Ever year my patients ask me to re-post my letter on the Flu Shot so here it is:

Hello Everyone!  I hope you all have had a wonderful summer season.  It is flu season approaching and I have been compelled to write my flu shot letter to all of my patients.  The news recently said that new recommendations came out telling parents to have their children, from ages 6 to 23 months, to get a flu shot.  They are then recommending that they have one each year for the rest of their life.

The calls and questions are beginning to start – “Should my child get a flu shot?  Should I get one too?” I wanted to write a letter addressing these questions.

Your medical doctor will tell you that flu shots are 100% safe.  This is absolutely false! And as to the effectiveness of flu shots, that is another question altogether.  The truth is that flu shots are notoriously ineffective and can actually be dangerous.  They cause untold cases of flu each year and last year, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) came out and admitted that the flu shot being given had NONE of the strains that were actually erupting all over the country.

Perhaps the most insidious of all problems with flu shots is their mercury content (it’s also called thimerosal).  An average flu shot contains 25 microns of mercury.  And one micron is considered toxic.  Mercury is a brain toxin already indicated as a causative agent in autism, dementia and Alzheimer’s.  Statistics show that if you have had 5 consecutive flu shots, that you have ten times the odds of getting Alzheimer’s as compared to a person who has had 2 flu shots or less.  This information is according to Hugh Fudenberg, MD, one of the world’s leading immunogeneticist – with 850 papers published in peer-reviewed journals.  Did your doctor mention the chances that you or your child might get the flu, be crippled, or even lose your mind from consecutive flu shots?  I doubt it.

Mercury-free flu shots are loaded with another harmful metal -ALUMINUM- which is shown to be an equally dangerous neurotoxin!

Our state has an act which strictly limits the amount of mercury in children’s vaccines.  The act states that shots made with mercury are a danger to your children.  Some manufacturers are starting to supply flu shots without thimerosal but these are not readily available and not given unless requested.   Remember also that the other ingredients aren’t much better:  aluminum, formaldehyde, ethylene glycol (antifreeze), phenol, benzethonium, methylparaben.

There is a better way!  So, my answer is, “AVOID THE FLU SHOTS LIKE THE PLAGUE!”  These flues affect only the immune compromised.  There are many ways to boost your immune system without subjecting yourself to these harmful shots, like:

1. Eat whole fruits and vegetables.  Limit sugar and processed foods.
2. Get exercise and fresh air.
3. Drink pure water – 2 quarts a day.
4. Quit smoking.
5. Get enough rest.
6. Take a potent multivitamin (we also have immune support supplements in the office).
7. Take hot salt baths.

And, finally, GET ADJUSTED! As you know, my ‘immune buster’ adjustment focuses on the areas in charge of your immune system.  Yes, your spinal nerves control immune function!  The healthier your nervous system, the healthier your immune system will be.  So, a stressed nervous system equals a stressed immune system.  Make Chiropractic part of your health and wellness choices this “flu season” for your family.

Have you had your kid’s spines checked? Building healthy immune system habits when kids are young will lead to healthier bodies throughout their lives.  My techniques are gentle, safe, and effective in keeping healthy kids healthy without drugs or harmful antibiotics.

I know this letter is direct.  The truth is that I care about the health of your kids and you.  My goal is to make you informed about the choices you are making, to give you options that are more holistic, and to work with your body to make you stronger.  So please call the office and make an appointment for you and your family to get your spines checked.  You will be happy you did.

Yours in Health!

Dr. Steph

Dr. Stephanie Maj has a thriving family practice in the heart of Chicago since 1996. Her clinic is located at 1442 W. Belmont Ave., 1E, Chicago, IL 60657. 773.528.8485. www.communitychiropractic.net

Patients often ask the following question: “What caused my neck problem?” They are often shocked to discover that the reasons why many individuals suffer from neurological problems and health challenges as adults are from subluxations that were caused during the birth process. Signs and symptoms typically don’t show up until later in life, yet rob the individual of their health, vitality and wellness.

Dr. Godfrey Gutman, medical researcher, discovered that more than 80% of the infants that he examined shortly after birth were suffering from injuries to the cervical spine (the neck), causing all types of health problems.

Dr. Towbin, of the Harvard Medical School’s pathology department, found that “the birth process, even under optimal conditions is potentially a traumatic, crippling event. Spinal cord and brain stem injuries occur often during the process of birth but frequently escape diagnosis.”

As a chiropractor, I would much rather examine and adjust every newborn than to have to deal with a lifetime of health problems. We would rather adjust the newborn than wait 26 years and learn that the young person developed gall bladder disease in the areas where the nerve tissue was injured and compromised since birth.

“The entire birth process, from conception and pregnancy to delivery and post-delivery, can lay the foundation for later mental and physical disease. We now know that the trauma surrounding the birth process is engraved as imprints in the developing nervous system of the fetus and newborn.” Arthur Janov, Ph.D.

