I know you work hard to make the best lifestyle choices, so you can improve your health, destiny, and longevity. And there's lots of information out there on how to do just that. So where do you start? Well, we start with the facts. Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger. My job is to bring you the latest peer-reviewed nutrition and health research, and share it with you here. It's time for the Nutrition Facts Grab Bag, where we look at the latest science on a whole variety of topics. In our first story, fasting, followed by a plant-based diet, is put to the test for treating autoimmune inflammatory joint disease. Alan Goldhammer is the founder of the True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, California, which has fasted 10,000 people for conditions ranging from diabetes and cardiovascular disease to autoimmune diseases. He noted that conditions that seem to be tied to dietary excess tend to respond predictably to the use of fasting, followed by a health-promoting diet, which he describes as a low salt, all plant, high fiber, low fat, low protein, and low sugar diet. This approach offers people an option to eliminate the cause of lifestyle diseases, often to the point where the medication is no longer needed, in contrast to conventional medicine, which is more about the suppression of the symptoms associated with the disease, rather than removing the underlying root cause.   Preliminary data suggests fasting may benefit metabolic diseases, pain syndromes, high blood pressure, chronic inflammatory diseases, allergic diseases, and psychosomatic disorders. But the highest level of evidence we have for the benefits of fasting are in regards to rheumatic diseases, autoimmune inflammatory joint diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis. Nearly a century ago, it was written that diet treatment is not generally recognized by the medical profession as one of the weapons with which to attack such diseases. This attitude persisted until relatively recently, but a systematic review of controlled trials has since shown a statistically and clinically significant beneficial long-term effect. Rheumatoid arthritis is a well-known genetic component, but the concordance rate, the chance that a pair of identical twins both get it when one has it, is probably under 30%, despite having the same genes leaving 70% to be explained by non-genetic factors. Even if we don't know exactly what those factors are, fasting has been compared to rebooting the hard drive in a computer. Sometimes, a drive gets corrupted and you don't know exactly what the problem is, but if you just turn it off and reboot it, that corruption may get cleared out. The evidence base started with case reports, fasting followed by a plant-based diet. Remarkable reports of years of pain and stiffness gone within a week, and more importantly, stayed gone on the healthier diet. One after another like that, but case reports are just glorified anecdotes. I mean, there have been studies going back decades suggesting fasting may represent the most rapid available way to induce relief of arthritic pain and swelling for patients who have rheumatoid arthritis, but the studies often failed to have control for the placebo effect, which is especially important when it comes to relying on self-reported subjective symptoms such as pain and general well-being. But there are objective measures, lab tests of inflammation that don't appear to be affected by placebos, and that's what you can see in control trials, starting immediately and remaining down for at least a year. Ten different measures of inflammation significantly decreased after the fasting subsequent meat and egg-free diet, whereas none of the parameters budged in those disease victims that continued to eat their regular diets. And the squelching of inflammation translated into a significant reduction in pain, morning stiffness, a loss of grip strength, and a number of tender and swollen joints. Even a year after the trial was over, those who benefited from the diet continued to benefit in terms of pain, stiffness, tender and swollen joints, presumably because they stuck with it. There's little doubt that while fasting, both inflammation and pain are relieved, but if you go back to the same diet you were on before, the inflammation returns on less, evidently, the fasting period followed by a vegetarian diet. Why might that be? Well, it could be due to the changes in the microbiome, the improvement in symptoms coincided with a significant alteration of the intestinal flora, which may somehow be beneficial, perhaps by strengthening the gut barrier. You know fasting can decrease the leakiness of the gut in rheumatoid arthritis patients, but we don't yet know what role, if any, it plays in the disease process. It could be as simple as icostinol, the mediator of inflammation that are formed from arachidonic acid. Arachidonic acid is a long-chain inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid found in animal fats. The biggest contributors are chicken and eggs, which together contribute nearly half of American intake. That's been suggested as an explanation of why those eating more plant-based appear to have better mental health. They're not suffering the cascade of neuro-inflammation caused by arachidonic acid. While removing eggs, chicken, and other meat was shown in a randomized control trial to improve mood, suggesting the arachidonic acid might be negatively impacting mood states and may help explain the impact of more plant-based diets on inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. So that may help explain why maintaining a plant-based diet appears to be necessary after the fast to prevent the recurrence of symptoms and inflammatory activity. Or as one popular press article put it, fasting may just be a tool to get you to radically kick-start a change in the way you eat. Next up, we look at how to reverse heart failure with diet. It is a hopeful sign of the times when entire issues of cardiology journals are not just dedicated to nutrition, but to plant-based diets in particular. Dr. Williams passed president of the Merrin College of Cardiology and starts out with a quote attributed to Schopenhauer. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as like, well, duh, and the truth for the benefits of plant-based diets. Plant-based nutrition continues to mount. The evidence we got, the problem is the inertia. Culture, habit, and widespread marketing of unhealthy foods. Our goal must be to get the data out to the medical community and the public working and actually change lives. That's like my personal life's mission in four words. Get the data out, right? Based on what we already know in the existing medical literature, plant-based nutrition clearly represents the single most important yet underutilized opportunity to reverse the pending obesity and diabetes-induced epidemic of morbidity and mortality, meaning disease and death. The issue included your typical heart disease reversal cases. 77-year-old woman with heart disease so bad she couldn't walk more than a half block or go up a single flight of stairs, severe blockages, and all three of her main arteries and referred to open-heart surgery for a bypass. She chose, however, instead to adopt a whole-food plant-based diet, which included all vegetables, fruits, whole grains, potatoes, beans, legumes, and nuts. Even though she said she was trying to eat pretty healthy before, within a single month of going plant-based, her symptoms had nearly resolved. And forget about a block. She was able to walk on a treadmill for up to 50 minutes without just chest discomfort or becoming out of breath. Her cholesterol dropped about 100 points from around 220 down to 120 with an LDL under 60. But then, a few months later, she must have started missing her chicken, fish, and low-fat dairy and went back to her prior eating habits and within a few weeks. With no change in her meds or anything, her chest pain was back and she went on to have her chest soared in half. After all, then she continued to eat the same diet that contributed to the cause of her disease in the first place and went on to have further disease progression. This one, though, has a happier ending. Started out the same 60-year-old men's severe chest pain after as little as a half block, decided to take control of his health destiny and switched to a whole-food plant-based diet from his, quote-unquote, healthy diet of skinless chicken, fish, low-fat dairy that had been choking off his heart and within a few weeks, the same amazing transformation from not being able to exercise at all to walking a mile to then being able to jog more than four miles completely asymptomatic off all drugs, no surgery, off to live happily ever after. Now, of course, case reports are just really glorified anecdotes. I mean, what we need is a randomized controlled trial to prove heart disease can be reversed with lifestyle changes alone and guess what? There was one published literally 30 years ago proving angiographic reversal of heart disease in 82% of the patients opening up heartaches without drugs, without surgery. So these case reports are just to remind us that hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to needlessly die every year from what was proven to be a reversible condition decades ago. The conventional use of case reports, though, is to present some novel results in hopes of inspiring trials to put it to the test. For example, a case report on a plant-based diet for congestive heart failure. So not just coronary artery disease, but the heart muscle itself was so weakened it couldn't efficiently pump blood, only able to eject about 35% of the blood in the main heart chamber with every beat, whereas normally the heart can pump out at least half, which is exactly what his heart was able to do just six weeks after switching to a whole food plant-based diet, instead of choosing to get his chest cracked open. The first report of an improvement in heart failure following adoption of a plant-based diet, but not the last 54-year-old woman obese type 2 diabetic presenting with swelling ankles due to her heart failure. She switched from her chicken infusion to whole plant foods. She started out eating healthier and lost 50 pounds, reversed her diabetes, meaning normal blood sugars on a normal diet without the use of diabetes medications, and her heart function normalized, from an abysmal ejection fraction of just 25% up to normal. Since this is not a randomized controlled trial, all we can say is that her improvements coincided with her adoption of a whole food plant-based diet, but given the burden of heart failure as a leading cause of death, how it just usually gets progressively worse and the overall evidence to date, a plant-based diet should be considered as part of heart failure care. And look, we already know it can reverse her coronary artery disease, and so any heart failure benefits would just be a bonus. Now, we just need good strategies for healthcare practitioners to support patients in plant-based eating. Here are some excellent suggestions to pause and reflect on. For example, doctors can use the Plantrition Project's prescription pads and prescribe a good website or two. While it is certainly true that many people would be resistant to fundamental dietary changes, look, it's equally true that, look, millions of intelligent people motivated to preserve their health are now taking halfway measures that may provide only modest benefit, right? Choosing leaner cuts of meat, using reduced fat dairy products, right? Most of these people have neither the time nor the training to actually see what the science shows themselves, right? Don't they deserve honest, forthright advice when their lives are at stake? I mean, those who wish to ignore that advice or implement it only partially, certainly at liberty to do so, right?  