This post was originally named "Toxicity" but I have received so many comments containing links to other sites that are in a foreign language that I have renamed this post FQAD. I apologize to readers for any confusion. If the comments do not stop I may delete this post altogether which saddens me as I feel it's important to explain this in relation to Flouroquinolone antibiotics. Please read on below and feel free to comment in English as long as you do not include links to other websites. Thank you for your understanding.
What is toxicity? Toxicity by definition means; the quality
of being toxic or poisonous. The example using the word was “the toxicity of a
drug depends on its dosage”. I found it interesting that the use of the word
toxicity in the example sentence included the relationship to drug usage. But those
of us suffering from side affects of Fluoroquinolone antibiotics often refer to
it as Fluoroquinolone toxicity because we know from experience that it is not like
a typical allergic reaction. The reason I bring this up is to offer some hope
and insight having had my reaction over ten years ago and spending the last
decade trying to recover. It’s not been an easy journey for me but I’m here to
tell you that there is hope.
Suffering a toxic reaction to an antibiotic was a wake up
call for me. I’ve known since my teenage years that I don’t tolerate
medications well so I’d always done my best to avoid them. That being said when
I was in grade school I had a bad case of pneumonia which required antibiotics.
My fever was so bad at one point that I was delirious and my big sister told me
years later that she thought I was going to die. Penicillin worked wonders so
despite my fear of medications I trusted antibiotics. After all they were all
derived from natural things like mold right? Wrong! There are
synthetic antibiotics out there such as Fluoroquinolones that have very
severe side affects which I learned about firsthand but lets get back to
toxicity.
When one thinks of toxic exposure to chemicals or pesticides
one thinks of detoxing. Well I’m of the opinion that exposure to toxic
medications requires the same thinking. We need to detox toxins from our bodies
in a safe and gentle manner that doesn’t further harm us. There are ways to do
this that don’t involve paying hundreds or thousands of dollars. I’ve never had
that kind of money so I’ve done it on the cheap. How you might ask. I’ve done
it with food. A very simple yet effective detox strategy is to drink lemon
water first thing in the morning and wait half an hour before eating or
drinking anything else so that it has time to help your liver purge toxins.
This easy method has been around a long time because of its effectiveness and safety. Just
add the juice from ½ a freshly squeezed lemon to 8 oz of water and drink up. If
it’s too sour for you add a tsp of raw local honey to it and you’re good to go.
Easy peasy and raw honey in and of itself is helpful for healing.
There are other food based detox strategies that I’ve
learned about and implement on a daily basis but this is by far the simplest of
them. Remember if you really want to recover then you need to give your body
the nutrients it needs to heal. Eating donuts or muffins for breakfast, fried
food for lunch and pizza for dinner won’t give your body the nutrition it needs
to heal. They are empty calories for the most part. Fresh organic vegetables
and greens, fresh fruit (or frozen if fresh isn’t an option), seeds, nuts and
in some cases dried fruits make excellent snacks (as long as they aren’t full
of additives), organic potatoes (yes potatoes!) and small amounts of grass fed meat
will give your body the tools it needs to rebuild the damage from your toxic
exposure. Also remember that you are what you eat!
It’s important to mention that to aid your recovery one also
needs to prevent further toxic exposure by buying cleaners and toiletries that
are environmentally friendly (no harmful chemicals), avoiding pesticides
like those found in weed killers (use garden vinegar instead) and chemicals in
bug sprays and sun screens. I read a post just the other day about a person who
Googled how to make non toxic insect repellent. The recipe called for distilled
water (or boiled) with some olive oil and a couple drops of lavender essential
oil. She was amazed at how well it worked! Not one single mosquito bite. I’ve
heard that you can apply straight olive or coconut oil to your skin to repel bugs and it’s
very effective. So this summer don’t tax your body further or waste your money
on bug spray when there are healthy options available. And coconut oil can
double as a sunscreen because it has an SPF of four.
Healing our bodies is possible! But just like a machine that
requires a specific type of fuel that’s free of contaminants and proper
maintenance to run efficiently so too does our body need nutrients (fuel) to
repair damage, help to remove toxins (contaminants), and avoidance of more
toxic exposure. These are all key elements especially in today’s world to allow
our bodies to function at an optimal level.
Yours in Health,
Betsy
