Author: Annie Eskeldson

I am a Classical Homeopath and a Certified Biofeedback Specialist. You can learn more about me at my website New Leaf Holistic. No information here is to be construed as medical advice. Information in posts is education only and I do not prescribe, cure, diagnose, mitigate, or treat any disease. Homeopathy and Biofeedback both have a scope of wellness, not disease. For any healing to take place, we must take back personal responsibility for our own health, educate ourselves, and work to unleash the energy the body already has inside of it to be well.
Posted in Biofeedback, LEAKY GUT

Heal Leaky Gut

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

First things first: How to Heal. If you’ve been miserable with stubborn leaky gut symptoms that never seem to heal there is no way you can even begin to detox in this state. If you are just so over it, don’t wait another second and go to New Leaf Holistic. Biofeedback can help identify leaky gut and quantify it. That means biofeedback will compute a number value which will decrease as you reduce the stress related to this ailment. Naturally your symptoms will dissipate, but for those who need that mathematical proof, biofeedback can do that.

For us, we used Des Bio Intestinal Restore supplement and a Des Bio homeopathic for a few, short months and our stubborn leaky gut was finally gone. We have fought this battle for so long but biofeedback and Des Bio gave us what we needed to command control over the issue.

One note about the Des Bio Intestinal Restore product: it does contain colostrum which is dairy. We have an intense dairy allergy so I was hesitant to use it. I gave the first dose at the prescribed amount and just as I had feared, we had a systemic allergic reaction so I had to go back to the drawing board on this one. After a few days passed, I tried again, but keeping low and slow in mind, I used 1/32 of the dose instead. This time, we had no reaction. I stayed at this dose for several days until I felt confident I could raise it to 1/16th of the dose. Gradually, I reached the full dose after a handful of weeks and we never had that systemic, allergic reaction again. I do believe it was the colostrum, ultimately, that kicked in major healing. Nothing we had ever tried before contained colostrum and while we had somewhat healed leaky gut in the past using other products like Repair Vite, never have we healed so quickly and permanently and I’m very glad I did not give up on Intestinal Restore.

What is Leaky Gut? In a nut shell it’s when toxins like antibiotics have destroyed the gut biome so badly that there are now holes in the intestinal lining that allow undigested foods to leak into the bloodstream. These food particles in this state are completely abnormal and therefore marked as foreign invaders which the body will attack. Essentially, the body attacks itself. Antibiotics don’t just come from prescribed drugs. They also come from inorganic meat, dairy, GMO foods, and unfiltered water.

Symptoms for us included both environmental and countless food allergies, severe eczema, inflammation of joints and muscles, and an inability for the body to take up nutrients from both food or vitamins rendering expensive supplements useless. It also affects cognitive ability, sleep, and frankly, if allowed to progress, will cause a general deterioration of every facet of life and contribute to autism symptoms.

Because of over-use of antibiotics, leaky gut is more prevalent than people might think. Hopefully, as synthetics become more disease resistant, people are turning to real antibiotics (herbs) instead. The body doesn’t recognize synthetic antibiotics as healing because there is nothing in them that the body itself is made of. “Antibiotic” is simply against life including our rich, natural gut life necessary for optimal health, so stop killing it!

Once that leaky gut is healed, the sky is the limit! Both environmental and food allergies should gradually go away, skin should clear up, bowel movements become more regular, and cognitive problems start to fade away. Supplements become useful and you will actually observe their benefit, ultimately needing them no longer, because you get your nutrition from food since it no longer leaks out before the body can digest it into a usable form.

Once you’ve healed your gut (and as long as you have regular bowel movements and supported detox organs), you are ready to detox infections of parasites, biotoxins, virus, bacteria, and metals efficiently and effectively.

Tips for healing Leaky Gut

  • Try Biofeedback! Go to New Leaf Holistic to easily book an appointment.
  • Determine food allergies and avoid them – biofeedback may be able to help desensitize.
  • Eat organic food only
  • Low and slow add minerals to help seal tight junctures.
  • Drink Filtered Water
  • Starchy foods can help seal
  • Perhaps a probiotic once your sealed up to hopefully rebuild populations. Not sure how much faith I really have in probiotics, but….it’s an option.

Posted in Oxalates, Salicylates

Oxalates and Salicylates

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Oxalates and salicylates are two problems we have had to deal with over the years and I want to share some important breakthroughs. I recently connected some useful dots by reading other authors including a post by Dr. Moore and a lecture by Barbara O’Neill who is a practitioner in Australia. She wasn’t even addressing this topic, but her information helped me have that light bulb moment about oxalates and salicyclates. I’ll link to resources below.

No doubt, you already know what oxalates and/or salicyclates are, OR you are plenty aware of the pain, irritation, inflammation, and dis-ease you are experiencing and may not realize ox and/or sals could be the underlying causes. OR further, you know about them but simply cannot stop the pain. Hopefully my post here will help you solve it.