It's your body, your choice, right? It's up to each of us to make our own decisions as to, you know, what to eat and how to live, but we should make these choices consciously, right? Educating ourselves about the predictable consequences of our actions. Finally today, we look at the health benefits of pole walking. Let me explain. Exercise recommendations for obesity have been referred to as the mysterious case of a public health guideline that is almost entirely ignored. Governmental, scientific, and professional organizations call for at least an hour of exercise a day for weight management, but almost no obese adults meet this target. Surveys suggest American men and women watch TV 10 times more than they exercise it for obese Americans. It may be even worse. Just 2% even reach 30 minutes a day, and the percentage exceeding an hour a day is expected to be close to zero. Why don't obese individuals exercise more? How about we just ask them? When questioned, obese adults typically describe exercise as being unpleasant, uncomfortable, and unenjoyable. How can we break this vicious cycle where inactivity can lead to weight gain, which can lead to further inactivity, even more weight gain? The first thing to recognize is that it is normal and natural to be physically lazy, right? Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolutions. The title of a famous essay written by a noted geneticist, Laziness is in our genes. We evolved to instinctually avoid unnecessary exertion to conserve energy for survival and reproduction. These days, there's no shortage of available fuel, yet the hardwired inertia remains. Our ancient ancestors exercised only when it was necessary or when it was fun as a form of play. Just like dietary change for weight control, the only way exercise is going to work long term is if it becomes a stable lifelong habit. Exercise is really only effective if it's sustainable. So we need to restructure our surroundings to require more physical activity, like using a treadmill desk, and figure out how to make exercise more enjoyable. It should just be like, you know, walking the park. Literally, perhaps. Wise advice from a 1925 medical journal entry. The best prescription to be written for a walk is to take a dog and a friend. Listening to your favorite music might also help. Music has been described as a legal method for improving peak performance and, more importantly, the enjoyment of high intensity interval training. During exercise, listening to a preferred playlist can significantly reduce your rate of perceived exertion, which is how hard you feel your body is working. Put severely obese youth on a treadmill and have them go into exhaustion with or without music, and those listening to their favorite tunes tended to make it about 5% longer. This was chalked up to attentional distraction. The music may have just helped them keep their mind off of the feelings of fatigue. I mean, if that's the case, maybe listening to a podcast or audiobook might have a similar effect. One way to up your walking game is with walking poles. So-called Nordic walking, also known as exerstriding, or Viking hiking, was originally developed in Scandinavia to maintain a cross-country ski athlete's training in the summer. But it's since gained in popularity worldwide as a general fitness activity. The augmented engagement of the upper body musculature may result in an 18-22% increased calorie expenditure over walking alone, depending on your pole handling technique. The question I wanted to know for my new book, though, does that actually translate into accelerated weight loss? Before and after studies demonstrate weight loss with pole walking compared to a sedentary control, what about compared to regular walking? Of the four such studies I could locate, comparing thrice weekly 40-60-minute sessions of Nordic walking compared to regular walking, every single one found no significant difference in body fat measures, after 8 weeks, 12 weeks, or 13 weeks. There are certainly other benefits over regular walking, such as increased upper body muscle bulk, muscular endurance, and strength, though not as much as resistant span training. But to date, there's no evidence for a weight loss enhancing effect, which is why Nordic walking didn't make the cut for my new book. But just as we were going to press it, this study was published the first ever to combine Nordic walking with diet, compared to the same dietary program with regular walking, and once again, no significant difference in body weight, or anything else. Now there was a hint that those in the pole group enjoyed it more, and in the end, right, exercise only works, if you do it. And there may be other benefits. Nordic walking beat out regular walking in terms of reducing symptoms of depression and improving sleep quality. Perhaps this should not be surprising, giving the greater exercise intensity of Nordic walking, even approaching that of jogging at higher speeds. And that's where I see the role of walking poles, to fill the intensity gap between people who are ready to graduate from walking, but not yet ready for more rigorous activities such as running. The only potential downsides are the added expense, and reminded of Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks, sketch the indignity of looking a bit ridiculous. We would love it if you could share with us your stories about reinventing your health through evidence-based nutrition. Go to nutritionfacts.org slash testimonials. We may share it on our social media to help inspire others. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, or studies mentioned here, please go to the Nutrition Facts podcast landing page there. You'll find all the detailed information you need, links to all the sources we cite for each of these topics. For a vital, timely text on the pathogens that cause pandemics, you can order the e-book, audiobook, or the hard copy of my last book, How to Survive a Pandemic. For recipes, check out my new How Not to Diet Cookbook. It's beautifully designed with more than 100 recipes for delicious and nutritious meals. And all proceeds ever seen from the sales of all my books goes to charity. Nutritionfacts.org itself is a non-profit, science-based public service, where you can sign up for free daily updates on the latest in nutrition research via bite-sized videos and articles. Everything on the website is free. There's no ads, no corporate sponsorship. It's strictly non-commercial. I'm not selling anything. I just put it up as a public service, as a labor of love, as a tribute to my grandmother, whose own life was saved with evidence-based nutrition.


