“Every year I get a Flu Shot and every year I get the Flu!” Just say NO (thanks)

Every year, thousands of people line up for the flu shot. Very soon after –they get the flu. I’ve heard it so many times in the last month and I know from personal experience working as a nurse years ago, the flu shot can cause the flu. Why keep getting one?

The question then, is how did humanity survive throughout millennia without the flu shot? To answer, we have to study ancient history, or we’re destined to repeat it.

In fact, epidemiologists and viral geneticists studied the worst flu pandemic in the history of the world–the 1918 flu, which infected one-third of the entire world population at the time—over 500 million people. The first wave of this epidemic was typical of the flu—respiratory symptoms, fever, and malaise. As the virus spread beyond the respiratory track, it turned deadly. Instead of being confined to the lungs, the second wave of attack caused massive hemorrhaging from every opening in the body. People bled out from everywhere, not because of the virus—but due to the virus-stimulated cytokine storm, that burst vessels open from inflammation.

A “Cytokine Storm” occurs when the immune system continues to be activated and remains activated against the immune stimulant long after it is necessary. This causes collateral, damaging inflammation.

From scientific research of the viral genome, it appears two events aligned at just the exact time to create the 1918 pandemic:

• A new influenza strain had “jumped species” aka an “antigenic shift” occurred from avian (birds) just before 1913. Then by 1915 the virus split into two new forms infecting pigs and humans. Analysis of data showed that the severity of this flu was due to the powerful cytokine cascade initiated by the immune system response to infection. Cytokines are immune regulatory proteins that the body sends out to attempt to kill off an invading pathogen. But the response was a thousand times more extreme than the normal. Usually, those with weakened immune systems succumb because they can’t mount an immune response quickly (the elderly and the young)— but this was the opposite—these were mostly young people with healthy, strong immune systems, thrown together in the middle of war, crowded in trenches with no time to rest. This is what spread and what killed so many so quickly.


• The war itself, which began in 1914. This new strain of influenza spread like wildfire through the ranks on both sides of the conflict. Crowded together in trenches, hospital tents, and extremely unhealthy and contagious conditions, the virus found a perfect breeding ground. Sometime between 1915 and late 1917, the virus mutated again. The first to die, after the infected soldiers, were the first to respond—nurses and doctors; followed by morticians. These people were dealing with massive numbers of casualties, bleeding out from everywhere, completely overwhelming the systems in place—so many in fact, and so much blood—that machines were brought in to scoop up and bury bodies en masse. Day after day for two years, the machines, and the mass burials continued as hospitals, school gymnasiums, and any large building were emptied of bodies. As the war ended, millions of infected soldiers crowded onto ships heading home (no air travel yet). As these ships sailed from port to port, so did the influenza virus—and then further from trains, buses, and cars.

And then, between November and December 1920, simultaneously, around the world, the worst pandemic ended. What did we learn? Would a flu shot have prevented this? These are exactly the kind of questions that keep viral researchers and epidemiologists awake at night.

Fast forward. Could it happen again? Well, we have crowded animal feedlots with little inspection and several different animal species living side by side in virus breeding ground conditions—allowing viruses to jump species and mutate more readily. We have lots of population dense areas like inner city housing, day care centers, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and even corporate offices. And we have air travel—enabling one human to come in contact with infected animal blood in a remote village and to carry that virus (HIV in the 80’s) across the globe, spreading exponentially, in a matter of hours.

Flu vaccines take time to make—at least 4-6 months from production to distribution. By the time the vaccine is available, the infrastructure of the health care system to quarantine and treat those infected, and effectively administer it would already be decimated. Remember– first to succumb are the first to respond—nurses, doctors, health care workers; followed by morticians. If a vaccine could be distributed quickly—it would only work on the specific virus that emerged in that year, that instance, and was administered within 48 hours from the onset of illness. Any viral mutation would render the entire batch useless. Such exact conditions are essentially impossible to predict. In other words—without an actual human with the flu—it is impossible to make the right vaccine for that particular strain and by the time one case is discovered, it is too late. Drugs like Tamiflu are only active when metabolized in the body, and don’t break down before being excreted in the active form to flow unaffected through wastewater treatment plants. As this active form ends up in streams and waterways—it comes in contact with waterfowl. Thus, the avian strains develop resistance; and as the avian, swine, and human strains get together for dinner and share survival strategies—super resistance is passed on to strains infecting humans.

