Yes, I trashed my L-Carnitine

Currently having an existential crisis over my stash of L-Carnitine, a supplement I have used off and on for about 10 years. I am now being loudly informed it can cause heart disease. Oh, such fabulous news!

The reason I started taking it, was because I learned it was an amino acid mostly concentrated in red meat and dairy... and as a vegetarian I assumed (there's that word, ASSUME) that any nutrient I would be missing out on (by eliminating meat from my diet), must somehow be necessary. That is so WESTERN of me; it certainly never occurred to me that one basic reason vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease might be due to the actual CARNITINE ITSELF, duh! (who knew?)

Apparently, it is. From HuffPo comes the following report, emailed to me simultaneously by three different people:

Two years ago, [cardiology researcher Dr. Stanley] Hazen and his research team discovered that microorganisms in the intestines can convert substances found in choline, a common dietary fat, to a by-product known as TMAO, trimethylamine-N-oxide.

This new study looked at l-carnitine, which has a similar chemical structure to choline.

Carnitine is a nutrient found at high levels in red meat, but fish, poultry, milk and other dairy products are also good food sources of it. Carnitine is also a popular over-the-counter diet supplement, often billed as helping to boost energy and bulk up muscle. It's found in some energy drinks and muscle milks.

The researchers looked at fasting levels of blood carnitine in nearly 2,600 men and women. The findings showed that carnitine levels could quite strongly predict participant's risk of existing coronary artery disease, as well as the risk of having a major cardiac event, such as heart attack, stroke, or death over a three-year period, but only in adults who had high blood levels of TMAO.

Hazen's group also compared mice fed their normal chow, which is basically a vegetarian diet, with mice whose food was supplemented with carnitine.

"We saw that carnitine supplements doubled the rates of atherosclerosis in the mice," Hazen said. It did this by dramatically increasing levels of TMAO, which is produced by gut bacteria that metabolize l-carnitine.

As for how carnitine in red meat may be linked with heart disease, Hazen explained that chronic ingestion of carnitine fundamentally shifts the metabolism of cholesterol. "It's changing it in a way that will make you more prone to heart disease," he said. Eating carnitine causes more cholesterol to be deposited onto artery walls, and less to be eliminated from the body.

Italics mine.

My existential crisis also comes from the fact that I have counseled approximately 40,000 (give or take) people to use it, also. (sigh) It was my job, remember? (sigh again) I even talked to a vegetarian cardiologist from India who told me he believed heart-conduction disorders in vegans might be related to a general lack of carnitine in vegan/vegetarian diets. He believed this because heart-conduction issues are more common in India (he said) than in the West, although coronary artery disease is more common in the West than in India. (Maybe they are both right? Is there NO WAY to win?)

And now, of course, you know what's happening... I am worrying about all of my other supplements. Good God. Its the domino effect! (I refuse to relinquish my beloved Ashwagandha, but I am now skeptical of other amino acids, such as L-Arginine... even though I really like its effects!)

In any event, I figured I would try to undue some of the damage by sharing this disturbing health information. I guess the vegetarian impact on my karma is intact (which is comforting), but the health effects? Probably a wash, at this point. Since carnitine is expensive (and I guess that will quickly change!), I have often gone without it for long periods. I have usually picked it up again because I noticed an energy boost from it... perhaps this mimics the energy boost from red meat? I assumed (there's that word again) that this meant it was a good thing, since ENERGY = GOOD. Again, Western stupidity writ large, yes? I mean, meth gives you energy too, and we all recognize that its not the good kind.

(sigh)

Yes, I trashed my L-Carnitine, and so should you.

Random complaining

I don't like:

...people who live in apartments and insist upon owning gigantic dogs that can't be exercised on a damn patio, so they bark all day long from boredom.

...southerners who claim various pot-luck offerings are vegetarian, but when pressed, admit said vegetable was fried in bacon grease.

...people who say the radiation in Japan is waaaay over there, so don't you worry yourself over it. The earth doesn't turn and the air never blows and water all stays in one place, so there's no way radiation can spread... oh, wait.

...de-clawing kitties. DON'T DO THAT. And I have the torn-up couches to prove that I don't believe in it. But I can also attest that torn-up couches are a small price to pay for well-mannered, happy felines.

...the way Farmville is always trying to separate you from your credit card, to purchase much-ballyhooed "Farm Cash"--with which you can buy cartoon lakes and donkeys and other dopey shit you don't need... hey, it's just like REAL LIFE!

...And finally...(((drum roll))

Male "enhancement" ads, like the endless infomercial I am listening to right now, wherein a dynamite sex-supplement promises to make you BIGGER and BETTER. It's probably just L-Arginine, an amino acid that can be taken by itself in large doses; up to 3 grams safely. (Works on women too! :D ) And it's lots cheaper than these TV-boosted supplements, which likely include Yohimbe, something that can adversely affect men with hypertension. (The difference between simple L-Arginine and these hotshot supplements can be as much as 100 bucks, so buyer beware.) I also hate the Viagra commercials for using the legendary and fabulous song "Spoonful" in the ads. The not-so-subtle racism of using a well-known black blues song directed at suburban white men with nice cars (not to mention the comprehensive medical insurance that covers these pricey Rx drugs; some insurers don't) seems a little obvious: If you take Viagra/Cialis/etc, you will be as sexy as black men, seems to be the significance of the blues-man message. And then there is the additional subtlety of the title and concept: you only need a spoonful of Viagra.

But even without music, all the winky-winky stuff in the ads (any moment can turn into a Cialis moment!) is offensive and junior high school. Yes, we all know how we get horny just by hammering nails (think about the Freudian implications of that for a second) and hanging out with the mister, as he does his manly household tasks. And then, a knowing look is exchanged, pecks on the mouth, and they leave the room together, arm in arm. We all know that our sexual experiences are EXACTLY like that, now don't we? (((rolls eyes)))

I do appreciate that the women in the ads are the same age as the men. In fact, these ads might be the only place on TV that this is true! Mostly, hot new actresses are paired with older, non-hotties. (Think about LAW AND ORDER and the age disparities.. gray hair and such are standard, but the women are all young.) This is true in movies as well. What can we surmise from this?: That BigPharma is aware they should try to be realistic in these ads--no Lolitas anywhere. And besides, maybe that is intimidating to older men? Or do they (as I suspect) just find the idea silly? (All they want is some familiar intimacy with the wife, not the babysitter.)

The CARS in the ads, and the fact that Viagra now sponsors NASCAR, well, that shouldn't be surprising. PERFORMANCE is a big word in all advertising related to men: Stereos, cell phones, cars, musical instruments, razor blades, athletic shoes, all promise various wonderful levels of PERFORMANCE, a word you rarely hear in commercials for women's products.

Now, I wonder why that is.

Ask me about Neem

The Neem lady took my photo and gave me samples of soap.

Now I ask you, what more could you want in life?

PS: How do I look? I got my skin through NEEM!!

~*~

What is Neem?

The Neem Foundation ("Greening India with Neem")

Neem Benefits: Make Neem Your Safety Net (American Chronicle)

Neem in Ayurveda

Stuff I like

:: Natural Factors chewable Vitamin C. The Boysenberry makes me happiest!

:: Sounds True meditation music, especially the kundalini meditations.

:: The HP Lovecraft Tarot, which I want in the worst way, but not enough to spend $1000 for it (new), or even $350 (used). (I hope Cthulhu won't take it personally; it's never a good thing to be on his bad side.)

:: My surrogate son, South Carolina Boy, writes very personally about familial stress, shifting identities and transition: A Real Trans Person and Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

:: Masada bagels, particularly the Everything bagel and the Cinnamon Raisin! mmmmm

:: Theraneem products, which cured my eczema. I can't recommend them highly enough, for any troublesome skin issue you might have.

:: URBAN FARM, a magazine almost as much fun as Mary Jane's Farm. (Our local equivalent is from Hendersonville, NC: Back Home.)

:: BeeWell Honey, from Pickens County, SC. Besides scrumptious wildflower honey, the best thing in Pickens County is Glassy Mountain. (NOTE: This is not to be confused with Glassy Mountain in Greenville County, which was once stunningly beautiful, but now totally ruined by rich people, golfers and enormous McMansions; Kevin Costner and Tiger Woods are frequent visitors and investors.)

:: Barbara Lynn, known as the Queen of Gulf Coast Blues and Soul.

~*~

You'll lose a good thing - Barbara Lynn (1962)

Eat your Turmeric!

Suddenly, there is a spate of articles everywhere, talking about the healing properties of turmeric. Apparently, Oprah's health guru, Dr Oz, is a big fan.

