 When we emerge from Winter where we should have all been resting and preserving our energy stores (ahem!), we find that Spring brings a new energy. It’s a chance for renewal, rebirth and to make a fresh start.
In Chinese Medicine, Spring is a time to make changes. To embark on plans that might have been cooked up during the Winter months. Think ‘out with the old and in with the new’. It’s also a very important time to let go of old frustrations and resentment and practice forgiveness. The Liver and Gallbladder are the organs that pertain to Spring. They can be personified as the army generals, keeping all the organs in check and making sure they're all working toward the task in hand. The Liver is also responsible for keeping the energy flowing smoothly throughout the other organs. If we harbour frustration and resentment, energy is unable to flow at this important time resulting in stagnation. Anything that is stagnant will generate heat because there is no free flow of energy. This is when inflammation occurs which we know is damaging to our system in many ways. So make this Spring the one that counts and give your body what it needs to grow, both physically, mentally and spiritually. Here are some tips to fully embrace the season: Spring clean - recycle whatever you don’t need and declutter. Make space for new objects to come into your life. There’s a reason it’s called a Spring Clean! Try something new - now is a time for change and growth. Give yourself something new to learn. Practice Forgiveness - get rid of old resentment. Your Liver will thank you. Don't be stagnant - Get out for a walk and smell the Spring flowers. Cleanse - the Liver is responsible for detoxifying the system. Give it a helping hand by avoiding processed foods and staying hydrated. You could also try drinking milk thistle tea.
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 Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) has been used in fertility clinics for a long time to predict a woman’s chances of conception due to ovarian reserve and is even used to determine how many follicle stimulating drugs they should be taking during IVF cycles. But researchers have called for a more reliable test as their evidence shows that the tests are widely inaccurate.
A further US study, which has been reviewed by NHS England, showed that the chances of getting pregnant naturally were no different for women with low AMH and FSH compared to women with normal readings. So my biggest plea to women who have been given what sounds like the nail in the coffin for fertility is, please don’t worry! IVF clinics can sometimes scare women into believing that their time is running out and that they must have treatment now before it’s too late. Listen to your intuition and do what feels right. Don’t let fear become the deciding factor on your fertility pathway. Levels of AMH and FSH being found to have little effect on fertility isn’t really new to me. I’ve known patients with a poor prognosis go on to naturally conceive very happy babies. What is concerning me is that IVF clinics are using these results to predetermine the amount of drugs and the types of fertility treatments available to you. Data from the 2012 study by the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre into AMH tests showed that unless the samples were stored in a very specific way, the results of the tests could differ to produce readings up to 72% higher. The difficulty is that with clinics storing and transporting their samples in varying ways, the quality of the test result is somewhat open to interpretation. I have always advised patients to have three AMH samples and take an average score, but the NHS will only grant patients a single test. So unless you’re prepared to pay, you have a number on your head that you carry around with you. This number then determines which doorways are open to you and whether you will be expected to take a very high dosage of follicle stimulating drugs. I therefore urge women who are in this boat to have further blood testing so that you can be armed with a number that might be truer to your actual reading before you go worrying yourselves that your fertile days are numbered. Sources: Anti-Müllerian hormone: poor assay reproducibility in a large cohort of subjects suggests sample instability, Oybek Rustamov, Alexander Smith, Stephen A. Roberts, Allen P. Yates, Cheryl Fitzgerald, Monica Krishnan, Luciano G. Nardo, Philip W. Pemberton, Human Reproduction, Volume 27, Issue 10, October 2012, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/des260 Hormonal fertility tests, ‘waste of time and money’, October 2017, reviewed by NHS England, https://www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/hormonal-fertility-tests-waste-time-and-money/ 5 Element Acupuncture. It sounds so mystical and I can hear each and every one of you thinking WHICH ELEMENT AM I??? But unlike in the world of the zodiac where the only prerequisite is knowing your birthday, it requires a trained 5 Element Acupuncturist to diagnose your Element. However I might just let you in on a few cheats so you can figure it out for yourselves. Sssh… don’t tell the other acupuncturists! First, a bit of theory. Chinese philosophy describes the Universe and all who live in it as the Dao. The Dao then splits into Yin and Yang, which are the positive and negative forces which keeps the Universe balanced. Yin and Yang then divide into the 5 Elements of Wood, Water, Fire, Earth and Metal. This completes the cycle of life and can be seen in nature as the 5 seasons, (yep, Chinese philosophy believes there are 5 seasons) with Metal being Autumn, Water being Winter, Wood being Spring, Earth being Summer and Fire being Late Summer. You can see below that the Elements are all interlinked and have the capacity to nourish or control the other. If you’re very interested you can visit an old video blog of mine which talks more in depth about Chinese Medical theory and the 5 Elements.
So now onto the stuff you really want to know. Every person has an Element which they can call their own. It’s their dominant Element which stays with them for a lifetime. The jury is still out as to whether you’re born with your Element or whether early life experiences dictate it but I know that my little boy was a Water from day 1 so I’m sitting with the ‘you’re born with it’ camp.
