Sunday, December 8, 2013

Too much nonsense in the world of natural health

This post is something of a rant - grammar may not be perfect. 

There is too much nonsense going on in the world of natural health. There is said it. You go online and in countless website and chat rooms people are talking about natural treatments for anything and everything. Some of this information is good. Some of it is not. Mostly it is a total mess.

Lets go over some problems

1 - Everyone is an expert. All it takes is a website for someone to become an expert. I've gotten such feedback myself, some person thousands of miles away sees my website and decides that I am somehow the expert on a given topic. Why? Because they like my website.

While I am a naturopathic doctor, and hope I have some degree of competency in what I do, I still acknowledge the fact that having a nice webpage on something doesn't make anyone "the expert."

I'm a naturopathic doctor, with additional training in areas such as homotoxicology, some applied kineseology, neuro-emotional technique. I hate sales games and sales tactics. So I try to make my website more about giving information rather than using psychological games to bring people in.

There is nothing on my website that is original and comes from me. I learned it all in naturopathic school, from colleagues, from seminars, from books. From actually being in the field as a student and practitioner for 9 years now.

So I hope I have some expertise and it means a lot to me when that allows me to help people. But I'm not "THE EXPERT."

But all over the Internet or self proclaimed "experts" with some special knowledge.

To be honest, many people in my field find "experts" such as Dr. Weil, or Dr. Oz annoying. While we certainly do recognize that they do help the field of natural health by bringing people into it, they also present a lot of very simple, watered down information. People in natural health can be saying something for decades, if not centuries, but suddenly it becomes valid because Dr. Oz says so.

One problem with such experts for the masses is, they dumb things down so far health philosophy gets thrown out the window. The art of treating the patient is replaced by some cure for a condition. There are too many supplements sold as amazing cure all products. I think this undermines what can truly be done in holistic medicine by throwing out the art and philosophy and replacing it with fad products.

Or we'll see something like GAPS - Gut and Psychology Syndrome. Someone discovered that there is relationship between digestive system health and mental symptoms, gave it a brand and is now an expert. I have nothing against this if it helps people, except for one problem - something was just branded as if it was a personal discovery, when it's been known in various healing traditions for thousands of years.

But this is just one example of the branding of redundant information in order to create an expert.

Fake experts don't just sell to the lay public. As a naturopathic doctor all the time I get sent invitations to seminars, webinars, personal training, to learn form some "expert." Some of whom truly have special information to share, and many don't. Generally speaking, I think the most expert practitioners are the ones working with patients, who learn how to observe, and employ gentle therapies at the individual.

In this field there are many "experts" who try to sell systems to practitioners. Instead of the natural health care practitioners being an experts into patient observation and targeted treatment, the practitioners is now an expert in Standard Process supplements, nor Metagenics supplements, or Designs for Health supplements, or [... fill in blank ... ] some other companies supplements. It's not that these are bad companies or have bad products (myself, I've used a lot of Designs for Health), but it's the whole model of selling a system to some practitioners so they can jump right in and treat people as the nutrition expert.

In conventional medicine pharmaceutical companies don't just sell to doctors, they have corrupted the philosophy of how practitioners think. I suspect the same is true in natural health. There is an art to selecting the correct treatment for the person, instead of selling them the kitchen-sink digestive system product.

2 - Cure all products

From 9 years experience in natural health, as far as I can tell, miracle cure all products do not exist. Everyone is different.

There is no miracle supplement that will make everyone who uses it loose weight, of be happy, or not be anxious, or given them energy (do I need to get started or miracle cure adrenal products).

3 - Allopathy

Allopathy is the idea that instead of treating the person, you fling all manner of agents  at the symptoms in order to suppress them. It is the philosophy of conventional medicine, but also of our culture. All over the world of natural health you'll see people selling the "holistic" product for various diseases. 

To use one simple example, if someone has a "holistic" treatment for Candida, it's not holistic. It's may be good general health advice (no sugar, no industrial waste garbage that is sold as "milk, etc...), or it may be a even a good supplement, but the moment you treat the disease instead of the person, it's not holistic.

Yes, good information is put out there, but I want attention to be on the individual, not the disease. Many treatments for Candida only go so far, then you either look deeper and work on the real problems, but that is just one example.



I could go on, but I think this rant should be enough for now

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Testing for serotonin receptor activity

"the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) which has variants that have been shown to influence the clinical response of patients of European ancestry when they are treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Genotyping of some of the serotonin receptor genes is also available to guide clinical practice [ ... ] Given the increasingly clear cost-effectiveness of genotyping, it has recently been predicted that pharmacogenomic testing will routinely be ordered to guide the selection and dosing of psychotropic medications.

