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Your Newsletter for Health

1. What about Gluten?
2. How do you Know if You have Mold that Is Contributing to your Health Problems?
3. What is Focal Neuropathy?
4. Electrolytes, Why are they Important to Your Health?
 

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What about Gluten?

Celiac disease was almost unknown a few years ago. Now many identify themselves as sensitive to gluten. Gluten is considered a significant cause of inflammation and digestive problems leading to many diseases.

Gluten free products are everywhere now. But are we falling for hype over health?

Many products labeled as "gluten free" never had any gluten at all--food companies are jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon to get their share of the profits.

New lines of gluten free foods replace the gluten with highly processed and chemical-laden ingredients. It reminds me of the "fat free" craze, when fats were replaced by highly refined simple carbohydrates, making people's diets worse than before.

Here's a tip: fresh fruits and vegetables and many whole grains, such as rice, quinoa and buckwheat, are naturally gluten free.

What about Gluten?

More at Gluten Free Foods. Are they Healthy?

How do you Know if You have Mold that Is Contributing to your Health Problems?

It is known that mold/fungus is unhealthy.

Many people do not realize that they have mold growing in parts of their homes and that mold releases spores and other material into the air. Interestingly, mold is often implicated in a number of respiratory problems, such as asthma, allergies and chronic sinus problems.

Here are a few articles on this:

Mold Exposure and Autism

Mold Exposure and Alzheimer's

There are many many articles, here is one by the CDC
Facta about Mold and Dampness

Is there any mold in your home that you don't know about? And how do you find out if you have a mold problem. I found a great testing kit

This testing is done in your home where you get the results in your home. No need to send it away. Then you can address any areas that needs help.

You can find out more here Mold Testing

What is Focal Neuropathy?

Definition of focal: occurring in one particular site in the body.

Focal Neuropathy means that only one (or at most a few) nerves are injured.  The pain, numbness and/or weakness are confined to a single limb or a small area of the body or the head. Focal neuropathy is far less common than peripheral or autonomic neuropathy which means that many nerves may be involved.

Focal neuropathy is usually caused by compression or trauma. Basically, one nerve gets damaged. The best known of these is carpal tunnel syndrome where the median nerve (the nerve that goes down the arm and through the carpal tunnel which is in the wrist) is damaged by compression of that nerve.

Focal Neuropathy can cause sudden weakness or pain. It can lead to double vision, a paralysis on one side of the face (called Bell's palsy), or a pain in the front of the thigh or other parts of the body.

Causes

A focal neuropathy results from an injury to a peripheral nerve at one site. For every nerve there are anatomical weaknesses making injury more likely at a particular location, typically this is where a nerve runs beside bone or across a joint.

Nerve injury can occur from:

External occurrence: This can be direct trauma, including prolonged external compression (edema from pregnancy, prolonged unconsciousness, etc.), repeated minor trauma, traction, injection, cold, burns, radiation

Internal entrapment or compression: examples would include entrapment of the median nerve (nerve in the arm) in the carpal tunnel (in wrist) or the ulnar nerve (arm) in the cubital tunnel (elbow).  It can also occur with compression by tumors, deposits or vascular malformations

Intrinsic lesion to the nerve.  It is a blockage of the nerve function   It can be from an infarct, or blockage of blood to a nerve.  It can be caused by, a nerve infarct caused from inflammation of the blood vessel, an area where the nerve impulse is blocked, etc.

Increased susceptibility to nerve injury—for example, in diabetes—combined with minor entrapment or compression.

Diabetic focal neuropathy, sometimes called mononeuropathy, affects a single nerve, most often in the wrist, thigh, or foot. It may also affect the nerves of the back and chest, as well as those that control the eye muscles. 

Symptoms

Pain in a single, limited area of the body, such as a wrist or foot. 

When focal neuropathy causes nerve entrapment, soreness and pain may develop gradually over several weeks or months.

Pain in and around one of the eyes, problem with moving the eyes and double vision. This occurs when one of the cranial nerves is affected.

Pain that occurs in a band-shaped area around the chest or abdomen.

Weakness and pain in the lower back, often extending to the thigh (femoral neuropathy), sometimes causing paralysis. 

For more information about Neuropathy Relief?

We always recommend you take the approach of building health - and nerves are no different. 

What does the body need to build healthy nerves, find out more about Healthy Nerves

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Electrolytes, Why are they Important to Your Health?

Electrolytes are the smallest of chemicals that are important for the cells in the body to function and allow the body to work. The major electrolytes found within the body include calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium - there are others.

Electrolytes are critical in allowing cells to generate energy, maintain the stability of the cell walls, and to function in general. Electrolytes generate electricity, contract muscles, move water and fluids within the body inside and outside of the cells, and participate in many other activities.

The concentration of electrolytes in the body is controlled by hormones, most of which are manufactured in the kidney and the adrenal glands. There are specialized kidney cells that monitor the amount of sodium, potassium, and water in the bloodstream.

The body functions in a very narrow range of normal, and it is hormones keep the electrolyte balance within those normal limits.

An example of keeping electrolyte concentrations in balance includes turning on the thirst mechanism when the body gets dehydrated.

