Author: Best Acupuncture

Kim Blaufuss is a pioneer in mind -body wellness committed to transforming each individual’s physical, mental, emotional being into a meaningful, healthy life through the practice of Chinese Medicine. An expert Chinese Medical practitioner and author, Kim Blaufuss uses the ancient wisdom and practical techniques of Chinese Medicine to create vibrant health and radiant balance unique to your constitution.
Qi-Gong & Taoism Treatment Tidbits

Who says you have to be serious? Learn how to love life early to find joy.

My sister and I were sitting around the living room, chatting about aging and getting old. She had it all planned out. She knew who she was going to be and was excited to get there. “I’m going to be one of those eccentric old ladies when I get old dressing up in a fur coat and sweats to go shopping.” We started laughing. A memory of our aunt surfaced.

O.k., let me tell you about my aunt. My aunt was the definition of eccentric until she got old. Then she became the docile, homebody, trudging around in age-appropriate clothing and driving a clean car. But up until then, she was the crazy, non-conformist aunt. Of course, my sister and I were in our late teens and early 20’s and had the good fortune of staying with her up on Tai Shen Mountain.

How her home got the name “Tai Shen Mountain” is a different story, and maybe I’ll find time to tell you about it sometime.

My aunt had hit that milestone in life where her doctor labeled her as obese. You might know about that milestone. It kind of sneaks upon you, and you are unprepared for it. One day you are in the doctor’s office, and she is taking notes. You know you’ve gained weight, but all your friends are great liars and say you look great.

Your doctor has to check on something and steps out, giving you the necessary time to flip the computer screen and look at her notes. Since it’s about you, and you can get a copy, everything seems fine until you read the notes, “Patient is obese.”

Excuse me?

Well, my aunt had hit that milestone in life where weight made non-elastic pants too restraining. Her wardrobe had graduated to clogs and sweats. Not even nice sweats. The thick, bunch-at-the-ankle sweats you bought at Costco in a variety of colors. Like the colors would make them stylish or something. Top it off with white sweat socks and a pair of Birkenstocks, and she was up and running for the day.

I can remember her yelling out to us as we sat on the back porch doing nothing of importance, “Kimmy, Lisa, do you want to go to Costco?!” It wasn’t until she was much older that she was comfortable doing things by herself. But my sister and I had nothing better to do, and a ride to Costco might be a nice change.

Sitting idly and chatting in the car on that warm fall day in Southern California, we waited for my aunt. It was weird. You could almost feel her presence before looking up from whatever had captured our attention.

I felt a small gasp leave my throat. My aunt stood blocking the sun, casting her face into shadows and highlighting the threads of her tightly curled, dry, frizzy hair, making it appear as if electricity was running through it. There was an air of defiance in her stance.

But that wasn’t the only thing that was disturbing. She was bigger than she should be. She was much bigger. There was this massive blob with a small frizzy globe on top.

My sister and I waited. When she was sure she had captured our attention and punctuated it with a period, she sauntered to the driver’s door. That was when I saw it, what was making her so huge.

It was an old, 3/4 length, mink fur coat. What? It was California and warm. It wasn’t fur-wearing temperature. In fact, it was never fur-wearing temperature in Southern California.

I could feel myself start to sweat, watching her as she pushed herself behind the steering wheel. It was amazing. Pink sweats, sunglasses, Birkenstocks wrapped up in an aging mink coat, and carrying a purse.

There was no getting out of it. We had said we were going, to try and jump ship now would have ignited her indignation. We would have paid for it in creative little ways that even we couldn’t have imagined. Like maybe dinner would be peas and liver. Or, she would consume the only television for days with Rural Farm Delivery (RFD) and livestock auctions.

So, facing forward with windows rolled up and air conditioner blazing, we took off.

“So, what made you decide to wear that coat?”

“It’s my coat, and I can wear it if I want too,” a small smirk traveled across her lips. “Why, don’t you like it?”

