WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

I don't ask that question with any endearing tones.  Far from it.  I can certainly respect professionals who represent their field and profession well.  Anybody in uniform, ah, I get nervous.  People in white coats or blue scrubs, ah, they make me not a little nervous.  Maybe the profession has changed.  Maybe it's been filled with more thoughtful, ethical people.  Maybe.  . . . maybe not.  Maybe those new to the profession are under strict enforcement to a narrative that serves the patient last.  Maybe.  Maybe people need to learn more about doctors in general and more about their specific doctor in particular.  Doctors are not in the business of healing.  What!!

Nope.  Sorry to disappoint you.  "But I thought that . . . ."  Yeah, we all did.  But the study of medicine is different than the study of nursing.  In fact, some of the advanced degrees in nursing probably offer more in terms of healing than a doctor can.  That's not to slam doctors.  They certainly are studied and trained in their field.  But what exactly is a doctor trained for?  What is his focus or training?  

So I thought it would not hurt to know what your doctor's designation is.  I was just assigned a new doctor, part of a medical group that has at least 10 different doctors.  More actually.  And I am not sure that all of them are doctors.  While a few are MD's, I have already seen physicians or practitioners (how broad of a term can that be!!!) that come with the designation PA-C and FNP-C.  So what are these?

A PA-C is a Certified Physician's Assistant. 

An FNP-C stands for Certified Family Nurse Practioner.

A PN is Nurse Practioner. According to Wikipedia, the typical curriculum for a Nurse Practioner

. . . includes courses in epidemiology; health promotion; advanced pathophysiology; physical assessment and diagnostic reasoning; advanced pharmacology; laboratory/radiography diagnostics; statistics and research methods; health policy; role development and leadership; acute and chronic disease management (e.g., adults, children, women's health, geriatrics, etc.); and clinical rotations, which varies depending on the program and population focus.

There is also ANP, Advanced Nurse Practioner. 

An MD is a licensed doctor. 

A BSN is a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing.

An ADN is an Associate's Degree in Nursing. 

An MSN is a Master's of Science in Nursing. 

People who have a master’s degree in nursing have several career options. Some of those options include: teaching and becoming a nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist or clinical nurse specialist.  A nurse practitioner is someone who is trained to perform many of the tasks that doctors perform. Nurse anesthetists have received training in administering anesthetics. They usually work under the direction of an anesthesiologist. A clinical nurse specialist is a nurse who specializes in a certain area, such as pediatrics or cardiac care.

A friend writes that the difference between a nurse and doctor is the degree of knowledge and training.  And he reminds me that there is a world of difference between the study of medicine, which doctors study, and the study of nursing, which nurses study.  Whereas nurses are in the practice of executing a doctor's instructions toward the best or optimal results for a patient along medicinal lines, given his medical history, age, and retrieving one's health along a plan mapped out by the doctor, the doctor's main task is akin to a quarterback calling the plays.  He writes 

Degree of knowledge and training.  I would not expect an NP or PA to do surgery or long-term drug therapy.  But I would be very comfortable with either of those doing follow-up care on that surgery or follow that drug therapy. In short, it is a way for insurance companies to pay less for medical services to have non-MD's to do day-to-day medical issues.

What's not clear to me are all of the different nursing and medical designations.

An MD stands for Doctor of Medicine.  What does that mean?  First, it means that he has a Ph.D. in medicine.  Does that qualify him as a healer?  I have my doubts.

This might be of some use to folks:

Profession Comparison Chart (updated September 2015)

Programs vary and the following represents averages for each vocation.

