Crying Out to God for Healing

WORD OF KNOWLEDGE

By Audra Haney
The 700 Club

CBN.com – In January of 2013, Caryn Jandl was diagnosed with a severe sinus infection that drained into her lungs. A deep, painful cough kept her awake, night after night. “Emotionally, I was drained. I was frustrated and since I couldn’t sleep, I wasn’t getting my immune system back to where it should have been.”

Caryn’s doctor gave her a strong 5 day antibiotic for the infection. “I came home and I took the two azithromycin. Five o’clock came and I started coughing and I coughed all night long. Saturday morning I took the next antibiotic, and I didn’t sleep that night either. The cough seemed to be getting worse. It wasn’t getting any better.”

Caryn finished 4 days of the antibiotics, but the coughing continued. “I would lay and cry, because there was nothing else I could do. And, I would pray, ‘God, please heal me.’”

Healing Cry

Written by Julie Cosgrove

 Are you facing a period of suffering in your life? Take this interactive online study: Finding Hope When It Hurts

“O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” (Psalm 30:2)

Recently I was hospitalized for a staph infection that had invaded a simple scrape on my forehead. One side of my temple ballooned into a red, angry mass and the skin around my eye swelled shut. The swelling even spread to my cheek and jaw. The nurses responded by giving me IV antibiotics. However, when the doctor entered the scene he informed me that true healing would not occur unless the wound was lanced and drained.

The moment the wound was lanced I felt excruciating pain. Surprisingly, only a couple days later I was back to normal and the wound healed nicely. Even though I had recovered quite remarkably, the doctor warned me take oral antibiotics for a week to make sure any remnants of the infection were dealt with.

Healing Cry

Written by Julie Cosgrove

 Are you facing a period of suffering in your life? Take this interactive online study: Finding Hope When It Hurts

“O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” (Psalm 30:2)

Recently I was hospitalized for a staph infection that had invaded a simple scrape on my forehead. One side of my temple ballooned into a red, angry mass and the skin around my eye swelled shut. The swelling even spread to my cheek and jaw. The nurses responded by giving me IV antibiotics. However, when the doctor entered the scene he informed me that true healing would not occur unless the wound was lanced and drained.

The moment the wound was lanced I felt excruciating pain. Surprisingly, only a couple days later I was back to normal and the wound healed nicely. Even though I had recovered quite remarkably, the doctor warned me take oral antibiotics for a week to make sure any remnants of the infection were dealt with.

FDA says Zithromax can cause fatal irregular heart rhythm

Reuters/Reuters - A woman walks past the Pfizer Inc. headquarters in New York, January 31, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned on Tuesday that the popular antibiotic azithromycin, sold as Zithromax, can cause a potentially fatal irregular heart rhythm in some patients.

The agency said the move follows its review of a study by medical researchers as well as a company study assessing the drug's potential for causing abnormal changes in the electrical activity of the heart.

Last May, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine compared the risk of cardiovascular death in patients who took Zithromax with those who took several other antibiotics, including amoxicillin. It found that patients who took Zithromax, made by Pfizer Inc, had higher rates of fatal heart rhythms.

Antibiotics: How Much Is Too Much?

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – It’s very easy to go to the doctor and get a prescription of antibiotics when you’re sick. But should you be taking them so often? A new study of Medicare data from 2007 to 2009 suggests that there was a wide discrepancy in antibiotic prescribing for older patients based on geography and the season in which the prescriptions for the medication were written. 

The overuse of antibiotics is common and can lead to unnecessary spending on prescription medicine, as well as increase the risk for adverse effects and antimicrobial resistance.

Yuting Zhang, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues used Medicare data (comprising about 1 million patients per year) to examine geographic variation in antibiotic use among older adults in 306 hospital referral regions, 50 states and the District of Columbia, and four national regions (South, West, Midwest and Northeast). They also studied quarterly change in antibiotic use across the four regions.

Scent Of A Woman

“Legs. I don’t care if they’re Greek columns, or second-hand Steinways, but what’s between them… passport to heaven”. (Al Pacino as Lt. Col. Frank Slade, Scent of a Woman, 1992).

