| Health Warnings on Your Fingernails? |
I have recently had the moons on my index fingernails begin to
peep back into existence. They had disappeared long ago, and as
far as I could tell, had disappeared with the same speed that
ridges on my fingernails had developed.
I remember looking at my fingernails one night several years ago
and wondering, “When did my nails stop being smooth?”
Because I had been worried about ongoing problems, I hadn’t
been paying attention to myself and as stress mounted, manicures
were the last thing on my mind.
Perhaps because it seemed appropriate that hurdle-high ridges
had appeared on my fingernails, matching the mounting hurdles
in my life, I wondered if the ridges could be related to health.
It would take nearly two years for me to learn that the ridges
were a result of low vitamin B12; not a “B12 deficiency”
exactly, because at 241, my serum blood level was in the low
normal range and nothing to worry about, according to my doctor.
But after my feet and hands were frequently tingling and numb,
my memory was a thing of the past, my balance was dependant
on light, and I was depressed - which seemed reasonable under
the circumstances – I went to a new doctor and in the course of
answering his questions, mentioned that my mother had B12
problems.
That was it, he said, adding that I would need B12 shots for the
rest of my life and he’d have his nurse show me how to inject
myself.
The neurologist I saw, to follow up, said he believed my
problems all resulted from low B12, but he wanted to be sure,
“I want you to keep a Time Line,” he said, “Write down your
symptoms, each shot you have, and your B12 test levels.”
The neurologist explained that in the old days pernicious anemia
was diagnosed by giving the patient a course of B12 shots, and
if health returned, then the diagnosis was pernicious anemia.
So it was, that in keeping the Time Line I observed not only my
memory improving, my tingling, numbness and depression going
away, but also the ridges on my fingernails smoothing out.
Today, research shows that pernicious anemia with its
characteristic lack of intrinsic factor is rare, while B12
malabsorption illness is on the increase because of the abundant
use of antacids. In fact, there are estimates that 47% of the
general population has hypochlorhydria, the condition where
there is not enough gastric acid to free vitamin B12 from protein.
It is not because low B12 from all causes is so prevalent, that I
have taken up vitamin B12 education as my mission, but rather
because the nerve damage that results from extended, untreated
low B12 can be permanent.
Nerve damage can be the type of peripheral neuropathy
associated with diabetes; it can be impaired memory and
cognitive dysfunction.
I have lost about half of my working memory and processing
speed from the years my low B12 went untreated. So, my web
site is not the most brilliant thing ever, but it does give clear
information on vitamin B12 and how to recognize warning signs
of low B12 from your fingernails:
www.health-boundaries-bite.com/Fingernails.html
peep back into existence. They had disappeared long ago, and as
far as I could tell, had disappeared with the same speed that
ridges on my fingernails had developed.
I remember looking at my fingernails one night several years ago
and wondering, “When did my nails stop being smooth?”
Because I had been worried about ongoing problems, I hadn’t
been paying attention to myself and as stress mounted, manicures
were the last thing on my mind.
Perhaps because it seemed appropriate that hurdle-high ridges
had appeared on my fingernails, matching the mounting hurdles
in my life, I wondered if the ridges could be related to health.
It would take nearly two years for me to learn that the ridges
were a result of low vitamin B12; not a “B12 deficiency”
exactly, because at 241, my serum blood level was in the low
normal range and nothing to worry about, according to my doctor.
But after my feet and hands were frequently tingling and numb,
my memory was a thing of the past, my balance was dependant
on light, and I was depressed - which seemed reasonable under
the circumstances – I went to a new doctor and in the course of
answering his questions, mentioned that my mother had B12
problems.
That was it, he said, adding that I would need B12 shots for the
rest of my life and he’d have his nurse show me how to inject
myself.
The neurologist I saw, to follow up, said he believed my
problems all resulted from low B12, but he wanted to be sure,
“I want you to keep a Time Line,” he said, “Write down your
symptoms, each shot you have, and your B12 test levels.”
