Posts Tagged ‘Western medicine’

So you’ve gotten the big C diagnosis. Now what? Whether you decide or not to go with Western treatments- surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation, Chinese medicine and nutrition should be a part of your healing plan.

Chinese medicine can help with any cancer related symptoms and side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiation, including: nausea/vomiting, burns, weakened immunity, stress, anxiety, detoxification, pain, bruising, hair loss, skin issues, hot flashes, fatigue, digestive issues, loss of appetite, and anemia.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Even the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has proven that acupuncture used on cancer patients improved their immune system response. Their studies also showed that acupuncture reduced pain levels in some cancer patients. Clinical trials performed all over the world have determined that acupuncture reduces nausea and vomiting caused by chemo and anesthesia.

What can you do?

Eat & Drink

* Immune boosting- astralgus root, probiotics, lemon, aloe vera, bell pepper, kiwi

* Nausea- ginger, mint, dry crackers, apples

* Calming- beets, radish, carrots, yams, melons

* Detoxifying- dandelion greens, cucumber, kale, beets, seaweed, tumeric, garlic

Avoid

* Sugar- cancer loves to feed on sugar.

* Dairy- casein, which is a milk protein, encourages tumor growth.

* Non- organic- pesticides and steroids cause and promote cancer.

* Toxins found in beauty and household cleaning products.

Most importantly, do what makes you happy. Find support from people who will keep you on track. All experts agree that having a positive outlook on your diagnosis and treatment is vital to recovery.

These tips are meant for prevention as well. Whether or not you’ve gotten diagnosed with cancer, you can use this opportunity to take charge of your health and even come back healthier than ever before.

Live natural. Live well.

Heather

Do you get headaches or migraines? Is there anything worse? Headaches can ruin your quality of life. Not only do they suck, but the medications that ‘fix’ them don’t always work and can have drastic side effects.

Has your doctor still not figured out why you have them? “Take a pill” is probably their response.

Have they ruled out all these potential causes?

* Dehydration- most people are dehydrated
* Hormonal imbalances
* Food allergies
* Stress
* Neck tension & misalignment
* Mercury/heavy metal poisoning
* Adverse reaction to medications
* Tumors
* Head colds and sinus infections
* High blood pressure

How Chinese medicine can help

Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and proper diet can all relieve or fix any of the above causes. How? Chinese medicine is able to regulate hormonal imbalances, detoxify the body, relieve stress, lower blood pressure, improve the immune system, reduce pain & inflammation, and minimize tumor size & growth. Pretty amazing, right?

Have you been living with headaches or migraines for years? It’s time to give Chinese medicine a try.

Live natural. Live well.

Heather

Vulvo what? Vulvodynia (vul-vo-DIN-ee-uh) is chronic vulvar pain. The pain, burning or irritation associated with vulvodynia can be so uncomfortable that having sex or sitting for extended periods becomes unthinkable. Yes, you read correctly. Ouch! The poor women who suffer from this condition are often misdiagnosed or told nothing is wrong.

Less than 200,000 women in the US have been diagnosed with vulvodynia. So you might be asking, “Why is Heather writing about such a rare condition?” Because I’ve seen an increase in cases in the last 6 months and most ‘specialists’ don’t really know what to do. The increase might be a coincidence or that doctors are getting better at diagnosing. I’m not sure. Western medicine doesn’t have much success in doing more than temporarily reducing symptoms. One of the recommendations for this incredibly painful condition is to wear cotton underwear. Really?!?

Topical creams, gels, hormones, steroids, and/or antidepressants are the typical courses of action. Some of them may help temporarily.

Some of suggestions for treating the illness, not just the symptoms

- Test for Candida and treat it. Candida is overgrowth of yeast that can lead to many health issues.
- If you have a history of sexual trauma, seek professional help. Acupuncture is great for dealing with any physical or emotional trauma.
- Eat an alkaline diet, to reduce inflammation and acidity throughout your body.
- Support your immune system through proper nutrition and supplementation.
- Reduce your exposure to chemicals, pollutants, and other toxins.
- Do a cleanse with a qualified physician to reduce your levels of toxins. This will help reduce inflammation and balance your immune system.

For those of you who are suffering from this rare condition or think you might be, there is hope. Many of my patients have experienced relief within a few months. Some are symptom-free in less than a year.

Live natural. Live well.