 As I'm working to revise most of my web site's material on mental illness, one of my colleague's calls me up to tell me about serotonin testing. Apparently there are tests coming to test sensitivity of serotonin receptor sensitivity.

Doing some quick research, seems people want to run genetic tests to predict how well patients will response to psychiatric drugs. Well, if this helps to prevent some of the worse reactions to psych drugs it's not all bad, HOWEVER...

This has little to do with what "depression" and "mental illness" is. It is also guiding people in a direction that is leading them further away from the real problems.

Depression is not a disease. It is a feeling. Feelings are not pathologies. Feelings are not supposed to be treated. The whole train of thought makes no sense.

Feeling depressed all the time is a problem. Feeling suicidal is a problem. But the thing to treat is the patient, not the feeling itself.

What can cause depression? Well, what causes disease in general?
  • Nutritional deficiency
  • Toxicity
  • Structural issues (ie. car accident, joint sublexation, etc...)
  • Emotional trauma/stress
How should the patient who feels depressed be treated? By taking a full history and treating what is wrong! Sorry, you do not treat depression in naturopathy.  Naturopathy, like all other holistic healing disciplines is patient focused, not disease focused.

Do people have genetically faulty serotonin receptors?

Perhaps there are some people who do. There are some uncommon genetic diseases. However, most illnesses with a genetic component will only be expressed in the right environment. So the real question is not if people have faulty serotonin receptors. It's better to ask if some people are more genetically predisposed to feeling depressed, given a set of environmental stresses.

That may be so. But I wouldn't call that having a defective brain that needs to be treated with psych drugs. We all have genetic predispositions. Also, often these supposed weak genes that make us susceptible to certain disease serve important other functions as well (the most well known examples is perhaps sickle cell anemia as protection against malaria).

What should be treated is the cause of illness. Nutrition, toxicity, emotional trauma and physical structure. I doubt that many people would feel depressed if those needs could be taken care of. Personally, I wish as a ND I could do more, I can work with nutrition, detoxification and help the body deal with emotional stress, but I can not remove my clients from bad jobs, bad relationships, bad parents, etc... I wish I could, as sometimes it's clear that is most what they need, not some supplement or drug.

We are not born with defective brains, defective genes, or defective serotonin receptors. If we simply give our body's what they need, we will feel fine. Depression is the body's feedback mechanism that something is wrong. 

The above article I link to mentions "serotonin receptor genes." They can give a gene whatever arbitrary name or label they wish. However the very idea that there is a point to point relationship between genes and one specific function has been dis-proven. Since researchers know the body is far more complex, I wish they would use language that better reflected the way they body worked, instead of deceptive names.




Wednesday, October 2, 2013

linoleic acid and psychiatric medications

Was doing some research after noticing someone having a very remarkable reaction to conjugated linoleic acid (which is often used as a weight loss supplement).

In terms of people on psychiatric medications, this study says:

"Regarding LA levels, antipsychotic-treated patients showed significantly reduced levels compared with controls, whereas antipsychotic-naïve patients showed no such reductions"

 While the role of fish oil and particularly DHA is often cited for "mental illness" perhaps this is indicated CLA should be a consideration for those on anti-psychotic medication?

Of course everyone is different, and one must treat the person, and not the disease, but looks like CLA may be a consideration when working with people who are coming in on anti-psychotic medication.

Is nutritional lithium safe?

This from Nutrition Journal

"Prescription lithium is in the form of lithium carbonate, and doses can be as high as 180 mg. It is these high doses that are responsible for most of lithium's adverse side effects. Some of the more common side effects include a dulled personality, reduced emotions, memory loss, tremors, or weight gain [5,6]. Another form of lithium called lithium orotate, is preferred because the orotate ion crosses the blood-brain barrier more easily than the carbonate ion of lithium carbonate. Therefore, lithium orotate can be used in much lower doses (e.g. 5 mg) with remarkable results and no side effects [49,50]. Clinical trials involving 150 mg daily doses of lithium orotate administered 4 to 5 times a week, showed a reduction of manic and depressive symptoms in bipolar patients [50]. In addition, lithium orotate is available without a prescription, unlike lithium carbonate, which is considered a prescription drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Studies have also shown that the amino acid-derivative, taurine, as an alternative to lithium, blocks the effects of excess acetylcholine that contributes to bipolar disorder [51]"

While most information on nutritional lithium is for it's use in helping people with mental symptoms (and many practitioners in natural health will use lithium for that), I have primarily seen it help people with Grave's disease. While herbals for Graves disease (ie. bugle-weed, lemon balm, mother wort) help the cardiovascular symptoms lithium is my starting point for a supplement that will help with other symptoms.

