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Gesundheit! On an evening early last summer, Michael Scarola sat in a lawn chair during a backyard get-together. He seemed steeped in something of a haze, his eyes very red and a little glassy, his mouth the tiniest bit slack. Around him his friends mingled, sipping at beer or pop, munching chips and salsa, discussing the best tactics for building the night's bonfire. "Hey, Michael," someone called. "Can I get you a beer?" Michael blinked a watery-eyed blink, sniffled a futile, stuffed up sniffle, swallowed with some effort and replied, "No thanks — allergy season. Beer just makes it worse." Where We Live Here in the Willamette Valley, we're in what we hope is the last stretch of winter — the crocus are starting to sit up, and trees are beginning to bud and bloom. It brings on such a feeling of, "Whew, we made it." But for some people, spring sunshine and warm weather mean only the next round of gray dread: allergy season.
Close to 400,000 acres of land in the Willamette Valley are used to grow 60 percent of the world's cool season grasses and 90 percent of the world's ryegrass (this is according to 1998 statistics, meaning the numbers could be greater now). This results in an enormous amount of spring/summer allergens in the air we breathe (not to mention the pollutants in late summer when field burning takes place). Add to that general tree and plant pollen and the fact that our geographic valley formation makes a perfect funnel for air pollutants to settle into, and springtime in these parts means many people — about 20 percent, in fact — are living with some degree of allergies. Symptoms May Include… Scarola has called Eugene home since 1975, and every spring and summer for nearly 30 years have brought him six to 12 weeks of severe hay fever funk. "Pretty stupid, right?" he says. "I must be, like, the eternal optimist" hoping every year that the allergy symptoms will ebb a little. But it's always the same: "I know it's coming in May," Scarola says. His eyes start to get itchy, the nasal congestion sets in. "The first three weeks in June are the worst," he says. His nose runs "like a … faucet — everything's a Kleenex that time of year." At the height of the season, Scarola can count on a month of excruciatingly itchy and burning eyes, nasal congestion, runny nose, and hypersensitive skin. Symptoms have, on occasion, reached extremes, with skin breaking out in hives, and one severe allergy attack requiring a shot of adrenaline (epinephrine) to control it. Scarola wears sunglasses during allergy season, even at night, to help protect his eyes, and the nasal congestion makes for restless nights where he sometimes has to sleep sitting up for any chance of breathing.
Scarola's wife, Rebecca (not an allergy sufferer herself, but whose June 21 birthday, incidentally, coincides with the first day of summer and the very highest pitch of Scarola's hay fever), says, "It's really kind of a bummer. It's the time of year when you want to be outside gardening or riding your bike, and Michael's just miserable. He's a good sport about it, though. We've kind of learned to just get ready …" Getting ready means plugging in the air conditioner and closing the house up as much as possible to create a place where Scarola can keep away from the pollen outside. Options for Treatment For a town its size, Eugene has a pretty broad range of treatment options for allergy sufferers. One interesting option is to treat the sufferer's immediate environment rather than treating the symptoms themselves. Dan Stih, who runs Healthy Living Spaces (www.hlspace.com),works as a certified environmental inspector, and says of the Scarolas' efforts to seal up the house, "That could make it worse. If the air and environment inside is no good, you're basically locking yourself inside with the bad stuff." Stih evaluates how home and living spaces may be contributing to any number of allergy symptoms and suffering. He works with clients to determine overall cleanliness and health of the living space, as well as to evaluate air quality. Stih explains that a range of things in the home — from vinyl building materials to formaldehyde to natural gas leaks to hidden mold — can cause any number of severe health problems for people. After evaluating a home, suggesting improvements, and helping to oversee those improvements, Stih believes that a healthy home with good air quality should be maintained with the use of a high-quality air filter. At about $700 for the air filter, it's seems a spendy solution. But given the cost to treat allergy symptoms these days, this could be a practical solution for some.
