Many years ago I was fortunate to be invited to a few meetings of the Anthroposophic Medicine group outside of philadelphia. I found it very fascinating that they looked at many aspects of a person to determine what part of the person is out of balance. Then they looked at things in nature and how they compared to the person's personality, structure, dis-ease process to determine the best remedy to help restore health in that person. Here is an excerpt from the IVAA's website regarding Anthroposophic medicine:
"Anthroposophic medicine is an integrative approach to treatment that extends and enhances health outcomes by looking outside of isolated symptoms towards a more holistic conception of health. This conception includes physical, psychological and spiritual health, as well as the impact of a person's environment and social context.
Anthroposophic medicine focuses on how to keep people healthy rather than on why they fall ill; this is called the "salutogenic" approach.
The anthroposophic medical approach is designed to complement conventional medicine. Anthroposophic medical doctors are qualified physicians who have received additional training to integrate anthroposophic medicine into their conventional practices.
Developed in the 1920s by Austrian scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner and Dutch physician Ita Wegman, anthroposophic medicine sought to expand the materialistic understanding of health and disease.
In the view of anthroposophic medicine, human health depends on the physical body; processes covering vitality and regeneration called 'etheric organization' or life forces; the emotional and instinctual part of the human being, called 'astral organization' or soul forces; and finally the capacity for thinking, individuality and sense of self, called 'I-organization'. In other words, anthroposophic medical practitioners see the condition of a person's physical body as only one element of health; the condition of a person's self-healing capacity, soul, and spirit are equally important."
So, why am I writing about this now? Well, it all began the other night when I was thinking, that usually a treatment exists in nature for illnesses. A simple example is White Willow Bark which contains Salicylic Acid and is used to lower prostaglandins to reduce inflammation. It is the active ingredient in common day aspirin. Interestingly enough, this scenario exists for many plants and trees. I began to look around to see what might "look like" Covid-19 and could possibly help slow its ability to replicate in our bodies. I was out on a walk with my dog Spike and I looked down and there they were - those annoying Prickly Balls on the ground. As he and I attempted to navigate around them so he didn't hurt his feet, the thought came to me. Hey!!!! Prickly Balls look like Covid-19 virus. That is what led me to thinking about anthroposophic medicine. When I came home I began to research what tree those prickly balls come from and if there was any known benefit from the tree or it's annoying seeds. Low and behold, Native Americans have been using the sap to seal barrels, make chewing gum and they make a tincture out of the prickly balls that is effective against the flu and some GI illnesses. I researched a little more and found that the NIH has done a study on the medicinal benefits of Sweetgum Tree.
The article is fascinating. Sweetgum has been proven to effectively treat H1N1/Swine Flu, Flu, MRSA, fungal infections, anticancer properties and so much more. The active ingredient in Sweetgum seeds contain the same active ingredient ,Shikimic Acid, as found in Tamiflu. Chinese Star Anise is also known to contain some of the same properties as Sweetgum.
"Many of the medicinal properties of sweetgum come from storax as well as essential oils extracted from the leaves. Storax, also referred to as styrax, is produced by damaging the outer bark of sweetgum trees. When the tree is wounded, the inner bark produces a balsam. Boiling the inner bark in water effectively removes the balsam and produces storax. Storax produced from L. orientalis, or Turkish sweetgum, is referred to as Asian storax while storax derived from L. styraciflua is called American storax. Storax has medicinal uses dating back to the Aztec Empire during the Paleo-Indian Period (ca. 10,000-7000 BC). The ancient Aztecs collected the boiled down, grayish-brown, sticky, opaque liquid and used it as a treatment for skin infections and other ailments.[1] Native Americans also used storax for medicinal purposes, including controlling coughs and dysentery and treating sores and wounds.[7] In addition to storax, the sap of the sweetgum tree was burnt as incense or mixed with tobacco leaves as a sedative[1] as well as used in the making of soaps, cosmetics, fixatives in perfumes, adhesives, and lacquers. Recent references from organic websites have noted that the inner bark of sweetgum, boiled with milk, can relieve diarrhea, and oils from the leaves of sweetgum trees have antimicrobial properties against both bacteria and viruses.[8]"
I wonder if it will help slow down the ability of Covid-19 to dock on our cells and replicate?
I don't have an answer. However, I have reached out to many areas of the health care industry and have not gotten a response. Honestly, I don't expect to. I do feel that it is my duty as a doctor to attempt to share my thoughts in hopes this idea might be a viable resource.
