Hair Loss Reduction in Thyroid Patient!

This is pretty cool.  A patient sent me a picture of her hair loss...lessening as we improved oxygen, and got on the right track to support her immune system.  I don't know if you can read the captions...it says daily hair loss before starting treatment...one month in... and two months in. 

We started working immediately on her oxygen perfusion, which we improved in just a couple weeks, then started some immune protocols, which actually didn't work well...until we got her GI Microbiology test back and identified an infection.  Started the protocol for that infection, and she felt even better. 

I do a heck of a lot of objective monitoring using blood tests and other labs...this I had never thought of!!

The Great Flu Debate

It may be the most talked about health issue year after year.  Flu season is moving in…this year it will be more deadly than…there is a shortage of the flu vaccine.  It seems that Hollywood is doing the marketing and promotion of the flu vaccine each year. 

In any decision that I make, whether that is regarding my health, my time, my life, I apply a bit of basic left brain logic to come up with a decision.  I think it may be hard for some to have an unbiased right brain “feel” for what to do, given all the hype and fear surrounding this particular issue. 

How about this simple logic…is it (flu vaccine) safe?  And if so, does it work? 

Is it safe?  There are certainly the concerns of using mercury to sterilize the vaccine.  I couldn’t find actual data on the National Library of Medicine archives indicating this is an actual finding, but Dr. Hugh Fudenberg, a researcher and biologist, with over 850 published articles, is quoted to have estimated that your risk of Alzheimers disease increases 10 fold following 5 consecutive inoculations with the flu vaccine.
If that is the actual effect, to current seniors who grew up on only one inoculation, (smallpox), what will be the cumulative effect to us and our kids, who are now given around 35 inoculations before age 5, not including the flu vaccine? 

There is also the current debate over autism and inoculations.  Many doctors find a clear correlation between the increase in vaccinations and the rapid rise in autism.  Other doctors don’t.  However, the Federal government has paid 1.18 Billion dollars to parents of vaccine injured children since 1988, when the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was founded.   
 

By the way, to disprove the Alzheimer's/flu shots connection, some Toronto physicians went to nursing homes and asked people with Alzheimer's if they remember getting a flu shot.  Most said they didn't remember getting one. Not surprising since Alzheimer's victims may not remember the name of their spouse.  Anyway, based on this "research" they concluded the flu shots were safe but the disclaimer at the bottom of the abstract negated its value: "Because of the self-reported nature of the risk factor questionnaire we cannot exclude the possibility of recall bias."  National media reported this as "proof" the flu shot was safe. They didn't mention the disclaimer. 

Well, maybe there is a chance that it is so effective, that the risk is worth the benefit.  Let’s explore some national headlines, then some actual data.

Headline from CDC website: “Preliminary Assessment of the Effectiveness of the 2003-04 Inactivated Influenza Vaccine: Colorado, December 2003…Adjusted vaccine effectiveness for both estimates were not statistically significantly different from zero.”  With my knowledge of statistics, I can interpret that means it had no benefit. 

 (CNN) -- This year's flu vaccine had little or no effectiveness against influenza-like illnesses, according to a preliminary study released Thursday (Friday, January 16, 2004 Posted: 9:16 AM EST) The study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, looked at workers at Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado. 

Of the 1,000 people who got the vaccine before November, 149 went on to develop influenza-like illness (14.9 percent). Of the 402 people who did not get the vaccine, 68 got an influenza-like illness (16.9 percent), the study said.

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine this year after crunching all the numbers from years past…

“Early predictions were that flu vaccines would save the lives of about half of those vaccinated. Based on U.S. mortality rates from 1968 to 2001, the study by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found no correlation between increasing vaccination rates and declining death rates in any age group." The Archives of Internal Medicine (Arch Intern Med 2005;165:265-272) reports that influenza vaccination coverage among elderly persons (> or =65 years) in the United States increased from between 15% and 20% before 1980 to 65% in 2001. Unexpectedly, estimates of influenza-related mortality in this age group also increased during this period.”  Yes, the number of flu related deaths has increased as vaccination rates have increased.

Maybe it works for the children…

January 10, 2004: NY Times, Lawrence Altman, the dean of American medical writers, reported that 93 children have died from the flu this season in the US.  Alltman states:  “Thirty-three of the victims had not been vaccinated.” So…sixty of the deaths were in vaccinated kids, right?

Follow my left brain math on this…lets say there were a million kids.  We know that less than a quarter of them are vaccinated (22% according to the CDC), so lets say there are 750,000 non vaccinated kids and 250,000 vaccinated kids, or 3 non vaccinated kids to every vaccinated kid in the US population.  Lets even out the death toll to 100…according to the above statistics, 35 non vaccinated kids and 65 vaccinated kids died from the flu.  Since there are 3 times more non-vaccinated kids, and yet more vaccinated kids died, the relative risk of death is 5 ½ times greater if you are vaccinated versus a non vaccinated kid. 

Would you prefer more official stats?  The CDC states that 135 children died during the 2003-2004 flu season. 59 of these children had received their flu shots.  So, that is a different ratio, 43% of the fatalities were in vaccinated kids, 57% in non vaccinated kids.  Sounds a bit better for the use of vaccines, but remember there are 3 times more non vaccinated kids, so there are many, many more “unprotected” children.  So the actual statistics indicate that you have over double the risk of death if you are vaccinated as a kid (2.25 times more deaths per population in this group, if you are vaccinated). 

I’m starting to feel ill…I hope its not the flu.

Everybody loves a conspiracy theory, right?  Again, just looking at data and statistics, so that emotions don’t get involved…JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) reported the results of a survey in the Feb 2002 issue.  What they found, was that the doctors who set the national guidelines for medical care for various diseases, including recommendations for the flu, are on the payroll of the pharmaceutical companies.  Only 50% of the guideline authors responded to the survey, and 87% of them acknowledged that they received compensation of some sort from one or more pharmaceutical companies.  What about the other half of guideline authors…this article suggests that the reality may be that more than 90% of the doctors who set guidelines for care in this country, actually work for the pharmaceutical industry. 

So, if there is no guarantee of safety, including the possibility of the vaccine being a causative factor in degenerative brain diseases, autism, and increased death rates; and there appears to be no effectiveness of actually doing what is intended, which is to prevent the flu, and that the seniors and children being vaccinated for prevention actually have a greater risk of flu related death, based on raw data…why does this continue?

 I believe that the physicians promoting the vaccine are hoping for better results, hoping that the numbers will improve with better vaccines.  I believe that people are good, and that they really want vaccines to be safe and work well (as do I, because I got the flu this year, and it wasn’t fun).  I believe that money does play a factor, that some of the desire for it to work is because it is so profitable.  And if it did work, it would be worthy of a large profit.  But the data derived fact is: it doesn’t work, it is potentially dangerous, and based on that data, I hope you can make a more logical and sensible decision for yourself, your kids, and your aging parents and grandparents. 

LAB TESTING: GIFX

 Intestinal Ecology: GIFX

GIFX, is short for GastroIntestinal Effects. 

GIFX is a lab that actually tests the complete ecology or environment of the GI tube. 

The GI tube, from mouth to anus, is really an external structure.  It is a semi-permeable tube that allows absorption of nutrients and elimination of waste.

It contains approximately half of your immune cells and function.  So, if you have allergies, asthma, frequent colds, ear infections, or sinus infections, the GI tube could be the problem. 

In fact it contains the same mucosal tissues as the sinuses, so what affects this tube, also affects the sinuses. 

The GIFX is a microbial analysis.  I describe it as a population analysis of this very important neighborhood.  A census of sort. 

The GIFX uses a complex DNA analysis for microbial contents, so the days of “purging” are over.  (In the past, for GI analysis, we would give a med that purges the contents for collection.)

WHAT YOU GET

A full census of who is there and who is not. 

As you may know, there are millions of healthy bacterial inhabitants that function as digestive and immune enhancers.  You may have seen the commercials, “Eat this yogurt and wave goodbye to your digestive distress.”

If the mafia has moved in to the neighborhood, however, the healthy families of bacteria will not stick around. 