For a more hands-on treatment, Eugene's complimentary medicine field can provide relief. Jade Screen Clinic's Marilyn Sjaastad, licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Oriental Medicine, has had success in treating hay fever and other more severe respiratory complications using acupuncture and an Oriental Medicine approach. This approach, as Sjaastad explains in her literature, "refers to an ancient system of healing using acupuncture, moxabustion [the process of burning mugwort either directly on the skin or just above the skin, over specific acupuncture points relative to a condition] and herbal formulas, and other Chinese modalities as needed …" This approach promotes healthy flow of qi, which in turn promotes overall good health. For people with seasonal allergies, Sjaastad says she may use acupuncture needles in the obvious places such as "in the top of the head, in the nose, at the back of the head [and] at the lung points," but that there may also be qi blocked in other places such as the kidneys. Sjaastad also employs a cupping method, where, using a lighted cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol, she creates a vacuum in a small glass cup and quickly applies it to affected areas. Not only does this method promote the flow of qi, but it can also draw problems to the body's surface. But before any treatment begins, Sjaastad conducts a comprehensive evaluation of each patient to determine health concerns and a treatment plan. Another complimentary therapy used in the treatment of allergies is Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET — www.naet.com).Developed by Dr. Devi S. Nambudripad, this is "a synthesis of various medical disciplines such as allopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, kinesiology, and nutrition." Local NAET practitioner Dr. Anthony DeSiena of Washington Street Chiropractic Center, discovered NAET in response to his own son's severe allergic reaction to bee stings. "It works on everything," he says matter-of-factly, and he has used it on patients contending with a wide range of allergies (especially food allergies) and ailments. NAET resembles acupressure in many ways: After consultation and evaluation, an NAET practitioner uses a device that applies a quick but gentle bit of pressure to either side of the spine. The idea is that because allergens can cause blockages in the body's energy flow, this accupressure technique should release the blockages, eventually clearing up the allergy and its symptoms.
Aside from specific complimentary therapies, don't forget that your naturopathic or medical doctor can be a good resource for treating hay fever and allergies. Dr. Miriam Mazure-Mitchell, N.D., explains that treatment begins by "taking a close look at lifestyle — are there pets in the home? Is the patient a smoker? What kinds of things are happening with diet?" While naturopathic doctors are trained in a range of modalities and treatment methods, Dr. Mazure-Mitchell focuses a good deal on diet, nutrition and supplements. Dr. Virginia Buck, M.D., of the Buck Allergy and Asthma Clinic, says that mainstream medicine deals with allergies in three general ways: avoidance of allergens (which for hay fever sufferers means staying inside or getting out of the valley), various prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and immunotherapy, or allergy shots. Prescription antihistamines, contrary to the flashy ads, provide no greater relief than the over-the-counter varieties. The main difference is that side effects such as drowsiness are less with the new prescription medicines. (On a side note, Dr. Buck mentions that for those with especially irritated eyes, should you decide to go with an eye drop treatment, look for eye drops containing antihistamines for greater relief.) Buck explains that these medicines only treat the symptoms and that really, avoidance and immunotherapy are more effective in treating the root of the problem. Immunotherapy is a carefully prescribed plan where a patient is injected with low doses of specific allergens. Over a course of time, the low-dose exposure allows the patient to build resistance. She says, "Immunotherapy can be really helpful with childhood asthma" because it allows children to build stronger tolerance against allergens, thus preventing the chances down the line of serious asthma attacks. (Incidentally, anyone can suffer an asthma attack, given some serious cause for airway constriction). But Does it Work? In his 30 years here in Eugene, Scarola has experimented with several of these options: During about a 13-year vegetarian stretch, he tweaked his diet to try and manage the allergy symptoms. Within those veggie years he "cut out dairy for four years and all cooked wheat products for a year and a half," all to no avail (though, as shown in last summer's get-together, dietary experimentation taught him that something in grains, particularly grains used in beer making, seems to exacerbate his symptoms). He chewed honeycomb and dosed himself for six months before allergy season with a tablespoon of local honey, the idea being that eating honey made from local pollen would help build up resistance to those pollens (similar in theory to immunotherapy). He has done acupuncture, herbal remedies, supplements and teas, but with no luck.
In recent years, Scarola has resorted to the more mainstream methods of treatment, including five years of allergy shots and prescriptions of the non-drowsy antihistamines (i.e., Claritin, Allegra, etc.). While nothing has provided complete relief, he has noticed degrees of improvement — decreased congestion, being able to sleep in a reclining position, less irritated, goopy eyes. Rebecca says, "The allergy shots seemed to make the most difference," though the intensity of the shots schedule proved to be impractical for Scarola. Prescription antihistamines have become his treatment of choice. But as Dr. Mazure-Mitchell says, "Different people respond to different things. If something doesn't work, it doesn't mean it won't work for others." And also, she adds, "If something doesn't work, there's always something else you can try."
BOW
WOW CHOW In a time where health and global issues force us to take a closer look at what we eat, many people have also begun to scrutinize what they feed their pets. More and more pet owners are turning their noses up at traditional dry foods and going back to basics — with raw food diets they say more closely resemble their pets' "natural" eating habits.
Local veterinarian Doreen Hock recommends switching from kibble to raw foods for nearly all her clients. She says animals, just like people, need fresh foods to stay healthy. Hock says feeding a dog or cat a diet based solely on processed, dry food can result in health problems. "Over time, they might come up short on amino acids," she says, "the building blocks to make different tissues." A raw food diet attempts to counter this by providing unprocessed, easily digestible and absorbable amino acids, natural enzymes, vitamins and minerals. "It's completely bio-available," Hock says. These diets usually consist of 40 to 50 percent raw meat, combined with various grains and vegetables. The meat content is usually higher for cats' diets, given that domestic cats evolved from carnivores, while domestic dogs originated from omnivores. Specific mixtures run the gamut, from the "BARF" (bones and raw food) diet, based on larger amounts and various types of meat, to more modest diets incorporating smaller portions combined with regular, canned pet food. There are also several raw foods on the market available frozen of in bulk. Hock says some of these diets are better than others, but "any of it is a huge improvement over kibble." She adds that her concern over dry, mass-produced dog and cat foods centers not only around what the food doesn't contain, but also what it does contain — meat byproducts from rendering plants, preservatives and, she suspects, carcinogens. "I think that's a huge issue," Hock says. "You have to wonder why so many dogs at 10 years of age get cancer …. What are they being exposed to?" For many pet owners, a growing disdain for big business might also factor into the recipe. "I distrust the pet food companies," says Hock, "I have to be honest. I don't think that's paranoia. We recognize that advertising sells us a bill of goods, and if you're making your pets' food, you circumvent that. With the raw food diet, you're taking complete responsibility for the health of your pet, whereas when you open a bag, someone else is taking that responsibility." Scads of internet sites and books echo Hock's sentiments, and more and more pet owners are jumping on the bandwagon. Pet health internet chat forums are crammed with testimonials to the diets' success, citing everything from improvements in coat appearance and energy to the alleviation of cancer symptoms. Cary Simons, a 34-year-old local x-ray technician, says he has been feeding his dog, Rosco, a diet based on raw chicken, fish and leafy green vegetables for more than a year. Rosco, a 6-year-old yellow lab mix, was suffering from allergies, and Simons came across the raw food diet while looking up health topics for dogs on the internet. "Initially it was for the allergies, although it turned out Rosco's allergies weren't based on food," says Simons. "But I've continued it because I feel that it's healthier than regular dog food." Simons says he researched the ingredients typically found in commercial kibble and was shocked at what he found. "I basically equate dog food to junk food," he says. "They take all this food that is unfit for human consumption and destroy any nutrient that's in it. I said, 'Oh my god, I can't believe I'm feeding this to my dog!'" Simons says he has noticed great improvements in Rosco's teeth and coat since starting the new feeding plan, and, "his fecal matter is down to about one-third of what it used to be." However, Simons says feeding his dog in this manner requires more time and money than a traditional diet — he has to shop around for the best prices on raw meat, and prep time is about four or five hours of work per month. But Rachel Ulloa, who manages The Healthy Pet store and feeds her three dogs raw foods, says the difference is made up in the time and money pet owners will save on veterinary care. "You get what you pay for," she says. "You will inevitably go to the vet less." However, even with the praise raw food diets have garnered, many veterinarians still see this as a dangerous trend. A recent study released by the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine concludes that pet diets containing raw meat can pose the risk of a potentially fatal salmonella infection — for both humans and their pets. Humans can come into contact with the infection through raw food preparation, as well as through contact with exposed pets. Pet Age magazine reports that the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) discourages pet owners from using raw meat diets, and many veterinarians say commercial pet food contains adequate nutrients and is a safer way to feed animals. Hock acknowledges that raw food diets might pose some risks, but she says she has only seen one problem with one dog in all the years she has been recommending the diet to her clients, and even that was just mild vomiting and diarrhea. "Dogs' and cats' digestive tracts have more immunity than ours," she says. "The human risk is greater [for developing salmonella infection]. Hygiene in the kitchen is really important. You have to have common sense with this." Hock adds that she thinks the positive aspects of the diet overpower the negatives. "I feel like in everything we do in medicine, you have to weigh the risks with the benefits," she says. "I'm willing to accept the risks, and I try to mitigate them as much as I can with taking care." Hock stresses the importance of consulting a veterinarian before making drastic changes to a pet's diet, in order for the owner to make sure their pet's food contains all the necessary vitamins. "That's the biggest place where someone could err," she says. Finally, Hock adds that raw food diets contain one essential ingredient missing from any commercial pet food — love. "This might sound woo-woo, but I really think that when you prepare the food yourself, you're preparing it with love," she says. "Love goes into it."
Vegetarians often find it difficult to feed their pets meat, but Doreen Hock, DVM, says its important for cats and dogs to consume meat products. "I do not think cats and dogs can be vegetarians," she says. Pet owner Holly Moline, who is switching her dog to a raw food diet, says she rarely eats meat because she finds it disgusting in raw form. However, she says she'll feed her dog meat for the sake of his teeth. "Because dogs on raw diets are crunching up raw bones on a daily basis and aren't consuming carbohydrates, which their systems aren't built to handle, their teeth stay perfectly clean," she says. " I just know that I have a 3-year-old dog who came to me with perfectly white teeth, but after a few years of kibble his teeth and gums are darkening and he'll need a dental cleaning soon. If I can prevent having to put him under anesthesia by changing his diet, it's worth handling the disgusting meat." –JL
WHEN
WORDS HEAL
So much in life goes unsaid. The deepest emotions well up within us, sometimes overflowing in a release of tears or exploding in a torrent of anger. Sometimes we're dumbstruck by our attraction to someone. Sometimes emotions are held inside and pushed further and further down in hopes they will disappear. Poetry therapist John Fox has a way of accessing those emotions, a method of finding words to describe them, of turning those words into poems like carefully crafted vessels to hold those feelings. Fox wrote his first poem when he was 12, having his first "Portrait of the Poet as a Young Man" epiphany while watching a girl skate. Perhaps it was the fluidity of her movement that struck him. He'd had trouble with his right leg his entire life, needing numerous surgeries to remove tumors, spending endless days in a hospital bed, in pain. He found solace in writing. Now, Fox, 48, is a published poet, a certified poetry therapist, and president of the National Association for Poetry Therapy. He's an associate professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and teaches in the Graduate School of Psychology at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda and the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto. The author of Finding What You Didn't Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making and Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making and numerous essays and of course, poems, works extensively with children and the pastoral community. He also holds public workshops and lectures, and will be in Eugene March 5 and 6 to share his gifts. Reflecting on the physical pain he suffered growing up, Fox says writing poetry was "a way of saying it. You couldn't usually." His leg had to be amputated when he was 18. "There were definitely some unspeakable aspects about that." Fox studied creative writing in college, but like many, found the academic process creatively restricting. "I didn't care what someone thought about my poem. Objectifying it wasn't what I needed. Tearing it apart from a linguistic point of view didn't do a whole lot for me." After graduation, he continued writing, but nothing came of it in terms of livelihood. In the early '80s, he began meeting people who led him along his destiny path — one after another introducing him to the next, opening the way to leading workshops for those grieving the loss of a loved one and those suffering from physical illness. Then he met Joy Shieman, an early pioneer in poetry therapy who'd been working with this particular brand of creative art therapy since the early '60s. He trained and apprenticed with her as the movement took off. His method includes beginning by reconnecting with the joy of language, so often lost when we're children. "As children we find the sound of words pleasurable as we're making and hearing them for various reasons," says Fox. But too often children are criticized in school, or feel pressure, distancing them from that joy. "We teach children to spell words," says Fox, "but do we stop and ask them if they like how they sound?" Fox uses a playful approach in working with his students. "I'm aware I'm not there to teach them how to write poetry, I'm there to provide a place for them to express what they'd like to say," he says. He helps to develop a safe connection with them by putting them at ease. "I'm there to listen and if I can communicate by being a good listener … My experience is that people don't get listened to very often." He'll start with students' experiences and where they found poems useful, then encourage them to look at the experience in a fresh way. That happens by having students take random words out of a bowl — a technique he used even before magnetic poetry — and "just mess around with them; treat them like clay or paint, it doesn't have to make sense." Always remembering that creativity comes out of playfulness, he keeps things light. That doesn't mean he treats his students' feelings lightly. After working with them in exploring imagery and words, he has them share their poems. "Someone at age 50, when they lose someone dear to them, may be up at 2 a.m. making a poem because it's the only way to express what they need to say. It's not someone's idea of craft," he says. By reading the poem to others, "someone can hear," he says. "The poem becomes the container for that feeling of grief or love for that person. It helps to distill and condense that feeling. They can sort of get ahold of it. Something about poetry allows for paradox and ambiguity and very contrary feelings without having to explain or make sense." Fox has frequently witnessed the transformative process that takes place within his students. One woman, he says, was struggling but "found tenacity in herself. Wonderful images came up about what that meant. It gave her deeper faith in things she didn't know." By reading her poem aloud, she became empowered by her own voice, and realized that others were listening to her. "So often we keep silent or muffled," he says, adding, "Each of us has a voice that has real value and you don't have to write like somebody else — just write in a way that feels right to you." John Fox will give a public talk at 7:30 pm, Friday, March 5 and will hold a workshop from 9:30 am-4:30 pm on Saturday March 6, both events at the Tamarack Wellness Center, 3575 Donald St. Friday: $20; Saturday: $125. Information and pre-registration: (541) 685-9009.