The neurologist explained that in the old days pernicious anemia
was diagnosed by giving the patient a course of B12 shots, and
if health returned, then the diagnosis was pernicious anemia.
So it was, that in keeping the Time Line I observed not only my
memory improving, my tingling, numbness and depression going
away, but also the ridges on my fingernails smoothing out.
Today, research shows that pernicious anemia with its
characteristic lack of intrinsic factor is rare, while B12
malabsorption illness is on the increase because of the abundant
use of antacids. In fact, there are estimates that 47% of the
general population has hypochlorhydria, the condition where
there is not enough gastric acid to free vitamin B12 from protein.
It is not because low B12 from all causes is so prevalent, that I
have taken up vitamin B12 education as my mission, but rather
because the nerve damage that results from extended, untreated
low B12 can be permanent.
Nerve damage can be the type of peripheral neuropathy
associated with diabetes; it can be impaired memory and
cognitive dysfunction.
I have lost about half of my working memory and processing
speed from the years my low B12 went untreated. So, my web
site is not the most brilliant thing ever, but it does give clear
information on vitamin B12 and how to recognize warning signs
of low B12 from your fingernails:
www.health-boundaries-bite.com/Fingernails.html
| Is Your Antacid Dulling Your Memory? |
My father, who once proudly presented me with a twenty pound
pack of the wonder flavoring he found at a Chinese restaurant –
MSG – used to travel with what looked like a tumbled city block
of antacid boxes. We are talking a heavy duty supply.
At the same time, my father was complaining about how his pots
and pans were “sticking.” So, I purchased a really nice non-stick
omlete pan for him, which he promptly fried to a frazzle, asking
me to get him a new one under the life time guarantee.
Since I did not have the nerve to attempt a return of the once
lovely pan, I asked my father if he had that trouble often, pots
and pans burning up... not just sticking.
He said yes, it was getting so that he could barely remember
anything. He said he’d put something on the stove, then totally
forget it.
Although I was sure that the culprit was his antacids, I felt
equally sure that if I told him, he wouldn’t hear me. He is pretty
devoted to his antacids, not to say that I come in a distant second.
How was I ever going to alert him to hypochlorhydria, the
condition where insufficient gastric acid leads to the lowering
of vitamin B12 reserves in the body?
I had wondered for only a few days, when I decided to write to
him about hydrochloric acid, about how it’s essential to free
vitamin B12 from protein. I explained that while he loves liver
and prides himself on eating liver and onions three or four times
a week, that if he’s following that healthy dinner with a few
antacids, one for the antacid affect, one for the added calcium,
that he’s counteracting all the potential benefits of the liver.
sleeping better, and he said that more sleep seemed to improve
his memory.
Some months later I started my web page, www.health-
boundaries-bite.com/Fingernails.html so that information about
B12 would get further distribution than to my family.
Incidentally, by the time I was telling my dad about
hypochlorhydria and vitamin B12, I already had some permanent
nerve damage from having low B12 for too long a time. I really
wished, I mean intensely wished, that I had known before it was
too late, about how our fingernails reflect our B12 health, so, I
decided to pass the information on. I hope you do the same.
pack of the wonder flavoring he found at a Chinese restaurant –
MSG – used to travel with what looked like a tumbled city block
of antacid boxes. We are talking a heavy duty supply.
At the same time, my father was complaining about how his pots
and pans were “sticking.” So, I purchased a really nice non-stick
omlete pan for him, which he promptly fried to a frazzle, asking
me to get him a new one under the life time guarantee.
Since I did not have the nerve to attempt a return of the once
lovely pan, I asked my father if he had that trouble often, pots
and pans burning up... not just sticking.
He said yes, it was getting so that he could barely remember
anything. He said he’d put something on the stove, then totally
forget it.
Although I was sure that the culprit was his antacids, I felt
equally sure that if I told him, he wouldn’t hear me. He is pretty
devoted to his antacids, not to say that I come in a distant second.
How was I ever going to alert him to hypochlorhydria, the
condition where insufficient gastric acid leads to the lowering
of vitamin B12 reserves in the body?
I had wondered for only a few days, when I decided to write to
him about hydrochloric acid, about how it’s essential to free
vitamin B12 from protein. I explained that while he loves liver
and prides himself on eating liver and onions three or four times
a week, that if he’s following that healthy dinner with a few
antacids, one for the antacid affect, one for the added calcium,
that he’s counteracting all the potential benefits of the liver.
- I mailed the letter, and waited.
And waited.
Just when I was pretty sure that he had taken offense, I
heard from him. He said he had read my letter, thought
about it, and decided to try some HCL Betaine tablets that
he found at the health food store.
Delighted, I wrote back with high praise, and asked him to
tell me if his memory improved.
sleeping better, and he said that more sleep seemed to improve
his memory.
Some months later I started my web page, www.health-
boundaries-bite.com/Fingernails.html so that information about
B12 would get further distribution than to my family.
Incidentally, by the time I was telling my dad about
hypochlorhydria and vitamin B12, I already had some permanent
nerve damage from having low B12 for too long a time. I really
wished, I mean intensely wished, that I had known before it was
too late, about how our fingernails reflect our B12 health, so, I
decided to pass the information on. I hope you do the same.
| Limber Up Your Body, to Think More Clearly? |
My Polish grandfather, Ambrose, had a wealth of medical
wisdom. Up until very recently, however, I discounted most of
it as quaint. I thought he lived to just days shy of 100 because he
ate fresh vegetables from his garden, untainted by pesticides and
chemical fertilizer.
I still think that things we grow for ourselves are especially
healthful, but there’s something he said so many decades ago that
is beginning to come to flower in my mind.
What grandpa believed, was not just that the vegetables he grew
were good for him and his family (and neighbors, given the
abundance of some of the crops), but that growing them, in itself,
was a healthy thing to do.
He used to say, “Working in the garden is good for Grandpa,”
and I would smile, thinking that what he meant was simply that
seeing ladybugs, butterflies and flowers on the way to harvest
made him happy.
And that may be all there was to it, but in December, 2004,
when Elissa Epel’s research was published showing a link
between prolonged psychological stress and damage at cell
level in our bodies which contributes to aging and disease, I
thought again about Grandpa, his full head of white hair, and
how people always said he looked young for his age.
Recently I’ve begun to remember that he also said, “You’ve got
to stretch. If you don’t stretch, you won’t keep your health.”
He never used the word, “yoga,” so I believe that he meant the
normal extension of muscles in simple tasks like raking and
reaching for things. Plus, he used to say, “Stretch out when you
go to bed at night, before you go to sleep.”
Grandpa talked about how the nerves in his spinal column
needed stretching or his mind would seize up, but all I thought
was, “What a lovely man my Grandpa is.”
Today, Grandpa’s point no longer goes right over my head,
because today I’m stiff, and not just physically.
I am well aware that as my memory declined, I did less and less –
and fewer and fewer different things. What I was unaware of,
was that unlike Grandpa, I had a tendency to low vitamin B12,
which is why my memory at age 50 was vastly inferior to
Grandpa’s at 80.
If I had been put on B12 replacement therapy a dozen years ago,
when I was fifty, then I might never have discovered, nor needed
to, that what grandpa said about stretching to keep the mind
flexible was ultimately true.
That I finally discovered it at all was a matter of luck, reinforced
by the shared knowledge of a mental health professional.
The luck, was that I saw a program on how exercises that use
balance can reduce the symptoms of dyslexia. So, having bad
balance as a result of extended low B12, I decided to trying
stepping up and down from my deck several times, which wasn’t
much, I knew.
But day by day as I did more of the step ups, my balance got
better, and while I wasn’t suddenly bendy, I was getting more
limber and agile.
To the step ups, I added an arms-outstretched, stand-in-place
movement, twisting my upper body first left, then right, without
bending at all. (I was in such bad shape I gasped to finish the
first ten.)
A week later I added Edgar Cayce’s windmills, where you
rotate you outstretched arms in big circles, first one direction,
then the other. And boy, was that hard. I had no idea my arms
were so heavy!
What’s the upshot? Well, I had lunch with Jill, a friend of mine
who’s a therapist, and I jokingly told her about my stretching
routine, and how it seemed to me that maybe Grandpa was right,
that my mind was moving from one thing to another more freely.
She said, “Oh yes, that is exactly right, there have been several
good studies which have shown that physical activity enhances
flexibility of the mind, and ultimately increases memory.”
“But, as little as I’ve been doing?” I asked, ever the disbeliever.
“It doesn’t take much. A few minutes a day can produce
significant improvement,” Jill assured me.
So, there you have it. Grandpa Ambrose knew a thing or two
about keeping body and mind flexible, agile and healthy.
About the author:
Karen Kline
Sharing what I've learned from experience.
http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com
wisdom. Up until very recently, however, I discounted most of
it as quaint. I thought he lived to just days shy of 100 because he
ate fresh vegetables from his garden, untainted by pesticides and
chemical fertilizer.
I still think that things we grow for ourselves are especially
healthful, but there’s something he said so many decades ago that
is beginning to come to flower in my mind.
What grandpa believed, was not just that the vegetables he grew
were good for him and his family (and neighbors, given the
abundance of some of the crops), but that growing them, in itself,
was a healthy thing to do.
He used to say, “Working in the garden is good for Grandpa,”
and I would smile, thinking that what he meant was simply that
seeing ladybugs, butterflies and flowers on the way to harvest
made him happy.
And that may be all there was to it, but in December, 2004,
when Elissa Epel’s research was published showing a link
between prolonged psychological stress and damage at cell
level in our bodies which contributes to aging and disease, I
thought again about Grandpa, his full head of white hair, and
how people always said he looked young for his age.
Recently I’ve begun to remember that he also said, “You’ve got
to stretch. If you don’t stretch, you won’t keep your health.”
He never used the word, “yoga,” so I believe that he meant the
normal extension of muscles in simple tasks like raking and
reaching for things. Plus, he used to say, “Stretch out when you
go to bed at night, before you go to sleep.”
Grandpa talked about how the nerves in his spinal column
needed stretching or his mind would seize up, but all I thought
was, “What a lovely man my Grandpa is.”
Today, Grandpa’s point no longer goes right over my head,
because today I’m stiff, and not just physically.
I am well aware that as my memory declined, I did less and less –
and fewer and fewer different things. What I was unaware of,
was that unlike Grandpa, I had a tendency to low vitamin B12,
which is why my memory at age 50 was vastly inferior to
Grandpa’s at 80.
If I had been put on B12 replacement therapy a dozen years ago,
when I was fifty, then I might never have discovered, nor needed
to, that what grandpa said about stretching to keep the mind
flexible was ultimately true.
That I finally discovered it at all was a matter of luck, reinforced
by the shared knowledge of a mental health professional.
The luck, was that I saw a program on how exercises that use
balance can reduce the symptoms of dyslexia. So, having bad
balance as a result of extended low B12, I decided to trying
stepping up and down from my deck several times, which wasn’t
much, I knew.
But day by day as I did more of the step ups, my balance got
better, and while I wasn’t suddenly bendy, I was getting more
limber and agile.
To the step ups, I added an arms-outstretched, stand-in-place
movement, twisting my upper body first left, then right, without
bending at all. (I was in such bad shape I gasped to finish the
first ten.)
A week later I added Edgar Cayce’s windmills, where you
rotate you outstretched arms in big circles, first one direction,
then the other. And boy, was that hard. I had no idea my arms
were so heavy!
What’s the upshot? Well, I had lunch with Jill, a friend of mine
who’s a therapist, and I jokingly told her about my stretching
routine, and how it seemed to me that maybe Grandpa was right,
that my mind was moving from one thing to another more freely.
