Some cardiologists have philosophized about Western civilization’s love-hate relationship with cholesterol. For what’s basically a form of grease, it’s certainly more valuable than gold. After all, to surgically by-pass a pea-sized morsel of cholesterol will set your insurance company back about $50K. In fact, this tiny amount of cholesterol lodged in just the right place can kill you with a heart attack or paralyze you with a stroke. So on one hand, here’s the food industry developing more imaginative ways to feed us salted fat, and on the other, the pharmaceutical industry creating cholesterol-lowering medications we’re supposed to gobble up like M and M’s.
Cataracts
Cataract surgery is truly a wonder of modern medicine. Today, ophthalmologists remove cataracts and insert lens implants as skillfully (and, it appears, as effortlessly) as you tie your shoes. As a bonus, Medicare picks up the tab because almost all surgery is performed on people over age 65. At WholeHealth Chicago, we believe you don’t necessarily have to develop cataracts. They may be a normal part of aging (rather than a disease), but they’re not inevitable. While no medicine is available to reverse cataracts, plenty of evidence exists on how lifestyle changes and nutritional supplements can significantly lessen your chances of developing them in the first place. Even if you’ve developed the start of a cataract, you can keep it from worsening.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Doctors have written about carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) for more than 100 years, but it took the emergence of computer keyboards for the condition to achieve national prominence. In fact, any activity that constantly strains the wrist, from guitar playing to rowing, from assembly line work to knitting, can bring it on. Sometimes, however, carpal tunnel syndrome can begin without any apparent cause at all. Carpal tunnel syndrome usually starts as repeated local irritations swell the tendons and ligaments in the wrist. This then compresses the median nerve, which passes through a “tunnel” from the forearm to the hand. The combination of the inflamed tendons and the squeezed median nerve are responsible for the pain, tingling, numbness and weakness of the thumb and index and middle fingers characteristic of CTS. In addition, any of the following have been associated with this painful condition: an underactive thyroid, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, pregnancy, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), birth control pills, and menopause.
Although conventional medicine can be very helpful, I believe one of its options, namely surgery, should be the last resort. As many physicians are unaware of alternative therapies, let’s see if our WholeHealth Chicago suggestions can help keep you out of the operating room. No guarantees, of course, but nothing ventured . . .
Cancer Prevention
Every person on the planet fears getting cancer (and believe me, doctors are just as frightened as everyone else). But in a very dramatic way, we have made one major advance against cancer: We know, in many cases, how to prevent it. Actually, we really don’t have a way to prevent all types of cancers (yet!), but we’ve made great strides with specific cancers, most especially lung, colon, and skin cancers, all of which can be avoided to a great extent. Experts now think that lifestyle choices contribute to about 75% of all cancer cases. Here at WholeHealth Chicago, you will find general guidelines for avoiding all cancers, from getting regular screening exams that make early detection possible to increasing your intake of cancer-fighting antioxidants.
Canker Sores
You usually get your first one as a kid and you can’t believe it. How can anything so small hurt so much? As an occasional sufferer myself, I’m convinced there’s a canker sore demon haunting our lives, maybe sitting at a computer somewhere, waiting to catch us off guard. Press the “Enter” button and, Oh!…Ouch! Then, depending where it’s landed, and unable to kiss (or eat or smile), I mutter pearls of wisdom like, “Doctors can transplant a liver, but they can’t cure a canker sore.” This is all the more exasperating when you’re a doctor yourself. Well, actually, the integrative approach we use at WholeHealth Chicago has helped me quite a bit. And although I can neither transplant your liver nor fully cure your canker sore, let me share with you what has worked for us.
Candida Overgrowth Syndrome
At least once a week, a patient comes in, saying, “You’re the fourth [or seventh or tenth] doctor I’ve seen. I feel simply terrible but am always told that my tests are normal, and there’s nothing wrong with me. Recently I read about yeast overgrowth, and the symptoms seem to fit my case exactly. The doctors, however, all tell me there’s no such illness.”
Cancer
You learn the diagnosis and your life is never the same. If you want to do as well as possible with the diagnosis of cancer, let me offer this advice: Drop the “victim” mentality immediately. More people are surviving cancer–and thriving thereafter–than ever before. Then, take charge of everything.
Burns
Are you reading this while everyone’s dinner is getting cold, your finger painfully throbbing because you reached for the wrong pan? Or is your child screaming because she didn’t know how hot a toasted marshmallow could get? First, plunge the finger into cold water.
