Participants: Don Miller, Agatha Thrash
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000167
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00:01 Hello, I'm Agatha Thrash, a staff physician from
00:05 Uchee Pines Institute. 00:07 We have a topic for you today that's a very common one. 00:10 Probably the commonest thing that doctors hear about in 00:14 their offices is allergies. 00:16 Allergies and various autoimmune problems. 00:21 And so we'd like to talk with you about that, 00:23 and we hope you will join us. 00:43 Welcome to "Help Yourself to Health" 00:46 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute. 00:49 And now, here's your host Dr. Thrash. 00:54 We have such an enormous number of chemicals, pollens and fumes 01:01 and foods and dyes and a lot of things... fabrics 01:07 that we can react to. 01:08 And so, the human body often does that very thing. 01:12 What it does, is to look at something and see 01:16 if it recognizes it as part of what it has had, 01:19 and if it does, then it is happy with it, 01:23 and if not, then it may react to what you have just contacted. 01:28 Now this kind of thing... reacting to something in your 01:32 environment, is quite common. 01:35 In fact, many people today are what they call "allergic people" 01:40 They react with such things as hay fever with skin rashes, with 01:45 gastrointestinal problems, with aches and pains, with fatigue, 01:50 with depression, and a lot of other things that can be 01:54 said to be a problem with an allergy. 01:58 Some people can't sleep because of allergies. 02:01 Some people have flu-like symptoms because of allergies. 02:05 What can we do about these allergies? 02:08 Well we have a number of things we can do. 02:10 One of the allergies that we don't often think of as being 02:15 an allergic phenomenon is that of arthritis, 02:19 and it isn't so in all instances, 02:22 but certain cases of arthritis do seem to have a basis in 02:28 food sensitivity, especially the rheumatic types, or the 02:33 rheumatoid types of arthritis. 02:37 We have often found that if we eliminate the nightshades, 02:41 these individuals will have much better opportunity to 02:47 be pain free. 02:48 They may also recognize that their joints, which have been 02:52 swollen, and tender, will be less swollen and less tender 02:57 if they remove certain things like the nightshades. 03:00 Nightshades are tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and peppers. 03:04 These foods contain a number of alkaloids which can be 03:12 irritating to some people. 03:13 I like to explain it in this way... 03:16 ...of course it isn't exactly this way but it's like 03:19 walking through these little sandspurs that you might find in 03:23 Florida, near the beaches, which get on your clothing or stick 03:29 in your foot. 03:31 These sandspurs are little packages with thorns 03:37 sticking out all around. 03:38 And when you walk by, they are very ready to stick onto 03:42 you and since they have little barbs on them, 03:45 they don't peel off very readily. 03:47 And so, with a sandspur you can carry them sometimes, 03:50 ...if you don't notice them, you can carry them in a seam 03:54 of your clothing for some months before you recognize 03:58 that it's actually there. 04:00 With these alkaloids that are present in certain foods like 04:04 the nightshades, I like to think of them as being like 04:07 sandspurs... they attach themselves or fix themselves 04:12 as the allergists say, in the joints on some of the tissues 04:16 and they sort of stay there to irritate and to poke into 04:21 the person and cause them to have pain and inflammation. 04:25 Staying off the nightshades for a period of time... 04:29 say some months, or even a year, can often do wonders 04:34 to make the person feel better. 04:37 Now nightshades aren't the only foods that can cause a 04:40 person to have painful joints. 04:42 Soy products are also quite common as allergy-producers or 04:47 arthritis-producers. 04:49 And some people have a sensitivity to wheat or to 04:53 all the gluten grains like rye and barley and wheat and 05:02 other grains that contain this very large protein that we call 05:09 gluten. 05:10 Now gluten and the nightshades and soy are just members of 05:16 classes of foods that do not have any particular 05:23 claim on allergy production but they are unique in that 05:31 they probably cause more allergies than most other foods. 05:35 Now there is a type of arthritis that is not allergic which we 05:39 call gout. 05:42 Gout is caused by the build up of uric acid in the tissues 05:48 and in the blood which comes from purine metabolism. 05:54 You may not heard of purines as a part of foods, 05:58 but purines are often associated with proteins... 