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2010/05/31
Published
Heavy metals drive our body to develop certain diseases. They make us susceptible to developing other diseases, and therefore play a significant contributing factor to whether we develop a certain condition or disorder. Part of the problem in traditional western medical diagnosis is that the focus is on the disease and not so much on the cause. There is even less focus on how multiple causative factors push one into developing a disease and little to no concern about how eliminating some significant factors such as heavy metals can significantly diminish symptoms and in some cases reverse the course of one’s disease! This article will help to enlighten you to a new understanding of how this one aspect, heavy metals, can play a significant part in your risk to developing certain disorders, how an accumulation of certain heavy metals can be causing or making your symptoms worse, and how the effects of heavy metals is involved in more diseases and disorders than you possibly imagined.
There are two ways of thinking about heavy metals, one is heavy metal poisoning such as lead or arsenic poisoning, which can be the result of acute or chronic exposure. The symptoms of heavy metal poisoning are restricted to the effects of that particular heavy metal, i.e. lead. The other way of thinking about heavy metals is in terms of heavy metal toxicity. This is always a slow chronic accumulation of heavy metals and the accumulation may consist of principally one significant heavy metal, such as methyl mercury from contaminated fish, but is also associated with the accumulation of a host of other heavy metals such as lead, cadmium etc… Therefore when we speak of heavy metal toxicity, we are looking at a complex blend of different heavy metals whose cumulative effect spans and magnifies the individual toxic effect of each heavy metal!
The symptoms from generalized heavy metal toxicity can be quite different from a specific heavy metal poisoning. For example, a person suffering from lead poisoning can suffer severe intestinal and neurological symptoms. However that same person that has a high degree of lead toxicity can have more subtle symptoms still caused by lead toxicity such as advanced arteriosclerosis from the accelerated plaque formation caused by the calcification of lead in the lining of one’s arteries. This is why heavy metal toxicity in traditional medicine is so difficult to address unless it is seen as “poisoning” per se.
The silent damage and catalysts that heavy metal toxicity plays in a host of disorders and diseases makes heavy metal toxicity a global concern for us all. We live in a toxic industrialized world where toxins from one nation have documented effects from air currents on another nation. We are slowly poisoned by the gradual accumulation of heavy metals. We need to change how we think about the risks and effects that heavy metal “accumulation” plays upon our developing common conditions that Western medicine currently does not recognize as having any connection with our heavy metal toxic load.
Conditions such as alopecia, arthritis, diabetes, acid reflux, chronic fatigue, brain fog, osteoporosis, prostate and reproductive disorders, learning disorders, hypertension, a host of nervous disorders and neurological disorders, weakened immune system function, muscle weakness, pains, cancer, and skin disorders such as eczema, psoriasis and skin rashes. Many of these conditions can manifest because of the catalyst of heavy metal toxic accumulation. Existing symptoms can also become aggravated by their aggravating presence in the body. Their elimination should be a route part of anyone suffering from a chronic disorder or symptom and a regular part of an optimized health care program even for those in apparent good health because the effects of heavy metal toxicity accumulation are silent until the body breaks down and gets out of balance.
Read this article in its entirety and when you are done print out the sections for each heavy metal and re-read them. Highlight all sources of exposure that pertain to you and all symptoms or conditions for each heavy metal that pertain to you. Then sit back and take a look at the span of symptoms that heavy metal toxicity could be playing in your life in terms of sources of exposure. Make a plan of action to eliminate or minimize those sources of continuing exposure. Take a look at the symptoms and conditions you highlighted and get a feeling for how heavy metal toxicity could be accelerating, contributing or causing your symptoms. This will give you new insight on the causes for your symptoms that your average medical practitioner may have never discussed with you before that are worth addressing. Future articles will address the complex subject of heavy metal chelation and how it can be safely done and effectively monitored.
How do heavy metals affect us?
Heavy metals are especially damaging to our nervous system and brain. Once in the body they tend to stay deposited there. The cumulative heavy metal burden over time increases our free radical damage in addition to the specific damage that particular heavy metal causes. The effect of heavy metals in our body depends upon multiple factors:
1)Â Â Â Â Â the age of initial exposure
2)Â Â Â Â Â the dose of initial exposure
3)Â Â Â Â Â the duration of exposure
4)Â Â Â Â Â the type of metals exposed to
5)Â Â Â Â Â the state of immune health at the time of exposure
6)Â Â Â Â Â the state of liver detoxification efficiency
7)Â Â Â Â Â the available mineral stores the liver has to drawn on to fuel additional heavy metal detoxification pathways
8)Â Â Â Â Â the presence of other microbes in the body that bind heavy metals making their elimination impossible until we eradicate the pathogens
Age of Initial Exposure
The most damaging effects of heavy metal exposure are to the newborn because their immune systems take 2 years to mature. Newborns have brains and nervous systems that are undeveloped. Their neurons are growing. The presence of heavy metals from vaccines (thimerisol, aluminum), from mother’s mercury stores mobilized into her breast milk, and from what was transferred to the developing fetus while in the womb can overwhelm the immune system and act as an immune catalyst to begin an inflammatory attack on the baby’s digestive system and brain and nervous system.
Methionine, an essential amino acid that the liver needs to detoxify all toxins, especially heavy metals, is also the same amino acid that is needed to help the body make myelin, the sheath that coats the nerves of the brain and nervous system. Any heavy metal toxic burden robs the body of this much needed amino acid. Therefore, depletion of methionine stores that result from heavy metal toxicity, plays a part in causing slower neuron synthesis and repair! This is one mechanism for developmental arrest seen in autistic and Asberger’s infants that result from heavy metal toxic exposure.Â
State of Immune Health & Detoxification Pathways
As adults, our immune health dictates how well we will react to an abrupt exposure to heavy metals such as a vaccination or removal of dental mercury amalgam. If we are already in a state of high immune alert, with multiple inflammatory processes in place such as leaky gut, low grade chronic pathogenic infections, and localized inflammation in tissues in the body such as skin, lung, mucous membranes etc., then the heavy metal will act as fuel to fire. It will heighten all inflammatory processes.
Inflammatory processes can also cause immune recognition to key metabolites in the detoxification pathways of the liver. Future articles will discuss the specifics and how they can be treated and bypassed. A heightened state of alert causes more metabolites to be recognized by the immune system and thus the immune system begins to run interference in the efficiency of the liver’s ability to bind and excrete toxins. This complicates and accentuates the toxic effects of heavy metal accumulation.
If we are already in a state of high extracellular toxicity from microbial metabolites, digestive metabolites, and metabolic metabolites, then the added heavy metal toxicity places an additional burden on our body’s mineral stores. These minerals are essential catalysts that fuel the binding process of capturing and excreting toxins in the liver. Deficiencies in these minerals cause the entire detoxification process to slow down and stall to a significant degree. The result is that these toxins then become deposited into tissue as the body attempts to protect the brain from circulating heavy metals.
