Questions about The Vaccine

Should I get the Vaccine? 

Pain & Inflammation: NSAIDS or Narcotics?

Doctors have recommended nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen to relieve acute inflammation for decades. But does short-term relief—and interfering with the body’s natural healing process—come at the cost of chronic pain?

Pain from a minor injury, such as a sprained ankle or thrown-out back, often resolves on its own. But for some, acute pain lingers, becoming chronic.

“[The] standard medical care for this type of pain is probably making matters worse, is what the research suggests,” Jeffrey Mogil, a neuroscientist at McGill University, told The Epoch Times.

Early-Stage Inflammation Prevents Chronic Pain

Injuries trigger inflammation for a reason, and researchers are working to understand it better.

One study, published in Science Translational Medicine, focused on 98 lower back pain patients over a three-month period. During that time, half of the volunteers fully recovered, while the other half developed chronic lower back pain. Using RNA sequencing, the researchers compared the activity levels of immune cells between both groups.
They discovered that neutrophils, immune cells that feature prominently at the onset of the inflammation sequence, play a role in remaining pain-free. Neutrophils help the body to fight infection and repair tissue damage.

According to the researchers, those in the chronic pain group started with less inflammatory neutrophil activity and later had little to no activity in the cells that create inflammation. In contrast, the genes of the recovered patients were very active with inflammation-related cells.

“Neutrophils rush in pretty early after some sort of injury, causing a process that ends up preventing chronic pain,” said Mr. Mogil, a senior author of the paper, “and you probably shouldn’t block it.”

Scientists have known that anti-inflammatory drugs inhibit neutrophil activity in people and animals. However, the link to chronic pain had been missed because prior studies did not follow patients long enough beyond immediate pain reduction.

“NSAIDs definitely interfere with the process,” Eugene Aiello, a chiropractic physician and neurologic researcher, told The Epoch Times. “But not everybody in the chronic [pain] group was taking NSAIDs. More studies are needed to identify what else is preventing the neutrophils from completing the repair process.”

Recognizing Whether Inflammation Is Good or Bad

There are generally two types of inflammation: acute and chronic. To determine whether inflammation is helpful or not, we must understand how these differ.

Chronic inflammation is long-lasting and spreads throughout the body. It becomes the problem rather than the solution to infection or injury. It can lead to more serious conditions such as heart disease or even cancer.
In contrast, acute inflammation is beneficial—provided that it is robust, short-lived, and site-specific. When a ligament or tendon is strained or torn, it triggers an influx of blood, fluids, and immune cells to the area.

“Swelling is the body’s innate wisdom to increase the surface area so that healing mediators can then come into that area,” Brandon LaGreca, a licensed acupuncturist who is nationally certified in Oriental medicine, told The Epoch Times.

Neutrophils are part of these first responders. Their presence is key to removing damage and debris through lymphatic drainage, setting the stage for damaged tissue to be repaired.

Pain and swelling are a clear message that the “paramedics” are at work. Decreasing pain without shutting down the “highway” is critical for supporting the healing process.

“If you’re injured, one Advil for discomfort or to get sleep is different than taking 800 milligrams of Advil three times a day for three weeks,” Mr. Aiello said. “That’s when you’re likely to have a problem.”

Mr. Mogil said, “There are ways to block pain without blocking inflammation, and the most well-known of those is Tylenol.”

But the overuse of Tylenol, or acetaminophen, comes with risks such as liver injury.

Reconsidering the Standard Treatment for Acute Pain

Based on their initial study, Mr. Mogil and the other researchers hypothesized that inhibiting the body’s initial inflammatory response leads to chronic pain. They expanded on the research with a study in which mice with an injured paw were given either an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug or saline.

Although the mice in the drug group initially showed fewer pain symptoms because their inflammation response was dulled, the pain eventually returned and became chronic. For mice that received saline, the pain subsided in half that time, and they remained pain-free.

