CoQ10 heart healthy

If you want to know about CoQ10 and heart health, you might want to listen to what Dr. Gifford Jones has to say about this vital nutrient. After all, his heart is ticking strong at 90+ years old. 

Here is his article, "10 Facts You Should Know About Coenzyme Q10"

Mark Twain once remarked, "Get your facts first, then distort them as you please!" Facts are easy to distort in medicine, particularly when talking about coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). So here are 10 vital things to know about this important enzyme. And what unintended consequences occur when humans start playing God.

One: What is CoQ10? It's often referred to as the "sparkplug of our motors." Cars run on gas. Our 37 trillion cells get their energy from ATP (adenosine triphosphate), but we cannot make ATP without CoQ10.

Two: Studies show that our body has the highest amount of CoQ10 during our 20s. But then it starts to decrease. Several medical problems may result, such as fatigue, muscle cramps, weakness, emotional troubles and hypertension. Dr. Karl Folker, one of the early pioneers of CoQ10, says that a 25 per cent deficiency in CoQ10 is sufficient to cause illness, and a 75 per cent loss can result in death.

Three: The heart is a remarkable organ as it beats 100,000 times every 24 hours and 2.5 billion times by age 70, without a single holiday. Consequently, it requires a huge amount of energy. So nature has placed more CoQ10 in the heart than any other organ for this reason.

Four: Today millions of North Americans are taking cholesterol-lowering-drugs (CLDs). But this poses a problem. CLDs work by inhibiting an enzyme that produces cholesterol. But this same enzyme is also required for the manufacture of CoQ10, so by taking CLDs, less CoQ10 is produced. It's worrying that CLDs rob the heart's muscle of up to 40 per cent of CoQ10!.This is the best example I know where humans, by tinkering with nature, trigger unintended consequences. Beta blockers for blood pressure and antidepressant drugs can also decrease CoQ10 levels.

Five: Some researchers believe that by robbing the heart of CoQ10 year after year, CLDs may be setting the stage for an epidemic of heart failure. Currently, heart failure is the fastest growing cardiovascular problem in North America, partly due to an aging population and possibly an unintended effect of CLDs.

Six: 25 per cent of cholesterol is located in the brain as it, too, requires a good supply of energy. The use of CLDs results in another unintended consequence as CLDs pass through the blood brain barrier. This delivers a double whammy to the brain by affecting cholesterol metabolism and decreasing CoQ10. This explains why some people on CLDs complain of emotional problems. In rare cases, it has caused total amnesia, cured only by discontinuing this medication.

Seven: In my travels I've found that large numbers of people on CLDs are not taking CoQ10. If you are one of those, you should discuss this matter with your doctor. Remember, today there's a tendency for physicians to prescribe increasing doses of CLDs, and the greater the amount, the more need for CoQ10.

Eight: Studies show patients with heart failure have low levels of CoQ10. Fortunately, CoQ10 supplements can increase the strength of cardiac muscle in patients suffering from this problem. And a report in the American Journal of Cardiology, showed that a daily dose of 150 milligrams of CoQ10 decreases the incidence of angina by 50 per cent.

Nine: 50 per cent of overweight patients have low levels of CoQ10. Speeding up metabolism with Co Q10 is a safe way to help weight loss. CoQ10 is also a good antioxidant and some evidence shows it may be helpful for those with macular degeneration and diabetes. A lack of antioxidants has been associated with aging.

Ten: Remember, it's energy that makes our world function day after day, and without it, civilization as we know it will quickly end. Since CoQ10 is the body's main source of fuel, the more we know about it the better. It's available in health food stores.

As Benjamin Disraeli, Britain's prime minister, counselled, "As a general rule, most successful people are ones who have the best information".

So I hope Mark Twain would be pleased with these non-distorted facts.

Original article appears Dr. Gifford Jones website! 

Coenzyme Q10 or CoQ10 has a more advanced form called Ubiquinol. It is the form in your body that needs to be converted from CoQ10 to be used for cellular energy. 

