Amazing new holistic cure for H I V

I found this article on the internet. It claims to have made a medical breakthough in curing the H I V disease using a natural method, bio mag tablets. Read the article and leave your comments please.

THERE is a new and LATEST HOLISTIC MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH IN COMBATING THE DREADED AND SO-CALLED H.I.V DISEASE!!..this is as a result of the sacrifices put in by biocure tech,to preserve the continuity of human lives..AMAZING AND REAL BIO MAG TABLETS !! which removes H.I.V from the body within 90 days ..this cure works wonders as the virus is ousted or removed by the prevention of virus from attaching itself to tthe CD4(T-CELLS) OF THE BODY!BIO TABS ACTS AS  FUSION INHIBITOR PREVENTING THIS BONDING TO CELLS OF THE BODY,THEREBY RENDERING VIRUS TO BE HALF DEAD AS VIRUS LOSES ITS CYCLE..AND BECOMES USELESS AND IS CONSEQUENTLY EXCRETED FROM THE BODY..AMAZING!!..CAN YOU BELIEVE?A CURE SO POTENT,IT REMOVES VIRUS FROM THE BODY WITHIN 3 MONTHS!!..IT IS SO PRACTICAL,DO NOT BE DECIEVED BY ARV`S WHICH ASSURES THE DEATH OF PATIENT,OR THE PROPAGANDA BY ALLOPHATIC

PRACTITIONERS,@ BIOCURE TECH,..we care about humanity..for more info contact tkross2008@gmail.com OR LOG ON TOwww.bio-cure-info.com

Felt with the Heart: A New Year's Wish

" The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched- they must be felt with the heart."
Helen Keller

Wishing you lots of beauty and love in the New Year. Thanks for tuning in to my ramblings.

Best Patient Posts of 2010

Leslie at Getting Closer to Myself organized a blog carnival of the posts various patient bloggers sent in. Have a look here.

How to keep well

My remedy for keeping well. Is quite simple. For breakfast I have a Weetabix with two oranges. This I hope will help my digestion. Then its time for my natural supplement cocktail. I will take 1000mg of vitamin C this will boost my immune system, protect against heart disease, and cancers.


Omega 3 fish oil is another favorite supplement. I will take 2000mg of this, which is 600mg of active EPA/DHA. Omega 3 supports a healthy heart and brain function. It is said that fish oil can improve your mood. Next I take 1000mg of fresh odourless garlic this helps to maintain healthy cholesterol levels and again supports heart health.It also helps to control blood pressure It may also protect the immune system. I regard Vitamin B3, (Niacin) as important. I take 100mg per day, and this helps to control my cholesterol levels. It also releases energy from food.


Finally I will take 75mg of a coated asprin, helping to thin my blood, and it is said to protect against bowel cancer

Not a Holiday Stress Article

I really don't like articles about dealing with holiday stress. You know them. The lists of: Top 10 Things You Can Do to Get Through the Holidays without Stress; Banish Holiday Stress Forever; and even the hyperbolically punctuated Holiday Stress!!!!!

Some advisers recommend the "be kind to yourself" approach. You know -- the 3M's: massage, meditation, and mood elevators (of the non-pharmaceutical kind, like music and pleasant aromas). A lot of the advice has to do with avoiding family confrontations while consuming excessive amounts of alcohol and sugar,which will not only create irreparable breaches, but leave you feeling like a lonely, bloated, self-loathing toad. Not bad advice -- but family breaches and that toad-like feeling can creep in no matter how hard you try. Holidays can be lightening rods for attracting old wounds, losses, grievances, and shame. And no "10 Tips" can prevent some debacles from happening.

Now, I acknowledge that there are probably many people who can get through the holidays without having to watch endless episodes of South Park or The Twilight Zone. There are probably many for whom the holidays are truly joyous and a time of family, friend, and neighbor good will. There are many principled people who get happiness from serving others during the holidays. I applaud all of you.

This year I really stepped into it. Not only do we have an endless stream of high calorie social engagements, but we are starting on some long overdue (by 30 years) home renovation. We are in the purging stage -- trying to recycle almost all our possessions: furniture, kitchenware, and all manner of assorted items that just fall into the stuff category.

The scenario is complicated by the fact that I'm a tosser and Richard is a keeper. I'm ready to heave into a dumpster unopened boxes that have been taking up prime basement real estate for decades. Richard needs to go through each box and resort items that either have sentimental value or some possible future use. I don't blame him....but it does make me a little crazy (and probably vice versa).

This year, I should have read a few of those holiday stress advice articles. I had a bit of a pain relapse; and I am annoyed with myself for not taking preventative measure (the 3 Ms) and for not being hardy enough to resist the firing up of those beastly pain neurons. So there's that nasty self-censuring voice working hard to get my attention, in competition with my attempts to get ahead of the pain curve before it really accelerates.

Richard can't go against his nature and purge faster. Nor can I totally extricate myself from holiday activities. But what Richard (my sweetie) does is remind me that this pain blip is not forever, and that it will never be as bad as it was before we had tools to control it. And he empathizes. He gives me love and compassion and rooibos tea.

That's the holiday spirit I want to receive and to give.

What are your holiday challenges and joys? And what does holiday spirit mean to you and your partner?

How Close Do You Get?

It's the start of cold, flu, sniffle, cough, wheeze, drip season. We may be stocking up on echinacea and Sambucol and neti pots. At the first sign of a throat tickle we may start gargling with salt water. Nasal congestion may drive us to boil water seasoned with eucalyptis drops, cover the rising steam and our heads with a towel, and breathe in the pungent fumes. We may even have a few containers of hand sanitizer displayed around the house to be used after touching...well, anything.

Why such precautions? Because we may live with a partner whose immune system is compromised. Sometime the compromise is so severe, that the partner may barely have a white blood cell left to combat infection. Or the ill partner may already be dealing with complicated symptoms, ones that don't signify immune system danger, but are strong enough that a cold, on top of the other condition, could push him over the edge

So, when you or your sweetie has some form of chronic condition, and the well partner comes down with a cold, what do you do? Do you avoid each other for the duration of the cold? Does the cold-holder stay at a friend's house? Do you talk, but not touch?

I remember one winter when my pain condition was on an unstoppable wild ride, and Richard came down with a hacking, dripping cold. Having Richard read to me or stroke my hair or hold me was just about the only source of solace I had during those dark days and nights. But the thought of coming down with the flu, on top of daily pain, was just too much to risk. So we set up a buffer zone between us. We agreed that the bedroom was mine alone, and that we would not be in the same room at the same time.

Two days of this isolation did little for his cold but served mostly to shroud me in deeper melancholy than I was used to. Not only did I cry over my physical pain, but I felt such an encompassing sense of loneliness. My pain was augmented by gloom, and I had lost my best buddy and comforter. And Richard was also suffering. It broke his heart to see me so bereft, and he had lost his main caretaking job -- one of the few things he could actually do to soften my pain.