The spectacular wide field image shows the area around the star R Corona Australis. A huge dust cloud about eight light years long dominates the center of the image. At its tip in the upper right is a group of lovely reflection nebula. It is the smaller yellowish nebula that surrounds the young variable star R Corona Australis. Here's a close-up image that shows the dramatic effects of very young stars on the dust and gas from which they were born. The baby stars themselves are invisible in this picture, being hidden behind the dust clouds at the upper left. But the material they are ejecting is crashing into the surroundings at speeds that can reach 800,000 kilometers per hour. That's a half a million miles per hour. These shock waves cause the gas to shine and create the strangely colored glowing arcs and blobs known as erbic, horo, or HH objects.


Germany says that Scholes's visit to China prevented Russia's nuclear strike on Ukraine. Western media, including German, reported that in 2022 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Beijing and helped convince Chinese leader Xi Jinping to influence Putin not to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. But build publication disagrees with such statements. Earlier, the leader of the SPD faction in the Bundestag, Rolf Mutszenik, said that Ukraine and the rest of Europe should thank Scholes as his visit helped prevent a possible Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine on Putin's orders. However, build notes that its columnist Philip Piatov casts doubt on this and recalls that earlier the US media had written that in the autumn of 2022, the US feared a nuclear strike by Russia against Ukraine. China was involved in preventing it. After Olaf Scholz's visit to Beijing, the Chinese authorities called for the non-use of nuclear weapons. As early as 2022, the American media wrote that Scholes's role in Beijing was minimal and that he only passed on information from Washington. In response to Bill's request, the Chancellor's office quoted his words from November 2022 after a meeting with Xi Jinping. In Beijing, I asked President Xi to use his influence on Russia. On one hand, the Americans threatened the Russian Federation. On the other hand, and the Chancellor was involved in this, we managed to get China and India to sign a declaration in which they spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in general and in Ukraine in particular. Olaf Scholz certainly contributed to the change in China's position. But in any case, Scholz did not prevent a nuclear war, as there were no signs that a nuclear strike was imminent. Military expert Carlo Masala, a professor at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, told Build. Earlier, it was reported that if the Russian president believes that it is enough for him to just sit out this war and we will weaken our support, then he miscalculated. Also, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the creation of a long-range rocket artillery coalition for Ukraine, and the Bundestag reported that Scholz would eventually provide Ukraine with Taurus missiles. France raises terrorism threat level. Threat of the Islamic state is rising again. France has raised the terrorism alert level across the country following an attack on a packed music venue in Russia, which left 137 people dead. Last Friday, four Tajik nationals opened fire inside the Kroger City Hall outside Moscow and set the building on fire. All terrorists were later detained while attempting to flee by car to Ukraine, according to President Vladimir Putin. The jihadist group Islamic State Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for the attack. Moscow has so far not confirmed the group's involvement. Following the attack in Moscow, the French President has convened a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council this evening. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X. In light of the Islamic State's claim that it was responsible for the attack and the threats looming over our country, we have decided to raise the Vidi Pirate Plan to the highest level, the Prime Minister added. France has been living under reinforced security measures since the series of terrorist attacks in January 2015, when a group of Islamists killed 17 people in Paris and its suburbs. The government responded by enacting Operation Sentinel, which saw the deployment of armed soldiers to patrol the French capital. One of the deadliest Islamist attacks in recent memory came in November 2015, when suicide bombers and gunmen killed 130 people in Paris. For many, the horrors of Islamic State ended when US-led military campaign collapsed, the group's self-styled caliphate in 2019. But five years later, tens of thousands of civilians are still being kept in camps, including the al-Hol, which are filled with the families of Islamic State militants and others inadvertently swept up in the chaos of northeast Syria. In front of the Krokas City Hall shopping center, where the terrorist incident took place in the Moscow region of Russia, the memory of those who died in the incident was commemorated.  Crane's action was held in memory of the dead in different cities of Russia. Images of the actions were shown on the screen and stalled in front of Krokas City Hall, but it should be noted that on March 22, more than 130 people were killed and more than 150 were injured during the terrorist attack that took place in the Krokas City Hall shopping center. As a result of the fire, the concert hall where the incident took place collapsed.