Oxalates

In my previous post, we had made such a remarkable improvement in the area of kidney stones and oxalates, then we backslid. What the heck happened?!

To figure it out took more time than I care to take when pain is involved, so I’ll hit the main points. But, the answer is simply this:

  • I mistakenly cut back on calcium-magnesium supplement and minerals
  • we had an increase of salicylate consumption
  • I mistakenly decreased an inflammation remedy

To give an aerial overview, I also realized that we (the population) are suffering from oxalate production and stones because we are lacking calcium and minerals.

It’s the calcium and minerals that bind the oxalates and move them out of the body, painlessly, through the colon. Re-read that.

Without calcium and enough minerals, oxalates move painfully through the urinary tract instead. Re-read that.

Without calcium and minerals, those sandy, sharp, pokey deposits scrape and tear the tender tissue of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra, and the prostrate causing inflammation, prostatitis, and can lead to infection.

The biggest factors here? Dairy free diets and mineral depleted soil.

Milk consumption was an easy way to get that calcium, but most of my readers are dairy free.

So, do we go back to eating dairy? Well, for us the answer is no because dairy is inflaming, addictive like an opioid, and (for us) an allergen. Others may choose to get back on it using raw dairy.

Of course we can get our calcium from leafy green vegetables, right?

Or can we?

The first problem is that green leafies, like spinach, are chock-full of oxalates which circles us back to the problem. Some believe you can boil the oxalates out, drain the water, then be left with at least some of the nutrition of green leafies. For some that will work, but I can’t get enough of the oxalates out; we’re still too sensitive to them.

In addition, I realized that American soil is so depleted of minerals that we simply cannot get enough calcium from our food, unless we grow it ourselves. And, I know, I know…buy organic, right? While organic does have less glyphosate (or none, hopefully) than regular foods, still, how do we truly know how much mineral is there?

If we’re suffering from oxalate issues that’s a clue that the minerals are not there, right?

It’s a rat race that I don’t have time or patience for when excruciating pain is involved.

As noted above, oxalates, left unbound by calcium and minerals, exit the body via the urinary route which equals PAIN while mineral-bound oxalates exit the body via the colon which is PAINLESS.

If leaky gut is involved (which is more common than the average person realizes) painful oxalate stones can course all through the blood stream getting into tissue, organs, muscles, bones, and joints. Fibromyalgia anyone? In addition, the body will pull calcium from bones in an attempt to bind oxalates.

Simply stated, calcium or a calcium supplement will bind those oxalates and get them out of the system via the colon. It will even get out old crystals lurking around and it will prevent new crystals from forming.

Be sure to have a low ox diet too. This is paramount alongside getting extra calcium and minerals.

I’ll summarize solutions further below after going over Salicylates.

Salicylates

Salicylates are natural chemicals found in plants that protect them from being eaten by insects and from plant diseases and normally are in such small amounts that people are unaffected. Some people are highly sensitive to salicylates and they can cause the same type of symptoms as oxalates like kidney stones and an irritated urinary system, but also tinnitus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, depression, panic attacks, headaches, rashes, etc.

If you’re lucky enough to only be affected by just one or the other, you can piecemeal together some pretty decent foods to eat, but if one is affected by both (as we are), it’s quite a balancing act to get a diet right. I have a link to my favorite food guide below which not only helps you to figure out which foods to eat/avoid with respect to both oxalate and salicylate, but it can also help you determine if you are dealing with an oxalate problem, a salicylate problem, or both.

Solutions that Work

  • Add a Calc-Mag supplement at a ratio of 2:1 to mop up existing oxalates and to prevent new ones from forming. Mine has a D3 supplement in it, but I think if you can find it without D3, that is desirable.
  • I am using 2500-3000mg/daily of a Calc-Mag supplement. I think this high dose will be temporary, to get rid of a high amount of bound up oxalate, then we will drop down to a more normal dose (as per muscle testing).
  • Take throughout the day, but also with meals to help mop up incoming oxalates.
  • Alongside the supplement, implement a low/no oxalate menu. It is positively effective to reduce oxalates consumed. Some find they need to slowly reduce oxalates to avoid an oxalate dump.
  • Use a quality mineral supplement. My favorite is from Microbe Formulas called Bio active Carbon Minerals. I have also used Restore minerals as well. They have a new website though in case you didn’t know. A link is here.
  • Use Calcium Citrate supplement to mop up salicylates.
  • For a violent reaction to salicylates, (red ears, stomach pain, major downgrade in behavior, itchy skin) ==> I use a mixture of 1 1/2 tsp of Epsom salt in 4oz of filtered water and drink it. It’s a fast way to get magnesium to the body which seems to put that fire out quickly.
  • Add a natural anti-inflammatory. For us, we use turmeric/curcumin at about 700mg three times a day. There are many others such as herbal Bidens or CBD oil, but we actually don’t muscle test well for either of those.
  • Think about the total intake of salicylates. Turmeric is high in salicylate, you might note, but we are able to handle the supplement as long as we keep other ingestion of salicylates via food at zero or at a minimum.
  • To reduce salicylates some foods don’t need to eliminated, simply peeled. Such as red potatoes (lower in ox, peel to get rid of salicylates), and apples (peel to get rid of salicylates). Even peaches…you may be able to handle the inside of a peach, just not the peel. Often (not always), the salicylates are on the outside of the food.
  • In the Resources below I have links to a great food chart PDF, videos, and other website suggestions.

Resources

Posted in Biofeedback, detox, Kidneys

Kidneys and Biofeedback

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

As promised (albeit 4 posts ago) I am writing about our experience with kidney stones. This has been an issue we’ve dealt with for a very long time, years in fact, but I didn’t realize the extent of the problem. This happens when working with the non-verbal so I commiserate with you if that is your situation also.

The first thing I did was purchase a book called, The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush by Dr. Andreas Moritz. (I’ll circle back to kidneys and biofeedback in a bit.)

Although he is deceased, he left behind a trove of relevant, natural health know-how. This book deep dives into a cool thirty years of experience with thousands of gallbladders successfully treated. He shares crucial facts needed before and during detox. And for heavens sake, do not get your gallbladder removed before reading this book. If you already have had it removed this book will help you deal with the problems that were never solved by succumbing to that $8billion/year cash cow industry.

Some gallbladder cleanses require an extensive amount of work beforehand to make sure the cleanse is successful. Did you know the most important step is working on the kidneys first.

And an oxalate surprise ==> If you’re dealing with oxalate problems now, there’s a good chance you already have kidney stones. They may be small and not causing problem yet, or they are and you don’t know it because of non-verbalness or a high pain tolerance. These stones need to be cleared out before doing a gallbladder cleanse. An easy protocol is in Dr. Moritz’s book.

Symptoms of kidney stones that we had were jumping, screaming, leg hitting and pain in hips and back, difficulty peeing, scanty urine, urine that does not stay in a steady stream or drips in drops. If you still have one in diapers or pull ups, pay attention to hitting the flanks, legs, back, or slamming down on the floor or standing in odd positions to urinate. These could possibly mean kidney/urinary problems and the pain can be excruciating. Sandy stools, of course, would indicate oxalates.

Thankfully Dr. Andreas Moritz has a protocol for the kidney stones. And we used it. But I have more help.

Biofeedback.

Just what is Biofeedback? Simply stated, it is information you get directly from your body by asking it.

Biofeedback may provide a much bigger, overall picture of the situation. Biofeedback can deliver energy frequencies, instantaneously, Over time, biofeedback can retrain the mind and body to gain control over some physiological abilities.

In our case, biofeedback helped to move kidney stones out of the body. Stress causing inflammation and infection in the ureters, bladder, and urethra were reduced.

We had plenty of medical tests on hand revealing infection and oxalate problems, so the Biofeedback scans simply proved what we had already found via lab testing. At the same time, the tests revealed that the biofeedback information was correct. However, biofeedback was the only tool that identified the problem and began correcting it. Because of the information I received from the scan, I could add other things to help such as an oxalate free diet, adding calcium to bind the oxalate, adding minerals to help bind oxalate, increasing water intake, and I added chanca piedra as well. But remember, I am dealing with a non-verbal person here, so you can imagine how wonderful it is to get so much information via the scan. And, to see it confirmed by laboratory testing is an enormous confidence booster.

After we started treating the issue with Biofeedback, the most horrible behaviors like the out- of-nowhere jumping and screaming with pain and hitting the back and flanks has finally STOPPED. That means we can be in public again.

Inflammation and irritation has come way down and she has also been able to pinpoint the exact organ supports needed to reduce the inflammation and infection that can happen while those pokey, pointy stones and oxalates come down. The miraculous result is getting stones out slowly and comfortably in a non-invasive way.

While I can only talk about the things Biofeedback has done for us such as clearing emotions out of organs, reducing and eliminating inflammation, moving kidney stones out of the system, healing leaky gut in record speed (upcoming post), opening the channels of elimination, opening up methylation pathways, and obvious cognitive gains using various brain therapies; I really don’t think there’s any level of stress surrounding wellness that Biofeedback cannot help.

If you’re interested in a non-invasive, safe way to reduce the stress surrounding a multitude of issues including auto-immunity, kidney stones, etc, go to New Leaf Holistic and book an appointment to see how I can help you turn over that New Leaf.

Posted in Essential Oils, Herbs, Homeopathics

Poison Ivy Healing

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Poison ivy doesn’t affect me as long as I leave it alone but recently I found myself (bitterly) untwisting vines from a couple of our trees due to a rather dubious request.

