From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
Spring is in the air, as well as pollen, dust, mold and other matter floating around in wild abandon. Anybody with respiratory problems is on high alert for anything that affects their breathing. TV commercials promise relief with countless antihistamine ads. But what if there were other options to help you soothe your lungs and finally take a deep breath?
What Dr. Google or an MD might say about Lung Health
Google AI actually has a lot to say about lung disease, as searching “lung health” results in pages of information from organizations fundraising for lung disease research. (Incidentally none of these organizations, so eager to “help” people with lung diseases, mention the supplementation of vitamins and minerals to boost lung function)
There are many identified lung diseases, which are grouped by the area of the lungs affected. The most common lung diseases involve the bronchi and the alveoli:
The airways or bronchi
Diseases like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchitis and emphysema are said to be a result of the tubes or bronchi in the windpipe becoming inflamed and spasming. Trouble breathing, especially exhaling, coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath are all symptoms associated with these conditions.
The air sacs or alveoli
Smoking is the main cause of emphysema where the areas between the alveoli are damaged. Lung diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis are the result of a bacteria or virus creating an infection in the alveoli.
Other diseases of the lungs include those that affect the blood vessels, the interstitium (the lining between alveoli), and the pleura (the lining surrounding the lungs)
Symptoms associated with Lung Health/Disease
According to Google AI, whatever the classification of lung disease, symptoms will likely include:
- Shortness of breath, made worse by activity
- Wheezing which indicates narrowing airways
- Coughing that lasts for weeks
- Fatigue can be due to lower oxygen levels
- Recurring lung infections like pneumonia or bronchitis
- Coughing up blood or mucus
Dr. Google might suggest medical testing
If your symptoms are persistent, you may be sent for x-rays, an MRI and / or CT scans to get images of the lungs and airways. Then there’s bronchoscopy, which snakes a camera into your lungs for visual images, and tissues samples.
There are several lung function tests that measure your lung volume, oxygen levels, and the quality of your inhale and exhale. Most of these tests involve breathing into a tube and result in little discomfort.
Dr. Google might … I mean, Will, suggest drugs
If you have asthma, the list of possible drugs is long. Some are designed to provide immediate relief during an asthma attack, to relax and open the airways. Other long-term drugs like corticosteroids are supposed to reduce swelling and inflammation in the airways to prevent triggers from causing asthma attacks.
The severity of your asthma can result in being prescribed increasingly dangerous drugs like leukotriene modifiers that block chemicals in the immune system linked to asthma symptoms. Even though these drugs are known to have psychological side effects including aggression, hallucinations and suicidal thinking they are in the doctor’s toolbox!
These kind of drug side effects are outrageous for a “simple” and very common illness like asthma, for which there are many “natural” remedies.
The drugs prescribed for more serious diseases like COPD are designed to relax and open airways and you may be prescribed both short term and long-term medications to deal with flare-ups, and to prevent future flare-ups. Patients may not be aware that some these drugs have deafness as a possible side effect. Antibiotics are frequently used to address bacterial infections that arise in the lungs. Corticosteroids, both inhaled and taken in pill form are used for long and short term “treatment” of COPD and have very serious side effects.
Or they could take picometer-sized, stabilized ions of magnesium.
What I say about Lung Health
Most serious lung diseases are caused by smoking. Google AI says that 80 percent of deaths from COPD are caused by smoking and 90 percent of deaths from lung cancer are caused by smoking. So, let’s just avoid smoking, please!
I’d also like to mention a German New Medicine conflict trigger for lung cancer. Here is what I learned. The lungs are beside the heart. Lung is fear of dying; either me with many tumors, or for others—one large tumor. I saw this myself when my father developed one large lung tumor because was given a shock that my mother was dying when she was misdiagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
My parents were in Florida for their usual winter sojourn, and she ended up in hospital with severe abdominal pain. The hospital diagnosed pancreatic cancer and wanted to operate immediately. The whole situation didn’t sound right, so one of my sisters, who is also a doctor, and I flew to Florida and demanded that they fly our mother back to Nova Scotia, where she underwent gall bladder surgery. She did not have pancreatic cancer. But the damage was done to my father’s psyche.
For lung disease like asthma or bronchitis, there is a completely different mechanism happening in the lungs. The first clue Dr. Google provided is that spasming in the bronchi creates inflammation and interferes with air coming into the lungs.
Asthma is a condition where the bronchial tubes go into spasm resulting in shortness of breath and wheezing that can be life threatening. Asthma is recognized as a combination of toxicity, stress, and allergic reaction. But, since muscle spasms in the bronchial tubes are what ultimately cause the wheezing, no matter what the trigger, magnesium is the most important treatment for asthma. Magnesium is also extremely important especially if you use asthma medication that can drain your magnesium stores.
Food additives such as MSG cause symptoms in many people. MSG sufferers can develop a tightening of the scalp and temple muscles causing an MSG headache. A similar tightening effect occurs in the lungs of asthmatics.
Bronchitis often begins with a simple cold that develops into a chronic cough that can also trigger spasms. The bronchial tubes create breathing pathways for oxygen to reach the lungs. When the mucus membranes lining the tubes become swollen, inflamed, irritated and thick with mucus, a cough is activated to try and clear the mucus or simply because of the inflammation.
Supplements for Lung Health:
As mentioned earlier, magnesium is your first treatment for spasming bronchi that results in asthma. You have to correct your magnesium deficiency, and it’s essential to replenish magnesium that is depleted daily by regular asthma medications. It’s also possible to use a picometer magnesium (diluted 50:50 with distilled water) in a nebulizer for immediate relief.
If you have bronchitis with a lingering cough, put a diffuser containing these stabilized ions of picometer silver and magnesium on your desk and run it while you’re going about your day. Use one tablespoon of silver and one tablespoon of picometer magnesium in a diffuser with about 12oz of water, and breathe in the misted air.
Vitamin D supports lung function by increasing oxygenation in the lungs for people suffering with lung disease and it also helps to improve athletic performance. The exact mechanism is not clear but it’s likely through vitamin D’s action in regulating inflammation and its action on muscles. Remember that you must also take picometer magnesium to activate Vitamin D.
Vitamin C is essential for its antioxidant effects on any infectious organisms in the lungs.
I would also recommend our yeast protocol for sinus infections due to yeast, which causes tremendous mucus buildup in the sinuses and postnasal drip, which can contribute to a chronic cough. I recommend a natural antifungal/probiotic and picometer silver, as well as avoiding sugar, gluten, and dairy to eliminate a postnasal drip cough.
I know you’re reading this blog because you’re already tapped into the kind of information I share about illness and disease and their underlying explanations, solutions and interventions. And I know you’re likely frustrated because you’re in possession of this information that could help someone you care about. Please forward this blog to someone you care about who has questions and concerns about their lung health.
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future.
