eliminate H-pylori. Anyone that has antibiotic treatment for H-pylori should have a CEA test before and after and if the CEA increases should be retested for H-pylori and consider an alternative treatment. It is now ten months since the CEA first started to go up and the cancer specialists are talking about palliative care for me and don't even have a cancer diagnosis. This nasty bacteria has some not commonly known aspects that can point to other problems which result in it getting worse. Be careful about using antacids and acid reducers with H-pylori. I am now waiting on a PET scan to show that I don't have any cancer while I continue the mastic gum treatment."

07/27/2014: Rico from Ca, US: "Melina - I forgot to mention, you may also want to ask your doctor to run some tests on your liver, as well as on your red blood cell levels. High Vitamin B levels can indicate liver disease or a bone marrow issue.

I don't mean to be describing scary scenarious, but I always believe it's better to catch something early rather than waiting until it gets bad. While unlikely, it is possible that you could be in the earlier stages of a liver or blood disease that hasn't fully shown itself yet. Liver disease in particular can trigger some strange symptoms elsewhere in the body.

I once knew of a kid who had a persistent and unpleasant body odor, regardless of how often he bathed or what he ate. Otherwise, he seemed normal. Eventually, a new doctor discovered that he had a liver condition. The kid had had it for years with only the strange body odor as a symptom. Go figure!"

07/27/2014: Michelle from London, UK: "After suffering with heartburn for years and seeing lots of comments about mustard helping..getting a bad attack I decided to try some..having only english mustard in the cuboard..i gave it ago...was so hard to swallow even tho I like mustard!

20 minutes later..still in pain...im guessing because it doesnt have vinegar in it???

can anyone clarify that this is the reason it hasnt worked?? Thanks."

07/27/2014: Anna from New York, US: "The best iodine tincture made from plants/trees is made by barefootherbalistmh"

07/27/2014: Bili from Toronto: "Years ago, I used ACV for the dandruff, rubbing in the scalp and leave it for 30 min before the shower.

Lately, I have been noticing hair loss patches, and decided to apply castor oil on the scalp, and cover with shower cap for 1hour, which was OK for hair loss.

Since my hair also got dull and dry, no dandruff though, I remembered using ACV and applied it now after the castor oil, and left it there for 30 mins before shower. Soaking scalp in ACV helped greatly shower hair and rinsing the oil out. Easy for bathtub too, no oily slippery residue."

07/27/2014: Lilac from Northern Usa: "Interesting thoughts, Timh. I too derive consolation from contemplating the mystical realms, from trying to look beyond the veil of the physical, visible realm. Just be careful. As the New Testament advises, "Test the spirits to see whether they be of God." You mention that you are disabled, so maybe you have much time at your disposal, and in such cases the imagination can run wild. I often contemplate Jesus saying "You will know them by their fruits." He was essentially advocating for the scientific method of proof by observation, the method that scientists still use. So, while it's of great interest to learn of these mystical things, we also need to keep our critical faculties sharp. One can read the internet and learn anything about anything. I'm neither discounting nor approving anything you said...I can't do that because I have no personal knowledge of these things...I'm just counseling caution and critical thinking."

07/27/2014: Rico from Ca: "Melina, If you haven't already, I encourage you to go back to your doctor for more Bactrim. The fact that an antibiotic cleared up your scalp indicates an unidentified bacterial skin infection, especially since so many antifungal agents have failed. You may need to continue the Bactrim for a couple weeks beyond the point that your scalp seems "normal" to ensure that it has been eradicated. Undertreating it just ensures that the tougher bugs remain and become harder to kill later.

A caveat: If the scalp infection is just a secondary issue of a different condition, then the scalp infection could keep recurring regardless of how many times you take Bactrim.

I also encourage you to explore the low normal white blood cell count further. It suggests a somewhat suppressed immune system. Doctors generally ignore a low normal because it's still "normal." I had a low normal IgG, IgM, and white blood cell counts when I was remarkably sick, and was later diagnosed with three different chronic tick borne infections, all of which are known to be immunosuppressive.

High B vitamin levels might indicate that your body isn't absorbing them for some reason. I've recently learned that my own hair loss and skin issues are directly related to inadequate B-vitamins, especially Biotin. I have been on long term antibiotics, some of which kill the gut bacteria that produce the B-vitamins.

I switched to a different antibiotic, increased my probiotic intake, started taking 5-10g of Biotin a day, and put an antifungal cream on the flaky red spots on my face near my hair line (2-3x/day for a month and it's still not quite gone).

So far, my scalp and skin issues have greatly improved, but I still have some redness, itching, and hair loss at my crown. I am going to try some of the remedies here to see if they help (specifically Borax and Apple Cider Vinegar - I have them both in the house already).

I think that your white blood cell count, scalp infection, and off balance B vitamin levels are subtle clues to some underlying issue in your body that could lead to more serious problems later. Since vitamin levels, body chemistry, and the immune system are so intertwined with gut health, I encourage you to find a good naturopath or even nutritionist who can explore other possibilities for you, such as Ph levels, celiac disease testing (you could think you're gluten free, but could still be consuming small amounts that you don't realize), food intolerances or allergies, low intrinsic factor, et.al.

Also, check out this quick description of why Sulfa drugs are not the same as sulfur.

http://www.zimmernutrition.com/learning-center/health-articles/article/allergic-to-sulfa-drugs-can-you-take-sulfur/

I hope you find an answer soon!"

[YEA]  07/27/2014: Raffy from San Diego: "I have my eczema for about 8years. After trying all the recommended meds by professional not even single meds works for me. But one day when I diluted 50/50 vinegar and tap water and apply into affected area just for two times application day and night then using virgin oil day and night my eczema has been gone."

07/27/2014: Earth Clinic from Atlanta, Ga: "Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that we are in the process of changing all the urls on Earth Clinic (which are currently a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters) to ALL lowercase in the next day or so.

Example:

www.earthclinic.com/CURES/acne.html#ACV

will change to:

www.earthclinic.com/cures/acne.html#acv

We will be correcting all the upper case/lower case internal links found in your posts too. This is just one of the many upcoming changes we will be making in the days to come to improve EC!"

[YEA]  07/27/2014: Anna from New York: "Seabuckthorn oil is 100% effective for stomach ulcers. Make sure it is a real one, not processed in a capsule form. I know a person who was scheduled for a surgery to repair an ulcer and by pure chance was given this oil and in 3 days she had to cancel the surgery. Other comments I received-I am a god sent savior. A person in the UK was so impressed that she planted it in her yard. Works for colitis as well."

07/27/2014: Janet from Missouri: "Update to my post re ALA: While ALA works I did further research regarding swelling in ankles and feet. I scoured this website and took the advice of one of the contributors here and stopped eating anything with Nitrates. WOW...now I don't take any pills to reduce the swelling because there is none. That means no processed meats, i.e. deli meats, cold cuts, ham, bacon, hotdogs, read the labels folks, if there are any Potassium Nitrates or Sodium Nitrates, DON'T EAT IT. Google Nitrates for further information. And thank you again for this site Earthclinic, it is awesome."

07/27/2014: Sam from Miami: "There are many strands of HP, therefore it does not always works."

07/27/2014: Anna from New York: "HP may also have something to do with heart diseases based on studies done in Spain."

07/27/2014: Kelly from Cambridge, Ma: "I am so very sorry for your loss, Dave.

My heart broke for you as I read your post. I am all too familiar with the emotions you are experiencing.

You are in my thoughts and prayers."