2022 Radiation Issues:

March 1, 2022 Part 2

Paul Herscu ND, MPH

Herscu Laboratory

What follows is a description of radiation that I wrote in 2011, related to one exposure, one event, but the issues are universal, so worthwhile reading.

Topic: Radiation Issues from Japanese Tsunami Aftermath (2011/2012)

In light of occurrences in Japan 2011, we have received numerous questions on the topic of radiation.  Please find a primer on radiation in general in Update #1.  As information becomes available, Dr. Herscu will update recommendations through this format.  Please share this information with anyone that might be interested.

Electromagnetic Radiation - update #1

by Paul Herscu, ND MPH
April 5, 2011

In light of recent occurrences in Japan, we have received numerous questions on the topic of radiation. What seems in order is a quick primer on radiation in general.

This particular writing is designed to provide more complete information to those wanting to understand where the Japanese nuclear emergency fits into the larger topic of radiation. The first part represents a condensed overview describing radiation, both non-ionizing and ionizing. The second part begins the discussion on the Japan power plant crisis of 2011, first describing what happened, but more importantly, placing it in context.

 

2022 Radiation Issues:

March 1, 2022 Part 1

Paul Herscu ND, MPH

Herscu Laboratory

Hello and welcome.

 

Let me say that I hate to even bring this topic up. I really do.

 

It has been several months since the last time I wrote here. For me there has not been any real new news on the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, for the past three months. I know it sounded odd when described in the fall of 2021, but I think it is starting to be agreed by everyone at this point that the pandemic mandates will mostly cease to exist by April at the latest. I know, it seemed odd for me to say this almost half a year ago, but there you go. I am not writing about this virus here, now. I will do that soon.

 

This update is a short one, just related to the war in Europe just now. And just as a prudent cautionary suggestion. In my sleepless nights, and nightmare scenarios, as I am pacing the floor praying for some peace, I think about what are worst case scenarios, (as if war is not enough.) I do not think this will happen. But human error…Here I think about human errors and a simple mistake that escalates war to the use to radioactive munitions. Without any one actually planning it, human error could lead to some radiation escape. And while radiation escape from a bomb releases several elements and isotopes, much we could not do anything about, there is one that we could, that of iodine. In a very short description, when an explosion occurs, it releases amongst other things iodine that is radioactive. Our bodies need iodine, and we take it up readily. The radioactive iodine then travels to the thyroid causing problems, as in thyroid cancers. However, if your body was sort of full of iodine, then the receptor site is ‘taken up’ and the radioactive iodine is not taken by the thyroid. In other words, taking nonradioactive iodine into the body protects you from taking radioactive iodine into the body. It does nothing for the other radiation, but does protect against the iodine portion of it.

 

Statement Urging Public Health Officials to Include Integrative Medicine Recommendations Related to COVID-19 Prevention and Mitigation

Paul Anderson ND & Paul Herscu ND, MPH

 

December 30, 2021

 

Whereas:

1.     The Omicron variant transmission rate is very high, most likely due to increased airborne transmission, and

2.     The Omicron variant is a generally milder variant, and

3.     Given the fact that public health leadership, while not highlighting these points, is de facto allowing this form of transmission to occur, to allow natural immunity to arise with illness, in addition to vaccination, and

4.     Given that a large proportion of the population is going to be exposed to the virus in the next two months, whether vaccinated or not,

 

In addition to all current recommendations, it makes good sense for public health officials and government agencies to augment strategies shared with the public in order to potentially modify risk, should a person be exposed or fall ill with COVID-19. Though many cases are mild, many people will still fall gravely ill. Offering additional proactive steps to take to potentially help mitigate symptoms may help reduce the illness burden on both individuals and the health care system.

 

We urge the government to add additional strategies, including several therapies for which there is a great deal of evidence of efficacy for other viral infections, and some evidence of efficacy for the current COVID-19 infection. These include: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, Quercetin, and Probiotics.