She said, “Oh yes, that is exactly right, there have been several
good studies which have shown that physical activity enhances
flexibility of the mind, and ultimately increases memory.”
“But, as little as I’ve been doing?” I asked, ever the disbeliever.
“It doesn’t take much. A few minutes a day can produce
significant improvement,” Jill assured me.
So, there you have it. Grandpa Ambrose knew a thing or two
about keeping body and mind flexible, agile and healthy.
About the author:
Karen Kline
Sharing what I've learned from experience.
http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com
| # |
| I Want to Share This eMail I Wrote |
Hi Linda, I just read a really interesting thing in the New York
Times...
It was in an article about a new chip that Intel has developed
that works faster using less energy. I was interested because of
my computer problems. I expect I will have to get a new
computer, so as not to be without this support to my brain/
thinking while the problem is being fixed.
Anyway, this is the particular bit that really interested me,
The work by Intel overcomes a potentially crippling technical
obstacle that has arisen as a transistor’s tiny switches are made
ever smaller: their tendency to leak current as the insulating
material gets thinner. The Intel advance uses new metallic
alloys in the insulation itself and in adjacent components.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/technology/
The reason that's interesting is that one of the main things that
B12 does is contribute to the building of the myalin (not sure of
the spelling) sheath on nerves.
I don't have anything on hand to copy to explain about that.
But, say it was the same, and most likely it is (given how all
growth is relatively alike, etc.) then when you and I have a need
for B12 and respond well to B12 replacement, that means that
the replacement is resheathing, reinsulating our nerves.
that would explain why stress makes us so much worse: the
more stress, the more energy we run through our nerves, and that
probably wears out the sheathing.
So the question would be, do we start out with really thick,
impervious sheaths on our nerves, and do they get worn thin, or,
do the sheaths on our nerves begin to have a different
composition when we are low on B12, with the result that the
less effective composition allows more energy to leak out and
at the same time further wear out our sheathing...
That would explain why my tinnitus (auditory nerves) and my
eyesight (optical nerves) get worse when there's stress.
And, that would also explain why it seems as if the additional
amino acids that I've been taking in the Whey seem to have
helped my nerves not deteriorate quite so rapidly as before
under stress.
January 27, 2007
Times...
It was in an article about a new chip that Intel has developed
that works faster using less energy. I was interested because of
my computer problems. I expect I will have to get a new
computer, so as not to be without this support to my brain/
thinking while the problem is being fixed.
Anyway, this is the particular bit that really interested me,
The work by Intel overcomes a potentially crippling technical
obstacle that has arisen as a transistor’s tiny switches are made
ever smaller: their tendency to leak current as the insulating
material gets thinner. The Intel advance uses new metallic
alloys in the insulation itself and in adjacent components.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/technology/
The reason that's interesting is that one of the main things that
B12 does is contribute to the building of the myalin (not sure of
the spelling) sheath on nerves.
I don't have anything on hand to copy to explain about that.
But, say it was the same, and most likely it is (given how all
growth is relatively alike, etc.) then when you and I have a need
for B12 and respond well to B12 replacement, that means that
the replacement is resheathing, reinsulating our nerves.
that would explain why stress makes us so much worse: the
more stress, the more energy we run through our nerves, and that
probably wears out the sheathing.
So the question would be, do we start out with really thick,
impervious sheaths on our nerves, and do they get worn thin, or,
do the sheaths on our nerves begin to have a different
composition when we are low on B12, with the result that the
less effective composition allows more energy to leak out and
at the same time further wear out our sheathing...
That would explain why my tinnitus (auditory nerves) and my
eyesight (optical nerves) get worse when there's stress.
And, that would also explain why it seems as if the additional
amino acids that I've been taking in the Whey seem to have
helped my nerves not deteriorate quite so rapidly as before
under stress.
January 27, 2007
Health Boundaries Bite
http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com
Your fingernails reflect your health --
Learn some warning signs --
Karen Kline
Your fingernails reflect your health --
Learn some warning signs --
Karen Kline
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