06:03 So foods that are very high in proteins, especially animal 06:06 products, tend to be high in purines and tend to have 06:12 a metabolic end product called "uric acid. " 06:17 As the uric acid builds up in the blood, and in the tissues, 06:21 sometimes the uric acid will crystallize out... 06:25 And we are going to show you how to make a charcoal compress 06:29 and actually put it on somebody that we are going to tell you 06:32 has gout. 06:34 Now with gout, the foods that are the highest in the purines 06:42 are liver, kidneys, brain, heart, sweetbreads, muscles, 06:47 anchovies, sardines, meat extract, consommé, gravies, 06:52 fish roe and herring. 06:53 Now many of us don't eat any of those anyway, 06:57 but then those that have moderate levels are 07:00 some other sea foods, 07:01 and ALL meat and ALL foul. 07:03 Yeast and lentils, whole grain cereals, beans, peas, and 07:09 asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, spinach and oatmeal 07:12 ...those have moderate quantities. 07:14 So if you tend to have gout, 07:17 you want to leave off all these foods as much as you can. 07:20 Then those that have negligible levels are vegetables and fruit, 07:26 many cereals, and many cereal products. 07:30 So, as you tend to leave off these foods, 07:34 that makes your gout tend to get better. 07:37 But let's say you're in an acute flare-up, 07:40 you have big toe which is often the part of the anatomy most 07:45 severely affected. 07:46 Your big toe is swollen and painful, 07:49 and you want to do something to bring the pain down. 07:53 So I've asked Melissa Thrash if she will show you how to make 07:58 charcoal compress. 07:59 Charcoal compresses are not difficult to make and 08:02 Melissa has been making them for quite a while. 08:05 So Melissa, would you show us how to make a compress 08:10 and then show us on your friend, Shannon Jenkins 08:14 just how you apply it... Okay. 08:16 Often people will add flaxseed to their charcoal compress 08:20 because it helps it to gel better but it's not 08:23 absolutely necessary. 08:24 You can use either the whole flaxseed, or you can use the 08:27 flaxseed ground. 08:28 And, the ratio for flaxseed is 1 part of the flaxseed 08:33 to 4 parts of the charcoal. 08:35 So I'm going to demonstrate here by just spooning out some 08:39 charcoal... 08:42 1, 2, 3, and 4 08:50 And I can see that that's a very light powder. 08:54 It's really, really messy. 08:56 And you can add the flaxseed whole or ground 09:00 into the charcoal and mix it up... 09:04 And it's as my grandmother said, it's really, really messy 09:07 and it tends to get everywhere. 09:09 And so, I already mixed some up so we wouldn't make 09:13 a real big mess. 09:14 But you just mix it up in with enough water to make it 09:18 into a thin paste and not really runny but just a nice paste. Yes 09:24 And you're going to apply that to a porous material 09:28 such as a paper towel, or a thin cloth, or a napkin, 09:32 or a handkerchief, or whatever you happen to have that's 09:35 porous enough that it will go through... 09:37 and just spread it over it. 09:47 Sort of like putting peanut butter on a piece of bread, 09:50 isn't it? Sort of.. 09:56 Sometimes when the charcoal is made up, it is very thick 10:01 so you want it not to be so thick that you can't spread it 10:05 easily... 10:06 Okay... 10:08 There should only be one layer of material between the 10:12 charcoal and between the skin that you want to put it on 10:15 because it's not to be a barrier, 10:16 it's just to contain the charcoal. 10:19 Okay Shannon, I'm going to put this on your elbow. 10:26 And, we're going to wrap the plastic around it. 10:30 This plastic is not part of the treatment, 10:32 it's simply to contain the charcoal... 10:35 as Melissa said, charcoal can be quite messy and it can get 10:39 over a lot of things. 10:41 And it is also to keep the charcoal moist... 10:46 it will help with that quite a lot and that's very helpful. 10:50 And I suspect you're going to want an Ace bandage... 10:53 ...there you go. 11:00 The Ace bandage is put on lightly. 11:02 It's purpose is simply to hold the bandage in place... 11:06 the compress in place... so it's just simply wrapped 11:10 And the way to wrap an Ace bandage is overlapping it 11:13 about one-third and it functions in this instance merely to hold 11:20 the compress in place. 11:23 So once she's got it there, then she can attach it with the 11:27 little fastener that came with the Ace bandage. 11:32 There we go... 11:33 And how long does she leave that on? 11:35 She... preferably could leave it on all night... 11:38 but you don't have to leave it on all night. 11:41 Yeah, if it's in the daytime, she could leave it on just 11:43 a few hours... Um hm. 11:45 All right, thank you girls. 11:46 I appreciate that and am so happy. 11:48 I'll let you check the charcoal because it can be spread from 11:55 here to outside... and this as well... so that we aren't 12:01 liable to get any of that on us. 12:03 It's really quite a liability. 12:06 Now, we have a variety of things about immunity 12:12 that we need to understand and to understand this, 12:15 we need to know some things about white blood cells and how 12:19 the body produces certain of its important products. 