 

2019 Novel Coronavirus (CoVID-19): Part XXX
2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV (first named); COVID-2019 (later named disease); SARS-CoV-2 (final name of the virus causing COVID-2019), COVID-2019 Pandemic:

 

December 26, 2021 update Part 30
Paul Herscu ND, MPH
Herscu Laboratory 

 

Entering the last phase of the COVID-2019 Pandemic:

The End of Numbers

 

AS MENTIONED AT OTHER BLOG POSTS DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME BY YOURSELF

 

Hello and welcome. This short piece answers many of the emails and phone calls from colleagues and patients. I want to focus strictly on what we need to know related to Omicron and the evolution of the pandemic. In my previous post, you can read about the changes related to homeopathic care.

 

Before I start, while I receive some comments that are full of vitriol, I receive many more comments that are extremely heartfelt and full of thanks. Many of them also ask where they might donate money to help us in our work. Wherever you live, there is a soup kitchen, or a homeless shelter, or a place for people escaping violence/sex work/human slavery, or a community mental health clinic. All our communities have these places. Donate there. And count yourself, as I do, as lucky. Thank you for your generosity in this area.

 

Omicron Variant

By way of introduction, on Christmas day, Amy and I are sitting at a church during Mass. We are Jewish, but we like to attend other religious ceremonies, and invite others to ours. The idea is the more we interact with each other, the more we understand each other, the less strife there might be in the world. On this particular day, on the drive there, we are in a heated discussion. I want to write something in this post but Amy thinks I should not. I want to argue for a shortening of isolation/quarantine in some individuals in some professions who have tested positive for COVID-19. There are two reasons. The primary one is that, as mentioned before, we are expecting a huge deluge of people contracting the virus, and testing positive. This will cause huge disruptions in society. My point is that if properly dressed and protected, for health care workers/airline staff/food handlers, the restrictions should be shortened, perhaps to 6 days. This is because the deluge of people testing positive will stifle the entire economy and social fabric. The second reason has to do with the fact that Omicron seems to have an earlier transmission than prior variants but that is another issue for another time. Amy says, do you have any data to support the need to change this public health recommendation. I say no, but nevertheless this is what has to happen. So, we debate the topic for a while, now we’re in the middle of mass. When we get home, we find that the CDC came to this conclusion, shortening isolation to 7 days for essential health care workers. Things are moving fast here. Public health recommendations are shifting as fast as we can keep track. With that in mind, I wanted to describe further thoughts related to Omicron which I also shared back on December 5^th, 2021 with our current NESH 2 Year Course students.

 

2019 Novel Coronavirus (CoVID-19): Part XXIX
2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV (first named); COVID-2019 (later named disease); SARS-CoV-2 (final name of the virus causing COVID-2019), COVID-2019 Pandemic:

 

December 22, 2021 update Part 29
Paul Herscu ND, MPH
Herscu Laboratory 

 

Entering the last phase of the COVID-2019 Pandemic:

It Has Begun

 

Hello and welcome. Here’s another short piece to answer all the emails and phone calls from colleagues and patients. This one is primarily from the perspective of classical homeopathy and summarizes the in-depth presentation I made on December 5^th 2021 to our current NESH 2 Year Course students. I discussed the most likely pathway for this pandemic to take and the changes in homeopathic presentations that are occurring. You may have already seen some of the videos of this over the past three weeks.

 

Change is Expected

Aside from the unfortunate, odd social media misinformation which purports that the Delta variant is not dangerous, that there are no emergencies, that there are no increased hospitalizations or deaths, and that the pandemic is blown out of proportion, my personal experience of treating more pneumonia and more ICU patients this past 18 months than in all my years put together, speaks to the opposite reality. There is other extensive evidence that proves this point. The main point I want to highlight is that the Delta variant of the SARS-Cov-2 virus still carries with it a high level of mortality and morbidity. As an example, when I gave this talk on December 5^th 2021, the German medical system was crumbling, and our medical colleagues were so overwhelmed, that one of the German medical doctors taking the NESH class was seeing COVID patients every 3 minutes for days on end. A really horrific situation. Another colleague just survived COVID double pneumonia, and still trying to recover. That was with the Delta variant.