Ah, defensiveness, obviously she knows there is something wrong with her decision-making skills. And that’s when it got even better. Suddenly, small tufts of black hair got caught up in the gale-force wind coming out of the air-conditioning vents. My aunt swiped across her face to remove the little hairs capturing her nose. Some managed to get caught in her mouth as she was talking. Flicking her tongue, she tried to spit them out.

The coat was so old and so poorly taken care of, it was shedding.

We stared at her, not saying a thing, and just as suddenly as she appeared, she started laughing. She was all in.

I got to give her credit. She was creative, and life was a band with everyone playing a separate tune.

My sister and I would laugh every time we remembered that crazy Costco adventure with my most gifted aunt. I learned a lot from my aunt. I learned life didn’t have to be defined by anyone else, and everything you do is going to make a memory. Try to make them fun. I learned there was no point in taking yourself too seriously. And under all this, I learned about joy.

I think that adventure made a lasting impression on my sister. That carefree freedom, I don’t care what you think. My sister was going to be that crazy grandmother and torment her daughter and grandchildren in the same way our crazy aunt tortured us.

Here’s the thing, joy isn’t waiting for you at the end of your journey. Joy only happens in the here and now. You can’t dream your way to joy. I think that is important for you to know because you see, my sister and I were having that conversation three months before her passing.

We were pretending those dreams were a possibility when we both knew they were never going to happen. We were pretending what clothes we would wear and where we would go drinking our mixed drinks on the deck overlooking the ocean. And I loved sharing her dreams with her and learning who she was deep inside. Learning what her desires and wishes were and how she had wanted her life to go.

Two weeks before she passed, when her body was failing her, and she could no longer climb the stairs, we sat on her bed feeling the ocean breeze waft between the bedroom curtains talking about what she wanted her funeral to be. Before, she had always said she had never thought about it.

But she had. She had thought about it a lot. “I want my ashes scattered in the ocean.”

“What about the forests of the Northwest?” I remembered our last trip to the ancient Doug Fir forests in Canada. If I wanted to, but she wanted some of her ashes shared with the ocean.

“Why do you want to be shared with the ocean?”

She paused, capturing her breath and thoughts. The tiredness was making it hard for her to focus and breathe. “Because I’ve always felt so constrained in this life, and I can go anywhere in the ocean.”

I thought about our conversation three months earlier and how she wanted to be that eccentric grandmother who threw caution to the wind.

You don’t get to plan for joy. If you want joy in your life, you have to see it right now in everything you do. If you think you’ll be that person someday, you won’t. If you want to be that person, you better start practicing now.

Test it out. Wear outrageous shoes. Put on a headband and braid your hair with multi-colored yarn. See how it fits you. Everything in this life is your creation. Who knows what is really going on out there.

Let’s say you try it out and feel a bit embarrassed or insecure, but still want to do it. Then come in, and let’s open up your chakras and release your old programming. Let’s open up your heart again and find the joy that brought you into this world.

Seven months later, I was able to honor her request and release a part of her into the ocean. I watched her ashes quickly spread to the currents. It was almost as if I could feel her sigh of relief.

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon
Qi-Gong & Taoism

The Art of Conflict in the New Age – When Your Marriage is at Risk

It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

–Sun Tzu

What have we learned about handling conflict? I was wondering about this last night. Psychology has helped up realize that many behaviors adult exhibits are learned behaviors and what we learned as children are the behaviors that most impact us as adults. 

So, we spend years trying to work through our past and see the problem from a new perspective. How do you know if you can look at a situation from a different perspective?

I had a set of married friends, and I thought they would always be married. They were both brilliant, strong-willed, and creative. In all their uniqueness, I couldn’t see them with anyone else. And then it happened. They got a divorce.

It is estimated 50% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. If this is your first marriage, 41% of them end in divorce. Second marriages, 63% of them end in divorce. By your third marriage, 73% of those end in divorce.

The data suggests that what we didn’t learn in the first marriage gets magnified in subsequent marriages. When you get to your third marriage, it’s not that you are more likely to divorce, it’s more you will divorce.  