Every woman has a signature scent. It’s her own unique perfume produced by the healthy flora (bacteria) that live in her reproductive zone and keep her system in balance. Just to clarify, this is all part of a woman’s natural freshening process and means that the vagina is kept clean by nature and is not, as some soap companies will have you think, a dirty place, in need of fake fragrances.

R.I.P. modern medicine

When the shutters come down for the final time at your local pharmacy and all the prescription drugs we've come to rely on are labelled 'Not Fit For Purpose', what will you do?

Are we facing the end of modern medicine?

At the risk of provoking howls of derision from regular readers, bear with me for one minute...

Recently, I told you about a leading doctor who risked professional suicide by suggesting that a 10 pence Vitamin B tablet is more effective for treating dementia than the blockbuster drug Aricept...

We also heard the apocalyptic pronouncement from the World Health Organisation that antibiotics have been so over-used that they're now almost completely useless against 'super strains' of bacterial infection. 

COPD Treatment Tips to Keep You on Track

Managing COPD means staying on track with a good treatment plan. Get tips for managing symptoms, exacerbations, and other COPD issues.

By Chris Iliades, MD

Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH

You can live well with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) if you get the right COPD treatment plan and stick to it. The goals of a good COPD treatment plan are to manage and avoid COPD symptoms, slow the progression of the disease, manage COPD exacerbations and emergencies, and improve your general health and well-being.

It's important to learn as much as you can about your condition and work closely with your treatment team. That means taking all your medications on time and keeping all of your treatment appointments.

Medications that your doctors prescribe — bronchodilators, steroids, and antibiotics — help keep your COPD symptoms under control, but there is also a lot you can do on your own to stay on the right track.

COPD Treatment Action Plan

The American Lung Association recommends that people with COPD work with their doctor to develop an action plan based on their specific COPD symptoms. Every plan is different, and your plan may change over time. But an action plan should outline specific steps depending on your symptoms. Here is an example:

• Green zone. You are in this zone when your symptoms are under control. Take all your daily medications, keep all your scheduled doctor appointments, and follow your exercise and diet regimens.
• Yellow zone. COPD symptoms like feeling breathless, increased cough, increased phlegm, decreased appetite, and trouble sleeping could be symptoms of a COPD exacerbation. Your action plan should outline how to take your rescue medications, when to use oxygen, and how to use breathing exercises such as pursed-lip breathing. It should also discuss when to call your doctor.
• Red zone. If you have COPD symptoms like severe shortness of breath, chills and fever, confusion, chest pain, or coughing up blood, your action plan goes into emergency mode. Have your emergency contacts ready, call 911 if you need to, increase your oxygen, and get help right away.

COPD Tips to Stay on Track

In addition to following your treatment plan, you can help keep your COPD under control by avoiding potential complications, watching out for anxiety and depression, and making sure you have a good support system. Here’s how:

• Preventing COPD flares. Quitting smoking and avoiding secondhand smoke are two of the most important things you can do to help control COPD symptoms. Air pollutants, allergens like dust and mold, and chemical fumes can also cause a COPD exacerbation. Keep your windows closed and stay indoors as much as possible when pollen and pollution levels are high. Also, make sure to get flu and pneumonia vaccines to help avoid the complication of infection.
• Avoiding depression. Having COPD can make it hard to sleep, enjoy food, and do many of the activities you once enjoyed. Feeling down occasionally is normal, but clinical depression — when feelings of sadness and other symptoms last for more than two weeks — is dangerous. Depression may keep you from sticking to your treatment plan. Learn the symptoms of depression and ask for help if you need it. Treatment for depression may be an important part of managing your COPD.
• Understanding COPD anxiety. Your brain has a region that sets off an alarm signal when oxygen levels are low. For people with COPD, this region can become overly sensitive and send off alarm signals that feel like an anxiety attack. If you are worrying about your breathing all the time, especially if you are afraid to leave the house because of it, you may need help managing anxiety. Treatments such as breathing exercises, counseling, and medication can help keep anxiety under control.
• COPD support. Managing COPD can be tough, but you don't have to do it alone. Talk to your friends and family about your physical and emotional needs. Many find that joining a COPD support group offers an opportunity to share with others who understand. A support group can be a source of experience, strength, and hope, and can help you keep your COPD treatment on track.

