Fenris

I read a really good book recently called The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen. It was winner of the National Book Award in 1978 and follows the journey of the author, a field biologist, traveling to the remote mountains of Nepal in 1973 to study the Himalayan blue sheep and hopefully glimpse the rare snow leopard. The journey was very spiritual as well as a very interesting trek through Nepal 40 odd years ago. I read the book over 4 days and couldn't put it down. There isn't any any real shamanic content, but the book elicited the feeling of a shamanic journey/awakening while I was reading it. I highly recommend reading taking a look.

Sorry for the scattershot approach in the way I put this together. Also it should be noted that I have not had a professional diagnosis, but rather attempted this based on my own feelings. The text in blue in the first half is copied from various places on the net, some linked, some not. The text in black in the second half is mine. Edited to add some context/ some sort of explanation. It is my firm belief that the majority of my ailments arrises from a less than spectacular digestive system, so much of my mood and wellbeing seems to be related to how my stomach is feeling. I have been taking metamucil regularly which helps a lot with my psoriasis, and I have had a feeling that there may have been a fungal overgrowth in my gut. I have narrowed down a lot of things that help, but nothing that fixed. My father was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer after getting through esophagal cancer 20 years ago. He had the H.pylori test and came back positive for it, his father had stomach ulcers as well. My father was told that his offspring should get tested for H.pylori. I startel looking into the possibility that H.pylori and C.albicans might be somehow related in causing grief in the gut, and it looks like they do act together, so I decided to try some self experimentation. The Lufenuron to attack any possible fungal problem, and the mastic gum to try to combat the H.pylori I have been taking them together as it seems the H.pylori can hide in the C.albicans, only to re-infect after the standard course of antibiotics. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijmicro/2012/920459/ Chitin, Chitinase Responses, and Invasive Fungal Infections International Journal of Microbiology Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 920459, 10 pages An important component of the fungal cell wall that has not been fully explored as a pathogen-associated molecular pattern is chitin, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine. Chitin is one of the most abundant biopolymers, probably almost as abundant as cellulose and is found on fungal cell walls and exoskeletons of numerous organisms including parasitic worms (helminths) and arthropods. Although humans do not biosynthesize chitin, they do express chitin degrading enzymes, known as chitinases. But Chitin is highly resistant to enzymatic breakdown. Chitinase occurs naturally in many common foods. Bananas, chestnuts, kiwis, avocados, papaya, and tomatoes, for example, all contain significant levels of chitinase. Chitinases are enzymes that degrade chitin, an abundant polysaccharide present in fungal walls, the cuticles of helminths, and the exoskeletons of arthropods, but strikingly absent from higher organisms. These enzymes are expressed by lower organisms including plants and fish, where they have a known protective function against chitin-bearing pathogens. Worms have chitinous mouthparts to hold the intestinal wall Research article Transcriptome signatures in Helicobacter pylori-infected mucosa identifies acidic mammalian chitinase loss as a corpus atrophy marker http://www.biomedcentral.com/1755-8794/6/41 The majority of gastric cancer cases are believed to be caused by chronic infection with the bacteriumHelicobacter pylori, and atrophic corpus gastritis is a predisposing condition to gastric cancer development. We aimed to increase understanding of the molecular details of atrophy by performing a global transcriptome analysis of stomach tissue. Biopsies from patients with different stages of H. pylori infection were taken from both the antrum and corpus mucosa and analyzed on microarrays. The stages included patients without current H. pylori infection, H. pylori-infected without corpus atrophy and patients with current or past H. pylori-infection with corpus-predominant atrophic gastritis. Using clustering and integrated analysis, we found firm evidence for antralization of the corpus mucosa of atrophy patients. This antralization harbored gain of gastrin expression, as well as loss of expression of corpus-related genes, such as genes associated with acid production, energy metabolism and blood clotting. The analyses provided detailed molecular evidence for