Thursday, December 8, 2011

Mars in Virgo and Going Scent-Free

Today is the two-year anniversary of me being poisoned by the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin. It's also my Sagittarius Sun mother's birthday (Happy Birthday, Ma!). For those who have only recently started reading this blog, you can catch up on the evil that are Cipro, fluoroquinolone antibiotics, and Nazi (literally) pharmaceuticals companies by clicking here: Cipro is evil

My system was devastated by this drug, erroneously prescribed for a very mild urinary tract infection that I'm not even sure at this point I really had. I took three little pills, and I've been working through a recovery process from complete systemic and neurological poisoning ever since. 

Cipro was originally developed by Big Pharma corporation and agribusiness GMO-pusher Bayer to ward off anthrax attacks. Bayer has a long history with the military industrial complex and was once part of IG Farben in Nazi Germany. Cipro was given to many Gulf War soldiers and is considered by some to be one of the causes of Gulf War Syndrome. 

Once the anthrax scare was over, Cipro was re-purposed as a cure-all for a variety of fairly minor infections, including urinary tract and prostatitis. Cipro is a drug with such severe potential adverse reactions (including death) that it should only be prescribed when death by infection is the other option. All less dangerous antibiotics, outside the fluoroquinolone family, should be tried first. Instead, fluoroquinolones like Cipro are being handed out like Chicklets as first-line antibiotics by doctors ignorant of the potential side effects. Most doctors do not believe the types of adverse reactions involved are even possible. None of the doctors I saw believed me when I recounted the severity of what I was experiencing. 

They should take a look at some of the stories here: FQvictims.org

Or on a number of other internet sites devoted to the subject. 

Unfortunately, expecting most mainstream medical doctors to do any independent research is sort of like expecting the audience of Jersey Shore to do so. 

Though I'm night-and-day better now, two years in, I'm still in a recovery process, managing residual effects, and probably will be for a while longer. 

My situation is, of course, only the tip of the tip of the Plutonic iceberg. Tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of people have experienced and are experiencing horrific reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics - many much worse than my own. 

But even that doesn't tell the tale. 

In the United States alone, more than 2 million people have adverse drug reactions every year. Of those, 1.5 million cases require hospitalization. A low-end estimate is that 100,000 people die every year from adverse drug reactions in the U. S., making adverse drug reactions one of the leading causes of death. These statistics are old, and the numbers have surely increased as the manufacturing of drugs, their prescription, and sales have increased. 

There's an idea that adverse drug reactions are quite rare (false) and that the effects of them are fairly short-lived (often also false). People can struggle with the damage from these reactions for years, decades, their entire lives. 

There is a culture of denial, cover-up, irresponsibility, and greed in the big pharmaceuticals industry that, with Pluto transiting Capricorn, must be addressed layer by layer. 

I was careful about what I put in or near my system before Cipro, but after Cipro, it went to whole new level. A level to which only Pluto can take you. 

As Mars transits Virgo for the next eight months, the removal of anything taxing our systems unnecessarily is in our best interests. 

From November 13, 2011: Mars in Virgo Retrograde: Precise Re-direction Within Grand Earth Trines 

"Under Mars in Virgo, we're consciously fighting to maintain health in a world increasingly toxic to living things. Our systems are quite literally being attacked on multiple fronts. 

There's an immediacy with this Mars transit. There's no more time to put off the changes necessary to fortify our health. It's on. In order for our systems to continue processing and metabolizing what's going on, they need to be in tip-top condition. Diet, exercise regimes, habits, routines, work conditions, the quality of our food and water, our mental and emotional environments - a crucial analysis and refinement is on the docket during this transit, fighting to maintain systemic health while preparing us for the next years on the planet. 

This involves the removal or at least strong limitation of anything that weighs our systems down: excess alcohol, drug use, cigarettes, perfumes, air fresheners, chemical cleaners, electromagnetic pollution, noise pollution, pesticides and additives in food, refined sugar, artificial colours, genetically modified food, fluoride, excessive internet, TV, music, shopping, socializing." 

Part of this battle is the limiting of exposure to household chemicals and toxins. These are things we're around daily or weekly, including perfumes, dyes, air fresheners, and household cleaners, and they often go unrecognized. 

 Mars in Virgo and Going Scent-Free 

These are some products I use personally that have helped. I found some of them on Amazon where you can buy bulk amounts for discounted prices and set up a group of them here:  

Alberta Natural Products Simply Soap:

This is a natural, unscented bar soap made in Calgary, Alberta that is affordable enough to use every day. I love it. You can purchase packs of six bars ($11.95 plus shipping) from a company called Global A.P.E. in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada. Telephone number: (403) 948-6928

Puraderm: 

This company produces an unscented, hypo-allergenic laundry detergent I use. 

Dr. Bronner's Unscented Castille Soap: 

This stuff is magically great. It can be used to wash dry and sensitive scalps, and it doesn't leave an oily residue on your hair, as I've found most natural shampoos do. It can be used as soap for your body, as household cleaner, as laundry detergent - pretty much anything you need to clean can be cleaned with this. Just don't get it in your eyes or swallow it. It's really potent! 

Tom's of Maine unscented deodorant: 

As long as your pH is fairly balanced, and you're drinking enough water, this stuff works great. I sometimes layer the lemongrass scent over top if I'm going to have a strenuous day, but the lemongrass variety is too harsh for me to use alone - just a tip for people with really sensitive skin.

Natracare feminine hygiene products: 

Did you know that conventional feminine hygiene products are full of oil derivatives? Yep. Crude oil plastics as well as petrochemical coatings. Conventional products also contain chlorine from the bleaching process, synthetic materials, as well as unnecessary chemical additives and often perfumes. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of putting petrochemicals, chlorine, synthetic materials, or perfume down there. Natracare pads and tampons are non-chlorine bleached, perfume-free, plastic-free, and biodegradable. They also use organic cotton, reducing exposure to chemicals used on conventional cotton crops.  

Lunapads: These pads are cloth with liners that are washed and reused. They can also be used for light incontinence. This company comes from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and I can recommend it because I use the products. Other companies out there with similar products include GladRags and WillowPads.  

Green Beaver fluoride-free toothpaste: 

Fluoride is a toxic chemical, a derivative of aluminum processing. It should not be in our water, our medicine, or our toothpaste. Frosty Mint is the one I'd recommend. It doesn't get sudsy the way the major fluoride toothpastes do, but that's because there are no chemical sudsing agents involved. A good thing. 

Natural Urinary Tract Infection Remedies - Uva Ursi: 

This herb acts a diuretic and helps to bring things back to a state of health.  

Traditional Medicinals Cran-Aid tea: 

contains cranberry concentrate, uva ursi leaf, cleavers herb, and marshmallow root. This acts as a diuretic to flush bacteria out of the system and is best taken as soon as you start to experience the first symptoms.  

Cranberry pills: 

Cranberry pills have been found to help ward off urinary tract infections before they start. Preventative.

9 comments:

Deb said...

Your recommendations are terrific. I (Libra), too, have suffered from UTIs since I was a kid and they are no fun at all. Luckily I've had two my entire life. Haven't had one in 13 years (watch me jinx that). I try to drink a lot of water everyday but I do like that cranberry extract.

"Unfortunately, expecting most mainstream medical doctors to do any independent research is sort of like expecting the audience of Jersey Shore to do so."

Um, ha, and yes yes yes. Yes, indeed. Perish forbid you tell them they're wrong or challenge them in any way (I've been insulted by doctors around my age who claimed to have been smarter than me and everyone else basically by a mile-- it was ridiculous). I cannot believe you were prescribed Cipro. I don't remember what I was prescribed as a kid, just that one med was a super large whitish pill I had trouble swallowing, and the other was a tiny brownish round pill. I was probably around eight years old.

In any case, great list here.

Love,
Deb

Hugging Scorpio said...

Thank you so much for sharing both your personal story and the recommended products you are familiar with. A really warm gesture!

Emily said...

Thank you, as always, for your great insights and continuing to expose the ridiculousness. It's astounding what pharmaceutical companies get away with...

I hadn't made the Mars in Virgo connection, but I recently stopped using shampoo (after reading an article in an old Bust magazine) and my hair and scalp are so much happier & healthier. After reading No Impact Man a while back I started using baking soda both for deodorant and toothpaste (or tooth powder) - works great.

Anonymous said...

Big healing hug. What a frightening experience, and look how wise you are. I appreciate you vwey much and love your writing. I enjoy astrology more because of you.

Ruth said...

antibiotics have just made me feel like utter crap yet again; however, I was told they were the only way to avoid pelvic inflammatory disease....

btw Willow don't forget to mention the Mooncup if we're on the subject of sanitary protection. A fantastic one-off solution which keeps working for years.

Willow said...

Thanks so much, Anon 7:50. What a nice compliment.

Ruth, is the Mooncup a rubber cup worn internally? I tried one called the Divacup and found that it hurt to use. That's why I'm only recommending the pads, but yeah, a lot of people do swear by them! If it hadn't hurt, I'd be all over it.

OK, I'd also like to respond to some asshole who is calling me out for not writing about the shenanigans around Israel, Iran, and WWIII right now.

You know, dickweed, if you actually read this blog you would know that I've been talking about the machinations toward another world war for a couple years now and that it's all been well covered here.

If you understood politics outside the current male-dominated paradigm, you would understand that this post about Nazi Big Pharma and going scent-free IS sociopolitical and is just as relevant (probably more so) as the crap you linked to.

In conclusion, get the eff off my blog and don't come back round these parts again if you know what's good for ya.

Edi said...

Great article Willow... x Cranberries for UTIs are the way to go. Just stay away from the Sunraysia juice. They take all the goodness out and pop them in another line of tablets. The juice is all sugar.

Willow said...

Good tip! Thanks, Edi. That's sort of evil since sugar is so bad for UTIs.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I'm a regular reader, but don't usually comment.

I am indebted to what you've written about Cipro.
My son was prescribed it for bronchitis when he was 7 and it WRECKED his immune system for months. I'll spare you the details, because you obviously understand.

I had a wicked U.T.I. earlier this year. A friend told me that her doctor told her this about cranberry: "Taking it with a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda inhances its effects -- it's better than any antibiotic that any doctor may prescibe." I worked wonders for me.

As a side note, it may be a good idea to cut down on salt during the treatment, for obvious reasons. Plus, one should drinks LOTS of water.

Uva Ursi is great, but small doses are recommended.

Thanks for all you do.

Warm regards,
Pamela