The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.

Sun Tzu

The one thing I learned that made a marriage successful is flexibility. It takes flexibility. Love is essential, but love without flexibility is still a divorce sentence. 

Not all of us get great parenting. A 2012 study found 10% of our children live with an alcoholic parent. But it’s not just alcoholism that damages parenting. Pharmaceuticals and street drugs add another layer of substance abuse. The 2009 Showtime series Nurse Jackie followed the world of a nurse trying to deal with substance abuse. In 2017, it was estimated 20 million people needed help with substance abuse. 

Estimates of adults suffering from mental illness are at about 30%. Child sexual abuse, criminal activity, selfishness, and it starts to look like great parenting is more an anomaly than the norm. I’m always so appreciative and impressed with parents who raised great kids because the rest of us have to work at it.

So, we take what we’ve learned of conflict management and bring it into our adult life where 50% of all marriages end up in divorce. What does that say about our conflict management skills? 

All warfare is based on deception.

-Sun Tzu

I got to be honest, I’m in the first marriage divorce statistic. I know why we got a divorce. Our conflict management skills sucked. We really didn’t know how to do it or how to give or take feedback. We both came from families where feedback was criticism. We both came from families where we were not heard, and family norms overcame respectful treatment. 

Oh my gosh, we would get in disagreements and dig up crap from two years ago. Arguments would tumble into a waterfall of, “Well, you did this 2 years ago!” “Well, five months ago, you did this!” “You did…you did…you did.” All incredibly not helpful. And we each had our learned behaviors from childhood on how we would handle criticism, and these behaviors were not helpful.

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

-Sun Tzu

So, we divorced and took a two-year hiatus. 

It was during this hiatus that we both learned something. The grass wasn’t greener on the other side. We were invested in each other. You could teach an old dog new tricks. 

So, some of the critical distractions which highlighted our first experience in marriage were addressed. We learned something about flexibility. Flexibility is understanding there are no absolutes in any situation, and a more effective solution takes into account all sides.

We decided to take a second run at this marriage thing. But we did it differently this second time. We were both confident that our upbringing gave us pretty crappy conflict resolution skills. To make it this time, we were going to have to work at conflict management, which meant we were going to have to work on ourselves and really be able to see our stories from a different side because conflict escalates when you can only see a story from your side.

Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

-Sun Tzi

The next time you have an escalating discussion, realize conflict can only stop when you stop limiting yourself to your story. 

This certainly hasn’t been an easy road. When we got stuck in conflict, we started reaching out to others with better skillsets than us: counselors, church, training, friends. We expanded our reach to alternative providers. These providers took us past the limits of traditional resources. We used Non-violent communication training from the Mennonites, spiritually through Taoism, Meditation, Gurus, and Classical Chinese Medicine. 

When we did that, stuff about our own behavior would come up, which didn’t feel great. This stuff that came up is precisely why it isn’t easy work. To see another side, you have to walk through your own ickiness. 

No one wants to feel icky. And being human, you just have some icky behaviors. Some people have more icky practices than others! But, when you’re in conflict, and it’s escalating, undesirable behaviors are happening  that need to be addressed. 

There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: (1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction; (2) cowardice, which leads to capture; (3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; (4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; (5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.

-Sun Tzu

I started listening to people more. Bullying has become rampant. But that is a learned behavior. How could it become rampant? Well, because most of us do not grow up in exceptional parenting situations. Besides that, just the fact we are human means we have needs and desires that we want to fulfill. Bullying is trying to force someone to do something you want, even if it is not in their best interest. 

You know that couple I thought would stay together forever? Bullying. When I look at the conflicts between my husband and me, what were the worse offenders? Bullying. And bullying isn’t the black and white playground antics we attach to bullying. We are much more sophisticated than that. Labeling, ignoring others, ridiculing, belittling, discounting can all be forms of bullying.

We do it so much in our society that we can’t even see it anymore. And we are sure it is icky behavior. Who wants to see icky behavior in themselves?