 

With that in mind...

 

If the Omicron variant is truly more transmissible than Delta, then this could be a very good thing for us. VERY GOOD THING FOR US!!! Let me explain.

 

2019 Novel Coronavirus (CoVID-19): Part XXVIII
2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV (first named); COVID-2019 (later named disease); SARS-CoV-2 (final name of the virus causing COVID-2019), COVID-2019 Pandemic:

 

December 17, 2021 update Part 28
Paul Herscu ND, MPH
Herscu Laboratory 

 

Entering the last phase of the COVID-2019 Pandemic:

Here Comes the Wave

 

Hello and welcome. Here's another short piece to answer all the emails and phone calls from colleagues and patients. The news is scary right now. We are seeing a huge wave of ill patients, as we enter the last super pathological morphological stage of this pandemic, which will allow us to leave the pandemic behind. As mentioned before, I think we are over the pandemic by April, though originally, I thought May. I thought I should contextualize our current situation as things are becoming confusing! I want to highlight that the below is mostly about the Omicron variant, but that is not the case all over the world yet. I will discuss this more in the next post.

 

Transmission Change

One of the points I make in epidemics, here and about the Ebolavirus, is an understanding of transmission modes. Is the virus airborne or non airborne? Is it spread by contact or non contact? And from the start, what we see with this virus is that it is mostly not airborne, though there are some situations that can make it airborne. You can read about this topic here. 

 

What I have noticed is that with every mutation that stabilizes, here focusing on Omicron, the rate of ease of airborne transmission has increased. In other words, the 2 meters distance is going to matter less, as the virus will pass in non-contact form. I think this will be acknowledged within a month, as the rates of infection could only be explained by airborne transmission (as well as an easing of public health restrictions.) A prediction I think that will also come to be. 

 

In other words, as we have spoken about in our classes, it becomes highly likely that you or your loved ones are going to be exposed to the virus, during this entry to the last phase of the pandemic. By January this will mostly be the case. There are things you can do to mitigate this, mentioned below. Thus far, we are only talking about transmission and likelihood of infection.

 

2019 Novel Coronavirus (CoVID-19): Part XXVII
2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV (first named); COVID-2019 (later named disease); SARS-CoV-2 (final name of the virus causing COVID-2019), COVID-2019 Pandemic:

 

November 28, 2021 update Part 27
Paul Herscu ND, MPH
Herscu Laboratory 

 

Entering the last phase of the COVID-2019 Pandemic:

A short piece

 

Hello and welcome. Here’s a short piece to answer all the emails and phone calls from colleagues and patients. The news is scary right now. As you are aware, a new more prominent variant, named Omicron was found, and has dozens of mutations. It seems to outcompete the Delta virus which has been the current dominant mutated variant. The news is daunting since countries are beginning to shut down from the news. WHO issued dire warnings and travels bans are in place. And added to this is the sad coincidence that there are numerous regions in the world with increased incidence of Delta COVID. In some places these are the worst outbreaks of the virus since the pandemic began. 

 

Let me start by saying, again, and perhaps sounding oddly, and pretty much opposite to what we are hearing today, that the pandemic will be over by sometime in April. Again, as written elsewhere, this does not mean that the virus is gone, it is going to be with us for the foreseeable future. Simply, the pandemic will be called off, and switched to more confined outbreaks, depending on local conditions. I know this flies in the face of everything you are hearing right now. We discussed most of this from the start. And I will describe it more fully when describing the fifth and final phase of the pandemic which we are almost entering (and I know how odd that sentence must sound, in the face of the news). A brief recap: