All too often people are walking around “not feeling like they used to,” and wonder, “what happened and how did I get this way.” Perhaps this sounds like you or someone that you know. The answer is not always a simple one, but is a perfect fit for the functional approach to medicine. I want to describe to you through this blog entry one not too well known factor that might contribute to this type of situation. One in fact that you probably will not be told about by your primary care provider but is all too common.
When it comes to energy and your everyday experience, there is nothing much more influential than the Thyroid gland. The thyroid controls the body’s metabolism and when low functioning (hypo-thyroid) there can be many different uncomfortable symptoms including lethargy, weight gain or trouble losing weight, hair loss, constipation, and that’s just to name a few. An overly functioning (hyper-thyroid) can lead to feelings of anxiety, heart palpitations, restlessness and other more serious health concerns.
There are several different conditions in thyroid pathology that are good to differentiate between. You can have primary hypothyroid where the thyroid itself does not work well. You can have secondary hypothyroid where the thyroid is not getting the proper signals from the brain and therefore will not produce adequate amounts of hormone. You can have an overactive thyroid. Or you can have an autoimmune thyroid where the body is attacking itself. But for the sake of this article you can have problems with the proteins that bind to and carry the thyroid hormones in the blood. The reasons for this can vary considerably.
Problems with the binding of thyroid hormones are very often overlooked in mainstream medicine. Depending upon how much of the hormone is bound to these carrier proteins the overall daily experience for the person can be totally different. Quite literally you could have a normal looking blood test for your thyroid but still feel either high or low. T3 is active thyroid hormone and the more of it that there is bound to carrier proteins the less that there is to stimulate the receptors and allow you to feel normal. The clinical pearl that I want to share with you here is that elevations in the hormone Estrogen will work to increase thyroid hormone binding protein and therefore create a situation where less active hormone can do it’s job. This will actually mimic a hypo-thyroid condition. The unfortunate part is that it will not show up on a basic routine thyroid screen. You have to know what other things to look for.
So from a functional medicine perspective it is important to take other hormone influences into account when creating a plan for each patient. In this case there really isn’t a thyroid problem even though the thyroid system is what is being affected. The problem lies with the elevated estrogen. Focus the energy on lowering estrogen and you will not only see an improvement in thyroid function but you will also be helping to avoid certain cancers associated with elevated estrogen. We are currently seeing in this country an alarming increase in elevated estrogen in both men and women. Women are told to take hormone replacement therapy and men are actually creating their own estrogen by being overweight and having high blood sugar & insulin.
The management of thyroid conditions, in my opinion, is unfortunately a misunderstood and therefore mismanaged part of mainstream medicine. Like most other hormonal conditions, treatment is aimed squarely on the prescribing of hormone replacement. Not much care is given to the harmonizing of the body’s various other associated systems. The functional approach allows the patient and practitioner a chance to pick apart each system and determine what is the root cause of the problem. I urge you to take a stand and demand a more thorough look into why you are feeling the way you do these days. Perhaps it is low energy or difficulty losing weight. It is time to figure out and unwind the different stressors keeping you from optimal health and wellbeing.
Call me today or email me and let’s get started!
6/20/08
Much A'Do About Headaches
As a headache sufferer myself I have personal experience with this particular topic. My contributing factors include head trauma from bike accidents (and 7 years of Ju-Jitsu), sinus problems, and I’ll admit it, stress from starting a practice and raising two children.
From a main stream medical point of view headaches are usually just dosed with over the counter pain medications and allowed to go basically untreated. Covering up the symptoms of the headache is where the treatment is focused. The beauty of Traditional Chinese Medicine is that we have the ability and interest to not only help with the immediate pain of the headache, but the underlying root cause as well. In the following blog entry I want to briefly describe for you some of the ways an acupuncturist looks at a headache.
As with many different problems that acupuncture deals with it is of major importance to observe where on the head the pain is located. Qi, or our body energy, travels along distinct channels and there are several that run along the surface of the head. Any one, or all of these channels traveling over the head can lead to pain causing headaches. For example if your headache is primarily frontal or a sinus type headache it corresponds to the Large Intestine channel. If the pain is more over the temples it can be attributed to the Gall Bladder channel. If the pain is at the back of the head it can be either Urinary or Gall Bladder channels. So the point that I am trying to make here is that depending upon where the pain is on the head the treatment will differ from patient to patient. The channel affected dictates the treatment. This makes for a unique treatment for each individual contrary to the mainstream approach of blasting the body with a broad spectrum of pain killers that everyone can take for any problem.