Your COPD treatment plan is a lifelong process. Sticking with the plan is the best way to keep living well with COPD, and staying in close touch with your health care team will allow you to adjust your COPD treatment plan over time.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-report/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease/copd-treatment-tips.aspx

How to Prevent a COPD Flare-Up

Find out how to prevent a COPD exacerbation and what to do if you experience one.

By Madeline Vann, MPH

Medically reviewed by Cynthia Haines, MD

In most cases, patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can keep symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, or sputum under control. But there are times when COPD patients can experience exacerbations, a worsening of symptoms that is also called a flare-up.

"An exacerbation is when a chronic disease gets worse for some reason. With COPD, this is usually because of infection,” explains Richard Castriotta, MD, professor at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

COPD exacerbations result in about 1.5 million emergency room visits every year in the United States. The risk of an exacerbation varies according to the severity of your COPD. People with severe COPD have about 3.43 exacerbations a year compared with 2.68 on average for people with moderate COPD.

COPD Exacerbations: Signs and Causes

The COPD symptoms that you will recognize as an exacerbation are:

• Worsening cough
• Worsening feeling of being short of breath (dyspnea)
• Changes in sputum, such as changing color (clear to yellow, green, brown, or red) or quantity (either more or less than usual)

Many COPD flare-ups occur without any known cause. However, the most commonly understood causes of COPD exacerbations are respiratory infections such as colds or the flu.

If you have increased COPD symptoms such as a fever, chills, and "purulent" sputum (yellow in color), you should call your doctor immediately. You may need a prescription for antibiotics to help fight the infection.

COPD Exacerbations: How to Handle an Occurrence

How you handle a COPD flare-up will depend on how well you have your symptoms under control under normal circumstances and how severe the exacerbation is. If your symptoms are usually under control and your exacerbation is not severe, you should talk to your doctor about how to treat an increase in symptoms at home. You may be able to use your bronchodilator or steroids to address some symptoms under a doctor's supervision.

If you have followed your doctor's instructions and your efforts to control symptoms at home have not worked, do not take more medication. Instead, call your doctor's office or go to the ER.

If you're having trouble breathing, you should go to the ER immediately. At the hospital you may receive ventilator treatments or medication to help you breathe. In some instances, you may be hospitalized until you get better.

COPD Exacerbations: Prevention Strategies

There are several ways that you can prevent exacerbations or reduce their severity:

• Stop smoking. The more years you smoke, the worse your exacerbations are likely to be. Chronic and heavy smokers are at increased risk for severe exacerbations.
• Take antibiotics as prescribed. If your doctor gives you antibiotics to treat an infection that might lead to an flare-up, make sure you take all the medication as your doctor instructs, even if you feel better before you have finished every dose.
• Get your flu shot. Get a flu vaccine every year when flu season begins and make sure that you are up-to-date with your pneumococcal vaccine.
• Find a primary care doctor you can stick with. Data from a study of 388 COPD patients showed that those who did not have a regular doctor were more likely to need to go to the ER. The researchers estimate that 10 percent of visits could be prevented if more people with COPD had regular doctors. You also can reduce the risk of having to go back to the ER with a relapse if you have a doctor you can visit about a week after you go to the hospital with an exacerbation.

If you understand which COPD symptoms to watch out for, you will be able to respond to COPD exacerbations quickly and learn how to prevent them in the future.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-report/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease/prevent-copd-flare.aspx

Less 'pink slime' may mean more poorly treated cattle

Many grocery stores are getting rid of beef with added lean, finely textured beef due to consumer concern. Score one for consumers — but not for the cows.

Over the past couple of days, the list of grocery stores that have said they will stop selling beef with added lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) — also known as “pink slime” — has grown.

 

Kroger, Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Supervalue and Safeway all announced their intentions to stop selling beef with the filler because of customer concerns. Other stores, including Whole Foods, A&P, and Costco, are coming out to announce that their beef has never had LFTB. My grocery store of choice, Wegmans, made the statement on its website that the company's organic and “Food You Feel Good About” ground beef does contain “lean beef trimmings.”

 

The beef industry is getting worried that the decisions by these stores to sell “pink slime-less” beef could lead to an increase in ground beef prices. The American Meat Institute said in the short term, these stores may see an increased cost for ground beef. The amount of the increase was not specified.