Dr. Stephanie Maj has a thriving family practice in the heart of Chicago. Her clinic is located at 1442 W. Belmont Ave., 1E, Chicago, IL 60657. 773.528.8485. www.communitychiropractic.net

After more than 12 months of trying to get pregnant many young, healthy women are discovering they cannot conceive and they don’t know why. Tests are run, fertility charts are meticulously filled out and their partner’s sperm counts have been cupped and measured. These couples fall into the ‘unknown infertility’ category leaving them frustrated and without hope.

Beyond obvious dietary changes to increase conception chances, vitamin supplements, exercise routines, quitting smoking, lowering mercury intake, reducing exposure to pesticides, pharmaceuticals and having intercourse every other day; what else can a woman do?

The answer?

Try discarding tampons containing dioxins.

Dioxins. What are they?

To be blunt; they are toxic. A known carcinogen. They are chemicals that formed or are a by-product of plastics as well as chlorinated or bleached products. This man-made chemical is known to be hazardous and cause fertility issues as well as cancer and links to low sperm counts and immune-system suppression.

Dioxin collects in the fatty tissues of mammals. There is a great deal of heated dialogue currently taking place regarding dioxins within bottled water and their effects on humans.

Tampons and dioxins

Any product that has been bleached; all major big brand tampons are bleached; and are a known source of trouble for some women resulting in endometriosis, toxic shock syndrome (TSS) and you guessed it; infertility. These products may contain bleached wood pulp, chlorine and/or rayon; a hazardous combination.

Are any tampons safe?

Yes. Look for brands that state they are 100% cotton and organic. One brand called Natracare is certified organic, 100% cotton and they are non-chlorine bleached. They contain no chemical additives such as surfactants, lubricants, dyes or fragrances.

Since the average woman will use approximately 11,000 tampons during her child-bearing years, it is wise to address this issue early on and not expose oneself to additional dioxins through tampon use.

Dr. Stephanie Maj has a thriving family practice in the heart of Chicago. Her clinic is located at 1442 W. Belmont Ave., 1E, Chicago, IL 60657. 773.528.8485. www.communitychiropractic.net

Additional Resources:

A quiet explosion of new research indicating that meditation can physically change the brain in astonishing ways has started to push into mainstream.

Several studies suggest that these changes through meditation can make you happier, less stressed — even nicer to other people. It can help you control your eating habits and even reduce chronic pain, all the while without taking prescription medication.

Meditation is an intimate and intense exercise that can be done solo or in a group, and one study showed that 20 million Americans say they practice meditation. It has been used to help treat addictions, to clear psoriasis and even to treat men with impotence.

The U.S. Marines are testing meditation to see if it makes more focused, effective warriors. Corporate executives at Google, General Mills, Target and Aetna Insurance, as well as students in some of the nation’s classrooms have used meditation.

Various celebrities also are known meditators, including shock jock Howard Stern, actors Richard Gere, Goldie Hawn and Heather Graham, and Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of the band Weezer.

In one study, a research team from Massachusetts General Hospital looked at the brain scans of 16 people before and after they participated in an eight-week course in mindfulness meditation. The study, published in the January issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, concluded that after completing the course, parts of the participants’ brains associated with compassion and self-awareness grew, and parts associated with stress shrank.

Recently, the Dalai Lama granted permission for his monks, who are master mediators, to have their brains studied at the University of Wisconsin, one of the most high-tech brain labs in the world.

Richie Davidson, a PhD at the university, and his colleagues, led the study and said they were amazed by what they found in the monks’ brain activity read-outs. During meditation, electroencephalogram patterns increased and remains higher than the initial baseline taken from a non-meditative state.

But you don’t have to be a monk to benefit from meditation, which is now gaining acceptance in the field of medicine.

Physicians have increasingly started prescribing meditation instead of pills to benefit their patients. A Harvard Medical School report released in May found that more than 6 million Americans had been recommended meditation and other mind-body therapies by conventional health care providers.

Perhaps the most mind-bending potential benefit of meditation is that it will actually make practitioners nicer. Chuck Raison, a professor at Emory University, conducted a meditation study in which he hooked up microphones to participants who had been taught basic meditation and those who hadn’t. He then recorded them at random over a period of time. Raison found that these newly-trained mediators used less harsh language than people who had no meditation experience.

“They were more empathic with people,” Raison said. “They were spending more time with other people. They laugh more, you know, all those things. They didn’t use the word ‘I’ as much. They use the word ‘we’ more.”

However, even the Dalai Lama admitted that meditation is not the silver bullet cure-all for every ailment or emotion.

“Occasionally, [I] lose my temper,” he said. “If someone is never lose temper then perhaps that may come from outer space, real strange.”

The Dalai Lama also cautioned that meditation takes patience, so new mediators should not expect immediate results.

“The enlightenment not depend on rank,” he said, laughing. “It depends on practice.”

Some scientists believe that in a generation, Americans will see meditation as being as essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle as diet and exercise.

Dr. Stephanie Maj has a thriving family practice in the heart of Chicago. Her clinic is located at 1442 W. Belmont Ave., 1E, Chicago, IL 60657. 773.528.8485. www.communitychiropractic.net