This is the first year I attended the Environmental Health Symposium (online). I wanted to learn something different, something other than the importance of being vegan, the evils of wheat and dairy, and all the supplements I ought to use to heal biochemistry.
This past weekend, I've been listening to presenters lecture on environmental health issues from 11:00 am to 9:30 pm. At one point, I briefly fell asleep and incorporated part of the presentation into an ongoing dream. When I woke up, a different presenter was talking about his research on sludge at municipal water purification centers—just like in my dream.
My understanding of environmental effects on health was very rudimentary, like being at the elementary school level while all the presenters teach at the college level. So, this article is for me: to cheer me up and say to myself, "Hey, buck up, it's okay to be stupid." And, for you, I will also share a few helpful things I learned from the conference.
Stupid is Just the Start of Smart
Learning from the Environmental Health Symposium
Medical training tries to shame physicians from ever saying the phrase: "I don't know." Out of stubborn obstinance, however, I have continued to use this phrase whenever it's applicable: regularly. I've never been good at pretending to know something when I didn't. More often than I'd like to admit, I'm not entirely convinced that I know something even when I do.
Just this past week, I didn't know the effects of Tramadol, Taxotere, and Cytoxan and had to look them up. It was a very good thing I did because these medications have done a lot of harm to my patients that has led them to need my help now. Physicians who think they know, when they really don't, prescribe toxic, damaging "medications," believing that they're being helpful. It's like a placebo effect—except for the doctors.
But ignorance is all relative. This weekend, I encountered a mountain of information at the environmental health conference that I didn't even know that I didn't know. Now I know that I didn't know; but I still don't know much, which makes me feel really stupid and inadequate.
Dr. Tyrone Hayes presented his research on the common herbacide, Atrazine, which feminizes male organisms and destroys sperm count. Research has shown the cellular pathways involved. The European Union and 80 other countries have banned its use (though they have sold an even more toxic substance called terbutalazine), but the US continues to use 80 million lbs. per year to increase the yield of corn by a little over 1%. It gets everywhere—in the water, plants, and food—and causes fetal gastroschisis and choanal atresia. You don't want to look those disorders up.
Dr. Cindy Russell presented the immunotoxic effects of electromagnetic frequencies from technology (EMF) and the dangers of 5G on our cellular function. She showed research that demonstrated oxidative stress to all cellular functions from radiofrequency radiation. You will need more anti-oxidants to address the oxidative effects of this energy-based toxin.
Dr. Thomas Levy taught: "The increased oxidation (aka "oxidative stress") does not cause disease, it IS the disease. He recommended more of the following: vitamin C as an antioxidant and magnesium to decrease the harm from intracellular calcium.
Dr. Rolf Halden, who studies sludge from wastewater treatment plants, showed the direct correlation between the level of toxins in the sludge and toxins in human beings. By analyzing the composition of sludge in a city, he is able to assess the extent of drug abuse, infection rates, and toxic exposure within the city. Using this data can help the city address problems more efficiently and accurately.
I know. It's pretty overwhelming and a real downer. However, I remember Dr. Herbert Benson's research on meditation from Harvard. Meditation decreases oxidative stress and inflammation. It's also free. When my functional interventions for antipsychotic medication withdrawal hit a wall, I began using energy medicine techniques more methodically and regularly, not just as an adjunct to treatment but as an equal partner.
I am still discovering all that energy medicine (meditation, guided visualization, and energy medicine techniques) can do to help heal the top five underlying causes of illness: toxins, infections, genetics, traumas, and nutritional dysfunctions. But so far, it's given me more hope and optimism when facing the more difficult medication withdrawals. I wonder if it will be powerful enough to heal environmental pollutants. Dr. Masaru Emoto seemed to believe so.
Personally, I will be applying functional and energy medicine more diligently in my daily routine to protect me from the crazy toxins others pour into the environment just to make a buck.
Take some vitamin C and magnesium, and have a great week.