Tamiflu has some serious, questionable side effects too. Is it worth it?

If an epidemic began in an area where you live, would you know how to protect yourself? Your children?

The best defense is a pro-active offense. Find your truth.
Stephen Harrod Buhner wrote an amazing and informative book to help you called Herbal Antivirals, listed below.

RESOURCES:

CYTOKINE STORM

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-cytokine-storm-and-what-are-the-diseases-that-cause-that

FLU SHOT

http://www.realfarmacy.com/flu-shot-respiratory/

TAMIFLU

http://www.cchrflorida.org/warning-tamiflu-causes-mental-health-issues/

STEPHEN HARROD BUHNER

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/herbal-antivirals-stephen-harrod-buhner/1116395381

Thomasina Copenhaver is a naturopathic doctor and registered nurse with over 30 years experience in the healthcare profession. Her passion is writing, researching, and empowering all humans with knowledge of healing at the cellular level; to enable them to make educated and informed choices regarding their health. For more information visit her website www.notesfromanaturopath.com or to buy her book, “Notes from a Naturopath” visit Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

“Every year I get a Flu Shot and every year I get the Flu!” Just say NO (thanks)

“Every year I get a Flu Shot and every year I get the Flu!” Just say NO (thanks)

Every year, thousands of people line up for the flu shot. Very soon after –they get the flu. I’ve heard it so many times in the last month and I know from personal experience working as a nurse years ago, the flu shot can cause the flu. Why keep getting one?

The question then, is how did humanity survive throughout millennia without the flu shot? To answer, we have to study ancient history, or we’re destined to repeat it.

In fact, epidemiologists and viral geneticists studied the worst flu pandemic in the history of the world–the 1918 flu, which infected one-third of the entire world population at the time—over 500 million people. The first wave of this epidemic was typical of the flu—respiratory symptoms, fever, and malaise. As the virus spread beyond the respiratory track, it turned deadly. Instead of being confined to the lungs, the second wave of attack caused massive hemorrhaging from every opening in the body. People bled out from everywhere, not because of the virus—but due to the virus-stimulated cytokine storm, that burst vessels open from inflammation.

A “Cytokine Storm” occurs when the immune system continues to be activated and remains activated against the immune stimulant long after it is necessary. This causes collateral, damaging inflammation.

From scientific research of the viral genome, it appears two events aligned at just the exact time to create the 1918 pandemic:

• A new influenza strain had “jumped species” aka an “antigenic shift” occurred from avian (birds) just before 1913. Then by 1915 the virus split into two new forms infecting pigs and humans. Analysis of data showed that the severity of this flu was due to the powerful cytokine cascade initiated by the immune system response to infection. Cytokines are immune regulatory proteins that the body sends out to attempt to kill off an invading pathogen. But the response was a thousand times more extreme than the normal. Usually, those with weakened immune systems succumb because they can’t mount an immune response quickly (the elderly and the young)— but this was the opposite—these were mostly young people with healthy, strong immune systems, thrown together in the middle of war, crowded in trenches with no time to rest. This is what spread and what killed so many so quickly.


• The war itself, which began in 1914. This new strain of influenza spread like wildfire through the ranks on both sides of the conflict. Crowded together in trenches, hospital tents, and extremely unhealthy and contagious conditions, the virus found a perfect breeding ground. Sometime between 1915 and late 1917, the virus mutated again. The first to die, after the infected soldiers, were the first to respond—nurses and doctors; followed by morticians. These people were dealing with massive numbers of casualties, bleeding out from everywhere, completely overwhelming the systems in place—so many in fact, and so much blood—that machines were brought in to scoop up and bury bodies en masse. Day after day for two years, the machines, and the mass burials continued as hospitals, school gymnasiums, and any large building were emptied of bodies. As the war ended, millions of infected soldiers crowded onto ships heading home (no air travel yet). As these ships sailed from port to port, so did the influenza virus—and then further from trains, buses, and cars.

And then, between November and December 1920, simultaneously, around the world, the worst pandemic ended. What did we learn? Would a flu shot have prevented this? These are exactly the kind of questions that keep viral researchers and epidemiologists awake at night.

Fast forward. Could it happen again? Well, we have crowded animal feedlots with little inspection and several different animal species living side by side in virus breeding ground conditions—allowing viruses to jump species and mutate more readily. We have lots of population dense areas like inner city housing, day care centers, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and even corporate offices. And we have air travel—enabling one human to come in contact with infected animal blood in a remote village and to carry that virus (HIV in the 80’s) across the globe, spreading exponentially, in a matter of hours.

Flu vaccines take time to make—at least 4-6 months from production to distribution. By the time the vaccine is available, the infrastructure of the health care system to quarantine and treat those infected, and effectively administer it would already be decimated. Remember– first to succumb are the first to respond—nurses, doctors, health care workers; followed by morticians. If a vaccine could be distributed quickly—it would only work on the specific virus that emerged in that year, that instance, and was administered within 48 hours from the onset of illness. Any viral mutation would render the entire batch useless. Such exact conditions are essentially impossible to predict. In other words—without an actual human with the flu—it is impossible to make the right vaccine for that particular strain and by the time one case is discovered, it is too late. Drugs like Tamiflu are only active when metabolized in the body, and don’t break down before being excreted in the active form to flow unaffected through wastewater treatment plants. As this active form ends up in streams and waterways—it comes in contact with waterfowl. Thus, the avian strains develop resistance; and as the avian, swine, and human strains get together for dinner and share survival strategies—super resistance is passed on to strains infecting humans.

Tamiflu has some serious, questionable side effects too. Is it worth it?

If an epidemic began in an area where you live, would you know how to protect yourself? Your children?

The best defense is a pro-active offense. Find your truth.
Stephen Harrod Buhner wrote an amazing and informative book to help you called Herbal Antivirals, listed below.

RESOURCES:

CYTOKINE STORM

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-cytokine-storm-and-what-are-the-diseases-that-cause-that

FLU SHOT

http://www.realfarmacy.com/flu-shot-respiratory/

TAMIFLU

http://www.cchrflorida.org/warning-tamiflu-causes-mental-health-issues/

STEPHEN HARROD BUHNER

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/herbal-antivirals-stephen-harrod-buhner/1116395381

Thomasina Copenhaver is a naturopathic doctor and registered nurse with over 30 years experience in the healthcare profession. Her passion is writing, researching, and empowering all humans with knowledge of healing at the cellular level; to enable them to make educated and informed choices regarding their health. For more information visit her website www.notesfromanaturopath.com or to buy her book, “Notes from a Naturopath” visit Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

“Every year I get a Flu Shot and every year I get the Flu!” Just say NO (thanks)

“Every year I get a Flu Shot and every year I get the Flu!” Just say NO (thanks)

Every year, thousands of people line up for the flu shot. Very soon after –they get the flu. I’ve heard it so many times in the last month and I know from personal experience working as a nurse years ago, the flu shot can cause the flu. Why keep getting one?

The question then, is how did humanity survive throughout millennia without the flu shot? To answer, we have to study ancient history, or we’re destined to repeat it.

In fact, epidemiologists and viral geneticists studied the worst flu pandemic in the history of the world–the 1918 flu, which infected one-third of the entire world population at the time—over 500 million people. The first wave of this epidemic was typical of the flu—respiratory symptoms, fever, and malaise. As the virus spread beyond the respiratory track, it turned deadly. Instead of being confined to the lungs, the second wave of attack caused massive hemorrhaging from every opening in the body. People bled out from everywhere, not because of the virus—but due to the virus-stimulated cytokine storm, that burst vessels open from inflammation.

A “Cytokine Storm” occurs when the immune system continues to be activated and remains activated against the immune stimulant long after it is necessary. This causes collateral, damaging inflammation.

From scientific research of the viral genome, it appears two events aligned at just the exact time to create the 1918 pandemic:

• A new influenza strain had “jumped species” aka an “antigenic shift” occurred from avian (birds) just before 1913. Then by 1915 the virus split into two new forms infecting pigs and humans. Analysis of data showed that the severity of this flu was due to the powerful cytokine cascade initiated by the immune system response to infection. Cytokines are immune regulatory proteins that the body sends out to attempt to kill off an invading pathogen. But the response was a thousand times more extreme than the normal. Usually, those with weakened immune systems succumb because they can’t mount an immune response quickly (the elderly and the young)— but this was the opposite—these were mostly young people with healthy, strong immune systems, thrown together in the middle of war, crowded in trenches with no time to rest. This is what spread and what killed so many so quickly.


• The war itself, which began in 1914. This new strain of influenza spread like wildfire through the ranks on both sides of the conflict. Crowded together in trenches, hospital tents, and extremely unhealthy and contagious conditions, the virus found a perfect breeding ground. Sometime between 1915 and late 1917, the virus mutated again. The first to die, after the infected soldiers, were the first to respond—nurses and doctors; followed by morticians. These people were dealing with massive numbers of casualties, bleeding out from everywhere, completely overwhelming the systems in place—so many in fact, and so much blood—that machines were brought in to scoop up and bury bodies en masse. Day after day for two years, the machines, and the mass burials continued as hospitals, school gymnasiums, and any large building were emptied of bodies. As the war ended, millions of infected soldiers crowded onto ships heading home (no air travel yet). As these ships sailed from port to port, so did the influenza virus—and then further from trains, buses, and cars.

And then, between November and December 1920, simultaneously, around the world, the worst pandemic ended. What did we learn? Would a flu shot have prevented this? These are exactly the kind of questions that keep viral researchers and epidemiologists awake at night.

Fast forward. Could it happen again? Well, we have crowded animal feedlots with little inspection and several different animal species living side by side in virus breeding ground conditions—allowing viruses to jump species and mutate more readily. We have lots of population dense areas like inner city housing, day care centers, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and even corporate offices. And we have air travel—enabling one human to come in contact with infected animal blood in a remote village and to carry that virus (HIV in the 80’s) across the globe, spreading exponentially, in a matter of hours.

Flu vaccines take time to make—at least 4-6 months from production to distribution. By the time the vaccine is available, the infrastructure of the health care system to quarantine and treat those infected, and effectively administer it would already be decimated. Remember– first to succumb are the first to respond—nurses, doctors, health care workers; followed by morticians. If a vaccine could be distributed quickly—it would only work on the specific virus that emerged in that year, that instance, and was administered within 48 hours from the onset of illness. Any viral mutation would render the entire batch useless. Such exact conditions are essentially impossible to predict. In other words—without an actual human with the flu—it is impossible to make the right vaccine for that particular strain and by the time one case is discovered, it is too late. Drugs like Tamiflu are only active when metabolized in the body, and don’t break down before being excreted in the active form to flow unaffected through wastewater treatment plants. As this active form ends up in streams and waterways—it comes in contact with waterfowl. Thus, the avian strains develop resistance; and as the avian, swine, and human strains get together for dinner and share survival strategies—super resistance is passed on to strains infecting humans.

Tamiflu has some serious, questionable side effects too. Is it worth it?

If an epidemic began in an area where you live, would you know how to protect yourself? Your children?

The best defense is a pro-active offense. Find your truth.
Stephen Harrod Buhner wrote an amazing and informative book to help you called Herbal Antivirals, listed below.