Your individual Element dictates the way you view the world. It shapes your emotional intelligence and interaction and it also effects your physical organs. In short, your Element defines you and your entire life, including your fate. So how do you know which Element you are? An acupuncturist would use a diagnostic method called face reading to look at the different colours on a person’s face. Sounds weird I know, but there are actually 5 different colours that could be showing on the face - blue/black, green, yellow, white and red. We are trained to be able to spot the difference. Smell is another one. Every Element has its own unique smell and we will be picking up on that too. The sound of the voice is another. Whether you have a sing-song, lilting voice or a short, clipped voice. All these things inform us of your Element. But the key one. The one that you might be able to work out at home, is in recognising the emotions. Each Element will have an emotion that pertains to it. Fire is joy and love, Earth is sympathy and compassion, Water is fear and willpower, Wood is anger and determination, Metal is grief and respectfulness. So how many of you want to be a Fire? It does sound like the best one and I’d be lying if I didn’t think so too. No marks for guessing which Element I am! But there is a down side. Not only do Fire Elements smell of burnt toast, but they care so much about wanting to be loved and liked that they spend all their resources on other people. Your best friend, your colleagues, the lady in the petrol station. It’s exhausting! So Fires will often retreat from society because they’ve burnt up all their energy and they need to refuel. Have you ever had a friend who is the life and soul of the party but then at a certain point in the night they’ve disappeared home without a goodbye. That’s a Fire. They’ve used up all their energy on entertaining you and now they’re spent. But they’ve gone home happy knowing that they’ve done their best at making you like them. There is a physical aspect to this too. Some of the organs that pertain to the Fire Element are Heart and Small Intestine. The Small Intestine is responsible for sifting out what’s needed in the body and getting rid of what’s not necessary. A Fire Element person who is out of balance will be your flaky friend who continues to miss the point. Whichever Element you are, there are positives and negatives. If you’re a Water Element for example, you’re so scared and fearful of what could go wrong that you’ve already thought about your game plan for every possible eventuality. That’s exhausting for you, but great for everyone else! If you’re in a crisis you want a Water by your side. They’re loyal and protective and for a Fire Element they’re useful to have around as they balance you, and vice versa. Waters are calm on the exterior but inside are bricking it. They’re so bothered about survival that they would never want to show a weakness. The Water energy is also responsible for bone marrow and also governs the Bladder and Kidneys. Water Elements will often have chronic knee or back pain and usually a history of a weak bladder or recurrent bladder infections, or in women often have Endometriosis. They’re your friend who is brutally honest, that has been loyal to you for years, and who you call in a crisis. Wood Elements. Now you’re the ones that the other Elements don’t mess with. You can be angry individuals. When you lose your temper all other Elements want to run for the hills. But you’re very passionate people and fairness is at the root of all things that you do. You can make exceptional leaders. Wood Elements are seen in Chinese Medicine as little bamboo seeds. Your determination and drive is so strong that you push your way through the soil to get to sunlight. So if you’re trying to get a work project done you want a Wood on your team. These guys just love a list. If you have a notebook next to your bed, chances are you’re a Wood. But beware of addictive behaviours. The Liver is the organ which pertains to the Wood Element and so particularly alcohol addiction can be a big problem for you guys. A Wood Element is your friend that will call you out when you’re being unfair but will bite their tongue for everything else… They don’t want you to see their rage! Metals are the spiritual guys. They spend a lot of time reflecting on the big questions of life and often have some form of spiritual practice to connect them to the heavens. They’re the type of person that doesn’t ever say too much but when they do it’s bound to be profound so make sure you’re listening. These guys are like the wise owls of the Elements. However their thirst for knowledge and understanding can make them workaholics. They always feel as though they’ve never quite achieved enough and so will go on endless courses and have a list of qualifications as long as your arm. But if you ever complimented them on their education they would stare blankly at you because it feels inadequate to them. Because of this they can be prone to burnout, which is why Metals so often have a meditative practice. The reason for this endless quest to find something is because they always feel as though something is missing from their lives. Grief is the emotion they struggle with the most and so if they lose somebody close to them, these guys will have a difficult time coming to terms with the loss. They’re your friend that will always give you something to think about. I feel like as women turn into 80-something year olds we all turn into Earth Elements. These are the ones who are always concerned with how you’re feeling. They’re desperate to look after you, bake you cakes, and fluff up your pillows for bed rest. They’re the carers of the Elements