Us old hippies and Ayurvedic medicine practitioners, have always claimed turmeric had miraculous powers. (Time to toot our own horns, alternative-medicine folks. Once again, we were right!)


The following article has made the rounds in most Gannett newspapers during the past week:

Can an ancient spice prevent and treat cancer? That's the question researchers are trying to answer.

In certain cultures, turmeric is known as a golden gift from God, a sacred spice that has been used for centuries in Indian Ayurvedic and Asian medicine to treat fevers, stomach aches and cuts.

Indians sprinkle the powder on cuts to help them heal, gargle with it to soothe sore throats and mix it with warm milk for sick kids to sip.

Madhu Sharma, owner of the Green Chili Indian Bistro in St. Petersburg, Florida, uses turmeric in almost all of her dishes.

She says it's also an important ingredient in other aspects of Indian culture.

"We use turmeric when the baby is born. We use turmeric when we get married. We use turmeric when we cook everyday and we use turmeric to worship God and offer to God," said Sharma.

People in India eat turmeric every day in curry dishes. They cook with fresh turmeric root — a bright yellow herb from the ginger family — or they use the dry powder, adding about one teaspoon to every meal.

Daily turmeric consumption is one of the reasons cancer researchers suspect India's rate for breast, colon, prostate and lung cancer is 10 to 50 times lower than in people in the United States.

Dr. Bharat Aggarwal, a professor in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has been studying the spice for several decades.

"It has enormous potential. It is very safe. It has been around for a long, long, time and for the first time, I think we have evidence that it may be working as well," he said.

Hundreds of laboratory and animal studies have shown that a substance in turmeric, called curcumin, kills a wide variety of cancer cells including colon, breast, prostate, pancreatic, brain and melanoma and slows tumor growth.

The preclinical research has taken the spice from the lab to the clinic.

"We have shown that a wide variety of tumor cells can be selectively killed by curcumin and it does not kill the normal cells but will kill only cancer cells. There are no known side effects in people," he said.

Turmeric capsules are available in most alt-med brands. I highly recommend Gaia Herbs, which I am told has recently run out (!) of their signature Turmeric Supreme.

Simply purchasing some of the spicy herb in bulk and mixing a teaspoon in warm water (yes, gross, hold your nose) and drinking it daily (traditional Ayurvedic remedy for inflammation) --would likely contain substantial health benefits. Although I sell them, I don't think pricey supplements are necessarily required, although the much-sought-after active ingredient (curcumin) is highly-concentrated in supplements. As they say on the net, your mileage may vary.

If you like the taste, make a habit of sprinkling it on potatoes, rice or some other food you enjoy. Keep in mind, it stains mightily, and has also historically been used as a bright yellow/orange dye! (Mucking around extensively in some loose turmeric and attempting to make my own capsules some years ago, my hands and fingers turned bright orange, and I ended up looking like I'd eaten several bags of Cheetos.)

Eat your turmeric!

60 Minutes and why Calorie Restriction goes nowhere

...is one of the subject lines on my Calorie Restriction mailing list this week. Alas, if you saw 60 Minutes on CBS Sunday night, you know why.

Not real flattering.

And it was sexist too.

First, the story focused on Resveratrol, the active ingredient in red wine that has so many healthful properties. (And I sell it!--she momentarily preened.) Researchers believe that it can "turn on the longevity gene" and they are currently developing a supplement/pill that will have the higher concentrations necessary to do this.

So far, so good.

And then the story turned to the Calorie Restriction Society and I just gritted my teeth. Oh no, I thought.

I was right.

From the transcript of the show:

Meet the members of CRS - the Calorie Restriction Society - a group that has been severely restricting their calories for years now. They are also part of a Washington University study to see if humans "mimic" the monkeys. Does this kind of self-denial makes them live longer, healthier lives?

60 Minutes joined them for what they call "happy hour," consisting of a cocktail of low-calorie soup for starters, and walnuts, and baby food - green bean puree on flour-free bread to top off this feast fit for a flea.

So far the participants have lowered their blood pressure, reduced body fat, and lessened risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. And what's more, to one husband anyway, starvation has its sexy side. "To be honest, if you saw her without any clothes, you'd see she looks pretty darn good, like a woman like of many, many years younger," the man told 60 Minutes.

Their emissaries travel the world, spreading the faith and the word: hunger turns on the survival gene.

The skinnies may not die young, but given their diet they just might die of boredom. But if the scientists at Sirtris are on the right track, it could mean forget dieting, forget the sweaty business of working out - just pop a pill and you are in guilt-free couch potato paradise.

Yes, we must assure the men, it makes the women LOOK GOOD! Offensive as hell. (Let's hear about how the men look!)

One email-list participant wrote of the experience:

[We hoped "60 Minutes" would share] some of the brilliant comments by Richard Schulman and Don Dowden, both of whom shared insights about the way they practice CR and the significant success they have had.

A woman replies:

This is what I wanted to hear! In fact they cut ALL comments by anyone except Paul describing Meredith without clothes.

It should be obvious to anyone, without having to ask, why CR doesn't go anywhere as a scientifically viable alternative to unproven "miracle drugs."

The fault rests squarely on the MSM (mainstream media) and their treatment of the subject matter.

As one thoroughly disappointed in the coverage, let me add my hearty amen to that. Several people are emailing CBS:

I've also emailed them to tell them what I though of the editing on the show. Very poor representation of CRON* in humans, and hardly mentioning the years of research behind it, the excellent results in humans, completely lying about our experience on the diet... and not even giving a chance for the other CRers in the clip to talk about how they feel. He practically used a voice over for almost all of that section!

Indeed, the focus seemed to be, look at these weird thin people who have made guinea pigs of themselves. Do they say this about any other 'diet' that people find useful? Why are various goofy fad diets (yes, I'm lookin at you, Dr Atkins) treated respectfully by the mainstream media, but CR is not? In fact, CR was presented primarily as a counter-point to the Resveratrol story:

Yup, it really wasn't about CR it was about CR effects in a bottle, pop a pill and live longer! Gee, you don't need self control like these poor CR folks, if revenge is living longer, we win. The story is about living longer in a pill, CR was background.

And besides that, the arrogant nastiness directed at the menu overlooked the main reasons for the food being eaten by the folks on CR, which is that they are exceptionally nutrient-rich, densely packed with vitamins and minerals. This fact wasn't mentioned at all in the story, which focused only on calories, not surprisingly. Another comment:

I wish the CR Society representatives featured on 60 minutes would have chosen different foods. The baby food on bread is probably a big turn off to most viewers, including myself. It makes CR look like a cult. There are many people who practice CR by eating better tasting foods.

Personally, I see no difference between "baby food" on bread, or anything else on bread... but the choice of the word "baby food" was certainly interesting, when the word purée would have been used exclusively if this was some sort of gourmet cooking show. Obviously, it was deliberately used for effect.

One CRS member's response was to write a post titled Media: How Does It Portray CR?:

If I depended on the media, I would think people on a CR diet must:

* Peel their apples, eat the peels and throw away the rest;
* Lick their plates in public to get every last scrap;
* Make oddball, tasteless canapes, perhaps with baby food;
* Make one food only and eat that same food day in and day out.
* Eat horrible looking food, portrayed as unappealingly as possible;

Here's the reality: you can eat absolutely any food you desire, as long as you meet your nutritional needs within your calorie limit. This is not that hard. My wife makes all sort of dishes (most recently, Indian cuisine). There is nothing she makes that I don't eat (except asparagus - yuck - some people will eat anything!). I just make sure I know what the nutritional value is, then eat an appropriate amount.

You can even eat pure, totally adulterated, junk food. But you will have to limit the amount of junk so you have enough remaining calories for the day to get 100% of your nutritional needs.

Reality: You can eat perfectly normal food similar to what you are used to, but you will probably also start eating more nutritious foods.

I don't think that rather undramatic reality would have made "good television" though, now would it? Fuck the facts, we want razzle-dazzle bozo weirdness!

Jerry Springer, call your office.

Whatever happened to real reporting?

...

*CRON stands for Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition

Odds and Sods - SAD edition

Yes, folks, SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER (SAD) is real, although it's so common that I don't know if it should even be called a DISORDER. As I peruse the blogs, I see that several people have the winter-blahs, and it's a quite common refrain.

To me, SAD is just another vestige of our primitive past; another useful evolutionary adaptation that we no longer need. Just like that deadly love of fats and carbohydrates... which incidentally, also shoots up like a rocket during the winter. Without these adaptations, we'd all be dead--and don't you forget it... as you gnaw away on chocolate-chip cookies, blaming your munchies on football.