To see if their hypothesis might apply to humans, the researchers did a separate analysis of patients in the UK. Those with acute back pain who reported taking anti-inflammatories were about 70 percent more likely to have pain two to six years later, an effect not seen in people taking acetaminophen or antidepressants.

While the researchers linked blocking early-stage inflammation to the development of chronic pain, decades of medical orthodoxy will not be overturned by a single study. Clinical trials are needed for that, but the funding for them has proven difficult.

Mr. Mogil noted that the findings shouldn’t be confused with the use of NSAIDs for chronic conditions, where reducing inflammation is essential.

Working With the Body’s Natural Inflammatory Response

How can you enhance the body’s natural healing process, ensuring a full recovery? Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has used multiple methods to treat acute injuries for thousands of years.

TCM focuses on stimulating circulation to the area of injury, restoring movement and function, and enhancing the body’s natural healing process, according to Mr. LaGreca.

“We encourage the healing process so that inflammation resolves on its own, as opposed to suppressing it,” he said.

A combination of approaches that use TCM principles to work with—not against—acute inflammation can be used.

Practice Gentle Movement

Pain, heat, redness, and swelling can last for one to three days following an injury. While rest is important, too much weakens the body, delaying healing. Rest should be balanced with gentle movement within pain tolerance.

“It’s injury dependent, but you can cautiously explore range of motion, stretching, and movement immediately,” Mr. Aiello said.

Gentle range-of-motion movements, including walking and slowly rotating the joints, help to maintain the health of ligaments and tendons by preventing stiffness and promoting circulation. This also helps to move fluid through the lymphatic system.

“For example, with an ankle injury, you may not want to walk on it with a lot of pressure,” Mr. LaGreca said, “but you can start with gentle ankle rotations.”

As pain and swelling decrease, careful movement can increase until there is a regular exercise routine.

“Putting a small amount of load on the ligament helps new tissue grow back in the right way,” Mr. Aiello said.

Ideally, this is done with a physical therapist or sports trainer.

Studies have shown that exercise and other physical therapies are effective for people with musculoskeletal pain, such as lower back pain.

Try Drug-Free Remedies

Nutrition can help to provide relief from acute pain.

“Your immune response needs fuel from nutrients and lots of antioxidants because the key to overcoming the pain is for neutrophils to help clear the damaged tissues,” Mr. Aiello said. “That debris is what’s eliciting the pain.”

Ginger, turmeric, capsaicin, and valerian root have all been shown to be effective natural pain relievers.
Many Chinese herbs can also be applied topically to help with pain, according to Mr. LaGreca. Acupuncture or acupressure on specific points is one of the most direct methods for immediate pain relief that also promotes circulation, increasing lymphatic drainage.
Multiple studies have shown that acupuncture effectively treats sports injuries such as strains, sprains, and swollen muscles. One randomized controlled trial published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine demonstrated that acupuncture is more effective, faster in relieving pain, and has fewer adverse effects than intravenous morphine.

Studies on acupressure have shown that applying pressure to stimulate specific points can also reduce acute pain. Acupressure is easily self-administered.

Opt for Heat Over Ice

From the TCM perspective, heat increases circulation. Mr. LaGreca recommended a warm bath with Epsom salts “to stimulate circulation and help the process along.”

Cold does the opposite, slowing down movement and impairing the circulation of blood and fluids, he said.

“Ice might make you feel better by reducing swelling, but that swelling is there for a reason,” Mr. LaGreca said.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who introduced R.I.C.E.—rest, ice, compression, elevation—to the sports medicine world in 1978, revised his recommendation in 2015.

“Both ice and complete rest may delay healing, instead of helping,” he wrote.

Get Deep Sleep

While resting for hours on end isn’t recommended, deep sleep is crucial for injury recovery.

When the body enters its deep sleep stage, the pituitary gland releases growth hormones that stimulate muscle repair and growth. Growth hormones must be released in greater amounts when the body is healing from an injury.