and often work in the caring profession. They are martyrs to the very core and thrive on it, so much so that it can be detrimental to their health. Earth Elements find it almost impossible to look after themselves. They’ll sometimes struggle with eating disorders, either failing to nourish themselves or using food to fill a hole in their stomachs that always feels empty. You guys have the nicest sounding smell as you are said to smell fragrant but in truth, that’s just a bad translation… Sorry about that! In reality it’s a clawing, sickly-sweet smell. Because Earth’s are so obsessed with how everyone is feeling they will, if out of balance, often have chronic health complaints that they crave sympathy for. By giving sympathy it feeds the craving and so often, Earth Elements will find themselves locked in an endless cycle of feeling unwell, whether they have physical symptoms or not. They are the Element that gets stuck in a rut and can’t quite pull themselves out. They’re your friend that you want around when you’re poorly, but don’t try returning the favour. So that’s the 5 Elements in a very rudimentary nutshell. As it’s Autumn now we should celebrate the Metal Element in all its shiny glory. The Lungs and Large Intestine are the organs pertaining to Metal and so during the Autumn months these organs are a little more fragile than other times of the year. This is why we often catch more colds in the Autumn. The colour for Metal is white and so we must make sure we have plenty of white foods in our diet. As an example, onions, garlic, cauliflower, milk, parsnip, mushrooms, butter beans, chicken, white fish & shrimp. You could make an argument for white bread and pasta but I’m not sure it’s what the ancient Chinese physicians had in mind. And finally, the link to the hot topic for this month’s newsletter… skin! Every Element has an external organ which can highlight to a practitioner if there are any underlying internal pathologies. 5 Element Acupuncturists will look at a person’s skin to see the state of their Metal/Lung energy. If the skin is dry and flaky your lung energy is deficient. If it’s red and itchy your lungs are hot. If it’s pale and dull your lungs are cold, and if it has puss filled spots your lungs have phlegm. By balancing your energy between the 5 Elements we can correct skin problems with acupuncture. It can really be that simple! So eat white foods, look after your lungs, have some acupuncture and your skin will shine. Author - Sarah BaylissNutritional Therapist with clinics in Clifton, Bristol.  In short, the answer is it could be? It’s important to provide context, so what is histamine and what does it do?
Histamine is a chemical response and required for a number of biological processes including muscle contraction, gastric acid secretion (for optimal digestion), it acts as a neurotransmitter as well as supporting the immune system and wound healing. So we need it but how much do we need? Our bodies’ work on equilibrium, the key is finding your unique balance to achieve homeostasis. It helps to think of a bath we want the bath to be full, not too full that it may overflow; therefore we need to be able to remove any excess water to stop it from overflowing and causing damage (everyone’s bath is different!). Our bodies work similarly when looking at histamine and potential intolerance we need to consider two things, a) how much we are putting into our bodies through diet and b) how well our body is removing the excess to minimise irritation, allergic reactions and inflammation. Elevations can be caused by high dietary exposure and poor elimination, driving an allergic reaction, genetics may also play a role. Individuals with allergies tend to have a higher baseline histamine level. There are a number of broad symptoms that could be due to histamine intolerance, to name a few these include:
The best way to determine if you have an intolerance is firstly to eliminate high histamine foods from your diet for approximately 4 weeks and review your symptoms. High histamine foods include:
Secondly, sufficiently supporting your detoxification pathways in your liver and ensuring your gut is functioning well, enabling good elimination. Histamine is detoxified in both your liver and your gut. Removing substances that impair our liver and gut function will be helpful and eating foods that support our liver and our gut:
Essentially through on-going support of our detoxification pathways will help improve our resilience and improve symptoms. Diet is critical not only in minimising problematic foods but maximising healing foods that support our organs and help to drive down inflammation. Minimising stress on the body, looking after our organs, eating well and sleeping well will all help to improve our overall resilience and therefore reduce the allergic reactions. Useful links: https://www.healthline.com/health/histamine-intolerance https://shop.thelowhistaminechef.com/sales-home20456981 References: Laura Maintz, Natalija Novak, Histamine and histamine intolerance. (2007). The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85 (5),1185–1196. Tuck, C. J., Biesiekierski, J. R., Schmid-Grendelmeier, P., & Pohl, D. (2019). Food Intolerances. Nutrients, 11(7), 1684. By Sarah Bayliss, Nutritional Therapist, CNHC registered mBANT Sarahbaylissnutrition@gmail.com 07931320471 Wearefeeduk.com  It is now well researched and documented that the Western man’s sperm count has plunged by 60% in the last 40 years compared to that of men in lesser developed countries. Sperm morphology is also at an all time low and researchers in America are finding that sperm DNA fragmentation is an area that is gathering more interest for embryologists and reproductive health specialists.
