Epigenetics, a funny word isn’t it?
Epi. What does that mean? Above.
So, in essence the study or practice of epigenetics is working on things that are above or out of the realm of trying to correct the genetics but just fix or clean up all the other areas, to support the health as much as possible.
Epi. What does that mean? Above.
So, in essence the study or practice of epigenetics is working on things that are above or out of the realm of trying to correct the genetics but just fix or clean up all the other areas, to support the health as much as possible. But would this influence the gene? More on that at a later date. First let’s talk about what can be done to “clean up” the cells via various methods.
- Clean up your thinking. “Huh? You say.” As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So goes an old Proverb. If you think you are sick and dying with a terminal illness then the body will be sure to go in that direction. This is why it is key to be around people who think like you, that CF is not the death threat that doctors and nurses believe it to be.
- Clean up your thinking. Oh, did I write that already? Guess this one bears repeating. It cannot be emphasized enough. Kind of like God’s word where he repeats himself a LOT. The word most often found in scripture is “fear”. As in, do not fear. You will find this word over 99 times in the Old and New Testaments. Why? It is detrimental to your body’s health. Cortisol levels go up (a catabolic hormone), tissue breakdown is imminent and the immune system is suppressed when we are stressed or fearful.
- Clean up your language. Isn’t that related to your thinking? Well, yes and no. If you are thinking negative thoughts all day about your health, you might as well be speaking curses over yourself or your loved one. Although speaking has a whole additional level of impact on a person’s cellular network. And you thought cellular networks were just for mobile phones? Nope.
- Speak life not death. The power of life and death is in the tongue. Another powerful verse in the scriptures that gives us guidelines to live by. This does not mean you have to lie or not speak about difficult things but the phrasing and the way in which you ultimately believe i.e. think about the health condition will also impact the cellular function.
- We are a protein machine. Some people will lead you to believe that you are what your genes say you are. That it is all in the genes and the DNA. The thing you are likely not told is that you can up-regulate a disease or down regulate it by things you do that impact the cellular network. Please don’t give this disease more power than it already is given by the medical community in general that will tell you that your disease WILL progress and a limited life span is imminent.
- The cells are made up of more than half proteins. Why does this matter to you? Because you can influence the protein network to thereby influence the DNA which in turn can eventually influence the genes. There I said it. CF is not an incurable disease but it is one that can be influenced, it just depends on what lengths you are willing to work on it.
The questions that are begged to be asked at this point all have to do with the “hows” I suppose.
How do I change my thinking considering what I have been told and what I have read online?
How do I change my thinking considering what I have been told and what I have read online?
How do I believe differently?
How do I influence the cellular network and why does that matter?
When my son was diagnosed at a mere 2 weeks old, I already made up my mind that he would be fine because God’s word says that He heals ALL our diseases. Now, I know that may not be your experience even if you are already a Bible believing Christian. But, even without Christianity and the beliefs of the Bible, studies are out there that prove there is power in positive thinking and also in affirmations.
A dear friend of mine sent me 7 healing scriptures to begin reading over my son when she heard about his diagnosis. She said it was VERY important that I begin speaking these life giving words over him as often as I could. And so I did as I rocked him to sleep at night.
She also told me that we needed to pray for a new beginning to my son’s life, as when he was born he was not breathing. He was actually blue and not making a peep. Immediately a code was called and it was as if the emergency response team was standing right outside the labor room waiting to come in when the call went out.
After the excitement was over, I recalled how the Lord had told me to pray for the right medical personnel to be there at the right time. I suppose I prayed this a few times before I was in my last month of pregnancy. And boy did he answer that prayer in a big way. There is a certain trust level that is built through experience with God, but I had never expected my faith to be tested and tried this long and this hard.
Now think about how you are feeling and acting around your child. Are you upset? Nervous as a cat?
Please don’t shoot the messenger but there are so many things that we must realize are only making a situation worse. That is why I recommend getting help- whether it be a medication for you or your spouse, and using calming supplements and essential oils to help create a calm atmosphere to care for your child.
EVERYONE’s emotions matter. Children are great hearers but not great interpreters. They won’t understand why you are freaking out, just that there must be something to freak out about.
The more technical side of epigenetics involves modification of the DNA without changing it’s sequence which thereby influences the genes. This is all wrapped up in what I wrote about above and also in more detail on my former blog entitled “Environmental Factors that Influence your DNA”. You see, information goes both ways, not just from genes to DNA but from the DNA to the genes. You may have heard of gene silencing? That is the potential given to us but still is not being taught in our medical schools. OR is it?
Bruce Lipton, author of “The Biology of Belief” actually could no longer participate in a medical system that was not coming clean on the truth of how we can influence our DNA and thus our genes. There is hope. There is life after diagnoses with Cystic Fibrosis and I plan to tell you all about the process and the steps to work towards that end.
Did you know that there are things you can change in your environment that will help your body to heal faster? What are the “things”? Where do I start. I guess I could go room by room. Yes, maybe I will start there.