RESOURCES:

CYTOKINE STORM

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-cytokine-storm-and-what-are-the-diseases-that-cause-that

FLU SHOT

http://www.realfarmacy.com/flu-shot-respiratory/

TAMIFLU

http://www.cchrflorida.org/warning-tamiflu-causes-mental-health-issues/

STEPHEN HARROD BUHNER

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/herbal-antivirals-stephen-harrod-buhner/1116395381

“Every year I get a Flu Shot and every year I get the Flu!” Just say NO (thanks)

Fresh hope for Kandahar newborns as Afghan healthcare gets a shot in the arm | Matthew Green

Among the tiniest of the premature babies slumbering in incubators at the Mirwais hospital, one bore a name chosen by hospital staff. At five days old, “Fatima” had been abandoned by her mother after being born so early that her family assumed she was destined for the grave.

Had her relatives grasped the welcome transformation unfolding at the government-run medical centre in Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan, they might have held their newborn a little tighter.

Where once children crowded three to a bed, single occupancy is now the norm. The number of nurses making the rounds among the rows of infants has doubled, and new incubator units help neonatal specialists nurture the most fragile of lives through their first, vulnerable days.

While much of the news from southern Afghanistan over the past year has been dominated by reports of Taliban advances, the creation of a new paediatric unit at Mirwais hospital has opened a new front in a different campaign: the struggle to reduce extremely high mortality rates among Afghan infants.

Luis Tello, a Spanish paediatrician seconded to the unit by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said the expanded facilities had already helped to persuade more Afghan mothers that, with the right care, even the weakest babies might survive.

“For me, the most astonishing improvement is with [premature] newborns. Before, nobody was taking care of them,” said Tello, speaking in a ward where young children lay on crisp white sheets, mothers at their bedsides. “But we’ve managed to change people’s minds.”

The new unit, which opened in September, is housed in a former nursing clinic in the hospital grounds, converted in a year-long project funded by the ICRC. It has 186 beds, including 15 for mothers – twice the number in the old paediatric wing.

The number of incubators has risen from six to 10, while another new ward caters for children suffering from thalassemia, a hereditary, incurable blood disease prevalent in southern Afghanistan that can be ameliorated with transfusions and medication.

By reducing overcrowding, the unit has dramatically cut the risk of contagious diseases skipping between patients. Staff who might previously have had to discharge barely improved infants to make room for even sicker children can now allow everyone time to recover.

“We won’t force them to go home early,” said Dr Muhammad Sidiq, the unit’s director. “We can let them stay here until they are completely cured.”

The unit is a tangible sign of broader progress in improving infant and maternal health. In contrast to the bleak picture on the battlefield in much of Afghanistan, years of painstaking efforts by the government and donors to improve access to basic healthcare, and train community midwives to assist at births – the vast majority of which take place at home – are yielding significant results.

I’m better off than some people – they’ve lost both their legs and arms

Abdul Matin, 22, student

In 2000, Afghanistan had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, with almost 10% of babies dying before their first birthday, according to UN data. Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, the picture has changed.

According to a comprehensive health and demographic survey, published by the Afghan government in May, the nationwide mortality rate for all infants fell from 66 to 45 deaths for every 1,000 live births between 2001 and 2015. Similarly, for all children under five, the death rate per 1,000 fell to 55 from 87.

Despite these achievements, infant mortality rates still remain high in many areas, partly due to a lack of basic education about the importance of hygiene during births. Tello explained that deadly sepsis infections could result from the common practice of using a knife to cut an umbilical cord on the sole of a shoe.

Beyond Mirwais, meanwhile, large numbers of rural women have no access to even basic clinics. Some of the mothers arriving at the unit with infants swaddled in shawls had travelled hundreds of kilometres from remote areas. Escalating violence in many parts of Afghanistan has also made facilities harder to reach: a UN study published in April documented reports of 125 security incidents affecting access to healthcare in 2015, compared with 59 in 2014 and 33 in 2013.

While the fighting begins to intensify each spring in Afghanistan, paediatric illness also follows a seasonal cycle, with diarrhoea more common in the summer and pneumonia and other respiratory diseases rife in winter. Doctors have witnessed a marked increase in malnutrition this year, possibly tied to the increasing numbers of people uprooted by fighting in the south. Some of the victims have been brought to a new therapeutic feeding centre in the unit for the most severely underweight.

