Some of the biggest barriers to recovery from chronic fatigue-causing illnesses are silent foci of infection. The word ‘foci’ is the plural of the word ‘focus.’ A ‘focus of infection’ is defined as a localised area of infection whose effects extend to organs and tissues in the body that are distant from the site of the original infection.The most damaging foci are found in teeth and tonsils. In previous Newsletters, I have written extensively about dental foci of infection like root canal-treated teeth, cavitations (unhealed extraction sites which are sadly, very common) and periodontal (gum) disease and their effects on the entire body. In this Newsletter, I shall discuss foci of infections in tonsils and their role in disease.

Many people’s gums bleed when they brush their teeth and they think nothing of it. Yet, this is a big red flag for gum disease, known as periodontitis. Gum disease, in all its forms, including its most advanced CAP form (Chronic Apical Periodontitis) is responsible for causing a host of systemic diseases in addition to localised infections in gums, jawbone and teeth. CAP can be found in root canal-treated and non-root canal-treated teeth. Gum disease is just as much a whole body disease as diabetes or systemic lupus. The medical literature is quite clear about it: ignore the warning signs at your peril.

The goal of a dental root canal is to relive tooth pain and preserve your smile. During root canal treatment, inflamed or infected pulp is removed and the inside of the tooth is carefully cleaned and disinfected, then filled and sealed with a rubber-like material to preserve it, much like the ancient Egyptians preserved dead bodies by mummification. The tooth is then restored with a crown or filling for protection. The tooth is now pain free and ‘saved’, your smile is preserved, but at what risk to the rest of your body and your health?

When you have a dental extraction, what do you put in its place? The choices are a plastic tooth or denture - these can be a single tooth, a partial denture or a full denture when all the teeth are replaced in the arch. You can also have a bridge. You need two sides to hold it - I make a local analogy of the Devon and Cornwall sides of the Tamar Bridge - you need both. Or you can have an implant, the majority of which are made out of titanium alloy. At one time, it was thought that titanium implants were a good solution to missing teeth. However, in recent years, scientific evidence points to a number of health issues that can arise as a result of titanium dental implants. Fortunately, there are safe alternative solutions.

The EU Parliament has recently voted to ban the use of mercury in dental amalgam fillings from the 1st January, 2025. Current rules forbid the use of mercury in treating children under 5 and pregnant and breastfeeding women. In 2013, EU countries, including the UK, committed to the Minamata Convention, an international treaty to protect human health and the environment from the toxic damaging effects of mercury. In 1991, the World Health Organisation stated that the biggest human exposure to mercury was from amalgam fillings. This should be of concern to all health agencies and governments.

Oral health is a window into the general health of the patient. The medical literature from the last hundred years clearly shows that toxins and infections in the mouth infect and sicken the whole body. It is well known in dentistry and medicine that periodontal disease is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease. In no other bone in the body is the potential for trauma and infections as great as in the jawbone. I have been interested in oral health throughout my professional life following a resurgence in my own health after attending to my own dental pathology many years ago. Indeed, this was the turning point to a new career.

I needed to revisit my studies on potassium, heart health and electrolytes just before Christmas when my husband suffered a low-potassium induced cardiac arrest. Fortunately, he survived as he was in A and E at the time, which is the best place to have a cardiac arrest if you are going to have one! A year earlier, he suffered a single catastrophic blood clot in the main artery to the small intestine. Since that time, his nutrition, including electrolyte balance, has been severely compromised. This Newsletter covers why potassium should be closely monitored in all cardiac patients.

Over Christmas 2023, I watched the ITV 4 part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. This is a dramatisation of the true story of the British Post Office Scandal. It is an account of lies, deceit and miscarriage of justice worthy of a Sherlock Holmes spectacular. It follows the fight of one brave and dogged individual to uncover the truth behind the lies and cover-up of a big powerful corporation. The fight still goes on for many of the wrongly accused. Sadly, the Post Office is not the only corporation that covers up its mistakes to the detriment of the ordinary man, woman and child. I am sure you can think of a few more. The one I want to highlight in this Newsletter is the Scandal of Mould in Social Housing in Britain.