Unfortunately many people are afraid of taking lithium because they have heard it is dangerous. Lithium is a trace mineral, our bodies need it. It is not dangerous in low dose. Any mineral, vitamin or substance (including air and water) is dangerous in too high a dose. That's what happens with prescription lithium carbonate. The dose is too high and creates toxic side effects.

However, this should not scare people away from using low dose nutritional lithium, which is available as a non-prescription supplement.



Another article from 1986

Lithium orotate in the treatment of alcoholism and related conditions

In this there was some minimal side effects, although they gave a much higher does than lithium oratate is usually given in (they used 150 mg per day - instead of 5 to 20 as in most supplements).

Study noted many benefits from lithium - including helping some with hyperthyroidism

"Further advantages for this lithium therapy were noted, i.e., improved liver and cardiovascular functions, reduction (and in some cases abolishment) of migraine headaches, alleviation of the Meniere's symptoms, and amelioration of seizures. There were increases in the white blood cell counts in the patient with chemotherapy-induced leukopenia and reduction of edema and ascites in patients with liver cirrhosis, as well as the pleural effusions and lymph node swelling in the patient with lung cancer. No manic episodes occurred during lithium orotate treatment in three patients with this affective disorder. The hyperthyroid condition was also improved in four patients"

What Happens When You Are Diagnosed With Hyperthyroidism

Most people diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and Graves Disease tell very similar stories. 

Symptoms seem to come on very suddenly, racing heartbeat, sweating, anxiety or panic attacks, weight loss, digestive symptoms, swelling on neck. Not everyone has all those symptoms, but most have some of them.

Usually a medical doctor will run a lab for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), and find it quickly. Sometimes this lab is run as part of an emergency room visit. Sometimes it take some time to get the diagnosis and the patient may have been treated for a wrong diagnosis.

Diagnostic measures for hyperthyroidism

Typical labs ordered to confirm a diagnosis include:
  • TSH, T3 and T4
  • Radio-active uptake scan test (to differentiate graves disease from other causes of hyperthyroidism, such as a thyroid hormone secreting nodule)
  • Anti-bodies. These include thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin (also called TSH receptor antibody)
Suggestion of the radio-active uptake test makes many patients worried about radiation. The medical doctors are typically dismissive about such concerns and tell patients there are no side effects to worry about.

Anti-body tests may be run. Sometimes medical doctors want to run an uptake scan. Other times people are given a Graves disease diagnosis without it. 

Where almost everyone with Grave's disease ends up

Eventually patients are given these options:
  • Have the thyroid gland destroyed with radio-active iodine, or removed surgery
  • Treat with drugs which are toxic to the body - although typically the medical doctors will push patients to have the thyroid gland destroyed. 
It doesn't seem to matter much how severe symptoms are, these are the only options conventional medicine gives patients.

Common reactions to medical advice

  •  Fearful. The medical treatments are not benign. Patients worry about how their body would function without a thyroid. Also they are concerned about side effects from medications or radiation therapy. It seems that whichever direction they go has the potential for side effects.
  • Hopeless - in the conventional medical world there are no other options, which may make people feel they have no power to take control over their own health.
  • Being unsure of what to do.
Typically patients will be having one or more of these reactions. 

Is there an alternative option?

Many times there is. Conventional medicine lumps all people with Graves disease together, and offers them all the most radical treatment. Graves disease is a dangerous illness, which must be taken seriously. In some cases the conventional route has merit.

However, many cases are not so severe to warrant immediate destruction of the thyroid gland. What can be done through natural health?
  •  First, going over labs in detail. Many people with hyperthyroidism never get a full set of labs needed to assess their situation. This includes full thyroid pane (TSH, T3, T4 and antibodies to Grave's and Hashimoto's - as often both are elevated - this is TSI, TPO and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies). Additionally other labs such as CBC , WBC, and vitamin D are important.
  • Supplements to help control symptoms. There are many supplements that can be used to control symptoms.
  • Deeper work for the underlining cause of hyperthyroidism. This is beyond the scope of this article. For more information on this go to my video on Graves disease





Thursday, September 19, 2013

Sugar: The Bitter Truth




Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 16717]

Commentary

The above video is an in depth look at what went wrong wtih dietary recommendations with regards to low fat diets. It dismisses popular misconceptions about sugar, fructose, fat, and especially what causes obesity.