12:23 So I've asked Dr. Winn Horsley if he will assist me in helping 12:28 you to understand about this matter of immunity. 12:32 Dr. Winn Horsley, who is a staff physician at Uchee Pines and 12:36 he will now tell you some things about the immune system. 12:39 Thank you, Dr. Agatha. 12:41 You've introduced it, that the real part of the immune system 12:46 is the white blood cell... 12:47 And in this issue of whether it's allergies or these 12:53 autoimmune diseases you were talking about, 12:55 we're talking about the immune system. 12:57 And perhaps first it would be worthwhile to look at what 13:00 does it do that is good... since it sounds like 13:02 it's being bad. 13:03 Yes... and these things. 13:05 It would be worthwhile to think about that white blood cell 13:08 and, I think, maybe visualize it... All right... 13:10 Could I put it on the board? 13:11 Well yes, I wish you would... that will help. 13:17 The white blood cell, I guess we'll outline it black... 13:20 but the inside will be white... Very good. 13:25 As all the cells in the body, you have a membrane around it. 13:30 The white blood cells are very different from the majority 13:34 of blood cells which are red. 13:35 The red blood cells are like robots, 13:37 they don't have a nucleus... 13:38 they're just cargo ships for oxygen. 13:41 But the WHITE blood cells have a nucleus with all the nuclear 13:45 material that there is in the body... directing things. 13:51 And I'm going to take one of of the lowest class 13:54 of white blood cells... what is called a "neutrophil," 13:58 and what it has is a lot of little granules in it. 14:02 These granules are filled with a hypochlorite-type of solution 14:10 which really is essentially bleach. 14:13 Yes, that's very powerful. 14:14 It is! You know, I heard a talk once by an emergency room 14:19 physician who emphasized that a bleach injury... 14:23 if a person gets undiluted bleach on her hands, 14:26 it's much harder to handle than a strong acid injury. 14:29 Is that right? Uh huh... 14:31 So, here we have the white blood cell... 14:37 another name for this neutrophil is a "poly," 14:39 a "polymorphonuclear" cell. 14:41 And off here, we're going to say we have a germ... 14:46 a bacterium, which is an enemy that we want to get rid of, 14:50 and it is very good at doing this. 14:53 The very first thing that happens is that this white blood 14:58 cell has the remarkable capacity of being able to recognize 15:02 that this is a foreign object... 15:04 Now you may think, well that should be easy. 15:06 But let's keep in mind... there are little cells in our own body 15:11 I drew this little purposely because most bacteria are 15:14 smaller than the white blood cells. 15:15 But we have tiny platelets that are there... in the blood. 15:20 And there are so many structures in the body, 15:23 How does it recognize which is supposed to be there 15:27 and which is not? 15:28 Well it's an amazing endowment that, in fact, 15:34 we could say that it is trained in a college that does this. 15:39 We should really compare the white blood cell system 15:42 to an army because it functions very much like that. 15:45 In fact, there are different levels of the soldiers and 15:51 officers in it up until generals. 15:54 And they get training in what you could call the military 15:59 college of the body. 16:01 It's a gland that's located behind the breastbone, 16:04 so we can't feel it or be aware of it. 16:07 And, it's actually rather small in adult life but, 16:11 in early childhood, in infancy, it's quite a large gland. 16:15 And what it's doing is, it's training these white blood cells 16:19 to recognize everything that is you... 16:23 when they're in you. 16:24 Everything that's in me when it's in me. 16:26 It's to recognize what is oneself. 16:30 And, when they have graduated from the college, 16:34 they're well-trained. 16:35 So, as soon as it sees any object, it quickly checks 16:39 ...sort of like computers do on a credit card. 16:43 Is this an approved or an unapproved object person? 16:48 And so if this bacterium, as it shouldn't, it would not pass 16:54 the test, then it's automatic fight... 16:57 And it's trained like a hit squad. 17:00 It goes after hijackers of airplanes. 17:02 It then shows another of its amazing capabilities... 17:05 It's able to move. 17:06 It's able to swim right through fluid, or actually even 17:10 go through soft tissues. 17:12 It will come right over to the bacterium and then go ahead 17:16 with it's destruction. 17:17 Now I'm not going to re-draw the whole white blood cell. 17:20 I'll just draw the bacteria right next to it here. 17:25 The next step is putting out some arms... 17:30 as though it were going to give a loving hug. 17:35 But the following step is not a loving hug... 17:39 it is consumption. 17:42 It's now inside but the story isn't over yet. 17:45 It's now encapsulated inside the white blood cells' membranes 17:51 but now all these little granules come into action. 