With my bad attitude in full swing and my mind doggedly figuring a privacy fence into our budget, I accidentally got some of the poison ivy juice on me. The juice is contained inside the vines and is far more dangerous than the oils on the leaves.

As always, my go to is homeopathy. In this case, the same poison ivy that caused the rash is the same poison ivy that cures the rash. Just like ‘the hair of the dog that bit you’ analogy goes, so is homeopathy.

I used homeopathic Rhus Tox. Rhus Tox is the energy of Rhus Toxicondendron, also known as poison ivy.

Rhus Tox 200c stopped the itching for 6 to 8 hours and then I re-dosed. A 30c dose, which is easier to get at health food stores, does the exact same thing, just for not quite as long. I got about 3 hours of relief and then re-dosed.

I also added Apis and Histaminium to handle any allergic reaction.

Because gardening has me currently covered in mosquito and chigger bites, I am also taking Ledum Pal 30C.

A couple of days after my incident, I realized that the poison ivy juice had caused me severe chemical burns, so I added Causticum at both 6c and 30c doses. I got immediate relief from the burning.

I’m happy to say that two weeks, post initial outbreak, my rashes are nearly 100% healed.

I want to list some topical ointments that I used alongside the homeopathics. Combined, I managed the agony of poison ivy rash with chemical burns and continued with all of my busy life activities despite having body parts that looked like they had been on fire.

3 to 4 drops each of Lavender, Tea Tree, and Chamomile essential oils diluted into coconut oil and liberally applied to the blisters and wounded areas of the skin. Also, vitamin E applied to the areas helped the healing. I applied these alongside the homeopathics 4-6 times daily and gradually worked down as healing increased.

The blisters associated with poison ivy juice are sheer hell. They swell, burn, itch, ooze, and while websites say to not open the blisters, honestly, they continuously burst on their own. Because of the incessant itching and weeping of blisters, staph infection is not far behind.

I added herbal Cryptolepis tincture, orally, 3 droppers/twice a day into any beverage. I applied Colloidal Silver to the rash and let it dry. Then, I applied Lemon Balm (Melissa officianalis) tincture, topically. All will successfully beat a staph infection. I did not add these until I could visibly see an infection taking root and gaining ground near the end of my two week nightmare. I got immediate, excellent itch relief and within 3 days, infection was completely gone. I only used the Lemon Balm and Colloidal Silver once. The Crypto I used for four days – infection was gone in three days but I took it one more day to make sure.

Homeopathics, herbals, and essential oils ensure I enjoy my favorite season of growing food, herbs, and flowers. Now, I just need to get that great big privacy fence.

Just a couple notes about poison ivy in case you live in fear of it. It’s true that if you come into contact with the oil, there is a good chance you are going to have an itchy skin rash, but just brushing up against it is unlikely to cause this. Still, steer clear of poison ivy because the juice inside the vines will bring a blistering, painful, chemical burn that is a nightmare to heal if you don’t have the proper stuff on hand at home.

Some people have no reaction at all and many animals eat it freely. There are medicinal uses for poison ivy and the poison ivy plant family, Anacardiacea, actually yields familiar edibles like cashews, mangoes, and pistachios.

Jewelweed or the “touch me not” plant is supposed to be the best remedy for poison ivy rash. It is simply rubbed on the skin after contact to stop the reaction. Plantain and Yellow Dock are two other herbs that can help, but not as effective as Jewelweed.

In nature, herbs exist in a synergistic ecosystem. Something like poison ivy could easily be holding back or keeping in check an herb (or weed) that is equally or even more poisonous. And the opposite, there could be useful herbs that serve humanity, flourishing because poison ivy is growing nearby. It’s harmless if left alone, as I was happily doing in my own yard.

I agree with “leaves of three, let them be” as I will do in the future. Sometimes that bad attitude is there for a reason and I will listen to it should there ever be a next time.



Posted in Torn LIgaments

Heal Torn Ligaments Fast

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Recently while racing out the door with the kids I missteped, stumbled, and rolled my ankle on our front porch stairs.

I can’t even remember if I rolled it inwards or outwards, but the end result was that I could not move my foot in any direction, rotate it, nor put any amount of pressure on it to walk. Even the weight of ice was unbearable.

I willed my ankle to not be broken and decided my ligaments were torn.

As always, my number one go to for ailments is homeopathy. The homeopathic remedies that I deduced would be most helpful were:

  • Arnica, 1M, (later) 6C; falls, bruises, pain
  • Aconite, 200C; shock
  • Rhus Tox, 200C; muscle and bones
  • Ruta Graveolens, 30C; ligaments

Sadly, I did not get any immediate relief from the throbbing pain, which is highly unusual for me with homeopathics. However, in the back of my mind, I knew that taking homeopathics as soon as possible after an injury can shorten the amount of time needed to heal. Since I did not experience immediate relief, I added Arnica 6C to work in the background at a similar vibration of of my torn ligaments. I took that every couple of hours.

I did use the RICE method which is rest, ice, compression, and elevation, but for the life of me, sitting on my butt with my foot in the air was not going to work. My high needs family coupled with my husband just starting a new job (read zero days off) required healing, now.

But, I was completely incapacitated! My husband either carried me where I needed to go, or I crawled. In the middle of the night he brought me a large bowl and hung on to me so I could go to the bathroom.

This was a such nightmare! I succumbed to the idea that there was no rushing recovery.

If anyone had told me that I would be walking in the next 12 hours, I would have never believed them.

But that’s exactly what happened.

I was so relieved to wake up the next morning to discover all of my pain and swelling gone, but I still could not put any pressure on my foot to walk nor did I have any range of motion; but at least the throbbing was no longer torturing me. My husband, after having to employ the bowl trick again so I could pee, looked into the faces of kids and pets who have never ending needs and immediately saw the value in a pair of crutches. He fetched me some without delay.

Later that afternoon, at the exact 24 hour mark of my injury, I felt like I could bear a little weight on that foot with the aid of the crutches. I tried, and sure enough, I could do it! I sat down and tested my range of motion and it too was remarkably improved.

In this fashion, every ten minutes, I had improvement until after about an hour I was fully walking with the aid of my crutches. After the next ten minute period, I was fully walking without them.

Mind blown.

I could walk inside and outside, up and down stairs, I was back to caring for my family, cooking, and helping with chores. I was so relieved that my husband did not need to take another day off work to help me. My kids were so happy.

This is the miracle of homeopathy that I am accustomed to! Even though I had to wait 24 hours for it all to come together, it was far better than several days of healing torn ligaments with RICE. I have other stories of quick recovery from injuries under the Butter Side Up tab at the top of my blog.

Homeopathy is energetic medicine. It is a modality of healing that all people should be educated in if you do not want to continue to be the market for conventional medicine. There are many books and free, online information. Remedies are easily obtainable. While chronic issues do require the help of a professional homeopath like Catriona Muir , I’ve learned to solve all of our acute problems myself simply through research and trial.

Posted in ASD, Biofeedback, Kidneys, Liver, PANS

Hellward Plunge

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

I have been an absentee blogger for months as all of my time and energy has been poured into doctoring one of ours back to health, again.

I still can’t believe he could tank so low after we had recovered so high. This upheaval was unbearable after achieving a doable level of life.

In addition to improved physical health, we had gained a degree of emotional healing as the final visuals of property damage were getting sorted alongside the heavy emotions surrounding the PANDAS/PANS trauma we’d lived for so many years.

We had healing. I was happy. I was helping others along the same treacherous path.

And out of nowhere, we were rudely side-swiped with organ problems. Gall bladder and liver were the issue at first; kidneys and bladder were to follow. The organs were clogged, full of stones, and basically a rat’s nest of dysfunction and intolerable pain on top of the leaky gut, full blown eczema, and parasite problems that were already obvious.

In the very moment when our doctor was identifying the problems of our backslide, I instantly dissolved into a puddle of anxiety and grief. I felt alone and medically deserted, once again. A migraine overtook me so bad that I was not cohesive, and I could no longer speak. I was in shock. An appointment for my son suddenly became mine. The doctor gave me some pressure points to compress and after about twenty minutes, my head pain along with the panic drained like rushing water from my brain. I cried, uncontrollably, for two hours while my shivering body craved sunlight so desperately that, like a cat, I followed the sun around the windows of our home to stay in it’s beams.

Once the migraine pain was gone and my emotions settled, I immediately braced myself to carefully prod along, one step at a time, to solve these gargantuan organ problems. My resolve became stronger than ever.

I’m happy and proud to say that five months later this roller coaster ride of medical complications has taken me on a journey, once again, that may provide insight for others.

I’m going to be writing about how we are solving our gall bladder, liver, and urinary tract problems including liver and kidney stones which I hope others find helpful and mind blowing. These posts will be soon to follow as I’m still gathering my overwhelming thoughts and every day of success is another brick of proof. I will include resources and supplements we used.

I want to address what caused the downward plunge so others can maybe avoid the same pitfalls. Why did we go down so hard and so dramatically after gaining so much ground? What happened? After all, we spent years and thousands of dollars on healing. Was it a complete waste?

The answers here are many, so I’m just going to list them.

First, detoxing too fast with organs that are weak is a no-no. How fast is too fast? That’s individual. For one of my family members even slow is too fast. He needs ultra-micro slow. In my opinion, needing to add bile salts is a red flag that you are moving too fast. Some may indeed just need the support. However, if auto-immunity is why you’re detoxing (PANDAS, PANS, ASD included), I’d proceed with caution.

Second, binders. We used doctor prescribed binders that you can get from Microbe Formulas. We’ve successfully used them all, but one particular binder that binds viruses, radiation, and chemicals has a formula that has recently changed. We were using the old formula and people were complaining about urinary problems like we were….a year ago. They have since changed the formula, so hopefully others do not have issue like we did., but to say that I’m upset about using a binder that was causing urinary problems is an understatement, because this is what started clogging the whole system. When using binders it is very important to drink a ton of water. Microbe Formulas recommends three times the amount of water normally consumed.

Third. Without our permission or knowledge, our electric company trespassed onto our property and installed a smart meter which I have vehemently refused for years because of the sensitivity my family has to EMF, WiFi, and radiation. This installation aligns perfectly with our decline in health.

In conclusion, this is just an update to where I’ve been and a short list of stumbling blocks. My next posts are going to outline the amazing journey we have been on recovering from some major organ disorders.

I will give you a little hint and mention that we have been using Biofeedback the last four months with incredible results. A trusted bestie in the trenches recommended it to me. I will write more specifically about how we have eczema all clear (again), leaky gut healed, ulcers healing, liver and kidney stones on their way out and so much more from just four short months of biofeedback.

I’ll be back soon to write about healing the gall bladder and liver. See you then!

Posted in Herbal, Homeopathic

Urinary Tract Infection

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

In all of my fifty years, I have never gotten a Urinary Tract Infection. Until yesterday. Thankfully I knew enough to be able to identify the problem at once and, even better, homeopathics helped me get rid of it within about two hours.

There is a ton of data you can find online that define and deep dive into UTI so I’m just going to briefly say that it is an infection, most likely bacterial, somewhere along the urinary tract which includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra. It can feel like pressure and burning with the pain ranging anywhere from mild to severe.

My ‘go-to’ for anything acute like this is homeopathy.

The remedies I took for my UTI were Apis and Cantharis. I took 200C because that is what I had on hand. I knew my problem was acute because it came on suddenly, I had never had it before, and I also had no other issues before it, so I determined taking a high dose would be fine for me. Another remedy that I keep on hand for kidney issues is Berberine Vulgaris, but I did not need it this time.

Within minutes of taking my homeopathic remedies the pressure and pain started to subside. After twenty minutes and nearly full relief, I added in cranberry juice diluted with filtered water at a 1:4 ratio to which I added Bidens Pilosa and Barberry herbal tinctures. If I had had Juniper Berry on hand, that is what I would’ve used instead of Barberry. I sipped on my cranberry mixture throughout the rest of the evening and I also made a Marshmallow Root tea.

Within 2 hours, my ailment was completely gone although, I’ll admit, I assumed that in the morning, it would be back, but I was wrong! It was gone without any hint of further issue.

By having several homeopathic remedies on hand, a couple of homeopathic books, and an online resource I can generally solve all acute medical problems at home.

Chronic, stubborn issues that won’t go away or keep returning require a professional homeopath to unwind and get you back to yourself again. For chronic problems, I actually prefer the herbal route until it is under control. If you are looking for a professional homeopath, contact me at New Leaf Holistic!

Posted in Bug Bites

Ledum Pal

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

It’s Spring! Or, close enough.

The humans are freshening overwintered homes and digging out summer gear while creepy crawlies like tics and brown recluse spiders are gearing up to get their bite on. Be prepared now by grabbing some homeopathic Ledum Palustrum, fondly known as Ledum Pal.

Ledum Pal is your one stop shop to cure the itch from bug bites of every nature: flies, mosquitoes, tics, spiders (even recluse), and those horrible chiggers.

Yes. Within minutes, a single dose of all natural Ledum Pal will stop it. No crazy creams or sprays with ingredients you can’t pronounce needed.

In addition, just having Ledum Pal in your system may help reduce the severity of bites in the future. It might even help the body fight Lyme at the very beginning stages.

Starting now, I take a dose once/week and re-dose for itchy insect bites. The urge to scratch will go away and depending on the bite(s), you should get hours of relief. Re-dose as needed if the itch returns and until the itch is completely gone.

Ledum Pal is found at many natural health food stores or online. I usually use Boiron brand, but others should be fine and a 30C dose is enough to handle these superficial issues.

You can take a pellet as a dose, straight out of the bottle, but I prefer to use a watery remedy. Watery remedies work better, make your remedies last longer, and therefore, save you money.

To make a watery remedy, simply dissolve 3 or 4 pellets in a clean, colored, glass tincture bottle of filtered water. I like a 4 oz bottle this time of year but a 2 ounce will work fine. Add 1 to 2 tsp of Vodka to preserve. Keep in the fridge.

When you need a dose, firmly rasp the tincture bottle against the palm of your hands a few times to activate the remedy, then dose one dropper under the tongue 15 minutes away from water or food. You’ll need to do this each time you take a dose.

