Heads Up: Personal Health Update – Take A Bow, QTree Friends

Taking a break from all the crazy stuff going on in America and around the world (you go, Tucker!). Some good news is in order, at least from my perspective. It relates to personal health observations, actions and results. I have learned much and want to share how it benefitted me so that it may bless each of you in some way.

Deuteronomy 34:9 states: “Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.”

Some of you have poured out your knowledge and wisdom to me and others on here. I want to express my sincere gratitude as you have been positive influences and forces on me and the lives of my loved ones. We all have much to be thankful of which we are probably unaware. If you are a Christian, somebody prayed for you and influenced you before you accepted salvation. Someone is probably standing in the gap for you spiritually and possibly, physically, for you right now. Someone showed you how to go about praying and somebody taught you to serve others. Someone may have worked on your heart to even care about others besides yourself.

All things the Lord has taught us and did in his ministry on earth. “On earth as it is in Heaven.“

Background

I have used my own life and health to be sort of a lab rat for health experimentation QTree style. I have posted progress reports on occasion. I have now come to some conclusions after anecdotal observations over the past few years. I believe they are significant.

I have some qualifying comments about the basis and methods. First, I did not do this using formal scientific methods. To do it in the most valid and conclusive ways requires control groups, placebos, animal testing and much more time. You know, all of the things Big Pharm and the sold out medical industry no longer do prior to getting FDA to sign off without blinking, produce the poison and deliver to unsuspecting patients. Second, as you can tell I started this from a position of total distrust of the medical industry and related governmental oversight. I believe nothing much they say. They earned that distrust over about a thirty plus year period with far too many examples of incompetence and lack of caring for the best interests of the patient to provide here. When it happened against loved ones, it really pizzed me off. Third, I am too old for pointless exercises. My motives for doing this outside of gaining better health are only to tell my story in hopes it helps somebody else. I just want folks to know what helped me and those I care about in an effort to stay upright and actually enjoy spending time on this planet. Your personal experiences using any or all of what worked for me may be completely different. You are responsible for you, although I urge you to seek answers outside the box with everything.

I have been skinny, fat and everything in between. I have been in excellent physical condition as an athlete only to retire as a flabby desk jockey. At times I have used exercise, sports and weight loss programs to attempt to maintain a good weight for my age, build and lifestyle. I have also nearly eaten myself into irreparable health problems to go with long unaddressed chronic sinus issues. I like food and food likes me. I like the outdoors and sometimes the outdoors makes me sick.

A few years after I took early retirement, I also got religion about my health and began paying better attention to my nutrition and physical condition. Something about knowing that grandbabies may be on the way and removing sin from my life woke me up.

Then COVID hit. Wifey and I caught the Wuhan in February/March 2020. Some prednisone and a month later I was fine except for two years afterwards I would periodically have swollen ear canals that muffled my hearing at times. Next, we caught an Omicron variant in June 2022 at the beach. I took four days of Ivermectin doses at the onset and was 90+% well. I followed with weekly doses for two months to build resistance. It was in spring of 2023 I developed tinnitus in the same ear that had the worst swollen canal problems with the Wuhan. About then is when 5G rolled out around here, so who knows? Other than a brief nose cold in December 2023, which Ivermectin doses helped, I have not been ill since the Omicron.

At Aubergine’s suggestion I began taking Nattokinase in 2022. Prior to that I began taking Quercetin when many on here recommended it. For the past year I began taking Quercetin combined with Bromelain. I had learned that Bromelain provides many possible benefits relating to the immune system, sinuses, joints, and cancer prevention primarily. The effects of cancer killed both of my parents in their 80’s, so I have learned to pay attention.

As stated I began taking Ivermectin as a therapeutic during respiratory illnesses after having taken short runs of it as a prophylactic beginning in late 2020. I now take as a prophylactic through respiratory illness seasons. I take a scoop of high quality multi-collagen protein in my first cup of coffee every morning and have for a half dozen years. During this subject period I regularly took the vitamins and some of the other supplements we discuss with Melatonin daily. I try to keep my body guessing about what will be next. I no longer take antihistamines unless ill and just use Nasacort daily for allergies. I take no prescribed meds. I use a Navage every few days in respiratory illness seasons, on high pollen count days , and when in the public for long periods.

It is now time to review what changes were made for 2023 along with results and conclusions.

Health Choices & Results

Weight/Physical

I went 80+% Keto diet one year ago. I had no desire to lose quickly. A one lb. per week loss rate was fine with me.

Since that point I have eaten a normal diet, albeit sloppy via indulging during the holidays. So eight months of 80+% Keto, four months normal.