simultaneous intestinal metaplasia (IM) and spasmolytic polypeptide expressing metaplasia (SPEM) in atrophic corpus tissue. Finally, acidic mammalian chitinase, a chitin-degrading enzyme produced by chief cells, was shown to be strongly down-regulated in corpus atrophy. Transcriptome analysis revealed several gene groups which are related to development of corpus atrophy, some of which were increased also in H. pylori-infected non-atrophic patients. Furthermore, loss of acidic chitinase expression is a promising marker for corpus atrophy. Frequent occurrence of Helicobacter pylori in the human gastrointestinal tract and its persistence due to unsuccessful antimicrobial therapy might be related to a stage in the life cycle of H. pylori in which the bacterium establishes itself as an intracellular symbiont in yeast. In this study, occurrence of non-culturable H. pylori in the oral yeast was assessed by targeting vacuolating cytotoxin A (vacA s1s2) and ureAB genes in the total DNAs of yeasts. The results of this study showed the intracellular occurrence of H. pylori in yeast. This endosymbiotic relationship might explain the persistence of H. pylori in the oral cavity, the consequence of which could be reinoculation of the stomach by the bacterium and spread of infection among human populations. Candida and H Pylori often live together. Most people don’t know Candida can cause the same or similar symptoms as the H pylori itself. So although you may have got rid of the H pylori bacteria, symptoms can remain – or even worsen – if the Candida overgrowth is not dealt with too. Some research suggests that oral Candida may act as a reservoir for H pylori – which means you could reinfection yourself after successful H pylori treatment. In other words you could take H pylori triple therapy antibiotics, eliminate H pylori from your stomach, only for it to return weeks or months later because it was hanging around in your mouth inside Candida organisms Mastic" is another remedy that has made the news. It is derived from a tree resin (Pistacia lentiscus) that has been used as a food ingredient in the Mediterranean region for thousands of years, and which is dried and sold in capsules. Using 1 - 2 g a day, there are reports of H. Pylori symptoms clearing in 90% of patients, and stool samples being H. Pylori-free in 80% of patients after only two weeks. In vitro studies have shown Mastic Gum to be effective against at least seven strains of Helicobacter Pylori, and an increasing number of human trials show similar results, backed by urea breath tests coming back negative. A number of scientific studies around the world are currently underway, including trials to find out if killing H. Pylori in the oral cavity by chewing mastic gum - not just in the stomach alone - would more permanently eradicate the bug. Unfortunately, as is the case with many therapies and remedies, mastic (mastica) is not tolerated well by some patients, who reported side effects such as stomach upsets similar to, or even worse than the discomfort experienced from the H. Pylori bacteria itself. Other patients reported no problems during the two week mastic treatment, however despite the promising results of some of these studies, there have been other clinical trials conducted with mastic / mastica that showed no efficacy whatsoever. Lufenuron is a chitin synthesis inhibitor and can be used to treat fungal infections (and fleas) in primates, it is not approved for use in humans. Lufenuron is fat soluble so will be taken with meals containing dietary fats. It would seem that H pylori can be found in an environment where the chitin regulating enzymes are severely down regulated – I believe that this would promote an ideal situation for cohabitation with candida as there would be a protective buffer for its chitinous cell walls. Some physical and mental symptoms – Often feeling mentally & physically tired, brain fog, digestive complaints, gas, feeling of fullness (like swollen stomach) even when hungry, psoriasis & dermatitis, sinuses constantly feel mildly blocked, gross mouth feel & very dry in the mornings, furry tongue (not too bad), mood swings, anxiety/depression seemingly related to digestion upsets, usually treat with some mucuna and the dopamine lift seems to fix the problem, dose up on inner health plus, supplement with glutamine as well. Any attempt to boost serotonin with 5HTP seems to aggravate the anxiety/depression so I don’t try that any more. Sometimes I get bad night sweats and wake up soaking wet which can seemingly be due to how late and how much dinner I ate (too much too late = bad) (not too much early =good). Family history of stomach cancer and ulcers. Day 1 (tue 9th): The plan is to take 3.2g of Lufenuron consumed during the course of the day between 3 or 4 serves. 