In summary, how an acute or chronic exposure affects your body is a dynamic process. It depends on what the exposure is, how toxic you already are, how well you excrete toxins (your drainage), how much minerals stores you have available to fuel the liver detoxification pathways, and how much your immune system may interfere with all of your metabolic processes, including the liver detoxification pathways, as to how your body will respond. Part 2-4 will go into detail on the common types of heavy metals and their specific effects on the body.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
2010/05/25
Published
BenaGene™ is made of metabolites found in apples and oranges in their raw state, oxaloacetic acid. This product promises a wonderful breakthrough for individuals with low energy, blood sugar issues, insulin resistance, Syndrome X, those with chronic fatigue, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, adrenal fatigue, low or elevated cortisol values, and sugar metabolism and sugar absorption issues. Immune Matrix has found this product to be very promising in accelerating the efficiency of their patient’s sugar metabolism, mitochondrial function, digestion, appetite and thus improving energy and cortisol synthesis.
Human clinical trials confirm benaGene’s ability to lower fasting blood glucose levels and increase glucose uptake by tissues (reduce insulin resistance), similar to those changes seen in calorie restriction.
Ingredients in benaGene have been the subject of several clinical trials to reduce glucose. The patients at highest risk (diabetics) showed an average fasting glucose reduction of 23.7 +/- 3.4%. Not just for diabetics, however, glucose reduction was also seen in non-diabetics and animals during the trials. The ages tested ranged from 17 years old to 95 years old showing no side effects in the 30 to 45 day study. The results of these clinical trials can be seen in the following tables.
| Â |
Maximal |
Fasting Glucose |
 |
 |
 |
| Age |
Dose (mg) |
Before |
After |
% Reduction |
Side Effects |
| 90 |
600 |
200 |
120 |
40.0% |
None |
| 17 |
600 |
287 |
230 |
19.9% |
None |
| 57 |
600 |
157 |
113 |
28.0% |
None |
| 45 |
600 |
226 |
201 |
11.1% |
None |
| 50 |
300 |
180 |
116 |
35.6% |
None |
| 15 |
300 |
245 |
104 |
57.6% |
None |
| 92 |
300 |
84 |
78 |
7.1% |
None |
| 23 |
200 |
200 |
180 |
10.0% |
None |
| 52 |
300 |
190 |
167 |
12.1% |
None |
| 70 |
200 |
183 |
167 |
8.7% |
None |
| 48 |
300 |
175 |
151 |
13.7% |
None |
| 45 |
900 |
294 |
215 |
26.9% |
None |
| 33 |
200 |
195 |
181 |
7.2% |
None |
| 48 |
400 |
195 |
162 |
16.9% |
None |
| 49 |
1,000 |
149 |
100 |
32.9% |
None |
| 32 |
300 |
224 |
198 |
11.6% |
None |
| 53 |
1,000 |
115 |
104 |
9.6% |
None |
| 95 |
300 |
180 |
116 |
35.6% |
None |
| 54 |
300 |
190 |
114 |
40.0% |
None |
| 50 |
600 |
230 |
106 |
53.9% |
None |
| 90 |
100 |
134 |
109 |
18.7% |
None |
| Â |
 |
 |
 |
Average 23.7% |
 |
 |
Â
Change in Glucose Uptake in blood serum for diabetic and normal patients are shown below. The increase in glucose uptake indicates a decrease in insulin resistance, and also leads to less glucose in the blood stream. Having less glucose available leads to lower rates of protein glycation. In diabetic patients, the increase in glucose uptake averaged 299%. In normal patients, the increase averaged 180%.
| Â |
Diabetic |
 |
 |
| Patient |
Before |
After |
% Increase |
| 1 |
1.59 |
6.4 |
303% |
| 2 |
1.46 |
6.09 |
317% |
| 3 |
2.13 |
9.29 |
336% |
| 4 |
0.62 |
9.29 |
1398% |
| 5 |
5.43 |
8.47 |
56% |
| 6 |
3.07 |
4.57 |
49% |
| 7 |
1.79 |
4.83 |
170% |
| 8 |
5.4 |
6.21 |
15% |
| 9 |
0.88 |
3.72 |
323% |
| 10 |
3.67 |
4.58 |
25% |
| Â |
 |
Average |
299% |
| Â |
Non-Diabetic |
 |
 |
| Patient |
Before |
After |
% Increase |
| 1 |
11.72 |
11.42 |
-3% |
| 2 |
12.39 |
11.57 |
-7% |
| 3 |
4.18 |
8.51 |
104% |
| 4 |
5.22 |
7.38 |
41% |
| 5 |
5.5 |
8.45 |
54% |
| 6 |
8.99 |
10.55 |
17% |
| 7 |
5.9 |
8.54 |
45% |
| 8 |
5.24 |
9.25 |
77% |
| 9 |
2.64 |
5.93 |
125% |
| 10 |
2.41 |
7.18 |
198% |
| 11 |
3.09 |
3.89 |
26% |
| 12 |
3.25 |
8.9 |
174% |
| 13 |
3.26 |
4.4 |
35% |
| 14 |
1.42 |
0.67 |
-53% |
| 15 |
0.27 |
5.32 |
1870% |
| Â |
 |
Average |
180% |
 |
As you can see from these initial clinical trials, blood glucose levels are reduce remarkably. This also helps to reduce Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs) because there is less glucose to react with proteins. It also increases gluconeogenesis, which increases the efficiency of regeneration of cellular proteins and decreases the cross-link protein accumulation that is so damaging to the body, and skin matrix.
BenaGene™ benefits our Mitochondria!
Chronic fatigue, lyme disease, and chronic viral and bacterial infections can wreck havoc on our energy producing cells known as mitochondria. These cells are our powerhouse, making ATP, the molecule that provides the energy to fuel all our metabolic processes. We take in food which is broken down and channeled in the Kreb’s cycle (aka citric acid cycle, the metabolic pathway used by these mitochondria). Inflammation and infection can cause break downs in the Kreb’s cycle causing reduced ATP synthesis or imbalances in key metabolic precursors such as NAD AND NADH.
BenaGene increases the NAD+/NADH ratio! It does this by providing a balanced blend of excess citric acid cycle intermediates (already found within every cell of the human body) to modify the NAD+/NADH ratio. The NAD+/NADH ratio is increased by using a biological diode interaction with the mitochondria. The increased ratio (when held for a minimum of at least a 2.5 week period) acts as a switching sensor that causes the cells to produce a series of beneficial proteins from DNA genes that are typically silenced in normal metabolism.