17:55 They come with their bleach with its powerful destructive 18:03 action and they're dumped into that little space 18:06 and that bacterium is history... Um hm. 18:10 Well, that's obviously an important function. 18:14 Yes, and it's important also that those little granules 18:19 don't ever dump their bleach until they get the germ 18:24 in that capsule and they put the bleach inside the capsule. 18:28 That's very much so. 18:31 It may have taken another billion years to evolve 18:34 that little feature... don't you think? 18:37 You know it really is ludicrous to think that these things 18:41 could have just happened... Yes. 18:44 Now this is, of course, just one aspect 18:48 of immune function. 18:49 There are other cells that have, not this action, 18:54 but rather a directing action, or a memory action of 18:57 remembering previous things. 18:59 And there is a whole system of molecules called "antibodies" 19:03 that are involved in struggles like this for getting rid of 19:07 foreign objects. 19:08 Now here, in our talk today, 19:13 we're getting into autoimmune disease. 19:18 And the underlying problem here apparently is 19:23 that somehow the white blood cells have either forgotten 19:27 or gotten mixed up on what was their original training 19:31 at the military college. 19:33 And so they, somehow, on encountering some cells 19:38 or tissue of the body, consider that this is foreign. 19:43 is an enemy. 19:45 It's an enemy... ah ha. 19:46 And so they start directing their terrible weapons 19:50 right at one's own body. 19:52 Those of you that remember, not the present struggle 19:58 in the Middle East, but one about 10 years ago... 20:00 11 years ago, the Gulf War, 20:03 might remember that the main causalities, the main source 20:07 of casualties among the allies there was what was called 20:10 "friendly fire. " 20:11 And, friendly fire kills just as dead as enemy fire. 20:15 That's exactly the kind of thing that's going on. 20:19 This is really friendly fire. 20:20 That's right. 20:21 What kinds of diseases do we have that are involved 20:25 in this kind of friendly fire? 20:27 Well, perhaps one of the most commonly known one 20:32 would be rheumatoid arthritis. 20:35 There is actually quite a long list. 20:38 We could name a couple of them... 20:39 Lupus, I think many people have heard of. 20:41 Other ones are less well known. 20:43 There is an inflammation of the thyroid... Hashimoto Thyroiditis 20:47 ...and the list goes on. 20:49 There's even one type of diabetes where they consider 20:52 that it's because of an autoimmune problem 20:57 that these white blood cells will attack one's own 21:01 pancreatic cells... the cells that produce insulin. 21:04 And, of course, the person that ends up with 21:05 diabetes won't have insulin being produced. 21:08 Well thank you very much. 21:10 This has been very helpful, very enlightening... 21:12 and FASCINATING... I just can't imagine how fascinating 21:17 these kinds of things are... Really. 21:21 Now, in addition to the autoimmune things that we might 21:24 think of as being against self, 21:29 we have just some ordinary allergies and I've asked 21:32 Don Miller if he will explain to you some of the things 21:37 having to do with just ordinary allergies. 21:40 And it looks as if you have brought some very interesting 21:44 props here. 21:45 Don Miller, a Lifestyle Counselor from Uchee Pines. 21:48 Thank you, Dr. Thrash. 21:49 Allergies are very common in our society and 21:53 I think every single one of us probably has an allergy. 21:56 We just don't know it because it seems like allergies are 22:00 accumulative in our system and we can handle 22:02 a little bit of allergy. 22:03 And it can do something as simple as cause a running nose, 22:07 all the way up to faulty thinking and, quite frankly, 22:11 sometimes an allergy can cause a death. 22:13 I've known people allergic to aspirin... that a small 22:16 amount of aspirin would cause death because they are 22:18 so deathly allergic to it. 22:20 But, I just want to explain this idea of accumulation. 22:24 Some people are allergic to fumes... hair spray, 22:28 deodorant, perfumes and they just cannot be around them... 22:31 but some people are allergic but there is no reaction in the body 22:35 So, let's say this person is allergic to hair spray... 22:38 but they also happen to be allergic to dogs. 22:42 And many people are allergic to animals and they have no idea 22:44 that they are because 22:45 of the fact that their body 22:46 can handle it. 22:47 You see, it's the immune function that keeps us from 22:50 having an immune reaction. 22:52 So we've got odors in the home, 22:55 and we have a dog in the home, 22:56 and some people are sort of allergic to common household 23:00 products like Styrofoam or other types of things we have 23:03 in the home and still, their bodies are strong enough... 23:06 their immune systems are strong enough not to have a reaction. 