Monthly Archives: August 2016

VAXXED Producer Del Bigtree, A Discussion With Dane Wigington

Posted on by under Toxins

vaxxed

The recent double screening of the profoundly important VAXXED documentary in Northern California was a big success in spite of the total media blackout of the event.  Hundreds of Northern California citizens attended this free public screening along with many more from further south in the state, and from other parts of the country. Connecting with Del Bigtree was a great pleasure and a true honor. At this most critical “time of universal deceit”, when “telling the truth is a revolutionary act”, Del is a shining example for us all. This 11 minute interview with Del gives a glimpse into one of the primary driving personalities behind the critically important VAXXED documentary

Understanding the Environmental Influences of Neurotoxins on Your Brain: Mercury Poisoning by Pamela Costello MD PC

Posted on by under Toxins
Understanding the Environmental Influences of Neurotoxins on Your Brain: Mercury Poisoning
By Pamela Costello MD PC
Holistic Neurological Surgeon, Neuroscientist, Doctor of Biological Medicine
Pam
   The Ancient Greek Physician Galen (a great scientific researcher who advanced the disciplines of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, neurology and pathology), as well as the renaissance Physician Paracelsus, (the father of toxicology as a science), studied, practiced, and wrote in detail and at great length of their experiences with the neurological and physical toxicities of mercury exposure. Yet, two millennia later, medicine remains largely in the the dark as to the role this poison plays in chronic, as well as acute, exposures.
 Diseases of the nervous system are increasing at exponential rates. Neuro inflammatory illness such as autism, behavioral disorders, tremors and movement disorders,  MS, ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s dementias, psychiatric disorders, depression and anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, insomnia, memory impairment, neuromuscular weakness, neuropathies, tinnitus and hearing loss, headaches, and acute and chronic pain syndromes, are all reaching epidemic numbers.  These illnesses are  physically, emotionally, and economically costly, often causing long term disability and unnecessary suffering. A number of environmental toxins have been well established causes of neurological disorders and brain dysfunction.* The most neurotoxic of the list is the heavy metal mercury. All forms of mercury pose a significant threat to both the developing and adult nervous systems.* It has bio-accumulated throughout our aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and is now heavily entrenched in the food chain, with our nervous systems and bodies serving as deadly endpoints.
 Neuroscientific research has demonstrated the neurotoxicity of mercury as causally related to a number of mechanisms. It is well established as creating deficiencies of such critical antioxidants as Selenium, as well as creating intracellular imbalances of other essential minerals in the brain, and it has been shown to cause disruption of neurotransmitters which are involved in the programmed cell death of neurons. These processes all impose substantial oxidative stress on our nervous tissues, causing neurotoxicity and associated neuroinflammation. If left untreated, these potentially reversible and preventable processes lead to neurodegenerative disease and
 irreversible cell death.Cases of childhood autism and multiple sclerosis, both rarities during my medical training and neurosurgical residency, as well as adult MS, ALS, dementias, cognitive dysfunction, and balance disorders, are increasing in all age groups. While acute mercury poisoning is more readily recognized by mainstream medicine as a cause of such neuroinflammatory illnesses, chronic mercury exposure typically is not. As we are initially exposed to toxic mercury in the womb, this is a critical oversight. I measure every one of my patients’ mercury levels, including my pediatric patients, and I am
acutely aware of the levels of mercury with which children are being born.
How might our approach toward neurological disease be altered? Firstly, mercury fillings are entirely avoidable. As for industrial sources, the world stage is finally legislating tighter control of production, handling, and disposal of mercury, as has previously been targeted with the neurotoxin lead. For those stores of deadly mercury that have already found their way into our central nervous systems and bodies, your neurotoxic burden can be readily assessed and safely managed by a qualified licensed medical practitioner. Ongoing exposures can be addressed and corrected, including safe removal of mercury fillings by a biological dentist.In summary, neuroinflammatory illness can be prevented, halted, and reversed, when accompanied by a neuroinflammatory and neurotoxicity assessment and followed by a safe detoxification protocol. Without this information, many patients suffering from
neuroinflammatory illness are left with only a symptom related diagnosis, with limited treatment options.
If you’d like to receive a comprehensive neurotoxicity evaluation, please contact my office at 505-503-8325 for an appointment.
*please see the ‘links’ section of my website http://www.drpamelacostello.com for a literature reference list.
                                                  All right reserved , without prejudice