Electrolyte: Sodium (Na)

Sodium is most often found outside the cell, in the plasma (liquid) of the bloodstream. It is a significant part of water regulation in the body, since water goes where the sodium goes. If there is too much sodium in the body, perhaps due to high salt intake in the diet from table salt and processed foods, the sodium is excreted by the kidney, and water follows.

Sodium is an important electrolyte that helps with electrical signals in the body, allowing muscles and the brain to work. It is of the action that keeps sodium in the plasma and potassium inside the cell where they are needed.

Symptoms of Sodium Imbalance

Too much or too little sodium can cause cells to malfunction. Symptoms are lethargy, confusion, weakness, swelling, seizures, and coma. 

Potassium (K)

Potassium is mostly inside the cells of the body. The difference in concentration from within the cell to the outside of the cell is essential in the generation of the electrical impulses in the body that allow muscles and the brain to function.

Potassium Imbalance

Too much potassium can cause abnormal electrical conduction in the heart and can create heart rhythm problems.

Too little potassium can happen when the body loses too much from vomiting, diarrhea, sweating ad meications such as diuretics and laxatives.

Electrolyte: Calcium (Ca)

Calcium metabolism in the body is closely linked to magnesium levels.

Calcium Imbalance

Too much calcium is associated with kidney stones, abdominal pain and depression Too much calcium can be associated with heart rhythm disturbances.

Too little calcium symptoms include weakness, muscle spasms, and heart rhythm disturbance.

Electrolyte: Magnesium (Mg)

Magnesium is involved with a variety of metabolic activities in the body, including relaxation of the smooth muscles that surround the bronchial tubes in the lung, skeletal muscle contraction, and excitation of neurons in the brain. Magnesium acts as part of many of the body's enzyme activities.

Magnesium levels in the body are closely linked with sodium, potassium, and calcium metabolism; and are regulated by the kidney. Magnesium enters the body through the diet. Too little magnesium stimulates absorption from the intestine, while too much decreases the absorption.

Conditions of Magnesium Imbalance

Common causes of low magnesium include too much alcohol
and associated malnutrition, chronic diarrhea, and medications like diuretics (water pills used to control high blood pressure). More than half of hospitalized patients in ICUs may become magnesium deficient.

Symptoms involve the heart with rhythm abnormalities, muscles with weakness and cramps, and the nervous system, potentially causing confusion, hallucinations, and seizures.

Too much magnesium in the blood stream and most often occurs in patients with kidney function problems in which the excretion of magnesium is limited. Since the absorption and excretion of magnesium is linked to other electrolytes.

Symptoms can include heart rhythm disturbances, muscle weakness, nausea  and vomiting, and breathing difficulties.  

Electrolyte: Bicarbonate (HCO3)

This electrolyte is an important component of the equation that keeps the acid-base status of the body in balance.

Water + Carbon Dioxide = Bicarbonate + Hydrogen

This electrolyte helps buffer the acids that build up in the body as normal byproducts of metabolism. For example, when muscles are working, they produce lactic acid as a byproduct of energy formation. HCO3 is required to react with and form carbon dioxide

Summary:

Electrolytes are minerals, such as sodium and potassium that are found in the body. They keep your body's fluids in balance and help keep your body working normally, including your heart rhythm, muscle contraction, and brain function.

RECOMMENDED:

This formula is excellent. Dr. Berg’s Electrolyte Powder is the perfect combination of electrically conducting minerals and trace minerals.

Electrolytes when dissolved in water create charged elements ready to hydrate the body cells and energize the body. These active minerals assist in nerve conduction as well as muscle contraction and relaxation.

Dr. Berg’s Electrolyte Powder

STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?   EMAIL AND GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

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To Your Health

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Sidebar:

Can Fish Oil Provide Nutritional Support for Nerve Pain?

Omega-3 fatty acids can provide important nutritional support for those who have nerve pain.

Nerve pain (or neuropathic pain) is usually caused by a deterioration of the myelin sheath that surrounds and insulates pain nerves.

Then, just like an electrical circuit with exposed wiring, nerves that shouldn't be communicating directly with each other, cross paths and create a feedback loop that perpetuates pain.

The February 2010 "Clinical Journal of Pain" describes five patients with neuropathic pain that experienced lasting relief by taking high dosages of EPA and DHA. Dosages of 2,400 to 7,200 mg a day contributed to improvements that were maintained for as long as 19 months.

It then follows that the higher the Omega-3 (EPA & DHA) content of the fish oil, the more it will nutritionally support and help your body to maintain normal nerve function.

If you take an Omega-3 supplement, then you should check out RHP Cold Water Fish Oil.

* Average fish oil has 600 mg (EPA & DHA) Omega-3s.
* Higher Quality fish oil has 800 mg (EPA & DHA) Omega-3s.
* RHP Cold Water Fish Oil has 1500 mg (EPA & DHA) Omega-3s.

Not all fish oils are the same. The highest quality fish oil comes from wild caught, cold water fish, and the best cold water fish are found in deep cold waters of the sea.

RHP Cold Water Fish Oil gel caps are also "enteric coated" so that they do not dissolve until they pass through the stomach and reach the intestines. That way there are no "fishy burps" or aftertaste.

To learn more and to order the RHP Cold Water Fish Oil

If you have any questions about this fish oil Formula, please email or call us at (888) 758-5590 (US & Canada)  or (818) 956-9850 (International).