Healing takes time and requires trust in the body’s natural process.

“We need to do things that encourage that healing process,” Mr. LaGreca said.

“Mr. Aiello said, “Inflammation isn’t always bad. Knowing how to use it to fully heal can prevent longer-term problems.”

Good vs. Evil: Are there really demons out there?

Good vs. Evil:  Are there really demons out there?

Click here to read about Exorcisms & Demons…..I think it will blow your mind.

The Shroud of Turin: What does science say about Jesus?

The Shroud of Turin: What does science say about Jesus?

This article is going to blow your mind and hopefully give you some faith…or at the very least, perhaps it will make you think and wonder if there’s not something more out there than what we currently understand through our current level of science.

Part I: The Prince of Peace

Akiane’s painting of Jesus painted when she was only 8 years old.

Have you ever heard the story of Akiane’s Jesus?  Here’s a synopsis of the story:

“Akiane (is the name of a little girl whose) name måeans ocean in Lithuanian.  She and her siblings were homeschooled for the most part and they had no television and few books, so when she began telling her family about seeing visions at age four, they were fairly certain what she was experiencing was not a result of outside influences.

Akiane began to sketch and write poetry at age four, advanced to painting at six and writing poetry at seven. Her first completed self-portrait sold for $10,000. A large portion of the money generated from art sales is donated by Kramarik to charities. According to Akiane, her art is inspired by her visions of heaven and her personal connection with God. “I am a self-taught painter,” she told Children’s Digest. “God is my teacher.”

Akiane explained to her family that God gave her the visions and abilities to create her artwork and poetry, which must have come as quite a shock since both her parents were atheists at the time Akiane’s painting of Jesus painted when she was only 8 years old.. They later converted to Christianity on account of Kramarik’s paintings and visions. More than art was happening in their home. “Simultaneous with art was a spiritual awakening,” Akiane’s mother, Forelli Kramarik, told Christianity Today. “It all began to happen when she started to share her dreams and visions.”

You can read the entire incredible story here.

Part II:  Heaven is for Real

There was this little boy from Nebraska who had a near death experience and his dad wrote a book called: “Heaven is for real.”  This what happened.  When that little boy had his near death experience his parents started to notice that he’d talk about things that they knew he had never been taught or been exposed to……he was only 3 years, 10 months old.  heaven-is-for-realLittle by little his parents realized that he had some kind of heavenly visitation or experience and had seen Jesus.  So every time the little boy’s parents would see a painting of Jesus they’d ask him  “is this what Jesus looked like?”.  Over and over and over again he would say no, no, no….a hundred times he said NO that’s not what Jesus looked like.  Then they showed him the picture of “Akiane’s Jesus” and didn’t tell him where it came from and he said YES, that’s what Jesus looked like.  (By the way, this book has been made into a movie that was released in 2014).

Part III: Can Science Prove Christianity?

The History Channel did a piece last year about the Shroud of Turin….The History Channel and a group of scientists that specialized in developing software that was developed to create

This is the digitally created image that resulted from the analysis of the Shroud.

This is the digitally created image that resulted from the analysis of the Shroud.

3D images out of 2D surfaces (such as photos taken of planetary bodies) studied the Shroud of Turin.  They used a photograph of the Shroud of Turn and ran it through this highly specialized software developed by the Air Force and Nasa.  They discovered that the photo of the Shroud of Turin was completely unique and different than any other photo they had ever examined.  They said that the photo looks the way it does because it’s not a 2d picture….but rather it’s the data needed to create a 3d image and so they used the 3d data from the image and created a 3d computer generated image of the man who was covered by the shroud.  (incidentally they said they discovered that the image on the shroud was NOT created with a liquid or paint because of the way that the image sits on top of the threads and they believed that the image was made from some kind of light).  They took every aspect of the event and shroud into consideration and even analyzed how the cloth would have laid on the face of “the crucified person”, etc.   This is the 3D image that they came up with:

 

 

OK now look at them next to each other:

iPhoto Library.photolibrary

The image on the left is is the digitally created image that resulted from the analysis of the Shroud; the image on the right is Akain’s painting of Jesus.