Even To This What my thoughts have troubled about It's so very scary sometimes I feel would rather what's the worst that could happen? or having had enough of my own self-hatred nowhere else to go time to open my heart — John Fox
MIND & BODY NEWS Nanotech to the Rescue Major advances are predicted in nanotechnology in the next few decades. These breakthroughs are expected to have profound implications for health and longevity, and will likely make obsolete many of the medical treatments and technologies we rely on today. Nanotechnology is a manufacturing technology designed to inexpensively fabricate products, materials and systems with molecular precision. And nanobiotechnology focuses on molecular systems that mimic living biologic systems. The potential applications for health and longevity are staggering, and for some, frightening. According to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, "Within a few decades, health care will be revolutionized by combining nanotechnology with biotechnology to produce ingestable systems that will be harmlessly flushed from the body if the patient is healthy but will notify a physician of the type and location of diseased cells and organs if there are problems. Nanometer-scale traps will be constructed that will be able to remove pollutants from the environment and deactivate chemical warfare agents." Far from being a dream, nanotechnology will materially impact many of our economy's largest markets during the next 10 years, and will be a common thread in many of the emerging businesses during this time, says Dr. Andrew Mutz, managing director of Codesta (www.codesta.com)."While medicine will lag other industries due to the multi-year average time for new medical technologies to emerge from clinical trials, it may be the most profoundly impacted within the next two decades," he says. In his article "Robots in the Bloodstream: the promise of Nanomedicine," Robert Freitas says "In just a few decades physicians could be sending tiny machines into our bodies to diagnose and cure disease. These nanodevices will be able to repair tissues, clean blood vessels and airways, transform our physiological capabilities, and even potentially counteract the aging process." Several websites offer extensive news, archives and mailing lists on nanotechnology, including an Oregon-based site, www.nanotech-now.comthat features a glossary. — TJT
Diabetes Expo Coming Diabetes is reaching near-epidemic proportions, affecting more than 18 million Americans. The fifth deadliest disease in America, it kills more than 210,000 Americans each year. It is the leading cause of heart disease and stroke, adult blindness, kidney failure and non-traumatic amputations. On Feb. 21, the American Diabetes Association will host an expo at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. General panel discussions will continue throughout the day, touching on nutrition, research, women and diabetes, using the insulin pump, dental care, mental health aspects and more. Specific discussion topics will include Type 1 research, Type 1 diet and nutrition, children with diabetes panel discussion, and more. A special Latino discussion area will include general care, mental health, cooking and nutrition classes, all in Spanish, with special information on outreach to the Latino community. Speakers will discuss nutrition, hypertension, research and sexual dysfunction. More than 120 exhibitors will be present to share resources. Cost is $5 seniors, $2.50 general and kids 12 and under are free. Information: (888) 342-2383 or www.diabetes.org
Inner Child Workshop Gary Springfield, spiritual teacher and visionary, will present the workshop "Inner Child and Enlightenment," 9:30 am to 5 pm, Sunday Feb. 22. According to www.enlightenu.com,Springfield "…teaches how to create balance in our lives in these hectic times by showing us a simple way to ground and open ourselves to the Golden Healing Light." The workshop will explore "techniques to clear the emotional and physical body." Springfield has over 20 years of research experience into the higher consciousness and the perfecting of spiritual harmony. Springfield lectures and conducts aura readings, described as "an in-depth look a the Soul … as it creates the tapestry of color and light …" For more information on the workshop and/or aura readings, visit www.enlightenu.com,or contact Petra Nicole at 485-9660. |
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