Many of you know that I am a scientist and some of you may also know that I am also a migraineur. I should say I was a migraineur since I no longer get migraines unless I ignore my discovery based on which I created the Stanton Migraine Protocol®and ignore my signs and what I do and when.
While my final discovery was in 2013, it took several years to fully understand and complete it. I wrote about migraine cause, prevention and treatment in my book that published its first edition in 2014, and published a few academic articles about it. Find the first one here, another here, another here and one more to come soon here but I do not yet have the date of publish on that one.
Migraine is a horrific condition that luckily I found a solution for several years ago. I have been migraine free now for over 5 years. You may not know that I have been helping migraineurs for over 2 years now. Several thousand migraineurs are now able to prevent or stop their migraines using the Stanton Migraine Protocol® all over the world without using any medicines and typically they all also stop whatever medicines they take since once the treatment works, there is no more need for migraine prevention medicines.
Many people still think that migraine is a headache.
It is not.
A new member joined my migraine group and shared a YouTube video of 3 of her migraine attacks. I am posting the video with her permission.
This is not a happy video but I would like to call your attention to how serious migraines are and how little they have in common with headaches.
This little video demonstrates what a few common migraine types look like (you can imagine what they may feel like) and there are many more types–some significantly more serious than the ones in this video.
So do not ask a migraineur: “Have you taken an Aspirin?”
Do not think you have a migraine if you have a headache, no matter how bad.
Do not consider if your spouse or a friend is having a migraine a nuance: it can even be dangerous to her or his life!
If you know a migraineur, treat them with care and help them! Do not offer any sugary drinks!
Most importantly, tell them that there is a solution and send them to me!
I have been working on this for almost 2 years! Some great news to share with quinolone sufferers: Finally! The FDA made a decision after almost 2 years since my original citizen petition was filed against quinolones (as did many other people’s petitions against this) class to put a warning on the label and NOT recommend the use of any of the drugs in that class for simple diseases like UTI, sinus infection and alike.
I received a response from them about a year ago that you can read here stating that they were “unable to decide“… whatever that means. Glad they finally were able to decide! It is about time!
The drugs in this class are:
ciprofloxacin (CIPRO, CILOXAN)
enoxacin (PENETREX)
levofloxacin (LEVAQUIN)
moxifloxacin (AVELOX)
norfloxacin (NOROXIN, CHIBROXIN)
ofloxacin(FLOXIN, OCUFLOX)
Please REFUSE any of these in the future since doctors like to override FDA regulations! I personally have these drugs on my “allergic to” list. I recommend you do the same.
Here is the FDA message:
Fluoroquinolone Antibacterial Drugs: Drug Safety Communication – FDA Advises Restricting Use for Certain Uncomplicated Infections
AUDIENCE: Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Pharmacy, Patient
ISSUE: FDA is advising that the serious side effects associated with fluoroquinolone antibacterial drugs generally outweigh the benefits for patients with sinusitis, bronchitis, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections who have other treatment options. For patients with these conditions, fluoroquinolones should be reserved for those who do not have alternative treatment options.
An FDA safety review has shown that fluoroquinolones when used systemically (i.e. tablets, capsules, and injectable) are associated with disabling and potentially permanent serious side effects that can occur together. These side effects can involve the tendons, muscles, joints, nerves, and central nervous system.
As a result, FDA is requiring the drug labels and Medication Guides for all fluoroquinolone antibacterial drugs to be updated to reflect this new safety information. FDA is continuing to investigate safety issues with fluoroquinolones and will update the public with additional information if it becomes available.
See the FDA Drug Safety Communication for a list of currently available FDA approved fluoroquinolones for systemic use.
BACKGROUND: The safety issues described in the Drug Safety Communication were also discussed at an FDA Advisory Committee meeting in November 2015.
RECOMMENDATION: Patients should contact your health care professional immediately if you experience any serious side effects while taking your fluoroquinolone medicine. Some signs and symptoms of serious side effects include tendon, joint and muscle pain, a “pins and needles” tingling or pricking sensation, confusion, and hallucinations. Patients should talk with your health care professional if you have any questions or concerns.
Health care professionals should stop systemic fluoroquinolone treatment immediately if a patient reports serious side effects, and switch to a non-fluoroquinolone antibacterial drug to complete the patient’s treatment course.
Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of these products to the FDA’s MedWatch Safety Information and
Download form or call 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form, then complete and return to the address on the pre-addressed form, or submit by fax to 1-800-FDA-0178
Read the MedWatch safety alert, including links to the FDA Drug Safety Communication and previous MedWatch alerts ***here*** (see update below).
The fight is not over yet; there is much more to do. But step 1 is mission accomplished! Now that the FDA admitted that there is a problem, research toward helping the injured can go on!
***Updated on 3/31/2018 since the FDA moved the link to the warnings letter (perhaps removed it) so, instead, I include here a link to the BLACK BOX label of Ciprofloxacin here. This is the actual prescription label now that all healthcare provider receives! This is what it looks like and all other quinolones must have the same label.
Cipro black box label
Questions are welcomed, as always and they are moderated for appropriateness!
I was asked to put together a commentary on a rather controversial subject: salt (particularly Himalayan salt) in a magazine that is only available by app store (for all kinds of devices) but you need the app. There is a subscription fee I believe but minimal–the magazine if full of recipes and food ideas in general.
Here is the link to the app, in which my commentary is on pages 14 through 18. It is titled “The Truth about Himalayan Salt” which was taken from my article on LinkedIn with the editor’s comments added and her personal experience as well. A similar article I wrote and which is on Hormonesmatter.com was a fire-cracking article with lots of emotion in comments. That article went viral hope this will too! Enjoy!
I have just released an article titled Those Evil Grains: Gluten Free Versus Grain Free that you really should read. It will shock you to know that eating gluten free can be worse for your health than eating with gluten, provided you are not a Celiac. However, eating grain free can be a life saver! While all gluten containing grains are obviously grains, even those grains that contain no gluten harm you by other things. Rice, for example, has sulfur! How many of you say that you are allergic to or avoid sulfur while munching on rice? How many of you need to take vitamins and mineral supplements because the proteins found in corn prevent absorption of crucial vitamins and minerals?
CONFUSING NAMES
Did you think that buckwheat was wheat or grain? Wrong.. some names simply make no sense. How about seeds, like sunflower seeds that are called “oil grains”? Do you think they are grain? Or is that just a term used to define a commodity on the stock market even if it has nothing to do with grains?
What about quinoa? Do you think it is grain? It is not. It is a super food high in many nutrients but if you watch your waistline, don’t go near it…
Read the article and see how it may change your life!
My latest academic journal article is published (pre-pub status). It defines what prodromes mean to migraines. In general academic literature, prior to my publication, prodromes simply precede migraines but for no apparent reason. The only exception is aura migraine that seems to be better understood. However, other prodromes are not understood and several prodromes are completely unknown by the scientific community.
In my latest academic journal published article Functional Prodrome in MigrainesI redefine prodromes by showing their functions and purpose. My understanding of their functions comes from working with thousands of migraineurs in a Facebook group. While the group’s purpose for the migraineur members is to learn how to become migraine free, their talk with me helped my understanding greatly of the various prodrome types and what those prodromes mean. Many very important prodromes that migraineurs have are completely unknown to the scientific community. I suppose it takes a migraineur to understand what questions to ask and though I am a scientist, I am also a migraineur. That certainly helps!
Understanding what kind of prodromes other migraineurs had in addition to the kinds I had (migraineurs are pretty much alike–all migraineurs seem to be siblings in more ways than one!) in turn helped me identify the best migraine prevention methods without the use of any medicines. A couple of previous academic journal articles I published explain various elements of migraine.
One of my academic journal articles explains Migraine Cause and Treatment with some revolutionary details based on scientific understanding of the cell and what it needs for energy to be able to function in a migraine brain. Migraine brain is anatomically very different from the brain of a non-migraineur.
Another academic journal article of mine is connected to migraines but it is primarily a critique of how statistics is used. Cardiology is its main avenue to bring the problems to the surface. It discusses the problems of statistics used in the connection of increased dietary salt and the “related” blood pressure increase: Are Statistics Misleading Sodium Reduction Benefits? This article is very critical of nearly all research publications associated with salt and its connection to blood pressure. It is amazing to see how many scientists don’t fully understand the statistic results they receive and jump into conclusions that are completely erroneous.
I hope you enjoy reading all three of my academic articles (the language I kept is simpler than typical academic papers full of acronyms and jargon) and learn more about migraines. Then visit my Stanton Migraine Protocol® website and read the many testimonials.
Migraine is not a disease but a condition representing a brain in energy crisis. No amount of medicines will solve the problem of an energy crisis but understanding what energy crisis means will help us knowing how to fix it. Proper energy provided the right way aborts and prevents all migraines without any medicines. The goal is to learn to recognize migraines prior to their start. Few migraineurs know how to recognize functional prodromes before migraine starts without training.
Please read all three articles and contact me with any questions you have.
There is a new fad out there that alternates between fat and carbs burning diets with cheat days. Let me try to post the video here that is trying to do a great explanation about what it is. Below the video I posted a long response but there is no guarantee that such will remain… so I post it in the open as well. In case that does not work, here is the link to the video as well.
There are some major errors in the explanation provided. The explanation certainly sounds good. So let me explain some of the problems:
1) We cannot burn fat for energy unless we are in ketosis. To get into ketosis (the low carbs phase only lower carbs) takes several days to weeks.
2) One of the things that happen while converting into the fat burning mode is that all glucose storage gets emptied. This increases glucose in the blood for a few days until it can leave since insulin at that point is not using glucose but is starting to modulate ketones (it cannot do both). This has been tested by me several times as I was coming in and out of ketosis on purpose to see what happens to glucose. Each time glucose went up (not unreasonably up but out of the normal range). So glucose is floating in your blood, creating the suspicion of insulin resistance in your body, since glucose has not picked it up. This is a bad sign and is best to go through this only very seldom.
3) After your body emptied all glucose, it turns into a fat burning machine. Fat burning is called ketogenic mode of fuel burning (I am not using the diet word since it is really not meant for diet albeit many people use it for that. It coincidentally burns all fat your body does not need–the ones that are around your organs, such as visceral fat–and the fat you eat).
4) Your body actually does not need carbs–look into the diets of those aboriginals living in Nordic locations living off fatty sea food such as whales and walrus blubber. Once the body is a fat burning body, it burns only fat.
5) Low carbs diets (under 50 grams but over some “magic gram” to be calculated based on body mass and caloric goal) the body goes into starvation mode and hence leptin ( hormone) slows the metabolic process so that your body can get through the starving period and survive on less food. If you are only reducing carbs and do nothing else, indeed, you will start gaining weight from a single grape. Your metabolism is tinkered with the wrong way. Watch this video by Dr. Lustig to understand the role of leptin and what it does as it reduces your metabolism and why.
6) If you have your body calibrated (by a specialist) to ideal carbs intake such that you remain in ketosis (fat burning) your metabolism does not slow down. It becomes a different metabolism. Ask an Inuit how often they go the gym to work out and when they had their last Starbucks latte… They may have them now but they sure did not 50 years ago. At that time they were healthy.. not so much today with the arrival of carbs! The Inuit only ate fatty meat and nothing else. They used salty water to cook soups and gave the lean meats to their dogs…
7) Because it is such an incredibly difficult task for the body to get into the state of ketosis where you burn fat instead of sugar, and because it alters what your insulin does, a so-called “cheat day” knocks you out of ketosis completely–recall it takes several days to weeks of getting back into ketosis… so a single cheat day means several days to several weeks of getting back!
8) On a cheat day, insulin has to change over and start recepting glucose instead of fat… great! It takes 2-3 days to several weeks for it to be able to do that. So now your body is getting the message that you have insulin resistance; again! So when is your next cheat day? If the following week or month, you are teetering between two metabolic processes with neither getting a chance of working–now we are talking metabolic problems!
9) If you keep on repeating this regularly, you may just end up with insulin resistance! For those who don’t realize, that is called type 2 diabetes.
In conclusion, if you want a weight loss diet, go for a weight loss diet. If you want to change how your body functions and how your body uses energy, get on the ketogenic diet and STAY there for a longer period of time. Do not go in and out. That will land you in the world of diabetes even if you ate no sugar in your entire life.
My Experience
I have been doing a lot of studying up on these various diets, not for the sake of losing weight but for their therapeutic purposes. Ketogenic diet is tested now for seizures, MS, Parkinson’s, autism, and a lot of brain damage conditions because glucose damages neuron’s myelin (insulation) and fat is needed to repair it.