 

As I was reading about this, I was pleased to see more evidence that the voices of consumers are finally being heard and taken into consideration. Then, I read that the American Meat Institute estimates that an additional 1.5 million head of cattle will be necessary to create the meat that will take the place of “pink slime.”

 

Ugh. One problem solved; another one created. About 1.5 million more cows, many of them raised in CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations). Cattle raised this way are usually kept in inhumane conditions, fed food that they wouldn’t naturally eat, and pumped full of antibiotics. CAFOs create many environmental problems, too.

 

I don’t have any solutions to this problem, but I do have some advice. Eat less beef. And, when you do choose to eat beef, try to get it from a local farm where you know the cows have been raised and fed in a humane manner. 

 

Has all the “pink slime” talk lately changed the way you think about and buy beef?

 

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/less-pink-slime-may-mean-more-poorly-treated-cattle

Is It Asthma, COPD, or Both?

By Lisa D. Ellis

Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

Have you noticed that your fast-acting relief inhaler isn't providing as much relief as you'd expect? If you're an older person who smoked, it's possible that in addition to asthma, you could have another ailment called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

What is COPD?

COPD refers to a variety of respiratory conditions that cause symptoms that are quite similar to asthma, except that while asthma can be reversed with proper treatment, COPD causes more permanent damage.

Long-term smoking most often leads to COPD, and smokers are also more likely to have both asthma and COPD.

Is It Asthma or COPD?

Because asthma and COPD look similar, causing symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing, it's often challenging to differentiate between the two illnesses, especially when they co-occur. Yet there are some subtle differences. For instance, asthma episodes often occur at night and after exposure to allergens, while people with COPD commonly experience coughing and mucus in the mornings, along with chest symptoms that can linger throughout the day. But using symptoms alone may not be enough to accurately identify the conditions and determine how best to treat them.

Diagnosing Asthma and COPD

One way doctors assess a patient's respiratory condition is through a pulmonary function test (PFT) to reveal obstruction in the airways. In asthmatics, a bronchodilator usually improves lung function, while in people who have COPD alone, the medicine usually won't make a significant difference. People who have both asthma and COPD together usually get some benefits from the inhaler, however the effects aren't as efficient as when it's used for asthma alone.

Using Biomarkers to Identify Asthma or COPD

To help make it easier for doctors to diagnosis asthma and COPD, researchers from Australia recently tried to identify some of the common characteristics in the cells that occur with asthma and with COPD. They examined the blood of people with asthma, those with COPD, and those with no respiratory disease in order to understand the proteins that exist in these different scenarios. They were able to identify four biomarkers in the blood that help regulate inflammation in the cells and can be indicative of asthma or COPD. In the future, these markers may help doctors to properly identify asthma and COPD, or a combination of the two conditions, at an earlier stage. These findings appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in summer 2011.

Treating Asthma and COPD

If you're grappling with respiratory symptoms and you believe that asthma, COPD, or both conditions may be to blame for your ailments, it's important to see a specialist who can confirm the diagnosis. While testing to identify the biomarkers may not be available yet for the general public, your doctor can still use more conventional methods to assess the health of your respiratory system, determine what's causing your symptoms, and ways to best to treat them.

Smoke Triggers Asthma and COPD

Regardless of what ails you, if you smoke, you'll need to kick the bad habit. Smoking can worsen both asthma and COPD and can also lead to many other serious health problems. You should also avoid second-hand smoke, too, since someone else's smoke can be enough to trigger your symptoms.

Treating Asthma and COPD

Asthma and COPD are usually both treated with bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids. In addition, many people with asthma and COPD will need a flu shot and pneumonia shot each year to help avoid illnesses that can make the conditions worse. If you do get sick, people with COPD often need an antibiotic to prevent an infection from taking root. Finally, for both conditions it's best to avoid dry air and pollutants, since these can irritate sensitive airways and can make you feel worse.

While you can't make asthma and COPD go away completely, with proper diagnosis, you can effectively manage the symptoms and breathe more easily.

Sources:

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) American Academy of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology. AAAAI, n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2011.

"COPD." American Lung Association. LungUSA.org, n.d. Web, 25 Aug. 2011.

