A Time For Transformation: A Short Film By The McCombs Center For Health

We’re proud to announce our new short film, A Time For Transformation.

Watch the short 2-minute trailer here:

Visit our website to enjoy the full-length video (about 33 minutes):

http://ATimeForTransformation.com

“A Time for Transformation” was born out of our desire to share who we are and why we do what we do. We believe health is inherent in all of us, and that health and hope go hand-in-hand.

There are many pathways to health and living a life of infinite possibility. Our hope is that this film encourages you to take your first step, or shines some light on the path you’ve already chosen.

Whatever step you choose, we support you and wish you the very best in health.

– The McCombs Center for Health Family

The Adventures of a Preterm Daddy: Part I

As we sat with my family at Thanksgiving last year, my wife announced that we were going try to get pregnant. This was happy news for my mother who has been waiting for her 50 year old son to contribute to the family line like my two sisters and brother have done previously some 20-30 years earlier. Little did we know that as we sat there, she was already 1-2 weeks along in her pregnancy. Three store-bought, do-it-yourself pregnancy tests later in the first half of December, and we find out that she’s pregnant. This celebrated news was followed up a couple of weeks later with new information that we were having twins, courtesy of a diagnostic ultrasound scan due to some concerns of her doctor at that time. 

A diagnostic ultrasound in our family is not a choice taken lightly. I’m a 3^rd generation Doctor of Chiropractic, never vaccinated as a child, grew up on vitamins with each meal and weekly if not daily adjustments. Ultrasound is a type of radiation that can be used therapeutically or diagnostically. My educational and clinical experience with ultrasound has been as a therapy. Ultrasound produces sound waves (a type of radiation) that pass through the tissues. The tissue’s resistance to and absorption of these waves causes heating of the tissues and some other metabolic effects that can be desirable in promoting healing. Therapeutic ultrasound is not recommended during pregnancy, over tissues such as the eyes, heart, spinal column, growing bones, testes, epiphyseal plates, carotid sinuses, cervical stellate ganglion, and vagus nerve. Although you may not be familiar with these anatomical tissues, they are all found in developing babies and everyone else. Given my clinical experience, I naturally questioned its use as a diagnostic tool. This philosophy of questioning comes from a statement found in the Hippocratic Oath that I took upon graduation from school that states, “First do no harm.” It’s the responsibility of a doctor to always assess the methods being used to determine that there is no harm being done to the patient as a result of medications or procedures.  

Diagnostic ultrasound uses a similar frequency range, much like sonar on a submarine, to produce images. It is used to screen for abnormalities of the developing fetus. For more information on the benefits and risks of ultrasound, visit – http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/. Like therapeutic ultrasound, the resistance to and absorption of the sound waves, plays a role in the creation of the images. To me, this indicates some degree of heating of the tissues in a developing baby. Is this enough to create some type of damage to the baby? Currently, the risks are not considered to be relevant but the US National Institute of Health recommends against its use in routine scanning of the fetus and developing embryo and ‘although its use doesn’t appear to be associated with any known hazards, investigators should continue to evaluate risks.’ Hmmm.  

Additionally, some research points to correlations between diagnostic ultrasound and the Autism/Aspergers spectrum of developmental disorders. The bottom line on ultrasound is that it should be used based on a ‘benefit vs. risk’ assessment, a term that I’ll talk more about later. Most doctors and sonogram technicians oppose its use by moms who want to have periodic pictures to show everyone. To me, its use is a big question mark that may or may not have complications years later. 

Okay, well we had one ultrasound that seemed to be necessary, but we decide that we probably won’t elect to have any others unless absolutely necessary. There is a saying that goes something like this, “Man plans, God laughs.” During the course of our journey through this pregnancy, we will seem to keep God amused.

 

My wife’s 1^st obstetrics doctor recommended a list of questionable procedures (amniocentesis, CVS, Rhogam vaccine) and handed us a couple of boxes of prenatal vitamins. Medical doctors get about 5 hours of training in nutrition during medical school. This was very apparent by the box of vitamins that we were handed. The prenatal vitamin’s list of nutrients and additional ingredients consisting of synthetic dyes, synthetic nutrients, chemical fillers, and toxic fats were quickly donated to the trash can in his waiting room on our way out of his office. It was time to ask around for references and interview a few OB doctors.  

Obstetrics (OB) is surgical specialty dealing with the care of women and their children during pregnancy. Although our intention is to have a natural home birth attended by a midwife, we will still need an OB doctor and a hospital as a back-up. This is common practice in California for parents who choose homebirths. Unfortunately, twin homebirths in California is against the law and a midwife who attends one can end up in jail. This was interesting since other states allow this practice which dates back to the beginning of man. Concerns about the possible complications associated with mothers carrying multiple babies however, means that this is left to the hospitals and obstetrics doctors in California. I’m not sure if this is a policy based on previous experience or a philosophy of better safe than sorry. 

We consider traveling out of state to Tennessee where the midwife of midwives, Ina May Gaskin, holds court when she’s not teaching midwives and doctors across the country. They inform us that they like to have couples come 6 weeks before the due date and if our babies don’t make it to 34 weeks gestation and decide to come out early, we would end up going to a hospital in Tennessee. Since twins seem to have a habit of coming early, this option doesn’t sound too inviting. Given the logistics and hassles of travel and the possibility of an early delivery, we opt for a natural delivery at an LA hospital attended by an OB doctor, a midwife, and 2 or 3 other people. It’s not home, but we want to make it as intimate as possible. I thought I heard God laughing? 