It’s an area that I too am taking more seriously as I’m finding more and more of my fertility patients being diagnosed with “unexplained” infertility or struggling with recurrent miscarriage. Therefore I’ve taken some time to swat up on this growing area of research and have been reading a fascinating book, “A Clinician’s Guide to Sperm DNA and Chromatin Damage”, by Armand Zini and Ashok Agarwal, Professors of Montreal, Canada and Cleveland, USA. It’s a pretty hefty read but I’ve tried to pick out the more salient points for you. Sperm DNA fragmentation is caused by oxidative stress, which is an imbalance between free-radicals and antioxidants in your body. “Approximately, one in every six couples suffers from infertility (17%), and male factor contributes to 40-50% of these cases. The cases of almost half of these male factor associated infertilities are unexplained/idiopathic, and within this group, 5-10% of men had a high amount of sperm DNA fragmentation despite having normal semen parameters.” “Today, routine semen analysis is the “gold standard” test used in the evaluation of male infertility; however, it is unable to identify the causes of some of the cases. Therefore, in order to distinguish infertile men from the fertile population and to predict the success of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycle outcomes, a new diagnostic test is required. The use of DNA fragmentation tests as a part of the routine analysis in fertility investigation remains controversial, despite the fact that many research groups are greatly in favour of these tests.” The difficulty that many couples face is that they are given the standard routine sperm test and then told that their results were slightly below normal, without any real explanation of what this means. Firstly, given that “normal” is 60% worse than that of sperm 40 years ago, a below normal reading is really something that shouldn’t be taken too lightly. That said, I’m not here to worry anyone. More that some men should be taking the health of their sperm more seriously and be putting measures in place to protect and preserve it. “Although a few reports have indicated a slight or non-significant association between semen parameters (sperm count, motility, progression and morphology) and sperm DNA damage, many studies show that sperm from abnormal sperm parameters have a higher percentage of DNA damage.” Therefore, if a man has a lower than average morphology, it is possible that they will have DNA fragmentation. The thing I struggle with the most is that men with lower than average sperm results are told that there’s nothing they can do to change it, and to just ‘keep trying’! Worse still, women that are able to get pregnant but suffer recurrent miscarriage are told that their partners don’t need a sperm test because they’re able to conceive. I have known in my practice that a missed miscarriage, or an embryo that fails to develop can often be linked to poor sperm quality. Clinicians really do need to adjust the way they address fertility and not offering couples even the basic sperm testing as a matter of course is just nonsensical. We know that lifestyle and dietary choices plays a massive role in improving sperm and yet this advice is often not descended down to the patient. Women are switching on to the fact that they must preserve their fertility health but I think it’s time men had a little wake up call too as “unexplained” infertility might be explained, if further testing is made available to men. “Some studies have shown that sperm DNA fragmentation is correlated with poor reproductive outcomes including miscarriages, chromosomal aberrations, congenital malformations, genetic disorders, neurological defects and cancer in offspring. Understanding the mechanisms after fertilisation in the zygote is therefore important.” So what is causing these higher levels of sperm DNA damage? “Some environmental factors including radiation, smoking and alcohol consumption contribute to male infertility. Untreated cancer patients as well as those who have been exposed to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, environmental pollutants and certain cytotoxic medications may be prone to sperm DNA fragmentation.” It is also true that Western couples are coming to baby-making much later in life and so age does play a role here too. Up until recently it was considered that only women had a reproductive body clock that starts ticking at age 35. “Some studies have indicated that men with advanced age have an elevated sperm DNA fragmentation, while DNA fragmentation is considerably lower in younger men (<35 years)”. We also know that a younger oocyte [egg] can make do with a lesser quality sperm, which is why we have these preconceived ideas that men can still conceive no matter how old they are. It’s all to do with the quality of the egg and if the sperm is old but the egg young, then the maternal genes are able to repair and make do with much of the damaged DNA strands. However if both partners are in that plus 35 age bracket then it will be harder to conceive. “The scrotal temperature is 2-8 °C lower compared to the rest of the body, and this is essential for proper spermatogenesis in mammals. In a mouse model study, a high level of DNA fragmentations was observed in spermatocytes retrieved from testes exposed to 40-42 °C.” Therefore men that are regularly exposed to extreme temperatures may have more sperm damage. Varicocele, which is a mass of varicose veins in the spermatic cord, “affects approximately 15-20% of males and is one of the commonest causes of poor sperm quality. Significantly higher DNA fragmentation has been observed in patients with varicocele.” Chlamydia and urinary tract infections also cause higher levels of sperm DNA fragmentation. So if a man has been diagnosed with high level sperm DNA fragmentation, what are their chances of success? One sperm DNA fragmentation test (SCSA) study showed that “If the level of spermatozoa with DNA fragmentation is higher than 30%, the probability of natural conception is almost zero.” And what are the chances of success using assisted fertility (IVF or ICSI)? “Results of several clinical reports have proposed an association between sperm DNA damage/poor sperm quality and embryo development/maturation. The impact of DNA damage on the embryo seem to be related to the development of embryo more than embryo quality.” Certainly in my clinic I see couples who have gone through the ICSI process who are able to gain Grade A blastocyst embryos but are unable to sustain a pregnancy. Many women blame themselves for being unable to carry the embryo to the next stage, but sperm DNA will affect the embryo much later and so it could be DNA fragmentation that