I would like to thank everybody who has used the Good Health Clinic during 2023. I look forward to continuing to help you with your health journey in 2024.

It is estimated that over two million people in the UK are suffering from Long Covid. Office of National Statistics figures show that one in five people with Long Covid had the infection over two years ago. This is a long-term problem that is likely to grow.

The 3 I’s that drive modern chronic disease are Infection, Inflammation and Immune dysregulation. ‘Dysregulation’ refers to lack of proper control of one’s immune system. Today, more and more people, including young people, are presenting with chronic fatigue, brain fog, anxiety and other issues which is hampering their lives. The 3 I’s are driving this epidemic. The key message is that if you have a chronic condition, you are unlikely to see improvement unless you address the 3 I’s.

The topic for this Newsletter is a conversation I have with nearly all my patients - it’s about the harmful effects of refined sugar, the excess sugar that nearly everybody is eating and the absolute need to wean yourself off sugar if you want to preserve or regain your health.

The majority of people turn to pills and supplements as a method of healthcare. In an era where ‘a pill for every ill’ is an advertising mantra, both the medical profession and public seem hypotised into thinking that the answers to disease lie in pills and, now vaccines. Many have lost sight of the fact that food is the most powerful medicine. It builds the foundation of how we look, the way we move, handle stress, and gives the energy with which we interact with others and much more.

Autumn is here and Winter is just round the corner. No doubt there will be new viruses for us to contend with or variations on the old ones! The incidence of colds and flu-like illness is already rising. Your own immune system is your best defence against any infection. Now is the time to get your Winter toolkit in place so you can help your immune system to do the job it was designed to do - defend you from pathogenic invaders! Here are a few tools I use in my First Aid Tool Kit for infections. Each tool is backed up by evidence in the scientific literature.

Autism is a condition that most often results from both epigenetic and intra-uterine environmental exposures (toxicity, infections and mum’s own antibodies that cross-react with central nervous system tissues of the developing baby in the womb). The term ‘epigenetic’ means how environmental exposures affect your genes.

The last few years have highlighted the vital necessity of dealing with chronic infections and an immune system which is too suppressed to work efficiently. Chronic infections and immune suppression are the major drivers for Long Covid and related syndromes with symptoms of chronic fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, aches and pains. Infections suck up our energy and make us feel tired. They all involve the 3 I’s - Infection, Inflammation and Immune suppression.

Matthew was a popular 18 year old. He loved his family, friends and life. He played sports and was looking forward to graduating from secondary school. Before his exams, he had trouble sleeping and was having bad dreams and panic attacks. His doctor prescribed Matthew the antidepressant Citalopram. Within days, Matthew’s personality changed. He was withdrawn, he no longer wanted to attend the school leavers' Graduate Beach Week. Instead, he left home and took his own life by jumping off a bridge.

Public Health England states that high blood pressure or hypertension is the third biggest risk factor for all diseases. High blood pressure is responsible for half of all strokes and heart attacks. It is a risk factor for heart disease, kidney disease and vascular dementia. It rarely has obvious symptoms; that is why it is called “the silent killer.” It is estimated that one in three adults in the UK has high blood pressure In England alone, it is estimated that there are more than five million people undiagnosed.

I see an increasing number of people who still have symptoms over three months after being infected with Sars CoV-2. This is called Long Covid. The most frequent symptoms are fatigue, brain fog and aches and pains. Studies like Patterson et al. (2022) suggest that Long Covid may affect up to 30% of infected individuals. The underlying mechanisms as to why this should be so are becoming more clear from the research.

Menopause is a natural event when a woman’s periods stop. However, since the first half of the twentieth century, it has become medicalised and treated as a disease by scientists, doctors and the pharmaceutical industry. In recent years, non-medically trained “celebrities" have gotten on the menopause bandwagon to promote the negative aspects of menopause and the expectation that HRT will provide all the answers.