The bathroom: toilet paper. Toilet paper? (TP) Do you use scented or unscented? Partially recycled materials or no? 
Whoever thought to read the label on a toilet paper roll? I didn’t. Until I had female problems, I learned that if I used pure wipes with a gentle essential oil for awhile my body would be able to balance things out more quickly.
Whoever thought to read the label on a toilet paper roll? I didn’t. Until I had female problems, I learned that if I used pure wipes with a gentle essential oil for awhile my body would be able to balance things out more quickly.Makeup, bath and body products: Look at the ingredients, are you feeding your hair, skin and nails parabens (wax), SLS, lead, talc, formaldehyde or other questionable chemicals?
Did you know your skin absorbs around 50% of what you put on it? What are you feeding your skin and thus putting into the circulation or depositing into the very cellular network of your body?
Did you know your skin absorbs around 50% of what you put on it? What are you feeding your skin and thus putting into the circulation or depositing into the very cellular network of your body?The forehead is the most absorbent skin on your body, other than your mucous membranes. Do you know you have sinus cavities on your forehead? Mucous membranes are up to 300 times more absorbent, thus the previous paragraph on TP. Shaving cream? Perfume or Cologne? Nasal Sprays? Moisturizers? Zit cream? Shampoo and Conditioner? I could go on but you get the idea, the bathroom is full of products containing chemicals along with other chemicals that have not been studied together and are causing your body to work even harder to achieve homeostasis, not to mention possibly clogging the pores and passageways.
Further than that though, if every cell contains precious DNA that is coding what it wants the cell to do, then why confuse it with chemicals that do not belong and it does not understand? Or worse yet, chemicals that impersonate another messenger. Have you heard of phytoestrogens? No, wait I meant to say xenoestrogens. Fake estrogens. Yup. Up regulation of estrogen in the body can have many devastating effects besides the fact that higher estrogen levels are known to feed certain cancers. 
O.k. back to the rooms, the other two key rooms I would say are the laundry room and the kitchen. Please, if you haven’t already, ditch the dryer sheets! And consider a plant based laundry detergent. If your clothing has melted plasticized beads on it from the dryer sheets or the fabric softener then you are feeding your skin plastic 24/7. If you enjoy the fragrance of your laundry detergent then chances are so do your private parts, or do they? 300 times more absorbent. I’ll just leave that there.
The kitchen? What residues are being left on your cooking utensils or the utensils you put in your mouth? Can you smell the chlorine from your dishwasher detergent down the hall? Then so can your lungs. Once again, I just think of the DNA throughout your body getting messengers of the wrong kind from multiple chemicals that it wasn’t supposed to encounter, however due to man wanting to preserve the shelf life of products, you might be surprised at what you are allowing into your home and thus into your body.
Be the gatekeeper of your home and thus your DNA. That’s the short story.
CBD aka cannabis aka cannabidiol, what is it exactly? We know it is from a plant and some people mistakenly think that it can get you high. Well, to be fair, it can but it won’t.“Huh?” You ask.
I’m glad you asked! What I meant to say was that if a company is producing it in a manner that is legal for most states then it will have been necessary for them to fully extract the component that people know marijuana for, THC.
So, in summary, CBD comes from a plant and the hallucinogenic portion must be extracted in order to be legal, at least here in the great state of Texas. Marijuana is legal in some states, so in that case CBD with THC might also be legal. Check the label and your local laws when you go to purchase.
But I am here not to tell you about buying CBD but about how it impacts the body. The properties of a plant in its’ entirety will always be more complex than a pharmaceutical, which takes a plant and copies a component of it.
Studies have shown CBD to activate vitamin receptor sites as well as cannabidiol sites. Did you know we had a cannabidiol system in our bodies?
What does that mean?
It means that the body already has a system in place ready to receive this plant. It is a potent antioxidant, is anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory. It also acts as the key that turns the lock for vitamin receptor sites, mostly A, E and C.
CBD is a food for your body, a plant food if you will. You can ingest it in food, drops under the tongue and some choose to vape it. I would not recommend vaping as the impact on the throat and lungs is questionable. Why do I say that? I know a few people who vape and the impact can be heard in the tone of their voice. That was enough for me to “just say no”. I chose drops under the tongue for my son.
He LOVES the taste of the CBD oil that is mixed with a citrus essential oil. I don’t do the mixing, it comes from a company that makes ingestible oils and the great thing, as I mentioned in my last article on MSM, is that essential oils make supplements more bio-available or easier to absorb. And yes, in case you were wondering, CBD is a supplement!
The other great effect that has been well studied is the impact on emotions. Not only does it improve one’s sense of well-being, it has been known to decrease anxiety AND the state of our emotions in turn influences our mind which impacts our health.
Please be sure to let your health team know if you are using CBD as part of your health regimen. The anti-inflammatory effects of CBD cannot be over emphasized.
