Steps to Healing: Why can’t I get well?

Some people who are not genetically susceptible to chronic effects from biotoxins may suffer a short-term illness following a biotoxin exposure.

by Dr. Steven Siegel — 

Today, we see many patients complaining of a wide and diverse set of debilitating symptoms that greatly reduce their quality of life. An example is Lyme disease, where the infection is gone but the biotoxins remain to continue perpetuating the illness. The answer appears to be in an emerging new field of research into substances called biotoxins.

These substances are the remains or debris of bacterial, viral and mold infections the body has already overcome. These biological toxins then continue circulating throughout the body, disrupting many organ systems and therefore creating a myriad of seemingly unrelated symptom complaints.

There are many ways this problem displays itself, but a complete list of complaints related to this biotoxin toxicity is far too long to detail here. Following are the most common problems associated with biotoxins that are presented by patients:

• Chronic fatigue and exhaustion
• Memory and cognitive problems, such as difficulty finding the right words and assimilating new information
• Obesity or weight gain that does not respond to diet and exercise
• Chronic respiratory problems
• Chronic sinusitis
• Unusual seizure-like activity
• Fibromyalgia
• Arthritis and chronic joint pain
• Abdominal pain, gas and bloating
• Additional symptoms not caused by allergy or stress

The biotoxins that create these problems are part of a class of substances called “ionophores,” which are substances that can neither be broken down nor excreted from the body. They are debilitatingly dangerous because they can travel through the body without using the circulatory or lymphatic systems as pathways. They actually can pass through cell membranes from tissue to tissue, and as they move from system to system, the body reacts by creating a chronic inflammatory and immune response.

It appears that the reason these biotoxins cannot be cleared from the body is related to a genetic component. People with this imbalance are usually fine until they become exposed to an infection or a toxin from which they can’t seem to completely recover. In many cases, they continue to acquire more and more symptoms as the body begins losing control of the immune response and creating more symptoms of chronic inflammation.

Some people who are not genetically susceptible to chronic effects from biotoxins may suffer a short-term illness following a biotoxin exposure. They may experience symptoms such as sore throat, red eyes and cough. These individuals, however, have immune response genes that produce an antibody to the biotoxin and quickly eliminate it from the body, so their illness is short-lived.

Now for the good news! You can rise above this problem and regain your health with proper therapy and guidance. Through the use of some natural and unique homeopathic remedies, we can bind, push out and eliminate these biotoxins, therefore, squelching the inflammation and allowing the body to restore itself to its normal homeostatic balance.

The problem is that conventional medicine, as a whole, does not acknowledge the existence of this problem. It therefore continues to treat these complaints based on standard testing that comes up normal, since the infection or attack has been eliminated and testing no longer shows the presence of any infectious agent. Conventional medicine also follows protocols directed at treating only the symptoms of this immune disregulation with medications, totally missing the cause that continues to persist and to perpetuate the symptom picture.

When we determine the cause, eliminate it and set the body back on course, we see these symptoms disappear, and the patient can go on to have a more normal, healthy and happy life.

Could biotoxins be causing your suffering?

The following checklist may help you determine whether biotoxins could be the cause of your suffering:

• An illness or exposure you feel you have never fully recovered from
• New symptoms that began and worsened after the onset of the initial illness
• Symptoms that affect multiple organ systems
• Symptoms that seem to improve, but then worsen and never totally go away
• Limited or no response to previous therapies

Another very interesting finding is that people with a longer wingspan (out stretched arms with a greater distance from fingertip to fingertip) than their height are prime candidates for this problem if they also experience the above-mentioned symptoms.

Dr. Steven Siegel has been in practice for 28 years and is a Diplomate of the American Clinical Board of Nutritionists, a certified clinical nutritionist, Fellow of the International Academy of Medical Acupuncturists, certified craniopath and a chiropractic physician. healthforums@aol.com or  480-603-9222.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 27, Number 1, February/March 2008.