therapy Archives - Naturalterrain

Energy Givers vs Energy Robbers

Everyone has positive and negative influences in their life. The important thing is to recognize which people, events or situations fill you up and which ones deplete you. By finding out what is stressful for oneself, changes can be made in the right direction towards a more healthful life.

A helpful exercise is to take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns.

Good for me (gives me energy, happiness, health – energy givers)

Bad for me (drains my energy and health – energy robbers)

There may be relationships, time commitments, people, work situations, eating patterns that go in one or both columns. You may love a job or commitment (column 1) but not the time commitment associated with it (column 2). By doing this exercise, you can find out what the energy givers are as well as the drainers and can identify the top 5 in each column. In the “bad” column, identify why the top 5 entries are so tough and understand clearly what is going on to have a clear picture of life situations that are negatively affecting your health. See how these prevent you from living a healthy life. Choose the worst one from the “bad” column and make a commitment to eliminate this from your life. Work out a plan to do this. Once this item is eliminated, move onto the next and repeat the exercise.

Looking at circled items from the “good” column, devise a way to do these things more frequently in your life, moving from a life with things that render you powerless to things that make you feel more in control, more empowered in life.

Recognize your “energy robbers”, which are things that make you feel drained. Many energy robbers will show up in the “bad” column. These can be bad foods, commitments, a strong scent, a memory, a room or even a person. As an example, an energy robber could be a friend or family member. If you talk to this friend every day, try minimizing your exposure to this person by talking three times a week or even once a week. If this is someone you are very involved with, you could make a signal to that person to let him or her know you feel your energy draining. If it is someone you do not have open communication with (an energy draining sign) you must do what you can on your own and perhaps rethink this relationship.

If it is work or home conditions, the solution may take a bit of creativity. For instance, at work – only phoning back messages at two time intervals in the day instead of being constantly interrupted on the phone.

If you’re still stuck you can change the situation (eliminate the loud noise – telling people to be quiet), change yourself to the situation (wear earplugs with loud noise) or leave the situation (leave the area of the noise).

Vitamin Supplementation Benefits are Real

Editorial by Ralph K. Campbell, MD and Andrew W. Saul

This article as been written by the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service and is posted with their permission. The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource. Please subscribe to OMNS here http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html and find archived articles here; http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

Perhaps the only advantage of getting old is being able to look back and see what worked and what didn’t. Knowledge of severe vitamin deficiency diseases is an example of learning the hard way. The association of vitamin B1 (thiamine) with beriberi was perhaps the first example of the consequences of refining a food. Milling away the unattractive outer husk of the rice that contained the thiamine caused the disease. No drug could substitute for that missing, essential, “vital amine.” That’s how “vitamins” first got their name.

The 1930s

In the early 1930s, more such life-sustaining substances were isolated and also named vitamins. Many studies were done to determine what vitamins were in which foods, and they would subsequently be produced as supplements. The public seemed eager to learn more; vitamins were a very popular subject. Common knowledge exceeded what has been presented to most medical students. Recently, we are seeing a recognition and correction of this inadequacy in medical students’ nutrition education.

Post-war

A big change took place after World War II ended: many new drugs were put on the market. Drugs are designed to either enhance or inhibit a specific biological reaction. Vitamins, as necessary cofactors for many enzymes, also do this. The difference is that the drug is designed to target a specific action, whereas a nutrient works in concert with other nutrients. This can make it difficult to assign results, good or bad, to a single nutrient. But both drugs and vitamins work under the principle of giving an amount sufficient to push the equation to the desired effect.

Dosage

Insufficient quantities of a drug, or vitamin, will not get results. As Abram Hoffer, MD, has said, neither 500 units of an antibiotic, nor 500 milligrams of vitamin C, will get results. Early studies supposedly “proving” that vitamin C was worthless used amounts too small to be of any value. Linus Pauling and other researchers have said the same: if you are going to build a house, be sure you have enough bricks. This is the basis of megavitamin prevention and treatment.