Making a brisk round of the new wards, checking on patients and issuing rapid-fire instructions to nurses wearing gowns and surgical masks, Tello soon encountered one of the deadliest killers. Holding up a chest x-ray from a tiny boy named Hekmatullah, he scrutinised an image of a ribcage dotted with hundreds of tiny lesions – telltale signs of miliary tuberculosis.

“He’s lucky because he has this x-ray, which is very clear for TB,” Tello said, before hurrying to the next ward, where another listless child was battling pneumococcal meningitis.

That such children can even reach Mirwais hospital reflects the shifting contours of the war in the south. At the height of the US troop surge in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, intense fighting in Kandahar province flooded wards and corridors with casualties bearing blast and gunshot wounds. As the vast majority of western forces withdrew ahead of a security handover in 2014, the locus of the conflict in the south shifted into neighbouring Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, which continue to provide the hospital with a steady stream of war-wounded.

In the main hospital, a 22-year-old student named Abdul Matin was undergoing treatment after losing his right arm when a mortar round crashed into his family home in the district of Marjah in Helmand province a month earlier. Sitting up in a bed near other patients lying swaddled in bandages concealing even more grievous wounds, he greeted his injury with a certain degree of resignation.

“This is the situation,” he said. “I’m better off than some people – they’ve lost both their legs and arms.”

Despite the overwhelming challenges many patients face, Tello and his colleagues are starting to offer hope for sick children that many families might once have imagined possible. Though young “Fatima” did not survive, many more Afghans may one day look back and thank the staff at Mirwais hospital for giving them a second chance when they were most in need of help.

Fresh hope for Kandahar newborns as Afghan healthcare gets a shot in the arm | Matthew Green

Pensioner "shot himself dead" in Surrey doctor"s surgical treatment

“The surgery is constantly throwing stuff out so hearing the bang of a bin is quite widespread but this was louder.

“I went about the corner and there were lots of folks and police autos about – it was chaotic.

“I did consider the noise was much louder than the typical bin noise and it sounded like a gun shot.”

Employees at The Mane Street barbers opposite the surgical procedure mentioned they have been told a guy had shot himself dead in the lavatories.

A female member of workers, who asked not to be named, mentioned: “The first issue we heard was the police sirens screaming as the initial of nine vehicles sped up.

“Then there were armed police swarming about, the doctor’s surgical procedure was closed and no person was allowed in.

“I didn’t hear a gunshot myself but an elderly couple who had been in the surgical treatment at the time said a man had shot himself.

“An ambulance turned up outdoors soon right after the police but was turned away, which makes me believe it is proper that the gentleman died.

“Everybody in the surgery had to give statements to the police before they could depart.

“From what I’ve heard the man shot himself in the toilet or the reception area, not in an appointment.”

Staff at the surgery, which has been sealed off, refused to comment on the incident.

Surrey Police confirmed they had been referred to as to reports of a “sudden death”.

A police officer was stationed by a silver Ford Focus ST parked just 25 yards from the surgery entrance, believed to be the dead man’s auto.

A spokesman said: “Surrey Police was known as to a doctor’s surgery in Station Road, Frimley just just before 11am this morning (Monday, 2 June) following reports of a sudden death.

“Officers and other emergency providers attended the spot after reports that a firearm had been discharged within the building.

“The entire body of a guy, believed to be in his 80s, was discovered at the scene, the place he was pronounced dead.

“Officers are carrying out a thorough investigation into the conditions surrounding the death but at this stage there is no indication of any third get together involvement or wider danger to the local local community.

“A publish mortem examination will take spot in due course.”

Adam Wicks, who operates at Vickery and Co estate agents in Frimley Higher Street, which is in the up coming street, said police officers had asked to see the firm’s CCTV footage.

Mr Wicks, from Camberley, Surrey, stated: “I did not hear anything at all myself as we’re too far away but there was a great deal of commotion at the surgical procedure.

“There are about 6 or 7 police automobiles all about the doctor’s surgery.

“The police came in asking about our CCTV but we never have any and they would not tell us anything.”

Pensioner "shot himself dead" in Surrey doctor"s surgical treatment