If we hadn't turned soporific and holed up deep inside the cave to sleep away the winter, well, we'd have frozen our Northern-European asses off. And so now, we just want to... well...yawn...(Insert Cowardly Lion voice, as he galloped through the poppy fields with Dorothy: "Come to think of it, forty winks wouldn't be bad!")

Some future day, they'll have this brain chemistry thing all figured out and they'll give us all a shot on New Year's Day, particularly if we have too many of the telltale Northern European genes: "These people are a MESS--they really need to be hibernating!" And poof!--the SAD will all go away. In the meantime, if you don't want to engage Big Pharm, I can recommend the herb Rhodiola, which our ancestors called Golden Root and the Swedes wisely stockpiled for such purposes. I would also add Ashwanghanda and Ginseng, which I (honestly) never leave home without.

And I don't promise these herbs can completely overcome a million years of evolution, either, as BigPharm promises...but you might at least come out of the cave for a few hours, and maybe even function on a fair-to-middling level.

Meanwhile, been checking out the blogs today...


Photo from Movie Crunch.


G of Doves Today writes very well about working at an elite award event in Southern Cal:

"Okay," said my friend, "it's getting close to showtime. Let's check the lobby." And we turned to go out the side door.

Only there was a group of people coming through the door. We stepped back so they could pass us. Oh. It was Them.

Yes, you know who They are!

She's really tiny. He's tall. Her skin is flawless. He's....I'm speechless.

I could never do such work for a living, because I might well involuntarily scream like some silly teenybopper... or as one person commented, giggle insanely.

~*~

mirabile dictu quotes Naomi Klein at The Nation:

Every day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause, and talk of cease-fires is doing little to slow the momentum. Support is even emerging among Israeli Jews. In the midst of the assault roughly 500 Israelis, dozens of them well-known artists and scholars, sent a letter to foreign ambassadors stationed in Israel. It calls for “the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions” and draws a clear parallel with the antiapartheid struggle. “The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves.… This international backing must stop.”

Yet even in the face of these clear calls, many of us still can’t go there. The reasons are complex, emotional and understandable. And they simply aren’t good enough.

~*~

An environmentalist was on TV talking about how he didn't throw anything away FOR A YEAR.

He said what?! I musta heard that wrong.

No, I heard him right. A whole year. And then there was a video report, showing... oh holy God, WORMS in his basement. WORMS. He said they kept it extremely clean, gobbling up all the organic waste matter, like uneaten food. (((screams)))

How did he sleep, knowing there were worms down there?

Here is Sustainable Dave's blog about his year-long experiment, suitably named 365 Days of Trash.

If we require worms close by, I don't know if I can be a good environmentalist. (shame)

~*~

The fabulous and always-honest Sage at Persephone's Box, writes about one of my favorite subjects, friendship... notably the differences between male and female friendships:

What about women as friends? While the guys are falling in love with me or trying to seduce me, the women are protecting their turf against me. Tanya won't do anything without her husband there, and then they just talk together the entire night. Alice got upset when I spoke directly to her boyfriend the day after I had given birth. I was working on sitting comfortably, and she was accusing me of trying to steal her fella. Then there's Jane. I share an office with Paul, Joe and Jane, and I've been hanging out alone in my classroom lately.

Jane and I have been sort-of friends for a decade or so. We work together and sometimes drink together with the guys there, but we never get into really heavy conversations. I never seem to with women I meet in real life, unfortunately. She had a long affair with another teacher who just retired. In the months before he was leaving, she changed dramatically. If I so much as exchanged pleasantries with him, she'd jump up and actually stand between us. I let it go because it was obviously a difficult time for her.

One of the good things about aging is that these things happen to me less and less often, if ever. (And you know, I can truthfully say I don't miss this sorta stuff at all. It is so nice to have women friends who don't assume you are after their husbands.)

Why are women often so jealous of other women? Is this the fault of the pat... uhhhh, the kyriarchy, or is this in ourselves and our own fears of not measuring up? Both? It continues to puzzle me, and as I age and step away from such interpersonal feuds, I find it is now safe to examine these conflicts closer. And I come back to the same conclusion, always: we can not have success in our feminist endeavors, until we STOP.

And speaking of feminism, the best for last:

I often cover the nasty ideological wars in feminist Blogdonia, but I rarely mention it when people discover common ground and rise above their differences. Thus, it gives me enormous pleasure to note that yes, IT DOES HAPPEN! Check out these inspiring posts by Renegade Evolution and Ginmar, who have decided that they can agree to disagree, WITH RESPECT! Because they know they are coming from the same place, deep concern for women. As Ginmar writes:

[Renegade Evolution] was appalled at the way prostitutes, dancers, and other workers were treated, as if all they were were sexual things to be used. In story after story, I noticed that prostitutes were referred to as prostitutes, by the number of times they'd been arrested. I wanted to know where they grew up, what books they liked, what they wanted to be in high school, who they were. The answer the newspapers and judges and others gave was this: she was a prostitute, so it didn't matter. Some of them were desperate women. Some chose the life. Some were trafficked into it. There were so many problems that they had to be distilled to orders of importance, and at the top of the heap was the important one: what is best for women? What do they want? Not deciding for them, but asking them.

There's no perfection in people, and thank God, because nobody I know would meet the standard. We'd all be without friends and have nothing but enemies and judges. But I now have fewer enemies and it feels good. I feel my energy refocused on what's important, what bedevils us all, and clarity feels so good.

Ren Ev and I will disagree. But once you start talking to someone, it's amazing what you can agree on.

Awesomeness! (((Daisy cries copious hippie-peacenik tears!)))

What is great about these posts (AND YOU MUST READ THEM ALL!) is how they show us that we can learn from disagreements... they aren't always "bad"...what is usually "bad" is how we react to disagreement, not the disagreement itself.

~*~

Wow, all that reading just wore my ass out... time to go back in the cave, turn on LAW AND ORDER and chew on some (organic, of course) chocolate-chip cookies...

Odds and Sods - down to the wire edition

Politico says McCain is getting hosed by the press. (Obviously, they haven't been watching Faux News.)

John F. Harris and Jim Vandehei write:

Reporters obsess about personalities and process, about whose staff are jerks or whether they seem like decent folks, about who has a great stump speech or is funnier in person than they come off in public, about whether Michigan is in play or off the table. This is the flip side of the fact of how much we care about the horse race — we don’t care that much about our own opinions of which candidate would do more for world peace or tax cuts.

If that causes skeptics to scoff, perhaps they would find it more satisfying to hear that the reason ideological bias matters so little is that other biases matter so much more.

This is true in any election year. But the 2008 election has had some unique — and personal — phenomena.

One is McCain backlash. The Republican once was the best evidence of how little ideology matters. Even during his “maverick” days, McCain was a consistent social conservative, with views on abortion and other cultural issues that would have been odds with those of most reporters we know. Yet he won swooning coverage for a decade from reporters who liked his accessibility and iconoclasm and supposed commitment to clean politics.

Now he is paying. McCain’s decision to limit media access and align himself with the GOP conservative base was an entirely routine, strategic move for a presidential candidate. But much of the coverage has portrayed this as though it were an unconscionable sellout.

Since then the media often presumes bad faith on McCain’s part.

Some of us regard this as a CORRECTIVE to all of the mindless media fawning over McCain that I mentioned here.

Meanwhile, piggy Michael Savage said on his radio show yesterday:

[Barack Obama] benefited from affirmative action, stepping over more qualified white men, I actually lost as a result of affirmative action, many times in my life. ... [W]e have America's first affirmative action candidate about to become president.

I would answer with that famous punchline: Whatcha mean WE?

~*~

Excellent feminist campaign reading:

Check out Blowing the "Sexism" whistle (mirabile dictu)

Bint shows compassion and understanding in her post How Many Times Should John McCain be Allowed to Mention he was a POW? (My Private Casbah)

Season of the Bitch addresses the topic of Obama the Socialist Boogeyman (Global Comment)

I have been terribly delinquent in my lack of coverage regarding California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8, so you might want to have a look at Stand Up Against Proposition 8 for more details, with linkage. (The Curvature)

And The Girl Detective tells us about her Phone Banking Adventures (Modern Mitzvot)--she ALMOST got to talk to Zach Braff!

EDITED TO ADD:

Sarah Palin: Marxism For Me, But Not For Thee (bastard.logic)

What the Election Means (elle, phd)

~*~

Speaking of elections: GOT NERVES?

Note: I have not been paid for this commercial. As Lily Tomlin's housewife-character (Mrs Judith Beasley) used to say: "I am not a professional actress, I am an ordinary citizen like yourself."

TENSION RELEASE, by Megafood, is one of the best supplements I have ever encountered. Unfortunately, like most good things, it is terribly overpriced. But it is fabulous and totally delivers on its promise and name... a really boffo combination of Ashwagandha (in the extract patented as Sensoril®), Reishi Antler Mushroom, Purple Kculli Corn, Skullcap and Lemon Balm.

If you are a nervous wreck waiting for Obama to win---check it out! ;)

~*~

Settling an argument with Mr Daisy regarding exactly WHO is playing on the original TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN, and I find this very weird, stylized excerpt from Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up--which yes, shows us that BOTH Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page are playing. (Now, was this true for the studio recording, or did the original Yardbirds get together for the movie? Does anyone know? Comments and trivia welcome.)

Weird = EVERYONE IS STANDING SO STILL. This is the YARDBIRDS, people! How can you stand so BLOODY STILL, I thought this was SWINGING LONDON in the 60s and all like that? And they are just looking comatose. Was this some direction of Antonioni's? You know: Look alienated and bored! You are not in touch with yourselves, be postmodern! Same reason David Hemmings brings that enormous PROPELLER back to his flat. Heavy symbolism, whammo, over the head. (I liked him better in Barbarella!)

In any event, Jimmy looks like he needs a shave. Who knew he would go on to form Led Zeppelin in a few years and become richer than God Almighty?

Jeff finally smashes up his guitar (he's no Pete Townshend) as the band continues playing, seemingly not even paying attention. More alienation! When he throws guitar-detritus to the audience, they suddenly come alive and dive for it, like piranhas. Keith Relf looks half-glazed over as he continues singing without a pause, may his soul rest in peace.

Hemmings battles the crowd for a shard of the guitar, is chased out of the club brandishing it like a weapon. When he gets outside, he looks at it, puzzled, and throws it down. Then dashes off.

An onlooker pauses, picks up the guitar-piece for a second, then also throws it down.

Genius! Weirdness and heavy symbolism or not, I've watched this hypnotic clip about a half-dozen times now. This short sequence sums up our love of novelty, glitz; our infatuation with NEWNESS for its own sake... this kind of existential brilliance is obviously how he got to be Michelangelo Antonioni.

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties

... in ohhhh, so many ways.

First, can anyone explain why I can't see any of my previously posted videos in Firefox, but I can see these same videos in Internet Explorer? Also, a few random widgets are missing in Firefox as well.

This appeared to happen right after I deleted Google's Adsense in a fit of pique, for putting "Osama Obama" ads on my blog. Then, I wake up this morning and can't see any of my videos. We'll teach you to diss Google, missy! Chastened, I put the Google Adsense box back, but it looks different this time. Also, I could not access my full layouts page (had to re-install Adsense through Internet Explorer, also). The bottom half of the Page Layouts (in Blogger) is gone, random widgets and links disappearing just like the videos did. The Template tab has also disappeared, along with my Dead Air Library widget. It was exactly like Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said, by Philip K Dick, the only logical outcome being that I would soon start disappearing, as well. There will have been no record of me OR my blog, and I will (necessarily) have to go around trying to convince people that I exist.

Like anyone else in such a situation, understandably, I did panic.

~*~

This hasn't been a good week. Two days ago, while my arms were full of (not kidding) dog vitamins, I tripped over a badly-stacked bottled-water display and ended up splayed out on the floor--SPLAT. (Dick Van Dyke redux, for you baby boomers.) I badly bruised both elbows and my left knee, but as my regular blog-readers know, I'm a well-padded gal of hardy peasant stock who ingests every supplement ever invented (and then some). I am relieved and grateful I didn't break anything, but if I had, I would have talked to a few bone-building supplement manufacturers and demanded an explanation.

Anyway, already a bit jarred, and then last night I watch Rick Warren and the presidential candidates engage in some depressingly predictable repartee.

My supervisor is changing jobs, as noted before, and will be leaving us this week. I ate lunch with her today; I am crestfallen over her departure and feel an acute sense of loss.

And then, I see that I am disappearing! Where's my videos?! ((screams))

~*~

Comically, I attempt to leave messages for the Blogger Help Group, which also advertises for ESCORTS from various warring countries. Gollee, I had NO IDEA! No, wait... that is SPAM that the Blogger team is too lazy to clean up. You figure a place that tolerates all of this sex-spam ain't gonna be much for answering my question. I dutifully type "disappearing videos from blog" in the little search box provided, and promptly find a dozen people with my same question, spread out over the past four months.

And not a single answer.

Why do they bother to tell us about a Blogger Help Group, if they have no intention of helping? Is this some new, creative form of postmodern torture?

Anyway, I apologize for being slack lately. I wanted to blast the Rick Warren follies good and proper, and may well do so. I have a tight schedule the next few days.

And I might disappear entirely by then.

Quirky Sunday

Left: Beautiful petunias, at the SC Farmers Market this weekend.

~*~

I was tagged (by Jojo) with a quirky meme!

Six quirky things about me:

1) My diet is extremely quirky, and at various times in my life I have likely qualified for orthorexia (obsession with healthy food). I won't eat meat or anything with meat in it, which may or may not qualify as quirky. I usually won't eat anything cooked without something raw added to it. I am currently progressing to a 75% raw diet; I'm at about 50% currently. (Yes, I do suspend the raw/cooked rules when eating out, as well as for vacations, holidays and other special events/occasions, etc. This has succeeded in making these occasions even MORE special, which is a nice bonus.) I also daily partake of drinks like acai juice, kombucha, tulsi tea, aloe vera and other weird stuff. (And I don't care what anyone says, pure noni is gross.)

All of this taken together, probably qualifies as major quirkiness.

2) JoJo admits she talks to herself a lot, and yes, I do too.

3) I sing the guitar parts of songs, if I know them. You've heard of air guitar? I do vocal guitar: Weeee-oooowrunggggg. I try not to be too obnoxious with this, but it's become a sort of personal signature.

4) I would shock all of you if I told you how many supplements I take. It's way out of hand. I've tried to pare it down to essentials like L-Carnitine and antioxidants, you know, IMPORTANT stuff, but invariably, I find everything important. Hey, it's my JOB, okay? (As a result, I also get most of these supplements as free samples and promotions, which is how it all started.)

I could probably stop any time I want! ;)

5) Extreme superstition, which I have methodically and purposefully channeled into (more respectable) religion. Lots of magical thinking. I believe in omens, signs, dreams predicting the future, all that stuff. (I do read the Tarot, after all.) After 50 years, I can assure you: I could not NOT be this way, even if I wholeheartedly wanted to. (PS: I have tried.)

Vanessa (atheist) believes atheism/general lack of belief is a particular "bent" or temperament that some people have, and conversely, that metaphysical belief/mysticism is a "bent" that some people have. I totally understand and appreciate this view. When I have not been consciously religious in my lifetime, I have been virtually ruled by superstition and a genuine fear of fate. If I didn't channel this deep, very strong impulse into something rational (by comparison) and culturally recognizable, I would be a mess. Religion is my catch-all for my various forms of magical thinking, and as they say, it works for me.

I sometimes encounter atheists that I think are forcing themselves to be strictly rational, and even more religious people that I think are forcing themselves to Go By the Book. I wanna say to them: lighten up, and go with what's right for you. You can't force any of that, in my humble opinion.

When you see a shooting star, do you close your eyes and involuntarily make a wish? (Then feel silly afterwards for doing it?) If so, you know what I mean. If you don't, you won't get it.

6) I find it almost impossible to watch a movie without reading at least one review of it. (PS: this doesn't apply to television and never has!) I don't even have to agree with the review, I just have to read it. I can't even tell you how many SPOILERS I have read, over the years. (Certain reviewers, I learned to avoid, because they didn't seem to be able to restrain themselves--yes, I'm looking at you, Roger Ebert!) Mr Daisy thinks it's the most wacko thing I do. (He shares several of my other quirks, you should know.)

This quirk has gotten exponentially worse with the advent of the net, since there are online reviews of every movie ever made... Occasionally, back in the day, I was forced to watch a movie WITHOUT first reading the review, but that hasn't happened in well over a decade.

~*~


Here are the Rules:

1. Link the person(s) who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

I tag the aforementioned Vanessa, as well as Renegade Evolution, white rabbit, Rootie, Shadocat and Nexy!

(If yall don't wanna do it, no problem.)

----------------
Listening to: Grateful Dead - Cassidy
via FoxyTunes

On drugs, herbs, antidepressants, addiction, mothers and other things...

We interrupt our ongoing South Carolina primary coverage to cover a recent controversy in Blogdonia over--DRUGS.

