I am including an article from my newsletter

Here is a new report on the acid blocker drugs.

Now at the end of 2005. Little seems to have changed and I am sure that Rx and OTC sales are up.

There are serious side effects of acid blockers, and when used daily cause interference with digestion and bacterial problems. The problem in question this time is that pesky little bacteria known as Clostridium difficile. It has been written about recently because of the problems caused by ineffective antibiotics used to try and treat the diarrhea. This bacteria causes diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea can lead to electrolyte loss and other health difficulties. Most likely with the acid blockers, diarrhea is related to bacterial overgrowth.

One researcher believed that the use of these drugs reduced defense mechanisms in the gut. Yes, your gut plays a role in immunity!

If you are taking Nexium, Prilosec or Prevacid the risk of this problem is three fold.

(leaflady's note: This class of drug is known to deplete vitamin B12.)

If it is Tagamet, Pepcid or Zantec you are taking, then the risk is two fold.

(leaflady's note: This class of drug is known to deplete calcium, iron, zinc, vitamins B12, D and Folic acid; Zinc is a helpful immune enhancing nutrient.)

There are natural ways to resolve this digestive problem. And before they cause more serious harm.

Find out more from the leaflady.
Please refer to the article below from my newsletter, herbalYODA Says!, written in August 2004.
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"Toxic Overload and Acid-blockers"

© herbalYODA Says! August 2004
excerpted from an article by Susan Booth

Someone might ask... Are these extra-sensitive people just ill? If these substances were so bad, wouldn't everyone be sick? Isn't the body supposed to be able to detoxify itself?

I believe that more people may be ill from unintentional chemical exposure than is recognized. And yes, the body is supposed to be able to detoxify itself, but what happens when it gets too much exposure and simply can't handle it?

“Toxic overload” is the term used in the book Chemical-Free Kids to describe those who are highly sensitive to chemicals because they've simply gotten too much - either from something highly toxic, or things less intense but with exposure over a prolonged period of time.

“...With the accelerated production and use of synthetic chemicals has come a corresponding increase in a debilitating condition for which limited treatment options are currently available. This condition is multiple chemical sensitivity, or MCS, often referred to simply as chemical sensitivities or chemical injury. Its frequently incapacitating symptoms include blinding headaches, nausea, disorientation, chronic fatigue, memory impairment, brain fog (the inability to think straight), and respiratory problems. All are triggered by coming into contact with the smell of any number of common chemicals, such as household cleaners, and detergents, paints, perfumes and fragrances, floor polishes, gasoline, and pesticides (even those drifting from another locale.)” (1)

But, sometimes the flood-gates are opened and the toxins pour into the body without being handled by the body at all. This was the case with a man described in the book, No More Heartburn. A man who had been perfectly healthy, started taking Tagamet for heartburn. One day he went out to mow his newly pesticide-treated lawn and was suddenly “overcome by dizziness, nausea, chest tightness, runny nose, and a pounding headache. Over the next several months these and newer symptoms, like an uncontrollable jerking of the eyes, worsened. In less than half a year, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and his health continued to go downhill.” (2)

The reason for this is described this way: “Because he was taking the H2-blocker Tagamet, which vied for the same detoxification pathways in his body as the pesticide did, he did not have enough detoxification reserve. Consequently, the pesticide's carcinogenic properties were magnified, not detoxified. Further, undetoxified pesticide residues damaged his mitochondria, the delicate little organelles inside each cell where energy is made, causing chronic fatigue. And they continued to damage his nervous system, especially the brain.” The book goes on to say that the fact that Tagamet and similar H2-blockers (such as Zantac, Pepcid, Axid, and Mylanta AR) vie for the same detoxification enzymes is common knowledge in medicine. “Even the Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR), the standard textbook that describes drug actions and side effects, warns that Tagamet-like drugs compromise detoxification pathways.”

Digest This Fasting and Health

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