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A “migrenade” is my term for substances that go off like a grenade in your brain, and trigger a migraine. It’s a made-up term that works well and is immediately understood. All the pain-causing cytokines in your body should be considered migrenades, because they are responsible for the pain and inflammation associated with headaches. One of them is NF Kappa B which is discussed below. But first of all, I suggest you minimize or eliminate these most powerful migrenades if you ever want to feel better: - Artificial sweeteners and dyes - Any c...
Everyone has some baking soda in the house and if not, you should get some. Aside from baking with it, I also use it in my garbage disposal and to brighten my laundry. Sodium bicarbonate is known more commonly as “baking soda” since it helps make dough rise by producing carbon dioxide. Today, I’ll share the most common medicinal uses for baking soda, as well as a few household uses that make it the cheapest, most effective remedy in town. Consuming excessive baking soda is toxic because it’s so high in sodium. So if you’re taking it internall...
Having an autoimmune condition, or a thyroid condition can make you more susceptible to coronavirus complications. Think of autoimmune conditions in the same manner you would other immunosuppressive disorders (cancer, organ transplantation, history of radiation treatment or chemotherapy). As it pertains to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves disease or hypothyroidism, you need to be extra vigilant while you’re out in public because your immunity is compromised. The right dose of thyroid medication, and the right kind are critical because you may...
A good way to lose weight is to exercise more. It is by far the healthiest way to tone up and shrink your waistline. The problem is that some of you cannot work out, or your gym is closed, or you don’t feel well enough to due to some health issue, or injury. So if you’re more sedentary than you used to be, and the pounds are piling up, then the next best thing is to eat smaller portions at each meal. Try cutting back on your portions by 10% each meal until you’re eating a healthy amount, and no longer over-eating. Also, try closing your kitch...
Everyone talks about masks. I like them and wear them but that is external protection only. While important and useful, I will be totally honest with you about them. The way we respond from a pathogen has more to do with our internal protection, as in our immune system. So ask yourself if it’s up to par. If it’s not, then you need to start fertilizing your garden of microflora (i.e., probiotics) and also avoid or minimize anything that weakens your immune system. In no special order, here are the most common factors that suppress your imm...
If you’re out somewhere — getting groceries, for example — don’t sneeze. If you do, you might be taking your life into your hands. That happened to me last month when I sneezed (into my arm) in a grocery store parking lot – and then heard myself explaining to the stranger eyeing me like she wanted to strangle me, “Hey don’t worry, I’m not sick! I have snatiation!” She rolled her eyes. I realized she had no idea what I was talking about and probably thought I was being sarcastic to her. I just learned about snatiation a few years ago, but I...
As the holidays approach each year, a lot of people start off the season with Halloween trick-or-treating events. I used to do that too, even decorating the house a little bit. But today I’m not really fond of skeletons and morbid spiders and whatnot. Speaking of whatnot, you already know how much I despise the pushing of unnecessary, toxic chemicals on us, right? But there’s something even more revolting. It’s the government handbook called, “The Food Defect Action Levels.” This guidebook spells out exactly how much mold, rat hair, maggots,...
I recently wrote about some impressive tests that you can self-order, thus taking the headache out of getting lab tests. But what about the important instructions that come with some lab tests, and what are the best instructions to follow if you have a surgery scheduled. The most common inquiry is this: Do I really need to stop all my medications before this test? This question isn't easy to answer because some medications are needed for comfort and well-being. For example, what if you are relia...
When you think of B complex, you probably think of it as one B vitamin, but “B Complex” refers to a group of B vitamins consisting of B1, B2, B3, B6 and others. The B complex available as a dietary supplement is intended to fill a nutrient gap that some people develop from malnutrition. This is fine, however most people can eat their way to better B status. The concerns about B vitamin deficiency are frequently overlooked by the most caring practitioners. Remember, the mindset in today’s atrocious health care system is to medicate you, so you’r...
Vicodin and Lortab are two brand names of one of the most popular drugs in the entire world. Generically, it is called "hydrocodone with apap" where the "apap" is an abbreviation for acetaminophen (aka Tylenol). When I worked in a busy retail pharmacy in Florida, this medication was on the fast-mover shelf because it was dispensed by the thousands each day. Hydrocodone/apap is a prescription analgesic and in the category of "opioids" which you've been hearing a lot about lately. Opioids are man-...
Gadolinium is a silvery-white heavy metal that is injected into the body through a vein and it is a contrast dye. Sometimes it is referred to as contrast media. They help a radiologist see inside you. Gadolinium is like a flashlight in your body. MRIs that require gadolinium can be ordered for many reasons including migraines, coronary artery disease, stroke evaluation, brain tumors, infections and cysts/tumors. Thousands of shots of gadolinium dye are administered to people each day. Side effects may or may not occur. If they do, they are...
For years, folks have been afraid of eggs, and how they are “bad” for cholesterol and LDL. Long gone are the days where people drank them raw like Sylvester Stallone did in “Rocky” and, no, I don’t recommend you do that. Rocky did it to build muscle mass, but just so you know, the practice of eating raw eggs is about 120 years old. Today, some bodybuilders use liquid egg whites to avoid salmonella contamination. Today’s focus is on eggs and whether or not they raise risk of heart disease or stroke. The rationale is that eggs are high in cho...
We are so attached to our food and drink that it pains me when I have to take something away from you. But this is an old story for me. I have never ever recommended artificially sweetened sodas or “diet” anything. To me, that whole industry is a multi-billion dollar campaign effort to get you to drink and eat things that aren’t, by definition, food anymore. The entire industry depends on the illusion of you thinking that diet drinks are healthy. The latest research is frightening. It’s based upon data collected over 12 years and suggests that...