1.0g of mastica gum taken 1 hour before breakfast and at mid-afternoon. This will be repeated for 5 days, followed by a 14 day break from the lufenuron. At this stage I envisage taking the mastic gum daily for at least 2 weeks & will need to order more. Some raw mastic tears are on the way. I took mastic gum this morning and this afternoon however didn't start the lufenuron until dinner time where 0.8g was consumed. Day 2 (wed 10th): I had difficulty sleeping soundly but felt really tired, I woke up on time and found the morning brain fog to be less than usual. My mouth seems to have more saliva and I can sense a mild metallic taste in my mouth. I seem to be a bit more mentally active at work. I am attributing the mental acuity to the mastic if it isn't placebo. I do tend to be far too aware of my mind & body connection and am expecting a significant placebo response to begin with. Just being excited is enough to make me feel healthier and more alert Day 3 (Thu 11th) I had difficulty sleeping soundly and woke early with less brain fog again. My cognitive process seems to be getting sharper. The time taken to wake up and be alert is reducing. I still feel physically tired but have been more able to get things done during the day. Again my mouth seems to have more saliva and I can sense a mild metallic taste. It does feel like there is something going on in my stomach. No real change in stool at this stage. Day 4 (Fri 12th) I had a little too much to drink last night and didn't get to bed until midnight, I woke up at 2am for the bathroom and again at 5 for the baby. I had the driest tongue imaginable. I am finding it harder to sleep in, not that it can really be described as such but rising in the morning is taking less effort; despite the lack of sleep and headache I was up relatively early. It is going to be difficult discerning anything today over my hangover, I didn't think I had drunk enough to warrant feeling like this. Plenty of water today J Day 5 (Sat) busy around the house, felt really run down by the evening. Went out to a party and had a few drinks, not too much. Had a headache on Sunday. Day 6 (Sun) Last day of Lufenuron Day 7 (Mon) terrible nights sleep, baby up crying until midnight. I spent the entire day zoned out and couldn't concentrate. Day 7 (Tue) Definitely coming down with a lurgy I picked up from the kids. Had an early night and slept well. Day 8 (Wed) Lurgy in full swing. Day 9 (Thu) Lurgy still in full swing. It was easier to clear my head this morning than is usual for a head cold. My sinuses don’t feel quite as blocked as what I would have expected. Feeling a bit achy and generating lots of green mucus. Psoriasis isn't too bad at the moment, the dermatitis on my hands may be starting to ease up a bit, it's hard to tell. Day 10 (Fri) Feeling generally better today, had 2 pints after work with the work guys. Day 11 (Sat) - Day 12 (Sun) - Day 13 (Mon) Went to bed at 9.30 Friday night, chest cough got progressively worse, I couldn't breathe properly and my lungs were sore. I stayed up from 12.00 to 2am reading and coughing. Dosed up on drugs and went back to bed which got me through the night. Saturday was awful; I pretty much stayed in bed, half delirious, all day. I couldn't eat and don’t remember drinking much. I got up around midnight to comfort my girlfriend, I felt like I was going to throw up and tried to get back to bed to lie down; I didn't make it back to bed and passed out on the floor, it felt like there was an explosion in my brain I couldn't think or make sense of anything and it is impossible to fight it so just had to hang on until it subsided. During the episode there is nothing but chaos and buzzing, I didn't know how I got there, basically no coherent thought possible, it's a terrifying experience. I was able to crawl back into bed and eventually get some sleep, strong headache followed. Sunday was marginally better, I felt very weak and not quite delirious but not there either. I felt I was getting better. The coughing from my lungs had subsided greatly. Plenty of cups of tea and some food during the day seemed to help, as well as the Lucozade. I went to bed early and watched the rest of a movie from a few days prior. Nose and throat not too bad, head still bad, like a mix of exhaustion and vertigo, or mild sea sickness, or the tail end of a hangover. I feel really fragile today, I still feel nauseous with vertigo although I was able to drive into work without any drama, and I was really hoping that a good night’s sleep would fix everything. I am not looking forward to getting up tomorrow at 5.30. Flight is at 8. The psoriasis on my elbows seems to be slowly clearing up, or at least it at the less bad end of the scale, it would probably need another couple of weeks to really be sure. The dermatitis on my hands may be getting slowly better. The mastic seems to still be working for enabling my cognition, much less brain fog.

