tagged w/ Alternative Medicine
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LaVonne Victor is not a criminal, but sometimes she feels like one.
"Why?" she asked emphatically. "Why should we be made to feel like lawbreakers when we're only taking what our doctors prescribed?"
Victor, a Temecula resident, is talking about medical marijuana. It's a volatile subject, and the ongoing debate over its use is a source of great concern for people like her. A new support group in Riverside is offering help.
Victor suffers from multiple sclerosis, seizures and agoraphobia. She's taken many traditional medications with little results and life-altering side effects including depression, mood swings and exhaustion.
About nine years ago her husband attended Hempfest, an event promoting the positive aspects of cannabis, more commonly known as marijuana.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds and leaves derived from the hemp plant cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC for short. THC acts on specific sites in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors, kicking off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high users experience. Cannabis can be smoked, cooked into foods and ingested from a vapor.
After talking to several doctors, Victor's husband thought the infamous plant might help her. She obtained a legal prescription and started taking the cannabis. Her health improved, and she showed no side effects.
There are thousands of stories like Victor's, where cannabis has succeeded in relieving excruciating pain when traditional medications have failed.LaVonne Victor is not a criminal, but sometimes she feels like one.... more
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Austria's parliament, for the nation’s medical and scientific purposes, has adopted a new bill allowing the cultivation of cannabis. This will, of course, be under the Health Ministry's control.
The bill, approved by parliament during a late-night session Wednesday, will give the health and food safety agency AGES the exclusive right in Austria to grow the plant, which is otherwise categorized as a drug.
Michael Bach, president of the Austrian pain studies association OeSG, welcomed the new legislation, saying: "Any initiative that makes it possible to develop and provide new drugs for pain therapy is welcome."
"Substances drawn from cannabis have been used for medical purposes more and more in the last few years," he added.
Possession of or dealing in cannabis incurs a 6-month prison sentence in Austria. Austria's parliament, for the nation’s medical and scientific purposes, has... more
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Angry telephone calls started coming in to the state Department of Public Safety almost as soon as the June 27 issue of the Hawai'i Tribune-Herald hit the streets.
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A front-page article on medical marijuana mentioned that the department had provided a database with patient names and addresses, the locations of their plants, their certificate numbers, and their prescribing doctors.
The breach of privacy was an inadvertent mistake, and the newspaper did not name any of the patients, but many were alarmed because the information is like providing a roadmap for a stash of legal pot.Angry telephone calls started coming in to the state Department of Public Safety... more
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The Netherlands, with its permissive marijuana laws, may be known as the cannabis capital of the world. But a survey published this month in PLoS Medicine, a journal of the Public Library of Science, suggests that the Dutch don't actually experiment with pot as much as one would expect. Despite tougher drug policies in this country, Americans were twice as likely to have tried marijuana than the Dutch, according to the survey. In fact, Americans were more likely to have tried marijuana or cocaine than people in any of the 16 other countries, including France, Spain, South Africa, Mexico and Colombia, that the survey covered.The Netherlands, with its permissive marijuana laws, may be known as the cannabis... more
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Here's some very good news: your genes are not your destiny. Newsweek reports on new research showing that improved diet, meditation and other non-medical interventions can actually "turn off" the disease-promoting process in men with prostate cancer.
The changes included a plant-based diet (predominant fruits, vegetables, legumes, soy products, and whole grains low in refined carbohydrates), moderate exercise (walking 30 minutes per day), stress management techniques (yoga-based stretching, breathing techniques, meditation, and guided imagery for one hour per day), and participating in a weekly one-hour support group.
Here's some very good news: your genes are not your destiny. Newsweek reports on... more
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Seeking the advice of a masseuse and acupuncturist, Jana Warchalowski, Ms. Hakman was urged to try something she didn?t even want to think about. ?Jana said she had two words for me: neti pot,? Ms. Hakman said. ?I?d heard about it before. I just kept thinking, ?No way, that?s gross.??
But this fall, Ms. Hakman relented.
?I went out and bought a pretty little ceramic neti pot from Whole Foods,? she said. ?I?ve used it every day since. Now, I can breathe again. It?s even gotten rid of the bags under my eyes.?
Originally part of a millennia-old Indian yogic tradition, the practice of nasal irrigation ? jala neti ? is performed with a small pot that looks like a cross between Aladdin?s lamp and your grandmother?s gravy boat. The neti pot made its way into this country in the early 1970s as a yoga meditation device, but even as yoga became mainstream, the neti pot remained on the fringes of alternative culture.Seeking the advice of a masseuse and acupuncturist, Jana Warchalowski, Ms. Hakman was... more
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jenn5
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added this
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4 years ago
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A compound found in cannabis may stop breast cancer spreading throughout the body, US scientists believe.
A compound found in cannabis may stop breast cancer spreading throughout the body, US... more
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"You cannot take a future or past breath. The breath is always definitively in the present. Rabia Hayek, Breathe Together
Breathing is something we do often, but rarely well. Its one of the few body functions that can be controlled both consciously and unconsciously. Take time to catch your breath with online communal breathing coach BreathTogether.net.
Breathe Together and sister organization Do As One were co-founded by breath coach and yogi Rabia Hayek. They aim to have one billion people breathing in unison via their website by November 11th 2012, to create a mass consciousness and a universal heart. Their site is a worthy addition to your bookmark bar, offering a quick meditative fix and a reminder that breath is a simple luxury thats not to be taken for granted. Breathe well, with purpose and good intensions, and youll likely be doing it for longer too.
http://www.dailymantra.com
http://www.myspace.com/thedailymantra"You cannot take a future or past breath. The breath is always definitively in... more
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A man who swallowed poision in a suicide attempt, was drip fed vodka whilst in a coma.
"The patient was drip-fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit"A man who swallowed poision in a suicide attempt, was drip fed vodka whilst in a coma.... more
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On a trip to Iquitos, Peru to see Macchu Picchu, Kristen Doyle comes across a retreat center in the middle of the Amazon jungle. She decides to take part in a hallucinogenic Shaman ritual, uncovering past lives and getting back to the true essence of humanity.On a trip to Iquitos, Peru to see Macchu Picchu, Kristen Doyle comes across a retreat... more
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A young woman's search for an alternative medicine. This short documentary will take you through Sarah's consultation with a licensed medical marijuana doctor, searching for medical marijuana in San Francisco and trying marijuana for her stomach problems.A young woman's search for an alternative medicine. This short documentary will... more
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