Published: June 03, 2008 02:01 pm      

DELUCA: An itchy life lesson in self-medication

If you could have seen me a couple of days ago, it would have been hard for you not to laugh.

I was a mess.

My eyes were swollen, my hands looked like those plastic surgical gloves after somebody blows air into them, and I had giant hives over about 97 percent of my body. The especially itchy ones at my hairline were big enough to push my ears out and make me look like one of the seven dwarfs. I’m thinking Dopey.

I don’t know what motivated this attack of the giant hives. But I’m going to take a wild guess and say it was a week’s worth of enthusiastic self-medicating.

It was a simple little natural “food supplement” that got rave reviews from a natural medicine columnist I like to read in another paper.

Research at Oregon State and the University of Washington, she wrote, showed that this food supplement, which can be found in small doses in potatoes, green leafy vegetables and organ meats such as liver and kidneys, could — in larger daily doses — lower cholesterol levels, regulate blood sugar, increase energy, decrease weight gain and slow the progression of degenerative brain disease and even disarm free radicals that create disease. She referenced an article in the American Heart Association’s Medical Journal, Circulation.

So, I went out and got myself some alpha lipoic acid tablets. The vitamin store where I purchased them even had a laminated copy of the column at the counter. How can you not trust that?

You can only imagine the face of my doctor who stood and listened while I, fully engaged in an allergic reaction, detailed my own personal testing. To his credit he did not say don’t believe everything you read. He also did not say, “What are you, Dopey?”

Here’s the thing. In between my years as a mainstream journalist, I was an editor of at least three different magazines on alternative and natural medicines. While I think we have made amazing, miraculous strides in contemporary medicine, I like knowing about alternative medicines and concepts because they offer so many gentle, healthy compliments to fortify the body so that it is stronger in the face of all it has to fend off in today’s world.

That said, I don’t like to take vitamins or pills of any kind. I like most of my nutrients and supplements to come in the form of a good, healthy, crunchy, grainy, tree-hugging kind of diet. Supplemented only by lots of chocolate and an occasional Twinkie if I’m having a really bad day.

But, obviously my cravings for sweets gives me pause since I have a family history of diabetes and am already battling my cholesterol levels. I would love a little more energy — who wouldn’t? Even if alpha lipoic acid simply helped to stimulate my brain cells and battle off those crazy free radicals that cause so much damage ... how bad could that be?

For me, maybe just me and not anyone else, it could be bad. But my doctor assured me that we couldn’t really be sure of the cause of this allergic reaction. It could have been stress. It could have been something like a chemical or toxin I unknowingly exposed myself to. Or it could have been the alpha lipoic acid. So he said he could give me a shot of steroids or give them to me in pill form.

I looked at him, horrified, through my squinty little eyes. “Steroids?” Hey, I read the papers. Even though I don’t plan a pro baseball career, I know steroids are dangerous. I told the doctor I didn’t know if I wanted to put steroids into my body. “Why don’t I just take the prescription home with me and if this gets any worse, I’ll have it filled.”

To his credit, he did not wince or question my medical school credentials. He simply looked at me and slowly said, “Not all steroids are bad steroids.” Offering no further advice, he filled out the script and took his leave. Whether he pounded his head against the hallway wall, I’ll never know.

So, anyway, after two days of exhaustion from all that in-fighting in my body, which was swollen like a tackle dummy, I went on steroids and the swelling immediately started to subside. The family was over for the Memorial Day cookout and I was buzzing around like Rachel Ray on, well, steroids. And I’ve come to one conclusion.

I like being strong and well. But I want to do it the hard way. I have made a little mid-year resolution. I want to exercise and eat right more often. And I want to sign up for another yoga class and try a little bit harder to start meditating again and even start lifting weights.

And, I have a new blog. One of the things I want to talk with you about is how you stay healthy in mind, body and spirit. Come join me at Niagara Living: The Blog (NiagaraLiving.wordpress.com) and let’s share ideas with each other, successes and questions and tips about places we can go in the Niagara region and experts around here who can help!

In the meantime, we’re planning a special bi-monthly health section pullout, starting in July’s edition of Niagara Living, called Niagara Living: Health and Beauty, just to get this party started.

Because, here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It matters how well you are. You can’t control many things in life, but you can try every day to make your body a little more strong and healthy so that when it’s faced with illness or disease, it has a greater facility to battle back.

Once I’m off these steroids, and sleeping through the night again, it is game on for me.



Contact Michele DeLuca at 693-1000, ext 157 or e-mail delucam@gnnewspaper.com.