We selected our OB doctor, Jessica Schneider, MD and our midwife was Elizabeth Bachner. Dr. Schneider wants an ultrasound every month once we hit 20 weeks, but we decide on one detailed anatomical ultrasound at 20 weeks and then one just before birth to determine positioning of the babies. This approach was also recommended by an assistant to Ina May Gaskins and it sounds good to us. The ultrasound comes back normal and we begin to make all of the necessary arrangements. 

We have a doctor and a midwife, and my wife has become a walking encyclopedia on pregnancy, twins, and birth. She’s exercising every day, eating well, taking her vitamins, and spending quiet time with herself and the babies. Her due date is mid-August and so in late April we settle into what we expect to be a nice long pregnancy…and God giggles.

God’s Hybrid

 

Somewhere along the primordial way, a bunch of micro-organisms became enclosed by, fewer in number, but larger “tissue” cells and the evolutionary race was on. This co-operative, bi-partisan effort allowed both types of cells to emerge from the primordial goo and the foundation for the human race was set. Through time, dinosaurs, and an ice age or two, this Human/Bacterial (HumBac) hybrid was able to go a lot farther than either party could have gone on their own.

 

Today’s hybrid, you and I, are now more bacterial than human. It’s estimated that there are approximately 10 trillion human cells wrapped around a digestive system containing 100 trillion cells composed of bacteria, virus, fungi, mold, parasites, and others who have come along for the ride. Of course the human cells have evolved to send emails, text, watch TV, and many other “human” things. The bacterial guys, well they’ve evolved into a cohesive force that involves themselves in the more mundane issues of life and death.

 

Dr. Bernard Jensen once said that, “Death begins in the colon.” If that’s true, then life begins in the small intestine, or maybe even the stomach. The foods that we eat bring with them the nutrients that we need to survive and function on a daily basis. They also bring with them, other organisms who ride along on their meal tickets trying to crash the party. It’s up to the 100 trillion cells living in our guts to weed out the bad guys, and process the nutrients for us to function normally.

 

The digestive tract is an intricate ballet of organisms, pH, enzymes, nutrients, peptides, and hormones in a dance with its human interface of cells, nerves, blood, lymph, and other fluids. Centuries of evolution have created a delicate synergism that we tend to take for granted. The Ecosystem of the digestive tract is a harmonious balance of craziness. Disturb this balance, and one fruitcake can terrorize the entire HumBac world, causing it to live in fear for its life.

 

A good example of how this happens is when we take antibiotics. “Anti” means against, and “biotic” means life. For those paying attention, this should be a big clue. Today’s powerful antibiotics have been likened to a terrorist opening fire in a crowded market. The good and the bad both perish. The killing is indiscriminate. In the intestinal world of bacteria et al, this creates chaos, and in the midst of the chaos, a lunatic can take control. The one “lunatic” that commonly follows this scenario is fungal candida. In its normal form in a balanced digestive system, it is a yeast that contributes to the overall health of the system. In its Dr. Jekyll-to-Mr. Hyde transformation, it becomes an invasive fungal organism which further destroys more bacteria and crosses over into the human cells creating havoc and chaos. This seems only fitting, in a way, since a fungal toxin was the first antibiotic and many antibiotics are potentized derivatives of fungal toxins.

 

Antibiotics have been justly credited for saving lives, but they have also needlessly taken lives. Many people die each year from reactions to antibiotics. Well over 140,000 people report to hospitals each year from adverse reactions to antibiotics. Some people experience permanent disability. Everyone who has taken antibiotics will have altered the delicate balance of the digestive tract and the role it plays in our health for years to come.

 

When antibiotics were first used, it was a common practice to be prescribed probiotics (“pro” meaning for) to be taken along with the antibiotics. This wise practice fell along the way for some reason. It needs to be reinstated. Probiotics can help to minimize some of the negative effects of antibiotics. Protecting our natural resources is something that is important to all of us.

 

A digestive tract that is in a state of imbalance can lead to: digestive diseases; inflammation throughout the body; depression; arthritis; hormonal imbalances; headaches; skin conditions; rapid aging; fatigue; brain fog; and a host of other problems that involves every human cell, tissue, and organ. For those who have taken antibiotics, this imbalance needs to be reversed.

 

We need to pay more attention to the 100 trillion fellow passengers that accompany us on our journey through life.  We need to be mindful of what goes into the body via liquids, foods, and the air we breathe. Our fellow passengers require nutrient-dense foods and periodic detoxification to assist them with the vital roles they play for us.

 

John Knowles, the former President of the Rockefeller put it well when he said, “The next major advance in the health of the American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself.”

 

So whether we’re God’s hybrid or Darwin’s HumBac, we need to exhibit a conscious mastery of managing this intricate interrelationship of life, or its back to the goo, or worse, to the doctor.

 

Dr. Jeffrey S. McCombs, DC, is a 3^rd generation Doctor of Chiropractic, author of the book: LifeForce, and developer of the Life Force Plan. His 25 years of ongoing research and practice emphasizes addressing the nutritional, environmental, emotional, structural, and biochemical aspects of acute and chronic health conditions in his patients.

He can be reached at www.mccombsplan.com, 888.236.7780.