It’s been barely a week since typhoon Ondoy rushed in on a mission to destroy everything in its path.  Many areas are still flooded and it will take more than a month for the water to subside in some places.  Over there, little boats are now the main mode of transportation.   And now, because of typhoon Peping, that one month for clearing flooded areas could extend until next year.

Relief goods are still not enough and many don’t have acess to safe drinking water.  The evacuation centers are much too crowded and evacuees are getting sick.  They are relying on donations of medications and other medical supplies in order to be treated, but those donations aren’t enough.

Please, anyone who can help out, in even just the tiniest way, with the tiniest effort, please try and help.  And pray for Peping to change its course and go back to the sea.

What’s more, as a nurse I feel like I am being stifled; I have so little decisive power.  I get surprised that I have to wait for some of the simple things to be officially ordered by the physician, and unfortunately there are some things that just can’t wait.

I hate stat medications because they are ones that must be given immediately but aren’t readily available.  It takes time to charge it to the patient, and only after charging can the pharmacy aid to bring the medication to the unit, or for the nursing aid to retrieve it from the pharmacy. Charging medications and other items is an unnecessarily long process, and it’s definitely not what you’d call “a click away.”

Lack of materials is another thing.  Medicine trays, BP apparatuses, thermometers.  Waiting around for my turn to use them is another time-waster.

I’m sure there’s more than just what I mentioned above, but the most important, and biggest flaw of all is ME, because I don’t know how to manage my time wisely.

And.. and… I have more to say but that’s just going to take up more of my time.

I’m saying this early on- this experiment is very unscientific, unmethodological, and possibly biased, or however else you want to describe the opposite of valid studies.  I’m doing it my own way.  DIY.  Wheee!  With me as the guinea pig.

Why do it?  I work in a tertiary hospital and part of that work is being exposed to different diseases everyday.  Because of that, I’m always on the lookout for things that could safeguard my own and my family’s health.  Now, we all know how the wellness industry is on the rise today and how we’ve got many companies putting out numerous “health” products with a lot of ambitious claims.  So I’m a nurse, and I’m skeptical.

Goji Berries

Perhaps some of you have heard of the multi-level marketer Freelife’s Goji juice?  Well I’m not here to sell that to you.  I am testing this goji juice and the people’s claims of it being a “cure-all” juice.  Actually I’ll be testing many more similar products, but let’s concentrate on goji for now.  One week ago I started drinking Gochi Juice, the “stronger” version of their Himalayan Goji Juice.  Freelife claims that, within the span of 30 days, it can raise your immune system functions such as increasing the number of lymphocytes, interleukin-2 molecules, and immunoglobulins in the blood.  It also has a lot of other benefits, but I’m not going to go into that all.

It just so happens that I had a complete blood count done 3 days before the Gochi and I’m posting it below.  To start with, on September 17, 2009 I have a 0.38 lymphocyte count.  If this goes up, it’s either the Gochi worked or I have an infection.  I’ll get another CBC done after 30 days (or 27 days from now, since I started drinking it on September 20).

I bought the Gochi believing it was “raw” and unprocessed, or at least didn’t go under any heating process or whatever.  Most distributors claim it is purer and more potent than all other goji juices out on the market.  But lo and behold, after doing a bit of research on the internet, it not only goes under heat, but the heat that it is exposed to is twice as much as what juices normally undergo.  Strong heating processes like those destroy the enzymes and nutrients in juice, which means its potency is also destroyed (from Breath.org).

Without this information I would be happily sipping away at Gochi juice and this experiment would never have crossed my mind at all.  Now my trust in the company has gone kaput.  Freelife claims that Goji works because of four poly-saccharide enzymes it contains, and these enzymes are destroyed in the heating process, thereby rendering the juice useless.

So all that above means that Freelife Goji juice won’t work right?  Obviously the dried versions of the goji berries, and other goji juice from other manufacturers should work better because they’re not subjected to as much heat as that of Freelife’s.  The problem is why why why are there so many testimonials about how good Himalayan Goji is and how much it has helped people?  It’s frustrating.  You can’t be sure whether or not all those testimonials are true, so I’m testing it myself.  30 days of drinking Goji everyday, and if my lymphocytes increase (taking into account that I get my CBC done without being sick and with me being in the same condition that I had the first one done), well, I won’t know what to think.