Secondary Accomplices

This is the third part of a three part article.

The Secondary Accomplices aid the Primary Suspects in destroying your health. They are not direct causes of your health problems, but they are underlying problems in the body that need to be corrected to help you start healing from chronic illnesses.

Secondary Accomplice #1: “Shady” Hiatal Hernia

A hiatal hernia is a shady character because it typically hides in the shadows, undetected, while it silently contributes to major health breakdown. My health improved dramatically in 1986 when Jack Ritchason pulled down my hiatal hernia during our visit to Jamaica. I was amazed at the difference it made. Jack told me that he’d never seen a chronically ill person who didn’t have one. My own experience has since confirmed this. Just about all chronically ill people have at least a partial hiatal hernia.

A hiatal hernia occurs when the stomach moves upward into the opening in the diaphragm where the esophagus comes through. This inhibits movement of the diaphragm resulting in shallow breathing and poor oxygenation of the body. It also interferes with digestion and causes problems with gas, bloating, upset stomach, and acid reflux. It may also affect the heart, stressing it and causing impaired circulation.

To see if you have this problem, place one hand on your chest and another on your belly. If you can take a deep breath just moving your belly and not moving your chest, you probably don’t have a hiatal hernia. If your chest moves but not your belly, then Shady Hiatal Hernia has taken up residence in your system.

Getting rid of Shady requires mechanical correction. Read my article, Hiatal Hernia: Hidden Cause of Illness and view my Video Demonstrations on Identifying and Correcting a Hiatal Hernia. These provide more information about Shady and how to get rid of him.

Once you’ve eliminated Shady, taking digestive enzymes helps keep your stomach in good working order. It also helps to eliminate Subversive Chronic Stress, as he conspires with Shady. 

Secondary Accomplice #2: “Treasonous” Leaky Gut

Part of the role of government is to protect our borders from foreign invaders. When someone entrusted with this job is bribed to deliberately allow an enemy to cross the border we would classify this as an act of treason.

Well, our small intestines have an important job to do in protecting the “border” of the body. They are supposed to absorb nutrients and help keep toxins and microbes out of the body. In fact, together with the skin, they are the body’s border and constitute a first line of defense against invasion. When the intestines become chronically inflamed due to environmental toxins, chronic yeast infections, parasites or other irritants, they become porous and allow toxins and microbes to enter into the body unchecked. This treasonous condition lis called Leaky Gut syndrome.

Leaky Gut is a major underlying factor in many chronic diseases, including arthritis, asthma, allergies, skin problems, and environmental illness. It is a major factor in fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, two of the major ailments associated with DSS.

Shady Hiatal Hernia works in collaboration with Treasonous Leaky Gut, so you have to get rid of Shady before you can permanently get rid of Treasonous. Remedies that help leaky gut include mucilaginous herbs like marshmallow and slippery elm. Hydrochloric acid supplementation may also be helpful. Black walnut and Una d'Gato (Cat's Claw) are often helpful. But, you'll need to make some dietary and lifestyle changes to really get this under control.

So, to get the full understanding of the treason caused by Leaky Gut and to learn how to create a healthy border guard for your body, read the articles Do Your Intestines Leak? and Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). You may also want to purchase the webinar Thomas Easly and I did on Assessing and Correcting SIBO and Leaky Gut.

Treasonous Leaky Gut is an accomplice of Shifty Environmental Toxins, so avoiding chemicals and doing a periodic cleanse is helpful. It’s also important to avoid some of the corrupting influence of drugs like antibiotics.

Secondary Accomplice #3: “Conspiring” Congested Liver

The skin and membranes form the first line of defense for the body’s “borders,” but the liver is the back-up system when these initial defenses become compromised. In modern society, this second line of defense is often compromised as well. Suffering from nutrient deficiencies and toxic overload, the liver “conspires” with the intestines to create internal toxicity which destroys our health.

This is one of the most overlooked factors in chronic illness because moderate liver dysfunction does not usually show up on laboratory tests. Some of the signs that the liver may be “conspiring” to create our chronic health problems include feeling nervous and irritable (especially in the evening), feeling groggy and tired in the morning (a kind of “hung-over” feeling), stuffiness and discomfort under the right rib cage, feeling bloated, experiencing frequent headaches or migraines, and a general vague feeling of ill health that is difficult to pinpoint.

When these symptoms are present, you probably need to give your liver a little support in the form of some alterative or blood purifying herbs like burdock, dandelion, red clover and milk thistle. There are are also supplements that aid liver detoxification like N-acytl-cysteine, Sam-e and alpha lipoic acid. You can read all about how to decongest your liver and help it protect your body better by reading The Lowdown on Liver Detoxification.

Secondary Accomplice #4: “Low Down” Adrenal Burn-Out

When people complain to me of fatigue coupled with restless sleep, I usually find that their energy and health are being robbed by Low Down Adrenal Burn-Out. In fact, next to a hiatal hernia, Low Down is the most common underlying cause of people’s chronic health problems.

The adrenal glands perform some important tasks in the body. They help give us energy to get things done. They regulate fluid and mineral balance. They also help regulate blood sugar. The adrenals play a role in immunity by helping to “cool down” excess inflammation. Most importantly, they help us adapt and cope with stress.

When we experience chronic stress, the adrenals take a hard hit. When this stress is combined with the use of stimulants like caffeine and sugar, the adrenals can become downright exhausted. Tired adrenals lead to lost energy and sleep. We start to feel “burned out” and lose the ability to cope with the everyday problems and stresses of life.

We can overcome this Low Down condition by using herbs and supplements to strengthen the adrenal glands. An adrenal glandular like NSP's Adrenal Support or an adaptagenic formula like NSP's Nervous Fatigue Formula are my favorite choices for getting rid of Low Down Adrenal Burn-Out

Secondary Accomplice #5: “Sluggish” Low Thyroid

At last, we come to our last health criminal on our Ten Most Wanted list—Sluggish Low Thyroid. He gets you down with depression, lack of sex drive, dry skin, weight gain, fatigue, and a host of other problems.

Low Down and Sluggish often work together to deplete your energy and undermine your health. Often, it is necessary to work on both at the same time to restore health. Sluggish Low Thyroid can be overcome with supplements that support the thyroid and supply iodine to the system or a thyroid glandular like Thyroid Support. Many people with fibromyalgia have benefited by taking black walnut, which helps leaky gut and low thyroid. Other options include seaweeds like kelp or liquid dulse. More potent iodine supplements like Lugol’s Solution or Iodoral are also available for more serious deficiencies.

Iodine is a vital nutrient for metabolizing fats and is essential not only for thyroid function but also for breast and reproductive health. Low iodine levels in the body may also be a factor in breast problems, including breast cancer, and in prostate and uterine cancers. Read the article Iodine Robbers for more information.

Thomas Easley and I also created a powerful class on helping the thyroid called Natural Approaches to Thyroid Disorders, which talks about the autoimmune and gut problems involved with low thyroid. I highly recommend watching it.

Don’t let these health criminals ruin your life. Act on probable cause and put a warrant out for their arrest. If your health improves as a result, you’ll prove to yourself that they are guilty of destroying your health and be motivated to lock them out for good.