Welcome back to The Eats Arcute. I hope you're having a good time and remember we are playing Kenyan music on Lee. Izo rikwa slingine tafazali jese njumbani. For now this is Kenyan music. I go by the name Eve Nyaga if you're just joining us. This is The Eats Arcute and like I always say we do not only entertain you up a single ma peke ake kujibamba. We also educate you and right about now our first guest is in studio. He goes by the name Benson and he'll be talking to us about rare diseases and more specifically about miastinia gravis or mg. He'll be telling us about his story, the treatment of the disease and more about the disease. Welcome to the studio. Good morning everyone. Good morning. How are you? Yes fine fine. Yes my name is Benson Karanja. I am here to represent layer diseases in Kenya. They are all over the world. Layer is many. There are many conditions such as miastinia gravis which I am representing. We have rupas. It's somehow common, more common. We also have a necropsy. We have fibromagia. All these are fibromagia is close to miastinia gravis. Okay so tell us about miast gravis. What is it? What it affects? mg is a muscular disorder. It is a muscle disease.  The muscles that you can be able to control. Just get weak from nowhere. Just wake up in the morning when you are in a coma and you are in a coma. When you are in a coma you are in a coma. And it gets to a level that it gets to a serious level. So when it gets to that level that is an emergency. That is why it is called life threatening? Life threatening. And you see the problem with these layer conditions what was here lewi. So people believe these are cultural issues. We are Africans. What we are to say ma, nyu chawi. When we are to say ma, kusiju kuna traditions as jafanyu hivi hivi. That is the most interpretation of people. So you find in high school nanda pahali miamuka kwa assembly and people will think we were nashida. Ali log wa kwa. Ali log wa mibia tawasi miakun rago something. So at what point were you diagnosed? What will you diagnose? What point with mg? I work at Mombasa. I'm a Rectural Technical University of Mombasa. So I just went to work as normal. I came from Nairobi and went to Mombasa. So as I was going to work, kafika kazi ni kahanza machu haiaoni. Nikahanza kwa kupimo machu kuli kwa na nini. Are you only like mimefungika? What happens to the eyes? Machu wena guka. Ini ni the eyes inna funga hivi. Then the eyes nakataku coordinate and then you start seeing things to two. So nikahanza kwa na vitu mbilin bili. Kama niwa na kwa na nani kwa wili. So I have kufunga jichu moja kwa ni kwa na vizuni. So that is how it started. The problem with this layer diseases, Dr. Yahwasi elevi. So most of them, they don't understand.  That started. So I went to the first one. Kwa misdiagnosiwa? U misdiagnosiwa kwa kwa mbianini ni? Kwanza wa rianza kusema atisijui ni mareria uchovu. Vitu ni ingi pa le Mombasa. And you see Mombasa, there is also many beliefs there. Yeah, about Uchawi. Uchawi. So naanza kwa mbio ni shidazizo, welevi. Luckily enough, I also went to Agakan again. They also misdiagnosed the same condition.  Did the symptoms go on? They went. Zirienda sana. So from the eye. U mendi ya kwa matatu na anguka. Na yanda beach, ati u mendi ya kuli lakspale, na patatu, meshindo kwi nuka. So watu ana kwi nuwa. U nanda kupanda stairs, you lord. So people think that wiumtu amelewa asubuhi. Like I remember, with my daughter, ni kwa ni membeba. So ni membeba iwi. And you know, aka kwa uganjwa kana taka kwa. Kutembea, milkum na tembea? Tuna tembea kwa na kuchu kwa matatu. Aka kwa uganjwa kana penda pabri city sana. Kana penda attention. Kana penda attention. Zirienda tukotupare kwa crowd. Tukaterem kachini. Ni kwa anguka. Sasa unaansaku kushikiliya, haina uchungu. Lakin nuna, because of stigma nailewa, sasa watu ameshindo ni nuwa meja wa mekusaroundu panya. Ni kwa anzaku jifanya ni masupul. Na jiyo ata misi eleni. Oku unajua? Ata misi jiyu. Na jifanya atini masupul. Atu unaansaku sema. Na hi masupul kwa ni haina uchungu. Ya, jikwa egda tuwa kwa na masupul. It's painful. Lakin ni naka shikiliya iwi nojiwa si GLIwi. Ni mepewa dawa. Za 2 weeks zifanyi na anzaku kwa mbiwa ni nafs zifanyi. So finally ni liyanda pala, ni kali fadiwa to specialist. That is after agakan, right? Ina agakan. So, doktal mwenya ri niyona, aritwit kama ni naf kwa issues. Kuna shida za nafs ni kama zime kufa. Ya. So immediately ni katumu kwa specialist. Mi ni kakataa kuenda. Uwami ni. Uwa mini. Wana juhi uwa mini. Kwa na kuenda mti uwa mini ni nga juwa. You can't walk to the hospital to kila ni inga juwa. So mi atami na sema si mga juwa nini ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni. So ni katoka tupale. Ni kaenda, mi spouse was coming back to Nairobi. So I was left atu mombasa. And the family is here. So mi mi, ni kakaachua. Nika, nika, nika. Napa na iu wong juwa? Wacha ni rode hospitali. So I went back. So this is after ume yambiwa ni.  