DreamHealer : Alternative Medicine

UBC co-author says not enough being done to reduce health hazards

Glenda Luymes, The Province

Published: Sunday, October 07, 2007

David Boyd could be excused for being a little paranoid.

The University of B.C. Trudeau scholar has laboured for more than a year to determine just how many Canadians die each year from pollution.

The disturbing tabulation finally complete, his results were published in an online journal last week and show that as many as 25,000 deaths, 24,000 new cases of cancer and the birth of 2,500 low-birth-weight babies can be linked to environmental hazards each year.

By living a “normal” life, many Canadians are being exposed to hundreds of quiet, chemical killers.

“I was definitely surprised,” Boyd said Friday. “Surprised and quite disturbed by it.”

Disturbed, but not paranoid.

“I see it from another light. I look at all these deaths and I see that they are almost all preventable. We just need to educate people,” he said.

Using Canadian public health data, Boyd and University of Alberta co-author Stephen Genuis focused on the environmental burden of disease — death and illness caused by exposure to environmental hazards — in four categories, including respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer and congenital afflictions.

By combining and tabulating the results of previous scientific studies estimating the number of people who contract diseases linked to pollution, Boyd and Genuis established their total numbers based on a method designed by the World Health Organization.

Although a first for Canada, many European countries have done similar studies, subsequently taking action to tighten controls on the chemical industry.

In Sweden, legislation enforces the “substitution principle,” meaning that if a safer chemical is available for use in a product, there is a legal obligation to use it.

Boyd said Canada is “lagging behind” by putting the needs of industry before the health of Canadians. The expert has identified more than 50 different chemical ingredients present in pesticides alone that are banned in other countries, including 2,4-D, which is used in lawn and garden products, and Atrazine, a pesticide used on corn. Canada also allows many dangerous plastic softeners and fragrances called phthalates that are banned in Europe.

“People just aren’t aware,” said Boyd. “But we have to remember we’re not just consumers, we’re citizens, and we need to have the voice to change this.”

gluymes@png.canwest.com

HOW THEY GET AT US

The four major sources of our contact with toxic chemicals:

1. AIR: The air we breathe contains the biggest threat, from outdoor pollutants such as smog and combustion byproducts to indoor pollutants called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, found in paint, carpet and plywood, which become dangerous while breaking down into a fine dust that is inhaled. VOCs are identifiable by their distinctive smell, as in a freshly painted room or in wet nail polish.

2. FOOD: Apart from the chemicals in processed food, fruits and vegetables can also contain pesticide residue and traces of heavy metals.

3. WATER: Water quality varies between communities, but some B.C. tests have revealed miniscule amounts of lead and arsenic.

4. SKIN: From insect repellent to shampoos and cosmetics, the products we put on our skin remain with us.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For some, meditation can be a way to find inner peace, to connect with the mystical, or to find a more solemn way to pray.

But for Barbara Raco, of Mt. Lebanon, meditation has become a way to relieve the pain of severe migraine headaches.

Mrs. Raco was a student in a Mindfulness Meditation class offered by the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In the class, she learned to meditate by concentrating only on what is happening in the present.

The center, located in Shadyside, uses therapies such as relaxation and acupuncture to complement more conventional medicine to treat illnesses.

“Mindfulness Meditation is basically about paying attention to the present moment to whatever is happening in a non-judgmental manner,” said Carol Greco, a clinical psychologist and faculty member of the psychiatry department at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

The concept was developed by John Kabat-Zinn, a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s. The classes have been offered at the Center for Integrative Medicine since 2005.

Dr. Greco’s speciality is helping people to deal with pain and the effects of chronic illnesses by using non-drug techniques such as meditation.

Dr. Greco said many of the people she sees in her classes live their lives “running around on automatic pilot. We pay attention to what we think. We let our mind control us. It makes us productive but there can be a health cost to that. Through living so much on auto pilot, we contribute to our own stress and physical tension levels,” she said.

At the time she took the course, Mrs. Raco had been suffering with migraines for about 10 years. She had prescription medication to treat them, but she was looking for ways to deal with the headaches without popping pills.

Others in the class were looking for ways to control chronic pain or other side effects from chronic illnesses or to deal with stress, anxiety or sleeping disorders.

Mrs. Raco said as part of the class, participants were asked to meditate for 45 minutes each day during the eight weeks. Mrs. Raco said different methods of meditation were taught during the class, methods such as deep breathing, yoga, walking meditation. She found deep breathing worked best for her.