There are other reasons for conflict. Lying is another one that is rampant in our society. Here’s another one you do because it is more comfortable. When you do it, you call it little white lies as opposed to big black lies. You didn’t get a report done at work, “I’ve got it at my desk. I have a couple meetings. Can I email it to you this afternoon?” That gives you the afternoon to finish it. You don’t want to go to work, “Hey, I’ve got a headache and feeling nauseated.”

I come back to the divorce rate in the United States of 50% with each subsequent marriage having a higher divorce rate. Right now, my husband and I have beaten the statistics. Second marriages last an average of 8 years. We’re double that. 

We are currently beating the divorce statistics because we are willing to look at ourselves and look for external input and face our ickiness in short contained bursts!

At some point, the ickiness is no longer so significant. Maybe because you’ve become more empathetic with yourself. You realize you just are not perfect, never will be. You start to know you, and everyone else is human and has the opportunity to grow. 

There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.

-Sun Tzi

The next time you are in a discussion and escalating, think about bullying and lying. 

Like I said, bullying is not the playground antics we are socialized to acknowledge. Bullying can be phrasing like, “You never complete what you started.” Instead of voicing a concern, “This really concerns me because we have kids we have to support right now. How can we do this and know our financial security will still be here?” Bullying is dismissing someone’s thoughts for lack of value like, “Oh come on, seriously?” Bullying is name-calling or labeling.

Lying can be evading the truth to avoid taking responsibility. “I got stuck in traffic.” “I have a late meeting.” “I don’t know what happened with that.” 

It’s weird, but we are so socialized to accept this kind of communication even though it breaks down trust and disconnects us from the other person. Our fights get worse, and our relationships get torn down. 

When my husband or I called each other out on our actions, the more accurate it was, the more we would fight. The more valid the statement was about our behavior, the more willing we were to escalate the argument and tear down our relationship. Again, who wants to see icky in themselves? The other thing we would do is deflect by attacking someone outside our circle and criticizing them. The deflection was the same thing, just turned towards a safer target.

These behaviors lead to our divorce. 

When an army is overthrown and its leader slain, the cause will surely be found among these five dangerous faults. Let them be a subject of meditation.

–Sun Tzu

So, there are a couple things that happen in fights that are escalating. First, any conflict that escalates is personal. It’s threatening something the person usually doesn’t want to face. Second, bullying and lying are about growing up in an environment where you were not heard. So, part of bullying or lying is this desire to be heard. Of course, you’re doing it in an icky way. So, when it doesn’t work, you escalate. Lastly, these behaviors disconnect you from the other person. These can be your friends, family, acquaintances, anybody.

What are some of the behaviors that highlight you are doing this? Blaming! Discounting the other person by saying things like, “Oh, come on I didn’t mean anything by that.” Or, “A little sensitive, aren’t you.” Name-calling! “Well, now you are just acting like a baby.” Another tactic is trying to justify your actions as right instead of trying to find a solution. 

Good-luck. Only you can change your future.

RESEARCH

Divorce Statistics: Over 115 Studies, Facts and Rates for 2018

 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Data Spotlight: More than 7 Million Children Live with a Parent with Alcohol Problems, 2012. Available at: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/Spot061ChildrenOfAlcoholics2012/Spot061ChildrenOfAlcoholics2012.pdf. Accessed 12/2/19.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2018). Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

https://www.nami.org/nami/media/nami-media/infographics/generalmhfacts.pdf

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon
Qi-Gong & Taoism What is Acupuncture

Wondering What the New Normal Is? I Think I’ve Figured It Out.

How are you handling the pandemic? We are four short months into social distancing and isolation. Some of us are coming to a new realization. The pandemic is going to go on for a while.

It’s bringing about a new type of mental health that feels more like resilence. I’m still walking the one foot in front of the other mode and just pushing on. But, I’m also seeing I may be doing this one foot in front of the other thing for a long time.