Other benefits of BenaGene™:
â™ Promotes increased DNA repair, and the expression of longevity genes
â™ A powerful anti-oxidant reducing free radical damage to our cells
â™ Increase glucose uptake in muscle tissue, enhancing exercise and sport performance and
 endurance
â™ Stabilize fasting glucose levels
â™ Accelerate brain cell repair post stroke by increasing NAD+ levels via increased activity
 of the DNA repair enzyme PARP-1
â™ To assist in weight loss by improving and stabilizing blood sugar levels
BenaGene™ is a excellent anti-aging supplement with promising multiple benefits to reduce the effects of aging by “turning back” the genes to a younger profile, to improve energy and mental clarity and decrease sugar cravings by optimizing blood glucose levels, to help repair DNA, to protect against Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs) that advance the aging of our skin and body, and reduce fat levels for a long term weight maintenance program. Immune Matrix has found BenaGene™ to be a pivotal supplement taking its patients to the next level in their metabolism, energy and immune health.
Depending on the severity of the sugar metabolism issue, patients at Immune Matrix have safely taken one BenaGene™ with each meal until cortisol values have normalized. While there are no reported side effects published for BenaGene™, patients at Immune Matrix have reported a decrease in appetite with improved energy and stamina.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
Incoming search terms for the article:BENAGENEbenagene reviewsnatural glucose controlnatural glucosebenagene side effectsmaxgxl hashimotosmitochondria benagenemore energy by taking glucosenadh benagenenadh supplement side effects
2010/05/24
Published
In Part 1 we discussed insomnia symptoms and insomnia causes. We listed 17 factors that could affect your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, get a deep sleep or disturb your sleep. In Parts 2-6 we discussed the effects of toxic overload, hormonal imbalances, brain chemistry, how what you eat, leaky gut, food sensitivities and allergies cause insomnia symptoms and sleep disorders.
TOPIC SIX: Inflammation and Chronic Infection
Another aspect of immune inflammation that contributes to chronic insomnia and sleep disorders is chronic infection. Those individuals suffering from chronic fatigue and lyme disease have a greater association of viral and bacteria infections. Viral infections will be cyclical and can peak at night causing low grade night fevers or simply restlessness and fatigue that prevents one from resting despite feeling exhausted.
Western medicine has limited resources to treat viral infections. Prescription medications are used to suppress viral replication. They help to reduce symptoms but do not eliminate the virus from the body and viral titers (viral load) do not necessarily go down. Alternative medicine is very effective in eliminating chronic fatigue viral titers, especially serial dilution homeopathics specific for virus. However, the side effects have to be managed. Immune Matrix uses its bio-energetic medicine techniques to boost the immune system’s recognition of the virus. This enables a more efficient attack against the pathogen and fewer side effects while detoxifying the virus from the body with serial homeopathic dilutions.
Bacterial infections located in the digestive tract from dysbiosis described above or those circulating and attacking other parts of the body (brain, thyroid, connective tissue, joints) can increase discomfort in the body and affect one’s ability to reach a deep and restful sleep. When the pathogenic infection is chronic it weakens and exhausts the adrenal glands, chronic low cortisol is the end result. You end up with low blood sugar before bed. Please see our other articles about cortisol for more detailed information.
TOPIC SEVEN: Stress
Any form of stress (infectious, physical, toxic, chemical, relational, metabolic, digestive, structural, or emotional) can impact our nervous system and adrenal glands causing neurological and hormonal overstimulation. We feel tired but wired, restless and unable to settle into a sound sleep. Our sleep will be more superficial and shallow and we awaken easily with recurring thoughts that occupied us the night before if the stress was relational or emotional.
The stressor can establish a chronic pattern in the body such that long after the stressor is gone, our body continues its stress pattern. Sleep will continue to be affected. If the adrenal glands are affected such that our evening cortisol output becomes elevated, the elevation can also continue and affect our blood sugar causing low blood sugar and over stimulate our nervous system before bed. We feel tired from the low blood sugar, hungry and wired.
If the stress continues, our adrenal glands become exhausted and night time cortisol levels become deficient making it difficult for us to metabolize and absorb our sugars. Night time hunger and exhaustion, feeling drained and light headed and often feeling more tired after eating can result if we eat carbohydrate snacks. Â
Separate articles will address detailed elements of detoxification, metabolic challenges that arise from immune system interference with digestion, and how to resolve the chemical effects of emotional stress. Â
TOPIC EIGHT: Obesity and Sleep Apnea
As we age we can gain twenty pounds or more. With additional weight the structure of the tissues that form the back of our throat, and in particular those structures of the upper palate (upper throat) and around the back of the throat become lax and can block off our airway as we sleep. This leads us toward a structural form of sleep apnea that can be alleviated with weight loss. In the case of loss of strength in connective tissue, in house surgical procedures are available to tighten tissue in the back of the throat to improve airway access. Weight loss helps to alleviate structural stress from weight gain and has been reported to help improve airway access.
With any form of sleep apnea, the oxygen to the brain is compromised and the heart has to work harder to oxygenate the body. Lack of proper oxygenation during sleep will exhaust our body biochemically and over years can lead to heart failure. Initial stages of sleep apnea leave us un-rejuvenated. Our sleep will be plagued by tossing and turning as our body wakes us to re-establish breathing when it is temporarily shut down.
Sleep clinics can test and diagnose for sleep apnea and devices can be worn to increase one’s oxygen content as you sleep. This will improve brain clarity and energy upon waking and relieve your heart the added stress of pumping harder to get more oxygen to compensate for night time breathing issues.
As you can see multiple factors contribute to our development of sleep disorders, and insomnia symptoms. Certain chronic infectious conditions such as lyme disease, chronic viral infections associated with chronic fatigue, pain disorders from trauma, fibromyalgia all can cause and aggravate existing insomnia symptoms. Hormonal changes associated with peri-menopause and menopause can throw off our sleep cycle rhythm through melatonin. Low thyroid and adrenal conditions can affect our blood sugar and alter our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Our ability to detoxify can make a sound sleep impossible. Our diet can make sleep a roller coaster of digestive symptoms. Finally, chronic stress and the accumulation of negative neuropeptides of emotion can over stimulate our nervous system. Examining each area for its possible contribution to your insomnia symptoms will help you focus your investigative efforts to get to the root cause.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
Incoming search terms for the article:http://chronicfatigueandnutrition com/?p=591what is the proper food to help my insomnia problemAdvanced Neuropeptides pure encapsulationsLow Energy Neurofeedback System cause insomnialow energy insomnia brain foginsomnia menopause chronic suppliments cortisolinsomnia from detox 7insomnia and viral infectionsinsomnia and toxic buildupNeuro Emotional Technique can it help insomnia
2010/06/05
Published
In Part 1 we discussed insomnia symptoms and insomnia causes. We listed 17 factors that could affect your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, get a deep sleep or disturb your sleep. In Parts 2-5 we discussed the effects of toxic overload, hormonal imbalances, brain chemistry, and factors contributing to chronic pain that cause insomnia symptoms and sleep disorders.
TOPIC FIVE: What You Eat Affects Your Sleep
At first pass it makes sense to think that what we eat could cause or aggravate sleep disorders or chronic insomnia, or at least affect our ability to fall asleep or affect our quality of sleep. However, what we eat goes beyond simply having too much caffeine in the day in the form of coffee, coke, tea, or chocolate. The following are factors to consider that could be aggravating your attempts to get a good night’s rest.
1)Â Â Â Â Too Much Carbohydrate at Dinner
2)Â Â Â Â Insufficient Protein
3)Â Â Â Â Food Sensitivities and Allergies
4)Â Â Â Â Foods that Foster Dysbiosis
It’s all about blood sugar and its regulation. As discussed in Article Part 2 above under the topic of cortisol, if you are moving toward the development of insulin resistance, have low blood sugar, or feel tired an hour or two after eating carbohydrates, then it’s highly likely that you are not breaking down and absorbing your sugars. Please also read our other articles about Cortisol and Sugar Metabolism for more information on how this condition develops and what you can do about it.
Before bed we need to have stable blood sugar to be able to rest because hunger will affect our ability to fall and stay asleep. If you find yourself plagued by nighttime hunger, especially before bed, take it as a sign that you either have developed some insulin resistance, aka Syndrome X. You are not eating enough protein for dinner and during the day and are eating too much carbohydrates for your body to break down and absorb. Make sure your evening meal has more protein and omit refined carbohydrates at dinner. During breakfast and lunch, if you feel fatigued within an hour or two after your meal you have eaten too much refined carbohydrates. Make a point of cutting back and pay attention to your energy after meals as a barometer. If after doing these things, you still get hungry before bed, take a protein snack, not a carbohydrate snack.
Food Sensitivities and Allergies Affect Sleep
Food sensitivities and food allergies can cause us to crave the very foods we have developed an allergy to. This is most common in certain foods such as:
a)Â Â Â Â gluten/gliadin foods: white flour, wheat flour, rye, oats
b)Â Â Â mineral salts: we will crave salt
c)Â Â Â Â lactose & whey protein in dairy
d)Â Â Â processed food
e)Â Â Â Â almost any food we have become sensitive to
Besides the craving for the food, our immune system will set up a cascade of inflammatory processes that can affect any part of the body. These symptoms, the result of inflammation, can affect sleep:
a)Â Â Â Â sinus congestion and mucous retention in the head, stuffy head
b)Â Â Â vasodilation of capillaries in the brain contributing to headache and migraine
c)Â Â Â Â elevation of adrenal gland cortisol at night, and reduced thyroid hormone (Free T3) from the development and increase in thyroid antibodies
d)Â Â Â increased inflammation in joints and tissue
e)    increased inflammation of the digestive track causing acid reflux, irritable bowel, Chron’s, celiac sprue, gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea
f)Â Â Â Â Â alteration of neurotransmitter synthesis as a result of inflammation
g)Â Â Â Â irritation of any tissue in the body as a result of increased inflammation, such as skin for skin rashes, eruptions, itchy skin
h)Â Â Â Â cross reactions with hormones most commonly estrogens to cause hot flashes, worsening of PMS symptoms, bloating, irritability, menstrual pain and pelvic congestion.
Improving your digestion of food with the assistance of a broad spectrum digestive enzyme, healing leaky gut and getting de-sensitized from those foods that you have become immune sensitive to will stop the inflammatory process that fuels insomnia symptoms.
Children are especially sensitive to food allergens because of their developing nervous system. They can become hyperactive and have a hard time settling down within an hour or two after a meal. Putting them to bed a night can become a real chore when food sensitivities cause hyperactivity, alterations in their brain chemistry that affect mood, and attention and visual and auditory processing which lead to insomnia and sleep disorders in children.
Food sensitivities behind autism spectrum of disorders, ADD and ADHD also aggravate and cause sleep disorders in children. These children will have the by products of their digestion, in terms of what they are not able to digest well become an additional burden on their liver detoxification pathways. Many of these children already have immune aggravated genetic SNPs to their liver’s methylation pathway. This pathway also facilitates the coating of nerves and brain neurons. Therefore, anything that hinders liver detoxification or adds to its burden, will aggravate and irritate brain neurons. Increases in aggressive behavior and attention span changes can be seen within a couple of hours after eating an offending food. Chronic ingestion of immune sensitive foods will have a cascading effect upon developmental delay in these children.
Besides food, airborne allergies to dust mites, house dust, carpet and paint off gassing and cleaning solvents will provoke immune inflammation while you are trying to sleep at home. Use natural enzyme and plant based cleaners in the home. Air out your home weekly, vacuum and dust weekly and get de-sensitized for common household allergens. Immune Matrix employs a natural bio-energetic method of de-sensitization that is quickly effective and efficient, making years of shots or serial dilutions of homeopathic antigens unnecessary. Please read our other articles about allergies for more information.Â
Food That Foster Dysbiosis Disturb Sleep
Dysbiosis is the overgrowth of pathogenic strains of bacteria, yeast and fungus in the digestive tract. Probiotics are the good flora that our digestive tract needs in the form of good bacteria and yeast. They help to make B12 in our body, and compromise part of our intestinal immunity.
When we have an overgrowth of a “bad” pathogen, our synthesis of B12 declines as a result. We then become more inefficient at detoxification, partly because B12 is essential to fuel the detoxification pathways of the liver among many other metabolic processes. These pathogenic strains embed themselves in the lining of our digestive tract and create microscopic holes, thus the name “leaky gut”. Undigested food passes out of our digestive tract through these microscopic holes caused by these foreign pathogens and into our blood stream to stimulate our immune system to recognize those foods it sees most often. This is a major way food sensitivities and allergies are created.
Typical symptoms at night that contribute to sleep disorders and chronic insomnia from intestinal dysbiosis are: bloating, distension, water retention, gas, constipation, diarrhea, stagnant heavy feeling in the abdomen as if food is just sitting there, or acid reflux and heart burn. There may even be some local pain or cramping or soreness over the intestines.
Foods that are high in molds and mycotoxins inoculate the digestive tract with pathogenic molds. Please see our other articles about mold. Those foods high in pathogenic molds that tend to establish a home in our digestive tract are: grapes, cantaloupe, raisin, and strawberry. Anyone with digestive issues is highly advised to avoid these foods indefinitely.
Avoidance (such as following a Candida Diet) will not result in killing or eliminating the pathogenic strains of yeast and candida in the digestive track (leaky gut). It simply makes it harder for them to thrive and multiple and those that are strong will go into a dormant cyst stage and live there for years until you “fall off the wagon” and start eating carbohydrates again.  Doing a Microbiology Stool test (available online at www.immunematrix.com) from Doctor’s Data will tell you the type and amount of good probiotic flora you have, the type and amount of pathogenic bacteria and fungi and yeast also living in the digestive tract and what is best to kill them with based on a culture test. This test is very informative and the results can then be given to your health care provider to assist you in eliminating digestive causes to insomnia.
