One Major Reason for Infertility

The burning of waste in incinerators is doing more than simply making our air smell bad; it appears to be causing infertility.  Dioxins are chemicals that are released into the atmosphere by burning refuse.  These chemicals contain environmental hormones.  So, we are not only receiving hormone-mimicking substances in our food and water, but also in the very air we breathe.

Japan's air is saturated with these dioxins because it incinerates more waste than any other nation on earth.  The Japanese people also have the lowest sperm count and highest concentration of estrogen-mimicking chemicals in breast milk of any nation.  It's estimated that 57 out of 60 Japanese women undergo fertility treatments every year.

Dioxin affects cellular DNA.  It causes liver and kidney dysfunction.  It hinders endocrinological activity, thus causing potential widespread dysfunction in every endocrine gland.  This chemical interferes with the function of our autonomic nervous system and contributes to neurological defects such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation and learning disabilities.  Dioxin accumulates in fatty tissue, so fish like tuna are especially toxic.

Insisting that our government both retain its present air quality standards and increase the level of these standards, in the future, is something that we all need to consider encouraging our elected officials to persue.

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ALA and Alzheimer's Disease

Alpha lipoic acid is an anti-oxidant produced in small quantities by our bodies as well as by some organic sources, such as organ meats and vegetables such as broccoli and spinach and by brewer's yeast.  It can also be found in smaller quantities in brussel sprouts, peas and tomatoes.

Anti-oxidants are vital as they attack free radicals that our body produces in the process of converting food into energy in the form of ATP.  Excessive amounts of free radicals cause tissue breakdown, premature aging and illness, or, as we have learned, systemic inflammation.

A study just published in the Journal of Neurodegenerative Diseases suggests that supplementation with ALA has been shown to improve the cognitive function of people with Alzheimer's who also have Type 2 diabetes.  People with Alzheimer's who didn't have diabetes did not appear to be significantly helped by ALA supplementation.

There is a growing consensus among researchers that there is a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's, to the point that some have referred to the cognitive disease as, "Type 3 Diabetes."  The results of this study appear to confirm that there is a fair argument to be made connecting the two diseases, but not a 1:1 cause and effect, at this time.

I hope that there will be more studies as to the efficacy of essential fatty acid and anti-oxidant supplementation for those suffering with dementia, in the near future.  We also need to be mindful as to the source of these supplements, as I have discussed in previous blogs (see February 18-21).

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"Fear Based" Health Care?

The other evening, I was watching, "Charlie Rose."  If you've never had the opportunity to watch his interviews, I highly recommend you do.  I think he's the best interviewer on television.  Mr. Rose was interviewing an actor who plays on the television show, "Homeland."  Now, I have to confess to never having watched that or "Breaking Bad," or "Mad Men," or any other of those shows that one has to pay for the privilege of watching.  However, something the British actor (whose American accent is impressive) said piqued my interest.

He said, speaking in reference to what he sees as one of the foundations of the American health care system, that we base our decisions and choices on fear.  The sale of pharmaceuticals, he said, is based on the Americans' fear of the potential of disease.  "Wow," I thought, "that fellow hit the nail on the head."  Look at the explosion of ads aimed at convincing us that if we don't take xxxxx medication, we'll surely die of heart disease, cancer, diabetes or some other horrible condition.  And, what particularly amuses me, in a sardonic sort of way, is that the marketing machine knows that it doesn't matter how many horrendous side effects the ads detail, we will buy, nay, demand them from our medical doctors.  And, once prescribed, we hang onto these prescriptions as though they were the very elixir of life.

Is it possible for us, as a nation, to recognize this fear-based choice as opposed to a wellness-based choice to health?  Honestly, I don't know, but, from my experience over this past decade, I highly doubt it.  I think I came to that final conclusion after watching an advertisement for an insulin medication for Type 2 diabetics.  If you have this type of diabetes (caused primarily by bad eating habits), you no longer have to watch your diet so carefully as you can simply inject insulin after any and all meals!  Ah, "health" made simple!  What the ad doesn't say is that synthetic insulin only helps for a period of time.  Eventually, the piper has to be paid, one way or the other.

We have a choice....take the "easy" short term road with our health or take the longer, more involved,  long term road that gives us the opportunity to take a pro-active approach to life rather than a fear-based approach.  In other words, do we want to take responsibility for our health or do we want to abdicate that responsibility to fear?
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Chron's Disease and Marijuana

I always find it fascinating as to what lengths the medical research community will go in its quest to find "cures" for particular diseases.  Now, in the following journal:
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013 Oct;11(10):1276-1280 
 we find that researchers decided to find out if the symptoms associated with Chron's could be affected by Cannibas.

Their conclusion was that, yes, indeedie, those who smoked marijuana noticed a decrease in symptoms.  I'm shocked...not really.  Come on, now, if one smokes enough of this material,  I'm pretty sure that most any negative symptom would be decreased or eliminated for a period of time. 

I have a patient whose friend has been suffering from Chron's for most of his life.  Cutting out gluten from his diet has made all the difference in his world and has allowed him to live pain free with much less medication.  My suggestion to those suffering from intestinal symptoms on a daily basis (and for all of us, in general), is to cut out the gluten, dairy, refined sugar and other simple carbohydrates from the diet and you, too, may see either a decrease or the elimination of all those nasty intestinal symptoms....without the need for, "medical marijuana."

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Eliminating "doctoring-by-the-numbers?"

Back some 30 years ago (oh my, has it been that long?), our lab diagnosis professor taught us that it was bad doctoring to only look to laboratory results when deciding on the best treatment course for a patient.  He especially cautioned us not to look at total cholesterol levels as they could be misleading, particularly for a patient who presented with high HDL-2 numbers.  That could skew the total cholesterol results, contributing to a false positive, so to speak.  It truly amazed me as to how many patients had lab work done that did not include individual totals of both the "bad" and "good" cholesterol levels.  Even more troubling, we still find that so many patients continue to be prescribed cholesterol lowering medications that are still based on total bad cholesterol levels, alone.

Last evening, I was listening to the results of a report in which a panel of research doctors had decided that it was better to look at a patient's lifestyle and background along with his cholesterol results when determining if pharmaceutical intervention was necessary.  Amazing.  For example, a white male of 50 years who has an LDL level of 170 and an HDL-2 level of 45 has a calculated risk of heart disease of less than 5%, so no medication is recommended.  A black male presenting with the exact same numbers has a calculated risk of nearly 9%, therefore medication is recommended.  So, technically, the doctors are looking at race and gender to determine the need for medication and not just LDL levels.  Even that small change of approach is thought to pose a significant problem for those doctors used to simply looking at  predetermined cholesterol levels as the method of medication necessity.

It is quite possible that there really isn't a one to one direct link between a specific resulting number from a cholesterol test and the onset of heart disease.  These numbers assigned to LDL, VLDL and HDL levels are simply educated "guesses," and certainly not written in stone.
One person's "high" LDL levels may be another person's "normal."  We have found that to be true in cases of body temperature...one of my family members has a "normal" body temperature that is so low that he has a fever when the thermometer reads, "98.6."  He has trouble convincing doctors and nurses of this.

Years ago, the pathologist at the lab where I sent patients to get lab work done always ended his report with the following statement:  "Theses results should be used together with the patient's clinical presentation to determine method and effectiveness of care."  With the explosion of prescription medications for patients simply in response to their lab results, one has to wonder when the medical profession changed its collective mind about how important it is to look at the patient as a whole person and not just as a set of numbers.

Frankly, I think patients have done the same thing.  We've noticed a tremendous difference in patients' attitudes since we first started practice.  Many patients used to be interested in alternative choices for lowering their cholesterol or blood sugar levels.  Now, we find, with precious few exceptions, no patients interested in even discussing the possibilities of alternatives to medications.  I believe we are an over medicated nation and we have ourselves to blame for the unintended consequences that surely will follow.

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4.3 million People at Risk

Wouldn't you suppose that if there were a disease or problem that potentially threatened the quality or quantity of so many lives that we'd have an organization dedicated to raising money to find a cure?  How about Congressional hearings attended by the families of so many victims?  Apparently not, when it comes to that many children and young people whose lives may be at risk each year when stepping onto athletic fields to play the all-American sport of football.

I know that I have spoken about the subject of concussion injuries before, but, truly, I feel that if we aren't educated as to the risks to our boys, young men, husbands, fathers, brothers and uncles from this problem, we'll never get any movement in the helmet industry or the NFL as to how this can be prevented.

Part of the problem comes from the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE).  This organization is responsible for determining the standards by which all helmets in this country are made.  Unfortunately, it is comprised of lawyers, not scientists, and the standards are 40 years old.  The the NOCSAE is funded by equipment manufacturers.  In all fairness, if any manufacturer were to develop a helmet outside those antiquated standards, it would open itself to law suits.

The other part of the problem appears to come from the scientific community, itself...there is disagreement as to how these injuries occur and how to prevent them.  Making it even more difficult is that every brain is different.  Young brains respond to injury differently than older brains; female brains differ from male brains; and, diagnosing CTE can only be done post-mortem.*

Research done by Peter Hallidin of Stockholm shows that there is much more damage done to a brain that has undergone rotational acceleration (the kind of injury sustained in football) than one submitted to a linear acceleration. Somewhat akin to the difference in injury to the cervical spine from a T-bone accident than from a rear end accident. Hitting one's head into a window creates more of a shearing stress than a forward to backward injury.  Mr. Hallidin has developed what he calls the, "Multiple Impact Protection System." Inside the helmet is a bright yellow layer of molded plastic attached with small rubber straps that sit between the padding and the head.  This allows the head to float during an impact. This mimics the way the brain sits in the skull.  It is bathed in and protected by a layer of cerebral spinal fluid, which helps to absorb minor hits to the head.

I won't go into all the details of his experiments, but Mr. Hallidin has been able to reproduce rotational acceleration injuries and collect data using both the traditional helmet design and his MIPS design.  Rotational injury is measured in radians.  A significant trauma to the head resulting in a concussive episode, while using a traditional helmet,  generated 14,100 radians per second squared. Using his redesigned helmet, that number was reduced by 55% to just 6,400 radians per second squared.  By reducing rotation in all directions, we see a reduction in rotational acceleration injuries.