Verrills, Nicole M. "Identification of Novel Diagnostic Biomarkers for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease." American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, 183 (Jun 2011) 1633 - 1643.

got questions  http://www.qualityhealth.com/asthma-articles/it-asthma-copd-both

Gut Infections Are Growing More Lethal

VIRULENT About 20 million Americans get sick from norovirus each year, most often in winter
By DENISE GRADY

Gastrointestinal infections are killing more and more people in the United States and have become a particular threat to the elderly, according to new data released last week.

This week: Interviews with a medical power couple; a disturbing rise in gastric distress; and a filmmaker takes the plunge.

 The Science Times Podcast

Enlarge This Image

Janice Haney Carr/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

RESISTANT The bacterium C. difficile is tough to kill and has grown more virulent.

Deaths from the infections more than doubled from 1999 to 2007, to more than 17,000 a year from 7,000 a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Of those who died, 83 percent were over age 65. 

Two thirds of the deaths were caused by a bacterium, Clostridium difficile, which people often contract in hospitals and nursing homes, particularly when they have been taking antibiotics. The bacteria have grown increasingly virulent and resistant to treatment in recent years.

But researchers were surprised to discover that the second leading cause of death from this type of illness was the norovirus. It causes a highly contagious infection, sometimes called winter vomiting illness, that can spread rapidly on cruise ships and in prisons, dormitories and hospitals.

“I think there is perhaps a misperception that norovirus causes a mild illness,” said Aron Hall, an epidemiologist at the disease centers. “But this suggests a major problem that requires some attention.”

Both diseases are spread by the fecal-oral route, meaning that people swallow germs found in feces, often spread by people who did not wash their hands after using the toilet.

Problems with C. difficile are not new: Health officials first began warning in 2004 that a more virulent and drug-resistant strain had emerged. It produces high amounts of two potent toxins that can wreak havoc in cells lining the intestine.

But few people anticipated what gains the bacteria would make. Among hospitalized patients, cases rose to 336,000 in 2009 from 139,000 in 2000. Deaths from the infection seem to have leveled off in the past few years, but researchers say they are still far too high and should be dropping, as other hospital-related infections are.

Estimates of cases occurring outside hospitals run as high as three million annually. Overall, C. difficile infections cost $1 billion a year, according to the disease centers.

Two factors typically lead to the infection: taking antibiotics, which make the intestine vulnerable, followed by exposure to the bacteria or their spores in a hospital, clinic or nursing home that has not been properly disinfected. Spores can survive for weeks or maybe even months outside the body, and it takes bleach or other strong disinfectants to kill them.

Many people recover once they stop taking antibiotics, but some become severely ill and require treatment with different antibiotics to get rid of C. difficile. Even then, 20 percent relapse, and some suffer intestinal damage that can be fatal or can require surgery to remove part of the intestine.

In recent years, some people have received fecal transplants, in which stool from a healthy person is placed into the patient’s intestine. The idea is to restore the normal balance of bacteria in the gut, which may include 25,000 to 30,000 different species. There is simply no better way to replace them. Awful as they may sound, the transplants can cure cases that were otherwise intractable.

“The microbes have been at this a lot longer than us,” said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a medical epidemiologist at the disease centers. He added, “Our bodies have learned over eons how to keep harmful bacteria out.”

Health officials expressed frustration at a news conference this month, stating that many cases are preventable or at least treatable, and yet death and infection rates have continued at “historically high and unacceptable levels.”

Because nearly all C. difficile infections — 94 percent — come from hospitals or other health care settings, experts say doctors, nurses, other health workers and hospitals should take much of the responsibility for trying to fight them.

A quarter of the infections start in the hospital, and the rest occur in nursing home patients or people recently treated in doctors’ offices or clinics. Patients often carry the germs from one institution to another.

Simple hygiene measures are highly effective, like cleaning surfaces with bleach and wearing gowns and gloves when treating infected people to avoid spreading germs to other patients. One of the disturbing and more disgusting facts about C. difficile is that it is very hard to remove from bare hands: neither soap and water nor alcohol-based hand sanitizers work very well. For health workers, it is much better to wear gloves, to avoid contaminating their hands in the first place, Dr. McDonald said.

He also said that a recent study of hospitals in the United States that set up programs to fight C. difficile found that they were able to lower infection rates by 20 percent in two years. Similar efforts in Britain have cut infection rates by half.

It is also important to use antibiotics only when they are really needed, because people taking them have 7 to 10 times the usual risk of contracting C. difficile while using the drugs and for a month after, and triple the risk for the next two months, according to the disease centers.