George Carlin used to joke about the signs once visible on city street corners, notably absent in the last decade or so. We now have Walgreens and CVS selling baby formula, hair goo and toilet paper, but once upon a time, the drug store was a drug store, just like Mr Gower's in It's a Wonderful Life. Maybe you could get a banana split while you waited for the druggist (as we called them) to fill your prescription. You could buy cokes and root beers and hang out. Lana Turner would be "discovered" in a Hollywood drug store, according to myth, which made the drug store cool.

And as George Carlin joked in the 70s, go into any self-proclaimed drug store, which prominently featured a huge DRUG sign, and ask (insert stoned voice) "Hey man, gotta any DRUGS?" and the proprietor would likely bark, "Not THOSE kind, go away!"

"Hey, it said DRUGS, okay?"

Indeed, it did. And so we learned: there are good drugs and bad drugs. (As Glinda memorably asked Dorothy, are you a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch?)

~*~

The line between the "good" and "bad" drugs was always very shaky for me. As a youngster, I witnessed progressive addiction in the members of my family. My grandmother became dependent on various and sundry pain meds, Valium, and Miltown, which she would periodically swear off, only to relapse. Such events were not called RELAPSE then; there was no such language available for addiction to prescription drugs. This is why Valley of the Dolls was regarded as such a scandalous, truth-telling book, almost as important as The Feminine Mystique, and certainly, out-selling that book by millions. No one had dared say it out loud in polite, middle-class company. And the word, DOLLS. We love our dolls, we play with our dolls, we dress up our dolls and display them. Calling drugs DOLLS laid the whole enterprise bare. ("Not THOSE kind, go away!") My mother had a seemingly bottomless Rx for Dexedrine 75 mg (gonna let that dosage sink in a minute: 75 mg), which I started pilfering regularly on test days in high school. And my mother never lost a pound, it seemed.

I caught on fast: Dexedrine didn't have shit to do with weight loss. This had to do with her day-job, hard work requiring intense concentration. And then her night-job, her true love, music. She was a singer and musician; amphetamines allowed her to sing late into the twilight after a hard day's work. Songs by Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson, Tammy Wynette, and so many others...which seemed to go so well with the Dolls. (Maybe because several of these recording artists were also quite attached to the Dolls?) My mother's green eyes glittered, as John Lydon's, Keith Moon's, Natalie Cole's, Linda Ronstadt's and Elvis's used to twinkle and shine; an unmistakable chemically-glazed glitter that I can still spot anywhere. (Although, interestingly, I didn't seem to notice it when I looked in the mirror.)


My mother began dosing me with supplements and drugs at about the same time, further messing up my already-blurred natural/chemical boundary. She discovered Selenium, Vitamin E, Gotu Kola, and insisted I take these, which I dutifully did. And then, she tsk-tsked over my weight, my thighs, my ass. She took me to her diet-doctor to be properly dosed with the magic skinny-making concoction, the nectar of the gods, Dexedrine. And I took it, as I was told. I didn't need prodding.


My mother was born physically disabled, a fact that she blamed for not being able to become a Big Star. And I believe this has some basis in reality, since she was once asked to sing and play back-up at the Grand Ole Opry by some Nashville talent-scout; the request later withdrawn when her disability was discovered. (I also believe my mother's ferocious drive was partly DUE to her disability and attendant feelings of inferiority, a fact she often confessed to me in her more vulnerable, teary, alcoholic moments.) The Grand Ole Opry debacle plunged her into extreme self-hatred; she took more lovers, she piled her platinum hair even higher on her head, she lopped several alarming inches off of her already-short dresses. And, she decided, she needed to DO SOMETHING with ME: Goddammit, fix your hair, put on make-up, you can't go out like that. At our house, it was hillbilly vs. hippie couture, every day. Lacquered, sprayed, Clairol-bleached hair vs. untamed hair flying in the breeze. Miniskirts vs. jeans. Pointy-Laura-Petrie-bras vs. none at all. She was perpetually furious with me. She believed my hippie-fashion was a personal insult, directed at her, mocking her.


Similarly, my mother couldn't believe I did not want to go onstage, did not want to marry rich, did not want to do the things she believed she could have done if non-disabled: What's the matter with you? she would scream in her many alcohol/amphetamine-induced rages, Don't you understand you could have the whole fucking WORLD?

The whole world? Talk about delusion. I was a pretty average kid, I made average grades, I could sing in harmony if it wasn't too hard, but that's about it. I could write well enough, but you can't be a star doing that. ("Men can, but women can't," she told me.) I didn't realize until years later, how these rages were drug-induced. By then, of course, I was having them myself.

And finally, the weed. My mother found the weed. The rage, the insanity, the screaming, the smashing of delicate objects, the gnashing of teeth, the threats and the reality of violence. I won't dwell on the details. But I confronted her at last: Excuse me, but you have been plying me with DRUGS, you realize? "This is a much less harmful drug than the ones you are taking every fucking day!"

Marijuana, I loudly, proudly and correctly informed her, is an HERB.

~*~

My years in the counterculture continued blurring the drug/herb boundary. I had one of the most profound, spiritual and mystical experiences of my life (and that is saying something) under the influence of a plant, peyote. I also puked my guts out and thought I was dying, which centers the mind amazingly. Consequently, I began to educate myself about the medicinal qualities of herbs, and began a job filling up bulk herbs at the local co-op. I visited communes, and talked about herbs with the back-to-the-land people. And all the while, I never stopped taking drugs. And my focus narrowed. My favorite drug of all? The legal one: alcohol. Which, you will remember, is made from plants, fruits, herbs.

Of course, you all know the story by now. Pretty typical Movie Of The Week stuff: it caught up with me. Down and out in various places... New York City, Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Fort Myers, rural Indiana, urban Ohio... like the expression goes, wherever you go, you take yourself with you. Oh Mama, can this really be the end?

And so, like a convert, I went the other way, seemingly overnight. Straight edge. I was a zealot for recovery. I think this is often necessary for people in trouble, so I won't apologize for it, but I can see the humor in it now... engaging in major self-recriminations and existential angst over whether I should take a wayward antihistamine or single Tylenol. (Usually, I would end up refraining.) I even gave up coffee and tea, although it took me several years to stop smoking tobacco (but yes, I eventually did that, too). And during this time, I also refused all herbs, remembering that yes, marijuana is an herb. Herbs ARE drugs.

And that's the thing...many, many drugs come from herbs. I realized at this point that my boundaries were blurred for a reason. There is no boundary... there is no spoon.

You are ALTERING YOURSELF. With whatever substances you choose, be they "natural" or "unnatural"--and I was zealous in my recovery, in being UNALTERED.

~*~

Perhaps it's because one of my endocrine glands failed on me in my late 30s, and I then needed (deep breath) DRUGS, that I changed my mind. Possibly, just age. Also, a weariness of dogma, as I tried hard at one point to be a doctrinally correct Catholic, and failed at that too. Suddenly worried that I would have a baby in my 40s (not my idea of a good time), I went and got my tubes tied. And then I confessed, like a good Catholic.

"Why are you telling me this?" asked my very cool priest, shocking me. He was supposed to yawn, look at his watch, and wave me out of the confessional while simultaneously making the sign of the cross, like he usually did.

"Huh?" I asked, "Aren't I supposed to tell you?"

"You are supposed to be honest," he sounded tired. I could tell he was weary of parishioners deliberately doing stuff and then scurrying in to tell him about it.

Was he saying I was dishonest? I suddenly felt shame, and then I WAS honestly contrite.

Ashamed of what?--I thought later. And then I knew. Having my cake and eating it too. Having my tubal ligation and fancying myself a "good Catholic." Availing myself of medical science, and then bragging about being ALL NATURAL.

There is not one righteous, said the Apostle Paul, no, not one.

~*~

And so we get to the current ideological scuffle in Blogdonia. In this corner, we have Elaine Vigneault, holding forth on antidepressants. The argument started on FEMINISTE, where she stated:

My theory is that many people’s depression is anger turned inward. Anger is a powerful emotion that can be both destructive and constructive. Anger that is unjustly aimed inward becomes debilitating depression, but justified anger aimed outward towards things like injustice can be a powerful motivator. I think if more people embraced this view and used their anger as a motivator, we’ve have a revolution and possibly a better world.

There’s a saying, “if you’re not mad as hell, you’re not paying attention.” And another one “ignorance is bliss.” I think both are true. I think happy people are people who wear rose-colored glasses and don’t see reality clearly. That’s not to say happiness is ignorance; I’m saying that constant bliss can only be achieved through drugs, ignorance, or some other form of blurred reality. Occasional bliss is available for anyone willing to accept it: puppy pictures, flower bouquets, a compliment to or from a stranger, a familiar tune, a tickle, a love note, a memory… But constant bliss… that’s not real.

And in this corner, we have several people who believe she is behaving like a sanctimonious prig. Plain(s) Feminist writes:

Look - I am skeptical when it comes to the medical monster that is our health care and pharmacological system. I have had anti-depressants practically forced on me and refused them all the same. But I would never take my own experience and decide that it is universal and that everyone else is completely deluded, which is what Vigneault is doing here (to a commenter who says that anti-depressants helped them, she replies "I’d argue about whether they really did the trick or if you just believed they did..."

Life is never Either/Or, except when people make it that way. It doesn't have to be. We all expect to be able to have our tubes tied, our broken bones set, and our nasty tumors surgically excised. Expecting not to cry every minute or cower in the closet of a Motel-6, is a very basic matter of survival, on that level. And yet, we don't quite see it that way, do we? Our modern life causes these problems, Elaine (and many herbalists I have known) like to say. Well, stop the presses. The broken bones, the tumors, the cholesterol, my thyroid, are likely the same. Our environments shape us. Every day, I talk to old people who had their health destroyed in the textile mills; they have odd cancers, tumors, and mesothelioma. Fibers are forever lodged in their bodies. I suppose we might say our modern life, the need for clothing, has caused this, as it surely has. And Elaine is wearing clothes right now, too, as you are, as I am. Someone, somewhere, is paying for that. Their eyes squint and strain; they develop strange spots on their lips from licking dyed threads, every day. Do we deny them health care? Of course, many people would like to. But right now, the American policy seems to be, do it to Julia, don't do it to me. Destroy the health of the people in Mauritius, Mexico or China, do not destroy ours.

~*~

Our modern life has messed us up, no question. But only a cruel philosophy denies comfort to those afflicted, for whatever reason. Yes, we must clean up the system; BigPharm is corrupt, money-grubbing, and lying. But I use it, too. As we all do.

As Dorothy Day said, I am here to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. And with all due respect, Elaine, as well as many other people in my own profession, have it very confused.

Herbs now, herbs forever

At left, Echinacea



For two days, I have been defending my occupation against mostly-anonymous shills for the drug companies over at Alas, a blog. If they aren't actual shills for BigPharm (which are in fact all over the net and get paid very well for it), they can come over here and say so, and this time, they will answer my direct questions (helpfully placed in bold) or git the hell out.

It started with a derail, of course. Mandolin wrote that she is experiencing heavy bleeding, and I recommended Chaste Berry (Vitex) and all hell broke loose. Never mind that other questionably-effective remedies are discussed, including artificial cancer-causing hormones of varying strengths, invasive surgery, expensive fertility specialists (!) and that's all understood to be fine and dandy. I just mentioned a fucking PLANT! OUT OUT DAMNED SPOT! I said there were no side effects--when I admit that I should have said FEW. (Or maybe I should have just been honest and said, I have never had anyone report any side effects to ME; in fact, I was comparing the weak side effects of herbs, to the serious side effects of the therapies being discussed.)

Anyway, with that, we were off to the races. First from some drug-company shill (I have no idea if she is or not, merely judging from her RAH RAH WESTERN MEDICINE! posts, and her refusal to answer the question of whether she is) named Dianne:

No. Any drug that is strong enough to have a clinical effect is strong enough to have side effects. It doesn’t matter if it comes from a tree or a lab or was given to you directly by hyperintelligent aliens who designed it just to help you. It may be perfectly fine and helpful and do wonderful things for you, but it is a drug and should be treated with the same caution that you would treat Merck’s latest product. More: nature doesn’t care about being sued and most medicinal compounds that plants make are actually made in an attempt to keep the plant from being eaten–poisons, in other words.

I dislike being patronized and assumed to be stupid by someone who hauls out the profanity MERCK when preaching to me, and I replied:

I will amend my statement: the side effects are negligible compared to either pharmaceutical or over-the-counter remedies.

...Someone seems a bit hypersensitive (hostile) towards herbal medicine. Drug company rep? Doctor?

Maia:

daisydeadhead - to imply that anyone who has a problem with the marketing of alternative medicine is doing so because they’re bought off is offensive and completely unfounded.

I think a sizeable proportation of alternative medical practitioners are thieves and charlatans. I think the vast majority of pharmaceutical companies, or companies that sell ‘alternate medicine’ are pretty much the epitome of evil.

I don’t think the battle is between two groups of people who want to sell us different health products. I think it’s about whether health is a commodity to be bought and sold or a right.

I replied:

Maia, I detected some hostility in Dianne’s comment, when all I did was suggest an herb, which has shown very few (any?) documented side effects. I got two rather hostile paragraphs, and I don’t think my suggestion deserved that. And now, you seem hostile also. (?)

And I didn’t see any discussion of “marketing” of alternative medicine; I saw a bizarre reference to aliens. Why the sarcasm and patronizing? Was that necessary? Yes, I replied in kind.

And BTW, I was not recommending anything I didn’t learn from my grandmother, and she from her grandmother. I am not foisting some evil nefarious industry on anyone.

Brossa, another commenter, wrote:

From one of the research articles in DaisyDeadhead’s initial Chaste Berry link: “The most frequent adverse events are nausea, headache, gastrointestinal disturbances, menstrual disorders, acne, pruritus and erythematous rash.”

Me:

Same as for birth control pills, but even less occurrence of these.

Why do you all ignore the same negatives for prescription drugs? It’s like you have a blind spot for those–and I could dig up countless malpractice suits and trash-talking blogs dedicated to every single one.

Ignoring my question, Brossa continues:

Dianne’s point is a legitimate one. The active ingredients in chaste berry have real physiological effects, which may benefit or worsen a given medical condition. If it had absolutely no physiological effect, like a homeopathic tincture, then there would be less reason to be wary of ‘just giving it a try’.

Me:

I will amend my statement: the side effects are negligible compared to either pharmaceutical or over-the-counter remedies.

Dianne:

I know very little about chaste berry in particular, but if this statement refers to herbal medications in general, it is nonsense. Herbal medications can have side effects just like any other medication.

Specific examples: There have been deaths due to kava and ephedra. Other herbs can alter the metabolism of other drugs with potentially lethal side effects. Then there’s the PC Spes story. PC Spes was once touted as an example of successful use of CAM in cancer. It appeared to work periodically–not always, not particularly better than “allopathic” medicine, but sometimes–on prostate cancer. Then people taking it started getting clotting and/or bleeding problems. It turns out that the company that makes PC Spes was adding a synthetic estrogen to the mixture to make it effective. But estrogens can cause clotting. So they added coumadin. And a benzodiazapiem to make people happy about taking it. Unmonitored coumadin is a disaster waiting to happen and benzos are addictive. It was withdrawn from the market once this was discovered.

Regarding my remark that "I detected some hostility in Dianne’s comment," Dianne replies:

Well, yes, but it wasn’t directed towards you, but rather at the “herbal supplement” industry. Which is totally unregulated and has caused a number of deaths, both directly and indirectly. Perhaps you are obtaining your herbs by gardening or searching the woods for appropriate plants (please be careful if so), but most people buy them. The makers of these medications are not wise men and women working deep in the Amazon rain forest with nothing but knowledge hoarded from generation to generation, but large companies that make them for the same reason that drug companies make drugs–to make a profit. Often they are branches of “big pharma” houses. Some herbal supplements are contaminated with heavy metals. Others do not contain the ingredient listed as “active”. If you must buy herbal supplements, buy them from Germany. Germany does regulate its supplement industry and so you’ll at least be reasonably sure that what is listed on the package insert is what is in the bottle.

Dianne also claims:

My mother used to give me aspirin when I was sick as a child. She learned that from her mother. It turns out that we were both simply lucky in that we did not die from Reye’s syndrome. On the other hand, she also learned that breast feeding is a good idea and I benefited from that. Traditional wisdom is a crapshoot: might help, might kill.

DaisyDeadhead (me on ALAS) writes:

Quoting Dianne: I know very little about chaste berry in particular, but if this statement refers to herbal medications in general, it is nonsense. Herbal medications can have side effects just like any other medication.

First, I didn’t say this about all herbal meds. You are extrapolating. But if you wanna go there, fine.

Specific examples: There have been deaths due to kava and ephedra.

The death of the baseball player, supposedly due to ephedra was due to an overdose. There have been far more overdoses due to regular diet pills–and I grew up when diet pills like Dexedrine were given to any overweight teenager who asked for them, myself included . Ma Huang, the herb ephedra is extracted from, has been used for thousands of years in China, and is very safe if used properly. It’s historic use was for ASTHMA, not weight loss, which is how it was marketed in the West.