The following is a brief summary I wrote while watching this. However, this only highlights some major points. the whole video is full of important information, and needs to be watched to appreciate it.
Obesity is not as simple as calories in versus calories burned. The standard model says if you eat it, you better burn it, or you gain weight. This is a mistake. Obesity is not a simple matter of too many calories, and not burning enough off.
Historical trends in fructose consumption:
Before food processing, fructose consumption would be about 15 grams per day.Prior to WWII 16 – 24 g/day.
1977 – 78: 37 g/day
1994 – 54.7 g/day
Adolescents today: 72.8 g/day – 25% consume at least 15% of calories from fructose alone.
It's not just that calories are going up, but fructose is going up.
Why did this happen? Fructose is so cheap, plus something had to be added into the diet to make up for the low fat diets which started in the 1980s. However, a review of the basic science and studies that led to low fat diet, show that theory is wrong. High fat diets do not lead to cardiovascular disease.
These change have led to an adulteration of the food supply through:
  • Addition of fructose
  • Removal of fiber
  • substitution of trans-fats
Key point: fructose is not glucose (table sugar).
  • Fructose forms Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGE's)
  • Fructose does not supress ghrelin (satiation hormone) so people eat more
  • Acute fructose does not stimulate insulin. If insulin doens't go up, leptin doesn't go up, so brain doesn't see you ate.
  • Liver metabolism of fructose is completely different than that of sugar.
  • Chronic fructose expose alone leads to Metabolic Syndrome.
Glucose can be used by every cell in the body. Excess glucose gets converted into glycogen in the liver. Glycogen is not toxic. Some glucose will get converted it fat, but not much. However, fructose can only be metabolized by the liver. Since the liver is forced to metabolized all fructose, this turns fructose into a poison.
He discusses the relationship between fructose, creation of uric acid, gout and hypertension. As sweetened sugared beverages goes up, so does uric acid, gout and hypertension. Studies have shown that reducing uric acid, will lower high blood pressure. Basically, the fructose (not table sugar) is cause hypertension. Fructose will also stimulate creation of fat “High fructose diet is a high fat diet.”
Fructose consumption leads to: hypertension, myocardial infarction, dyslipidemia, pancreatitis, obesity, hepatic dysfunction, fetal insulin resistance and habituation if not addiction.
His interventions:
  • Get rid of all sugared liquids, only water and milk.
  • Eat carbohydrate with fiber.
  • Wait 20 minutes for second portions.
  • Buy your screen time minute for minute with physical activity.
They found this works for childhood obesity, and analysis shows increased sugared beverage consumption is what will make it not work.
Why is exercise important? Not because it burns calories!
  • Makes skeletal muscle more sensitive to insulin.
  • Endogenous stress reducer, and if stress reduce, then appetite goes down.
  • It makes TCA cycle run faster (raises metabolism).
Why is fiber important in obesity?
In nature fructose always comes with fiber. That's why fruit is ok. Fiber limits amount of carbohydrate absorbtion. Increases speed of transit of intestinal content to ileum. Inhibits absorption of some free fatty acids to the colon, which are metabolized by colonic bacteria to short chain fatty acids, which suppress insulin.

He compares fructose to alcohol and called fructose, " ethanol without the buzz.” Makes the point that biochemically, they are basically the same thing in terms of A low fat diet is not really a low fat diet, because the fructose doubles as fat. So its a high fat diet. In addition, fructose is also a toxin.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Cutting and Self-Harm - A Naturopathic Perspective

The purpose of this article is not to write a comprehensive review of causes and all treatments for cutting and self-harm. Rather this is simply insights from my perspective as a Naturopathic doctor.

Cuting and self-harm is a coping mechanism for mental symptoms such as depression. Depersonalization can be described as feeling disconnected from one's physicality. This can be related to self-harm as well.
There are some basics aspects of self-harm which I'll review first:
  • Self harm is not a suicide attempt, and does not mean someone wishes to die.
  • Self-harm injuries are generally superficial (it's very unlikely that one will accidentally kill themselves).
  • People who self harm are often embarrassed by cuts/scars, try to hide them, and are not seeking attention.
  • Self harm is addictive – it involves release of endorphins, and as someone self harms, over time they will tend to need to do it more often, or more severely in order to get the same release.
  • Stopping self-harm can be a slow process, with occasional relapses just like other addictions.

Self Harm Is A Symptom – Not A Disease, Nor Is It A “Mental Illness”

People who self-harm do so out of inner distress. This may be depression, or even a self-inflicted punishment.
Often depressed people feel nothing, or numb. The physical pain at times may feel better, than feeling nothing at all.
Regardless of the cause, it should be obvious that “self-harm” is not a “disease” or “mental illness” in and of itself. What should be treated are the causes of emotional distress which lead to self-harm.