Unlike a hurricane or tornado, you can’t see this natural disaster, and it doesn’t have a timeline. If you sat down and looked into the future to figure out when this will be over, you don’t know. These two things, the lack of a tangible, visible force, and the uncertain timelines make this disaster unique.

Your daily life has changed. It’s not about wondering what the new normal is going to be. I use to sit and think this will be kind of over, and there will be some things that will have to change in my life, but we’ll all work together and figure out what the new normal is.

I just started realizing that it is not going to happen. A leader is not going to be allowed to rise and unify us at this time. A leader is not going to help us find this “new normal” that was the social media hype a couple of weeks ago. I just started realizing that we are on our own.

We will have to be our own grassroots effort of the new normal for ourselves and the world. And the new normal is this. It is precisely what we are experiencing.

I haven’t been to a war-torn nation. Yet, I’m thinking they have some pretty good ideas on how they survive and thrive in chaos. Here are some of my thoughts.

You can only do that hardcore push of one foot in front of the other for a limited time. A few months, maybe a year, and you start to show signs of breaking.

Two years ago, my role as a caregiver for my mother and support for my sister came to an end. My caregiver role was very challenging, with no breaks. The stress for my husband and I was crushing, and by the time it was over, I had run myself so thin with worry, trying to accomplish 4x’s more than I could, sinking in fear knowing they would pass any day, and every other emotion you can imagine there was nothing left.

I wrote a book on my journey and how I handled the emotional stress, the surprise emotions I didn’t know were coming, the letdowns, and every other emotion that comes in tidal waves for caregivers. You can find my book on Amazon. The book shares Taoist perspectives that helped me find balance amid chaos.

Afterward, this pandemic thing happened, and it brought back all the emotions I experienced as a caregiver. For those of you in a caregiver role today, my heart goes out to you. In a situation already overwhelming, this can tip you over the edge.

I’m going to share a couple of things I’m doing to help me stay on track and cope.

First, you have to give time to yourself for your spirituality. Stress is a formidable foe. Stress puts so much pressure on you, and you spend time pushing back. It gets too exhausting to push back, and all you want to do is curl up in a ball and try to forget; or, keep pushing yourself to stay distracted.

When you start to experience this, don’t give up. This is the time you need to take a few minutes and focus on your spirituality. Whatever your spirituality is, get it and focus on it.

This morning I was doing great until I read the news and did social media. I know that every day is going to step up the crazy. I know that each day is going to bring something more unbelievable than the day before. I know that each day will threaten my safety and security, and these threats will challenge my position on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

The things that happened this morning were just so surprising. They dropped me right back down to the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy.

I started distracting myself. I started working on insurance and other things in the office, and the anxiety started creeping up. Then I stopped. I realized it didn’t matter. Everything was going to still be here in a half-hour. I put everything down and went and did my spirituality for a half hour.

It got me back in balance just before my first client came in for the day. It got me back in balance just in time because every one of my clients is having similar thoughts.

So, give time to your spirituality. The stress is going to continue to ramp up over the next few months. Don’t let it own your life. Don’t let it dictate who you are going to be. The best way you can do that is by spending time with your spirituality once a day. Maybe you want to spend five minutes reading verses or doing deep breathing. It can be longer. Just do it every day.

The next thing that has helped me and the world is a random act of kindness. Say hi to the people you meet on the street or in the stores. Wave to people. Help someone with their groceries. Support local businesses.

Thirdly, practice being accepting of others. It’s hard to see other points of view right now. I was reading an article on the medieval plague of the 1300s. They talked about how people handled the situation. There were two camps. Some people quarantined in small family groups, and some people went on the pursuit of pleasure and satisfaction of their desires.

This duality of response has always existed. In Chinese medicine, it is the energetics of yin and yang. These two polarities are needed to create life and movement in the world. They state that everything starts in the dao, and to materialize, energy is required to create life. The opposition of yin and yang, the pulling force of these two opposites, creates the energy that establishes life.

Try to realize different views are typical. They have always been here. In general, democracy is based on the importance of different opinions. When I read the article on the medieval plague, it hit home for me. What we are experiencing is not new.