Ikazi disasa. Na una bitum bilim bilim, nimi anguka, I cannot go to work. And you alone, this time? I'm alone. Now there was a time when I was at a loss, utacham langa, wu jafunga. Ya, just in case of anything. Because anything can happen. Tashindo kutokata kwa kitanda. So it has been a rough road. So when now I went and met the specialist, is when he said that I have to be done, now angali eni wu gonjuwagani. So the samples was taken, zika testi wu mojika tumo South Africa, and the others were done locally to rule out which condition could be. Lakri, or unlakri, my journey started. And they said the condition after waiting for them, although saizu wa rikuwa manyans, isha da wa nanza kidoga, kidoga treatment. So to na tumia da ina ito mestinon, that's the basic one. Because the problem, if niki inuwa, there is communication from the brain to the muscle. So it is, kichwa iki ambia ini inuwa imkono, saab nimi na control. Ile naf, ina shikanisha muscle, na ila kutokakwa kichwa, zina kata hako communicate. So wewa unata haku inuwa imkono, mekata inuwa kitu. So inuwa ni ni, it's ani uto imin, most easier conditions are outo iminuwa. Sasa kuna kwa mwili naanza ku break down, inuwa kemi ko eni ina communicate, na muscle. Sasa iki break uwa down, sasa wewa unajaribu, laki na kuna signal ina nda kwa masu, ina kata inuwa kazi. So iodawa, how does it work in your way? So iodawa sasa, ina fraud mwili, na iyo kemiko. So ata ile antibody zina, zina jalebu kufunja ile kemiko, sasa iko nyi ingi. So sasa ata iki, bunja ii kuna bakia ingi ne, masu sasa ina communicate. Io ingi ne, nimi na suppression. Ini ni li patiwa paren aspecialist. This imi na suppressant our predisoron, and most people with rare condition use this predisoron. Yes.  Kuna, kuna other signs and symptoms that zina za kuambia that kuna mg. Ya. Kuna you are breathing, kuna I have talked about. And again, kuna breathing, kuna Io double vision, kuna coordination ia macho, watwenki wana shida ia macho, ina kata ku coordinate, then kuongia, ina patiwa sauti ina kata ku taka, una patiwa kupumuwa ina rete shida. Sometimes, and other, like, like mi mi nikiwa university, I started here, I didn't know there was a condition in my colleagues. So it started way back in the university. Okay. No, like, when your lecturing, lecturing ama wukiwa shule badu. Nikiwa student, wukiwa student, but you didn't know. I didn't know. So you've heard it for that long. Ya. And my friends could rough at me, wana say ma uja mahua na yon to kila kati, awa elewi yon ni shida ni kona, atami si kuwa na JLW. Okay. So I came to realize, saa izisabu na findu, na yon kila kati, ina jua kumbia india, shida. Ya. Okay. So let's get to maybe the treatment. Tulkotu nongia mambu ya the treatment that's unape ome tuwambia moja yo ya kumgeza and to go to this. Nuguna tuwambia ingine about ya. Yo ingine na iminosapresant. This iminosapresant are many. Kuna predisron. We call it the deva tiktak. Why? It's a very small drug. A very white one. Kas more. Ya. Ina kakama ka tiktak. Kabaya. Kanakuja na side effect. Kamagani. Kunaana. Oh. Ya. And you know now people believe that to kunaana, yo increasing, yo ume kwa na tuwambia. Ya. So people now see ume ungeza ya wait. No, no, no. You have a moon face, very smooth skin, browning. Ya. And now people are na sema, bensona mihaza kupata maali because now he is... Ameka vizuri. Ameka vizuri, kazi me india vizuri. And now you are very good. Yes. Now what you get, and I got a crisis. Not once, not twice, not twice. Ya. This crisis means, and when the specialist saw me, he told me, you need a bed reserved for you. Why? What happened? That was a breaking moment. Ya. Sahabu wa na niyambia. In case of anything, part of breathing condition, unakuja, direct emergence, ume petitionwa, unapela kwaise. Ikifika teime niya, like you are unable to breathe, apono inakwa, life threatening. Life threatening. Yes. So yo niya isi, ume henda isi, umara tattoo. Okay. Moja, nika enda palemombasa, sikuwa na jailewa, lakin mi... ama the source of the problem. Nika pewa dawa. Uligno. Nika pewa dawa, nika kangalia, nika sema, uu doctor isi dawa na nipenizanini. Mimi simgunjwa, kuna shida nika naia, moru isi healthy. Nika pewa dawa nika. Nika kaka. Nika kaka kukunjwa. Ugunjwa ikarudin. Kwa ikirudin, narudin na mashetanizote. So ikarudin sasawa kwa wote. ICU, direct umombasa. I refuse to go to ICU. I said I can't go to ICU before my spouse is here. Akakuja. So na itaime niyo nga jia spousewa ko, it's bad. It is bad, I'm not able to breathe. It's not even able to breathe. It's not even able to breathe. It's not even able to breathe. I'm not able to breathe. But you go to the toilet, una leime wakut kwa muka. Kasa fi zuri para kuna belu, wutahivi na kuya una i nudiyu wa... Una pelekwa. It's that bad. You can't control anything for yourself. You are just there. You need support. Like today you say you see me, you see a different person. But when it happens, it's bad. You are affected by temperature. You are affected by emotions. Physical stresses. If you do a lot of manu, stress, work, work and do that, there is a lot of strain on those muscles in hands kuku Kutile kuwangu kasasa So you have to control your emotions Mitu ata kini kasilisha, tan kuwangali atu ni cheke Where is your ford kujipatia stress? So the first time you went to ICU, jule kata kuku niwa dao What about the second time? The second time is also affected by medications Kuna dao na hasta ili kukutumiya Antibiotic sana Kuna zingina zikuna wrist pale And now when you go to your home Apotukaribu niwa niwa, how I live with you Unarushiwa So I went here to Apatuna Robi kwa Sati in hospital, nikarushiwa dawa I came all the way from Mombasa very well It's village nili kwatu na homa Iho mahaishi, mwili mkwemi na suppressed So mwili hain na guvun So nikahenda tuwa pa, nikapewa dawa pa taun Nikamaeza, nikuwa ni mesama ni nunu over the counter Nikasama sita nunu What let me just walk to the hospital So that because my condition in Baya Is GMS, nikahenda di kapewa dawa Nili popewa kumesa Within two hours Daziness, kuanyumba na zungu ka hivinda konga wukutan Ikijalibu kusimama, nimi ambuka Everything went heavy Kutolewa kwa nyumba drtari wa rikuwa strike Nikale tuwa na my spousa raka raka Nikapele kwa pa admission kwa hospitalin Imejitri kwa naya alive They measured the SPO, twila oxygen Concentration kwa mwili Bakaw na masozangu wa zina nguvun Nikaya kwa tubes So by the time unapele kwa ICU a second time Hospitalin nyumba pele kwa are they understanding the disease Amma are you telling them that you have this particular disease I went there, they were the one who gave me the medication And the person who gave me hakuwa na elawa kondisyon Lakin nili muelezea sa anikam sistizia Ata unona ilibon, I have a ribbon here It's showing all the medications I should not take In case of emergency Or just in case of something Mi angukiapa, mituataeza kupata contact zeniata Waju asimu nizaya nda Lakin ni The ribbon nobody, it has no money So entachu anaya So at least unizapigia wa tu wongena So when I went there, nili muambia Na iwi na ini kondisyon nisi kama insistia Ya kasema haina shida meza Bing loya to my doctor nika meza Then ni karudisha the same hospital Ni riporudi waka elawa ndi wali Imejitri waka call another specialist Who has been seeing me In agakan Imejitri waka ni chukwa Nika eko intubation ICU Ata si kwa ni kwa nakakitu Ni kwa ready ni metumi ya more than 3 million It's a very expensive condition Ya, that is Mali penyata ni kwa tkatoende How expensive is it to treat MG? It's really expensive But God grace We make it Una nda pale Kuna da inaito IVIG Una eko kwa mwili Una da nili po eko Kwa inakost around Da wa peke ake 1.5 million How many doses do you need? The doses Zot is inakwa a while Kwa kwa kwa moja So you may need around 5 of them 250 to 300 So you need 5 of them In 5 days una eko So you ni kwa ni me shapewa mombasa Nili po nda ile first admission The insurance they learn away Because now this is chronic It's expensive Yua kaba has been busted So ni li ahead Pata wu me blow kava within a very short time Within one week in Meisha So I had to call friends, whatsapp, kutengeneza Tuka changa pale mombasa Tukpe se kaisha So ni me pata iapili The same year That was in February First diagnosis February 2016 April Admission ICU Now December another admission in Nairobi Nili po nda pale admission Sina kitu Shamba ni me uza Protizote zi me uza Tume changa akuna kitu ni me bakisha We had nothing in the family So ni nda pale Daktari kenyata wa me strike Siu zi pale kwa kule When I called the doctors there There is nothing we can do So the only now thing left is a It's a private Nili po nda pale kwa private Admission They want a deposit Sina So ni mimi I have nothing I can do My spouse is the one that is talking to them Nami atuna chochote Now what do we do with this person So they had to say admission first Let us talk about the other things About money, let us save life So immediately by God grace ni ka pale kwa ICU But the challenging thing na kwa tube Sometimes na amkaw na ziske And they get elitating It's a bad of experience So when I got there I got admitted 2.2 million You are asking about another How many days have you It was within 5 days IVIG The cover I don't have a cover We don't have anything The spouse is telling them Atuna chochote Nami we make fun Siu ni kwa hiyosiku Lete ni chakula Kamakuna chakula nzuri kuna yama Na itisha white meat Nini nda re ni kule Kwa ni nda fanya ni niki maliza My profession am also an engineer So I used to joke with my spouse Nami ni kifungiwa Siu ni kuna isi masini ni ingiapa Ta kwa na fanya kaziapa Nami ni tako ni nite beliati udari pata uku Then that is another admission So when it came to the day I am supposed to go home By God grace The hospital decided to pay for me All the amount Then I walked home easily Come the next year Another admission Now there is that timing But now in Kenyatta Because my doctor has insisted I have to go another surgery Ida ya You do an open chest They have to open kifungiwa But do you have a machine to breathe again? Ya, there was a problem It was a crisis there on the way And my doctor na sama You have to go your process and it will make to me So na fungiwa