I was eating dinner with my husband Sam and having homemade chicken soup with a slice of sourdough bread and melted butter. It was simple and delicious. We ate silently. Toward the end of the meal, he said, "We always eat our soup and bread silently because we are mentally calculating how to time the last bite so it's perfect." So true. We usually chatter during meals, and tell funny stories, but when soup and bread hit the table, it all goes to silence. I like to time my last bite so it's soup...
Aloe vera made a couple of headlines recently. The first was when the actress Drew Barrymore dabbed some on a facial sore and it instantly took out the redness. The second was when Prop 65 regulations in California called out a known carcinogen in aloe vera called “aloin.” Don’t worry, aloe will never get banned. Not to be morbid from the get-go, but extracted compounds from this spiky succulent were used in the middle east during ancient times to clean dead bodies and prepare them for burial. Plants of aloe vera give us two different subst...
About eyes. Contrary to popular belief, some people can keep their eyes open when they sneeze. Also, green is the rarest eye color to have. About that trick knee. Some of you have a trick knee (or shoulder) that can predict weather. Basically, you can tell when bad weather or a storm is coming with one of your bum joints. As the barometric or atmospheric pressure drops (before a storm), tissues in joints expand a little bit, and your knee or shoulder may feel it and alert you by experiencing pain. About spinach. Some nutritionists still...
While waiting for a prescription, a friend of mine decided to check his blood pressure. He was dealing with a bout of walking pneumonia and his blood pressure (BP) spiked to 140/100! Has this ever happened to you where you checked your BP at the pharmacy and it was suddenly high? You can blame stress, the modern diet, lack of exercise or a bad infection like my buddy had. You can blame other lifestyle factors like smoking, too. Or it could simply be your genes, as high blood pressure, termed hypertension, tends to run in families. If left...
I bet you feel like you used to be smarter and quicker at making decisions. I hear you, and at 52, I feel like my brain is still fairly sharp but not like it was at 30. Let me ask you some personal questions: • Do you forget things easily? • Do you get derailed from a task easily or distracted by sounds and noises? • What about your IQ? When my now 24-year-old son was just 9, a doctor thought he had ADHD, and I came this close to putting him on a stimulant. Even though I declined the medicine, I used natural fish oils high in DHA. He turned o...
There was a new study published last August (2017) in Journal of Clinical Oncology regarding B vitamins and it’s produced some uneasiness. B complex is thought to boost energy reserve, support metabolism and adrenal function and protect your nerves from fraying. The study suggests that two B vitamins from the whole “B complex” family are potentially harmful; it infers that taking B vitamins can increase the risk of lung cancer. But let’s take a closer look before we hang B6 and B12: 1. The study was conducted in men who smoke. These scary f...
We saw the devastation from Hurricane Harvey and then monster storm Irma. It’s not just rain, wind and flooding that leads to a disaster, it’s also earthquakes, landslides and fires. You just never know when severe weather will strike, you never know when you’ll have to jump in your car and evacuate, or rush down into the basement or other safe space. Here are some quick tips to get you started. A more complete version can be found on my website at www.suzycohen.com. Medications. Keep a handwritten list in your wallet. Even better (if you h...
Most of you assume that if a medication is sold over the counter it’s safe, but that’s not true. Even over-the-counter drugs are drug muggers of nutrients that you need to prevent blood clots, keep your heart beating rhythmically and your bones strong. Over-the-counter medications are a multi-billion dollar business, especially drugs for stomach discomfort. An estimated 20 million Americans buy over-the-counter drugs to get quick relief from indigestion, esophageal burning, belching, chest (sternum) pain and other symptoms of excessive sto...
Everyone is aware of the assault that your stomach takes from antibiotics. You might think cramps and diarrhea are bad enough, but at least those are transient problems. Brand new animal research suggests these drugs trigger Type 1 diabetes, especially when toddlers take them. Keep in mind that back in 2015, a Denmark study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism correlated the use of antibiotics to type 2 diabetes in adults. From all of this, and other research, I think it’s safe to conclude that antibiotic usage increa...
Soap makers now have to get their junk out because plain soap works just as well and without risk. Manufacturers were ordered by the FDA to pull out 19 different chemicals from their body wash, hand soap, dish soap and other soaps. Hallelujah, these chemicals are pesticides which go down the drain and into our ecosystem. We kind of got all bug-phobic when soap makers started adding antibacterials like triclosan and fluorosan into soap. Fluorosan has a fluorinated and brominated backbone, and fluorine and bromine compounds are known to...
Did you know that your medication can damage skin? Most of you don’t even think about that as a side effect. Photosensitivity is a fairly common skin reaction that is sparked by taking medicines which interact with ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning beds. It happened to me once and luckily the red burning rash and tingling only affected my hands. It took only two hours of sun exposure on a shady trail while hiking in California. Still, it rendered me out of writing commission for a few days. The big problem is that p...
Do you whip up delicious meals without measuring a single thing? The oil you use in your kitchen can make or break your otherwise wonderful dish. Did you know that some oils are harmful? Did you know that fried chicken or french fries often use "hydrogenated" oils, which increase your risk of diabetes, heart attack, obesity and cancer? Some "partially hydrogenated" oils are even derived from soybean oil, discussed below. What's in your kitchen? Here are the good Look for oils high in...