 

The only difference I see is the color of the eyes and the History Channel scientists were just guessing at the eye color, since that info wasn’t extractable from the Shroud.

Why is it so hard for people to accept the possibility that there’s something more “out there” than what we can prove with Newtonian Physics?  Whoever you are….you don’t have to believe 100%….just try to open the doors to your heart and let in a little bit of “possibility” in from the other side.

Please follow me and if you want to talk to me post a note…..I would be more than happy to discuss this issue with you.  Thank you and God bless you,  Emily

 

How Einstien’s Twin Paradox Supports the Book of Genesis

How Einstien’s Twin Paradox Supports the Book of Genesis

Can we prove that God really did create the heavens & the earth in just 6 days?

The first book of the Bible, as most people know, is Genesis.  Genesis 1:1-31 describes God’s creation of the heavens, the earth and all the things in it including man & woman which it says was completed in 6 days.  Growing up in an agnostic family revealed to me that this is a huge stumbling block for non-Christians.  How could God have created all the intricacies of life and earth and the universe just in 6 days when “everyone knows” the earth was created over billions of years?

Most Christians take this on FAITH and just try to ignore the fact that their non-Christian friends think it’s ridiculous – but not many of us have a good response to this question when our non-believing friends bring it up. This conflicts dramatically with our God given mandate to evangelize and encourage others to recognize & know the love of God. How do we talk to our “unsaved” family members about this particular (perceived) stumbling point in the Holy Scripture?  Most of us don’t understand why there’s this discrepancy between our beliefs and what modern day science says, but we trust God when He said He did all this in just 6 days and that’s enough for us (and by the way there are a few issues like this in the Bible that Christians take on faith and chalk up to the fact that there are things that we will never really be able to understand until we come face to face with God at the Pearly Gates.  There’s nothing wrong with taking things on faith and as a matter of fact that’s all Jesus ever asked us to do – to just have the faith of a mustard seed).  HOWEVER there is something wrong with that if it keeps people from believing in God and subsequently we need a way to address this as Christians.  So consider this (bear with me please while i give you a few basics about the Theory of Relativity and Time Dilation – I promise there’s a point to this):

From Wikipedia: “In physics, Einstein’s twin paradox is a thought experiment in special relativity involving identical twins, one of whom makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket and returns home to find that the twin who remained on Earth has aged more.” and “In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an actual difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses.”  So in other words, time changes (or “dilates”) based on gravity – it slows down with increased gravity and increases with reduced gravity. So time, for the climber at the top of a mountain (further from earth’s center of gravity) moves faster than the time for the hiker at the bottom of the mountain (or closer to the Earth’s center of gravity).  Time also changes based on velocity: “When two observers are in relative uniform motion and uninfluenced by any gravitational mass, the point of view of each will be that the other’s (moving) clock is ticking at a slower rate than the local clock. The faster the relative velocity, the greater the magnitude of time dilation. This case is sometimes called special relativistic time dilation.”

Time Dilation theory suggests that gravity and relative velocity influence space time.  Is it possible that God’s position in relationship to man on earth influenced the way time was described and accounted for by Him in the Holy Scriptures?

So to conclude, I admit that I don’t know enough about the Theory of Relativity and Time Dilation to properly debate the subject -but I just wanted to plant a little seed (a mustard seed?) of possibility in your mind about this. After all, all science starts with a hypothesis and I’m just suggesting that we open our minds and admit that there are things in the universe that we don’t yet understand. And if we’re going to debate the issue honestly and intelligently, we shouldn’t close our minds off to any possibility.  So, is it possible that God really did create the earth and everything in it in 6 days FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE?

In Your Eyes….