kifua And then there is kitu na ito Kwa na ukuwa mtoto Iko kubwa As you grow old Kwa na isha Sasa ya kubada na ishe Iko ilipopichiwa ni ni kakwa ni kubwa So ni kandani Ni katolewa Then you see that was another cost So that is a cost I am told I needed around Nikuwa na itisha 801 million Oredumia tya 2.2 True And then un itisha ingi na Tutatawa hape God sends Samaritans from Noko I went to Kenyata Met a doctor there I explained the case I was sent to Nairobi West They say they don't use an HIF So I went back to Kenyata I don't know anybody Kambia mimi Nmekuja Na niko naishida It's a crisis Then I need help Aka ni ambi ingi na kwa emergency Niko adimituwa In fact nikuwa ni mienda na bagi This is an emergency case We ingi apale Taka fani aile damektomi So that doctor took the case And pushed it all the way Pakani ka perekom Pakakwa diyata Then kafaniwa surgery Nika muka nika jipata na I see you again I see you now because after surgery Then HIF cleared Kenyata is a bit cheaper I have a clinic in Kenyata And I also have another clinic If you go to these private clinics They are also expensive You require like 3000 But if Kenyata you go there It's a bit cheaper Okay So let's talk about It's either today or tomorrow That you are celebrating rare disease Tomorrow It's tomorrow You're celebrating rare disease And you talked about the band on your hand So maybe What comes with you being part of An organization that understands Your condition Na inakusahidi apia kudil naio We really need support Because sometimes we have Challenges Challenges comes from everywhere We have friends who cannot understand us We have family members When you have LAWI conditionia You can try explaining to them 100 times You explain to an employer 100 times These conditions Some of them And most of them Are disaboring In nature Because when you cannot do your work Sometimes you need To be considered So as a group You need to agitate for these issues In government Let the government know That like MG is disaboring Fibromage is also disaboring And they give a special consideration to us So with this group The group members will understand each other Like today we have From around 10 to 12 We are live on Facebook YouTube We are celebrating The rare conditions Being a unique month So we choose February like a unique month For MG it is usually around Around June And you see these rare conditions Comes with Karo MG is green Lupasi is purple They have different karas So with this group You are facing the same problems So you will be able to encourage each other At your low time You will encourage each other Maybe you have excess of medication Because now you understand the person But when you walk alone You will get tired But when you are together Nani bado na strago So you are Not alone in this fight Physically, emotionally You have a support A support system, a support group Tukimalizia What would you tell People out there who have Children's, pauses, mothers, fathers Relative to that Have a similar disease Maybe they are just thinking It's a curse It's witchcraft Pengina na jifanya Specially kama yukitun What would you tell them What would you tell them What would you encounter The truth is They are chronic conditions They are wrong resting But there is hope Kwa will be there If we don't There is treatment Maybe there is no kwa But we hope one day we will get a kwa And even if there is no kwa With good management You can live well If when you see me today It's because of good management So there is hope Yes And they should not ignore Ya, you should not ignore Ya Okia na mtua kona shida Please try to get the treatment Don't assume it is a curse And it can happen to anybody Doesn't matter the age, the sex Anything Ya, so if Someone is suffering from the same Maybe they know about it Na hawa jaju about support group Awa jaju about The rare diseases group One is all kata hafi We are there in Facebook At Laya Condition Kenya They can also get We have societies Like for MG we have Maestiniya Gravy Society of Kenya We are quite a number We started very few I thought I was the only one in Kenya So I started by joining Lupas group I went to Laya Conditions But I came to realize We are also many So Laya are many So there is What's up What's up groups are there We have Facebook We also have them A website for rare condition Kenya if you just google that You can be able to get to the site Yes Ok, so thank you so much for coming We appreciate your time And the information that you have shared And we wish you a happy healthy life Yes Thank you Thank you for giving me this chance Ok, so we will release you But you can join the discussion That is going on You've said it On Facebook, right? On Facebook, YouTube And people can join as well So that They can listen in to the conversation Tengi na kuna mduna safa as well So go to Facebook You can join them I think they are going live From now up to 12 am Mutaskiza about rare diseases MG and you get to know More information other than What we have shared So we are taking a short Miskol break We'll be back