We decided that hugging was more important, and more powerful, than bacteria. We crossed the buffer zone and held each other. I didn't get sick, and chances are, the comforting contact was more healing and preventative than gallons of antibacterial disinfectant.



What do you do when the well partner comes down with a cold? or flu? Do you take any precautions? Do you keep apart? Do you carry on as usual?

Is Marriage Good for Your Health? Maybe...Maybe Not

Excerpts from a New York Times article entitled: IS MARRIAGE GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH? about research findings on the impact of relationships on health:

"Scientists have continued to document the “marriage advantage”: the fact that married people, on average, appear to be healthier and live longer than unmarried people. Contemporary studies, for instance, have shown that married people are less likely to get pneumonia, have surgery, develop cancer or have heart attacks....."

"New research is increasingly presenting a more nuanced view of the so-called marriage advantage. Several new studies, for instance, show that the marriage advantage doesn’t extend to those in troubled relationships, which can leave a person far less healthy than if he or she had never married at all...."

"One recent study suggests that a stressful marriage can be as bad for the heart as a regular smoking habit. And despite years of research suggesting that single people have poorer health than those who marry, a major study released last year concluded that single people who have never married have better health than those who married and then divorced...."

"...a second marriage didn’t seem to be enough to repair the physical damage associated with marital loss. Compared with the continuously married, people in second marriages still had 12 percent more chronic health problems and 19 percent more mobility problems."

"... results suggest that there are important differences between men and women when it comes to health and the style of conflict that can jeopardize it. The women in this study who were at highest risk for signs of heart disease were those whose marital battles lacked any signs of warmth, not even a stray term of endearment during a hostile discussion (“Honey, you’re driving me crazy!”) or a minor pat on the back or squeeze of the hand, all of which can signal affection in the midst of anger....Men were at risk for a higher coronary calcium score, however, when their marital spats turned into battles for control. It didn’t matter whether it was the husband or wife who was trying to gain control of the matter; it was merely any appearance of controlling language that put men on the path of heart disease."

"The solution....isn’t to stop fighting. It’s to fight more thoughtfully. “Difficulties in marriage seem to be nearly universal,” he said. “Just try not to let fights be any nastier than they need to be.”"

"...research shows that some level of relationship stress is inevitable in even the happiest marriages. The important thing...is to use those moments of stress as an opportunity to repair the relationship rather than to damage it. “It can be so uncomfortable, even in the best marriages, to have an ongoing disagreement,”... “It’s the pit-in-your-stomach kind of thing. But when your marital relationship is the key relationship in your life, a disagreement is really a signal to try to fix something.”"

Thanksgiving Travel

If you're traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday period, I hope your experience is just like this:
(if you can't see the full screen, you can click on this link and view it on YouTube




Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.

The end of anxiety

I take it all back about natural treatment with regard to anxiety. I

found my own cure for anxiety by accident. I went to the doctors

because I had pain in my shoulder, which felt like a trapped nerve.

The doctor prescribed Pregabalin a drug which helps nerve pain.

However when I took them I felt like a million pound. I was really

on a high, there was no anxiety. I have not felt like this for thirty

years. I found on the net this comment about Pregabalin.

Generalized anxiety disorder is one of the most common psychiatric problems. There are several treatment options available; one of which is pregabalin (brand name Lyrica), a non-benzodiazepine medication traditionally used to treat pain resulting from damaged nerves.
 
Pregabalin it seems is used to treat generalized anxiety disorder, and if anyone is reading this and has anxiety, try to get Pregabalin it is wonderful. There is no way any natural herb would be able to work as well as this. I am cured

Spinal Cord Injury and a Wedding

From an article on CNN.com:

A bride-to-be is joking around with her girlfriends at her bachelorette party and is pushed into a swimming pool. She hits her head and suffers a C6 spinal cord injury with paralysis from the chest down. She can use her arms and wrists, but not her hands. She is committed to adapting as well as she can and to leading a vigorous and full life. Her fiance is committed to her. They plan on marrying as soon as her complicated insurance situation is resolved. He says, "We are built to last.

When I read about a situation like this I am horrified and amazed. Horrified at the fates who can inflict such cruel tricks on us. And amazed at people's resilience and ability to continue on with a sense of possibility.

I also can't help but wonder about what the future holds for this couple.

What do you think they need in order to make it as a couple?

Grand Rounds is Up at Nurse Ratched's blog

Grand Rounds is a collection of posts from the health care blogosphere. This week Nurse Ratched is hosting. It's a good read (and one of mine is included).

Early Love and Illness

A recent story in Parade entitled, The Only Time We Have Together is Right Now, is about the joy of a couple in their thirties who recently married. The male partner was diagnosed three years earlier with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

"Bahar and Nick met at a bar in October 2008 after a University of Illinois football game in Champaign, where he was living. She noticed that her pal Matt had brought along “this really cute, well-dressed, quiet guy.” He wasn’t drinking, so she teasingly asked him why. “I’ve got cancer. I can’t,” Nick replied. “Can I buy you a drink?” Unfazed by his answer (“I’m an oncology pharmaceutical sales rep. I see people with cancer every day,” she says), Bahar shot back, “Really? That’s the worst pickup line ever!” He laughed, and they started talking"

They dated, fell in love, and decided to marry, as his health was declining.

"Wish Upon a Wedding (WUW), a new nonprofit that stages ceremonies free for couples in which one person has a serious illness or has had a life-altering experience. Explains WUW founder, San Jose, Calif., wedding planner Liz Guthrie, “You shouldn’t have to put your life on hold because you’re sick.” ....In her application, Bahar wrote, 'I don’t know what Nick’s current life expectancy is, but I do know I want him to be my husband forever.' "

Here are the questions this story raised for me:

• When serious or chronic illness is part of your relationship from the outset, or early on, what does it take to sustain Bahar and Nick's kind of live-and-love-in-the-moment joy?
• Is that even possible; or do the demands and constraints of illness eventually chip away at that joy and turn it to complacency and sadness?
• Or does illness act as an accelerant, clearing away the debris and pushing love to the foreground?

Did you and your partner get together when one of you already had an illness? Or did the illness appear soon after your relationship solidified? What has been your experience about the impact illness has on love and joy?

Finding Connection Within the Whirlwind

I don't know about you, but more and more of the people I know are getting sick.

I have a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Another friend's 65 year old husband is sliding quietly into end stage Alzheimer's. And there are too many women friends who are being treated for breast cancer.

The sadness of it is a weight we all carry, mostly separately, and at special times, together.