One manufacturer in 2012, Bauer, the number- one helmet maker in ice hockey, released a helmet they called, "Suspend-Tech," which is made using that same technology that Mr. Hallidin developed.  It is the first attempt by a mainstream company to include a rotational layer in contact-sports helmets.

I think that unless we women (mothers, especially) demand that the NFL and helmet manufacturers change the standards by which these helmets are designed, there won't be much of a rush to change the way our men and boys are protected against concussive injuries.  Many of you readers are probably too young to remember the hue and cry by the car manufacturers against the necessity for installing seat belts in cars, back in the 1960's.  Ralph Nader was instrumental in forcing the industry to change by lobbying Congress to pass a law mandating seat belts in all cars.  I'm hoping that we individuals who care about the safety of our children will write e-mails or Tweets, or whatever we're doing to communicate these days, to our representatives to let them know that we want action on developing new safety standards for helmets.

This morning, before coming to the office, I listened to an interview with Tony Dorsett, a former running back with the Dallas Cowboys.  He said that he is suffering from memory loss which is increasing everyday.  He has a, "very short fuse," and is also very depressed....all symptoms of CTE.  I find this so very, very sad.  I'm afraid that the instance of these reports will only increase, in the future.

* An update to this information.  As of the Fall of 2014, scientists can now measure CTE by brain scan on live individuals.  We need no longer wait for a person to die before diagnosing this life-threatening condition. 

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Men's Health Awareness Month

Since last month was "Breast Cancer Awareness Month," it seems only fitting and appropriate that this month is dedicated to the men.  I rather like the testosterone-themed symbol associated with this awareness of growing facial hair and not shaving for a month....for men, of course.

There was a piece on the CBS Evening News about the increased usage of testosterone replacement therapy in older men and its association with the similar unintended consequences of estrogen replacement therapy....increased risk of cancer.  The urologist who prescribes testosterone said that there are "problems" associated with both not taking testosterone and taking it. Unfortunately, the journalist interviewing her failed to pin her down on the consequences to men if they don't take the hormone.  It really would have been interesting to have seen if she would have admitted that the problems associated with a decreased production of testosterone in older men are often a decreased libido, lethargy and, sometimes, difficulty with erections....all,  non-life threatening consequences.

What is particularly troublesome is that men are not offered the choice of natural testosterone replacement.  We women know about black and blue cohosh as alternative choices, but men aren't told about the need to include anti-oxidants in their diets as well as taking specialized supplements to support their adrenals that produce DHEA, which is converted to testosterone.

 Our fast-food and fast-paced, convenient-food eating style is a major cause of our body's decreased production of all hormones.  Eventually, the body is going to rebel against what I call, "The Convenience Diet," and those eating this way will have to decide what price they are willing to pay.

I do understand that it is often difficult to get men to admit that they aren't, "all powerful," but I can only hope that we women can subtly steer our men into the direction of accepting and being enthusiastic about changing their thinking into wellness from denial.

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Fibromyalgia: Cause or Effect?

Years ago, when we first began our practice, few doctors had ever heard of this condition and even fewer had any idea how to go about treating it.  Now, there is a new medication, based on, I have to assume, the medical community's research and findings for this diagnosis.

The advertisement, on TV, goes something like this:

     Fibromyalgia is thought  to be caused by overactive nerves.  Lyrica is thought to calm those nerves.

Interesting, isn't it?  The profession that at least 90% (based on only 10% of the population that utilizes alternative medicine) of our population considers to be based on "scientific" methodology, "thinks" that "overactive" nerves are responsible for a very painful and, heretofore, unresponsive to anti-inflammatory medications, condition.  I have to ask myself, "What are overactive nerves?"  And, why are we basing a medication-based treatment on nothing more than an idea?  I had no idea that the FDA approved a medication based upon a guess.  Wow.

The quickly-glossed over side effects are pretty scary, too.....allergic reactions, increased systemic muscle pain (what people are taking this for in the first place) and, my personal favorite...suicidal thoughts!

I can tell you that it has been our experience that fibromyalgia is NOT a cause, but an effect.  The problem for these patients is that by the time they present with their medical doctor's diagnosis of fibromyalgia, so many secondary compensatory mechanisms have developed that have to be nutritionally addressed. Treatment is neither quick nor easy and the patients have to be willing to change their lifestyle and eating habits and also must be willing to undergo both nutritional and bio-mechanical therapy that re-balances their neuromuscular system.  For people who simply want the pain to go away, medication is their treatment of choice and they appear to be willing to chance the side effects.

The primary point that must be considered is, what are the possible long-term ramifications of taking any medication?   In my book, that makes those who are taking any recently "minted" medication, guinea pigs.  

I do have to wonder what other problems and/or possible diseases/dysfunctions are being caused, down the road, for those who choose to treat symptomatically.  The possible unintended consequences of long term usage of any medication must be weighed against the possible benefits.  One must wonder about the benefits of a medication that is, by the medical professions own words, only "thought" to help its users.

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