Heather

Chinese medicine offers relief from the symptoms and side effects related to cancer and cancer treatments. Acupuncture causes physical responses in nerves cells, the pituitary gland, and various parts of the brain, which in turn affects blood pressure and body temperature. In addition, Acupuncture boosts the immune system, relieves stress and anxiety, and causes the body’s natural painkillers to be released.

It is the side effects related to chemotherapy and radiation that often cause extreme distress for the cancer patient. Some of the side effects that Chinese medicine helps alleviate, include, but are not limited to: nausea/vomiting, fatigue, weakened immunity, stress, anxiety, pain, bruising, post operative swelling, hair loss, anemia, skin issues, hot flashes, digestive disorders, loss of appetite, and detoxification/elevated liver enzymes.

Chinese medicine also reduces many cancer-related symptoms. Acupuncture treatments add to a patient’s sense of wellbeing and decrease the malaise associated with any chronic disease, especially cancer.

Human studies at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the effect of acupuncture on the immune system of cancer patients showed that it improved immune system response. It was proven that acupuncture reduced the amount of pain in some cancer patients. In one study, most of the patients treated with acupuncture were able to stop taking drugs for pain relief or to take smaller doses. Several types of clinical trials using different acupuncture methods showed acupuncture reduced nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and surgery.

Nutritional and herbal support aids in boosting immune response in cancer patients, along with minimizing the immune and white blood cell suppression that occurs with most chemotherapeutic agents. Kenneth Conklin, M.D., Ph.D., an anesthesiologist at UCLA working with the Oncology Department, reports gratifying results utilizing nutrition and supplements combined with acupuncture.

Fighting cancer might be one of the most challenging things a person has to deal with. Why not let Chinese medicine support you on the road to a full recovery?

Hello and welcome to LiveNaturalLiveWell.com!  Come here every week to find all the latest info on health related topics as well as tips for how you can heal your body and the environment.  I am thrilled to be starting this blog. So to kick things off I thought I would tell you a little bit about myself and how I got started.  People are always asking me, “Heather, how did you get interested in Chinese medicine?”  It started when I was a teenager and I had two major health incidents.

The first was when I was 14 and I had a severe case of mono that flared up off and on for almost a year.  I missed over 2 months of school and had to give up swimming because I was so weak.  I was constantly seeing my doctor and he didn’t have any advice on how to heal from this very common illness.  He literally said, “There’s nothing you can do.”  After this illness took its course, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was any information out there besides what my doctor was telling me.

The second health event happened when I was just turning 15, and like many young people in America, I was a junk food junky.  But after learning about the conditions of the meat industry and animal treatment, I decided to become a vegetarian.  Like the good student I was, I went to my doctor to get any nutritional expertise I could find.  He had no idea what to do with me, besides saying “Make sure you get enough protein.”  I remember feeling so confused.  If doctors are supposed to help people, why doesn’t he have any specific guidance about my nutrition and wellbeing?  It seemed that if I wasn’t sick or injured, there wasn’t anything he could do for me.

Well, it turns out that I was sick. I was anemic for almost two years, and that was when I realized I would need to go beyond my doctors to find appropriate nutritional support.  This led me to start studying nutrition, herbs, and supplements on my own.  I loved reading anything health related, especially holistic medicine.  I found out better ways to eat vegetarian and that mono is treatable.  More profoundly I learned that there is never one answer to a solution, no quick fixes, and no magic pills.  As I studied nutrition more I was fascinated to learn that there are so many different ways in which our bodies can get out of balance and that this affects our wellbeing.  Over the years, I kept learning purely out of curiosity.  I had no idea that one day I would be doing this for a living!

I found out later that M.D.s have very little nutritional training, just a few hours in fact.  Also, many (but not all!) doctors will just say nothing can be done or nothing is wrong because tests results are normal.  I see this almost daily in my private practice.  Patients come in desperate, because their doctors didn’t have the tools to help them get better.

After college, I moved to Los Angeles.  That was when I realized I could do what I love for a career.  At this point, friends were regularly asking me for advice, and I didn’t always have the answers.  I don’t always have the answers now, but with my training and continued studies, I have the tools to do what I really want to do: help and empower others to be healthy and live a fuller life.

I would like to encourage those of you reading this to do research and see if the illness you’re dealing with can be treated naturally to eradicate it.  Then ask questions.  I’m so excited to create a dialogue with people all over the world.  I have a long list of ideas to get started, but I would love to get to know all of you reading this.  What are you curious about?  What do you find confusing?  What are you interested in?  I truly look forward to hearing from you.     Til then,

Get Natural.  Get well.
Heather