Self harm is not an enjoyable act. Generally people do not enjoying sticking themselves with sharp objects or other forms of self injury. When the mental symptoms are relieved, then the self-harm will stop.

Psychiatric Drugs For Self Harm

The psychiatric bible known a the DSM contains all the psychiatric “diagnoses.” This book explicitly states that “diagnoses” are not medical conditions. A psychiatric label is simply a description of symptoms and behaviors. The DSM does not list objective medical tests for any supposed“chemical imbalance” because such tests do not exist.

Nonetheless, patients are still told that psychiatric “diagnosis” represent biological diseases and which are treated with psychiatric drugs.

Our society tends to fight against problems, rather than holistically appraising (and addressing) the cause.
It is certainly much more profitable to create billion dollar industries to fight a problem, rather than fixing the causing. But also, when we “fight” a problem, we take away the need to reflect on the cause.
So, following this tendency, psychiatrists prescribe drugs for “chemical imbalances” that have never been proven.


So what does this say about taking a psychiatric medication for self-harm?

1) In no way do psychiatric drugs address the causes of self harm.
2) Psychiatric drugs are in themselves a form of self harm! We need to ask, what does it say about a society that so willing give ourselves (and children) neurological toxins that do harm the body, just in a way that is not visible to the eye.

Self-harm causes physical damage to the body (typically skin) in order to help cope with emotional distress. Psychiatric drugs cause physical harm to the brain and nervous system (and other system) in order to help cope with emotional distress.

What is the difference?

Perhaps with self-harm is is clear that the emotional distress is still there and scars may be discomforting. With psychiatric drugs, we can pretend things are better because they appear to be.

Are there cases of self-harm that are so severe psychiatric drugs are warranted? This is a subjective question, and I think best answered by the patients themselves, based upon their individual situations. If someone finds a psychiatric drug helpful, who has any right to tell them otherwise. However, the truth doesn't change – these are basically poisonous substances that are not fixing the the real problem.

Psychiatry And Mental Illness Theory – Society Not Looking At Anything But Itself

One of the worst things that can be told to someone who self-harms (or who has another “mental illness”) is that this is a biological disease.

When we tell someone they have an inherent, biological condition brain disorder, that in effect dis-empowers them. How is it helpful to say, based on zero objective evidence whatsoever, that someone has an inherent brain disorder?

For from taking away the stigmatizations of metal illness, this reinforces it! It is telling people they are inherently defective!

The only person who can ever heal anyone, is the individual acting in concert with the healing power of nature. The practitioner should be there to act as a guide and assist the body in this process.
But this model, of inherent brain disease this transfers power to heal – away from the patient – and to the practitioner. Thus it serves the psychiatrist and whole mental health field much better than it serves the patient.

But even worse, this is simply not true. Psychiatry has no evidence whatsoever that conditions they claim are biological, and have biological treatments for, are in fact biological.

If they did, they would give patients biological tests. They don't, because they have no tests.
Furthermore, when society as a whole adopts this stance that mental symptoms such as depression and self-harm are in fact biological, it's a way of defending society itself.

No longer are we confronted with questions of how our society produces so many mental disorders. No longer must we ask why so many young people are resorting to self-harm!

At this point I am diverging from my role as Naturopathic Doctor and into social criticism. However, if Naturopathy has taught me anything, is is the interconnectedness of the whole unit. You can not study “mental illness” (or any illness) as somehow separate from the rest of the body. Likewise, we can not fully understand the illnesses of the individual, unless we account for the environment the whole person lives in.

The rise of certain illnesses must be put into context. Just as the epidemics of autism and auto-immune disease reflects problems with the environment, so too do the many young people who are engaging in self-harm.

The larger question is how has society itself failed young people?
But if believe this is all due to inherent biological brain illness, then there is no reason to put the question up to society as a whole.

How Do I, As A Naturopathic Doctor Help Someone Who Self-Harms?

I can not speak for all of Naturopathy. But this is what I do:

TREAT THE PERSON AND NOT THE SYMPTOM

Symptoms are the body's best attempt to deal with the totality of current stresses.

There are two things with cause “disease.” It does not matter if symptoms are physical or mental.

Deficiency – or not giving the body what it needs.
Toxicity – or giving the body things it doesn't need.

Psychologically speaking, children can be put into very toxic environment. Abusive parents, or social abuse (bullying) at school are common. However, children may have symptoms not due to abuse, but simply because they were given the emotional support needed. There is a phenomena of “proximal abandonment” where perhaps the parents are physically present, but not emotionally available.

Physical toxicity or deficient may be easier to understand. B12 deficiency can cause depression. Lead toxicity can cause a number of mental symptoms.

for more I suggest this video from psychetruth