Bioidentical Hormones
If you’re miserable from menopause symptoms, give serious thought to hormone replacement therapy (HRT). You may not realize it, but a diabetic using insulin is using hormone replacement therapy, with the hormone is insulin. Taking Synthroid for an underactive thyroid is hormone replacement, too. Is there a problem with replacing your sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone, when you’re suffering because their levels have gone into the free-fall of menopause?
Bronchitis
Most people have had a brush with bronchitis–an inflammation of the bronchi or the breathing tubes–at some time in their lives. And 7 million people, virtually all of them smokers, experience the symptoms of bronchitis every single day for years. Bronchitis comes in two versions. Acute bronchitis occurs when an infection, usually a virus or bacteria, inflames the bronchial tubes. It produces a raw, hacking, painful cough that can sometimes be relieved with self-care measures but often requires antibiotics.
Arrhythmias
The steady lup-dup, lub-dup regularity of our heart’s pumping beat is reassuring, and we don’t mind it speeding up for exercise or slowing down for sleep, as long as its rhythm remains steady. Any glitch in that rhythmic throb, whether too slow or too fast, is called an arrhythmia.
Anxiety and Panic
Everyone has occasional episodes of worry. It’s part of being a person. I mean, you’re almost supposed to worry a bit when your company is downsizing, or you’re unprepared for an approaching exam or the notice of a tax audit arrives in the mail.
Angina
An attack of angina, especially the first one, is a terrifying and life-changing experience. You’ve raced up the stairs or you’ve run to catch a train; suddenly an elephant is standing on your chest or a huge hand is squeezing your heart. Then you’re sweaty, lightheaded, and nauseated. You stop in your tracks; you wait; you pray you’re not having a heart attack. At last the elephant lifts his foot or the fist opens, the world slowly brightens, and slowly, carefully, you go home. (You really SHOULD go to an emergency room.)
Anemia
Anemia is when you don’t have enough red blood cells. Since red blood cells carry oxygen, you can probably guess what the symptoms of anemia might be: no energy, easily out of breath, pale and washed-out looking–in other words, long-lasting general blahs. Anemia is always due to some other condition, and this is why you need a doctor’s help to find out just why you’re anemic.
Alzheimer’s Disease
The whole world awaits a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. The irony is that the worse the condition gets, the easier it becomes emotionally for the patient–and the more wrenching an experience for the caregivers. In fact, if you are a caregiver, please join a support group. Don’t tackle Alzheimer’s alone. Doctors generally acknowledge Alzheimer’s as hopeless, and the only approved drugs are marginally effective at best. In light of this bleak outlook, the integrative team at WholeHealth Chicago believes that we all need to be especially alert for anything new on the horizon.
Allergies
Your immune system, designed to protect you when bacteria, viruses, and other foreign substances enter your body, sometimes seems to get confused. It becomes unable to differentiate an enemy from something harmless, like pollen, dust, certain foods, drugs, cosmetics, animals…the list is enormous. The result is an allergic reaction in your body, an allergy for short, with some fairly predictable symptoms ranging from the mildly annoying to the genuinely life threatening. Although conventional medicine provides many ways to deal with allergies, some of the therapies (like allergy shots) are inconvenient and expensive, while others (like antihistamines) cause unpleasant side effects. Our WholeHealth Chicago integrated approach just might allow you to control your allergies all by yourself.
Alcoholism
Whether you’re the relative, friend, or physician of an alcoholic, following the gradual decline of a person with a serious drinking problem is an emotionally wrenching experience. A college student chugging more brews than his buddies; a business executive needing a daily three-martini lunch; an empty-nester hiding fifths of whiskey behind the vegetable oil in the pantry–they will all suffer the effects of alcohol.
Aging
Now it’s the baby boomers turn, as that vast generation starts to come to grips with the uncomfortable possibility of growing old and actually dying. Evidence of a surge of interest in anti-aging is everywhere: in the numerous “anti-aging” book titles; in the physicians (unhappy with the HMO grind) who’ve become “specialists” in “Anti-Aging Medicine”; in the emergence of cosmetic surgery as a standard big-ticket household expense.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Most of us have heard about ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in kids. It’s often cited as a major cause of learning and behavior problems at schools. But what most people, including many doctors, don’t realize is that ADHD is also a big problem in adults. In fact, since the condition is estimated to affect 5% of the population, ADHD may well be the single most common chronic unrecognized mental health disorder in the United States.