Well I had a blood test last week for H.pylori which came back as negative. This now leaves me still not knowing what exactly is wrong, but on the plus side I don't have a H.pylori infection. From http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007501.htm Blood tests for H pylori can only tell if your body has H pylori antibodies. It cannot tell if you have a current infection or how long you have had it. This is because the test can be positive for years even if the infection is cured. As a result, blood tests cannot be used to see if the infection has been cured after treatment.

Awesome tv series called Utopia - season 1 was the better of the two. Awesome soundtrack. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2384811/ Quite brutal

Excellent link there, thanks. It pulls together a lot f stuff that is out there. Two thumbs up

Epic outcome

I spent ages typing and lost the post on my stupid work laptop. My diet is lacking salads and vegetables, but I do try and stay away from bread and wheat based things where I can, and don't drink coffee. I like rice & tuna and might eat a kebab once a week and have gozleme for dinner once a week as well. Having cut down on daily alcohol consumption has helped me with my energy, as has drinking 2L of water a day, I get a better nights sleep as well. I don't think that the lufenuron really did that much, however totally rate the mastic gum which I have continued to take, which seems to help my stomach out a lot. Next step is a trip to the Doc for a H.pylori test.

Why does that get me excited?

I don't think most people are aware of this so read on. FYI Polonium 210 is a pure alpha emitter with a half life of 138 days, so you cant detect it with a Geiger. Polonium was what was used by the Russians to kill Alexander Litvinenko which is an interesting story in itself.For those that are concerned about radiation, you get a (relatively) whopping dose just from smoking cigarettes. There is a fair amount of evidence that a large proportion of lung cancers (from smoking) are due to the radioactive elements in the smoke. The Po210 is a decay product in the uranium chain which decays to stable lead, it appears that it gets into the tobacco via the fertilizer, although the soil it is grown in would have a lot to do with it as well Fromhttp://www.ncrponline.org/Learn_More/Did_You_Know_95.html Polonium-210 and Cigarette SmokeAccording to NCRP Report No. 95, Radiation Exposure of the U.S. Population from Consumer Products and Miscellaneous Sources (1987), deposition of 210Po in the lungs of cigarette smokers results in an average annual dose equivalent of 0.16 Sv (16 rem) to the segmental bifurcations of the bronchial epithelium. Although the data necessary for converting this to an effective dose equivalent are not available, based on information given in Publication 32 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP, 1981) a weighting factor of 0.08 appears to be a reasonable estimate. This would yield an annual effective dose equivalent to the average smoker of about 13 mSv (1,300 mrem); the corresponding average population effective dose equivalent would be 2.8 mSv y–1 (280 rnrem y–1). Had this approach been utilized, it would have resulted in tobacco products being the greatest contributor to the effective population dose equivalent of all consumer products. In fact, tobacco products probably would have been the greatest single contributor to the effective population dose equivalent of all radiation sources, including natural background sources and medical radiation [NCRP Report No. 93 summarizing exposures from all sources (NCRP, 1987a)]. Because of the widespread recognition that a high risk of lung cancer is associated with smoking, and because the effective dose equivalent from this source is likely to be so far in excess of that from any other consumer product, it would appear mandatory to call for more detailed monitoring and evaluation of the dose equivalent from this source. Studies indicate that smokers face a risk of fatal lung cancer of about 3 to 9 % while for nonsmokers the same risk is only about 0.5 % (Boice and Blot, 1986): The risk associated with an effective dose equivalent of 13 mSv y–1 (1.3 rem y–1) would, in 50 y, amount to about 1 %. This is evidently only a portion of the risk for smokers. Whether 210Po is a contributing factor in the development of lung cancer (such as an initiator or promoter) can only be conjectured at this time. Get the full report and references at: http://NCRPpublications.org NCRP Report No. 93 is being updated by NCRP Scientific Committee 6-2, Radiation Exposure of the U.S. Population, including the information on radiation exposure from consumer products such as tobacco: http://www.ncrponline.org/Current_Prog/SC_6-2.html

