The Oppenheimer Report 1/29/18

For all of you who read and reacted to last week’s report, thank you for your responses. I appreciate your concern. I have been a caregiver now for almost 2 decades, but this latest affliction pulled the rug out from under both of us. The most common advice I gleaned from well-wishers, and it is good advice, is that the caregiver must take care of him or herself first. For the most part I do. I’ve had many years to practice, because Shauna has been unwell for much of our 24 years together. This latest setback was a sucker punch. We were down in Toronto last Thursday for another consult with our neurological ophthalmologist, and were relieved to learn that the inflammation finally seems to be under control. Thankfully, this means that Shauna can continue to wean slowly from prednisone. If everything goes well, it will still be several months before she can go off that despicable medication for good. Last August, when this specialist first saw Shauna and so quickly admitted her to the hospital (where she remained for almost two weeks), we were understandably frightened and confused. We had no idea how serious this problem was. During this last appointment, we learned that the attack had migrated from one eye to the other, and there were signs of inflammation developing in Shauna’s “good” eye. She could very well have been blinded by this neurological attack had this doctor not acted as quickly and responsibly as she did.

At present, I am in the middle of three books dealing with the immune system, and two of them are related to diet. Much of Shauna’s ill health can be traced back to a food poisoning incident at a Swiss Chalet over thirty years ago. She contracted campylobacter from under-cooked chicken, and almost died before the problem was properly diagnosed, weeks after the bacteria was ingested. By the time she was treated, the bacteria had caused indelible damage to her digestive tract, and she was soon thereafter diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. We talk a lot about autoimmune illnesses, including diseases like Arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, Epstein Barr Syndrome, Lupus, Psoriasis, Thyroid Disease, Vitiligo, Fibromyalgia, etc., and there is an equally long laundry list of medications prescribed to remedy them. What I never before understood is that the gut is command central for our immune system. Aside from one obvious lesson, which is, don’t eat chicken if it looks or tastes under-cooked, it has become increasingly important to learn how to bolster and protect one’s immune system. As the world continues to produce more and more food for our ever-growing population, we have unwittingly compromised the nutritional value of that food supply. I cannot say for sure what are the deleterious effects of genetically modified foods, but I can say there is an epidemic of auto-immune illnesses, and that it has become more and more difficult to achieve good nutrition from pre-processed and mass-produced foods. If there is any message here, it is to learn more about what you eat. I maintain that most of us are our worst enemies when it comes to our health. Garbage in, garbage out. I am not slamming doctors, but doctors overwhelmingly treat symptoms, not root causes. Two killers, stress and bad nutrition, are on the rise, and when an autoimmune illness attacks, we look for our doctors to fix it with a magic bullet. Our bodies have amazing recuperative abilities, but we’re compromising our immune systems. Only we can fix that.

This reminds me of the old joke about the guy who for years prays to God that he might win the lottery. Finally, the clouds part, and God answers, in an exasperated voice: “Meet me halfway; buy a ticket!” You might need help, but in the end, only you can fix you.  

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED