the struggle continues! punished for healing!
Mood:  irritated

Although my asthma as a whole has been doing better, I live with a cat right now and have been having problems as a result of that (I am alergic).  So I went to fill my combivent prescription, and after not hearing anything back for days I finally get a call from my old doctors' assistant saying that my prescription is expired and they can't fill it.  Now, on my inhaler it says discontinue after 10/16/07 which it is still September at this current point in time.

What they actually mean by expired is that I let my prescription go too long without filling it, which I did because I have taken personal steps (listed previously) to vastly improve my health.  But make no mistake about it, as much as I have improved, I need that medicine right now!  So I am being punished for improved health.  Not just being a slave to some expensive medication, but taking steps to improve my overall health.  No doctor has EVER told me anything to actually help my health, aside from "don't smoke," which is really disingenuous to say because they know I don't smoke already.

So, I convince the doctor's assistant to at least give me one refill untill I can see a doctor.  Aside from the normal hassle of scheduling to see a doc, I also have moved 1700 miles away from home and have no money.  So it seems like a reasonable request.  She agrees and says she will see what the doctor can do.  I call my pharmacist the next day and they haven't even heard from the doctor yet.  The next day, same story.  The next day, same story.

What is wrong with these people?  I have been on asthma medication since I was 12 and they are holding my prescription hostage out of spite?  Not even making a simple fucking phone call, when my life is at risk?  I would list my doctors name so you know to avoid him, but why bother when I hear this type of thing from other people all of the time? 

We give these people absolute power over our lives!  We can't afford the bills they send us, and yet what do they ever do for us to actually make us healthier?  They offer short term solutions and ensure a lifetime of drug addiction and financial hardship.  

So then I buy Primatene Mist instead, which you aren't supposed to do because "it's so bad for you".  So let me get this straight, you can freely go to a drug store and buy a product that is bad for you, but you have to go to a doctor to buy the right one that isn't?  Doesn't that seem backwards?  Isn't the whole point of going to a doctor having his knowledge help you find the right medicine while avoiding giving you something that is detrimental to your health?  Isn't the point of a prescription to allow you purchase a substance that is beneficial only under controlled dosage and circumstance?  So why is my access to the good drug blocked when I can go and buy the bad one without consultation? 

And why are people so against using tax dollars to combat this health care crisis?  We subsidize industrial agriculture, oil exploration, and war profiteering.  The very things that make us ill in the first place!  So why not use public money to help people?

Why aren't people stepping up to the junk peddlers that sell us our high fructose laden demise?  Freedom of the marketplace?  If someone started a store selling crack and heroine, would we allow them to do business? 

An oppressed minority?
Mood:  irritated
This blog is in respect to a comment someone made at a party I was at about two weeks ago. That person said that smoker's are an oppressed minority because of the whole MN smoking ban thing that is coming up. First of all, that is completely insulting. To think of what REAL minorities in this country have faced and to some extent still face today (women, gays, blacks, natives, etc.) and have that compared to not being able to smoke indoors? Boo fucking hoo. This law only forces you to do what you should have had the fucking courtesy to do in the first place: go outside and not endanger my life with your filthy fucking habit.

You hear more and more of this kind of crap, like that little catch phrase "oppressed minority" entered an echo chamber. Please. I don't consider myself an oppressed minority for being vegan, I chose that lifestyle for myself. Yeah, I complain about how ignorant people are of my diet, which makes it hard to even be true to it at times, but I would never say that I was oppressed. Guess what, my lifestyle doesn't give me more breaks from work to feed an addiction, and it also doesn't endanger your life. I should start demanding a break from work every time I get stressed out, I could stand to take five minutes to boil some water and drink some St. John's Wort tea!

Then you hear people say (this coming from "punk" bars) "these bans are bad for business". So, if something is devastating to innocent people's health, but is good for business, making a profit takes precedence? You know who else thinks like that? CONSERVATIVES!!!!! "Well, you don't have to subject yourself to the smoke, you can go somewhere else!". No, I can't. If a band I want to see is playing at a smoking venue, I can't just ask them to relocate the show! Smoking sections in restaraunts are a joke, maybe I should stop eating out? True, I could adjust my lifestyle to avoid the smoke, but isn't that asking a bit much when, after all, smokers are such a "minority", ruining EVERYONE'S AIR! All we ask is that you go STAND OUTSIDE TO SMOKE, you can COME IN AFTERWARDS!!!!

And how bad is it for business anyway? I don't know of any businesses in mpls that shut down specifically because of the ban. There may have been some, but you will have to prove it to me because I haven't heard of any. Back in my pot-smoking days, I never stayed home because I couldn't smoke pot in the bar/restaraunt. I did plenty of that in parking lots, away from non-smokers. The proposed ban is statewide, which means only cities near boarders would potentially be effected. I don't know if people from Winona would cross over, if people from Afton would go to Prescott, Woodbury to Hudson. Probably not. Maybe from Duluth to Superior, or Moorhead to Fargo for food, but I don't think anyone would want to make drive those distances if they were at a bar drinking.

Then you hear crap like "you are just for big government, you want them to babysit everyone. Let me make my own descisions." Okay, well, how old are most people when they start smoking? 16 or younger. Not mature enough to make good descisions, especially descisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Certainly not old enough to be informed about what is actually in cigarettes. Making your own descisions? You probably were just a trendy fuck caving into peer pressure. If you knew that you were putting arsenic in your body and that you were going to be spending money on that shit the rest of your life, then you would have been able to make a descision.

Big government? What do you think is bigger government, the fact that industry lobbyists use their billions of dollars to buy politicians, who inturn appoint cronies from that industry into "regulatory" agencies that are supposed to oversee that very industry? Or the fact that we just might need laws (sorry Anarchists) to protect THE PEOPLE from THE GOVERNMENT that perpetuates this greedy cycle at your expense? FDA? USDA? Give me a fucking break! You think you are eating food? Take a look at those ingredients!!

Or an example you Anarchists are sure to understand: global warming. A handfull of hippies and crusties riding bikes combined with a bunch of yuppies driving hybrids is NOT going to stop global warming (although they get mad props for being far more committed and noble than I will ever be in this example). Oil and coal are in our infastructure, it is used to deliver the food you eat, the heat you Minnesotans use, the plastics you use, your RECORDS!! Former oil execs find their way into office, and Exxon's research gets way more hype than it is credible of getting based on merit. Do yo think that maybe, just maybe, we need to REGULATE SOME BUSINESS??? Even with ..... some LAWS enforced by.... (gasp) GOVERNMENT AGENCIES??!?!?!?! NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not that, then I would be a hypocrit for wearing my anarchy patch. AAAHHHHH.

I'm sure that people will want to grip about what I just wrote, so I'll warn you that for whatever reason comments on my blogs have not been working. In such event, just email me your comment and I will post it myself, even if it does completely tear me a new one. I promise. I just like the dialouge.

Help With Asthma
This blog is all about giving and receiving advice about asthma. I started this blog because I have vastly improved my asthma this year using hollistic healing and natural cures. My doctor prescribed medication costs about $60 for one inhaler, and using this medication is addictive in the sense that if you use it as a rescue inhaler (to immediately absolve symptoms) you are virtually guarenteed to have symptoms again very shortly. Not being able to shell out this kind of money on medication, I found myself looking for something better.

Here is what I did, try it and I bet you will like the results:

1.) Stop putting toxins in your body. Eat only organic foods. Even most pre-prepared meals that can be found in co-ops and health food stores have some sort of un-natural ingredient. I mostly cook food for myself, but there are some pre-made meals that are safe, just read the ingredients.

2.) Reduce/eliminate sugars. Admittedly I still eat some, but for sure STOP DRINKING SODA POP. Even if you switch to coffee like I drink, that will still make a world of difference. Natural sugars in fruit are okay, I think, but for sure no processed sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

3.) Use natural means of relieving symptoms. One product that works great is "Breathe Better Rub" from All Terrain. You just rub it on your chest and under your nose and breathe deeply. While doing this, if you can, boil some water and put Nettle Leaf in a tea ball and make tea. This will not work as quickly as your prescribed medicine, but if you are patient and don't panic, it will work and you won't have repeat symptoms. Also, if you are in a pinch, caffeine speeds up your heart and can help with symptoms.

4.) Start eating one clove of raw (uncooked) garlic every day. At first it seems strong, but you get used to it. Just chop it up and put it ontop of pasta, salads, stir-frys, or whatever you like to eat. This is to build up your immune system and also to help detox your body.

5.) Also, eat one teaspoon of coconut oil a day. You can mix it in with whatever you want, I like it with peanut butter on toast or in oatmeal with fruit. This is also to detox your body.

The point of all of this is basically to not overwhelm your body's immune system. If you can lift this burden off of your body, you will be able to process toxins and ward off symptoms efficiently on your own without the use of mediaction. This is a concept of hollistic healing, where you recognize that symptoms displayed are most often a sign of OVERALL poor health and lifestyle.

The whole "natural" and "organic" part of this equation is just recognizing the fact that the pharmecutical industry is not interested in making you feel better. THey are interested in keeping you sick to make more money off of you. The FDA is not looking out for your best interests, they are comprised of cronies straight from the industry that they are supposed to be regulating. It's absurd that we have forgotten how to feed ourselves. Something obvious like NOT PUTTING TOXIC CHEMICALS ON FOOD is ignored because some "scientist" from Dow Chemicals says you can yeild more crops this way. Don't get me wrong, science is great, but like all other areas of our modern existence, the corporations have seized control, and the bottom line now takes precedence over the public interest.

Let me know if you try this, I have not used my prescribed inhaler if months and have better overall cardiovascular health.