This could be a candidate for a trial with piperine From http://www.ijrapronline.com/issues3/uk_patil_ijrapr_16-23.pdf _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Umesh et al, Piperine as a Bioavailability Enhancer ISSN: 2230-9306 Available online at www.ijrapronline.com 16 Role of Piperine As A Bioavailability Enhancer *UMESH K PATIL, AMRIT SINGH, ANUP K CHAKRABORTY People’s Institute of Pharmacy & Research Centre, People’s University, Bhanpur, Bhopal-462037 (M.P.), India Abstract Piperine is an alkaloid responsible for the pungency of black pepper and long pepper, along with chavicine (an isomer of piperine). It has also been used in some forms of traditional medicine and as an insecticide. Long pepper (Piper longum) and Black pepper (Piper nigrum), the active compound in both Piper longum and Piper nigrum is piperine (1-piperoyl piperidine) which is responsible for bioenhancing effect. It is shown to possess bioavailability enhancing activity with various structurally and therapeutically diverse drugs. It has been found that piperine's bioavailability-enhancing property may be attributed to increased absorption, which may be due to alteration in membrane lipid dynamics and change in the conformation of enzymes in the intestine. Piperine has been demonstrated to increase the serum levels and lengthen the serum half lives of some nutritional substances, such as coenzyme Q10 and beta-carotene. The mechanism of this action is unknown. It is speculated that piperine may act as a so-called thermonutrient and increase the absorption of certain nutritional substances from the gastrointestinal tract by producing a local thermogenic action. The present review is an attempt to highlight the bioenhancing ability of piperine when it is given along with various drugs and nutrients

This thread really piqued my interest, so i jumped on my favorite supplement site and grabbed some, im keen to see how it goes :-)

http://youtu.be/q4FBYSI_Q1o

Some more from the same trip Likely a Acacia trachycarpa Not sure on this one

Out past Gascoyne, dry hot and full of rocks.

Cheers for the link AlchemicaI, it is a good one. started a second round of Lufenuron on the 27th September to 01 October taking roughly 3.2g per day split throughout the day and consuming 2g of mastic per day, 1g in the morning and 1g in the evening. I am finally over my lurgy. I felt awful on the flight to Carnarvon and ended up getting a sinus infection for a couple of days after the flight, it was a few days until I had access to a pharmacy which fixed it up. It is impossible to say whether any of my illness was due to the herxheimer reaction or just a bad persistent chest infection/sinus infection/ cold. My skin continues to improve, nothing is fully cured yet but there are some definite and noticeable changes for the better. The psoriasis on my elbows is probably the best it has been in 20 years, the dermatitis on my hands is to the point where i could probably eradicate the last of the diminished flare ups with 1 or 2 days of cortisone cream. I have been finding it difficult to get any sleep past 6.30am and am able to start the day much better. Brain fog is at an all time low. I don't have sugar cravings much any more although I still enjoy sweet things. I have much less of a craving for alcohol, I still enjoy it but don't feel the need to reach for a G&T the moment I walk in the door at the end of the day. My sinuses and breathing feel pretty good and I don't wake up so clogged in the mornings. Digestive complaints have not been much of an issue. My tongue is looking and feeling much healthier. This is still a work in progress but the results have been promising so far :-) I'm not sure how fast my body should be healing itself but at this rate I feel it could be another 4 weeks or so.