I grow more and more aware of how the battering ram of illness smashes down hard on couples and leaves partners flattened and afraid, without instructions for how to use the strength of relationship to build resiliency for facing the trials of illness.

The flattened partners are quickly scooped up by the medical whirlwind, and their own voices are lost in the loudness of clinical talk about diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, prognosis, trials, and options. There is hardly room to breath, let alone time to connect and remember the power of love and shared memories. There is no time to grow into awareness of being a couple, of not really being alone, when isolating words like cancer, stroke, heart attack are surrounding you.

I can remember times when I felt that the world had shrunk to just two points - me and my pain. There was no horizon, no tomorrow. Just this terrible duality of self and hurt. I thought nothing could reach me. Then Richard would come home from work and we'd sit on the couch in silence, leaning against each other. The world would shift, sometimes only for a few minutes. I felt accompanied. That there was a shoulder next to mine helping me carry the weight of pain.

There can be so much energy in the couple connection. Even if the relationship has grown dull, illness can sometimes compel alliance. When faced with a frightening diagnosis or mysterious symptoms, be silent for a moment and look into each others' eyes. Hold hands. Maintain contact within the whirlwind. Use each other as anchor points.

Have you been able to find moments of connection with your partner? How do you do it?

How to improve your health naturally

Getting rid of body toxins is essential for your health. If it can be done the natural way so much the better. I found this article which I am sure will produce better health.

Bathing is as essential as anything we do as humans, yet baths frequently get overlooked in any list of healing habits. When prepared for and taken properly, a bath can relieve your toxic load -- as well as mental and emotional stress -- easily and at very little expense. The bath is your missing tool to better health.
As a longtime practitioner in the field of wellness and longevity medicine, I've found that empowering people to take conscious care of their physical bodies helps to ensure that their health care program succeeds. Yet there is one area, as essential as anything we do as humans, which frequently gets overlooked in any list of healing habits: bathing. I don't mean merely washing your face, underarms and private areas; but more specifically the act -- and the art -- of total cleansing, by soaking and renewing the skin in the bath.
I come to the wisdom of bathing culturally as well as medically. I am Korean by birth. In Asia, the bath has an ancient heritage as a purification rite that is both practical and remedial. Growing up in Korea, my first experiences of bathing were of going with my grandmother to the local communal bath house. She had no bathroom of her own, and wouldn't have thought that she needed one. I learned about bathing and hygienic skills from her at two years of age, with all the ritual attached to that journey: carrying my own bucket, towel and scrubbing cloths; the stages of cleansing; and the beautiful act of generations coming together, without vanity or inhibition, helping to take care of each other.
The key steps of traditional Korean bathing are easy to adopt, but they change the bath completely. The norm today, or at least the standard, in many Western countries, is to wash our bodies a lot -- and not in the bath at all, but in the shower. Past the age of childhood, taking a bath is typically seen in terms of indulgence more than hygiene. A bath is virtually a psychological act. It is about stealing time away from the daily rush, for the sake of relaxation, solitude, sensuality, retreat or luxury. Still, a really phenomenal amount of health benefit gets lost in the migration from bath to shower, and from the spirit of cleansing to the behavior of clean.
The medical truth is that bathing is one of the most systemically corrective things that you can do for your body. When prepared for and taken properly, a bath can reduce real toxic as well as mental and emotional stress. The warm water in which you submerge gently stimulates detoxification through the skin and other organs of elimination (the kidneys, liver, colon and lungs) by inducing lymphatic flow, improving circulation, calming inflammation and encouraging sweating. Add scrubbing to the process as your dead skin layers naturally slough off in water, and you remove innumerable pollutants and metabolic waste products that have been collected there. Remember, the skin is the largest organ for detoxification and therefore a first line of defense for your body.
And we need to purify our skin more than ever in modern life. Toxins that are found in the skin include, but are not limited to: benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, styrene, deodorant, car exhaust, hydrocarbons, smog, household chemicals, perfumes, cosmetics, heavy metals including mercury, cadmium, aluminum, arsenic, lead, and nickel, dust mites, dust mite droppings, fungus, mold, bacteria, virus, parasites, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and hormones. It makes sense to rid the body of these elements as regularly as possible, in order to manage the toxic load we all carry to varying degrees.
Bathing has always helped our bodies do that, easily and at very little expense. In effect, a proactive bath once a week can replace certain types of doctor's treatments, spa visits or other more invasive detox modalities.
I'd like to share some basic principles to help you transform bathing into a healing resource. All you need at home is a bathtub, a scrubbing mitt or cloth, a bucket and gentle, organic soap. Another option would be to find a local Korean sauna/bath house to visit on a regular basis, where you can soak and be scrubbed by an expert in the traditional manner. I've visited wonderful Korean bath saunas in many cities, and many offer hot rooms and pools of different temperatures, to intensify the ritual of cleansing. Following custom, these are communal places where you will have to let go of modesty. Most offer different sessions for men and women. Check your local city guide for information, or, you can visit my website for a list of reputable, classical Korean bath saunas across the country that I personally have experienced and highly recommend.
One note of caution: Bathing in this way is a form of mild detoxification, which involves raising your body temperature and increasing your metabolic rate through the steps of skin purification. For any bath or detoxifying regimen, get your doctor's approval first if you have a physical condition or you are in a weak state. Contraindications may include, but are not limited to, diabetes, low or high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney or liver disease, adrenal exhaustion, recent illness, pregnancy, nervous system deficiencies and severe fatigue. Also, if you have just been out in the sun and gotten a burn or even a tan, scrubbing is not recommended.
1. Wash your body first. This is when to take that shower! It doesn't make sense to enter a clean bath with dirty feet and a sweaty body. The bath is not for washing, but for soaking in fresh pure water in order to open the systems of the body and exfoliate old layers of skin. Plus, in order to exfoliate properly in your bath, all oils and creams need to be completely removed from your skin first. Washing first can also reduce contamination and prevent possible bladder infections when in the bath. Not cleaning before bathing is a major omission in the Western concept of the bath.
As part of a general skin care regimen, I recommend that my patients use a probiotic soap for best cleansing. Like oral probiotics and cultured foods for your digestion such as Korean kimchi or yogurt, this type of soap is naturally anti-microbial and works on the skin in a similar way: The presence of good bacteria helps to diminish the ill effects of the bad. In his book, "Life on Man," bacteriologist Theodor Rosebury estimates that 50 million individual bacteria live on the average square centimeter (5x107/cm2) of human skin! Probiotic soap will optimize healthy skin flora and help remove harmful pathogens as well as dirt and sweat.
2. Make sure your bathtub has been cleaned with natural, nontoxic products. Draw your bath at a comfortably hot, but not scalding temperature. You want to feel very warm, to the point that you may be perspiring from your face, but not so hot that you want to get out of the tub to cool off. If you have a Jacuzzi tub with jets, you can use them for soothing muscles.
3. Stay in the bath for at least 20-30 minutes. You can stop here after your soak, and still derive beneficial, passive healing from the bath. Dry yourself vigorously with a clean towel to add a light amount of lymphatic stimulation.
Do not scrub after 8 or 9 p.m., as it may keep you awake. If you do choose to exfoliate, check your skin after about 15 minutes of soaking. Can you feel some debris sloughing off? If so, your skin will be ready soon to be scrubbed, to remove all the toxins which are embedded in the dead outer layers. Sweating also brings these toxins to the surface.
4. To begin exfoliating, finish your bath and jump back in the shower. Keep your body wet; the room should still be warm enough from your bath that you should not feel chilled or uncomfortable. If you do not have a separate shower, drain your bathtub and sit inside the tub to scrub there. It is best if you have a stool to sit on. You should have your small plastic pail or shallow bucket to fill with fresh hot water, a scrubbing mitt or cloth, and your mild or probiotic soap at hand.
5. Scrub each section of your body and then fill the bucket with hot water and splash it clean. However, do not scrub: all genital and rectal areas, eyelids and lips, or your whole face if you have sensitive skin. You can start from your feet and go up or from the arms and work down. Use linear strokes, back and forth: do not make circles. Practicing will show you how much pressure you need to use. Notice areas where you will always find dead skin, such as the back or inside of your forearms. Be aware that rinsing in the traditional way with a bucket is gentler on your skin and body than using a shower spray. Never use cold water before or during scrubbing. This will cause the skin to tighten so that it will not slough off, and may cause pain. You may be perspiring during the scrubbing process, or you might feel a bit of energy releasing. This is all normal. It just means your body is at an elevated metabolic state to aid in the detoxification process.
6. After one sweep over the entire body, you can go over any area again with a lighter touch to ensure you have removed all the dead skin. Your skin should feel baby soft, slightly pink with color, and vitalized. Wash your body one more time with soap, and rinse. Dry yourself well, and liberally apply a nourishing moisturizer to both body and face.
7. Lay down if you can for 15 minutes to relax and return to your regular temperature and heart rate. You will feel invigorated, clean, fresh and ready to go!
I often prescribe additional types of bath therapies for specific health conditions, using different medicinal salts, herbs and detoxifying agents. In future articles, I will discuss how to create bath programs for healthy and preventive skin care, chronic illness, injury, heavy metal toxicity and other ailments, as well as ways to assure that your bath water itself is pure and clean.
Happy bathing!