Category	Medical Assistant	Nurse (RN, BSN)	Nurse Practitioner	Physician Assistant	Physician (Family Practice)
Prerequisite Education	None	None	Bachelor Degree in Nursing & clinical hours	Bachelor Degree & clinical hours for most	Bachelor Degree
Learning Model	-	Medical-Nursing	Medical-Nursing	Medical-Physician	Medical-Physician
Time in Classroom	134 hrs	Varies greatly by program.	500 hrs	1000 hrs	2 years
Time in Clinic	160 hrs	Varies greatly by program.	500-700 hrs	2000 hrs	2 years
Total Post High School Education	1-2 years	2-4 years	6-8 years	4-6 years	8 years
Residency	None	None	None	Optional 1-2 years depends on specialty	3-8 years
Degree or Certification Awarded	Certificate or Associate Degree	Associate or Bachelor Degree	Master's Degree Planned Transition to Doctorate by 2015	Physician Assistant Certified (PA-C) Most also award Master's Degree. Some now pursuing PHD	Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.)
Recertification	60 education points or exam every 5 years	1000 hours practicing in area of certification  specialty OR exam every 5 years	1000 professional practice hours AND ~15 CE credits/year OR exam every 5 years	100 education hours every 2 years Exam every 10 years	MD: 50 education hours every year & ABMS certification recommended DO: 120 education hours every 3 years & ABMS certification recommended.
Base Salary U.S. National Average 2010	$29,708	$66,220	$97,990	$97,280	$185,151
Duties Performed
Independent Practitioner			18 states allow NPs to practice independently		X
Complicated or High Risk Cases			VARIES	ASSIST	X
Perform Surgery			ASSIST	ASSIST	X
Deliver Babies			X	VARIES BY STATE	X
Write Prescriptions			X	X	X
Prescribe controlled substances			VARIES BY STATE	VARIES BY STATE II-V in MOST states	X
Conduct Physical Exams		ASSIST	X	X	X
Diagnose			X	X	X
Treat Illness		X	X	X	X
Order & interpret tests		ASSIST	X	X	X
Patient counseling		X	X	X	X

HCL "[optimizes] the immune system gut flora"

This is important . . . , but always, always take these claims with your most judicious caveat.  The article begins thus, 

We all know that eating a healthy, balanced, natural diet is a cornerstone of perfect health, but what if all of that nutritious food is not being processed efficiently? 

It opens with a statement that we've all just accepted as a prevailing truth because that point has been droned into our heads for decades, a statement that, in my opinion, tends to benefit the vitamin supplement industry.  Important to eat a "healthy, balanced, natural diet," yes, but what does that even look like?  I mean who can dispute such a fact?  And then that statement of fact ends ominously with a worrisome question, ". . . but what if all of that nutritious food is not being processed efficiently?" For one, at least in America, food is cheap.  Even for people who can afford to eat better than the average American, they still consume junk--fast food, snack food, sweets, etc., in other words, junk.  So the article opens on a dubious premise.  It then proceeds to answer its own question,

Betaine hydrochloride, derived from beets, is a supplement for helping food to be fully dissolved and processed in the stomach for optimum nutritional benefits.

". . . derived from beets"!!  Wow!  It must be okay then.  And I am sure it is.  It's just that the author is looking for some kind of authority, and since beets is a natural food grown in the earth, who can question the nutritious value of beets?  I love beets.  Have eaten them raw and pickled in a syrupy sauce, the way they used to be sold for years.  My mom loved beets.  A supplement derived from beets?  Even safer, right?  Maybe.  I am not disputing the benefits of Betaine Hydrochloride.  It think it is beneficial for folks with gastro-intestinal problems.  I have tried Betaine Hydrochloried, and I noticed several benefits.  However, I am not convinced that one should try as much as they like or for as long as they like.  Short-term in small amounts might be judiciously advised.  

The stomach processes food both mechanically and chemically by breaking it down with hydrochloric acid into its basic constituents, which are then forwarded to the digestive system and blood for nutritional distribution

That's a good point.  It's good to imagine how the muscles of your stomach and its lining are mechanically employed to break food down. And chemically, of course.  But this article poses concerns that stem from digestive inefficiency by the stomach muscles and its chemical, hydrochloric acid.   

If food is not processed effectively by the stomach, it is as if the body is being starved of a healthy diet with the same potential health consequences due to an inefficient or sub-optimal immune system. All disease arises from either low immunity, abnormal immunity or auto-immunity, including cancer, the immune system as a whole being ultimately dependent on gut flora of the stomach and digestive tract.

Okay, some important facts here that can be extrapolated from the sales pitch.  It's true that "the immune system as a whole [is] dependent on gut flora of the stomach and digestive tract."  Which only blows me away when I think how hospitals when they admit patients will flood a patient's body without question or a single regard for their condition with antibiotics that absolutely destroy gut flora, thereby weakening the patient and priming them for doctor-prescribed medicine while they are laid up, getting weaker and sicker in the hospital.  The pharmaceutical industry has for the most part been the agency that has promoted doctors and built their respectable reputation.  But be careful with that; they don't always deserve your unexamined respect.  These guys have peddled antibiotics to people with virus infections, and yet they never offer a sound, logical explanation for prescribing such an irrational remedy.

The article was doing just fine until it reaches into its bag of industry-standard scaremongering, 

Research has shown that, after the age of 21 years, the concentration of hydrochloric acid in the stomach begins to fall progressively with age, a condition known as "hypochlorhydria."

Oh, so now we have a new condition, one that I have never heard of. One, your body has amazing compensatory, feedback mechanisms to keep you alive despite horrible assaults and insults to your biology.  To cite the age of 21, a time when most people are just developing and coming into their own, as the age when people are in decline is absurd.  I had a doctor tell me once, following a short-term bout of declining energy, that I was at that age when things begin to fail.  I stood there with a fixed stare like I was listening to some sorcerer standing in front of an inscrutable sphinx. For men, and I would also say for women, your 40s are some of your best years, but this article contradicts my observation,

By the time people reach the age of 40 or 50, stomach hydrochloric acid concentration is much lower and attributable to age-related immune and auto-immune conditions, including diabetes, cancer and obesity--particularly abdominal fat--hence the so-called "middle age spread." Use of betaine hydrochloride has frequently been credited with flattening the stomach for this reason.

Now that is miraculous.  Using Betaine Hydrochloride can get rid of belly fat.  Actually, it can.  I lost 5 pounds while using the stuff for about ten days.  I just can't say with any certainty that it was a healthy weight loss. Can't say either that it wasn't.  My blood tests came back clean.  Except that I need to drink more water.  I am getting enough protein; didn't think there was a problem with that, but it was nice to hear from the doctor that my blood was good.  He said "You're like Brad Pitt."  I laughed.

The article does note that acid reflux is caused by lactic acid, not hydrochloric acid rising from your stomach up into your esophagus:

Acid reflux is caused by lactic acid, a warning sign for too low of a concentration of hydrochloric acid, causing incomplete digestion of food. Acid reflux needs to be treated by increasing hydrochloric acid, not antacids which will neutralize hydrochloric acid, making reflux worse as well as other health consequences.

That has the ring of truth to it.  

Low hydrochloric acid is a potential cause of cancer and other immune and auto-immune conditions.

Everyone, without exception, has cancer genes, "oncogenes," circulating around the body. These cancer genes are normally kept in check by a healthy immune system, but in the case of cancer, the immune system can no longer suppress the cancer genes, which can then get out of control and multiply. The immune system responds by forming a tumor to contain the malignant cancer cells.

Chemotherapy may suppress cancer cells temporarily but also destroys the immune system, exposing the patient to a very wide range of additional diseases as well as additional types of cancer through immune-suppressed cancer gene expression.

If the "Th1" immune system is compromised or disabled, the "Th2" component of the immune system attempts to take over. Th2, not being equipped to function as Th1, perceives genuine body tissues as foreign invaders, attacking them as it would a bacterium or virus. Th1 suppression is also a root cause of auto-immune diseases such as allergies, celiac disease and arthritis.

How Betaine HCl supplementation can bring valuable health benefits:

Betaine hydrochloride (betaine HCl) increases the concentration of hydrochloric acid in the stomach relative to how much is taken before meals. This enables the stomach to much more completely dissolve and process foods right down to base nutrients, as well as produce methyl groups, an important element in preventing cancer and other diseases.

Taking betaine HCl before meals helps the stomach make optimum use of all dietary nutrients, also optimizing the immune system gut flora, without which, even with a healthy diet, many diseases including cancer can arise and propagate.

Low hydrochloric acid is related to other serious ailments.  See here.

Vaxxed

This is no mystery to me.  You might enjoy Jon Rappaport's comments after viewing the documentary's trailer here:

Betaine Hydrochloride Improves Liver Function

Betaine Hydrochloride "[can] improve liver function, build muscle, reduce . . . heart disease, and [give] you a good night's sleep."

What do you know about Betaine Hydrochloride?  

I knew nothing . . . not until this past week.  It is an enzyme.  Years ago a friend told me that his mother had heard in her years that enzymes were all the rage.  Perhaps they were, er, are.  Based on what I've recently read, they do sound as some sort of super supplement.  Betaine Hydrochloride is a supplemental enzyme made from beets.  

Betaine hydrochloride [is] derived from beets . . . 

Okay, but what is it used for?

[It] is a supplement for helping food to be fully dissolved and processed in the stomach for optimum nutritional benefits.

It goes on . . . 

The stomach processes food both mechanically and chemically by breaking it down with hydrochloric acid into its basic constituents, which are then forwarded to the digestive system and blood for nutritional distribution.

This is good to know, one, that the stomach uses muscles as well as chemicals to break down food.  Two, what you should know is that hydrochloric acid is an important component of your immune system. That's right.  Having enough and having the right kind of hydrochloric acid boosts your immunity, making the stomach an important location for destroying pathogens.  