I picked these up in Nepal in Nov last year, the small ones make a beautiful higher pitch while the bigger one makes a lovely low long ring. I put some water in the big one and started sounding it, you can see the water raining up from the vibrations. I don't know where you would buy them here but for an idea, In Nepal I paid about $10 or $12 ea for the smaller ones which are machine made and around $100 for the big one which should be hand beaten. I think they are great, but you really should listen to the ones you buy before you buy as they all sound different, and you can go with the ones with the purest or cleanest tones.

FFS what a crock. I liked Torstens quote. Slow news day?

No medication, no but she had an asthma attack the day before so we assumed it was an overactive immune response on that day. She wont try the mucuna again to find out, which is understandable.

About 6 weeks ago my GF was feeling a bit down and asked if I had anything that might help; I have been taking some mucuna which seems to help me get through the winter so I offered her some. Within the first minute she was complaining of not being able to swallow properly, I assumed that the powder was a bit gluggy and had got stuck at the back of her throat, this got worse quickly and very soon progressed to uncontrollable vomiting. By that stage I figured she probably didn't have something gluggy stuck at the back of her throat. The vomiting must have lasted about 10 minutes or more, she was still having difficulty but her throat had eased up a bit, her eyes were watering like crazy and her nose was streaming. After all that settled down she came out in awful welts all over, but especially the inside of joints where blood vessels were near the surface, her inner arm and thighs and arm pits were probably the worst and up the sides of her torso as well. I had to get her some antihistamines just so she could sleep. The hives/rashes persisted for another 2 days even with the antihistamines. I had a good look to see if there were reports of anaphylactic symptoms from taking mucuna, but it seems so well tolerated the search didn't yield much. She was ribbing me for the rest of the week about how I tried to poison her, all in jest of course. It is now a running joke. Anyway it was such an unusual reaction to what was probably 1tsp of mucuna powder that I thought it worth mentioning. The welts were really large as well, approaching the size of a 20c piece, the smaller ones seemed to join up to bigger ones. I took some photos but I don't think she would appreciate me posting them

I saw the lechenaultia out in bloom when i was up at Cataby last week, the blueness is really striking, i should have stopped and taken some pics.

Sarc on/ You could just find a woman you despise and give her half your wealth and belongings now and be done with it/ Sarc off. To be fair I have never been in that situation.. In all seriousness I asked my GF to marry me back in March after I was off at sea for a month for work. There were no grand gestures, I popped the question at the arrivals at the airport. Love the hot/crazy matrix

Is the universe conscious? Did organic consciousness form so the universe as a whole to become more self aware, that is experience itself objectively rather than subjectively. Did an inquisitive universe generate consciousness? I think there is something in that.

They took our guns away, remember. What can an unarmed populace do during a revolution? Next thing you know, hammers, nails and baseball bats will be outlawed and the police will be militarised.

Its a scary prospect. The way I see it is that a number of world powers have had the shits with Washington and have turned their collective backs on them. No one gives a crap what America demands of them any more, and the lies and deceit that they peddle are getting ever more easy to see through. America has something in the order of a quadrillion dollars worth of derivatives that cant be sustained, and Russia, China and India are all turning their backs on the US dollar and opting to use other currencies (China & Russia have been importing gold hand over fist for years). What this all adds up to is a whole lot of foreign reserves making their way back to the US which would likely cause rampant inflation, as some of the biggest hitters abandon using the USD and the US has to buy their worthless paper back again. The US won't be able to impose economic sanctions because they have bullied their way out of the party.The death of the petrodollar will be the last nail in the coffin. Its like watching a school bully who has lost his street cred trying to beat up a bunch of bigger kids because they don't want to play with him any more. The death throes of a past its prime apex predator. I am convinced that America would go to war to try to keep the reserve status of their currency intact, and to try to maintain their relevance in the world theater. I think the tipping point has been passed. Another war promoted behind the scenes by international bankers. Interesting times ahead in the near future that is for sure.