In summary, taking sleep meds or over the counter products for insomnia and sleep disorders can be a temporary fix. Many of these products, especially the prescription drugs alter our sleep cycle preventing us from entering deep sleep stages so necessary for cellular repair of our bodies. Becoming an investigator on your own behalf to seek out and eliminate all causes that contribute to your body’s imbalance and working with experienced medical health care practitioners will help to restore its balance and over time your chronic insomnia and sleep disturbances will be a thing of the past.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
2010/05/20
Published
In Part 1 we discussed insomnia symptoms and insomnia causes. We listed 17 factors that could affect your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, get a deep sleep or disturb your sleep. In Parts 2-4 we discussed the effects of toxic overload, hormonal imbalances and brain chemistry as causing insomnia symptoms and sleep disorders. This article furthers our discussion about chronic pain, a major factor suffered by millions.
TOPIC FOUR: Chronic Pain
Everyone knows that when we are in pain we cannot sleep. Causes for chronic pain can be:
1)Â Â Â Â recent trauma or surgery
2)Â Â Â Â trauma to tendons; they take a minimum of 6 weeks to heal and any strain during healing prolongs the healing phase another 6 weeks!
3)    vertebral subluxations; your back could be “out” is the phrase we tell our chiropractors. This can cause low back, neck and shoulder pain and stiffness and become aggravated as we sleep.
4)Â Â Â Â If we grind our teeth at night our body can be attempting to facilitate cranial drainage to help keep the lymphatics of the head and neck open and draining during the night. This can cause TMJ pain in our jaw and affect the quality of our sleep as does inadequate cranial drainage also impact our sleep. Seeing an experienced SOT chiropractor experienced in testing and treating for cranial subluxations, one who is also able to evaluate your bite and proper setting of a night guard will greatly improve this condition.
5)Â Â Â Â Low GABA! Yes low GABA elevates our sensitivity to pain! Therefore we would have a chemical neurotransmitter reason for our heightened perception of pain. This is more common in individuals with fibromyalgia, lyme disease and chronic fatigue disorders.
6)Â Â Â Â Chronic inflammation especially localized in joints and connective tissue will keep us from our restful sleep. This is common in lyme disease, fibromyalgia, and arthritis patients. However, individuals with leaky gut that harbor streptococcus can also have painful and tender joints that are not found with standard diagnosis for arthralgias, arthritis, or fibromyalgia. It is a major source for undetected and chronic degeneration and inflammation in the body and it is resistant to standard antibiotics. It can also cause tender finger joints, stiff and painful knees and hips due to the chronic inflammatory effects of this bacteria living in the body.
7)    The biochemistry of emotion discussed in other articles can aggravate an old injury, prevent it from healing and even accentuate the pain in that area! The neuropeptides of negative emotions are generally “extinguished” by the body, meaning detoxified. However, we do not always have the time to process our emotions chemically speaking. Candice Pert discovered that these neuropeptides of emotion do cross the blood-brain barrier and can be stored in the body. (See her book “The Molecules of Emotion”) The significance of knowing this about our emotions is that we can have a part of our body that does not heal, or we feel worse, or are totally symptomatic because of an unhealed negative emotion lodged in the form of a neuropeptide in the tissue.
This finding is significant for those with long term localized pain and for those that do not seem to hold their chiropractic adjustments! Having that part of the body checked and treated by a certified NET practitioner will eliminate the pain if it is simply caused by the localized accumulation of neuropeptides. It will also eliminate a source of interference that prevents the body from healing due to the presence of these neuropeptides. Referrals can be obtained through www.netmindbody.com in the United States, UK and Australia.
8)Â Â Â Â Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to tenderness as well as aches and pains in the body that are generally non-specific and persistent. It makes it difficult to rest. Do not assume that even if you get 20 minutes of direct sunlight on your skin daily that you have optimum vitamin D levels. Please see our other articles about vitamin D for more information and suggested optimum health levels.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/05/19
Published
In Part1 we discussed insomnia symptoms and insomnia causes. We listed 17 factors that could affect your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, get a deep sleep or disturb your sleep. In Topic One we discussed toxic overload contributing to sleep disorders and insomnia symptoms. In Topic Two Part A & B we discussed hormonal factors affecting sleep. In this article we will discuss brain chemistry.
TOPIC THREE: Is Brain Chemistry Causing Insomnia Symptoms?
There are three principal brain neurotransmitters that can impact one’s sleep: serotonin, GABA, and dopamine. Neurotransmitters also follow a rhythm throughout the day. Taking a morning and before bed urine neurotransmitter test will give you an excellent assessment of what your brain chemistry looks like. A lab kit can be ordered online from www.immunematrix.com (NeuroScreen/NeuroScience – urine testing SKU: SKU16270)
If you can only afford to take one test, take it before bed as your neurotransmitters before bed will be more reflective of why you may be having sleep disturbances or chronic insomnia. The balance of all three of these neurotransmitters can affect the quality of your sleep.
Low Serotonin
If your body is not making enough serotonin, then you will have a harder time relaxing and winding down in the evening. Women are more pre-disposed to low serotonin especially with their monthly cycles. Low serotonin in women can be experienced anytime of the day and it will leave a woman feeling despondent, sad, unexplained unhappiness, lack of cheerfulness, weepy, tired, fatigued, listless, even foggy headed.
Most of our serotonin, especially for women is made in the first two hours of waking up. It is made from the amino acid tryptophan which is especially high in foods such as turkey! Therefore, eating breakfast, and having protein at breakfast is essential to keeping your serotonin levels up.
Do not take L-tryptophan or 5-htp without the supervision or advice of your health care provider as it can alter and affect your prescription drugs. It can also elevate your morning melatonin levels excessively if not watched and contribute to seasonal affective disorder (SAD). This is why balance, knowledge and understanding are important.
Low GABA
Anxiety is the predominant feature of low GABA individuals. They become easily anxious and may even suffer anxiety attacks. Short of feeling obviously anxious, you may simply feel restless at night, uneasy for no reason, fidgety and unable to relax or have a tendency for OCD (obsessive compulsiveness). Low GABA will prevent you from entering into a restful deep sleep and can cause you to wake easily and have restless sleep.
If you have low GABA it generally is not low only at night and you will need to see an experienced health care practitioner to guide you in rebuilding your neurotransmitters levels. Many individuals do not do well taking a GABA supplement. Immune Matrix has found clinically, that for those suffering from chronic inflammation, such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, any chronic digestive disorder such as Chron’s, celiac sprue, leaky gut, irritable bowel, depression, generalized anxiety or anxiety attacks, that their immune system may have become sensitized to a precursor or a metabolite along the line of synthesis for GABA or become sensitive to GABA itself! Treatments are available to eliminate the immune interference and the return of optimum GABA levels results.
Elevated Dopamine
Dopamine allows us to have mental focus and alertness. If we have a lifestyle that causes us to work, study, or use the computer late into the night, our body will continue to keep our dopamine levels up in an attempt to meet our mental needs. This is why it is important to try to wind down and stop mental stimulating activity at least an hour before bed.