If food is not processed effectively by the stomach, it is as if the body is being starved of a healthy diet with the same potential health consequences due to an inefficient or sub-optimal immune system. All disease arises from either low immunity, abnormal immunity or auto-immunity, including cancer, the immune system as a whole being ultimately dependent on gut flora of the stomach and digestive tract.

And here comes the scare tactic about how this acid production past a certain age begins to decline and therefore . . . you got it . . . therefore you should supplement.  I don't doubt it.  I would supplement. I do supplement.  I guess the older folks that I grew up with never complained about their ailments.  I just never heard of them.  When people died, they just died.  Never heard anything about symptoms.  Even when an older relative had surgery, we never heard what the procedure was for or what organ was in need of repair.  It was either them getting sick and dying or them going into surgery and dying.  I once had a co-worker in her mid-40s go in for some kind of stomach surgery and she died on the operating table.  What joy.  I asked a nurse friend of mine about a certain stomach condition.  He said that that particular condition was serious and that they apply massive amounts of antibiotics during surgery to protect nearby organs from exposure to the bacteria of the gut.

Older folks never complained about their ailments because of the shame or the privacy of their conditions that they shared exclusively with their doctors.  Though there are obvious benefits to this privacy for the patient, it also has a corrupting influence, one in which the doctor operates as an accomplice in the deterioration of the patient.  In other words, for some people letting others like loved ones know of their ailment makes that individual suffering the condition a bit more accountable to his own health.  If his medical history is put into the exclusive hands of his doctor outside of the view of his family and their interests, then that is just too much trust placed in the doctors' hands.  I knew a pair of urologists years ago--they've since retired--who coddled and enabled a relative to make him think that his behavior was just fine.  In fact, they treated him like a friend despite the fact that his behavior was killing him.  His doctors knew it.  They saw his progress or lack of it.  They knew he was killing himself, and the doctors guarded this relative's feelings by dismissing my concerns.  Back to Betaine Hydrochloride:

Research has shown that, after the age of 21 years, the concentration of hydrochloric acid in the stomach begins to fall progressively with age, a condition known as "hypochlorhydria."

By the time people reach the age of 40 or 50, stomach hydrochloric acid concentration is much lower and attributable to age-related immune and auto-immune conditions, including diabetes, cancer and obesity - particularly abdominal fat - hence the so-called "middle age spread." Use of betaine hydrochloride has frequently been credited with flattening the stomach for this reason.

When I read statements like these, I can't but hear the between-the-lines message of "You absolutely, positively need . . . ."  In this case, Betaine Hydrochloride.  There are benefits I am sure.  But what are they . . . specifically?

Before I answer that, apparently, Betaine Hydrochloride is the most effective form of hydrochloric acid.  Okay, good to know. 

One of the most important supportive digestive aids you can ever take is betaine HCL, which while well recognized as a source HCl (hydrochloride) for improving the food dissolving acid activity of digestive juices is less recognized as a source of  betaine, which is one of the least appreciated supplemental substances.  The technical name for betaine is trimethylglycine (TMG) and there are lots of neat things about it that don’t get a lot of attention.  ow about the benefits of Betaine Hydrochloride:

BENEFITS of BETAINE HYDROCHLORIDE
Now about the benefits of Betaine Hydrochloride.  According to this article, this supplement is wild with benefits.  

Benefits list #1:   

Detox, relaxation, muscle building, brain boosting and heart health, cancer fighting too; all of these benefits are a bonus and this exemplifies one of the coolest about nutritional supplementation.  When  you supplement with betaine HCL for your digestive system, you’ll improve liver functioning, build muscle, reduce your risk of heart disease, garner protection from excitotoxins and get a good night’s sleep to boot.  [my emphasis]  You take a drug and you have to deal with toxic side effects [that you don't always feel or recognize right away] and you take a nutritional supplement and you get so many extra beneficial effects it’s hard to keep track of them all.  Beneficial effects that have nothing to do with your original reason for taking the supplement in the first place!  [my emphasis]

Benefits list #2:
Blue Shield of California has its own list of benefits for Betaine Hydrochloride.  You can expect the list to be informative on the conservative side; in other words, perhaps only on conditions where improvements can be scientifically proven.  I presume.

Benefits list #3:

[Betaine Hydrochloride] enables the stomach to much more completely dissolve and process foods right down to base nutrients, as well as produce methyl groups, an important element in preventing cancer and other diseases.  

Edward Group clarifies these benefits even further: 

Betaine hydrochloride is a powerful digestive aid for people who may have been privy to a poor diet, prolonged dehydration and generalized stress. It has also been shown to offer digestive support to perimenopausal women and elderly individuals.

Betaine HCL has also been found to be beneficial in treating hypochlorhydria, a deficiency of stomach acid production. It is also a crucial compound in balancing homocysteine levels, a condition related to severe heart disease.

What is more, as we age, the body naturally produces less digestive enzymes. Due to this lowering in enzymatic activity, Betaine HCL levels also decrease. Depending on the individual, this can lead to sluggish digestion and poor mineral and nutrient absorption.

It also means that the body is not detoxifying itself in an optimal fashion. Things that the body would normally expel remain lodged in the system. This leads to toxic overload, and the type of redness related to chronic disease.

RISKS of LOW STOMACH ACID
The risks are serious.  I had no idea.  Maybe because of low stomach acid. So don't dismiss the importance of having optimum hydrochloric acid in your stomach.

Two key benefits [of stomach acid]: absorption and protection. When food hits your stomach, it’s your stomach’s gastric acid that begins the breakdown of protein and most minerals with pepsin to prepare for the important absorption of key nutrients (like iron B12, Vit. D and MORE) in those foods for your health and well-being. It also helps knock out bad or dangerous bacteria.

Low stomach acid also leads to non-optimal levels of neurotransmitters/amino acids (chemicals which transmit signals from one cell to another and play a huge role in your health and well-being).

Did you get that?  Did it sink in?  I hope so.  I noticed some terrific benefits the first night that I supplemented with Betaine Hydrochloride. That signaling I felt in the different segments of my body--lower leg, feet, torso, shoulders, etc.  I thought they were unpleasant side effects.  They may have been.  But I believe they were benefits.  Proof?  Hmm.  I'll know soon enough.

Acid reflux is caused by lactic acid, a warning sign for too low of a concentration of hydrochloric acid, causing incomplete digestion of food. Acid reflux needs to be treated by increasing hydrochloric acid, not antacids which will neutralize hydrochloric acid, making reflux worse as well as other health consequences.

And there's this: 

"Low hydrochloric acid is a potential cause of cancer and other immune and auto-immune conditions."

And then there's the relationship of low stomach acid with your hypothyroid.  

First, this:

If the "Th1" immune system is compromised or disabled, the "Th2" component of the immune system attempts to take over. Th2, not being equipped to function as Th1, perceives genuine body tissues as foreign invaders, attacking them as it would a bacterium or virus. Th1 suppression is also a root cause of auto-immune diseases such as allergies, celiac disease and arthritis.

Continue reading . . . .

Drink Your Turmeric!

This looks good.  I put turmeric in my carrot juice and it definitely invigorates.  The picture shows the ingredients for an orange, lemon, ginger, carrot, and turmeric lemonade.  It looks delicious and refreshing.  This is a decent drink to try in the morning.  The ginger and turmeric and citrus juices have lots of enzymes that will activate your intestinal enzymes that help digest any protein you'll eat shortly after.

from Good Home Design 

In case you didn’t know, Turmeric is one of the best natural remedy for a lot of diseases.   [That is absolutely true.]  It has anti-inflammatory proprieties, alongside with antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and cancer-fighting ones. Furthermore, it has been shown that in treating depression is even more effective than any other conventional drugs out there. Today we are going to concentrate on the ability of turmeric to help combat depression.

TURMERIC AS A TREATMENT for DEPRESSION

The benefits for your health of this super root are extraordinary. It lowers the risk of heart disease, keeps your brain healthy and the research conducted has also shown that it helps lift depression, as already mentioned. Curcumin (the active ingredient in turmeric) has the same effects as a prescription medicine called fluoxetine (the generic form of Prozac). Additionally, Turmeric, contrary to prescription drugs for treating depression, has no adverse effects on your health, as the clinical trial on major depressive disorder (MDD) has revealed.

Dr. Ajay Goel, Baylor Research Institute and Charles A Sammons Cancer Center, Baylor University Medical Center and study co-author, said about the active ingredient in turmeric: “It is a novel and surprising application for this natural medicine. People with depression have higher levels of inflammation in the brain. Also, people with depression have lower levels of neurogenesis in the brain, meaning they make fewer new brain cells than people with no history of depression. Curcumin is both a potent anti-inflammatory agent and a powerful stimulator for neurogenesis.”

For reducing inflammation in your body, you can always add some turmeric to your recipes.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups cold filtered or sparkling water

2 tablespoons freshly grated or powdered turmeric

4 tablespoons of 100% maple syrup, honey or Stevia if you are avoiding sugar

Juice of 1 1/2 lemons or limes

Juice of 1 blood orange (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix all the ingredients into a small pitcher, stir and serve with a slice of lemon as a garnish.