Dose once a week starting now, especially if you spend a lot of time outside or in the garden. This will help the body prepare for upcoming bites. Dose again if/when bug bites happen and the itch sets in.

I use Ledum Pal to stop the insane itch caused by chiggers and even to heal myself of recluse spider bites. Here is a link if you want some extra tips for healing brown recluse spider bites all naturally and without scarring.

Dose your whole family, and don’t forget your pets! Dose them the same way to help get rid of any flea or tic bite itch.

If you’ve never used Ledum Pal before then prepared to be amazed! This is often a person’s first eye-opening experience to the wonders of homeopathy.

If you are looking for a homeopath, contact me at New Leaf Holistic!

Posted in Homeopathics, Kidneys, New Leaf Holistic

Kidneys Beyond Oxalates

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

I’m writing from my experience with kidney problems even though I certainly am not an expert. I want to share our struggles and solutions as a spring board for those seeking ideas. We have addressed all of our issues with a doctor but I have found that I’ve been able to greatly contribute to our healing simply by researching, implementing diet changes, and adding supplements that were okayed by him as well.

Our first red flag for kidney problems became obvious years ago from an Organic Acids Test, commonly referred to as an OATs test or an OAT. Information gleaned from the test includes: intestinal microbial overgrowth (yeast, fungal, bacterial); metabolic markers such as: oxalate, glycoltyic cycle, Krebs cycle, neurotransmitter, detox, and folate. The test rates ketones and fatty acid oxidation, important nutritional markers, amino acid and bone metabolites, and measures creatinine. Results come back with a complimentary interpretation by Great Plains Laboratory; however, you will definitely want a functional doctor to interpret the results. Functional doctors operate in reference ranges that detect problems long before a conventional doctor which means easy fixes are still within reach. Several OATs might need to be performed to get a good picture of the processes happening inside. None-the-less, even one OAT is still a comprehensive diagnostic tool that a doctor can use alongside other tests and observations to piece together an otherwise complicated health puzzle to make good judgement calls.

We always learned many things from our OAT tests, but the issue I want to focus on is the kidneys. A marker for kidney problems is the Oxalic acid (oxalate) marker from the test. Ours was typically high unless a low/no oxalate diet was implemented. And with regular OAT testing, we could see the positive results of using a low/no ox diet – that marker would reduce in number. I wrote about Oxalates in a post here if interested.

Despite a low ox diet we recently have another kidney issue which is inflammation. It is not in both kidneys, just the right one. It seems to not be viral or bacterial but irritated. I am assuming minerals may be irritating it but I do not know why the right one is irritated while the left one is fine. Either way, I have applied some suggestions from our doctor as well as from my own research and the relief is obvious and remarkable so far.

Zero Water Filter – Filtering out TDS (total dissolved solids) using a water filter removes a big source of potential kidney problems. The Zero Water system is the only counter/pitcher filter that also filters out glyphosate. This filter is affordable (unless your TDS value is incredibly high, then you might want to look into a whole house system.) Since the kidneys filter out minerals (TDS) in their filters (called glomeruli) they can get coated in material and not filter very well (kind of like all filters – they get dirty.) It is important that our water sources be free of Total Dissolved Solids (and glyphosate.)

Reducing Potassium – This means cutting out or reducing portions of salt, bananas, nuts, seeds, white rice, red meat and other foods that are high in potassium. I completely cut them out because the whole kidney thing is making me nervous and I wanted pain relief. Now.

Cranberry Juice – I added cranberry juice as a medicine, so we are taking 1/4 cup several times/day. Cranberry juice can kill viral and bacterial infections that may be present and reduce inflammation. It is also one of the few berries that are low oxalate. Some urinary problems are worsened by cranberry, so you want to play close attention to any adverse side effects.

Watermelon – A large watermelon per day is helping us flush the system and it also has healing qualities specific for the kidneys.

Huang Bai Tea – This kind of tea is phellodendron (not to be confused with the plant with a close but different spelling) which contains berberine, known to be good for the kidneys.

Recovery – A supplement obtained through our doctor.

Narayani Kidney 4C – This is a homeopathic you would need to obtain from a homeopath when it is clear you have a need for it. If you need a homeopathic intake you can contact me at New Leaf Holistic.

Berberine Vulgaris 200C – Also another homeopathic that is very specific in it’s symptoms but useful for kidney pain and healing.

Chamomilla 200C – This is a homeopathic for pain relief which is often for right sided ailments. But you want to have a homeopath do a actual intake for your chronic case. If you are looking for one, you can contact me at New Leaf Holistic.

Calcium – for absorption of oxalates so they can be removed from the body in other ways besides the urinary tract, which is painful given the pointy, burr-like formation of oxalates. I have actually found that Oat Milk provides a good deal of calcium with little/no oxalates. You could also take a Calcium chew, for example, however, the body prefers food for it’s vitamins and minerals.