In the mean time, I and I hope you have a new found appreciation for the Sweetgum tree and it's prickly ball seed pods. I know I will be making a tincture as soon at the green balls appear.
The following is a presentation I made on the canine nose anatomy and mechanism of smell. A dog's sense of smell can be as much as 100,000 times better than ours. Their brains are bombarded with information with every sniff which activates the limbic area of the brain responsible for arousal, motivation, fears ...... So, no wonder they can't hear us when their brain is filled with overwhelming information coming from their environment. This information can be neutral, positive or even signal danger. When your dog suddenly will not continue in a direction when out for a walk I am sure he knows something you don't. Think about heading his warning.
We are being bombarded by statistics and videos of horrible scenarios. We are being told to isolate ourselves from family, loved ones, support networks. We are being told that if we do these things we won't get sick. What is sickness? As a chiropractor, we believe that the body has the ability to heal itself. Health is not the absence of disease or symptoms.
There are a number of different definitions out there trying to define “health.” Here are two of those quotes that seem to approach the fullness of what chiropractic has been speaking about for so long.
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”World Health Organization – Definition of Health
“Health is a dynamic tension towards physical, mental, social and spiritual harmony, and not only the absence of illness, which gives man the ability to fulfill the mission which has been entrusted to him, according to the state of life in which he finds himself.”The Vatican – Pope John Paul, Definition of Health
I wish that we could get the history of each of the people that have died from this virus so that we could examine what their diet was (or was not ) comprised of, sleeping habits, exercise (or lack there of), amount of time they spent outside in a day or week, life stresses, genetic predispostions, medications and preexisting conditions known and unknown or ignored. This would give us the real truth.
We know that a person's state of health is impart due to genetics, enviroment, diet, and many other factors.
Everyday our bodies successfully ward off potential harmful bacteria, viruses, fungus, mold, parasites and other potential invaders. Our amazing immune systems seamlessly identify, locate, isolate, destroy and discard of these unwanted intruders. Sometimes we are aware of this process and most of the time we are not. Fevers are our bodies way of destroying invaders. Therefore fevers are not necessary a bad thing. Fatigue can be telling us that our body is overextended maybe trying to fight off an intruder which is requiring more of the body's resources and we need to slow down to allow this to happen. A cough or sneeze is our body's way of trying to expel a foreign object whether that be a pathogen or simply pollen. The point is that our bodies are designed to keep us healthy from invaders. However, we need to provide it with the correct amount of resources to do so. We need to get enough good sleep, fresh air, sunshine, exercise, stimulation, rest, food/nutrients...... so it can do it's job.
This new virus is giving us all a reality check of where we are out of balance.
Fear and anxiety stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. This system is designed to help us escape a short term danger like running from a Tiger that is chasing us. It is not designed to be turned on every day. If it is activated for long periods of time it causes unwanted and harmful changes in our bodies making us more susceptible to illness. Continuous stress (fear, sadness, anxiety, mental, emotional) causes our immune system to malfunction. First it causes and increase in cortisol which is produced by the adrenal glands that will go to the pancreas resulting in insulin/sugar changes, digestion changes, increased inflammation, and lowered white blood cells which are needed to fight off infections and intruders. In some people this can even lead to an over stimulated immune system that does not know when to turn off and it produces too much inflammation and /or begins to attack certain cells of your body by mistake.
Please check out this video about alternate nostril breathing. Alternate nostril breathing provides equal amounts of oxygen to both sides of the brain. This helps to balance the brain and the autonomic nervous system which is made up of the sympathetic and parasympathetic.
Also, check out an older blog post I wrote on Breathing by going to https://www.donnagigliotti.com// and go down to the BLOG and click on Older Post Contents.
Many of those that have successfully overcome this new virus have done so using nutrition, supplements, exercise, breathing, and rest to name a few.
We must go back to the basics of healthy living. This is a wakeup call for us all. The nervous system is at the front line of control so having a nervous system free of interferences (nerve pinch, pain, stiffness, irritation.....) is very important. Movement, breathing , and rest will help your body to correct itself when getting a chiropractic adjustment might not be possible. All of these points also hold true for our 4 legged companions.
This is the first Video of three. This series of moves is what I did every day in order to get stronger and healthy enough to come back to work. When I first began I could only do a few repetitions of each move. Also, I had to modify the moves making the movements smaller. That is fine. What is important is that you are focusing on breathing and what your body is doing and feeling. Energy will begin to flow. Be kind and patient with yourself.