This week: Interviews with a medical power couple; a disturbing rise in gastric distress; and a filmmaker takes the plunge.

 The Science Times Podcast

For those with serious illnesses that require antibiotics, the risk is unavoidable. But half the antibiotics prescribed in the United States are unnecessary, experts say, so people are being put at risk for no reason.

But why have the bacteria become more virulent? A likely reason, Dr. McDonald said, is that virulence can sometimes be an asset when it comes to evolution. Nice germs finish last, but nasty ones that cause a lot of diarrhea will spread around more, infect more people and beat out the competition — a trait that evolution will tend to favor.

“The strain that is more successful is selected for,” he said.

The finding on norovirus came as a surprise, said Dr. Hall, the C.D.C. epidemiologist, whose report is the first to find that the virus has become the second leading cause of death from gastroenteritis.

The virus causes about 800 deaths a year in the United States, he said, but about 50 percent more in years when new strains emerge.

About 20 million people a year in the United States get sick from norovirus, most often in the winter. It can quickly sweep through a nursing home or dormitory. Just a small dose of the virus, a few particles, is enough to cause illness.

“Someone sick is shedding billions of viruses in every gram of stool,” Dr. Hall said. “One person can expose a lot of people rapidly.”

The incubation period is short, and the virus can persist on surfaces for days or even weeks. Cold and moisture help it last.

Older people are most likely to become severely ill and die from the virus, either from dehydration or aspiration pneumonia, caused by inhaling vomit.

“The second highest death rate is in kids under 5,” Dr. Hall said.

When children die from the infection, the culprit is often dehydration, which can lead to shock and heart problems.

Dr. Hall said that he and his colleagues estimated that 27 children a year die from norovirus, similar to the number killed by another gastrointestinal infection, rotavirus, for which there is now a vaccine.

Researchers are trying to develop a norovirus vaccine, he said. But scientists say vaccines for intestinal infections are among the most difficult to create.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/health/gut-infections-are-growing-much-more-lethal.html?src=me&ref=general

Anointing the Sick

The New Testament's Book of James gives some very unusual instructions on how to treat illness:

"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."

—James 5:14-15

In eras when human knowledge was far less advanced, it's not surprising that people would turn to superstitious practices such as prayer and anointing with oil in an attempt to cure illness. What's far more surprising is how many people still believe in these practices today, despite our far more advanced knowledge of scientific medicine, as well as ample evidence that faith healing does not work.

The Greek Orthodox Church, for example, makes anointing a regular practice, and claims that it offers physical healing:

At the conclusion of the service of the Sacrament, the body is anointed with oil, and the grace of God, which heals infirmities of soul and body, is called down upon each person.

...The Sacrament of the Unction of the sick is the Church's specific prayer for healing. If the faith of the believers is strong enough, and if it is the will of God, there is every reason to believe that the Lord can heal those who are diseased.

The Assemblies of God says the same thing:

In the Assemblies of God we believe neither the laying on of hands nor anointing with oil is indispensable for healing, for often in Scripture healing takes place without either. But at times the touch of a praying person and the application of oil are an encouragement to faith, and such a practice is enjoined by Scripture (James 5:14-16).

And, as Jeffrey Shallit reports, Prof. Clifford Blake of the University of Waterloo is an unabashed believer in faith healing through anointing and other, equally mystical methods:

Some people believe healing was only in the time of the Bible. But he knows it is happening now. When he began to use healing oil, he got more consistent results.

Granted, there are also Christians who believe the anointing is merely symbolic. And the reason they believe that should be obvious: because it is abundantly obvious, to those who know how to think critically, that anointing people with oil is not an effective method of curing illness. If there was any evidence that this was an efficacious treatment, we can be sure it would be universally employed in every Christian church, and would not be explained away as symbolic. But as scientific medicine has progressed and our ability to work real cures has increased, superstitious practices like this have become increasingly superfluous and have gradually faded away (although, as shown, there are still plenty of holdouts).