We also want to know if there are any illegal immigrants, mafia or whatever we might call them.  These are the yeast and candida species, bacterial pathogens (bad guys), and worms, protozoan, or fungal parasites. 

In almost every instance where I have struggled helping someone improve their health, when we ran the GIFX we found a parasite.  I don’t know why the parasites are so confounding, but I have learned from this experience, and now suggest the lab sooner rather than later!

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

The saying goes…you are what you eat.  Or you can take it a bit further and say: you are what you absorb…or you are what you don’t eliminate. 

If your GI tube ecology is off, the lining will become inflamed, which in itself could cause back pain, kidney pain, liver problems…plus the digestion and absorption process will be compromised, so that great diet and supplements are ineffective. (sound familiar?)

And, the immune effects are also compromised.  You don’t have a significant line of defense; in fact, your immune system may be preoccupied with battling the yeast or parasite immigrants.  (no offense to immigrants!)

This constant immune defense is stressful.  It activates the adrenal physiology and whacks out your hormone cycles and blood sugar regulation.  It burdens the liver from all the immune chemicals and clean up required.  Now you have a full blown health problem, not localized to the GI tract. 

On the other hand, we can run this test, get a full census of who is there and who is not there, move out the uninvited guests and replace the desired inhabitants.  And in a couple months time, you drastically reduce your stress load, immune burden, and improve your digestive capacity.  This all feels really GOOD!  More energy, less toxic, clear mind.

In fact, I would suggest this test as a wellness profile rather than just a test for the chronically ill.  You never know what you might find until you look!

Case Study of the Month

Patient Name:  Eva

Condition:  Medical diagnosis is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, resulting in a variety of symptoms, including digestive problems, insomnia, right arm and shoulder pain, brain fog, and lack of energy.  

Functional Diagnosis:  What is actually CAUSING her problems…sensitivity to gluten, intestinal infection, overactive immune system (High T-Helper Cells), adrenal fatigue (low cortisol), and thyroid function all over the map.

Treatment:  We began with our usual AutoImmune Protocol…including avoiding dietary stressors, especially know sensitivities such as gluten in her case, along with transdermal glutathione, vitamin D, and high dose fish oils.  We also used botanical medicines (natural) to remove intestinal infections.  In fact, we are using the whole “4R” approach to healing the intestinal environment.  1R = Remove infections  2R = Replace digestive enzymes  3R = Repair the intestinal lining and  4R = Reinnoculate with healthy probiotics bacteria.  Each visit, which is every other week, we reset her meridian system, muscle imbalances, and treat her physically.  

Results:  After 8 weeks, she reports that her digestive problems are gone, her pain is gone, her sleep problems are gone, her brain fog is gone, and her energy is 80% improved.  

Comments:  Eva is a responding very well to our treatment choices.  She still has imbalanced lab findings, so we aren’t sure if she is feeling as well as she “rates,” or if she is just so happy to finally be seeing some results.  Obviously, we only have ourselves to compare to when rating things like our energy…she may still be at 30% of someone who is very healthy, but to her, her energy is so much better than it was…it must be 80%.  Hopefully we will surprise her with improvement to 200% of what she was!! 

What is the source of her improvement?  As you can see, we are treating multiple systems, including immune system, digestive system, meridian system (as in Traditional Chinese Medicine evaluation), and her Musculoskeletal system.  All systems affect all systems…and that is a concept foreign to most doctors who practice specialization.  Her adrenal hormones showed some of the best lab changes in her initial retesting, and we didn’t do anything specific for her adrenal glands.  However, the immune system is a powerful stimulator of the adrenal stress response, so after years of infection, eating foods she is reacting to, and attacking her own tissues, her adrenals were fatigued.  So, removing these immune stimulants, and soothing the immune system, along with physically treating her pain, another powerful stimulator to the stress system…that was enough to change hormones, and let her enjoy sleeping through the night. 

Stress Capacity: The Bucket Theory

If we dig in to any condition…thyroid problems, cancer, neuropathy, diabetes, etc., one common thread is stress.  Stress increases cortisol and adrenaline production, which is very useful in times of emergency!  It helps us escape…it helps us survive.  

Yet, when it is “turned on” or turned up daily, it compromises our blood sugar regulation, or oxygen delivery, our hormone balance, our digestion and absorption of vital nutrients…all physiological needs…requirements…you will develop SOME disease if you compromise your physiological needs day after day.  

It also leads to poor choices…it makes us crave sugar, alcohol, and other addictive habits.  

We all have a capacity for stress…and the stronger and healthier your body and mind…the greater your capacity.  I used to do a stress challenge in my seminars…we would eat about 70 grams of carbs (sugar)…in the form of cookies and juice, and measure our blood sugar after the seminar.  A person whose stress capacity is high would measure under 120, and the reigning sufferer of the lowest stress capacity measured over 400.  

If we think of this capacity as a bucket, our bucket sizes vary according to our current state of health and vitality.  Another consideration is, “how full is your bucket?”  You could have a thimble full to the top (blood sugar over 400 after our stress challenge), or a barrel with a few drops in the bottom (blood sugar under 120).  

Clearly it is obvious which one we want to be, or achieve, if our goal is health and happiness! 

What shrinks your stress bucket?  How do you end up with a thimble?  A:  Stress overload, over the long haul.  We all have days of stress overload…you go to bed early, feeling frazzled and exhausted.  When that becomes the “normal” day…every day, every week, month after month…you end up with a thimble. 

What fills our stress bucket?  How do you fill the bucket so you are spilling (stress overwhelm)?  A:  Compromised physiological needs…AND compromised emotional needs.  Both fill the same stress bucket. 

Physiological needs are simple…oxygen…glucose for energy production…nutrition to energize and oxygenate…and movement and thought to activate the central regulation hub of our energy and oxygen…the brain.  

Emotional needs include: certainty, variety, connection, significance, growth, and contribution. 

Here’s the kicker…stress can make you grow and connect, take action to feel significant…achieve financial and relationship security and feel more certain…which allows you to contribute to others and take nice vacations for a bit of variety.  

And stress can make you withdraw, lose focus, be inefficient, and effectively LOSE all these emotional needs, which is no less exhausting than severe anemia, low thyroid, or physical exhaustion.

It all depends on the capacity you have for stress.  How big is the bucket and how full is the bucket?!?

If your bucket is full all the time…it will exhaust your reserves.  If your bucket shrinks…you will be more and more sensitive to stress, sugar, exertion…you will be more sensitive to life. 

Then you have two choices…limit life…stress, sugar, and exertion…OR work on emptying your current bucket and building a bigger bucket.  A rocking chair at the nursing home…or like Jack LaLanne, swimming a mile pulling 70 rowboats…at age 70.  It all depends on your stress bucket.  Jack had a hell of a bucket at age 70, mostly through stimulation…exercise, and nourishment…fruits and veggies.  What if he knew about oxygen delivery and the whole gamut of emotional needs?  I’m not complaining for him…he lived 97 pretty awesome years.  BUT…scientists say we should all live 120 years (healthy years) based on calculations based on gestation periods and life spans in nature.  He did awesome…and could we (yes, you and I) do better with less effort?  

I personally don’t want to exercise 3 hours a day…that might be a path to a healthy 90+ years, but I think if we consider the whole stress bucket, we all could hit a healthy 97…or 120…by diversifying.  Let’s keep that as a goal, but the reality is that I see people as young as 20 and 30 in health crises…stress overwhelm, shrinking and full bucket.  

I measure oxygen perfusion in all my clients…and some bottom out on oxygen when I ask them to move the arm we are measuring…not a candidate for the Jack plan.  

Jack pushed his body (and mind) WITHIN its capacity…repetitively…and built up that bucket.  He filled it half full, maybe even full…and then fed his body…nourished, and rested….and emptied that bucket.  He probably never filled his bucket with blood sugar problems, anemia, or lack of nourishment (although as a kid he says he was a sugar addict).  He ate whole foods, is well known for his juicing machines, and more than likely had energy to contribute, grow, and be significant.  

He never spoke of these needs, so I assume he met them without intention…or intending to.  He did it because it felt good.  (Which is a good lesson for meeting our emotional needs…it always feels good).

He lived the process I am teaching…and here it is:  You have to notice your capacity, exercise within that capacity (and my version of exercise means anything that trains the brain, and can include thought and communication… any action or intention)…and grow that capacity.  

We can accomplish a bigger bucket through physiological nourishment…improving oxygen and glucose delivery…energized and oxygenated cells…which we accomplish through targeted nutritional support and treating your body kindly (treating injuries, balancing energy through stimulating meridians, centering your body in gravity, etc.)  And we can build a bigger bucket through improving emotional nourishment…certainty, variety, connection, growth, significance, and contribution.  

We have to start wherever we are…work within our stress capacity, and push the limits without overwhelming them.  We don’t want to miss any of our needs…simply consider them all.  A caretaker pattern meets contribution needs, but compromises significance, because they “over serve” others and don’t get what THEY want.  Not bad, but not good for the bucket.  It also compromises connection, because people who are over protected or over cared for do not grow…and they show you in the form of resentment or lack of appreciation.  

We can empty the bucket by eliminating unnecessary stressors such as artificial colors, preservatives, etc…food chemicals.  Most of my patients are on top of those changes.  We can empty the bucket by babying our blood sugar regulation hormones…it’s as simple as eating protein every two hours. 

We can empty our bucket by noticing our triggers…our emotional upsets…and noticing which needs are being compromised.  People triggered by disruption need certainty.  People triggered by unfairness need growth or contribution.  It’s not a hard and fast rule, but with a few questions we can easily figure out what needs are compromised.  

We can empty our bucket and build a bigger bucket by then demanding that those needs get met.  Not violently through accusations and demands, but through taking action towards your needs and asking for help.  

Whatever you are sensitive to…conflict, sugar, chemicals, exertion, ignorance, or stress itself…you are receiving a message that your bucket is full, and perhaps shrinking.  Any sensitivity can be desensitized by emptying your bucket and building a bigger bucket.  Bar none.

So, my challenge to you…is to take inventory of your stress capacity.  Just look at your sensitivities…if you hurt when you exert physically…your physical stress capacity needs help.  If you can’t eat sugar, at all, let alone 70 grams of pure sugar…your chemical capacity needs help.  If you are triggered, often and intensely, your emotional stress capacity needs help.  

Then do something to change.  For physical capacity, try gentle exercises and notice if you can exert 10% more in 3 weeks…see a chiropractor, a massage therapist, take some yoga classes.  And notice what makes you feel better…and repeat.  For chemical capacity, try protein every two hours, take some ashwagandha for cortisol, do a greens and protein smoothie every day with blueberries and spinach, all blended up.  Notice what makes you feel better…and repeat.  For emotional capacity, notice your triggers and use my article on triggers to categorize what you are needing.  Then ask for some agreements, allow others to struggle and learn on their own, do some Emotional Freedom Technique tapping…notice what makes you feel better…and repeat. 

Meeting Your Needs

If your symptoms are a message designed to notify you of a need, how do we decide what you are needing and then provide that to turn off the message?  If we can answer that question, we have a high probability of improving your health!

There are 3 levels of inquiring what these symptoms/messages mean.  

Level 1:  Your symptom questionnaires.  We have categorized hundreds of symptoms by system, organ, gland, and by areas of the brain.  If your scores are over 50% of the possible maximum score, we know that organ, gland, or area of the brain is under a great deal of stress and demanding care.  As you approach 80-100% of the total possible symptoms, we might say that area is “screaming” for attention.

Level 2:  Kinesiology.  If we are attempting to identify patterns of stress and inflammation, posture and muscle tone are simple to view.  Just stand up and notice that one shoulder is higher, the hips are twisted to the right, etc.  This observation provides clues to your internal patterns.  In order to move any joint in any direction, we know with absolute certainty that one muscle or muscle group has increased in tone, and the opposing muscle(s) have decreased in tone.  We locate the muscles decreased in tone (weaker), and begin to ask what this pattern of muscle change is adapting to (what you are needing).  

Level 3:  Blood Chemistry.  Your labs are a window into your internal patterns.  We can objectively identify patterns of stress in any organ or system.  These labs tell your story.  Not your life story, but where life has brought you to right this moment.  We can quantify the effects of stress and inflammation and see, by the numbers, the impact they have had on your health.  We can measure your most vital elements, oxygen and glucose, during every visit.   