Nutrition for your Best Brain Health by Pamela Costello MD PC

Posted on by under Toxins
“Nutrition for Your Best Brain Health”
by Pamela Costello MD PC
Pam
    Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates  460-370 B.C.E. Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek philosopher and the ‘Father of Clinical Medicine’, stated in the 4th century B.C.E. that disease was a product of environmental factors, diet, and lifestyle. Proper nutrition can heal the brain and nervous system through support of the neuro immune system, aide in detoxification, repair of the gastrointestinal tract, create a healing pH, decrease inflammation, and correct Candida overgrowth and bacterial imbalances.We all have individualized genetic predispositions to disease, with an increasingly deleterious effect of our toxin-saturated environment (including that of our adulterated food supply), on that genetic template. These toxic stressors contribute to higher incidences of neuro inflammatory disease, from developmental, behavioral, immunologic, and neuromuscular disorders in children, to multiple sclerosis, ALS, CIDP, chronic pain syndromes, cognitive dysfunction and mood disorders in adulthood, to dementias and other neurodegenerative disease in the elderly. Reclaiming your neurologic health and intellectual independence, therefore, requires a focused renewed strategy of identifying and removing major dietary stressors and enhancing your diet with foods supportive of healing your gut, immune, and nervous systems. Such an approach begins with realizing the relationship of your immune system to your gastrointestinal tract, and its health to the nervous system. The majority of our bodies’ immune system lies in our gut wall. The effects of exposure to environmental toxins, particularly adverse dietary and drinking/cooking water choices, take a heavy toll on your gastrointestinal health, which can predispose you to virtually any neuroinflammatory illness. Relevant nutritional
 considerations include:

1. Eat Organic Food, avoiding our brains exposure to highly neurotoxic GMO’s, pesticides, hormone and antibiotic-laden foods.
2. Eat Whole foods, avoiding processed foods full of neurotoxins and depleted of nutrition.
3. Eat a Balanced Diet with adequate nutrition for the brain by choosing safe, healthy, bioavailable sources, with the proper macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and micronutrients (essential vitamins and minerals).
4. Gluten-free alternative grain sources. The adverse effects of gluten and wheat on the brain are well established, with alternative grain sources imperative for good brain health.
5. Dairy (animal milk) products stress the gut and immune system and contribute to neuroinflammatory illness. Use animal-free (vegan) sources of milk products.
6. Good clean water source for drinking and cooking, free of heavy metals and other environmental toxins.
7. Avoid radiated food. Microwaves are close in neurotoxicity to X-ray radiation and should not be kept in your home nor used to prepare your food. Convection or toaster ovens offer an equally convenient, but much safer, alternative.
8. Omega-3 rich oils, including good quality organic coconut oil, provide critical nutrients for your brain health. Brain tissue is partially comprised of omega-3 fatty acids. Including adequate sources of these in your diet allows the brain to repair itself, reduces brain and body inflammation, and is a necessary part of normal brain development in children.
9. Sugars and glycemic index and Sugar alcohols.  High glycemic foods, including all processed sugars and ‘natural’ forms such as agave syrup, Sucanat, and Turbinado and sugar alcohols such as Xylitol, Erythritol, and Sorbitol, all directly cause inflammation. Processed foods containing high fructose corn syrup, as well as processed grains, whose simple carbohydrate content rapidly converts to sugar, are well-documented sources of inflammation that directly affect the brain.
10. Alkaline pH. An acidic environment creates inflammation and disease states. A diet comprised of whole, organic foods, with a 60-80% majority of alkaline foods, promotes a healing environment for the cells of the body and the brain.

If you are interested in an individualized nutritional assessment as part of maximizing your neuroimmunological health, please contact my office at 505-503-8325 for an appointment.

Flint Michigan and Understanding the Neurotoxicity of Lead by Pamela Costello MD PC

Posted on by under Toxins

Flint Michigan and Understanding the Neurotoxicity of Lead

by Pamela Costello MD PC

Pam

 

Flint Michigan and Understanding the Neurotoxicity of LeadDrinking water in flint Michigan, previously sourced from the Detroit river, was changed to the Flint river in Michigan. With the intention of saving money, Michigan authorities allowed the Flint River, which is full of corrosive compounds that rapidly accelerate lead leaching from corrosion of lead pipes, to acutely poison its residents, who are now suffering major health crises. Relevant facts to take from this horrendous disaster include that all Lead pipes and plumbing solder throughout the country’s plumbing infrastructure corrode and release lead. Lead bio accumulates in all individuals, preferentially in lipid (fat) bearing tissues, such as the brain, glands, and  our bony skeletons. However, the accumulated lead that stores in these tissues can be measured in all individuals, removed, and the associated brain and tissue inflammation repaired. Lead impacts everyone, and has increasingly done so with the rise of lead from industrialism saturating our ecosystem, as well as with our aging municipal and plumbing infrastructure. As part of this ecosystem, we have all been silently poisoned. This process is often a slow, yet inevitable one, that leads to compromised neuroimmunologic systems, compromised brain development in children, and cognitive and behavioral dysfunction in children and adults. Lead is also acts as toxic stress on our gastrointestinal and cutaneous systems, manifesting as gut distress, hair loss, skin rashes, and poor wound healing. I test every one of my patients for neurotoxic heavy metals, and over 95% register lead as their highest neurotoxin level. Keeping our water safe is mandatory, as it is the substance upon which all life is based.

