Mental Fatigue and Low Iron: A personal inquiry

QUESTION:

Hello,

I am a 53 year old Naturopathic student. I just finished a class in Iridology.

My instructor advised me to look into cell salts to address the combination of cramp rings and a mental spike in the iris. This indicates great mental activity (which I guess any serious student might have!) and stress on the body from the mental effort. She feels I need more sodium to support the mental activity of studying hard. When I look at the various cell salts, I am not sure which one fits that picture.

In addition,my bloodwork shows a need for more iron and magnesium (not calcium, though). I have been detoxing lead for two years, and my chiropractor feels that the low iron picture may be from liver working very hard on detoxing the heavy metals. Two years ago, I was very tired and suffered with tendonitis and bursitis. At this time, I don't feel any particular symptoms ,however. I have a great amount of energy and do a lot of physical and mental work without feeling much fatigue, so it seems like a paradoxical picture. Any insights?

Thanks,

Mental in Hawaii [changed for privacy]

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ANSWER:

Mental in Hawaii -

Thank you for your question.

I know absolutely nothing about Iridology. We do not study it at Bastyr.

However, based on your student profile of mental activity - I hear that! - the most recommended cell salt combination:

Kali Phos 6x with Silicea 12x. I use this combination when studying for final exams or when in a brain fog. I also used the combination while taking my basic science board exams. I am not sure about the guidance of sodium.

Follow the directions for dosing cell salts - which are sourced from the book below.

The book I highly recommend to buy about cell salts, Natural Healing with Cell Salts. I use it constantly and with effectiveness.

Some may cell salts do not work and that they are nonsense. In the past year of my using them on myself, friends and on my sons, I have seen tremendous results. I was bent over with pain in my abdomen. As I was leaning over, I determined my pain was due to spasm of my intestines - so I took Mag Phos 6x in a dropperful of hot water. I repeated the dose again in 5 minutes. Bam. My spasm was gone. Placebo? Maybe. Even if so, I'll take it. But I do not think babies portray placebo effects when given cell salts or other medicines.

Your second issue of low iron and magnesium - how was that determined for magnesium? Did you specifically test for serum magnesium?

Low iron can be a sign of anemia caused by occult bleeding, lack of iron foods, poor absorption, low vitamin C and/or vitamin A or high copper levels. This is a few of the reasons - there are more but these are the common ones. Determine if you eat enough high iron foods - such as dark leafy greens, beans, multivitamin, meats. If you do not, that may be your reason. If you are a vegetarian, that is fine as you can get ample iron from dark leafy greans, beans, fortified cereals, potatoes cooked with skin. However, iron from non-meat non-hemoglobin sources are Fe+3 and not absorbed very well. Thus it is recommended that you take some vitamin C to help aide the aborption - as vitamin C strips off a proton and makes it Fe+2 - which is the more absorbable form.

Also low iron can be due to eating too much non-fermented soy - like soy milk and tofu. Non-fermented soy has been shown to block the absorption of iron. However, I believe that fermented soys are fine - such as miso and tempeh.

Low iron can also be due to hidden longterm bleeding from internal hemorrhoids, gastric ulcers or, heaven forbid, bladder or colon cancers. That's to name a few.

I am not sure what the chiropractor was saying about your liver being overworked due to detoxifying the lead. If you need something to support your liver in detoxifying, the Bio-Cleanse Functional Food formula may be effective for you. This formula was designed by a naturopathic physician and its function is to support phase I and phase II liver detoxification pathways. There is a full ingredient and instruction booklet available on that page. Simply click the link and download it. It will be handy for you to read.

A good multi-vitamin may be useful as well. A highly rated multi-vitamin for women is called Spectra Woman. This day in age, our soils are depleted in nutrients as is livestock - especially since most are grain-fed, or unfortunately, fed with meats [hello mad cow disease - caused by prions].

Mental acuity is improved with basic sleep, relaxation, nutrition, iron!. Low iron means low hemoglobin. Low hemoglobin means less oxygen binding. Less oxygen binding means less oxygen carried and delivered to your tissues...and less oxygen delivered to your brain. This makes you sleepy.

Ever wonder why people who die from carbon monoxide poisoning from car exhaust fall asleep? Low oxygen as CO [carbon monoxide] competes for oxygen binding to hemoglobin. CO binds much better to hemoglobin than does oxygen. So much better in fact - 200:1 So don't exercise on busy streets. Smokers also inhale high levels of CO which limits their amount of oxygen. This may partially explain the 'head rush' or nausea they get. It is also part of the explanation of cancer as cancer grows in low oxygen environments. So breathe deeply! Preferably in areas free of fumes!

Mental acuity is also improved by consuming foods high in essential fatty acids - such as salmon or cod. If you do not eat those, then consider EPA/DHA by Biogenesis. It is a cold water fish oil that is tested free of metals. Ever hear of the Perricone Prescriptionwhere Dr. Perricone, MD tells of the beauty and brain connection - all he talks about are salmon and essential fatty acids.

That should be enough for you to chew on for awhile.

If you have further questions, do not hesistate to email me.

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I hope this information is useful for you.

In health,

Benjamin Lynch