I lost 24 lbs. during the Keto period.

Blood tests done near the end of the that diet period revealed improved cholesterol ratios, which held true for two annual exams in a row. This is unusual per the physician’s RN. Most of their patients using Keto had rises in cholesterol.

My cholesterol is now at normal levels and ratios while significantly increasing HDL. It also revealed a significant reduction in glucose in both tests with very good readings for my age in the mid-80s. Everything else was also stable and in range. I did no fitness regimen during the past year and only golfed one time as I have been focused on the restoration of my hips and spinal alignment with the chiropractor.

All of the above was with increasing my intake of eggs, beef, pork, etc. while strongly decreasing intake of processed foods, carbs and sugar. I partake of salmon one to three times per week. Veggies were primarily lower carb that I ate raw, steamed or roasted. Berries were my fruit friends. I don’t drink alcohol or sodas, have not for thirty years, so I just stayed status quo there. No desserts, would have a small piece of dark chocolate if the craving got too much.

In the four months after Keto I have regained 6 lbs. with minimal exercise. So a net loss of 18 lbs. for the year before I restart the Keto after this Valentine’s Day. I will restart with a three week collagen based detox cleanse. My target is a reduction of 15 lbs. by the mid-June. I will then be at my goal, which is what I weighed as I entered college as a student athlete. Subject to God’s will, my intent is to be in the best health possible to be able to assist our family, friends and church as needed. Especially as it applies to our grandchildren.

Eyes

This one blew me away. As many have read and followed the story, we began taking Grandson #1 to a highly experienced binocular vision disorder (BVD) specialist optometrist, a noted expert in the disorder. Our grandson’s response to the therapy has been nothing short of spectacular and he will be the focus of a future update soon. However, it is now my turn, which led me to utilize his services in January of this year.

I had posted on here awhile back and Wolf responded that after first taking Ivermectin my eyes seemed to dial in very strongly the next day. Everything would be brighter and in better focus. Leading up to that time my eyes had become a primary source of concern with my health. I had been diagnosed with slowly progressing macular degeneration in my right eye and the start of same in the left by a retina specialist. It was the more challenging “dry” form. I had regular issues with floaters and the same retina specialist stated I had early onset of cataracts in both eyes. Randomly a few times a year over about five years I would have “events” when both eyes would lose focus and bright lights would shoot across my vision for a minute or two. All of the above is in my medical chart of the retina specialist.

After each annual exam he would ask if I wanted the floaters addressed with laser surgery, that it would need to be done eventually with the cataracts and that “within five years” there would be a treatment for the dry form of Macular Degeneration (MD). That later point eventually came true if you are willing to spend thousands for shots in the eyes every 2-4 months. Not very appealing if you still have some ability to see. Variations of this dialog with him went on for a decade.

Since COVID I began taking Ivermectin more routinely as a prophylactic and maintained the vitamin and supplement regimen described on here since my last visit with the retina specialist in January 2023. In the same period was the weight loss from the Keto nutrition changes. However, during the year I noticed that I only experienced two short eye focus events earlier in 2023 and noticed over the last half of the year I was also not seeing any floaters at all. So, no more lights flashing events and no more floaters for over six months for Mr. Anecdotal.

I went to Grandson #1’s BVD specialist this past week. He is a man in his late 70’s with nearly 50 years of experience. A down to earth farmer who does optometry when he isn’t farming (his words). It was the most thorough eye examination I have ever experienced.

I am going to cut to the chase.

The results were that I no longer had any evidence of MD in my left eye at all and only a small stable amount in my right eye in the upper right quadrant that I have been aware of for more than ten years. The floaters were gone. I had zero evidence of any cataracts. My eyes had “cleaned up” since my last visit to the retina specialist one year ago. Doc confirmed my anecdotal observations. I cancelled my upcoming annual exam with the retina specialist.

I am not going to trash the retina specialist. I have no doubts he made the correct diagnosis of the conditions of my eyes based upon my own observations of the symptoms through the years. However, those same observations told me something had changed in the past year.

Which is good because by that point after the COVID scam, I no longer trusted traditional medicine’s response to the previous conditions or their observations and diagnosis of the current conditions. As a result I decided to seek out and received a second opinion from the old veteran who has helped thousands of patients with eye problems that could not be helped by traditional medicine’s approach. None of the previous eye, medical, and educational professionals had ever noticed anything different about Grandson #1’s vision problems. Once his eye movements were noticed by an experienced school OT professional who told us what she had observed and how a previous student of hers had been helped, it all clicked.

While there Doc worked on my prescription dialing me in to 20/20 in both eyes.