Deaths from kava? Details? I know of some concurrent liver issues with people ON OTHER DRUGS who took kava also (and if you have pre-existing liver problems, DO NOT TAKE KAVA–this is why you go to a proper herbalist who knows this stuff). But I know of no deaths solely from kava. Also, these deaths were in Germany, if memory serves, where local supplement companies did not know the correct part of plant that was historically used in Tahiti. Perhaps they should have asked the locals? Western arrogance strikes again.

Like Ma Huang, Kava-kava has been safely and successfully used as a cocktail (actually sold in cocktail bars in Tahiti as the cocktail “Nakamal”) for millenia. Didn’t you have any when you went to Tahiti? If so, that’s what you drank, just as ROOT BEER was once historically Sarsaparilla.

Drug companies have been very aggressive in marketing these few scare-stories, though, even though Vioxx, Celebrex, Fen-Phen and even garden-variety Ibuprofen have caused far more damage. Yet, people are terrified of herbs, which as I said, have been historically used for MILLENIA, not for the few scant decades that prescription drugs have been used (and idolized).

At this point, Dianne hauls out something arcane that I never heard of, as if it is a mainstream example:

Then there’s the PC Spes story. PC Spes was once touted as an example of successful use of CAM in cancer.

Me:

Well, I’ve been in herbal medicine for decades, and I have never heard of this. Guess it ain’t much of a story, huh? Which herb is this?

Dianne ignores the question, and plows onward:

It appeared to work periodically–not always, not particularly better than “allopathic” medicine, but sometimes–on prostate cancer. Then people taking it started getting clotting and/or bleeding problems. It turns out that the company that makes PC Spes was adding a synthetic estrogen to the mixture to make it effective.

Me:

So, it was the company’s meddling with the herb, not the herb itself. Figures.

Um, where did they get this estrogen? They had a doctor, with prescribing capabilities, working for them? Sounds hinky.

Dianne is unimpeded:

But estrogens can cause clotting. So they added coumadin. And a benzodiazapiem to make people happy about taking it. Unmonitored coumadin is a disaster waiting to happen and benzos are addictive. It was withdrawn from the market once this was discovered.

Me:

You are saying an herbal company added TWO EXPENSIVE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS to their formula? Forgive me for my skepticism, but do you have a link? How were these obtained without prescription? Are you saying they had the power of prescribing?

Which company was this?

I fully admit, that one must be conscious and aware before using herbs, as one would when using anything else, including food. But certainly, no herbs can cause the harm prescription drugs can, WHEN TAKEN PROPERLY and advised by someone knowledgable.

DaisyDeadhead (me) replies:

Do you believe even external use, as in Arnica gel (or essential oil) for joint pain, is ineffective?

Aloe vera for burns? Lavender essential oil for relaxing people during massage? Peppermint has NO effect on migraines? I guess those migraine-sufferers who claim different are all full of shit, then, yes? Eucalyptus is bullshit and does NOT open sinuses? (Do the cough-drop and cough-medicine makers know this, because they use LARGE AMOUNTS of Eucalyptus, Thymol and Menthol in their products.)

And White willow bark is crap, too? Then, we should stop taking aspirin to prevent heart attacks? You realize, that is where aspirin comes from, no?

I could go on, of course, but those are the best-selling herbs.

Dianne:

The makers of these medications are not wise men and women working deep in the Amazon rain forest with nothing but knowledge hoarded from generation to generation, but large companies that make them for the same reason that drug companies make drugs–to make a profit.

Me:

My favorite herbal company is Gaia Herbs, a local company from Brevard, NC. I have been there myself, several times, and I have seen how they farm herbs, and prepare their formulas. I have eaten their stuff raw, out of the ground. And they sell a great kava formula that I have taken many times.

Many companies do not get my seal of approval, and some do. It’s like ANYTHING ELSE. One must learn to discern and judge–not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Germany, huh? Like where the kava fiasco occurred? Regulation doesn’t mean shit, and needs to be AVOIDED. (Sorry, now you are tapping into my anarchism, sorry about that.)

Dr Andrew Weil has an excellent rule of thumb: Western medicine is for crisis, Eastern medicine is for chronic. Cancer, broken bones, acute pancreatitis, etc=Western medicine. Acid reflux, sinuses, insomnia, arthritis, etc=Eastern medicine.

Western medicine is great for crisis situations. That’s its strength, that’s how it was forged. The problem is, western medicine treats EVERYTHING like a crisis–ruining people’s digestion with Prevacid, getting them hooked on Ambien (I talk to at least 2 Ambien addicts a week, some by telephone, so it isn’t just a local problem) and garbage like that. (The best sleep and arthritis aid, marijuana, is not legal for medical use in my state, another outrage.) Herbs and other supplements such as digestive enzymes would be preferable for acid reflex, and in this matter I speak from personal experience also.

Eastern medicine understands the relationship of mind and body, and can ferret out dietary causes of illness in a shot. However, they are likely to prescribe herbs for broken bones and cancer, and NO, you can’t do that. I have actually pleaded with my customers to go to doctors before–the medical profession has scared so many people and repeatedly lied to them, patronized them, etc– people avoid them even when doctors are obviously necessary.

I’ve heard about 3 iatragenic illnesses in just the past week; people who went to the hospital for one thing and came out with something else. Conventional Western medicine has PLENTY to answer for.

The problem with the Weil thesis is that at some point, chronic can become crisis, or crisis can revert to chronic. In a civilized society (not this one), an herbalist and doctor might work together for the betterment of the patient, not continually be at odds, as you seem to prefer.

Brossa replies:

“Why do you all ignore the same negatives for prescription drugs? It’s like you have a blind spot for those–and I could dig up countless malpractice suits and trash-talking blogs dedicated to every single one.”

I don’t ignore the negatives for prescription drugs; I just want to point out that herbs have indications and contraindications, effects and side effects, and favorable and unfavorable interactions, just like prescription medications do. Just because you can eat them out of the ground does not mean that they are all inherently safe, or even that they do what it is claimed that they can do.

I believe that homeopathic tinctures, where any possible active ingredient has been diluted to the point of nonexistence, are no more effective than placebo. One last time: I do not dispute that herbs have physiological effects under the proper conditions. Deadly nightshade got that name for a reason. My own experience with aloe vera for a burn resulted in a pretty unpleasant skin reaction, akin to a poison ivy rash. Western medicine has derived a huge number of highly effective drugs from plant/fungal/animal sources. But citing the historicity of a given herbal treatment does nothing to establish its efficacy or side effect profile.

I encounter more people who think that herbs are perfectly safe than I do people that are terrified of them.

Me:

My remark about “eating them out of the ground” was in reply to any doubts about Gaia’s process and purity, which I feel very confident about. This is not some huge evil conglomerate, it is a local business I approve of, have thoroughly checked out, and therefore do business with. I don’t think anyone added any estrogen, etc (!) (still waiting to hear which company did this?) to any of their products.

Umm, I wouldn’t be much of an herbalist if I thought “all herbs are safe”–why does it jump from my stated opinion that “herbs can be better than Rx drugs for certain conditions” to the straw-herbalist argument “you think all herbs are safe”? No, that is not my opinion. Stop putting words in my mouth and read what I said: I think Eastern and Western medicine can work together. You are the one proposing the superiority of Western medicine to all else.

Some herbs are safe if used in extract and not externally; some you can smoke and some will kill you that way. Some can heal and the VERY SAME HERB, USED WRONGLY, can hurt. I realize this; it’s my job.

As we say about abortion, it’s better to be legal and safe, than illegal, driven underground, with information and resources scarce and/or nonexistent. (PS: some abortions are dangerous and some are safe–that doesn’t mean all abortion is unsafe.) Wouldn’t you agree?

Brossa:

When I propose “the superiority of Western medicine to all else”, feel free to quote me.

When you trash herbs, you trash Ayurveda and all traditional medicine. YES, YOU DO.

Perhaps I misunderstood your earlier statement:

But certainly, no herbs can cause the harm prescription drugs can, WHEN TAKEN PROPERLY and advised by someone knowledgable.

Is this not a claim that, unlike prescription drugs, no herb can cause harm when taken properly and under supervision? Or that the side effects or interactions of herbs are always more benign than those of prescription medications? Because that claim is patently false.

A Google search on PC SPES will provide a large number of references about the testing and withdrawal of the product. I will address one point: prescription medications are only expensive and hard to get if you produce them legally and are subject to the expense of testing and product liability. Coumadin is a brand name for warfarin, which is itself a synthetic derivative of coumarin, which was isolated from moldy sweet clover. Warfarin was produced as a rat poison, and is dirt cheap in bulk, especially if purity is not much of a concern.

Dianne Writes:

But I know of no deaths solely from kava.

