Cheap Chinese Herbs Are Not Worth It

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Best Chinese herbs for sleep If you are looking for cheap Chinese herbs you won’t find them here.  Sorry, but I refuse to buy cheap quality raw materials for my products.  Why?  Well like just about anything, you get what you pay for.  So if you don’t mind having heavy metals and bacteria in your Chinese herb products then go ahead… buy those cheap ones.

If you want to know your herbs are tested for contaminants they keep reading.  You are in the right place.

But how do you know what’s good and what’s not.   First, find out who is the manufacturer or processor of the herbs.  When you buy drugs you are told who makes it.  When you purchase fruits and vegetables labels tell you the processor and country of origin.  When you buy herbs, a product you plan on ingesting, the rule should be the same.  If  a seller is not telling you where the herbs are processed and by whom, don’t buy them from these companies. Don’t be fooled, if the information is missing from the website, it’s missing for a reason.

I offer a free report titled “What you need to know before purchasing Chinese herbs”. It’s available on our home page and it’s FREE!  Get educated, Chinese herbal remedies are offered all over the internet cheap for a reason.  Because cheap Chinese herbs are cheap quality and not worth the money you are paying for shipping.

We are completely transparent about our manufacturer our testing and our finished products.  Watch our 3 minute factory tour and see how our herbs for sleep, PMS Relief, and Menopause  are processed in our pharmaceutical factory.

Look for lot numbers and expiration dates on every product.   Lot numbers can be traced to batches of herbs and with our products correspond to “COA’s or Certificates of Analysis which detail all the testing and list quality assurance numerical standards of each test performed.   Many herbal companies do not have the high tech equipment or resources to perform COA’s. Check with the manufacturer and ask at the retail store where you purchase herbs if they are requiring COA’s from their suppliers.

We guarantee everything we sell and we guarantee our herbs are pure, unadulterated botanicals with no fillers and nothing artificial.  Ask the other guys who sell herbs cheap if they will make that guarantee.

 

 

Breast Cancer Linked to HRT Menopause Treatment

Posted by Cathy on with 1 Comment

Chinese herbs for menopause treatmentThe climb in breast cancer rates over the last two decades in the U.S. has been unprecedented.

Now Premarin and Preplus, artificial hormones used for menopause treatment are being blamed by thousands of women in both the U.S. and Canada.   A  Canadian Supreme Court has taken the first stem and certified a class-action lawsuit on behalf of women who contracted breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy also known as HRT.

The drugs in question, Premarin and Premplus were used by women to control hot flashes, night sweats and other symptoms of menopause.  The lawsuit alleges the makers of these drugs, Pfizer Pharmeceutical, failed to inform patients about research that demonstrates a link between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and breast cancer, and even went so far as to hire ghostwriters to downplay those risks in medical journals.

Dianna Stanway of Sechelt, B.C., is the main plaintiff. She took Premarin for seven years, but stopped when she read news reports warning it could cause cancer. Two months after quitting, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I never would have taken Premarin if I had been told of the risks. Fortunately, I won my battle with breast cancer. Not everyone is so lucky. I want my lawsuit to help all Canadian women, and their families, who have been harmed by this drug,” Stanway said in a news release issued by her law firm, Klein Lyons.

But the defendant in the lawsuit, pharmaceutical company Wyeth, which has since been purchased by Pfizer, says there’s no way to prove HRT gave Stanway cancer.

“It is widely accepted that science cannot determine what caused or contributed to any individual woman’s breast cancer except in rare circumstances where genetics play a role. Wyeth acted responsibly by conducting or supporting more than 180 studies on hormone therapy’s benefits and risks, and including science-based information in Premarin and Premplus’ labels that accurately communicate these benefits and risks to doctors and patients alike,” Pfizer said in a statement.

Pfizer has already used that argument successfully. A jury in Charleston, West Virginia, recently ruled in favour of the pharmaceutical giant, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to show HRT caused Leah Royce Hines’s breast cancer.

But Pfizer has also lost battles in the many lawsuits it has faced, and still faces, over HRT.

In 2009, Donna Scroggin of Arkansas, who developed breast cancer after taking HRT, won $29.5 million in a lawsuit against Wyeth.

The state of Nevada is currently involved in a lawsuit against Pfizer, alleging the company gave Nevada doctors deceptive information about the benefits of HRT.

“We look forward to bringing this case to trial. Many similar lawsuits have already been successfully tried to conclusion in the United States, resulting in repeated verdicts against the defendants,” said David Klein, Stanway’s lawyer.

Stanway’s lawsuit alleges the company tried to cover up the risks associated with HRT by hiring people to write positive articles for scientific journals, a practice also alleged in a 2010 investigation published in the Public Library of Science’s medical journal.

Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., who was an expert witness in a U.S. lawsuit against Pfizer, told QMI Agency at the time that the company hired ghostwriters to pen articles to spin the benefits of HRT, and published them under the names of actual doctors.

Wyeth hired a company called DesignWrite to co-ordinate its communications strategy, said Fugh-Berman. DesignWrite recruited doctors to appear as authors, chose journals, and set about to “position the product appropriately to influence prescribers,” she said.

Wyeth dismissed the allegations.”This article completely — and conveniently — ignores the fact that the published manuscripts were subjected to rigorous peer review by outside experts on behalf of the medical journals that published them,” the company said at the time.

Internal Pfizer documents made public during litigation revealed DesignWrite created over 50 peer-reviewed articles and over 50 scientific abstracts and posters, journal supplements, internal white papers and slide kits between 1997 and 2003, Fugh-Berman said.

In 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative published a five-year study of 16,608 women ages 50 to 79, and concluded that HRT actually increases the risks of most of the things it claims to prevent, including heart disease, and greatly increases a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer.

Compared to women who received placebo treatment, women who used HRT saw a 41% increase in strokes, a 22% increase in cardiovascular disease, a 29% increase in heart attacks, a 26% increase in breast cancer, and double the likelihood of blood clots.

We hope more women will learn about herbal options for menopause treatment of hot flashes and night sweats.

Chinese herbs have been used for centuries to reduce menopause symptoms.

Sleep is Hard Work, Sheding Light on Natural Sleep Aids

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You have the best pillows, mattress and sheets and yet still can’t sleep.  You invest in a quiet room with the right temperature and room darkening shades. Still sleep alludes you. You investigate the sleep aids on the market, the choices are endless.  melatonin, chamomile tea, prescription sleep aids, no luck.  Why has something as natural as sleeping become so expensive and such hard work?    

Are we the first generation to experience sleeplessness. or does mankind have a history of insomnia?

One Third of Our Lives are Spent in Bed

Sleep is vital to our health. It’s the time our body repairs and rejuvenates itself.  Falling asleep or “crashing” at the end of a busy day is not the problem for many of us. It’s sustaining that sleep, getting a deep, restful sleep.

Tossing & Turning                                         

More often than not, millions of us can’t stay asleep. Tossing and turning is old school. Today there is so much to entertain us through the wee hours of the morning  We check emails on our phones, shop on line, watch movies,  text our friends who are also not sleeping and hang out on facebook with other insomniacs.  You’ve heard about relaxation techniques, stretching before bed and staying away from caffeine in the evening. Eight hours of straight sleep is still a pipe dream for so many.  

Sleep in a Pill

The standard American indoctrination is better sleep through chemistry.   The pharmaceuticals knock us out like a bulldozer.  Even half a sleeping pill can often do the trick. Who cares if we sleep walk, eat or even have intercourse while we are drugged to sleep.  We don’t need to remember, we slept and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?

The history of insomnia may be able to teach us something.  Knowing that history repeats itself I ask, what did our ancestors do when they couldn’t sleep?  Certainly they had stressors that kept them awake at night.  Whether it was staying safe from wild animals, worrying about the next harvest, taking care of their families or dealing with life threatening plagues, every generation of mankind has experienced sleepless nights.  I’m certain our ancestors probably laid awake thinking and ruminating, playing the same type of scenarios in their minds that we do today.  They, too, fell asleep the second their work day was over only to find at three o’clock they stared off into the night, wide awake but without wifi to entertain themselves.

Have we forgotten the drugs of today began as plants?

Our forefathers had their own version of pharmaceuticals.  The all came from Mother Nature.  For thousands of years all drugs came from plants, animals and minerals found in nature.  It’s only been a snippet in time that pharmaceuticals, synthetic sleep aids in the form of bottles of chemicals have become mainstream.  As history repeats itself, the knowledge of our ancestors is revisited.  The ancients knew what plants could help the restless mind.  A small seed called zizyphus jujube is one such sleep aid.  Traditional Chinese Medicine has used this seed to calm the anxious mind and provide help with night sweats.  Modern chemistry shows this tiny seed has natural sedative properties.

Maybe you are not familiar with this Chinese herb. Chinese medicine has NOT been the predominant form of medicine in the U.S. for the past 200 years but this does not negate the fact that over a billion people on the earth depend on this medicine  and have for centuries.  The hundreds of years of continual use of Chinese herbs as sleeping aids give it both a safety and success record unmatched by other sleep remedies.

Chinese herbal medicine perfected herbal formulas through thousands of years of use.  The same formulas are still used today and they are still effective.  Not as a single ingredient extract, because nature never intended for us to use just one small chemical in any plant.  Plants are complicated and contain many chemicals.   Removing  one nutrient or chemical  from a plant is not what nature intended.  Our bodies recognize plant chemicals and have for millions of years, when we use them whole.

Chinese herbal medicine has a rich history throughout Asia and has been embraced in the 21st century by the governments of China, Taiwan, Japan and others.  By “embraced”  I mean these governments include Traditional Chinese herbs and herbal formulas in their national insurance coverage.  Imagine, botanicals covered by insurance without receiving a patent.  Now that’s a crazy thought.  Yet it’s happening now for over a billion people on the planet.

Two caveats to keep in mind.  I’m the first to admit that plenty of herbal products are not worth the bottle they are packaged in.  So please, do your research on the manufacturer and only buy from those who test their herbs for contaminants. Stay clear of companies who are not transparent about who makes their products or where their raw ingredients are sourced. There are plenty of unscrupulous companies to choose from, remember “Buyer Beware”.

 Choose products that do not contain synthetic chemicals. Science does not build a better mousetrap or sleep aid.  Many of the supplements people are popping today are never fully used in the body and simply get excreted.  Our bodies function best with whole foods and whole herbs containing all the phyto-nutrients are bodies have recognized for millions of years. Look for natural ingredients that contain plant names, not chemical derivatives synthetically made that our bodies won’t recognize. 

Our ancestors found herbs to help them sleep and then perfected the use of mixing certain botanicals together. We don’t need to recreate the wheel now, we just need to know how to use it.

 

Million and millions of tons of zizphus jujube seed and other Chinese herbs are harvested and sold each year.  Millions of people don’t use a pill in a bottle, they use botanical sleep aids. They use formulas of herbs from their grandparents, and great, great grandparents.  Tried and true formulations passed down.  It has been said, “It takes an endless amount of history to make even a little tradition.”  – Henry James.

 

Billionaire’s In The Chinese Medicine Industry

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This past weekend, Forbes published a story about a billionaire family who's family fortune is growing due to their investments in Chinese herbal medicine.

The company, called Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical gained 5.6% to close at 47.20 yuan, or $7.37.  A rise 29% on its first day of trading. Most of money will be used to expand production of Chinese herbal medicines for cardio-cerebrovascular illness and the flu.

The Yiling’s 2010 revenue was approximately 1.6 billion yuan last year.

The family of chairman Wu Yiling, who with his children own 59% of the herb company, is currently worth $1.7 billion.

Wu is a graduate of Hebei Medical University with a bachelor’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM,  and also holds a master’s degree in medicine from the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.

China had a record 115 billionaires on the 2011 Forbes Billionaires list published earlier this year. To have a family in the Chinese herbal medicine business shows the expansive growth of Chinese herbs both in China and around the world.  

Alternative Medicine – Cures Not Band Aids

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Alternative medicine has come a long way since Patch Adams, MD. first challenged the medical status quo.  You may remember Robin Williams played Patch in the movie called "Patch Adams". 

Today, more than 30 years later, he is not the only one to pose the question, "What is a cure and what is a band aid?" Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Massage therapy and other alternative medicine therapies are not yet fully covered by most insurance carriers in the U.S. but times are changing.  

These "Alternative Medicine" therapies are being used everyday by more and more Americans who are finding Acupuncture and Chinese herbs and other therapies are not just band aids.  Around the world, more advanced societies see the value of traditional  Chinese herbs and other healing modalities and depend on herbal remedies rather than artificial drugs.

Sometimes we need a band aid but more often, we what we really need is a cure.

Chinese Herbs For Brain Cancer

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Natural alternative for brain cancer Could it really be possible the compound known as indirubin, one of the active ingredients in traditional Chinese herbs could block the growth of glioblastoma brain tumors? 

U.S. researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center — Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, says YES, the Chinese herbs have proven this in mice, and now research will proceed with humans.

The Chinese herb formula known as Dang Gui Long Hui Wan consists of 10 herbs which was originally published in a Chinese text named the Dan Xi Xin Fa (Dan Xi's Heart Approach) in 1347 CE.  The same Chinese herbal medicine formula has been used for treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).1

The findings on indirubin and this novel therapeutic strategy for brain tumors was recently published in the Journal Cancer Research.  Although research on indirubins has been ongoing for years this is the  first time indirubin drugs  have improved survival in glioblastoma and these agents were found to inhibit two of the most important hallmarks of this malignancy, tumor cell invasion and angiogenesis.

This is incredible news for the approximately 13,000 Americans who die each year due to glioblastoma. "Overall, our findings suggest that indirubins reduce tumor invasion and tumor vasculature because of their antimigratory  effects on both tumor and endothelial cells," said  Antonio Chiocca  MD. 

(In memory of David Servan-Schreiber, Author of  Anticancer.  "Death is part of life. It happens to everyone. Profit from now, do the important things."

References:

1. Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center clinical summary of Indirubin extract:   http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69262.cfm

2.  American Assoc. of Cancer Research:     http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2011/06/21/0008-5472.CAN-10-3026

"Indirubins decrease glioma invasion by blocking migratory phenotypes in both the tumor and stromal endothelial cell compartments" Shante Williams, Michal Nowicki, Fang Liu, Rachael Press, Jakub Godlewki, Mahmoud Abdel-Rasoul, Balveen Kaur, Soledad Bernandez, Antonio Chiocca and Sean Lawle

Menopause Treatment Food Options

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natural menopause supplementsMenopause symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, irritability, brain fog and other symptoms seem to be considered the norm for women over the age of 50, yet this is not true for women around the globe. Researchers from the Department of Integrated Health at Westminster University polled 1,000 British women ages 45 to 55 and compared their answers to those of women from the U.S., Canada, Japan and China. The conclusion was that Japanese and Chinese women suffer the least amount of menopause symptoms. British women suffer the most and Americans are somewhere in between.
If you want to know how to turn down your body’s internal “thermostat” you are in the right place. Alternative medicine, including food therapy, is a viable option for managing menopause symptoms.

What causes this disparity between menopausal women in the East and West? In Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China women do not generally seek medical attention for menopause symptoms.9 The reasons for these cultural differences are complex. Certainly diet and lifestyle choices play a key role. The question is why don’t women in these cultures need Hormone Replacement Therapies (HRT) or medical treatments the way that the majority of Western women do?

 

The last year has been a confusing time with medical flip-flops on the benefits and dangers of artificial hormones. I see more and more women who are giving up on trusting research produced by the health care establishment and looking to alternative medicine for answers.

 

Not only is it difficult to stay keep up with the latest menopause drug treatment information, but much too often this advice is influenced by drug companies or doctors who fail to disclose their ties to study outcomes. One truth every doctor knows is that medicines have risks. Medicines should be prescribed only when the benefits outweighs the risks, including the risks of side effects which may not show up until years later. Healthy diet and lifestyle therapies have no risks. Cooking with Chinese herbs and incorporating food therapy have been done for centuries and have absolutely no known risks.

 

This article is part two on the subject of alternative medicine for menopause. Part one (see it here) explained how Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) views menopause. TCM recognizes menopause as part of the natural aging process and is often termed Kidney Yin Deficiency. The manifestations of aging include gray hair, dryness and the end of menstruation — in other words, signs the kidney energy is waning.

TCM views the kidney energy as sustaining the metabolic process and decreases naturally as we age. When the balance of kidney yin and yang energy is “upset,” symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats may appear. Throughout Asia it is Chinese herbs and food that are most commonly used to gently tonify the kidney energy and restore the balance between yin and yang. Acupuncture is also used to restore this balance and studies have proven its effectiveness.10 The role of herbal medicine was discussed in part one and I now want to address the roll diet plays in menopause.

 

It seems Asian cultures understand Hippocrates, the father of medicine’s credo, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Asian cultures blend four important principals into every meal.

1.    Meals consist of varying food temperatures, i.e. peppers are a hot food, seaweed is cold and black beans are warm.

2.   A large variety of foods with five flavors are eaten in every meal. The five flavors are sour, sweet, pungent, bitter and salty.

3.   Organic (Non-GMO) freshly prepared soy products are eaten nearly every day.

4.   An old Chinese Proverb says, “He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician.”
Food Temperatures
Since our goal here is to turn down the thermostat, let’s start the discussion with “cold” foods — or foods that cool us off. This is the same principle applied to eating watermelon on a hot summer day. Asian cultures use food temperatures to balance the body’s needs.

Cold herbs and foods simply cool you off. But the principal is best practiced in combination. Mixing cold foods and warm foods is best. Too much cold food inhibits digestion and may lead to diarrhea. A few of the best cold foods are: cucumber, diakon radish, mung bean, dandelion greens, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, celery, carrots and romaine lettuce. Eat a least two servings of these a day for your internal air conditioner to kick into action. Cold fruits include lemon, cantaloupe, grapefruit, mulberry, apples, pears, watermelon, apricots and persimmons.

 

Five Flavors
Incorporating the five flavors into your meals may be a new concept but is not all that difficult. There are several good books on this subject. One of my favorites is The Tao of Nutrition by Ni and McNease. Bitter foods will help the most for those suffering with menopause symptoms. They operate as an internal air conditioner, because bitter foods disperse heat. Examples of bitter foods include kale, green tea, watercress, turnips, asparagus and tangerine peel. Tangerine peel is used in Chinese herbal medicine and in TCM food therapy. Adding tangerine peel to meat or vegetables helps by promoting the circulation of stomach Qi, (energy) thereby improving digestion. Its bitter and acrid flavor not only helps digestion but relieves indigestion. Tangerine peel strengthens the stomach and works like a carminative to clear excess mucus. (More herbs for menopause here.)

 

Soy Foods
One interesting cultural advantage for menopausal women in Asia may be the amount of soy or tofu eaten daily. Soy is full of protein, rich in vitamins and enzymes. It’s an isoflavone, a class of phytoestrogen (plant derived compounds) with estrogenic activity.11 Soy has been part of the Asian diet for thousands of years. Unprocessed tofu is made fresh and sold in nearly every market. Soy tofu is eaten in small amounts daily from the time children are very young to the end of their lives.

But, the key here is the soy and tofu they eat is made from “unprocessed and non-gmo” soy beans. Sadly, this is increasingly difficult to find in American stores and nearly all American soy beans are derived from genetically modified organisms (GMO). Not a healthy choice to start with and unfortunately most of our tofu is manufactured through a highly refined process. For this reason, I would not consider soy tofu a healthy food in the U.S. right now.

Refined food products almost always lose their nutritional value after being heated to extreme temperatures. This process kills all of the nutrients and all of the important enzymes which the body needs to digest them. As a result, eating processed American soy tofu can give you terrible gas, bloating and indigestion and even worse, it’s becoming a common allergen. A small serving of soy a couple of times a week won’t harm you, but I recommend eating only fermented and non-GMO soy. Products such as miso, sprouted tofu, soy yogurt and tempeh are my first choice. A little organic soy sauce is also ok . If you can be certain your tofu is organic and unprocessed I would consider it a healthy choice.

 

Changing the way you look at food according to temperature and taste takes some time. Maybe this is a new concept for you and maybe you’ve never seen some of the foods listed above. Although you may not choose to eat everything on this list, you can certainly eat some.

 

Tapping into your body’s internal thermostat doesn’t work exactly likethe thermostat on your wall. So, be patient. Be consistent with dietary changes and enjoy the food you eat. Find some recipes you like and bring variety to your diet every day. Incorporate the five flavors of salty, bitter, sour, pungent and sweet into your lifestyle. Chinese medicine uses food therapy full of phytochemicals, vitamins and nutrients to restore vibrant health and balance to the entire person. This therapy has been adopted for thousands of years without any side effects.

What part of your diet will you change to help your menopause symptoms?

 

References:

1. Women of UK study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2233879/

2. Lock M. Menopause in Japanese women. Womens Health Iss. 1995;274(16):12-65.

3. Kagawa-Singer M., Kim S., Wu K., Adler S.R., Kawanishi Y., Wongvipat N. Comparison of the menopause and midlife transition between Japanese American and European American women. Med Anthropol Q. 2002;16(1):64-91.

4. Haines C.J., Rong L., Chung T.K.H., Leung D.H.Y. The perception of the menopause and the climacteric among women in Hong-Kong and Southern China. Prev Med. 1995;24(3):245-248. [PubMed]

5. Lam P.M., Leung T.N., Haines C., Chung T.K.H. Climacteric symptoms and knowledge about hormone replacement therapy among Hong Kong Chinese women aged 40-60 years. Maturitas. 2003;45(2):99-107. [PubMed]

6. Chen Y.L.D., Voda A.M., Mansfield P.K. Chinese midlife women’s perceptions and attitudes about menopause. Menopause. 1998;5(1):28-34. [PubMed]

7. Tsao L.I., Chang W.Y., Hung L.L., Chang S.H., Chou P.C. Perimenopausal knowledge of mid-life women in northern Taiwan. J Clin Nurs. 2004;13(5):627-635. [PubMed]
8. Ismael N.N. A study on the menopause in Malaysia. Maturitas. 1994;19(3):205-209. [PubMed]

9. Chim H., Tan B.H.I., Ang C.C., Chew E.M.D., Chong Y.S., Saw S.M. The prevalence of menopausal symptoms in a community in Singapore. Maturitas. 2002;41(4):275-282. [PubMed]

10. Acupuncture for Menopause hot flashes and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20060667

11. Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/soyiso/

Posted by Cathy on

natural alternatives for breast cancerDear Friends, Moms, Sisters, Daughters, Aunts & Grandmothers,

We have all been effected by women who have fought breast cancer.

Formaldehyde in hair-straighteners, heavy metals in makeup, phthalates in perfume and parabens in lotion are chemicals linked to cancer and do NOT belong in our everyday cosmetics, yet current law allows it.

That's why many organizations including the  Breast Cancer Fund has been rallying for major change in the cosmetics industry for six years, on behalf of people affected by breast cancer and as a founding partner in the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

Now we—and you—have a voice and a vehicle in Congress for truly safe, nontoxic cosmetics. On Friday June 24, 2011,  Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This bill (H.R.2359) would give the FDA the authority it needs to ensure that personal care products are free of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects, infertility and other serious health problems.

We hope you'll help to move this bill through Congress. 

Sincerely,

Cathy Margolin, L.Ac. Dipl OM

Menopause Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer Concealed

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Supreme Court Says Wyeth Must Pay $60 Million Prempro Verdict

Wyeth failed to conduct appropriate studies on breast cancer and concealed material facts about its products' safety (p. 35)

– The warnings provided by Wyeth were misleading and “reassuring.” (p. 39)

– Internal Wyeth documents showed that Wyeth responded to studies suggesting a possible breast cancer risk by downplaying the risk through public relations campaigns and its sales representatives' interactions with physicians. pg. 8

–  Wyeth engaged in extensive ghost-writing of scientific articles in order to influence prescribing physicians.  Published under independent doctors' names, at least 51 ghostwritten medical articles touted the benefits of hormone replacement therapy while minimizing the breast cancer risk. (p. 11)

– Wyeth implemented a policy to dismiss scientific studies that showed any link between breast cancer and hormone therapy drugs and to distract the public and medical professionals from the information. (p. 40)

–  Substantial evidence was introduced that Wyeth acted with malice, conduct that supports a punitive damage award. (p. 41)

 

Dedicated to all the women who have died of breast cancer and to those who have fought cancer and those who unknowingly trusted their doctors menopause treatment suggestions and were told HRT was safe. Now we know good doctors were lied to by pharmaceutical companies like Wyeth.

Source: Nevada Supreme Court      http://www.nevadajudiciary.us/index.php/oralarguments/720-wyeth-vs-rowatt

Pfizer Owes $58 Million to Women With Breast Cancer

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Breast Cancer awareness is an important part of breast cancer prevention“Wyeth refused to accept responsibility for what it did to these brave women,”  Zoe Littlepage,  a lawyer for Rowatt, Scofield and Forrester, said in an e-mailed statement. “Wyeth can’t hide any more. These women will finally see justice.”

The worlds largest drugmaker, Pfizer, has been denied an appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court for it’s drugs Premarin and Provera, both still on the market.   The Nevada Supreme Court  concluded jurors properly held Pfizer’s Wyeth responsible for hiding the breast-cancer risks of Premarin and Prempro in 2007.

Pfizer has been punished for creating an atmosphere of false promises and hiding the evidence that showed significant risks factors for breast cancer for women taking Premarin and Provera.

Annual sales of Wyeth’s Hormone Replacement Therapy for menopause symptoms exceeded $2 billion before a 2002 study, sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, suggested that women using the medicines had a 24 percent higher risk of breast cancer.

Until 1995, many patients combined Premarin, Wyeth’s estrogen-based drug, with progestin-laden Provera, made by Pfizer’s Pharmacia & Upjohn unit. Wyeth then combined the two hormones in Prempro. The drugs are still on the market.

If you are taking these drugs consider a natural herbal alternative to HRT, Hormone Replacement Therapy that has withstood the test of time.

Lower Your Blood Pressure With Acupuncture

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By: John McKenzie

By his own account, Dr. Randal Zusman, Director of blood-pressure medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, is a pill pusher. "I am very aggressive in the treatment of high blood pressure using drugs, using pills," he says.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Middle-aged Americans face a staggering 90 percent chance of developing the condition, according to a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

But the drugs used to treat it must be taken daily, usually for a lifetime. And they may have side effects, such as fatigue, depression and dizziness.

So Zusman is looking for alternatives for relieving hypertension. He thinks he may have found one in the ancient Chinese technique of acupuncture.

"There is an extensive literature from Asian and Russian communities that acupuncture does indeed lower blood pressure," he says.

American researchers have already shown that special acupuncture needles, when gently inserted into specific points on the skin, can stimulate nerves that reach up into the brain and to cells in the brain that control blood pressure.

"There's evidence from our laboratory and many other laboratories to suggest that the cells quiet down after acupuncture," says Dr. John Longhurst professor of medicine at the University of California, Irvine.

When those cells "quiet down," or become less active, blood vessels relax.

Clinical Trials Continue

Now, in the most rigorous study of its kind, patients with high blood pressure — 140 (systolic) over 90 (diastolic) or higher — are being given a series of 12 acupuncture treatments.

The study is not yet complete, but Zusman is already enthusiastic.

"A substantial number of our patients have responded with significant reductions in blood pressure," he says.

Patients like Rip Reeves are also impressed: "In my late 30s, I was probably 145/95; with medication, I got it down to 130/80. And since I've been on acupuncture and not taking medication, I've been averaging 125/75."

Perhaps most amazing, acupuncture's benefit can be long lasting. Some patients who received the acupuncture treatment nine months ago still have normal blood pressure.

"The implication," says Zusman, "is that 12 acupuncture treatments over a six-week period will produce a cure."

In this case, the doctors defined "cure" as maintaining normal blood pressure for one year without medication. And that, for some patients, may now be within their reach.

Sleep Aid Medication Not Safe Enough Says FDA

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Regulators at the US Food and Drug Administration have denied for a second time, a sleep aid drug over safety concerns.  Trancept Pharmaceuticals formulation of zolpidem tartrate (the same drug used in Ambien) has been trying to get approval for a sublingual tablet they hope to market as “Intermezzo”.  This sleep aid would be marketed towards those who wake in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep.  

The problem is regulators have doubts over safety.  Taking a dose of this drug with less than 4 hours of sleep time may result in severe morning drowsiness.  The stories of sleep driving, sleepwalking and sleep falls have all been documented and are receiving attention. 

Driving While Drowsy is Unsafe

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowsy driving contributes to an estimated 100,000 motor vehicle crashes and about 1,500 deaths each year.

In fact,  in 2007, FDA regulators requested that all manufacturers of sedative-hypnotic drugs include stronger product language warning of the potential risks because of the rising number of sleep driving incidents.

Waking in the middle of the night is a pattern is a sleeplessness that is one of the most common problems today. If you saw the Dr. Oz show on Chinese Medicine (you can see it here) you probably heard that jujube seed is an herb which can help with this sleeplessness. 

This 100% natural herbal sleep aid that has been used for thousands of years throughout Asia, yet is little known in the West. It is effective and safe!  Research has proven its ability to calm the mind and stop the repetitive thoughts that so often keep us awake at night.  It is one of the main herbs in iSleep Herb Pack.   iSleep can be used sublingually before bed or in the middle of the night. There are no harmful side effects and no morning drowsiness.  You can find iSleep Herb Pack here and at many fine health food stores.