Neuropathy, the Debilitating Side Effects of Antibiotics?

It is almost 1 year since my mother left for the spirit world. When I returned home in 2011 to help care for her, I did a bit of research into her conditions. She had been diagnosed with Scleroderma. It is an autoimmune condition. I also researched some of the medication she had been taken. She had also been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, cause unknown to those Dr's treating her. My once on-the-go mom, had become a shuffle walker. She had been prescribed a drug called Flagyl or Metronidazole as early as 2009.  In my research I discovered that there were cases of the drug Flagyl causing peripheral neuropathy.  She was prescribed Flagyl and had many repeats on the prescription, which is clearly not recommended for long term use. When I asked a few of her specialists if this could be the cause, they quickly dismissed it. However later on when she changed family doctors, her new family doctor acknowledged this could possibly have caused it. As early as 2006 the medical community were seeing signs of this occurring: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16901452

Apparently there are also other antibiotics that can cause neuropathy and they are the class of fluoroquinolone antibiotics – Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Floxin. This is new information to me. There is a website dedicated to helping people recover from what is being called Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome. It is a page called Floxie Hope.  There is also a FB page for Floxie Hope.  Lisa, who started the Floxie Hope website had experienced all these symptoms after being prescribed Cipro: peripheral neuropathy, urticaria, loss of energy/stamina, loss of memory and reading comprehension, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, painful and inflamed tendons, muscle weakness, and more.  Here is a host of other symptoms experienced by others:  symptoms include dry eyes, mouth and skin; ringing in his ears; delayed urination; uncontrollable shaking; burning pain in eyes and feet; occasional tingling in hands and feet; heart palpitations; and muscle spasms. That is not the whole list either. Here are some more taken from an article in the New York Times. "the drugs in rare cases can seriously injure the central nervous system (causing “brain fog,” depression, hallucinations and psychotic reactions), the heart, liver, skin (painful, disfiguring rashes and phototoxicity), the gastrointestinal system (nausea and diarrhea), hearing and blood sugar metabolism." 

Apparently Fluoroquinolone toxicity resembles Autoimmune diseases.  I am quite sure there were times that my mother was also prescribed Cipro. Did my mother have Scleroderma or the effects of too many antibiotics? She did have some of the same symptoms described above, as well as other symptoms. My mother was also a 19 year liver transplant surviver.  We can't really know for sure, now. I do know that medical intervention in terms of the liver transplant and anti-rejection drugs gave us another 19 years with our mother. My mother was adamant about not taking natural remedies as advised by her liver transplant specialist. However did the reliance on too many pharmaceuticals cause some of her later conditions and deterioration. Again we don't know the answer. However I am telling this story for other to be alerted to some of the serious side effects of these particular pharmaceuticals. 

Here is also an MD, talking about the antibiotics that can cause Neuropathy. Antibiotics and Neuropathy: What's the Latest? Medscape. Sep 17, 2013.

I share this information, not to incite fear or disrespect for Allopathic medicine or Big Pharma. Certainly there are plenty of times that Pharmaceuticals are life saving. However, we absolutely must be aware of the side effects, black box warning signs (that apparently only the physician sees) We have a right to ask questions about meds being prescribed.  We can look for other alternatives in medicines and treatments and yes resort to natural treatments first, especially when treating things like sinus infections, bronchitis, and earaches. I think most people are becoming aware that the over-prescription of antibiotics is causing antibiotic resistance and superbugs. Naturopaths can also be that alternative. Prevention is also important, ensuring what we put into our bodies is life sustaining and not life draining. Do your research and be well informed about your own health issues. 

My mother had a wish to donate her body to science, so that she could help others. However, we could not do that. She was an incredible helper to many in her earth walk journey. I thought this blog is one way her helping nature could continue in a divine way. I was awakened at 4:20am this morning and events lead me to write this blog. 

When I wrote this article in 2016, I did not come across any Canadian references about the dangers of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. However Health Canada issued this warning in January 2017:  

http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2017/61920a-eng.php