Beta carotene

Amazingly, some still claim that vitamin supplements are actually detrimental. They often refer to a gosh-awful 1994 “study” claiming that beta carotene caused lung cancer. It commenced with a foregone conclusion that beta-carotene is bad stuff. As if to guarantee that it would be found accordingly, the study used long-time smokers as subjects. It is well known that smoking, due to the carcinogenic effects of tobacco tars, is a direct cause of lung cancer. Blaming a vitamin as the cause, in spite of a myriad of studies showing that beta carotene is preventive, makes no sense. [1]

Abram Hoffer, MD, has pointed out that

“With this group of heavy smokers it is certain that a large fraction already had the cancer. . . [T]he beta-carotene group smoked one year more than the no-beta-carotene group . . . How significant is one year more of heavy smoking in increasing the number of advanced lung cancers? The authors do not discuss this.”

Although Dr. Hoffer’s commentary was published both in a medical journal [2] and in the Townsend Letter for Doctors [3], few physicians saw it. Perhaps too many doctors are too busy to read. All doctors are inhibited by having a very limited time for each patient a visit, plus by far too much time required to be spent on the computer with record-keeping, insurance and government mandates.

Doctors need to keep an open mind about vitamin therapy. We should avoid the mistake many politicians are following: If they don’t agree with me, they are the enemy. Good medicine should at least listen to and examine the other side.

References

1. Saul AW. Which kills smokers: “Camels” or carrots? Are smokers getting lung cancer from beta-carotene? Orthomolecular Medicine News Service 2008. 4:23, Nov 18. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n23.shtml

2. Hoffer A. The Finnish antioxidant and lung cancer study. J Orthomolecular Med 1994. 9:2, 67-70. http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1994/pdf/1994-v09n02-p067.pdf

3. https://www.tldp.com/Indices/96authr.htm
Also: https://www.townsendletter.com/Oct2007/EDvitaminwar1007.htm

Solutions for Chronic Pain: Part 1

For those suffering with chronic pain, finding relief can sometimes feel hopeless. Luckily, there are several different treatment options in Naturopathic Medicine that can be explored. Diet, counselling, botanicals, neural therapy, ozone therapy, biopuncture, acupuncture, prolotherapy and prolozone therapy can all be helpful in pain treatment. Today we will review three treatment options: Neural Therapy, Ozone therapy and Prolozone.

Neural Therapy

One possible source of chronic pain is caused by a disruption in the nervous system. An interruption in the autonomic nervous system, by injury, infection, toxicity, scars or emotional distress prevents the body from running smoothly. This can compromise almost any body system and can cause pain. Neural Therapy targets the autonomic nervous system and balances it out. Neural therapy is an injection of local anesthetic (procaine or lidocaine), vitamins, chelating agents and various homeopathics (that are specific to the tissue being healed). This mixture is administered into scar tissue, acupuncture points, muscle trigger points, nerve points, glands or an autonomic ganglion. This therapy helps treat pain, especially if the pain is caused by a disruption of nerves.

Ozone Therapy

Ozone therapy works by donating an oxygen molecule to the free radicals in the body. Free radicals are formed when the body is under oxidative stress, which can be caused by infection, illness or injury. Free radicals can lead to inflammation and pain. There are two main types of ozone therapy that we use at the clinic: Auto-hemotherapy and hydrogen peroxide therapy. Hydrogen peroxide therapy works by regulating certain enzymatic reactions in the body to further increase the oxygen content in the bloodstream which leads to many therapeutic benefits. Hydrogen peroxide therapy can be administered topically, orally or injected intravenously. Ozone therapy is most effective when treating vascular and degenerative diseases but also helps a long list of conditions.

Prolozone

Prolozone therapy uses some of the same principles as ozone therapy; it donates an oxygen molecule where there is oxidative damage. However, with prolozone therapy, the substances that the body needs to rebuild and heal an area is also administered. Prolozone therapy is an injection into the joints and areas of reduced oxygen uptake. This therapy is useful in treating neck pain, back pain, arthritic hips and knees, shoulder and elbow pain, degenerated disks, rotator cuff injuries and many more musculoskeletal problems. According to the official prolozone website, prolozone has a 75% success rate at completely relieving pain!

To find out more about treatment options and which one is best for you, book an appointment with Dr. Mason-Wood,ND.