How to be happy                  Ways to improve your health                 How can I get better     

New natural cure for high blood pressure

 Natural cures have always been in the news. Coleus is a natural way to treat conditions such as high blood pressure.For many years doctors have been warning us about the dangers of hypertension. They know that if left untreated it can cause serious issues within the body. Many people die because they have failed to take action against this disease. It is not uncommon for people to develop angina, heart disease or even heart failure because they have ignored their blood pressure numbers.
The fact is though that the medical community does not have the corner on the market for medical knowledge. The treatments for high blood pressure are often unpleasant because of side effects and the like. That is why the natural cures for high blood pressure are gaining more and more popularity. With the natural world you have little to worry about when it comes to side effects.
Coleus is the newest weapon in the fight against high blood pressure. While this herb, sometimes known as Coleus Forskohlii, has been in use for other treatments over many years, it is just being discovered for its use as one of the home remedies for high blood pressure. Through the studies that have been conducted the use of coleus is very promising when looking to get those numbers under control.
Coleus works with the body itself to help it lower the blood pressure on its own. This is something that is rather unique. Using the defense system that is located within the cells themselves, coleus works to improve the circulation and therefore lower blood pressure.
To this day there are further studies being conducted. This means that more benefits may be found. It is suggested the coleus be taken on a daily basis to ensure that all of the benefits from this natural supplement work within the body.
This herb looks like a beautiful potted flower. There are many color variations of it but can mostly be found in a purple and white color. There are other health benefits associated with this herb. For example, in liquid form, a 1% solution of it can be used to reduce eye pressure for up to 5 hours. So if you suffer from glaucoma, you can find some comfort in using coleus.
It is also found that this herb stimulates the fat metabolism. So if you are looking to lose weight in hopes of controlling hypertension, then this can be the perfect supplement for you. As you can see, it has many great, healthy uses.

Treatment of high cholesterol 

The Bagel Man

I have a black and white photograph, entitled, "The Bagel Man," hanging in my kitchen. It's a picture taken in Israel 30 years ago of a rotund man about 60 years old wearing a wrinkled, greyed apron. He is standing in a doorway and all around him are bagels -- on countertops, hanging from a rope above the doorway, in a basket on his arm. His expression is one of acceptance. Every time I look at it I am reminded of my father. Today is the one year anniversary of my father's death.

Every Sunday my father would get up early and go to the bagel place -- that's what we called it, the bagel place. It was actually much more than that. It was a full fledged Jewish delicatessen, one that only existed in Queens (NYC) and now only in my memory. It had acres of display cases filled with smoked fish, roasted turkeys and chickens, corned beef, tongue, cheeses, pickled herring in cream sauce with onions, pickled cows feet, sour pickles, chopped liver, stuffed cabbage, kasha varnishkes, cheese cake with cherries on top, chocolate and cinnamon babka, Entemanns donuts, marbled and chocolate covered halva, and a curtain of salamis hanging from the ceiling.

My father bought bagels (plain and salted), lox, cream cheese, one white fish, and a babka or donuts or halva. When he got home, my mother would lay out a display of all his bounty on the dining room table. It was Jewish, still life, performance art. And we all knew our roles - to eat with gusto, share the New York Times and randomly comment out loud on what we were reading (I nabbed the magazine section), and all this while watching football or tennis or baseball in the background.

The eating was part of the art and we each had our own genres. I sliced a bagel in half and pulled out the doughy interior to make more room for piling on different ingredients: first a healthy slather of cream cheese; then a very thinly sliced onion and an even more thinly sliced tomato; finally I draped two strips of lox over the top. It is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten.

Today is one year since my father died. It feels at most 5 months. You were my nourisher Dad. Thank you for your wonderful generosity and presence. I miss you.

Alternative cure for blood and breast cancer

I looked on the internet for natural ways to cure cancer, and found this wonderful remedy. It uses all natural products that will not halm you.

This remedy has been popular in many hispanic countries and many people have claimed that it works wonderfully. Fray Romano Zago –a Brazilian fray who came up with this nice remedy and has used it for several years to cure people successfully– says that this remedy works for all types of cancer (skin, lungs, blood, breast, ovary, etc.). Some people say that it's very effective, even for cancer in terminal stage.