I was only thinking about oxalates for kidney problems, but in our case, I see potassium may be an issue too. I wanted to write about that in case there were others who may have missed this important part of the puzzle, like I did. Healthy kidneys will help us detox better so we can manage auto-immune disease and kidney pain will flat out bring a person to their knees; no one can function like that. We are doing really well so far and the pain is noticeably reduced already.

Posted in Constipation, Digestion, Massage

The Ileocecal Valve

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

An overlooked component of a smoother detox is the ileocecal valve.

It is an intestinal sphincter muscle that allows digested material to move from the small intestine into the large intestine by opening and closing, like a door, between the two organs.

Not only does the door quickly open for small intestinal waste to stream into the large intestine, but it also stays shut tight so that the large intestinal contents do not reverse course and spill back into the small intestine.

Because the body gets most of its nutrients from digestion in the small intestine, the contents that travel onward thru the ileocecal valve to the large intestine are toxic, bacterial waste.

But like all plumbing gadgets, this biological trap door can get stuck either wide open or sealed shut. This causes toxins to back up into the small intestine, inducing a horde of toxicity related symptoms, illnesses, and infections.

It’s a relatively common occurrence with chronic illness, and one wonders which came first? The chronic issue or the sticky valve? Problems with the ileocecal valve can present as bloating, abdominal pain (which in our case could be valve spasm), joint pain, circulation problems, muscular aches and pains, pinched nerves, or even whole body arthritis. And here’s an even bigger laundry list:

  • Sudden, stabbing, sharp low back or leg pain
  • Sharp, pinpoint headaches, especially on the left side, at the base of the skull
  • Dull headaches, which often linger for hours in the frontal area
  • Migraine headaches are frequently of ileocecal origin as a system-wide response to toxicity.
  • Chronic sinus infection, dripping sinuses, especially when not during allergy season
  • Allergies, the type often wrongly attributed to dust, cat hair, and mites
  • Dark circles under the eyes, puffy cheeks
  • “Loose bowels” not quite diarrhea, but looser than should be
  • Any of the “colon syndromes” such as Crohn’s Disease, spastic colon, irritable bowel, Celiac Disease
  • Burning leg pain (that feels like a nerve) into the front of the left thigh
  • “Asthma-like” symptoms
  • General non-specific lower GI discomfort
  • Symptoms often attributed to a psychological cause by practitioners unfamiliar with the ileo cecal valve.

If you’re doing the heavy work of detox then you have probably experienced some of those bullet points. Next time the suffering comes on, think about the ileocecal valve.

If the valve doesn’t work right, the large intestine contents back up into the small intestine which is mindlessly busy absorbing nutrients, although now, with backed up material, those aren’t nutrients it’s absorbing, but toxic poison. And that is what can cause the problems listed above.

The good news is that you can heal this with diet and massage. The diet part is related to food allergens or intolerances. I f you already have allergens nailed down, then the issue is most likely related to fibrous foods – either getting too many or getting too little.

The first time we had a sticky valve, it was because of cod liver oil; somehow, it was making the ileocecal valve sticky. We treated simply by removing the CLO and doing frequent ileocecal valve massage. Massage alleviated pain and retrained the valve to work properly which was crucial for detox because healthy operating valves ensure the proper removal of toxins.

However, a year later, our sticky valve has returned! Due to heavy diet control, I have a very short list of possible culprits which I will eliminate and observe. Most likely it is from too much organic popcorn and/or too many of those organic pumpkin seeds fresh from my garden.

Massage has immediately made the problem better. I personally do a massage exactly in the middle of a diagonal between the belly button and hip bone on the lower right quadrant of the abdomen. You can feel little round hard areas that need to be massaged out, they feel like little snap peas. Sometimes you can hear squishy, oozing sounds. Once I have massaged the area, I gently pull up diagonally and towards the left shoulder and hold for a bit. Afterward, I also press the pressure point just below the right shoulder to reset the valve.

There are many written works and videos about ileocecal massage online, but be sure to ask your functional doctor/chiro to identify if this is an issue for you and how to do the massages correctly. Click here for a video we made ourselves.

There are other valves that can pose problems such as the pyloric valve between the stomach and the intestine, and the (acting as) valves of Houston between the descending colon into the rectum. Once you learn how to properly massage and open the valves, you can also gently and slowly push the contents along the digestive path. Your doctor can teach you which valves are affected, how and when to massage them, and if you need to apply pressure to sweep the contents along the tract. I massage before meals or whenever I observe the first signs of pain to help retrain the valves to do their jobs correctly. You may also need to add calcium and magnesium supplements.

It’s not a big deal to have your functional doctor or chiropractor teach you how to do this, so ask! These kinds of doctors are well aware that a sticky ileocecal valve can be a roadblock to successful detox or be a key to underlying physiological complaints. Either way, fixing it will help you both achieve your health goals.