I’ll bet you didn’t know that Chicago has by far the worst problem with lead exposure in the entire US. It’s now estimated that fully 80% of our underground pipes are lined with lead. This means we’re all exposed to potentially toxic lead levels and the accompanying health risks. You’ll recall from last week’s Health […]
Category: G
Glandular Therapies
A surprising number of so-called alternative therapies actually have their roots in conventional medicine. While reflexology (once called Zone Therapy) is arguably thousands of years old, its modern use was made popular by an ear-nose-throat specialist who used the pressure from rubber bands applied to the fingers and toes for surgical anesthesia. The “Bach” of […]
Get The Lead Out (And Other Toxic Metals Too)
In last week’s Health Tip we discussed the chemical swill accumulating in your body from a variety of sources, some obvious and some not. This week we’re looking at heavy metal toxicity. For those who were otherwise preoccupied that day in high school chemistry, the heavy metals are a group of especially dense metals or […]
A Genuinely Useful Blood Test
Many a time, in person or via phone, someone will say a variation of “Look, I’m taking all these vitamins and minerals but I really don’t know what I’m doing. I think I’m eating right, but I might have some vitamin or mineral deficiencies I know nothing about and I don’t know the consequences.” This […]
Getting Tough With Your Immune System
No reasonable physician (I modestly include myself here) can refrain from crowing delightedly when a clinical study confirms the value of a treatment he or she had been using for years, even if that treatment had contradicted prevailing standards. Ever since I learned something about natural medicine, I’ve been reluctant to prescribe antibiotics for respiratory tract infections, […]
Getting Off Blood Pressure Meds Forever, Contaminated Or Not
If you’re currently taking a blood pressure medication, the chances are pretty good that you’re on one of the ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers). You can recognize these because they end in -sartan, as in losartan and valsartan. You also may have heard that two of the most popular ARBs (valsartan and irbesartan) were abruptly withdrawn […]
A Gynecologist Joins The Team At WHC: Welcome Andrea Lee, MD
It may surprise you to learn that WholeHealth Chicago has been trying to find the right gynecologist to join our group for more than 16 years. “What?” you ask. “Why so long?” We did know we needed one. Just sit in our waiting room or shop the apothecary and it occurs to you that a […]
Getting Tough With Your Immune System
Originally published Dec 2015 No reasonable physician (I modestly include myself here) can refrain from crowing delightedly when a new clinical study confirms the value of a treatment he or she had been using for years, even if that treatment had contradicted prevailing standards. Ever since I learned something about natural medicine, I’ve been reluctant to […]
Getting Tough With Your Immune System
No reasonable physician (I modestly include myself here) can refrain from crowing delightedly when a new clinical study confirms the value of a treatment he or she had been using for years, even if that treatment had contradicted prevailing standards. Ever since I learned something about natural medicine, I’ve been reluctant to prescribe antibiotics for […]
The Girl Who Smelled Like Pennies
She could not get rid of the awful taste in her mouth. Metallic, she described it, like having pennies in your mouth. Two years it had been. She’d tried a tongue scraper to no avail. Changed her diet, swished an assortment of mouthwashes, rinsed her sinuses with a neti pot, and then, thinking she might […]
On Good Bacteria, Enemas, And Your Health
In certain cultures, like middle class Jews growing up in Hyde Park in the 1950s, everyone remembers being chased through their home by a well-meaning mom armed with an enema bag. “Dr. Nachman said you needed this for a poopy!” I am tearful, dressed only in whity-tighties until caught in the steel grip of my […]
Vaccines, GMOs, and Big Pharma, All In One Film
Last week I received an email invitation to watch a free screening of Bought, subtitled “The Truth Behind Vaccines, Big Pharma, and Your Food.” Since all three are pretty hot topics, I settled back for what I knew would be one of those feel-bad movies. You know what I mean. Moonstruck is a feel-good movie, […]
Getting Off (Or Avoiding) Blood Pressure Meds
Posted 01/05/2015 If you’re currently taking a blood pressure medication OR your doctor has remarked that she’ll be keeping an eye on your “borderline” high blood pressure OR high blood pressure runs in your family and you have concerns about it, please read this Health Tip closely. The issues surrounding blood pressure are far more […]
Getting Off Antidepressants (Or Avoiding Them Altogether)
There’s an uncanny similarity between antibiotic and antidepressant prescribing in the US. If you’re currently taking one or both, took them in the past, or are considering taking one or both now, know that the odds are very strong you don’t need either of them. Numerous clinical studies confirm that both antibiotics and antidepressants are […]
Getting Off Your Meds, Part 1
Wait, don’t tell me. You’re taking a constellation of medications and you’d really like to stop. You hear the announcer listing all those side effects in TV commercials. Worse yet, you’re already experiencing some of them. You’re angry that every day of your life you pop a handful of…what is it you take exactly? You’re […]
Physicians and Guns
I guess it should come as no surprise to anyone, the increasing number of articles in conventional medical journals about the health consequences of gun ownership. After all, each year more than 30,000 people are killed by a gun and another 70,000 are wounded. Add up the past decade and you get nearly one million […]
Using Glandular Therapies
Given the comments on our blog following last week’s post on glandular therapies, let me say first that if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, glandular therapies are definitely not for you. But if you’re a veggie or vegan needing digestive enzymes, there are plenty of plant-based products. You’ll also face no compromise if you need […]
Glandular Therapy Back in the News
I’ve always been intrigued by glandular therapies, in which dried animal endocrine gland is used to treat a variety of medical conditions. And while I appreciate their medical benefits (like everything, some work better than others), even more interesting is their role in the history of medicine over the past century. Just when I thought […]
A Good Night’s Sleep
You may have discovered as you travel this weary road of life that you’re not sleeping quite as well as you did as when you were younger. Gone are the glory days when you fell asleep listening to a bedtime story and then, suddenly, it’s morning! What happened? “Why,” you ask (and probably too often), […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Gluten Sensitivity
Post 06/04/2012 The current guesstimate says roughly 20% of the population are intolerant to gluten, with about 1% of that group having a potentially fatal intestinal condition called celiac disease. The remaining 19% or so are classified as having “non-celiac gluten sensitivity.” Despite the dozens and dozens of medical and psychiatric conditions linked to gluten […]