The Earth’s water supply, however, is in severe crisis, and the recent news events surrounding the acute poisoning of residents of Flint, Michigan are a wake-up call to the planet that we must protect our drinking water from further contamination by industrial byproducts. Toxic lead, mercury, solvents such as chlorine and fluoride, petrochemicals, and radiation from the nuclear energy industry, continue to find their way into our water supply and the air we breath. Both acute and chronic lead poisoning through environmental exposure pose an increasing health concern. Exposure to lead can be through lead based paint, pigments (in pottery and cosmetics/hair dyes), plumbing, drinking water, brass, bronze, mining, roofing materials, caulking, petroleum by-products, ceramics, photography, solder, lead crystal, pesticides and fertilizers, etc. Although lead has been removed from some forms of paints and automotive gasoline in the United States, it still remains one of the primary environmental hazards facing humans today. Much of the public continues to live their lives unaware of the dangers to the nervous system of this poison. Similar to mercury poisoning, environmental lead exposure has both acute and long-term effects on the developing and mature nervous systems, including Autism, developmental delay, and behavioral disorders such as ADHD. In adults, we see an increased incidence of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases such as MS, ALS, Parkinson’s Disease, brain fog/cognitive difficulties, neuropathies, tinnitus, etc. Research reveals that people who have worked in jobs with high levels of lead exposure are up to 3-4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease.The good news is that there exist objective, simple methods of determining your lead burden and potential areas of past and ongoing exposures, as well as safe and effective measures to detoxify the lead in your nervous system. In doing so, you identify and minimize a known neurotoxin, thereby contributing to your brain and body’s highest health. If you’d like a comprehensive brain health assessment, to include your lead neurotoxin burden, with a safe, customized treatment plan for your best brain health, please contact my office at 505-503-8325. See my website http://www.drpamelacostello.com

Nutrition for Your Best Brain Health by Pamela Costello MD PC

Posted on by under Toxins

Nutrition for Your Best Brain Health

by Pamela Costello MD PC

 

Pam

Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek philosopher and the ‘Father of Clinical Medicine’, stated in the 4th century B.C.E. that disease was a product of environmental factors, diet, and lifestyle. Proper nutrition can heal the brain and nervous system through support of the neuro immune system, aide in detoxification, repair of the gastrointestinal tract, create a healing pH, decrease inflammation, and correct Candida overgrowth and bacterial imbalances. We all have individualized genetic predispositions to disease, with an increasingly deleterious effect of our toxin-saturated environment (including that of our adulterated food supply), on that genetic template. These toxic stressors contribute to higher incidences of neuro inflammatory disease, from developmental, behavioral, immunologic, and neuromuscular disorders in children, to multiple sclerosis, ALS, CIDP, chronic pain syndromes, cognitive dysfunction and mood disorders in adulthood, to dementias and other neurodegenerative disease in the elderly. Reclaiming your neurologic health and intellectual independence, therefore, requires a focused renewed strategy of identifying and removing major dietary stressors and enhancing your diet with foods supportive of healing your gut, immune, and nervous systems. Such an approach begins with realizing the relationship of your immune system to your gastrointestinal tract, and its health to the nervous system. The majority of our bodies’ immune system lies in our gut wall. The effects of exposure to environmental toxins, particularly adverse dietary and drinking/cooking water choices, take a heavy toll on your gastrointestinal health, which can predispose you to virtually any neuro inflammatory illness. Relevant nutritional considerations include:   1. Eat Organic Food, avoiding our brains’ exposure to highly neurotoxic GMO’s, pesticides, hormone and antibiotic-laden foods. 2. Eat Whole foods, avoiding processed foods full of neurotoxins and depleted of nutrition. 3. Eat a Balanced Diet with adequate nutrition for the brain by choosing safe, healthy, bioavailable sources, with the proper macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and micronutrients (essential vitamins and minerals). 4. Gluten-free alternative grain sources. The adverse effects of gluten and wheat on the brain are well established, with alternative grain sources imperative for good brain health. 5. Dairy (animal milk) products stress the gut and immune system and contribute to neuro inflammatory illness. Use animal-free (vegan) sources of milk products. 6. Good clean water source for drinking and cooking, free of heavy metals and other environmental toxins. 7. Avoid radiated food. Microwaves are close in neurotoxicity to X-ray radiation and should not be kept in your home nor used to prepare your food. Convection or toaster ovens offer an equally convenient, but much safer, alternative.8. Omega-3 rich oils, including good quality organic coconut oil, provide critical nutrients for your brain health. Brain tissue is partially comprised of omega-3 fatty acids. Including adequate sources of these in your diet allows the brain to repair itself, reduces brain and body inflammation, and is a necessary part of normal brain development in children. 9. Sugars and glycemic index and Sugar alcohols. High glycemic foods, including all processed sugars and ‘natural’ forms such as agave syrup, Sucanat, and Turbinado and sugar alcohols such as Xylitol, Erythritol, and Sorbitol, all directly cause inflammation. Processed foods containing high fructose corn syrup, as well as processed grains, whose simple carbohydrate content rapidly converts to sugar, are well-documented sources of inflammation that directly affect the brain. 10. Alkaline pH. An acidic environment creates inflammation and disease states. A diet comprised of whole, organic foods, with a 60-80% majority of alkaline foods, promotes a healing environment for the cells of the body and the brain.