It would just be nice if we weren’t at opposites. There is so much more pressure and force when in strong opposition. It would be nice if we could find some middle ground to help diffuse some of the intensity today.

The last thing I want to share is my intentions. Each morning I am stating one intention for the day. Just one thought based on mindfulness or Taoism that could help me create a better day for myself. If one hits home for me, I may make it my intention for multiple days.

Today, I remind myself to be grateful. I look around my life and identify why I am thankful. I only meant to identify three things. But I thought I would take one minute and identify reasons I am grateful.

This is part of the last part of learning to live the new normal. Our lives had become so rich and full, that the simple things in life were lost. They weren’t good enough. I’ve watched people think they need a 3,000 or 4,000-foot house, the latest car, the new technology, clothes, and any other thing their heart may desire. I’ve watched them forget about their children and their spouse. In a matter of four short months, all of that was taken away from us. Over the next four months, more will be taken away.

Did you ever hear the statement, “No use crying over spilled milk?” I did growing up. Every time I whined for some material thing that I had lost, I would hear this statement. I think the new normal has ideas of simplicity. The new normal is reawakening our attachment to our families and our community. The new normal is being grateful you and your family are alive. The new normal is forgetting about impressing neighbors and friends with new stuff. The new normal is wiping up the spilled milk and deciding if you can find joy in the simple things in life.

Today, I intend to remind myself to be grateful.

I am grateful that I live in a small town that has low transmission of COVID-19.
I am grateful no one I know has been scarred or lost their life to COVID-19.
I am grateful my husband and I are healthy.
I am grateful I can run my business have strong support from my clients.
I am grateful this morning was a beautiful morning.
I am very grateful I have health insurance.
I am grateful that I can find places to walk in nature where I don’t run into other people.
I am grateful I have the internet.
I am grateful the small business owners I know are still solvent.
I am grateful all my clients are healthy.
I am grateful that I have a spiritual practice that helps me see the light in times of darkness.

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon
Treatment Tidbits

How to beat the allergy season with these five supplements

Watch the vlog here!

Crude, it’s allergy season, and I haven’t had allergies for years, but I have them this year. I don’t know if you saw my vlog on Finding your meditation rhythm, but the first scene! Did you see those pollen clouds light up behind me as I walked through the field? That’s pollen today. And the Cottonwoods have been on fire. I was driving down the road the other day, and it looked like it was snowing. I wanted to film the blizzard, but I didn’t have my camera.

I haven’t had allergies in about 20 years, and I have them now. Twenty years ago, my allergies were much worse. I was taking Allegra. I would step outside and could feel my head and sinuses instantly swell shut. I would get a headache, and it would feel like I was swimming in cotton. I’m running around Mount Hood today because I don’t have allergies up here in the mountains.

The last time I went about eliminating my allergies, it was all based on supplements. I was facing the same situation I’m facing today. Long term stress had gotten the best of me. My digestive health was weak, and I had gained weight that I couldn’t get off. I was experiencing a lot of inflammation, and the allergies were just one more step in the inflammation process.

What happens when you have a histamine reaction in the body? The simple response is the body identifies a substance as a foreign invader and mast cells covered with the correct IGe antibody move to the scene. These mast cells attack the invader and start a response to remove the invader from the body. Part of that response is releasing histamine at the site. Histamine causes an inflammation response to remove the invader from the body. Histamine would cause your sinuses to inflame, your nose to run, and to sneeze. These are just three inflammation strategies your body can use to eliminate a foreign invader.

When you’re looking for supplements, you’ll want supplements that support two strategies. The first is to reduce the histamine reaction. The second would be to support the overall immune system. All of the information here is supported by research, and you can find links in the video description below or click on the link to my blog, and you can find the research information there.

Let’s look at four supplements that fit that bill.