In many cases your dopamine levels may be normal but your body may not be degrading dopamine as it should at the end of the day. This results from low levels of an amino acid L-theanine. This amino acid breaks down dopamine. This leaves you with too much dopamine too long, especially for the time when you should be sleeping. Elevated dopamine will cause you to go to bed feeling wired yet tired. Your brain will be awake and will not let your body fall sleep or stay asleep. Restless nights are also possible with elevated dopamine. However, it is more likely that you will be the night owl and it will be easy for you to stay up later than you should and harder to fall asleep.
In summary, balancing your brain chemistry is not hard once you know what your levels are in the morning and before bed. Work with an experienced medical practitioner familiar with urine neurotransmitter test results. You can order these labs online at www.immunematrix.com and receive a consultation regarding your findings. You will then have additional information to go back to your doctor to embark on a course correction to cure the cause of your sleep disorder and chronic insomnia.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/05/17
Published
In Part1 we discussed insomnia symptoms and insomnia causes. We listed 17 factors that could affect your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, get a deep sleep or disturb your sleep. We have all experienced challenges in our sleep but when insomnia becomes a regular part of your life, we need to look deeper for its causal factors. In Topic Two Part A we discussed how adrenals and blood sugar affect and contribute to insomnia. Here in Part 2 (B) we complete our discussion of hormonal factors that impact our sleep.
Do You Have Low Thyroid Function?
Most of the time when our thyroid values are checked, only Total T3 is tested in many labs. Total T3 means it is testing bound and unbound (from thyroid antibodies) thyroid hormone. However, it is only the unbound thyroid hormone that we are able to use. Testing Free T3 is essential because only Free T3 tells you how much “available” and “free” thyroid hormone you have to use. Your total T3 may be in normal range, but that does not mean your Free T3 is normal!!!! This is essential to understand and anyone who has had a thyroid test and has not had their Free T3 tested MUST INSIST on having it tested. It could be the very reason for undetected low thyroid conditions that are now epidemic for many reasons! Immune Matrix regularly tests their patients for not only Free T3 but also for thyroid antibodies.
The effects of having low thyroid are complex. For purposes of insomnia, the thyroid interacts with the adrenal glands like a brother and sister playing off of each other. If one becomes sick, the other suffers also. This is why it is essential to know one’s cortisol values from a saliva cortisol test if you have any imbalance in your thyroid. (available online at www.immunematrix.com)
Low thyroid can contribute to low blood sugar and low blood pressure, both which will impact your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. While heart palpitations are more common in those suffering hyperthyroidism, it does occur with low thyroid on occasion, and especially in lyme patients or those suffering chronic viral infections which could impact the thyroid gland directly. Yes, the thyroid can be attacked by pathogens both viral, bacterial and spirochete.
Low thyroid function also prevents a person from getting into a deep sleep. A person will be waken up easier and feel as if they cannot get into or stay in a deep sleep for any extended period of time. Improving thyroid function and elevating one’s Free T3 will resolve this side-effect.
Are You Deficient in Melatonin?
We have an extensive article already devoted to melatonin. It is made by the pineal gland deep in the brain only in total darkness. Melatonin follows a biorhythm throughout the day and if this rhythm is off, it alters our body’s clock and prevents us from winding down and going to sleep when we should.
Night shift workers are particularly sensitive to altered melatonin rhythm because they are working during the hours when we were designed to be sleeping. Their exposure to bright lights and mental stimulation late into the night hours prevents their body from making melatonin at that time. Consulting with a health care practitioner about adding L- tryptophan to your diet before bed can help prompt the body to synthesize melatonin. Adding a full spectrum light box session in the morning will also help to reset your clock and improve your body’s melatonin biorhythm.
Simply taking melatonin if you suspect that this might be a cause might sound like a good idea “to see if it works”. However, this is not a good idea because you will miss the cause for your low melatonin. In addition, a deeper chemical imbalance could go undetected that involves your brain chemistry and can ultimately affect mood, attention, and cognition. Therefore, it is highly advisable to do a saliva melatonin test at home, available through www.immunematrix.com to find out what your melatonin biorhythm is.
Consider these factors first before resorting to taking melatonin as ingesting this hormone will inhibit its synthesis by your body and you will then develop a dependency for supplementation. When your body stops making sufficient melatonin, taking it makes sense. However, when your body could be making more melatonin, but factors exist that inhibit optimal levels; you need to investigate further before supplementation with melatonin.
Some factors that inhibit synthesis of melatonin are:
1)Â Â Â Â Â having a lot of bright lights at night, as light inhibits the mechanism of activating the pineal gland to prompt
melatonin synthesis.
2)Â Â Â Â Â taking NSAIDS, anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants, beta blockers, steroids, calcium channel blockers too late in the evening can affect melatonin synthesis. Re-evaluate the timing of your medications.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Exercising in the evening can decrease melatonin levels up to three hours after the end of exercise. Try to exercise in the morning or early afternoon and not after dinner.
4)Â Â Â Â Â Determine through laboratory testing if you are low in progesterone and/or serotonin.
Do You Have an Estrogen/Progesterone Imbalance?
You do not need to be in your late 40’s as a woman to be affected by imbalances in estrogen and progesterone. Women in their mid 20’s are beginning in increasing numbers to experience peri-menopausal symptoms! When your body fails to ovulate (release an egg) then your body will not be prompted to make progesterone that month. Your body, especially your brain, needs progesterone to use estrogen. With persistent low progesterone your brain will react to the apparent deficiency of estrogen by increasing your core temperature and hot flushes to hot flashes can result.
The problem with the deficiency in progesterone and the increase in core temperature is that both decrease melatonin synthesis! A vicious cycle begins because of hormonal imbalances. The result is that you may fall asleep but not be able to stay asleep, feeling as if your sleep is lighter, you are woken easier and have a harder time getting back to sleep. This can occur even without the discomfort of hot flushes/flashes.Â
There is a simple saliva test to get a baseline for your estrogen and progesterone. It is available online at www.immunematrix.com and is called 5-Salivary Hormone-Diagnos-Techs, Inc. SKU: SKU16266. Working with an experienced health care practitioner, you can improve your ovulation cycle and increase your progesterone. Your sleep disorder symptoms, and chronic insomnia will then become a thing of the past.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/05/14
Published
In Part 1 we listed 17 factors that cause insomnia symptoms and cause chronic insomnia, affecting your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, get a deep sleep or disturb your sleep. We have all experienced challenges in our sleep but when insomnia becomes a regular part of your life, we need to look deeper for its causal factors. Here in Part 2 (A & B) we will address the hormonal factors that impact our sleep.
TOPIC TWO (A): Do Hormones Contribute to Insomnia?