Look for an Aloe vera plant that is 3 years old or more. Clean 2 big leaves (or 3 small leaves) and remove the serrated margins (what look like thorns).

Cut the Aloe leaves in small pieces and put them in a blender or a mixer. Add half kilogram or 500 mL pure honey and 3 tablespoons of whisky (cognac, tequila or other kind of alcoholic beverage would be good too; this is a vessel dilator).

Mix everything until until you obtain a viscous mass. It is ready. You don't need to strain the remedy (just be careful that there are no sharp leaf margins left). Put it in a jar or container.
Directions For Use: Shake the jar very well. Take a big tablespoon, 3 times per day, 15 minutes before each meal. Do this for 10 days. Have a medical check to see if the tumor has reduced. If you don't achieve the desired results after this number of days, repeat the treatment a second time, or a third, or a fourth time until you get cured.
Side Effects: It might produce skin abscesses (but this is a sign that it is working).
Expected Results: In one week you will start seeing results.
Expected Results Within: 1 week

Holistic cures    Illness and disease    Lesser known herbs
Prevent cancer    Wellness ideas    Feel better

The Holidays, Already!

I don't know about you but I'm already feeling the holiday "dreads." Invitations, cholesterol masquerading as food, rivers of alcohol, late nights. I can feel my pain receptors begin to ignite just thinking about how to take care of myself over the next few months.

Other than the abandon and the gluttony, I also worry about letting others down if I have to bow out of an engagement I committed to because of pain. And I worry about letting myself down if I overdo things and risk doing what I know (but don't want to acknowledge) might cause a pain surge.

I do lean on Richard to be the voice of sound judgment. I ask him to provide the balance when I am strung out on the line between yearning to ignore risk and just indulge, and avoiding all social activity because I fear a relapse.

But I don't make it easy for him. When he is the voice of caution, I resist. I say, "It's the holidays, after all. Why can't I act like a normal person once a year?" When he is the voice of indulgence I shrink away and hide in a corner. "I can't possibly go out three nights this week. I'll crash."

So I hope maybe this holiday season I can find the balance between quarantine and hedonism.

What are your holiday challenges? How do you and your partner get through the holidays?

Celebrating the Ordinary

Richard and I took a mini-vacation last week in New York City. I grew up there but hadn't been back to visit for a long time. A few attempts had to be canceled because of a relapse in my pain condition.

Growing up in NYC meant that I calibrated my energy level to that of the City. Walking fast, talking fast, always scanning the environment for dangers and treasures, absorbing large chunks of stimuli without gagging -- all these became routine for me. And when I return to NYC, I effortlessly fall into these rhythms. Whereas New England feels a bit too tight and California feels a bit too loose; NYC is a perfect fit.

This means that it is easy for me to slip into automatic pilot mode and slither invisibly through the crowds and see only a blur of concrete and color around me.

But this trip was special -- because it didn't have to be canceled. I spent four inspiring days walking the streets, holding my sweetie's hand, and paying attention to the world all around me -- a world that in the past was muted by familiarity, and in recent times was a world eclipsed by pain.

This trip was a gift, and I noticed everything. Here's just one half hour:

10:15 am -- I get on the subway heading downtown.
10:20 -- A group of five men, dressed in mariachi outfits, board the subway car, play guitars, and sing Guantanamera.
10:30 -- I get off the subway and start walking towards Union Square where there is a marvelous farmers market.
10:35 -- I walk by a large, squat man shouting with a classic New York City-Tony Soprano accent into a cell phone: "If you don't get that f-ing sh-t to me by f-ing tomorrow I'll blow your f-ing head off."
10:40 -- I continue walking and look across the street where I see three people walking and laughing. One of them is wearing a costume rabbit head with large cartoonish ears.
10:45 -- I meet Richard in Union Square and we share a perfect apple.

What a glorious, ordinary, pain-free day in the City! Celebrating the ordinary not only gives me a lift in the moment, it replenishes the reservoir of great memories that help get me through the more painful days.

Healing Cancer the natural way,

Lets look at ways of healing cancer with natural therapy.The Natural Healing of Cancer is possible when people start understanding what the symptom is, and how it will affect us. Posted and written are alternatives to the AMA [American Medical Association] ways, the wellness approach to health.

There are almost as many different types of cancer as there are people. No two are alike, so not one treatment is going to work for all cases. MD's are trained to treat symptom, yet most could not tell you specifically why you have the cancer.

From a holistic standpoint any Cancer is simply a body starting to degenerate from improper balance.

If you are diagnosed with cancer, most MD's will simply say "You need surgery, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and/or prescription drugs to treat this". It is not in the University system of training that most AMA approved Doctors receive to approach this disease with natural remedies.

To really heal the body of cancer, we have to know what we are dealing with. #1: No one knows your body better than you do. When something is not right, your first question should be: "What did I do to make myself sick?" This can be easily answered if you are familiar with a major precept of natural healing: What you put into your system affects what you will get out of it.

The disease cancer has many causes, yet is many times reversible with the correct natural formulas. Practitioners in the Holistic fields need to approach this one with caution though, as "malpractice" is a serious crime if they are caught prescribing formulas that might lead to death.

We in the natural healing arts profession sometimes suggest how we would treat cancer, yet we are not legally allowed to prescribe. However, many intuitively know that holistic treatments can work better than the drugs, surgery and chemotherapy.

I feel we are born with cancer. It is as natural as being alive. We are not dealing with a "life force" here though, we are dealing with an entity originally without form, that can mutate when we are not taking care of ourselves.

Cancer is in us, yet will not abnormally grow unless we feed it with "junk". Here I would define "junk" as anything entering our body that will take away life force, and the list includes a vast majority of "junk foods" as well as unnatural chemicals, drugs, and foods our body is not designed to handle.

"Junk" can also be in the atmosphere, especially if we live near a major highway or in a highly polluted place. In work environment many are subjected to dangerous fumes and dust particles. This can also become a "slow death" if we do not take precautions, like wearing respirators, proper attire, or other means to keep toxin out of and away from our bodies.

One of the main reasons most Medical Doctors prescribe pharmaceutical drugs is simple: They are in the business of selling them. I once asked a retired Professor of Pharmacology why MD's almost always prescribe drugs, and drug stores mostly do not stock natural herbs? His answer was this simple: Drug companies cannot patent herbs, so there is no profit in it.

Almost all humans that go to MD's on a regular basis have been prescribed numerous drugs, and the older one gets the worse it gets, in most cases. There are drugs to treat one symptom, but its side effects mean another is essential to balance the adverse effects of the first one, and on it goes... until humans start spending more on the prescriptions than they do on good quality all natural food, that could work better for them.

It's no wonder that many get extremely ill on an "AMA approved" regimen, as the body's natural immune system is challenged to assimilate all these unnatural chemicals, as well as huge amounts of contaminated foods that line most grocery store shelves. The next thing is unnatural growths on or in the body, diagnosed by Doctors as - Cancer.

In many cases tumors or "benign cysts" are there to protect us against toxins within them that are encapsulated by the body for our protection. When our lungs are over taxed by smoke or pollution, it can limit the oxygen entering the system, and on it goes... When we eat greasy over-cooked foods, blood stream and liver sometimes cannot get it out of our systems. The next thing we notice - abnormal growths. I could go on here, but you should get the point by now.

Fibroids in or around Women's breasts is common. Lumps form for reasons explained in the previous paragraph. When treatment is avoided this condition can become acute. Fibroids or benign tumors can be reversed, but it takes avoiding the foods, smoke, chemicals, thoughts, etc. that have caused the condition.

Cancer is not just caused by improper diet or environmental effects. Thought can affect this condition. Good mental health is reassuring our body on a daily basis that we are healthy and getting healthier. When we know how to make our bodies healthier, we simply do not need to dwell on its negative aspects. Simple belief can work wonders, when applied in the right way.

Now for a testimonial: "Ron" was invited to meet me after he was diagnosed with one of the worst possible cancers known. He could not swallow whole foods, and had acute tongue cancer. He was starving to death, and became nauseous from green juices, too strong for him in that condition.

MD's had told Ron that he would die of cancer within 3 weeks if he did not have surgery, chemotherapy and prescription drugs immediately. The only other patient with that bad of cancer had died within 3 months of surgery / chemotherapy, and was never able to eat normal again - he was tube fed.

Ron pleaded with me to help him, and I told him I was not able to prescribe anything because MD's had already prescribed their treatment. He said, "I don't care - just help me".

So I replied, "If it were me, I would simply make a "full spectrum", nutritionally balanced vegan / raw soup, and that it would taste good.

Then he said "I'm starving - please just make me something I can hold down". I proceeded to make him a quart of this totally nourishing formula.

After 3 months of making at least 1/2 gallon of this vegan / raw soup per week, in addition to other things he could handle, Ron came back and said he was in remission, ready for a whole meal from me... and boy did he enjoy it!

Cancer can be a blessing in disguise when we start taking positive action to reverse this symptom. We can start by eating healthy foods and thinking healthy thoughts. Wonderful feelings of bliss along with the serenity of knowing we are getting well can literally make us look and feel younger. 

dreamhost review

Would You Choose to Get Involved with Someone Who Has a Serious Illness?

A recent New York Times Modern Love column was about a woman who fell in love with a man who, after a few dates, told her he was HIV positive. He was also much older and a recovering alcoholic and had a teenage daughter. None of these factors were obstacles to her love and commitment. They married. He had one severe episode of AIDS-related pneumonia that almost ended his life. He recovered, and they continue loving each other. In fact, the presence of his illness helps them fight relationship complacency and not take each other for granted.

So here are my questions for you:

Did you know your partner was ill when you committed to the relationship?

If yes, did that make you hesitate?

What made you decide to commit any way?

If you knew then what you know now, would you have made the same choice?

If you chose to end the relationship early on, after finding out about your date's illness, why did you make that choice? Did you ever regret it?

What can I do about flu

The flu season is almost here, so what natural ways can we protect ourself. Firstly always seek advice from your GP before considering natural medicine. Complimentary therapy can be useful in helping to protect yourself from the flu, or quickening the recovery.

At the first signs of flu take 20-30 drops of elderberry tincture three to four times a day for three days. Elderberry has been used for centuries to fight viruses, and one research study found that people who took it recovered from flu significantly faster than those who did not.

Naturpaths recommend Oscillococcinum, a homeopathic remedy for reducing the severity of flu symptoms. It is available online and in some health food shops. Be sure to use it within 12-48 hours of the first appearance of your symptoms.

You could also try N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a form of the amino acid cysteine. It helps to thin and loosen mucus and reduce flu symptoms. Take one 600mg dose three times a day, and of course my own favorite vitamin c in higher doses.

Add Link - Suggest Link - Submit URL Directory

Memorial for My Father

This weekend the extended family is making a pilgrimage to the Catskill Mountains where we spent summers as kids. We city kids were so lucky to have two months every year to get lost in the woods, dig up earthworms as bait for fishing expeditions, swim in an isolated mountain lake, have campfires with roasted marshmallows and silly songs, play endless games of canasta and hide and seek....and be a family together.

We are returning to the place of many of our best times to remember my father. It's a testament to how well he was loved that relatives from all over are gathering. His rabbi said he was an "adam shem tov," a man of good name. He was the most good man I know. He is why I married a very good man.

He taught me about happiness and he taught me how not to throw a baseball like a girl.

I love you Dad and will always miss you. Have a good passage.

Second Opinion

Many decades ago, when my father was in his thirties, he began having a problem with his eyes. His vision was OK, but every time he went outside, his eyes teared up and spilled a steady drip of water until he went back inside. He decided to consult an eye specialist. That doctor told him he would be blind within a year. He decided to get a another opinion. The second specialist gave him the same exam the first one did and told him to wear sunglasses when he went outside. He did and had clear vision until he died at age 84.

Several years ago, I noticed a hard bulge on my abdomen. My primary care doctor referred me to a surgeon. He examined me, said it was a lipoma and suggested it be removed surgically. The "oma" part scared me and I asked him what lipoma meant. He said it was a benign fatty tumor. I asked him what would happen if we left it alone. He said, "Probably nothing, It might go away or remain." I then asked him, "If it's benign and there's no harm in doing nothing, then why recommend surgery?" He said, "I'm a surgeon. That's what I do."

When Richard has a symptom, his tendency is to watch it, see what happens over time, and if it gets worse, consult a doctor. My tendency is to call a doctor when I first notice something awry. I figure that the doctor has a perspective I don't, and I'm just getting information and am not binding myself to a course of action. But once I do get the professional opinion, it's hard to deny it and return to ignorance. So I wind up with more anxiety and more medication than Richard does. And he's pretty damn healthy.

So --How do you know when you're in denial and ignoring something critical? How do you know when you're overloading something minor with too much anxiety and attention? And how do you know when to accept a doctor's advice and when to ask for a second and a third opinion?

Two Blog Carnivals

This month's Pain-Blog Carnival is up at How to Cope with Pain. Have a look.

Also, Leslie at Getting closer to Myself hosted a patient carnival on the question: What advice would you give, or what would you want non-chronically ill people to know about your illness and your life?

Unwanted Help

How do you deal with unwanted help?

The good intentions of friends and family in offering emotional and tactical help can sometimes be welcome, and can sometimes be just another burden to deal with when you or your sweetie are suffering from illness or pain.

