THE SNEEZE-FREE DOCTOR

I will really excite you by saying, yes; I am the Sneeze-free Doctor. I am a 30 year-old practicing physician and my story might encourage you to take a second look on your pills and medications.

My story started 24 years ago when I started going to my elementary schooling. I am quite active and like other kids, I am fund of running and playing during break times. I am also fund of joining extra curricular activities and at a young age, I consider myself busy. I consider myself an ordinary young student but what differentiates me from others is – I am the winner for the most number of sneezes per day and I consume the most number of tissue paper. It is most prolific during the summer when lots of dust is suspended in the classroom. My parents always remind me to change my shirt more often because I will increase my number of sneezes when my shirt is damp. I really wanted to have a pet dog then but I was not allowed at home because, I will sneeze all day and all night inhaling the fur of my pets.

It was a limitation for me having this symptom and even a person not in the medical field will easily diagnose my case. You are right.I am suffering from Allergic Rhinitis since my early school years. Our family doctor then guaranteed me that I will surely develop immunity when I grew up.

Our family doctor missed the prognosis of my allergic rhinitis. I finished my high school with it and finished my college with it. What is quite annoying is that after a whole day of sneezing I used to have allergic cough afterwards and I will take the same antihistamine and bronchodilator over and over again. The medications were good for the symptom but it was no cure.

After college, I decided to study medicine and with the polluted place in Manila where I was studying, I was very consistent with my sneezing. There came a time that I also acquired allergic asthma. I finished my medicine proper and I started my hospital training. At the hospital, due to the stressful duties, lack of sleep and fatigue, my immune system went down. I was a sickly student doctor that time.

I got my licensed as a full-pledged physician and started seeing patients at my clinic. My allergic rhinitis still bothered me and at that point, I am frustrated that I have no cure for it. It is quite ironic because as a physician, I can’t manage my own illness.

Out of frustration came the most important invitation in my life! I was asked to attend a seminar regarding herbal supplement by a very persistent friend. It was I remember the 5th time I was invited to attend the seminar but because of my busy schedule, I turned down the 4 previous invitations. During the 5th seminar that I attended, I was quite bored because the speaker was not that convincing. He was discussing about a herbal mushroom that can do health miracles. Of course I was skeptic about it because my medical background does not acknowledge herbal medicine that much. I was thinking that the speaker was only making hype bout the mushroom he called Lingzhi, a medicinal mushroom used by Chinese Emperors for thousands of years already. Out of courteousness, I finished the seminar and went home.

Almost 24 hours later, my very persistent friend asks me if I could try taking the Lingzhi capsules for it might help me from my allergic rhinitis. I hesitated a couple of times but because of my friend’s utmost virtue of persistence, I tried taking the herbal capsules after making sure that it was safe. I reviewed some scientific literature and I gained curiosity with the herb. There were hundreds of clinical trials from Asian doctors and scientists that Lingzhi can help in different kinds of diseases.

For the first 3 days of taking the Lingzhi capsules, I felt terrible! I sneezed more frequently and it seemed that my allergic rhinitis worsens. I called my friend and he was explaining that it is normal and Lingzhi is working on my respiratory tract. He added that it is part of the “healing crisis” or detoxification process. I was about to stop taking the capsules but my longing for a cure for my long-time allergy made me stick with the treatment. After two weeks of non-stop sneezing and increased nasal discharge, I was amazed that on the following days I never experienced neither one sneezing. I felt better and healed. I can’t believe that I found a cure for my allergic rhinitis. Come 1 month and few months I never did experienced sneezing. I’m already a sneeze-free doctor and it’s because of my very persistent friend. I now share about the power of the Lingzhi capsule. I am also prescribing it as food supplement to most of my patients. It worked for me and it may work for you too. All we need is a little open-mindedness to look at other alternative treatments that will improve our health.

Sweetly Decepted

I am a medical doctor and a very health and wellness fanatic. I exercise regularly that is 20 to 30 minutes everyday, I sleep 7 to 8 hours, I take my quality multivitamins, and above it all, I choose my diet very carefully. This attitude of taking care of my health roots to my family’s medical history. We have strong genes of Diabetes. My grandfather and grandmother died of Diabetes. My Mom and Uncle have it. And who’s next? Yeah, I’m very prone of inheriting it and to prevent it, I chose taking charge of my own health.

Part of my healthy diet is refraining from sugar sweetened cakes, pastries, and beverages, instead, I use zero-calorie and sugar-free sweeteners for my coffee and tea. My gum is sugar-free. My cola is zero-calorie and sugar-free. I always bring with me my sugar-free sweetener sachets believing that I will surely prevent myself of having diabetes.

I am including my sweeteners on my daily diet for nearly 3 years already. I’m very glad I’m not gaining wait and my blood sugar is normal until last March (1 month prior to writing this article) I experienced frequent headaches and dizziness usually during the afternoon. The symptoms continued for more than a week and it prompted me to had some medical tests. The tests including an eye and ear check-up were all normal. I am very puzzled that time to why I am experiencing that bothering headaches and dizziness.

It was by chance when while browsing my Facebook notifications, I saw a video posted by an old friend criticizing artificial sweeteners. The video tackled Aspartame and Sucralose, (the ingredients to my artificial sweeteners) as neurotoxic. Based on scientific studies, these artificial sweeteners may cause brain tumors, seizures, cancers, infertility and it includes the symptoms I am experiencing, headaches and dizziness. Urgently I look for scientific articles of the same topic and to my dismay; I found a lot saying that my sweeteners are really poison. Starting that day, I never took any of those artificial sweeteners anymore. I was sweetly deceived by those manufacturers saying that artificial sweeteners were safe. Few days after withdrawing form my artificial sweeteners; my headache and dizziness gradually disappeared.

Up to this day I’m studying alternative sweeteners that are natural, safe and with zero or few calories. Good thing I am learning about honey, xylitol and now Stevia – a natural sweetener that is zero-calorie, zero-glycemic index and is very safe for consumption. Stevia was by Guarani Indians for more than a hundred years, by Japanese by decades and has a very good track of safety. Back in 2006, the WHO cleared stevia as non-carcinogenic and therefore safe. I am now using Stevia and enjoying the sweetness of life. Never again I won’t be sweetly deceived.