However, fat can not be used in our metabolic processes unless we get into ketosis… so ketogenic diets, while they are low carbs diets, they are used as medicinal options for treating diseases and is not primarily used for diets albeit if done right you will lose weight. However, unless you are calibrated by a professional to know how much carbs and protein and fat you should consume, you may indeed mess up your metabolism. So don’t do it alone! Talk to an expert.
Protein
One additional important thing the author of the video is not talking about: protein. If you increase your protein, you are doing a tremendous disservice to your ambition in both endurance sports and in diet. That is because the body converts proteins to glucose via a process called gluconeogenesis. This is a very difficult process and causes what is called the “stinky diet” because of the enzyme the liver creates in processing all that protein.
So going low carbs will not get you anywhere healthy or thin unless you also lower your protein and increase your fat intake. If you increase your protein while lowering your carbs, your body will convert protein to carbs and then later your muscles are the next food item–self cannibalism. That is the nature of gluconeogenesis.
So if you want to lose fat, lose fat the right way and talk to an expert to find out what is YOUR best way of losing fat. Everybody is different, plus you may have health conditions that reduce your options.
And lastly and most importantly, if you have diabetes 2 or 1 or 1.5, do not attempt low carbs diets without the aid of a doctor who monitors your health and insulin levels. Both carbs and fat digestion needs insulin. Thus having limited (type 2) or not having any (types 1 and 1.5) and stopping carbs does not mean you can live without insulin in the fat burning world and you may get hurt! You still need insulin only different amount. So before you jump, discuss with your healthcare provider and don’t be surprised if they have no idea what you are talking about.
Although ketogenic diet is over 2000 years old, modern medicines kicked it out-of-the-way (no pharma money in eating fat) so they replaced it with voltage gated calcium blocking medicines, that kill children… one just died last week, a daughter of a friend of a friend.
This is serious stuff and not for “everyday” challenge of your body.
Finally, it is officially published today. The html link is now working to my latest academic published article. It debunks all (I mean ALL) research of the past that “proved” that increased salt in diet increases blood pressure and that reduced salt diets provide any benefit.
The findings are all based on several major statistical oops and total cluelessness.
So if you were put on low salt diet or have always believed that salt is bad for you, read the article and show it to your doctor. Then switch doctors! Look for one who knows what she/he is doing.
Salt Increases BP? Really? So does when I am hungry, or angry, or forgot to take a deep breath!
My article (only a one-pager) on blood pressure and salt is finally out in print in a medical academic journal (abstract, entire paper). Why do we believe that salt has any significant influence on our blood pressure? This article debunks the myth and shows how easy it is to misunderstand (and misuse) statistics! I did not attack any single paper but I attacked all papers that in any way claim any significance.
Wrong Research Hurts People!
The paper is short but you will finally understand why research so far has been conducted wrong. The problem of misused and misunderstood statistics like this has misled entire nations! Now millions (billions perhaps) of people are placed on reduced salt diet with possible dire consequences because of the improper experimental and statistical methods.
However, I was able to show that the finding are not only wrong but even if they are right they are inconsequential and insignificant. We get a bigger blood pressure change when we take a deep breath or when we think of our next meal or are hungry. The findings are ridiculous.
Enjoy the fun I had with criticizing all research on the connection of sodium and blood pressure!
Nope, not a typo. Although Flint, Michigan has absolutely nothing to do with Himalayan salt, they suffer from lead poisoning from the water that is contaminated. I wrote this short article to bring a parallel between what is happening in Flint, primarily because of what Dr. Sanjay Gupta said on CNN: 5 ppb (parts per billion) lead is hazardous for your health, and what is in Himalayan salt that many people take pride in eating because of the so-called “minerals” that are good for you. I did a bit of calculation based on information readily available on the web about the lead content of Himalayan salt: 100 ppb. As you can imagine, if 5 ppb is dangerous, imagine 100 ppb.
Himalayan salt also contains mercury and about 50% of those amazing “minerals” are uranium, plutonium, and other heavily radioactive materials. Heavy metals, such as lead, cannot ever be removed from your body and they build up over time, slowly poisoning you.
You can always chose to keep on eating Himalayan salt; be my guest. But now you can make an educated decision! Now you cannot say “I didn’t know” because now you do know!
Clueless Doctors & Scientists 