Certainly, the Bible's description of this does not seem like mere symbolism: it says clearly that "the prayer of faith" will save the sick, and in conjunction with the oil, "the Lord shall raise him up" (the Greek word, egeiro, means "to cause to rise", i.e., from a seat or a bed). My question to modern believers who view this passage symbolically is, if you know this doesn't work, how do you know that - and do you apply that same standard to the rest of the Bible? And to those who still use faith healing and dabs of magical oil, in an age of genetic manipulation, transplant surgery and antibiotics, my question is: Do you really believe that?

http://www.daylightatheism.org/2008/03/do-you-really-believe-that-v.html 

Does Your Body Need Probiotics?

Author: Kyle Ellen Nuse

Recently, 57-year-old, Anne Turner started researching gentle ways to treat her irritable bowel syndrome, constipation and chronic digestive issues.

"I was not getting any relief with conventional methods, so I went to my local natural food store and asked the nutritionist if she had any recommendations for my specific conditions," she said.

To her surprise, the answer was simple and pain-free—she needed to take a dietary supplement called probiotics to replenish her digestive flora.

Probiotics, meaning "for life," are the antithesis of antibiotics, which are designed to kill most bacteria in the body, both good and bad.  Up to one in five people on antibiotics stop taking their full course of antibiotic therapy due to diarrhea. Physicians could help patients avoid this problem by prescribing probiotics, according to a study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University published in American Family Physician.

Probiotics are naturally occurring beneficial bacteria located in the intestines, whose job it is to help prevent the harmful bacteria from wreaking havoc.

After a few weeks of taking a recommended probiotic supplement and making small changes in her diet, Turner started feeling better than she had in years, affirming her decision to take control of her health with probiotics.

According to holistic nurse Luanne Pennesi, almost everyone, especially in today's industrialized society, can benefit from taking probiotics to help strengthen the immune system, utilize certain vitamins effectively, and regulate the digestive system.

"Probiotics are vital for proper digestion of fats and proteins, synthesizing vitamin K, which is vital for the prevention of osteoporosis and production of many of our B vitamins, plus they detoxify the intestinal tract," she said.

The digestive track is home to more than 500 million species of bacteria; ideally 80 percent should be beneficial bacteria and 20 percent harmful bacteria.

"Probiotics are helpful when it comes to maintaining the body's chemical and hormone balance. Their ability to protect the body from absorbing toxins from the GI tract also makes them vital to our health and longevity," said Pennesi.

Good Bacteria vs. Bad

But with literally trillions of bacteria residing in the digestive tract, how do you know which ones are the “good” guys and which are the 'bad?”

According to experts in digestive care, the two most prevalent probiotics are lactobacilli, which make up the majority of the probiotics in your small intestine, and bifidobacteria, which make up the majority of the probiotics in the large intestine.

Lactobacilli help regulate the immune system, digesting nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates and milk sugars; and produce compounds and acids that create an unfriendly environment for harmful bacteria. Lactobacilli are also the most prevalent in the vagina and help guard women from yeast infections.

Bifidobacteria, on the other hand, is located in the large intestine and are present in much higher in numbers. This is because there is less constant movement in the large intestine compared to the small intestine, which makes it easier for harmful bacteria to build up and multiply.

Bifidobacteria also ferment soluble fiber and produce compounds including short chain fatty acid, vitamin B and K. However, studies show that the population of bifidobacteria significantly declines with age and with unhealthy lifestyle practices.

"If its balance and function is thrown off by a poor diet, lack of proper hydration, overuse of antibiotics, overweight conditions, constipation and lack of exercise, you are setting yourself up for chronic illness and premature aging," said Pennesi.

So what are different kinds of ways you can get more healthy bacteria in your body?

Here are Pennesi's Top 3 recommendations:

• Consult with your health care professional and take a high quality probiotic supplement.
• Take supplements or enjoy foods with Fructo-oligo-saccharides (FOS), which feed the healthy flora (probiotics) of the body, like bananas, onions, garlic, artichokes, barley and tomatoes.
• Eat more kefir, sauerkraut, tempeh, umeboshi plum and yogurt.

However, Pennesi cautions that not all probiotics products contain both lactobacilli (lactobacillus) and bifidobacteria (bifidus).

Minimizing the use of synthetic antibiotics, as they kill off healthy bacteria in the body, is also a great way to keep your healthy bacteria counts up.

http://www.diabetesinfocenter.org/View.aspx?url=Probiotics_Constipation_Irritable_Bowel_Digestion