This is a reprint from the old msquill site. Originally published Jan 19, 2012
It’s been almost 18 years since I woke up on a respirator after a particularly severe asthma attack. The last thing I remember is looking at my 5 week old daughter sleeping in her father’s arms and thinking, ” I will NOT pass out!”
I passed out.
When I woke up two days later my arms and legs were restrained and I was on a respirator. My first thought was for my daughter. After assuring me that my baby was fine they told me I was lucky. After I passed out my heart stopped and CPR was performed. My painful ribs told me the nurse was telling the truth. I had almost died from my asthma even though I saw my pulmonologist every 3-6 weeks and took all my medications (including daily oral prednisone)
In my pulmonologist’s office two weeks later he told me that I was on the most effective asthma meds available and there was really not much else he could to help me. I went home terrified for the future of my future, and the future of my brand new baby.
When I got over feeling sorry for myself I hit my local library and bookstore. (This was before the Internet brought scads of information into everybody’s home.) I found a book by some doctor who claimed to be able to reduce asthma symptoms by 50% – 75% in every person with asthma. I took that book home and read it cover to cover three times.
I learned a lot from that book, and I will be eternally thankful for the doctor who wrote it, but one of the most startling things that I learned was that many farmers gave medications to cattle raised for meat and dairy to make them grow bigger and give more milk. I learned that those chemicals were passed on to the humans who consume those animal products. He went on to further say that there are many people who are sensitive to those chemicals. They cause or contribute to cancers, heart problems, skin problems, asthma, and a host of other medical problems in people who are sensitive.
I made a lot of changes to my diet after I read that book, and I did a lot of research on my own, too. In fact, this whole experience is what put me on the road to herbalism natural health practices, and alternative medicine. But, the changes I experienced when I removed animal products from my diet were astonishing to me.
Not only did I see a solid improvement in my asthma – enough so that I could switch from oral prednisone to inhaled steroids – but I noticed an improvement in my moods, energy level and complexion, too.
As any good researcher will do, I experimented with my results by trying to add animal products back to my diet. Each time I tried I landed in the emergency room with a monster asthma attack. Then a friend offered me a hamburger from his father’s organic, grass-fed, free range, non-treated farm. I was hesitant, but give it a try anyway because he knew all about the chemicals and drugs used in conventional farms and insisted his dad didn’t use any of that stuff.
Lo and behold.. no asthma attack. No problems of any kind.
That is when I became convinced that the chemicals and drugs fed to food animals are absorbed and do impact human health.
So then why is the FDA going back on their promise?