Not only does this 3 tiered evaluation approach provide pointers and identify patterns, it then offers a target to shoot for.  Reduce symptoms by meeting the internal needs.  Balance posture and muscle balance through neurological and energetic treatments.  Balance blood chemistry by using food and nutrition to soothe, stimulate and nourish…followed by retesting to make sure we are achieving our goals.  

Physiological Needs

The basic needs of your cells… the building blocks of you… includes oxygen and glucose.  Stress and inflammation compromise both.  Glucose can be measured with a simple glucometer, and oxygen can be measured with a pulse oximeter.  We can instantly know if we have met your physiological needs through this in office testing.  These needs are so critical that you will not improve your condition without improving these numbers.  They are vital to survival, and vital to healing and growth.  If we can improve these two numbers, I would place a sizeable bet on your health improving.  

Other physiological needs include water, and nutrients, including protein and fats (healthy fats!), which are the building blocks of your body.  A rough analogy to a vehicle, which is what your body is for you, in part…the protein and fats are the steel and rubber, the glucose (carbohydrates) is the gasoline, vitamins and minerals are like the spark plugs, fiber for emissions, water for coolant…oxygen, like a vehicle, is needed to ignite the fuel.  Botanicals and herbs are like oil and gasoline additives…to improve performance!  

Like the title of my book asks… “When did Natural Become the Alternative?”  These are the needs that must be met to improve your health.  And if your health improves, regulation improves, performance improves…and sooner or later, if we keep meeting your greatest needs…you no longer qualify for the disease or condition you were diagnosed with.  

Emotional Needs

Your emotional needs, based on Five Element Chinese Medicine philosophy, can be summarized as Structure and Security, Acceptance and Inclusion, Nurturing and Support, Validation and Value, and Reassurance and Responsiveness.  And, YES, compromising these needs has physiological effects…meaning shifts in stress hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline.

Not achieving emotional needs ignites the stress response internally, just like danger, lack of oxygen, or blood sugar imbalances.  If we are good listeners, and respond the only way that is possible, by choosing a different action, you can meet and nourish all your emotional needs, just as you can nourish your body with improved oxygen and healthy nutrients.  

Structure and Security includes safety and boundaries.  Think of Charlie Brown, always being talked into kicking that darn ball, despite everything within him telling him “No!”  The result is pain.

Acceptance and Inclusion includes being part of something bigger than you…a part of a team.  Think of a caretaker type, doing so much for everyone else but not receiving any appreciation.  That hurts!

Nurturing and Support include close relationships that lift you up when you are down…knowing someone “has your back.”  No man is an island…think of people who are counter culture to the point that they offend others by making them wrong, ultimately pushing them away.  Ouch.

Validation and Value means being ok with who you are…possibly even liking you.  Think of the fixer who tries to make everything right for everyone else, only to receive resentment in response.  Frustrating!

Reassurance and Responsiveness includes the ability to face adversity and change direction.  Think of the overachiever who tries to please through getting things done, only to receive criticism in response.  Exhausting!

The key to emotional needs is good or bad habits.  Good habits, like honesty, asking for agreements, working on your message, working on your voice, you integrity…they lead to nourishing your emotional needs…they lead to growth.  

Poor habits, based on bad strategies, such as caretaking, invisibility, convincing, fixing, and overachieving…which are grounded in emotional pain, continue to erode your emotional needs until you withdraw, give up, or otherwise throw in the towel.  

Five element Chinese philosophy allows us to notice your negative patterns and design a plan to meet your needs.  IF, and that’s a BIG “IF” ….you allow yourself to notice the pain.  Bad strategies are all a plan to avoid the pain…either through accepting a burden or defending yourself, others, and ideas.  The problem is that these patterns are exhausting and compromise your health, by activating cortisol and adrenaline…a stress pattern…and activating your WORST genetic potential!  

Habits are nothing more than repetition, and with new repetition (and a willingness), you can begin a new habit today to meet your emotional needs.  And that feels GOOD!