Sunday, March 23, 2014

This Video Will Make You Want To Quit Eating Sugar

Headaches and the help to empower your health better

Headaches

Headaches come in many painful types for people including tension, cluster, migraine and with allergy season. There are many approaches that can help with your headaches and that can be very beneficial without those drowsy OTC medicines or pharmaceutical medications with heavy side effects.

Tension-like headaches are usually the result of long days and stress from out high paced lifestyle. They are from the tightening or contraction of shoulder, neck and scalp muscles causing constriction of the vessels therefore causing pain. Anti-inflammatories like fish oil, bromelain, curcumin, and taking white willow bark will assist in the decrease of inflammation and pain symptoms. However, coping mechanisms like relaxation, meditation, yoga and working out will also relieve stress of the day.

Migraine headaches are usually associated with visual changes, nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. The cause of migraines is unknown, but the pain is due to the dilation of blood vessels in the head. Naturopathic medicine will look further into dehydration, nutritional deficiencies, high blood pressure, GI dysfunction and musculoskeletal problems. We often will recommend acupuncture especially with any headache type as studies show a 50% decrease in headaches. Recommendations of magnesium, calcium, vitamin C, B vitamins, dietary restrictions sometimes from the nightshade family like tomatoes and eggplant will also be very beneficial. Considerations of botanicals like ginger, wobenzyme, feverfew, butterbur to address the complications and pain of migraines.

There are many approaches to help with different types of headaches and to empower you to feel better but more naturally with least side effects. Remembering that good diet that is clean and anti-inflammatory will be supportive. Supplementation is important for overall health and your headaches. Treatments like acupuncture, physical adjustments, homeopathy, constitutional hydrotherapy, biofeedback therapy and relaxation training are very beneficial to headaches and skills for relaxation and wellbeing.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Asthma

As spring is nearing with the arrival of Easter and blooming trees and plants here in the Arizona desert, allergies and asthma are problematic issues as a result. Asthma can be very troubling and very scary for children and people of any age.

Asthma symptoms most commonly seen are shortness of breath, coughing, tightness in the upper chest, sometimes expectoration of mucus and wheezing. Often cases are caught very quickly and physician most commonly will prescribe an inhaler of some sort or combination there of. Usually a rescue inhaler for emergent issues and one that can be prescribed to help on a daily basis for those who suffer chronically. Inhalers will help with dilating the constricted areas of the lungs and decrease some of the inflammation associated with Asthma.

However, a more integrative approach and self-empowering approach can be met with discussing with your Naturopathic physician what other forms of prevention and assistance can be utilized to assist with allergies and asthma. Asthmatic patients have an imbalance in their arachidonic acid metabolism meaning more inflammation is going on in the body. Fish oils are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids that help greatly decrease inflammatory markers and responses in the body. Diet is key in decreasing inflammation in the body and the gut as the majority of the immune system lies within the gut!

Decreasing the amount of red meat you eat, eating lean chicken breast, fish and wild caught seafood, increase your veggie consumption and fruit and buying organic as much as possible but at least the dirty dozen you should be consuming organic with. Increasing your veggie and fruit like dark leafy greens and dark berries will also be providing you with some good antioxidants and limiting inflammation. Taking good quality pharmaceutical grade supplements is key your doctor can assist with like Vitamin C with bioflavonoids, Vitamin E, selenium, B-complex, magnesium and botanicals noted to be so very important in an asthmatics treatment protocol.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

IV Therapy ...more than just nutrients!

Myers Cocktail

The Myers Cocktail is a wonder and very useful nutrient treatment to get immediate nutrients into the body via a short duration IV. Having nutrients of different vitamins, amino acids and botanicals can achieve concentrations for maximum benefit to the body that cannot be achieved through oral supplementation. Also, many vitamins and nutrients for therapy can be giving in doses that cannot be given even close to doses the body can withstand orally without various unwanted side effects.

Dr. John Myers, MD, a physician from Baltimore, Maryland initially used IV vitamin and minerals as part of treatments for many medical conditions. He treated patients 1-2 times a week for about 20-25 years with clinical concerns of fatigue, depression, chest pain and acute illnesses such as cold and flu. Years later after Dr. Myers had passed in 1980’s, a colleague continued to see patients making some changes to the formula in more significant dosages that improved how patients felt and used for even more health concerns of patients in safe but very effective dosages.

The Myers therapy treatment today can vary slightly to accommodate specific treatments for patients; however, in general consist of magnesium, calcium, B12, B6, B5, B complex, sterile water and vitamin C. Depending on the dosages used for treatments the IV duration takes about 10-25 min and is very quick and efficient for treatment.

This form of treatment is so powerful and effective people typically see results and the benefits almost immediately. The Myers IV treatment has been effective for health concerns of asthma, fatigue, cold and flu, migraines, fibromyalgia, depression, cardiovascular disease, upper respiratory tract infections, seasonal allergies, rash and skin conditions, athletic performance, drug withdrawal (pain medications for example), thyroid conditions, and just a great nutrient vitamin administration with maximum absorption.

If you have any of these health conditions and concerns you may benefit greatly from these treatments, contact AZ Integrated Medicine today to schedule for an appointment!