The first is vitamin B3 as nicotinamide. There are two types of B3, niacin, and nicotinamide. Now to make this crazier, niacin is also known as nicotinic acid, and nicotinamide is also known as niacinamide. So, the one ending in “amide” is the supplement. The research on this supplement has shown this supplement taken internally reduces symptoms of bronchial asthma. Nicotinamide has been reported to reduce asthma and hay fever in people. You can also use B3 nicotinamide topically, and it has shown to have anti-inflammatory effects with acne and reduce signs of aging.

The next supplement is Vitamin C. Here is the neat thing about vitamin C. The research on this supplement suggests vitamin C is a natural antihistamine. A research study reported after taking 2g of vitamin C, blood histamine levels reduced by almost 40%. And the exciting thing about histamine in this study was the study found excess histamine levels slowed the movement of immune protection cells called neutrophils to the site of injury. So, histamine is a critical messenger molecule in the body, but when in excess, it harms the body like when we have an allergy response.

When I first managed my allergies with supplements, vitamin C was the last supplement I added to my regime. And that was the icing on the cake. I was finally able to eliminate all symptoms of allergies.

There is an enzyme in the body that breaks down histamine, and that enzyme is Diamine Oxidase or DAO. Click here to learn about enzymes and dosing. Every enzyme in the body needs specific raw materials. One of the critical elements required for Diamine oxidase is B6. There are many common medications that we take today that interfere with the function of Diamine Oxidase, some through the reduction of B6. Medicines that may reduce B6 in the body are high blood pressure medications, tuberculosis, asthma, and arthritis medications. Other substances impact the ability of Diamine Oxidase to function effectively because they release more histamine into the body. Aspirin is one of these substances. Chronic inflammatory concerns like IBS release more histamine into the digestive tract. Things we consume daily impact vitamin B6 levels like alcohol.

And being that B6 is water-soluble, we don’t store it in the body. If you are not using supplements, B6 is dependent on food choices. Our food processing has impacted the nutritional content of foods. We know that, but we don’t look at food processing impacts as additive. So, using nitrogen fertilizers instead of nutrient-rich soil to grow foods reduces the nutrient value. Sterilization methods, such as heat, irradiation, pasteurization, reduce nutrient content. Shelf life reduces nutrient content. Cooking reduces nutrient content. When we start to look at it this way, the numbers look different. If each loss was only 2%, we might say that by the time we get the food to the table, we’ve lost 10% of the nutritional value, and that’s o.k. But that’s not what happens. Some of these processes can lose 50% of nutrition. That’s where supplementing becomes effective.

Now, there are also a few companies that produce Diamine Oxidase from pork kidneys. Diamine oxidase (DAO) is a digestive enzyme naturally produced in your kidneys, thymus, and the intestinal lining of your digestive tract. You need to take this enzyme right before you eat as it has a short half-life. This enzyme won’t reduce the amount of histamine your body produces. Nor will it replace the amount of Diamine oxidase your body produces. What it does is provide more Diamine Oxidase in the intestinal tract to help break down the histamine your body produced and reducing the amount of histamine that can enter your intestinal tract.

This supplement is taken for food sensitivities. Click here to learn about food sensitivities. And that could be foods that you think don’t work well in your system and cause gas, bloating, upset stomach, heartburn, diarrhea.

And then the thought is if I’m supplementing with the enzyme, why do I need B6. B6 is a coenzyme. B6 does more than create Diamine oxidase. To have enzymes, all coenzymes must be present. A coenzyme is a non-protein substance needed to have functioning enzymes. So, if you’re short on B6, you will never make enough Diamine Oxidase. But, being a coenzyme, B6 is needed in the production of critical neurotransmitters in the brain like serotonin, supporting the central nervous system, and assisting with creating the myelin sheath that encases nerves.

O.k., what’s another supplement? Calcium.

Calcium is a critical component of liver function. It regulates almost every liver task we know. And many of us learned the liver is responsible for detoxing in the body. Low calcium levels in the liver can dysregulate critical functions in the liver, including bile acid secretion. Problems with bile acid secretion can aggravate IBS and reduce the effectiveness of digestion. We’ve already seen inflammation in the digestive tract increases histamine levels.

