Sunday, February 24, 2013

Doctors Have All The Answers

Wouldn't it be nice if we doctors had all the answers?

Obviously, we don't. But, a much bigger problem is that we doctors don't ask enough questions.

Rather than complain about what I perceive as a dangerous shortage of doctor-asked questions, I will offer one.

How is it that a patient with a condition or conditions that led to concurrent prescriptions for lithium (mania), Wellbutrin (depression) and Buspar (anxiety); could be under the care of a psychiatrist, a family practice doctor, a doctor of oriental medicine, a doctor of chiropractic, a massage therapist, and a deep-tissue therapist; and yet arrive in my office completely unaware of the possibility that insufficient magnesium, insufficient vitamin D, and food intolerances, individually or in combination, might be causative factors of the conditions for which she is medicated?

Questions are good, a first step, and sometimes lead to answers. Even when they don't, they stir the pot. The pots of healthcare, and more generally, culture, need stirring so their contents don't stick and burn on the bottom.

PS - Both magnesium and vitamin D insufficiencies are documented as common in the  US population. In my 30 years of practice, I have yet to treat a patient that did not have at least one food intolerance or food allergy. All three problems are common, and potent in their ability to be causative factors in numerous specific diseases, and causative in the loss of health and vitality.


Ventura Chiropractor


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Did Your Therapist Mention ...

Did your therapist mention that the food that you eat and the balance of nutrients in your body, influence your mind, mood and behavior? That they effect how you feel, how you feel about yourself, and how you feel about your life?

If not, let me mention it, otherwise you might keep going for therapy forever and never feel better. I am not suggesting that the challenges that we face in our lives, and for which we see therapists, are all caused by food reactions and nutrient imbalances. I am saying that it would be somewhere between not smart, and dangerous to not look carefully at the powerful effects of foods and nutrients on how we feel. Some call this holistic medicine. I call it Functional Medicine.

Try gluten on for size. It can cause depression, irritability, listlessness, and mood disorders. Click the link, read the source, and realize that this is one of hundreds if not thousands of resources on gluten's effects on mind, mood and behavior.

And what about vitamin D? There is much evidence that suggests an association between low vitamin D levels and depression.

These are just two powerful examples.

If your therapist didn't mention food and nutrients to you as factors that influence every part of your life, you could bring it up.


Chiropractor Ventura Chiropractor