23:09 A good example of the fact that as we grow older, 23:11 we seem to become more allergic... 23:13 I have never, in my life, had a case of poison ivy. 23:17 I can go out and pull it with my hands, 23:19 I can rub it on myself, 23:20 if I can eat the leaves... it has no effect. 23:22 I've known people, like me, that one day, down in their 23:26 older years... all of a sudden they start getting poison ivy 23:29 because their immune systems, because of wearing out from age, 23:32 start becoming having the allergic reaction to it. 23:36 So this person is quite lucky. 23:37 They've got all these odors around the home. 23:39 They've got Fido in the home. 23:41 They've got all the Styrofoam and other things in the home. 23:43 No problem. 23:44 Trouble is, they are also allergic to dust. 23:48 And when they are allergic to dust, 23:49 THAT sets off the trigger. 23:51 And so... we just need to avoid dust, right? 23:55 We can't avoid dust. 23:56 Howard Hughes tried for years to avoid dust 23:59 but dust is everywhere. 24:00 We might be able to avoid some simple household products 24:03 but that's sort of hard to do too. 24:05 It's a little bit easier to... sorry Fido... 24:09 to get rid of the dog and the odors are hard too... 24:13 So I would say probably in this case, the dog has got to go. 24:15 And if we get rid of that one step, that sort of built up this 24:19 system in our bodies to cause the allergic reaction, 24:23 then we're not going to have the runny nose, 24:25 the teary eyes, the cough, whatever it might be.. 24:28 And I've known people who are almost debilitated by something 24:31 as simple as just a dog in the home. 24:33 So we search the home for... 24:35 what is it that we might be allergic to... 24:37 find out what it is and get rid of that one thing 24:39 and all the rest might go. 24:41 And it has already been mentioned that things like 24:43 milk and eggs, and things are very high in allergenic 24:46 properties... get rid of those things first and work down 24:50 to the point where "I can't get anything out" 24:52 and if you get down to that point, 24:53 usually you are not going to be having an allergic reaction, 24:56 Dr. Thrash. 24:57 Well that sounds very good. 24:58 Thank you so much for presenting that. 25:01 And since hay fever may be one of those big manifestations 25:06 and people with hay fever can tend to get sinusitis in the 25:11 frontal areas, and in the ethmoid areas, and in the 25:15 nasal areas and these people have a lot of pain... 25:18 especially if they get a cold or if they do any kind of 25:23 air travel. 25:24 And so I've asked Melissa if she will show you just how to make 25:28 a sinus pack. 25:30 Melissa... 25:31 Okay, we going to demonstrate on Shannon... 25:35 Okay, Shannon gets to take the nice lie down spot. 25:43 Okay, first you are going to get some water as hot as 25:47 the person can stand it. 25:49 And you are going to dip the towel into the water 25:52 and wring the towel out really well. 25:54 You don't want it to drip and burn the patient. 25:56 And then you're going to fold the towel over 25:58 somewhat like this... 26:02 Can they see that... ah yes. Okay. 26:05 Just in a little shape here 26:08 and it's going to go over the face... over the sinuses 26:11 and her nose is going to be able to stick out this hole 26:14 so she can breathe. 26:15 That's nice... makes it so that she has all of her sinuses 26:20 covered and still she is able to breathe... Um hm. 26:23 And you leave it on for 3 minutes 26:25 and then change it out and get another one, 26:27 and put it on for another 3 minutes, 26:29 and then change it out and put on another one 26:31 and do this exchange maybe 3 to 5 times. 26:33 And then when you're done, 26:36 you can take it off and get a dry towel 26:38 just like the one that you used that was wet 26:42 and put it on the face and leave it there 26:48 for a little while to dry the face off... 26:51 And let them maybe go to sleep and when they wake up, 26:54 you hope that they'll be completely well of their 26:56 sinusitis. 26:57 This is a very effective treatment 27:01 and we have seen this especially for people who have the flu, 27:04 or people who have severe allergies with a bad case of 27:09 sinusitis. 27:10 We have seen it work just absolutely marvels. 27:12 Sometimes within seconds of putting the part of this 27:18 sinus pack in place, the person is already having a reduction 27:22 in their pain. 27:23 Now pain and drippy nose characterize those who have 27:29 acute sinusitis. 27:31 Chronic sinusitis is almost always associated also 27:36 with a little bit of cough. 27:37 The reason for that is that the secretions run back 27:41 in the back of the throat and run down into the bronchi. 27:45 We can see then that some of the things that the Lord made 27:49 for our benefit and for our enjoyment at times 27:53 come to be our enemies and the body works against them. 27:57 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17