Our hormones work in synchronicity together and in a biorhythm according to daily and monthly cycles. Conditions like chronic fatigue, irritable bowel, lyme disease, Chron’s disease, celiac sprue, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, environmental sensitivities, chronic and severe allergies, adrenal fatigue, PMS, menopause, andropause, migraines and fibromyalgia can make us particularly prone to the hormonal influences that aggravate these conditions and fuel sleep disorders and create chronic insomnia.
Adrenals and Blood Sugar
The adrenal glands located above each kidney excrete the hormone cortisol in a biorhythm unique to themselves. The hormone cortisol, for purposes of this article, serves to help regulate and control our blood sugar through its prompting of the body to secrete insulin. The net effect should be improved absorption of simple sugars into our cells to fuel our brain and body’s energy needs.
Too much cortisol excreted before bed, and we excrete too much insulin. We find ourselves hungry before bed. Depending upon how long we have been excreting excessive amounts of insulin, we can become insulin resistant and our body will not respond well to our eating before bed. Insulin resistance prevents the carbohydrates we eat from being absorbed into our cells. These undigested sugars remain outside our cells where they feed pathogens in our body, causing leaky gut, bloating, gas, and persistent low blood sugar from insulin resistance even though we ate before bed to satisfy our hunger. It will be difficult to fall asleep. We feel as if what we have eaten has not given us the satisfaction of feeling fed and our munchies might persist late into the night!
If we do fall asleep, our sleep would be light and we find ourselves waking several times, maybe with a slight gnawing hunger. Or, our sleep will be disturbed by digestive upset from what we ate because it could not be absorbed on a cellular level and the secondary effects of mal-absorption, overgrowth of dysbiotic bacteria, yeast and candida give us a distended, bloated, stagnant feeling that makes it difficult to sleep.Â
How do we get too much cortisol before bed? We discuss adrenal function and cortisol in more depth in other articles. However, our activity before bed has a direct effect upon our cortisol levels. Too much mental stimulation too long and before bed, such as being on the computer all night, watching too much stimulating TV, family strife, working too late, eating too late into the night and taking in stimulates too late in the day or evening such as coffee and teas and alcohol, can over stimulate the body, causing a stressed adrenal response. Our adrenals will output more cortisol to compensate for our energy needs when we should be winding down a least one hour before bedtime. To find out what your cortisol levels are, order your saliva test kit at www.immunematrix.com.
If you find yourself feeling hungry an hour or two before bed, consider the above lifestyle changes and make two dietary changes. First, make sure that your dinner includes more protein and vegetables and less carbohydrates than you are currently eating. Consider omitting all refined carbohydrates from dinner. This will help to sustain your blood sugar well into the night and allow you to have a steady sleep with good blood sugar. Secondly, if you do become hungry before bed even with more protein at dinner, then instead of a carbohydrate snack such as cereal before bed, eat a protein snack. Try an egg, or a slice of turkey, a small low sugar protein shake with a bit of flax oil if possible. The protein will help to keep your adrenals strong, it will prevent a spike in your blood sugar if you are in fact developing insulin resistance, and it will help to sustain your blood sugar through the night as you sleep.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/05/12
Published
Type of Toxic Load Affects Sleep
The type of toxic burden and amount can stress our ability to detoxify. This is a complex subject that cannot be addressed in two paragraphs. However, the type of toxin affects how the body excretes it. For example, detoxification of hormones, such as estrogen, require more of the amino acid methionine. Our body has to eliminate hormones, digestive metabolites, dead pathogens our immune system has killed, byproducts of digestion, drugs, alcohol, as well as metal, chemical, pesticide, herbicide and environmental toxins. Neutralizing, binding and eliminating them calls upon customized chemical interactions before the toxin can be eliminated.
However, the purpose in telling you this is to have you reflect on what is going on in your life right now, to have you examine what toxins could be “overloading” your system right now. Consider the following:
a)Â Â Â Â Â Are you at your peak estrogen cycle (females), or do you tend to be estrogen dominant?
b)Â Â Â Â Â Did you drink alcohol that night or regularly?
c)Â Â Â Â Â What over the counter or prescription drugs did you take?
d)Â Â Â Â Â What extra toxic environmental exposure do you have from your job (drivers exposed to more exhaust, diesel, other occupational exposures such as auto body shops, auto repair, dry cleaning, beauty shop fumes etc.)
e)Â Â Â Â Â Are you struggling with or overcoming viral, bacterial, fungal infection
f)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Are you on antibiotics or adjusting to a new prescription medication
g)Â Â Â Â Â Do you take several over the counter medications regularly, such as anti-acids, sleep meds, pain medications, bowel regulators
h)Â Â Â Â Â Are you eating a lot of one type of food lately
i)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Are you taking an oral heavy metal chelator? And at what time? And for how long?
Toxins Deplete us of Minerals
Along with having a toxic burden that fluctuates, our toxic burden can deplete our bodies of core mineral nutrients essential to fuel our detoxification pathways. The largest quantity of this mineral is magnesium. Think of it like a cookie dough recipe, without sufficient flour we cannot make cookies. Without sufficient magnesium for the liver, it begins to pull magnesium out of the digestive tract and muscles. The result is symptoms of recent hard stools, constipation, muscle tightness in our calves worse at night, and tight neck and shoulder muscles all day. Take that as a sign of magnesium deficiency.
When we are magnesium deficient, it slows our liver’s ability to bind and excrete toxins. Our food is depleted of sufficient magnesium, especially if we eat processed foods, or too much beef or foods that make us acidic. The body uses magnesium also to neutralize our acidity, and to neutralize and balance our calcium. Insufficient magnesium causes our body to pull calcium from our bones to neutralize our acidity. This leaves little for the liver to do its detoxification.
Other core nutrients needed to run the liver smoothly are selenium, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, B12, 5-tetra-hydroxy-folate, P5P, lithium, copper and zinc. Taking a balanced mineral supplement especially when toxic burdens run higher and one is exhibiting symptoms described above will help give your body what it needs nutrient wise to be more efficient to detoxify and allow you better sleep during those peak liver hours of 1-3 a.m.!
Immune Matrix gives its patients BAM (Beyond Any Multiple – 180 tablets, sku:16160 at www.immunematrix.com) because this formulation was designed for the specific focus of supporting one’s detoxification pathways. Beyond B12 is another favorite of Immune Matrix patients, also available online, because of its sublingual B12 + 5-tetra-hydroxy-folate.
Those individuals suffering from chronic inflammation such as chronic fatigue, celiac sprue, irritable bowel, acid reflux, Chron’s disease, fibromyalgia, eczema, asthma, leaky gut, candidiasis, environmental sensitivities, food and seasonal allergies, autism, ADD, ADHD, often also have certain genetic challenges to efficient detoxification. These genetic “challenges” are called SNPs, and they can be bypassed nutritionally to improve one’s detoxification pathways. Genetic testing to determine one’s genetic SNPs are available at Immune Matrix. The end result of these genetic SNPs requires these individuals to be “high octane” requiring more of one nutrient or less or a different version of another nutrient in order to detoxify properly. Therefore, the type of supplement, for example in the case of B12, whether it is methyl or cyano based for example becomes important to those with crucial SNPs in their detoxification pathways.