is affecting the development. This is because the “blastocyst development is controlled by maternal genes during the first cell stage (approximately 48-56 hrs after the fertilisation process)”. “Interestingly, a study has demonstrated that the adverse paternal effect on the development of an embryo may occur at a later stage even if there are no morphological anomalies at the zygote stage. Repeated failures of assisted reproduction without any evident defective zygote formation and cleavage [the division of cells in the early embryo] of embryos are frequently correlated with high sperm DNA fragmentation levels.” “DNA fragmentation also has an impact on sperm parameters, embryonic development, chromosomal aneuploidy, implantation, and recurrent miscarriages.” So what can be done? “The favourable impact of antioxidants including reduction of DNA fragmentation level in ejaculated spermatozoa can be detected following 2 months of oral antioxidant therapy. Additionally, dietary antioxidants are an appropriate therapeutic option to alleviate sperm DNA damage for infertile men.” This is why I am increasingly annoyed when men receive the results of a lower than average sperm assay and are told that there’s nothing that can be done. It’s just not true! Plenty can be achieved with better diet and lifestyle choices, reducing stress, reducing exposure to pollutants and chemicals and lest we forget, regular acupuncture! Some studies have suggested that sperm that is stored for a shorter duration in the epididymus (a duct behind the testes) had less DNA fragmentation because their intracellular antioxidants have not been fully consumed. “Hence, recurrent ejaculations can potentially be an approach to reduce sperm DNA damage and improves IVF treatment success rate… Therefore, frequent daily ejaculations can be utilised as an alternative treatment option in male infertility cases with high oxidative stress.” This does go against Chinese medical theory that men should ejaculate less to preserve their kidney energy. So that one does pose a bit of a dilemma for me! Couples who have had unsuccessful rounds of assisted fertility (ICSI) and who have diagnosed sperm DNA fragmentation could go for an, albeit more invasive technique, called TESA. This is where a needle is inserted into the testicle and sperm are aspirated. “The pregnancy rate using testicular and ejaculated spermatozoa was 44% and 6%, respectively. Implantation percentage was found as 22% and 2% using testicular spermatozoa and ejaculated spermatozoa, respectively.” So you can see here the results are vastly better using the TESA technique above the normal ICSI procedure. There are other ways of selecting the best sperm for IVF, such as magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) or (IMSI) which uses sperm selection under a very high magnification, but in my experience I have not come across these techniques and so assume they are not available in this country. What should you do if you suspect you have sperm DNA fragmentation? Well unfortunately, a DNA fragmentation test is not available on the NHS and is unlikely to be any time soon. The test I tend to recommend to patients is the Sperm Comet Test. The patient would need to travel to London to deposit their sample. The test itself is fairly inexpensive (as far as tests go!) at £249. The patient will then receive a user-friendly report giving them the percentage of DNA fragmentation seen in their sample. I really would recommend this test to couples who have:
Details of the Sperm Comet Test can be found here: https://examenlab.com/the-test/ I hope you have found this blog useful. It’s not meant to scare all struggling couples into having a DNA test… I promise I’m not working on commission! But more to help couples who have been trying to conceive but with no medical answers as to why they’re failing. Sperm DNA fragmentation is not a phrase you will ever hear in your IVF consultations but it is something we need to be more aware of and be proactive in arming ourselves with all the facts before we pay for endless ICSI cycles that may never be fruitful because of damaged sperm. There are around 70,000 to 85,000 chemicals in use today, with around 2,000 new chemicals coming onto the market each year. It is estimated that around 1% of these chemicals have been tested as Environment Protection Agencies struggle to keep up with the growing volume of new chemical compositions. These new chemicals are basically deemed safe until proven otherwise and so, it may take centuries for the environmental agencies to catch up. By the time we find out if certain chemicals could be harmful, the damage is likely to have already been done.
Indeed, a 2005 US study showed that there were 200 chemicals found in newborn baby cord blood. (EWG.org) Women are also at more risk to chemical exposure than men as they tend to use more beauty, toiletry and household products. “25 percent of women apply 15 or more products daily, including makeup and anti-aging creams, amounting to an average of 168 chemicals.” (ecowatch.com) Chemical exposure is certainly something I talk to my patients about as studies are showing that over-exposure can have an effect on fertility. We also know that sperm count and overall sperm health has fallen dramatically compared with that of lesser developed countries. Whilst we don’t know exactly what is to blame, we can assume that chemical exposure and environmental factors have a big part to play. So what can be done? This is a tough one to answer and I suppose the obvious one is ‘very little’! Whilst that is true, as the chemicals are in the air we breathe and the water we drink, we can take measures to limit our contact. Switching to organic, natural makeup and beauty products, using natural household cleaners, getting an air purifier, eating organic food and drinking filtered water can all be useful. I’ve managed to make all of these changes with little trouble but the one that I’ve continually struggled with is beauty products. If you’re anything like me, you spent years of trial and error trying to find the right moisturiser, foundation and mascara that was just right for you. And with natural products often costing more than their chemical counterparts it can be difficult to make the switch. Therefore I will make a promise to use this forum to showcase any products that I think are worth buying. I encourage you all to comment and share any other product tips you might have so we can make the looming task of reinventing our makeup bags a little easier. When it comes to optimising your chances either with IVF or through natural conception, there is one single most thing that I believe is crucial. It comes in the form of a little hormone called Oxytocin.
