The Right Combo
Excerpts from two other posts on this site:
Your body is the battlefield and with a SERIOUS medical condition -- like cystic fibrosis -- the tendency of most people is "NUKE IT FROM ORBIT. It's the only way to be sure."
Well, coolios. You probably killed the infection. You may have ALSO killed the patient, minor little detail there. (Do I need to tell you that's SARCASM?)
So let me expand on BOTH of the above snippets.
When I was first diagnosed with atypical cystic fibrosis, my CF specialist -- a pulmonologist in Sacramento, California -- gave me a recipe for a homemade sinus irrigation solution using Everclear and I don't recall what else. So it was STRONG and included probably salt and a very high proof alcohol.
The problem is when you irrigate your sinuses with something really STRONG, you strip the mucus out and you damage the mucus membranes. Cystic fibrosis is a salt-wasting condition and the current medical dogma is we produce TOO MUCH mucus and it's too thick.
I don't see it that way AT ALL.
Years ago, I saw ONE study that said people with CF produce TOO LITTLE mucus and this fits with my firsthand experience: When my sinuses are too dry, I have more lung issues. It also makes more logical sense because mucus is protective, so why would too much make you prone to infection?
I've never found that study again and people kept asking me about it when I was on CF lists. Here is a longer (and not politically correct) piece about Too Little Mucus (NSFW).
So using a really strong solution for irrigating my sinuses wasn't REALLY healing me. It was symptom management and gave short-term relief, but didn't help me grow stronger because it was stripping my mucus membranes of mucus and making it hard for me to produce mucus at all in my sinuses. It was too harsh.
And then I tripped across some study -- again, I probably CANNOT FIND IT AGAIN -- where they specifically researched the impact of a SIMPLE SUGAR -- xylitol -- on the lungs of CF patients in specific. I had a good friend at the time who was a former registered nurse and she helped me create some xylitol-saline solutions, one for my sinuses and one for nebulizing into my lungs.
I have not made EITHER one of these in YEARS because I actually HEALED UP and got the nutritional support I need and now my sinuses and lungs make enough mucus, I do not need this kind of treatment anymore. The GENTLE path let me actually get my body to WORK PROPERLY, something the "NUKE IT FROM ORBIT" approach was NOT supporting. It was, in fact, actively undermining my healing.
And I experimented with trying JUST xylitol in solution without salt and that did not work. I tried MORE salt and that stripped my sinuses, etc. So I tried a number of things and learned that the RIGHT combo of salt and xylitol was DRAMATICALLY more effective than harsher solutions, including the Everclear and salt solution prescribed to me and given to me by my CF specialist.
So when I talk about having high blood pressure and infection together and say "You should GO TO THE BEACH and/or BUY Celtic Sea Salt and BATHE in it" what I am telling you is THE OTHER MINERALS in ocean water or certain brands of sea salt will make the SALT more effective in killing infection so you don't have to take SO MUCH salt that you DIE from high blood pressure.
And getting it through the SKIN is a means to let your BODY decide how much it wants to absorb. If you take it ORALLY, you CAN potentially take too much. But if you simply GO TO THE BEACH or take a bath in it, your SKIN will selectively absorb MORE of what your body NEEDS in a way that your stomach cannot do.
So that provides TWO safeguards: It limits your ability to take too much and it also enhances the effectiveness of the salt you ARE getting so you need LESS.
It's a GENTLE approach and gentle approaches are often gentle because they are elegant. The simplicity here is just GO TO THE BEACH and let your BODY decide what it needs.
See also: Life's a Beach.
I used to irrigate my sinuses twice a day, every day. Saline solution always burned terribly and wasn't that effective.
After reading up on research into the germ-killing properties of xylitol for Cystic Fibrosis patients, I developed the above recipe with a little help from a friend who had medical training.
This recipe was both gentler and more effective for me.
If treating your high blood pressure and treating for acidity are not enough to resolve your issues, take on more salt as a last resort BUT ideally it should be sea salt containing other minerals.Both of the above snippets are about salt and making it more effective via combining it with something else.
Your body is the battlefield and with a SERIOUS medical condition -- like cystic fibrosis -- the tendency of most people is "NUKE IT FROM ORBIT. It's the only way to be sure."
Well, coolios. You probably killed the infection. You may have ALSO killed the patient, minor little detail there. (Do I need to tell you that's SARCASM?)
So let me expand on BOTH of the above snippets.
When I was first diagnosed with atypical cystic fibrosis, my CF specialist -- a pulmonologist in Sacramento, California -- gave me a recipe for a homemade sinus irrigation solution using Everclear and I don't recall what else. So it was STRONG and included probably salt and a very high proof alcohol.
The problem is when you irrigate your sinuses with something really STRONG, you strip the mucus out and you damage the mucus membranes. Cystic fibrosis is a salt-wasting condition and the current medical dogma is we produce TOO MUCH mucus and it's too thick.
I don't see it that way AT ALL.
Years ago, I saw ONE study that said people with CF produce TOO LITTLE mucus and this fits with my firsthand experience: When my sinuses are too dry, I have more lung issues. It also makes more logical sense because mucus is protective, so why would too much make you prone to infection?
I've never found that study again and people kept asking me about it when I was on CF lists. Here is a longer (and not politically correct) piece about Too Little Mucus (NSFW).
So using a really strong solution for irrigating my sinuses wasn't REALLY healing me. It was symptom management and gave short-term relief, but didn't help me grow stronger because it was stripping my mucus membranes of mucus and making it hard for me to produce mucus at all in my sinuses. It was too harsh.
And then I tripped across some study -- again, I probably CANNOT FIND IT AGAIN -- where they specifically researched the impact of a SIMPLE SUGAR -- xylitol -- on the lungs of CF patients in specific. I had a good friend at the time who was a former registered nurse and she helped me create some xylitol-saline solutions, one for my sinuses and one for nebulizing into my lungs.
I have not made EITHER one of these in YEARS because I actually HEALED UP and got the nutritional support I need and now my sinuses and lungs make enough mucus, I do not need this kind of treatment anymore. The GENTLE path let me actually get my body to WORK PROPERLY, something the "NUKE IT FROM ORBIT" approach was NOT supporting. It was, in fact, actively undermining my healing.
And I experimented with trying JUST xylitol in solution without salt and that did not work. I tried MORE salt and that stripped my sinuses, etc. So I tried a number of things and learned that the RIGHT combo of salt and xylitol was DRAMATICALLY more effective than harsher solutions, including the Everclear and salt solution prescribed to me and given to me by my CF specialist.
So when I talk about having high blood pressure and infection together and say "You should GO TO THE BEACH and/or BUY Celtic Sea Salt and BATHE in it" what I am telling you is THE OTHER MINERALS in ocean water or certain brands of sea salt will make the SALT more effective in killing infection so you don't have to take SO MUCH salt that you DIE from high blood pressure.
And getting it through the SKIN is a means to let your BODY decide how much it wants to absorb. If you take it ORALLY, you CAN potentially take too much. But if you simply GO TO THE BEACH or take a bath in it, your SKIN will selectively absorb MORE of what your body NEEDS in a way that your stomach cannot do.
So that provides TWO safeguards: It limits your ability to take too much and it also enhances the effectiveness of the salt you ARE getting so you need LESS.
It's a GENTLE approach and gentle approaches are often gentle because they are elegant. The simplicity here is just GO TO THE BEACH and let your BODY decide what it needs.
See also: Life's a Beach.