As you are beginning to understand, the type of toxins currently stressing our liver, the overall toxic burden, the efficiency with which our genetics enables us to detoxify, our mineral stores, are all dynamic influences that affect the efficiency of detoxification for our liver and bears a direct impact upon our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep especially during the hours of 1 and 3 a.m..
If toxic burden is your issue then insomnia medications do not work well or at all because they need to be cleared through the liver, and can make your insomnia worse. Understanding what is going on with your lifestyle, overall toxic exposure and other factors discussed in this collection of articles will help you to purge toxins that overload and deplete your body of its essential storehouse of calming minerals. Once balance is restored, chronic insomnia is completely reversible.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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The purpose of this article is to begin to address insomnia causes and insomnia remedies. Many causative factors contribute to insomnia symptoms. Adults are not the only ones plagued with chronic insomnia. Insomnia in children does exist! Certain medical conditions such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, low blood sugar, adrenal fatigue, eczema, lyme disease, environmental sensitivities, allergies, leaky gut, acid reflux, irritable bowel, Chron’s disease, celiac sprue, candidiasis, asthma, chronic infections, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, ADD, ADHD directly aggravate and contribute to the development of chronic insomnia, insomnia symptoms and sleep disorders. Future articles will go into greater depth on specific topics that impact insomnia.
What is Insomnia?
For general purposes of discussion here, insomnia is having trouble:
a)Â Â Â Â Â falling asleep
b)Â Â Â Â Â staying asleep
c)Â Â Â Â Â getting deep sleep
d)Â Â Â Â Â having disturbed sleep
We have all experienced all of the above at some point in our life. However, when our sleep is continually impacted such that we are unable to return to a restful and rejuvenating sleep we need to look into insomnia causes, those factors that affect our sleep so that we can eliminate them and allow our body to go back into balance. Â Relying upon prescription or over the counter medications for temporary insomnia cures may be necessary but dependency on medications to control symptoms cures nothing. Knowledge and understand leads us to answers and hope for an insomnia cure.
What Factors Contribute to Insomnia?
Our sleep cycle is a complex interaction between our hormone function, blood sugar, immune system function, digestive function, brain chemistry, metabolism, mineral balance, emotional biochemistry, our body’s perception of stress, our diet, and our nervous system’s balance. All these factors work like sections of a symphony coordinating their functions so that our body can function in unison and harmony and enter the cycle of sleep every day!
The following factors will be grouped into eight key topics that can impact our ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, and have a restful and rejuvenating sleep:
1)Â Â Â Â Â high toxic load
2)Â Â Â Â Â inefficient detoxification pathways
3)Â Â Â Â Â mineral imbalances
4)Â Â Â Â Â low blood sugar versus high blood sugar
5)Â Â Â Â Â high cortisol
6)Â Â Â Â Â low thyroid hormones
7)Â Â Â Â Â low melatonin, shift work
8)Â Â Â Â Â imbalances in estrogen, progesterone (menopause insomnia)
9)Â Â Â Â Â imbalanced brain chemistry
10) immune inflammation
11)Â Â Â Â chronic infection
12)Â Â Â Â leaky gut
13)Â Â Â Â chronic pain
14)Â Â Â Â your diet
15)Â Â Â Â stress
16)Â Â Â Â biochemistry of emotions
17)Â Â Â Â structural (vertebral subluxations, cranial drainage, obesity, sleep apnea)
TOPIC ONE: Our Toxic Load Impacts Sleep
Part A
The Role of Our Liver
Our liver performs approximately 40,000 metabolic processes in the body. It’s a very busy organ! In Chinese Medicine, after over 10,000 years of observing the body’s rhythm and cycles, a biorhythm for each organ was observed to have a peak capacity at specific times of the day. What is remarkable about this observation is that if an organ is stressed or diseased, symptoms are more likely to occur at those peak hours associated with the corresponding peak organ time.
In the case of the liver, the peak time is from 1a.m. to 3 a.m.. Insomnia symptoms such as tossing and turning, waking and being unable fall asleep, having a very restless sleep during these hours, is highly suggestive that the body is struggling with detoxification. Additional symptoms associated with liver stress that accompany these insomnia symptoms during the day include: frequent sighing, red face or eyes, discomfort over the right rib cage, feelings of anger, frustration, irritability, having a short fuse, feeling aggressive.
As you can see, our liver is most active while we sleep and challenges to our ability to detoxify can profoundly affect our sleep. Future articles will go into greater depth about the mechanism of detoxification and will discuss these core  factors that determine our ability and efficiency to detoxify:
1)Â Â Â Â Â Â The degree of toxic load and the type of toxic accumulation (heavy metal, bacterial, fungal, mycotoxins, hormonal, chemical, pesticide, petrochemical, metabolic waste, undigested food metabolites)
2)Â Â Â Â Â Â Immune interference with detoxification pathways of the liver coupled with genetic SNPs inhibiting pathway efficiency.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Â Insufficient mineral catalysts to fuel detoxification pathways by the liver.
Simply taking an herb such as milk thistle will not magically detoxify you. Inflammation can inhibit the biochemical pathways that allow toxins to be broken down and bound by the liver. A high acid promoting diet, high in carbohydrates, sugars and sodas will deplete the body of alkaline minerals and trace elements that are essential to fuel the liver’s detoxification pathway.
In addition, having an elevated copper to zinc ratio based on serum lab findings can cause insomnia. Copper/zinc ratios should be 1:1. It is a simple matter to include the items in your standard blood work. Balancing one’s mineral chemistry towards a focus of improving one’s ability to detoxify, deal with chronic low grade infection (which throws off mineral stores) and excreting specific types of toxins requires the trained assistance of a health practitioner knowledgeable in the advanced laboratory tests available to analyze one’s biochemistry from blood, urine and toxic excretions. If your attempts to do a general detoxification of the body leave you depleted or make you feel sick, then consider that you may be missing key mineral catalysts, have an immune interference in a metabolic detoxification pathway or are unable to bind those specific toxins to eliminate them. Reasons for this vary with individuals and your health care specialist will be able to assist you further.
A good guideline before attempting any type of detoxification is to establish your baseline mineral stores with appropriate lab tests. Know the degree your immune system is interfering with detoxification pathways and the excretion of toxins. Determine what toxins you need to target for elimination (food metabolites, heavy metals, mycotoxins, pesticides, biofilm etc.) You also need to have evaluated the efficiency of your lymphatic drainage and cell membrane function and free radical stress. This is done best by an FLT specialist that will run a fasting BIA test. For more information on this rather complex subject contact www.immunematrix.com.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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