Oxytocin is otherwise known as the Love Hormone. It’s the main hormone released during sex, or when we look into our loved ones eyes, or when we hold our baby for the first time. It gives us that overwhelming sense that we are not alone, that we have somebody to care for, that we love unconditionally. The reason I believe this hormone is very important during conception is because it is also the hormone that is needed when a baby enters into the physical world. In order for a woman to go into natural labour, there needs to be an abundance of oxytocin in the system. This is needed both to induce and deliver the baby but also to deliver the placenta, and to encourage breast milk and feeding. But the body has a fantastic survival mechanism and so, if a woman goes into labour but then a big, snarling wolf comes into the room, the body will flood the system with adrenaline. Adrenaline cancels out oxytocin, so that labour stops to enable the woman to find safety. Once safe oxytocin comes back and labour continues. It’s a wonderful system… If we were dealing with wolves on the reg! But the body can’t distinguish between a wolf and a printer jam at 6pm when you’re trying to get that important document out. The same is true of people that enjoy running. Your body doesn’t realise you’re not running away from that wolf! And so you see, we start flooding our system with adrenaline and there’s little room for oxytocin. That, coupled with the stresses of trying to make a baby… have I ovulated yet? I’m shattered, can we make it quick tonight? We had a glass of wine 3 years ago, would that affect things now? etc, etc. None of this is conducive to flooding our bodies with love hormone. So the single most crucial thing when making a baby is to bring the love back. I know it can be tricky when you’ve been on this road for a while but it makes sense to me that if oxytocin is needed to help a child move from the womb to the outside world, it could also be very important in helping the embryo enter the womb. As yet, we don’t have the research to support this but we do know that foetus’s subjected to unpleasant emotions in the womb can impact their development. In fact, Chinese philosophy says that a healthy baby is conceived when there is love… and they know a few things about health! ;) ‘The Vaccine Debate’ is a huge and controversial topic and it’s one I’m asked of my opinion countless times by my patients. And as I always maintain, if you don’t know anything about a topic, you shouldn’t comment. It’s my biggest bugbear when people slate acupuncture having never had any experience of it. A person must be informed before they pass comment.
So with this in mind, I came across a lecture being held by Dr Jayne Donegan (MBBS, DRCOG, DCH, DFFP, MRCGP, MFHon), a practising GP, talking about her comprehensive studies into vaccine efficacy. So I hopped on a train to London last week to hear what she had to say. Just to give you some background to Dr Donegan’s journey, she is a practising GP in London who does not specialise in Immunology but has an interest in vaccinatable diseases and the current vaccine program. She noticed that the current research into vaccinatable diseases was thin on the ground and she decided to conduct her own study into this area. In doing so, she became an expert in her field and was asked as expert witness to a case in which an estranged husband and wife were embroiled in a court case, whereby the mother didn’t want their child to be vaccinated and the father did. Dr Donegan gave evidence on the side of the mother but unfortunately they lost the case. It was decided that Donegan’s research was not well sourced and so didn’t serve as effective evidence. She was then asked by the General Medical Council to revoke her statements and if she did not, pressure would be applied so that she may lose her medical practising licence. After 3 traumatic years for Donegan and her family, she was called to the General Medical Council for her case to be reviewed. After looking at all the evidence and research Dr Donegan had acquired over the years it was decided that her research was the most comprehensive body of research ever conducted, certainly in the UK, in this field. That it was all accurately sourced, and the case against her was subsequently dropped. Despite this, the UK vaccine program drives on. It is important to note here that Dr Donegan states that she is neither for nor against the use of vaccines, she is simply relaying the evidence she has gathered in her comprehensive review of ‘Childhood Vaccinatable Diseases and their Vaccines’. The full review can be purchased at (http://www.jayne-donegan.co.uk/articles) It certainly makes for an interesting read, but could be seen by some as a bit heavy on the medical wording so I’ve already done the hard part and actually read it! I’ll endeavour to break it down as accurately and succinctly as I can here and point out some of the more relevant points. Apologies in advance if this goes on a bit! The development of vaccines to protect the public against diseases such as smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, poliomyelitis and meningitis has been widely heralded as one of the biggest advancements in medical health in the twentieth century, with general public and medical opinion being that the introduction of vaccines for these diseases has served to near eradicate them from modern society. However, Donegan’s research, which consisted of her painstakingly going through all the reported deaths of these diseases in England & Wales from records held at the Office of National Statistics (graphs of which can be found in her review) show that these diseases were already on the decline before vaccines ever came into play. Taking whooping cough as an example, “at least 99% of the people who used to die of whooping cough in the nineteenth and early twentieth century has stopped dying before the vaccine against whooping cough was introduced, initially in the 1950s and universally in the 1960s.” (extract taken from “The Doctor’s Dilemma”, Donegan 2009) Measles is a similar story, as 99% of deaths had dropped before the introduction of the vaccine. Even better, looking at children below the age of 15 there was a 100% decline of deaths from measles between 1905 and 1965, which was 3 years before the vaccine was introduced in the UK. (Donegan, 2009) So what is the reason for this natural decline to