Calcium is also critical for the stress response. Studies have shown that more calcium is released into the system when presented with a stressor. The aftermath of the stressor has shown a slight decrease in tissue calcium. The reduction in tissue calcium can compound over time, and low calcium can increase stress, anxiety, irritability. All these things increase histamine release in the body.

What to learn how to detox your liver naturally? Click here.

I marry supplements with Chinese Herbs, especially when I’m having symptoms that just suddenly appeared. It takes a long time for supplements to work. You’ll be able to see some improvement in a month. Yet, to replace all your current cells with new, healthier cells will take time. The average lifespan of a blood cell is three months. And there is the timeframe needed to uptake the nutrition and incorporate the nutrients in the body. Chinese Herbs can work quickly and support your supplements, decreasing the time to improve from a year to months. The thing about Chinese Herbs is they are usually specific to you. So, the herbs you take for your allergies may be different than the herbs your friend takes for allergies. If you want to add in Chinese Herbs, make an appointment with a Chinese Herbal practitioner and get herbs specific for you. You can similarly use herbs and supplements. You can take herbs for the symptoms during allergy season to get immediate relief and change formulas to build up your immune system after the allergy season. Or, you can take vitamin and mineral supplements to build up your immune system. Vitamins and minerals are usually a long-term solution to get all the materials your body needs to make the enzymes and stuff to protect your body. The vitamins and minerals don’t typically offer you immediate relief. You may have to do either herbs or supplements for a couple of years rigorously and then intermittently for spot therapy.

That’s it you guys, until next time, I’ll catch you on the other side.

ImmuneBoostAllergiesAudio

CITATIONS

Bekier E, Wyczó?kowska J, Szyc H, Ma?li?ski Cz: The Inhibitory Effect of Nicotinamide on Asthma-Like Symptoms and Eosinophilia in Guinea Pigs, Anaphylactic Mast Cell Degranulation in Mice, and Histamine Release from Rat Isolated Peritoneal Mast Cells by Compound 48/80. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 1974;47:737-748. doi: 10.1159/000231265

Gehring W. Nicotinic acid/niacinamide and the skin. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2004;3(2):88-93. doi:10.1111/j.1473-2130.2004.00115.x

Johnston CS, Martin LJ, Cai X. Antihistamine effect of supplemental ascorbic acid and neutrophil chemotaxis. J Am Coll Nutr. 1992;11(2):172-176.

Johnston C.S. (1996) The Antihistamine Action of Ascorbic Acid. In: Harris J.R. (eds) Subcellular Biochemistry. Subcellular Biochemistry (Ascorbic Acid: Biochemistry and Biochemical Cell Biology), vol 25. Springer, Boston, MA

https://www.bmhsc.org/health-and-wellness/education-support/health-library/drug-interaction-tool?productId=107&pid=33&gid=000992

Matsuo H, Yokooji T, Morita H, et al. Aspirin augments IgE-mediated histamine release from human peripheral basophils via Syk kinase activation. Allergol Int. 2013;62(4):503-511. doi:10.2332/allergolint.13-OA-0536

Fabisiak, A., W?odarczyk, J., Fabisiak, N., Storr, M., & Fichna, J. (2017). Targeting Histamine Receptors in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Critical Appraisal. Journal of neurogastroenterology and motility, 23(3), 341–348. https://doi.org/10.5056/jnm16203

Tiratterra, E., Franco, P., Porru, E., Katsanos, K. H., Christodoulou, D. K., & Roda, G. (2018). Role of bile acids in inflammatory bowel disease. Annals of gastroenterology, 31(3), 266–272. https://doi.org/10.20524/aog.2018.0239

Malinovská V, Matonoha P, D’Andrea V, Malinovský L, Zechmeister A. Uloha kalcia v mechanismu p?sobení stressogenních hormon? [The role of calcium in the effect of stress hormones]. Cas Lek Cesk. 1991;130(22-23):631-634.

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon