Parachuting Cats

Parachuting Cats

In Borneo in the early 1950s, the World Health Organization (WHO) was faced with the problem of Malaria.  They found an answer that was short and simple… and wrong!  They sprayed DDT throughout the area, killing the mosquitoes that carry the disease.  As the mosquito population declined, the incidence of malaria declined.  Everyone declared the program a success!

Soon, they had a new problem; the roofs of houses were collapsing.  It seems that the DDT had also killed wasps.  The wasps had been eating caterpillars.  Without the wasps, the caterpillars proliferated.  And they ate the thatch on the roofs, so the roofs collapsed!

Yet, the WHO found it also had a worse problem: the DDT was now in the food chain.  Geckos ate the poisoned insects and cats ate the geckos.  When the cats died, rats flourished.  The WHO was now faced with an outbreak of rat-borne diseases, sylvatic plague and typhus, which it created itself!  The solution was to PARACHUTE CATS into Borneo!

The lesson?  The cause of problems could be solutions to other problems that were not thought through well enough.  All things interact, often in ways we don’t understand.  But at the same time, if we understand interactions better, our solutions will go further than we might initially have thought.  The solutions can then beget even more solutions, not problems.

“More than 2 million Americans become seriously ill every year from toxic reaction to correctly prescribed medications taken properly, and 106,000+ die from those reactions.”

                                                                                                Journal of the American Medical Association

“The solution to good health lies in eliminating interference from the body, not creating it.”

Want a Simple and Safe Answer to Allergy Problems?

Although allergies are a problem almost everywhere (I even know someone who has allergies to the pollen of desert plants), the San Antonio area is Allergy Central.  We have so many common allergens in our environment that some of us are suffering allergies at all times of the year.  We have one really "hot" allergy season, which is Mountain Juniper (commonly known as Cedar) coming soon to sinuses near you!.



Most allergy sufferers use the over-the-counter medications to control their symptoms.  Certainly, when the symptoms are severe this is the course of action to take; however, this is not without risks.  I am amazed when watching at the drug commercials the side effects, or toxic effects, that are listed.  Anti-depressants, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, may cause erectile dysfunction.  Seems like that would make the depression worse!

Allergy medications can cause drowsiness, dizziness, constipation, upset stomach, blurry vision, dry mouth/nose/throat, difficulty urinating, stomach problems, nasal dryness or irritation, nosebleed, throat irritation, headache, nausea, vomiting, coughing, and fungal infections!  Eek!  I am not saying that you should never take medications; I am trying to illustrate that pharmaceuticals have dangerous side effects.  If we can avoid them, we should. So, how do we avoid them?

The allergic response is an overreaction of the immune system to a foreign protein.  If your immune system considers, for instance, cedar pollen to be a potent threat (when it's not), then it launches a full-on attack on the proteins in the pollen.  In this offensive, the immune system releases, among other chemicals, histamine.  And that is a chemical that makes you feel awful!

So, the key is to desensitize your immune system to the pollen.  How do you that?  Interestingly, this is done by exposing your immune system to low levels of the pollen, much like with a vaccine but without the risks.  This can be done in one of two ways.  An Allergist/Immunologist can give you a series of allergy shots.  This normally requires repeat injections and repeat office visits to monitor progress.  This is expensive and time-consuming.

Equally effective and also FDA approved is a homeopathic allergy spray.  This has low levels of pollen in it as well as having remedies for the symptoms.  With no known side effects, this is convenient, inexpensive, and safe.  You can find these sprays in many places, including our office.

These approaches are most effective when administered before the allergic response starts.  You probably know what time of year you normally have allergies.  Come in a month or more before you expect it to begin and we can get you started on a therapy that will help you Live Healthy, Stay Active, and Fulfill Your Dreams!