these once upon a time, killer diseases? It is widely believed by general medical opinion that the reason for the decline of deaths caused by such diseases for which there is no vaccine, like typhus, cholera, rheumatic and scarlet fever is because of better sanitation and living conditions. It would surely then make sense that these same constraints have led to a decline in other diseases. People are living longer due to better health through better nourishment and so, general immunity had to improve with it. And so it did in the early 1900s. So how did vaccines go on to further improve our immunity? Well, the evidence would suggest that they didn’t. And some medical professionals even go on to speculate that they are actively damaging immunity. When a person, of any age, contracts a ‘wild’ strain of a disease, i.e. one carried through contamination from one person or organism to another, the body has several defence mechanisms to eradicate it from the body. We develop mucous, we sneeze, have vomiting or diarrhoea, fever and sweating, and so on. These are all ways in which the body works to eject the virus and in so doing, builds antibodies to the disease so that a healthy person would be extremely unlikely to ever be susceptible to the disease again. When we vaccinate, we give a shot of ‘live’ vaccine, i.e. a small dose of the disease itself, subcutaneously, so that it finds its way into our bloodstream. Thus bypassing those coping mechanisms outlined above. If a child were to naturally contract an infection of Bordetella Pertussis (whooping cough), the inhaled organism sticks to the hairs lining the airways where it then multiplies, causing inflammation, which blocks the narrow airways. The body then works to produce IgG, IgM and IgA antibodies which are important in stopping the bacterium from sticking to the hairs and multiplying. “Vaccination against pertussis does not produce this IgA antibody which is so important in protecting against further infection.” (Harrison’s, 1987) (Extract from Donegan, 2009) “The incidence of pertussis death and disease was falling well before the vaccine was introduced in the 1950s. In 1978 when United States passed laws requiring proof of vaccination before school entry to increase vaccination uptake there was a recognisable increase in the incidence of whooping cough in that country. This has continued to the extent that there are now five doses of pertussis vaccine in the US immunisation program. (Gangarosa et al, 1996) In 1996 a study in California showed that 12% of adults with persistent cough had undiagnosed whooping cough. (Minerva, 1996) Because of continuing increases in pertussis notification in the UK, especially in young babies, below the age of 1 year, an ‘accelerated’ schedule of vaccination was introduced (vaccination at 2m, 3m, 4m instead of the previous 3m, 5m, 10m) to try to reduce the incidence of the disease. But despite vaccination rates of 94% in under twos the incidence of pertussis has been increasing since 1995.” (Donegan, 2009) So, rather than the vaccines just being ineffective, are they going on to cause further damage than if you were to just contract the disease naturally? Bearing in mind that deaths from whooping cough would only occur in very sickly children anyway, and we currently in the NHS advise against immuno-impaired children having vaccines as it is thought they may not be able to cope with the small dose of live virus that would be administered. “In 1994 Dr Michel Odent published a retrospective study which compared the incidence of asthma in 243 children who had been vaccinated against pertussis with 203 who had not. Vaccinated children were over five times more likely to suffer from asthma and twice as likely to have had ear infections than unvaccinated ones. (Odent et al, 1994) In 1997 another retrospective study of 1,934 patients born between 1975 and 1984 from one general practice in Oxfordshire showed that children vaccinated against pertussis were 75% more likely to develop asthma, hay fever and eczema later in life. (Pulse, 1999) (Taken from Donegan, 2009) There are however difficulties when assessing the safety of a vaccine, as it is not only the disease that is injected into the person. The vaccine needs to be carried in a solution so to preserve the vaccine. Is it the disease itself causing further auto immunity problems such as the ones mentioned above, or is it the other components in the vaccine? I’m sure we’re all aware that vaccines used to carry, albeit low levels of mercury, considered to cause kidney damage to the adult and neurological problems to an unborn foetus and there is some evidence to suggest the possibility of a causal link between mercury exposure in vaccines and developmental disorders (Simpsonwood, 2000). This prompted the USA in 1999 to remove thiomersal (containing mercury) vaccines from the program. “By 2001, steps were eventually being taken to remove it from vaccines in the UK, but only after all the old stocks had been used up (Pulse, 2001) UK parents were reassured that the mercury containing vaccines being administered to their infants and children were safe and effective until as late as September 2004 when they were finally replaced by mercury free versions. (Extract from Donegan, 2009) Nowadays, instead of mercury, our vaccines contain aluminium and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is considered carcinogenic and used in preserving cadavers. Aluminium has been linked to Alzheimer’s and aluminium saucepans are banned in the catering industry for this reason. “People drinking aluminium contaminated drinking water in Camelford, Cornwall suffered considerable damage to cerebral function (Altman et al, 1999) (Taken from Donegan, 2009) Furthermore, the current MMR vaccine contains antibiotics, Neomycin and Kanamycin. We are advised against using antibiotics in children as it is known to affect the microbiome which protects us against germs, breaks down food to release energy, and produces vitamins. Indeed, Paul Wischmeyer, MD, a professor at the University of Colorado in anaesthesia, with a special interest in nutritional biochemistry postulates that a child subjected to antibiotics within the first 6 months may have their microbiome altered so that it may never recover to its potential capacity. (“Role of the microbiome, probiotics, and ‘dysbiosis therapy’ in critical illness”, Wischmeyer, 2016) Certainly we