Dyingman 130: If at first you don't succeed, tri, tri-closan.

Hello again Dyingfans!

In Dyingman 88: Unhealthy Odor, I relay the discovery of athlete's foot and it's unfortunate pungent consequences. (anyone having lunch when they read this?) Also in the article I explain that the foot is home to multiple microbial populations only one of which is the fungus that caused me problems. The best way to eliminate the condition is to selectively crowd out the microbes you don't want. The microbes compete for the moisture and dead skin food of your feet so a careful attack against fungus allows benign bacteria to gain an edge and out-compete the fungus.

People will often treat their athlete's foot with an anti-fungal agent which doesn't hurt bacteria. I'm about to warn you of how you could be sabotaging this otherwise sensible plan of attack. Anti-fungal agents will only work if bacteria arew allowed to grow on teh foot and while you're stopping fungal growth, you may not be allowing bacteria to grow into their place. (SOMETHING is going to grow wherever you have moisture, dead skin, and dark, i.e. the inside of your shoe, so you need to encourage the stuff that isn't a nuisance to take over.

America's refusal to be at peace with bacteria has driven them to become enamored of the antimicrobial agent, triclosan. This stuff does a number on bacteria which peoplke think is a good thing, but if you're washing your feet with soap that has triclosan, you're limiting bacterial growth just when you want the bacteria to take the place of Athlete's foot fungus.

I did an experiemtn where i would treat the athlete's foot area with alcohol then avoid the area when washing my feet. Lo and behold, as hoped, the athlete's foot cleared up WITHOUT anti-fungal agent. The area I needed to treat with alcohol got smaller and smaller until I didn't need it at all. Days later, I washed the area that had been infected and the athlete's foot stayed away.

Triclosan interferes with our skin's normal bacterial biochemistry and invites new microbial forms to take root. I'm a bit of a fan of letting nature run its machinery the way it likes to when I'm healthy so I sought out soap without triclosan. It's not terribly easy. Americans hate germs slightly less than al queda largely because bacteria have lousy PR. Bacteria produce vitamin K in our gut and break down soluble fiber into useful compounds that keep LDL cholesterol in check. We hate the little guys, but they aren't petty enough to hate us back. 99% pure Ivory at last check had no triclosan and neiother does very cheap Jergen's soap. You may find your skin behaves itself better when bacteria are permitted to spread their shielding of living armor all over you protecting you from weaker, but pathogenic fungi and hostile bacteria.

Turns out, my instincts look to be spot on: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/07/05/scientists-discover-that-antimicrobial-wipes-and-soaps-may-be-making-you-and-society-sick/

"Aiello focused on studies that compared different strategies, for example the use of normal soap versus the use of antibiotic soap, in terms of their effect on the probability of developing gastrointestinal or respiratory illness ... for chronically sick patients (those with asthma and diabetes, for example) antibiotic soaps were actually associated with increases in the frequencies of fevers, runny noses and coughs."

So, folks, if you want to be healthy, make friends with your germs. You don't have a choice in the matter. If you don't choose some friends, your enemies will find it that much easier to kill you.

*DM

Next: Spike!

THE CHART: My Grade: A Workout Partner's Grade: B (making the effort lately)

Blood Pressure n/a

Bmi 26.1

RECENT SYMPTOMS : Weak knees. Weak left arm. ONGOING SYMPTOMS: Weak knees, Pain in right knee when kneeling and shifting knee to the right. Hyperhidrosis. DIAGNOSES: Unknown injury to right knee, possible impact from small stumble (c. 2006) onto landing of concrete stairs. Injured knee joints from sprinting (c. 2007) Tendon rupture in left elbow. (November 2010) ONGOING TREATMENTS: Alternating dental & periodontal visits every four months, exercise program including high tension stationary cycling for leg muscle development and joint stabilization DRUG REGIMENS: Aspartame. (4 diet sodas daily) Caffeine (three cups of coffee daily, 3 of the 4 sodas caffeinated) PROGNOSIS: Gradual decay of knee function. POTENTIAL TREATMENTS: Fish Oil supplements. Axillary vacuum curettage, laser eye surgery. Altered high-fiber diet. Soluble fiber supplement.