Saving Evolution
Medicine

One of my strategies for eating out with friends and family has been to persuade them to eat at Japanese restaurants. Until recently, I could always order sushi and know that I would be served a biocide-free meal. Not any more. I noticed a change a while back. At first I thought it was the …

I love cauliflower prepared in the Indian way with fennel seeds and root vegetable puree. Back in the 80’s when I first developed bowel problems, it was a regular part of my diet. Last week I ate had something similar at a vegan restaurant in my neighborhood. In retrospect I’m not sure what I was …

The other day I went across the street to a farmer’s market and bought a block of my favorite cheese, a lightly smoked artisanal cheese from an organic creamery in a nearby town. Having consumed small amounts of New Zealand cheddar without developing symptoms, I decided to try two big slices of the smoked cheese. …

When I had learned to avoid foods that showed any signs of mold or blight, and to reduce my umbilical hernia after eating carbs and fats, I turned again to trying new foods. At a favorite neighborhood restaurant that was not too expensive, but that served dishes that I could eat with minimal symptoms, I …

Some weeks ago, after being on the Vega diet for nearly a year, I decided to try again to add new foods to the list of those I could eat. I had tried and added Brussels sprouts, but nothing else. I had tried other foods and failed to find safe ones. Truth be told, I …

It’s been a year now since I decided to consult a new doctor. The doctor whom I had been consulting before had made up his mind that Chronic Lyme Disease and related infections were causing my myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). I appreciated his willingness to care for patients like me, and his efforts to find new …

When I first consulted a gastroenterologist, she asked me what was wrong. When I said that I had bloating, she literally threw up her hands and exclaimed, “Everybody has it!” Half an hour later, she prescribed medicines that blocked stomach acid production and relieved the symptoms of reflux. I took them. They offered relief but …

Back in the 1970’s, I brought a friend home to visit with my parents. Taking advantage of a moment alone, he turned to whisper in amazement, “You could eat off the floor!” I looked around. As usual, there was no speck of dust on the floor, no dried water droplet on the faucet, no specks …

There is a psycho-spiritual teaching that what is outside is inside. It is often used to mean that when we look at the world we see it through the lens of the organizing principles by which we simplify a natural world that would otherwise overwhelm. Like most popular teachings, it reflects a literal truth: the …

In 1996 I developed what the Centers for Disease Control labeled “chronic fatigue syndrome.” Since 1996, American doctors have labeled my illness as chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease, borrelliosis, and bartonella. The Aussie ones call it M.E., or myalgic encephalomyelitis. Whatever the label, the signs and symptoms …