Here is an email from my daughter this morning. Her doctors have notified her, yesterday, that she has a genetically inherited blood disease. It's either from her father's or my genes.

My blood tests (platelets, too) have always been in normal ranges.

As a long time rebel against believing, with gulible wide eyes, like Tweety Bird, in the diagnoses made up by profiting medical forces, I'm just not buying into this. . For God sakes, garlic thins blood. fruit high in salicytates keep blood thin. I would never take aspirin. So is this "disease" really from just not eating enough raw fruits and vegetables?! I think so. B12 lowers homocysteine. So does folic acid, GREENS. So, if we eat the food we should be eating, why worry about this disease?

Wake me up, if I am selectively blinded, please. I'm just not buying into this.

My daughter does not know I'm ruffled up about this. She is pregnant and does not need drama or extra stress.

Here's her email today. She's 21 yrs, and 4 months pregnant.

I'm emailing you about what you're suppose to get tested for. The entire family needs to get tested. The Dr told me that I have the LEAST severe case of THROMBOPHILIA. You all need to be tested for MTHFR MUTATION. If it comes back positive for mutation, like mine did, you will need to have your HOMOCYSTEINE LEVELS checked. If your levels are high you will have to take high doses of folic acid for the rest of your life, possibly along with aspirin to thin your blood but that would be for the Dr to decide. If your Homocysteine levels are low you will have to take a low dose of Folic acid for the rest of your life. The Dr told me that I have 1 out of 2 Mutated genes which means this only came from one parent. If I had 2 mutated genes it would be from both my mom and dad. Its important that you get tested as soon as possible because this puts you at high risk for blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, etc... Other than that the Dr. said that I should be fine and that they are going to keep a close eye on me for the rest of my pregnancy, which means alot more ultrasounds, blood tests every few weeks, fetal monitorings twice a week once i hit 30 weeks, and depending on how my health is during the last few months of pregnancy, I may have to stay close to the hospital until I deliver, which is fine with me because I am a high risk case.

What are your thoughts about this?

Thrombophilia isn't uncommon and there is increased risks for clotting during pregnancy. I'd go along with the periodic testing but I am not sure I'd want to take heparin or wayfarin (which is also used as rat poison in higher doses).

Read up and decide how far you want her to go with this. They will make some money, sure. But some of it might be worth her while.

[www.marchofdimes.com]

None of the above illnesses or conditions
but I've inherited a very different but potentially deadly disorder from my father.

The symptoms of the expressed genetics killed him, his father, his grandmother, all my uncles, and quite a few of my cousins at early ages.

I know I have the genetic marker of the disorder that affects my family because a couple of my cousins (now dead) who had it were the patients of some Dr.s who were doing research in the disorder and we all were given the genetic testing for free as part of their study.

At 57 years old I'm a year past when everybody else in family who has it either long resorted to major pharmaceutical and surgical intervention or died.

The progression of the disease in me is as if I was in my mid 20s and have it. I've been able to keep the symptoms from fully developing. Eventually it might get me. I could get hit by a truck before that happens too.

My daughter, who also tested to have the disorder, is about 5 years behind schedule on the physical symptoms. When she'd grown up and moved out of my house she when on the SAD diet. As the symptoms of the genetic disorder of our family have started to develop in her she's been slowly coming around to revise her diet back to healthy,

Here's the really weird part of it.
After she and I were tested the dr.s were so confused by the fact that I wasn't major ill at my age that they decided not to continue to keep my daughter and me in their study.
They only wanted people in the study who were slowly dying.
They only wanted people in their study who were willing to take the med.s and have the surgery.
My survival without any of that screwed up their study.

At no time did they ask me what I was doing to not become ill as they'd expected.

So, what am I saying?

I'm saying go ahead and fearlessly take the testing,
If it shows that you genetically you have all the markers but no symptoms or reduced symptoms, well, then you have proof that you're doing something right
and your daughter and the rest of your family should make note of it.

If the testing shows that besides having genetic markers you also have the physical symptoms of the disorder, no one is going to hold a gun to your head to do what they interpret as conventional medicine this week.

Knowing what is actually going on might be used to help you fine tune your participation in the adventure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2008 04:11AM by hyldemoer.

Wow, I almost skipped this thread.

I am one of FIVE siblings. My four siblings have all had the same type of cancer... My four siblings all have a genetic mutation that makes one predisposed to an increased chance for that particular type of cancer.

So, I was tested too. I have the genetic mutation too.

However, I do not yet have that type of cancer. (Can we be scared into eating well? YUP! Fortunately, I love this type of food and always have.)

But, anyway... the doctor who performed the genetic testing, when the results came back, recommended radical prophylactic surgery to remove my gall bladder and spleen and a portion of my intestines and half my liver... "Just in case." That was five years ago.

I would recommend you get tested. Information is good. What you do with that information is up to you. It may motivate you to live your life well: with as much healthy, organic unprocessed food as possible, with dignity and integrity, with an awareness that life can sometimes be short but also beautiful.

It isn't information that messes people up. Usually it is their own minds and the decisions they make because of their confused, fearful minds.

Breathe in, breathe out...

You aren't in a place yet to decide between pharmaceutical blood thinners, herbs, acupuncture, aspirin, meditation, doing nothing or something else, etc.

Breathe in, breathe out... the breath is our bridge from the mind to the body.

I hope this helps.


Lee

[www.dhamma.org]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2008 10:26AM by Lee_123.

Thanks, guys. Your stories about your genetic mutations are so intresting, especially how eating high raw and healthy, has changed the pattern from your relatives.

Arugula, I'm happy that my daughters Docs are taking good care of her. I want her to go with what she feels most peaceful doing. What I'm happiest about, is, she thinks for herself, and hopefully, mommy instincs will lead her to eat healthier.

Hyldemoer, it's amusing how they weren't even remotely intrested in knowing how to change the pattern of the disease.

Lee_123, you'd think that radical prophylactic surgery would scare anyone into eating healthy. Wow! And it's working! Good for you!

Oh, I'm going to get tested. It could be her fathers heritage, not mine. If I have this gene, nothing would change in my life, anyways, what I eat or do.

I just have a feeling the etiology of this disease is nutritional deficiency causing the disease, not the disease causing the nutritional deficiency. What came first the chicken or the egg? I can see how folic acid defiency can pass down through the generations. This makes sense. I can see a deficiency mutating the genes. What I don't see, is, the evolution of a disease. Something coming from nothing, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It had to come from somewhere, like from my ancestors not eating enough high folic acid foods, which causes a blood clotting disorders and high homocysteine proteins.

Amazing, in the Google university, I haven't found much on this disease from holistic or naturapathic MDs.

[What I don't see, is, the evolution of a disease. Something coming from nothing, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It had to come from somewhere, like from my ancestors not eating enough high folic acid foods, which causes a blood clotting disorders and high homocysteine proteins.]

Some things do come from "nothing" and are random. Even under the best circumstances, DNA will not be replicated correctly 0.01% of the time.

Some nutrient deficiencies can cause mutations. But that is only one cause, there are many others. And some mutations are inherited.

We have to be vigilant with out lifestyles and diets but those things alone will not protect us from all problems.

But having said that, I suspect that a good diet rich in folic acid and B12 may provide some protection for this particular problem.