When there is stagnation some where in any particular channel there is going to be pain or injury. This stagnation can come about for many different reasons. You can be depleted in qi which can lead to a stagnation and therefore pain. This is usually the dull and achy type and comes about with exhaustion or overwork. Or you could have a stagnation of qi due to emotions which will usually be a pounding type headache relating to the temples and back of the head. Or you could have stagnation anywhere on the head due to an old (or new) trauma.
In choosing a proper treatment for each of my patients I will take all of these things into consideration and more to create a personalized treatment plan. Certain acupuncture points will work better for each type of problem. But besides acupuncture, which in our society people are rather limited as to frequency, the use of herbal remedies are important to continue the treatment while at home. Taking a course of herbs can have dramatic effects on the frequency and severity of most headaches and still stay in line with the particular root condition at hand.
So why use acupuncture for headache care? The answer is simply that by doing so you will be getting at the root cause of the headaches and will not suffer from them like you used to. Simply taking pain medications to cover up the symptoms of what is causing the headache only buys you time until your next headache. And for some people who suffer from migraines that next headache might mean more time out of work, and an often crippling experience all around. But besides that, over the counter pain killers have been shown to contribute quite considerably to both liver and kidney failure when taken long term. The number of transplants due to these medications is staggering!
So consider trying something a little different if you suffer from headaches. I find through my own personal experience that acupuncture and Chinese herbs have had a dramatic impact on my headache experience. I strongly encourage you to give it a try.
From a main stream medical point of view headaches are usually just dosed with over the counter pain medications and allowed to go basically untreated. Covering up the symptoms of the headache is where the treatment is focused. The beauty of Traditional Chinese Medicine is that we have the ability and interest to not only help with the immediate pain of the headache, but the underlying root cause as well. In the following blog entry I want to briefly describe for you some of the ways an acupuncturist looks at a headache.
As with many different problems that acupuncture deals with it is of major importance to observe where on the head the pain is located. Qi, or our body energy, travels along distinct channels and there are several that run along the surface of the head. Any one, or all of these channels traveling over the head can lead to pain causing headaches. For example if your headache is primarily frontal or a sinus type headache it corresponds to the Large Intestine channel. If the pain is more over the temples it can be attributed to the Gall Bladder channel. If the pain is at the back of the head it can be either Urinary or Gall Bladder channels. So the point that I am trying to make here is that depending upon where the pain is on the head the treatment will differ from patient to patient. The channel affected dictates the treatment. This makes for a unique treatment for each individual contrary to the mainstream approach of blasting the body with a broad spectrum of pain killers that everyone can take for any problem.
When there is stagnation some where in any particular channel there is going to be pain or injury. This stagnation can come about for many different reasons. You can be depleted in qi which can lead to a stagnation and therefore pain. This is usually the dull and achy type and comes about with exhaustion or overwork. Or you could have a stagnation of qi due to emotions which will usually be a pounding type headache relating to the temples and back of the head. Or you could have stagnation anywhere on the head due to an old (or new) trauma.
In choosing a proper treatment for each of my patients I will take all of these things into consideration and more to create a personalized treatment plan. Certain acupuncture points will work better for each type of problem. But besides acupuncture, which in our society people are rather limited as to frequency, the use of herbal remedies are important to continue the treatment while at home. Taking a course of herbs can have dramatic effects on the frequency and severity of most headaches and still stay in line with the particular root condition at hand.
So why use acupuncture for headache care? The answer is simply that by doing so you will be getting at the root cause of the headaches and will not suffer from them like you used to. Simply taking pain medications to cover up the symptoms of what is causing the headache only buys you time until your next headache. And for some people who suffer from migraines that next headache might mean more time out of work, and an often crippling experience all around. But besides that, over the counter pain killers have been shown to contribute quite considerably to both liver and kidney failure when taken long term. The number of transplants due to these medications is staggering!
So consider trying something a little different if you suffer from headaches. I find through my own personal experience that acupuncture and Chinese herbs have had a dramatic impact on my headache experience. I strongly encourage you to give it a try.
6/6/08
The Cost of Convenience
There are few things better out there than spontaneous sex with the one that you love. Unfortunately there is often a price to pay for such spontaneity. Birth control pills, shots, patches and rings can often leave you with a lot of trouble on your hands. So I ask those of you currently using the pill, what price are you willing to pay for such convenience?
My goal for this blog entry is not to make anyone feel bad for their choices, but to help you better understand the choices that you have made. As a practitioner who deals quite a lot with hormone related problems, and fertility in particular I feel it is only right to tell you what I see come through my door.