Having somebody like the old Doc is the difference between having somebody who has a calling for his occupation or just choosing on his own to be in an occupation. After all these years he still has a passion for eye care and BVD issues in particular.

Unlike our grandson and son-in-law I have no BVD issues. He urged me to continue taking AREDS vitamins as he said they are very helpful. Good for everybody to know for eye and overall physical health. I ordered my usual progressive lens with transition shading in gray. As a golfer I had converted to amber awhile back as I found that shade to be much better for depth perception, which is a big deal in golf. However, amber can also cause increased vision issues for those with MD per Doc.

Conclusion – one or more of Ivermectin, Nattokinase, and Quercetin with Bromelain have seriously improved my eye health.

I urge interested readers to find an optometrist who specializes with BVD issues if you have eye problems that do not seem to be resolved by your current provider. At least rule out what a BVD specialist addresses concerning eye problems before moving on to traditional medicine’s response. If you have experienced a stroke or illness with related effects on your eyes, BVD issues can develop that can be resolved with therapy. In fact, many cases of inner ear issues and vertigo actually relate to the eyes.

Sinuses

I have spent my entire life living first in the Ohio River valley, then the Mississippi River valley and finally the past nearly forty years living in the Tennessee River valley. Histoplasmosis reigns in those areas as well as asthma. Sinus and allergy issues have been a hassle to me. I am allergic to a handful of pollens that include ragweed, honeysuckle, crepe myrtles and a couple of trees. In the listed valleys there is higher exposure to fungal related infections. Having experienced the related effects frequently, I sought relief.

Over the years I had many respiratory illnesses. As an example you could set the clock to bronchitis in February. Taking the flu vaccine was a joke – still got it at times. Sinusitis was once in the fall, once in early spring. Summer pollen allergy induced misery every year for over six decades of life. I tried everything I could find other than the shot therapy. I had no time for bi-weekly allergy shots over several years, which did not work for Wifey.

What has worked has been nasal passage cleansing (Navage), use of Nasacort (some like Flonase better), candida cleanses, supplements and Ivermectin. My respiratory health has improved significantly. I can breathe freely again and that is a good thing.

Cardiac

Mother’s side of the family passed down the “flutters” to me, most likely atrial. My resting heart rate has always been in the low 50’s and high blood pressure has never been an issue even in my chubby days. I could exercise hard and still struggle to get my heart rate over 120 and a BP of 140/90. However, I began noticing occasional heart flutters in my 40’s. These palpitations were random and usually noticed in the middle of the night. I used some deep breathing techniques that seemed to calm them, but they were recurring. I had the usual physician’s office conducted tests through the years that revealed nothing. I had no physical limitations and strenuous activities never induced them to kick in. They would appear for a few months sporadically at night, then go away for six months or so.

Yup, they are also gone and have been for over two years. Another Mr. Anecdotal observation. Going to give Nattokinase the award for that one with possible assists from the others.

Spine/Hips

This one is a no-brainer. The chiro has strongly improved my physical functionality. I only go once per month for adjustments now. Hamstring and calf muscles that formerly would tighten and get sore to distraction are now as they should be all of the time. I no longer have joint pain in my hips or legs. Some of that can be attributed to the collagen and other supplements I take, the rest of it is due to the adjustments. It just makes sense that if your spine and hips are aligned properly it would place less strain on leg joints while allowing your CNS to fire correctly.

Instead of enduring back soreness in the lumbar region, when I begin to feel tighter there I know it is time for an adjustment. The need has been timing well with my once per month adjustment schedule. I feel confident that golf is back in the picture as I will now be able to begin teaching the grandsons the game this spring. I am back to being able to do 10 K steps daily whenever the notion strikes me. I do morning lower body stretches, a few which are yoga techniques. I was not even close to being able to do them four years ago when the back started messing up.

Conclusion – if you have not addressed the condition of your spine and hips with a competent chiropractor, you probably have no idea how something may be off and affecting your overall health. The CNS that supplies your brain with information to process for your whole body depends on it being unencumbered. Our entire family now goes. Our soon to be born granddaughter will go within a few weeks of delivery.

We took the chance the chiro could help our birth trauma damaged grandson and the door opened for all of us to have better health.

Spiritual

We all need to make peace with our world in our own ways. Readers know where I stand – at the foot of the Cross. The peace that passes all understanding when bullets are flying all around is mine now. I desire for all to know and accept Him. Living a life without hope is not living, it is existing. Jesus is our hope. He makes life worth living on this planet while securing our eternity.

I screw up many things and have for many years. Yet, his forgiveness and mercy have made it right for me and everybody else. I pray you experience this peace. He changes everything.