When I was very ill, I had a friend who would call every day to ask how I was doing and then launch into her stories about pain, in which she generally featured as main character. It was wretched enough to have her use my suffering as a platform for her narratives. It was doubly wretched to be asked, every day - "How are you doing?" That question was just salt in the wound and served not to comfort but to remind me that I was not doing well at all, and that I had no idea when or if my pain condition would change.

I had another friend who called or emailed most every day and simply said, "I'm thinking of you." That was lovely. It felt like the sweet touch of a cool hand on my desperate brow. Not intruding. Not insisting I engage in any way. Just a brief loving contact that I knew could be extended should I need that.

Many people just don't know how to talk to someone who has a serious illness. Out of their own nervousness (and for some, out of their blind self-involvement), they ask too many questions, tell too many stories, offer to do too much. These offers, even if meant benevolently, become extra weight for the ill person to carry. When all your resilience is tied up in just holding your own self together, offers and questions can be the extra straws that break you down instead of fortifying you.

So how do you deal with family and friends who load you down with well-intention extra straws?

Firstly, be aware that this is happening. Don't just respond out of hospitality or habit, and then wind up entangled in a conversation you don't really want to have.

Secondly, know that your taking care of yourself takes precedence over another's hurt feelings. If you need to shield yourself from another's well-intentioned but unhelpful involvement, you must do so, or pay the price later in increased tiredness, pain, depletion.

Thirdly, communicate. People will inadvertently intrude. They don't know what is helpful and what is not. And what is helpful will change over time. Communicate - in person, by email, through a trusted third party -- and let friends and family know what your needs are. Do you want to be left alone? Do you want people to stay in touch, but not to expect any response from you? Do you want people to send you articles or other resources they have found about your condition? Do you want visitors to not drop by without advance notice? Do you want help with specific activities (e.g. drives to medical appointment, grocery shopping, child care)?

Fourthly, know that these efforts come from love. You can appreciate and express gratitude for the love, while setting limits on the involvement.

What stories and ideas do you have for letting your family and friends know what you want and don't want from them?

Help for Angina

A

Angina known medically as angina pectoris is a condition that causes pain in the heart muscle. It is usually as a result of poor circulation in the arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood. Warning if you think you have angina please seek medical advice as soon as possible.

There are also alternative ways that may help angina. These include taking regular supplements of antioxidants. The main ones are vitamins A,C, and E, the minerals selenium, zinc and magnesium, the amino acid lysine, the essential fatty acid EPA, from fish oils.

Herbal medicine can also help such as Garlic, Bromelain, Lime blossom, Lilly of the valley, Motherwort and Hawthorn berries.

Homeopathy remedy Aconite 6c can help and control an angina attack.

Illness as Catalyst?

Sorry for the short absence. Richard and I were helping my mother transition into an assisted living facility and sort out her medical needs. About six months after my father's death she hit the "alone" wall. Not loneliness, which can be tempered by social activity - but alone-ness. She became afraid.

She and my father were not very compatible. She experienced his questions about her activities as attempts to control her, and he experienced her wordless, stone-faced responses as either not having heard his question or as not having done the deed he was asking her about. So he would ask again, and again, with increasing impatience -- especially after he became physically disabled during the last two years of his life. And she would get stonier and stonier. You can see the endless, disappointing (to me) loop.

At the six month post-death point, it wasn't that she missed him or had regrets that disturbed her quietude, it was that she started becoming afraid of being alone. The night-time what-ifs intruded more and more into her awake time. What if I fall? What if I can't reach my cell phone? What if my alert necklace doesn't work? What if there's a hurricane? What if something happens and there's no one there?

So, we helped her move into an assisted living, where she is much more tranquil.

As we helped her settle in, I wondered: Must illness exacerbate the destructive behavioral and emotional patterns couples used during their healthier years? Does illness need to be the final stage on which the partners enact the same old script that locked them into battle or silence in healthier days? Or can illness be the catalyst that bulldozes the destructive relationship loops and spirals and clears a path to more nurturing interactions?

What is your experience? Can illness change relationship patterns for the better; or does illness just exacerbate the pre-existing negative behaviors?

Interspecies Love

Those of you who know me through this blog know that I am a sucker for inter-species love stories. I guess I believe that if love can cross the species boundary, having a partner who forgets to refill the ice cube tray or leaves socks on the living room floor open is less than inconsequential.

Here's another great story -- about an orangutan and a dog. enjoy!

This Week's Grand Rounds is Up

Grand Rounds is a collection of the best posts from the health care blog world. This week it is hosted by Inside Surgery. Have a read.

Dual-Illness Couples

It can be all consuming to deal with one's own illness. What happens when both partners are sick?

Cindy had been living in a cloud of ill defined, mercurial symptoms for years. Sometimes she felt too exhausted to comb her long brown hair. Sometimes moving or being touched made her retract in pain. Sometimes she ran a low fever for days without any apparent reason. In fact none of her symptoms had an apparent reason to her doctor. He prescribed Prozac, exercise, and a referral to a psychiatrist.

Cindy suffered her symptoms with fear and bravery; but her doctor's negation of her reality, his condensing it into a ball of dismissal and tossing it to a shrink crushed her. It was her husband, Bob, who mustered the energy and rallied Cindy to keep searching. They did, and found the right doctor who could give a name to her condition - fibromyalgia. Being taken seriously was as important to Cindy as was finally having a treatment path laid out for her. Cindy focused on taking care of herself, while Bob loved and encouraged her, did most of the chores, and worked full time. Things seemed to be working out for the first time in 4 years.

Then Bob got injured on the job. A piece of heavy equipment fell on him and he suffered serious injury to his back. He had two surgeries and grueling sessions of physical therapy. His love was there for Cindy, but his energy and ability shifted to attending to his own care.

Cindy and Bob did well when only Cindy was impaired. Now that they both had serious limitations and pain, their world bounced off its axis, and there was no one else around who could reposition it properly.

House chores were undone. Laundry, dishes, and all kinds of clutter filled the rooms that used to be tidy and inviting. Luckily Bob still received disability payments and insurance from his job.

Pain and fear made them both short tempered, and the only target for the spillover was the other partner.

Eventually, a friend suggested they consult a care manager to help them put resources in place - home health aides, visiting nurse, meals on wheels. This friend also organized a visitation rotation list among members of her synagogue so that twice a week Cindy and Bob were visited by someone who could bring new social energy into the house.

Cindy and Bob still struggle. They miss their old life and bemoan their current one.

Do you have any suggestions or advice for Cindy and Bob? Have you been in the situation where both partners were ill? What was that like for you?

Patients for a Moment is Up

This is a collection of blog posts written by people living with illness about their experience. It's a great read. It's being hosted by Leslie at Getting Closer to Myself.

Reclaiming the Joy

Illness takes so much from us. Yes, we can learn about caring and how to distinguish between the essential and the merely important. We can learn about acceptance and compassion for ourself and for our partner. We can become students of our body and listen with a sharper consciousness to its rhythms.

But illness takes so damn much from us. It takes the blissful freedom of ignorance. It takes spontaneity. It takes carelessness. It smashes all the assumptions we hold about moving without pain or fatigue. It takes mindlessness about time passing. It takes intimacy without forethought.

So, how does one reclaim some of this lost territory? How can you find the joy?

For me, I find it in motion. When I have a good day and I can go on a glorious disneyland of a hike in the hills of Marin or New Hampshire, joy rides on my shoulder. When I have a good hour, I drive to the ocean and breathe. When I am hurting and tired of hurting, I sit side-by-side with my sweetie and catch up on episodes of Lost or The Wire.

The joy is not in the grand parade; it's in the moments.

What are your moments of joy?

Post-Illness Readjustment

Do you know any couples who have had this experience?

She develops cancer. Or he has a heart attack. One is seriously ill and the other moves into serious caretaking mode. Whether it's love or resilience or luck, they not only manage the illness effectively, they manage to relate to each other in empathic ways. The love they started with seems to expand under the pressure of illness. In fact, they may even say that illness showed them strengths in each other that were invisible before.

Then normalcy sets in. Maybe it is ushered in by recovery or by adaptation to a new way of living and relating, with illness.

One would imagine that the couple would welcome some stability and would take their illness-induced lessons and apply them with more love and vigor in this next phase.

But the lessons don't hold, and the relationship falls apart.

They start picking at each other. Bickering over the insignificant -- refilling ice cube trays, shutting the computer off when not in use, leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor.

Things escalate. The arguments get louder. Old grudges surface. Dues for favors done years ago are expected to be repaid now.

Or maybe things get quieter. So quiet that soon there is nothing left to talk about. And no interest in creating new experiences.

The couple who did so well during illness can't cope with the new normalcy. They become like soldiers who discovered their aliveness in battle and can't return to the averageness of civilian life.

Do you know couples like this?

Couple Faces Separation in Nursing Home

As I continue to mourn my father's death eight months ago and witness my mother's slow, seeping decline in her assisted living facility, I am becoming acutely aware of not only mortality, but of the gnarled and hazardous path you have to walk to get to the end of life. How many people get to die quietly, in their own beds, holding the hand of their beloved? The story below about an elderly couple facing separation from each other because of institutional regulations and efficiencies makes me very afraid.

Do you have stories to tell about this issue? What are your thoughts about your own mortality road? How do you want your end to be? These are questions we rarely say out loud, or write. They frighten me as I type them. But I am interested in your thoughts.

Here is an excerpt from the story by Max Harrold in the Montreal Gazette, June 25, 2010

Couple Survived the Holocaust; Now Faces Separation at Nursing Home

"They survived the Holocaust, but now Elena and Francisc Basch - married for 65 years - face the prospect of being separated in the Côte de Neiges nursing home where they live in adjacent rooms.

The case highlights the difficult choices faced by long term care facilities and the often disorienting consequences for frail residents. The couple's son says separating them - both his parents have Alzheimer's - would be too traumatic. The nursing home says it is legally entitled to do what it feels is best, based on each resident's needs.

The Baschs, both age 90, have different stages of the illness that impairs memory, thought, speech and can lead to complete helplessness. The Montreal Jewish Eldercare Centre says Elena must be moved to a different ward as soon as possible because she needs a more advanced level of care, her son Max Basch, 59, told The Gazette this week.

"They cannot survive without one another," explained Max, from his home in Tenafly, N.J. His mother's more advanced condition makes the familiarity of her surroundings critical and her husband in the next room is a big part of that, he said.

"They always hold hands," Max said. "They kiss each other. They're this incredible, great couple in theirs 90s. When he went to the hospital for a few days, she said 'Maybe I can go to the hospital and check in on him and cook for him.' She doesn't realize exactly where she is but she knows they are together."

WHAT BRAIN SCANS CAN TELL US ABOUT MARRIAGE

From the June 4, 2010 New York Times, by Tara Parker-Pope. The article doesn't look at marriages in which one (or both) partner has an illness, but it's still food for thought.

WHAT BRAIN SCANS CAN TELL US ABOUT MARRIAGE
"....academic researchers have become increasingly fascinated with the inner workings of long-married couples, subjecting them to a battery of laboratory tests and even brain scans to unravel the mystery of lasting love.

Bianca Acevedo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, studies the neuroscience of relationships and began a search for long-married couples who were still madly in love. Through a phone survey, she collected data on 274 men and women in committed relationships, and used relationship scales to measure marital happiness and passionate love.

Dr. Acevedo expected to find only a small percentage of long-married couples still passionately in love. To her surprise, about 40 percent of them continued to register high on the romance scale. The remaining 60 percent weren’t necessarily unhappy. Many had high levels of relationship satisfaction and were still in love, just not so intensely.

In a separate study, 17 men and women who were passionately in love agreed to undergo scans to determine what lasting romantic love looks like in the brain. The subjects, who had been married an average of about 21 years, viewed a picture of their spouse. As a control, they also viewed photos of two friends.

Compared with the reaction when looking at others, seeing the spouse activated parts of the brain associated with romantic love, much as it did when couples who had just fallen in love took the same test. But in the older couples, researchers spotted something extra: parts of the brain associated with deep attachment were also activated, suggesting that contentment in marriage and passion in marriage aren’t mutually exclusive.

“They have the feelings of euphoria, but also the feelings of calm and security that we feel when we’re attached to somebody,” Dr. Acevedo said. “I think it’s wonderful news.”

So how do these older couples keep the fires burning? Beyond the brain scans, it was clear that these couples remained active in each other’s lives.

“They were still very much in love and engaged in the relationship,” Dr. Acevedo said. “That’s something that seems different from the Gores, who said they had grown apart.”

Indeed, if there is a lesson from the Gore breakup, it’s that with marriage, you’re never done working on it.

Brushing your teeth may prevent disease

It may seem an unusual link, but doctors have found that people who brush their teeth daily are much less likely to develop heart disease than those who don't.

A new study from the BMJ revealed that people who never or only rarely brush their teeth twice a day are up to 70% more likely to develop heart disease.

Although scientists have long suspected a relationship between gum disease and heart problems, this is the first study to high the dangers of poor oral hygiene.

Experts are unsure of the exact reason for the link, but suggest that it may be a result of inflammation in the mouth and gums, which they believe is connected to the build up of clogged arteries.

However despite the findings, the researchers stressed that the overall risk of heart disease from oral hygiene remains relatively low.

In the survey of more than 11,000 people, just 71% said they brushed their teeth twice a day and only 62% said they visited the dentist every six months.