To start I want to go over some basic physiology which describe how birth control pills work. Before a woman actually produces her sex hormones the ovaries must first be stimulated by the pituitary or “master gland.” The major stimulating hormones which are affected here are Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Lutenizing Hormone (LH). Without these two hormones the ovaries would be dysfunctional and there would be no menses, among other problems. In essence, the pill works to shut down these stimulating hormones and replace the hormones which would have otherwise been produced by the ovaries. By controlling exactly what hormones are working on the body the pill can stop the eggs from maturing and a period from occurring.
The first thing that you should know about taking hormones like the pill is that it can work to make a woman’s natural hormone system “lazy” so to speak. Once off of the pill it can take up to 5 years sometimes for her natural cycle to return to normal. And in some women a normal cycle may not return at all, though this is rare. But it isn’t uncommon for true fertility to return a year or so after stopping the pill. This is actually a known syndrome called “Birth Control Syndrome.” It is due to the pituitary gland not being able to recover from being suppressed while on the hormones. Treatment needs to be aimed squarely at stimulating the pituitary to secrete FSH and LH again to stimulate the ovaries to do their job. Once proper pituitary/ovary communication is regained normal periods should start again and fertility is now possible.
Lastly there is a known drug/nutrient interaction with birth control pills and what are called methyl donors. These methyl donors are vital for proper detox pathways to occur in the liver. If there isn’t a clear detoxification pathway all kinds of problems can start such as acne, PMS, painful and erratic periods for example. And then let’s go a step further with increased cancer risk and neurological decline. Breast cancer risk goes up 2% per year while a woman is on birth control pills. So if you have been on the pill for 10 years you can enjoy a 20% increased risk of breast cancer.
If you must use birth control please consider supplementing with methyl donors like folic acid and B-12 for example. These compounds will help keep your detox pathways running smoother while on the hormone.
As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news when it comes to people’s sex lives I feel obligated to do so here. Infertility, cancer, and general ill health are certainly on the rise and we need to be armed with everything that we can to keep healthy. If you are using birth control pills or exogenous hormones of any kind perhaps it is time to reconsider. I would be more than happy to help you detect and/or avoid any risk factors that you are not aware about. Believe me, hormones are powerful things and can make your life a living hell. And if that ends up being the case, you might end up asking yourself if the convenience was worth the cost?
My goal for this blog entry is not to make anyone feel bad for their choices, but to help you better understand the choices that you have made. As a practitioner who deals quite a lot with hormone related problems, and fertility in particular I feel it is only right to tell you what I see come through my door.
To start I want to go over some basic physiology which describe how birth control pills work. Before a woman actually produces her sex hormones the ovaries must first be stimulated by the pituitary or “master gland.” The major stimulating hormones which are affected here are Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Lutenizing Hormone (LH). Without these two hormones the ovaries would be dysfunctional and there would be no menses, among other problems. In essence, the pill works to shut down these stimulating hormones and replace the hormones which would have otherwise been produced by the ovaries. By controlling exactly what hormones are working on the body the pill can stop the eggs from maturing and a period from occurring.
The first thing that you should know about taking hormones like the pill is that it can work to make a woman’s natural hormone system “lazy” so to speak. Once off of the pill it can take up to 5 years sometimes for her natural cycle to return to normal. And in some women a normal cycle may not return at all, though this is rare. But it isn’t uncommon for true fertility to return a year or so after stopping the pill. This is actually a known syndrome called “Birth Control Syndrome.” It is due to the pituitary gland not being able to recover from being suppressed while on the hormones. Treatment needs to be aimed squarely at stimulating the pituitary to secrete FSH and LH again to stimulate the ovaries to do their job. Once proper pituitary/ovary communication is regained normal periods should start again and fertility is now possible.
Lastly there is a known drug/nutrient interaction with birth control pills and what are called methyl donors. These methyl donors are vital for proper detox pathways to occur in the liver. If there isn’t a clear detoxification pathway all kinds of problems can start such as acne, PMS, painful and erratic periods for example. And then let’s go a step further with increased cancer risk and neurological decline. Breast cancer risk goes up 2% per year while a woman is on birth control pills. So if you have been on the pill for 10 years you can enjoy a 20% increased risk of breast cancer.
If you must use birth control please consider supplementing with methyl donors like folic acid and B-12 for example. These compounds will help keep your detox pathways running smoother while on the hormone.
As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news when it comes to people’s sex lives I feel obligated to do so here. Infertility, cancer, and general ill health are certainly on the rise and we need to be armed with everything that we can to keep healthy. If you are using birth control pills or exogenous hormones of any kind perhaps it is time to reconsider. I would be more than happy to help you detect and/or avoid any risk factors that you are not aware about. Believe me, hormones are powerful things and can make your life a living hell. And if that ends up being the case, you might end up asking yourself if the convenience was worth the cost?
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