know that doctors are reluctant to give young children antibiotics and yet they are present in the MMR vaccine. Therefore, if we are administering antibiotics to all children via the MMR vaccine, we could be affecting their lifelong immunity. So are there ways around ensuring that our children stay safe to disease but that are not vaccinated? Well yes, and thankfully they’re very easy. A child that is breast fed, then given a healthy diet, who is not subjected to industrial chemicals and has warm and airy living conditions (i.e. a healthy child) should be able to develop natural immunity to all of the vaccinatable diseases. If they should develop, for example measles, they would likely not die from the disease or be rendered disabled if they were healthy when they contracted the disease. Natural immunity is considered far better as the child will have developed its antibodies via the correct pathway. Not only is natural immunity better for the child, it is better for their children, as antibodies developed through natural immunity pass better via the placenta, meaning their children should have better natural immunity and so on. There is also a further benefit which I can see and which of course is of interest to me as a fertility specialist, and which was talked briefly about in the lecture but not mentioned in the review, that boys vaccinated with mumps vaccine could be affecting the quality of sperm we now see in the developed world compared to that in the non developed world. “Sperm counts in the West plunge by 60% in 40 years as ‘modern life’ damages men’s health” (Headline from The Independent, Johnston, 2017) This study thought that pesticides, chemicals, diet, stress and smoking might be to blame. No mention was made of vaccines but it would not be absurd to think that the mumps vaccine may be having an effect, since mumps virus when contracted post puberty can cause infertility in men. So what happens when you tell your mum friends you decided not to vaccinate? They all tell you you’re threatening the health of their vaccinated children and they won’t talk to you in the playground, no? Well actually thats a complete fallacy. The vaccinated children are affecting the health of your unvaccinated child as they are carrying the live disease for a period of time until they have made the antibodies, rendering your child more susceptible. Also, vaccinated and unvaccinated children will still be carriers of the disease. For example, streptococcus, otherwise known as meningitis bacteria can live quite happily in the noses of children and adults with no cause for concern. So is your unvaccinated child in more danger than those that have been vaccinated? Well no! As we have outlined above, a healthy child can live its entire life developing natural immunity to these diseases or it may never come into contact with them in the first place. Of course we know that diseases such as mumps and measles can be more serious, albeit still manageable when a child reaches adulthood, so you could have a child tested before puberty to see if they have developed natural antibodies to the disease and if they have not, you could consider vaccinating, which is something Donegan suggests a parent might want to do if they are concerned. However, a better way would be to take your child to the old fashioned ‘measles parties’, if you can find one in existence, when they are young so that they contract the disease and so develop natural immunity and better yet, pass this to the next generation. With this constant drive to rid our children from ever getting sick in the first place we are, like it or not, affecting their ability to deal with disease that may come to them later in life. Children need practice at making their own antibodies, at dealing with the inflammation caused by such diseases so that their bodies, when called into action for more serious disease, can work more effectively at curing themselves. This is always something I have put forward in my clinic. For one because it just makes sense, and two because it is something we are taught in our Chinese Medical studies. It’s also a viewpoint that is seen by many Western medical professionals and yet we continue to vaccinate for diseases that were never really a problem. So why do we continue with the vaccine program? When we know they are ineffective, since people need booster shots of certain vaccines through their lifetimes and can still go on to contract the disease anyway. And as we stated earlier that these diseases are now steadily on the rise since the introduction of vaccines. Well I won’t outline my thoughts here. Those that know me will already know my answer to this. So I will leave you to mull this one over yourselves… I hope you found this an interesting read. You will see there has been more of a focus on whooping cough but this was just to serve as an example of how a vaccine has affected one disease. There are many more examples for other vaccinatable diseases in the review. I have done my best to extract the useful bits just to give an overview but if you have the time, do please have a visit of Dr Jayne Donegan’s website (www.jayne-donegan.co.uk) as you will find lots of interesting articles on the subject, including how-to manuals in treating your child should they develop a fever. I often wonder what patients think happens when I decide to stick a needle in the sole of their foot. Did you offend me? Do I not like the colour of your shoes? Or did I just get out on the wrong side of the bed today? It's usually the shoes... But no, in reality there is a massive process that goes on before an acupuncturist can decide which are the most useful points for you. And believe it or not, I do try to avoid the dreaded sole of the foot if I can, but sometimes that is just the best point. And I think most of you would agree it sounds worse than it is ;) So if you're incredibly bored and would like to find out more of the science behind Chinese Medicine and exactly what it does take for an acupuncturist to do their job then please watch the five short videos below where I try my best to explain it all...
The Five Elements
That my brand of acupuncture was only producing baby girls!
But I'm proud to say we have two new baby boys born in August to throw into the mix. Look out girls! Well done mamas! xxx |
AuthorVerity Allen - BSc, BA, MBAcC, Lic Ac 
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