I guess you didn’t read the link, then, since it mentioned four deaths from the use of kava and no other drugs or herbal supplements, in people who had no prior history of liver problems.

And Dianne sees fit to tell me, after I have told her several times that I've been an herbalist for years:

Actually, willow bark is not aspirin. It is salicylic acid, not acetylsalicylic acid. The difference is quite important if you want your stomach lining to remain intact.

Oh for chrissake: I said it COMES FROM White willow bark. Can you read? Didn't Merck train you to READ before letting you loose on the web? Stop patronizing me, please.

My stomach lining is barely intact, after barfing over this thread. :P

Dianne continues the arrogant condescension, teaching me Herbology 101:

Of course many medications are derived from plants. Besides aspirin, you could have mentioned digitoxin, taxol, vincristine, opiates, and many others. Yet people take taxol for their breast cancer, not yew bark extract. Why? Several reasons. First, yew bark is not standardized (the plant makes a variable amount depending on any number of changes in its environmnent) and so simply taking a given amount of it doesn’t guarantee a given dose of active ingredient. Second, it is far more effective, with far fewer side effects (i.e. more a drug and less a poison) if taken IV instead of by mouth. I’ll leave the question of what would happen if you injected bark to the readers’ imaginations. Finally, taxol, the drug, can be synthesized. This is critical: before the synthesization was worked out, there was fear that demand for taxol would drive the yew tree into extinction. After, there was no problem. Much like viagra–an effective drug for impotence–is helping save the rhinocerous by driving down the demand for rhino horn, a traditional, but entirely ineffective, treatment for impotence.

I was then asked:

Are we talking about FDA approved substances?

Dianne raps on:

Ah, that’s the beauty of the thing for Big Naturpathy: the FDA doesn’t regulate “herbal supplements”. They aren’t allowed to because of a bill pushed through by the oh-so innocent companies that sell these supplements. All they have to do is label them in such a way that they don’t make an overt claim to cure any disease and they are “nutritional supplements” and not subject to regulation, not “medicines” which, plant derived or not, are.

More on the dangers of taking herbal medications listed, for example, here. The long list of references to cases of non-permanent injury, permanent injury, and death related to the injestion of various herbal and ostensibly herbal medications is particularly interesting.

Ah, we get to the heart of it. Dianne, spokesdoctor for BigMotherGov/BigPharm wants "regulation." And when I hear the words "regulation"--I reach for my gun.

And Mandolin adds the big indictment:

My sister-in-law used to sell herbal medications.

Well, there you go.

And I used to work in traditional western health care, too... so? My brother-in-law used to mow lawns at Six Flags Over Georgia, but this doesn't mean I know anything about roller coasters.

Dianne:

Because, after all, plants are never addicting. (Opium, tobacco, marijuana, alcohol…nope, no addiction problems there.)

Me:

First rule of herbology: Two of these are not like the other two–opium and alcohol require a lot of preparation (fermentation, in the case of alcohol) to use, and are transformed into food-like (processed) products, while marijuana and tobacco require no processing. Opium and alcohol are therefore distilled, extracted and much stronger. They have passed out of the herbalist category. Marijuana and tobacco remain in their natural state.

Mandolin:

I have no problem believing some alternative medicines work. But if they work, why not prove they work? The scientific method is not an impassable barrier.

If the problem is funding the tests, then that’s a reasonable concern. Or maybe you feel the FDA has been biased about this drug, in the way they’ve been biased about things like plan B. That’s fine. But I still generally prefer scientifically gathered evidence to anecdote-based evidence. I prefer evidence that controls for factors like patient’s other treatment and placebo effects, and that monitors for unexpected side effects.

For instance, take your recommendation (which I totally appreciate the spirit of, by the way). You are telling me you know it’s safe because your grandmother took it. I am glad that it’s been beneficial for you and yoru family. But if we aren’t very similar physiologically, it could have very weird effects on my health. I’m allergic to a lot of stuff that most western Europeans aren’t, for instance. And also, I’m very susceptible to mood effects from plants or drugs.

I tend to have extreme reactions to medications, anyway. If there’s a nasty (non-fatal, non-permanent) side effect, I’ll usually get it. I like to have warning.

Dianne:

The idea that we have already discovered every plant that has any potentially useful medicinal qualities and every potential medicinal quality of all known plants is extremely implausible. Proving which ones work and which don’t is one important issue. But I’d still be in favor of isolating the active ingredient*, synthesizing it, and giving it as a “western”-style medication (”western” is in quotes because not all allopathic medications are discovered or developed in places we’d think of as the “west”) for several reasons. First, increased ability to standardize dosing. Second, decrease the chances of side effects due to other toxic components of the plant. Third, ease of transport and administration. Finally, decrease the likelihood that demand for the medication will endanger the plant’s survival.

*Whenever possible. I can, at least in theory, imagine a situation in which the plant is producing a large number of ingredients, all of which have a low level of activity in different ways such that no one can be isolated and used separately because no single component is responsible for the effect. However, I know of no such situations in real life, though I have some suspicion that the anti-nausea effect of cannibus may be more than just THC.

First of all, it's spelled CANNABIS, which I am surprised that you don't know, as patronizing and arrogant as you are.

Me:

The FDA can ban anything, as it did L-trytophan. OTOH, it does not “approve” herbs, but if any supplement is judged a “food” for some unfathomable bureaucratic reason (some amino acids, kombucha, etc) it does have power to approve or not.

Certain vitamins and other herbs are now claiming to be “whole food”–which to me is playing gotcha with the FDA, but hey, their choice, and they claim they can stand up to any analysis, so I say go for it.

Interestingly, these particular companies are rarely challenged, so maybe it’s all how you go about it?

Is this not a claim that, unlike prescription drugs, no herb can cause harm when taken properly and under supervision? Or that the side effects or interactions of herbs are always more benign than those of prescription medications? Because that claim is patently false.

No, that is not my claim. (Sorry for unclear writing.) My position is that any possible harm would not equal the possible harm of an RX drug. They simply are not as strong.

Why does everyone see this matter in black and white?

A Google search on PC SPES will provide a large number of references about the testing and withdrawal of the product.

Oh, dear God.

You brought it up and I am not going to do your searching for you. I searched enough to see that 1) no participating company is mentioned that is currently in operation and 2) you can’t name any herb that is in this remedy. I’ll ask again: WHAT HERB DOES THIS MYTHICAL CONCOCTION CONTAIN? Because if this is your example of evil herbal medicine, and you can’t name a single herb that it supposedly contains, I’d say it’s a pretty shitty example, wouldn’t you say?

Your kava example, again, is mistaken. All of the people were taking concurrent ibuprofen, according to the German monograph accounts I have read. Why are you concentrating on some Germans who used (as I said, please read carefully) the wrong part of the plant, rather than the Tahitians who have used it for millenia? Do the Tahitians not exist?

Are you therefore against all Eastern medicine modalities, including acupuncture, Ayurveda, etc? Because if it’s like that, that is a simple cultural bias that you have not examined or studied.

I also provided the link to CONSUMER LAB, which tests herbs to insure other excipient ingredients have not been added, as in the mythical PCES example given above.

And I ended with:

Since you are all WESTERN MEDICINE UBER ALLES, with highly ethnocentric arguments… I am ending this discussing before I accuse someone of cultural ignorance and xenophobia, as well as a belief in the superiority of the West–which I thought died out with Claude-Levi Strauss. Shows what I know!

If you want to continue this conversation, I will be posting on this thread at my blog, where I can’t get banned for accusing people of ethnocentrism, colonialism, and all that lefty stuff.

It’s been real! :)

Before continuing, Dianne needs to come clean regarding what she does for a living, as I have. If she doesn't, I will assume she works for BigPharm or the medical establishment, and is a lackey for the Western-ethnocentric status quo. I am ready to defend herbalism from all over the world, not just exhibit some garden-variety, predictable, spoon-fed-by-drug-commercials, June-Cleaver-on-Kaopectate USA bias.

Anyone else wants to jump in, remember, this isn't ALAS, and all assumptions that "The West is the best/get here and we'll do the rest" will be challenged as the racist, evil, ethnocentric arrogance it is, and when you trash the traditions, history and disciplines of another culture, you will be expected to answer for the entire tradition you are defending, including the medical experimentation done on slaves and Jews during the Holocaust. You are expecting me to answer for all of herbalism, and accusing me of defending all abuses of herbology, and I will therefore hold you to the exact same standard. Yes, I will haul out the entire sordid history of the American profit-driven medical medicine. If you are ready to go there, bring it on.

Brought to you by your local hippie herbalist. Toasting with a kava cocktail!