When looking for research on MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) for Cystic Fibrosis it was hard to find. In fact, I cannot say for sure that there is any. But this brings up a good point that I would like to make anyhow. It is important to know that just because something has not been studied in particular for CF does not mean that it should not be considered.
The body works as it should in most respects when the CF genes are present. The body is still responsive to many of the same supplements that people without CF genes can benefit from. The obvious ones that we consider might be vitamin C or Vitamin D. Stop, wait, I know you are wondering about the absorption issues.
That is where maintaining a clean intestinal system is key. And this is where the problem comes in with many pharmaceuticals. Phalates. If you are taking a pharmaceutical you are most likely to also be ingesting phalates. What are phalates? Plastic. Basically. Phalates are a binder for pills and can also be found in everyday items such as Tupperware and toys. Why is this material used for making capsules and tablets when it basically clogs up the intestines and causes all sorts of havoc?
I honestly don’t know. There are other ways of accomplishing the same thing. Maybe it has to do with shelf life? Or ability to withstand higher temperatures? Stability of the product? Or is there a benefit to a manufacturer to give you something that then causes another issue that then requires another medication. Nah. I’ll save that for another time.
Back to MSM, boy that was a long rabbit trail on phalates. Or was it? The facts are, intestinal health must be working in order to get the best or most benefit from the supplements that you ingest. The other consideration is the quality of the vitamin, supplement or what have you. Whatever it is that you are trying to take and absorb needs to be in a highly or should I say readily absorbable state.
That is the beauty of having a molecule like MSM combined with essential oils which help make
a supplement more easily absorbed or more bio-available. Some herbs can also help with this bioavailability.
That is the beauty of having a molecule like MSM combined with essential oils which help make
a supplement more easily absorbed or more bio-available. Some herbs can also help with this bioavailability. So in case you were wondering, there are plant foods that contain MSM but it is often degraded with cooking. MSM is a form of sulfur and is the third most abundant mineral in the body and is commonly found with amino-acids which are building blocks of proteins, so it is a very important mineral!
Anyhow, once again, back to the point of MSM. MSM is an awesome anti-inflammatory. I have taken it for years and when I go off of it, I know it. Now think of how much inflammation is caused by the excess mucus cycle in CF. Excess inflammation is a constant problem, so once again, I recommend looking at a high quality MSM if you carry the genes for Cystic Fibrosis . 
I also recommend considering our modern world that is full of processed foods and sugar, I know they can be hard to resist. Ugh. As always I recommend dietary changes as the foundation to reduce inflammation and then adding in supplements, essential oils and certain tinctures to further help the body to function more normally.
For years, MSM has been studied for diseases like arthritis and even lupus. Think how you can benefit from the anti-inflammatory effects of MSM and you will not want to be without this supplement for long.
https://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/contents/view_breaking-news/2017-04-25/decades-of-discovery-summarized-in-new-msm-review/;
When thinking about zinc supplementation I did a little research. Afterall, since the C-o-v-i-d virus has been around, the awareness about zinc has skyrocketed. At least in the circles I run in, which made me curious, what could it do for someone with CF lungs? After all, what we do know is "Children with Cystic Fibrosis have been reported to suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. The are more prone to illnesses caused by zinc deficiencies, such as acrodermatitis, which improve with supplementation. Deficiencies of micronutrients, including zinc, is associated with an increased risk of infection."✼
Studies show an improvement in FEV1, weight for height and energy levels, as well as less infections. The question that appeared to come up in one study that failed to see a difference was how much is enough? And maybe their sample size was too small. This paper went on to cite other studies that did indeed show a positive difference with use of this supplement.
"The primary outcome variable was a reduction in the average days o f systemic antibiotics in the zinc group as compared with placebo. The secondary outcomes were an improvement in FEV1 and a difference in the rate of colonization with Pseudomonas in the zinc and placebo groups." ✼
When considering getting a zinc supplement, you might consider a liquid form as they are absorbed better than a capsule. But either way, just get it in! As far as dosage is concerned, you may want to do some research as it will be quite variable between individuals depending on how well you are absorbing vitamins in general.
The interesting thing about zinc was that there were higher levels of zinc found in CF sputum than controls. What does that tell us? It seems that there may be a transport issue of this ion in people with CF, similar to the concerns over the chloride and salt ions. Therefore, correction of the zinc ion may play a valuable role, at least that is what I gathered from the studies I read. 
You can read them too- and please, comment in the thread below the post, it would be great to hear what your thoughts are and also do you already use this supplement? If so, how much? Does your clinic test for zinc levels?
Thank you as always for reading.
Much love-
Paula
Much love-
Paula
p.s. food images in my blogs typically pertain to foods high in the supplement written about. It is highly recommended by this author to get your nutrients from food as much as possible, however food today is not what it used to be, so supplementation and even hyper-supplementation may be required.
p.p.s. scientific articles:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18446019/
Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor and I do not prescribe supplements, only report what I have found and at times what I have done with my son to support the body to heal itself.