She started to meditate every morning before she started her day and found that over time she experienced fewer headaches and the ones she got weren’t as painful as they had been.

She continues to meditate daily — sometimes intervals as short as three minutes — in order to stay calm. “For three minutes, you just close your door and do the deep breathing. It’s learning how to quiet the mind,” she said.

Mrs. Raco has found when she doesn’t meditate, her symptoms start to come back.

“That’s my personal way of knowing that life hasn’t changed, but it’s how I deal with it that has changed,” she said.

Dr. Greco said her class simply helps people to find what’s already inside of them.

“It’s as though you come home to something that’s always been there but been pushed to the background. It’s a capacity for being peaceful, present and at ease no matter what is going on,” Dr. Greco said.

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Alternative medicine isn’t really “alternative” any more — in fact, the medical community isn’t even using that term.

Now it’s “integrated” medicine, and after years of being considered a fringe practice, treatments such as massage and acupuncture have found their way into mainstream medicine.

So why the name change?

“Years ago it was called alternative because it was Eastern vs. Western medicine and they knocked against each other often,” said Theresa O’Toole, associate administrator of rehabilitative services at Memorial Health System. “They use integrated because it’s part of the total treatment, not an alternative, but in tandem with other, more Western treatments.” Read More….

The thyroid is a hormone-secreting gland situated in the front of the neck. Its main function is to regulate metabolism and maintain energy production in every cell of the body. The thyroid gland can malfunction leading to either an overactive (hyperthyroidism) or underactive (hypothyroidism) gland. Historically, iodine deficiency used to be the most common cause of hypothyroidism, but with the addition of iodine to table salt, it is now rare in the United States. Other reasons for thyroid malfunction include a family history, stress, heavy metal toxicity, autoimmune disease and cancer. Common symptoms include fatigue, depression, hair loss, weight gain, dry skin, menstrual problems and constipation.

By contrast, someone with an overactive thyroid, or hyperthyroidism, has excessive energy production and may experience excessive sweating, diarrhea, anxiety and a racing or abnormal heart beat.

Ways to keep your thyroid gland healthy include increasing circulation to the area using alternating applications of hot and cold to the neck and ending showers with a cold stimulation to the neck. You also can supplement with the necessary vitamins and minerals for thyroid hormone production such as zinc and selenium. Avoid foods that may inhibit normal thyroid function, such as soy and raw vegetables in the brassica family (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts).

Diagnosing thyroid disease involves a combination of certain symptoms, physical findings and simple blood tests. Contact your physician if you suspect a thyroid problem or would like to discuss additional ways to keep your thyroid gland functioning at an optimal level.

– Melissa McCarty, ND, naturopathic physician and a resident, Bastyr Center for Natural Health

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If you are one of the millions of people who suffer from headaches you may have chosen to consider alternative treatments as an addition to medications or perhaps even as a replacement for them. Meditation is one such treatment and its roots are, in fact, very old.

Meditation has been used in cultures around the world and through many centuries. It is considered a form of mind and body healing and it is intended to balance a person’s physical, mental and emotional states. Stress and tension are often implicated in headache pain and meditation is a way to decrease anxiety, leaving your mind and body relaxed and comfortable. Meditation can relax breathing patterns, lower blood pressure and reduce or remove stress, which can then reduce headache frequency and severity.

Concentrative Meditation

Concentrative meditation is a form of meditation that focuses on something simple such as a breath, image, or sound. The idea is to calm the mind and bring about a strong awareness and clarity within oneself. It essentially allows you to narrow your focus.

A basic way to try concentrative meditation is to sit quietly and calmly; you should focus your attention on just breathing. Since anxiety tends to yield labored, rapid breathing, the aim is to focus breathing and slow it down so that it is calmer and more regular. By focusing on the inhalation and exhalation of breath, you are practicing a simple but effective form of meditation. Your mind should then become more relaxed and clear as you continue to focus and you may experience a sense of tranquility.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is a way of training your mind to remain in the present moment. It’s a way of taking note of both conscious and unconscious thought. With mindfulness meditation, you become aware of what is happening within your body as well as your surroundings. Try sitting in a place free from external noise or interference. Allow your mind to run freely and accept all of the thoughts that you experience. Try not to judge them or become too involved in them, but simply let them enter and exit your mind.

Stress Management

Meditation is thought to have many benefits on stress from different areas of life, whether that is home, work or personal related stress. By using meditation to cope with stress, your headaches will hopefully become a thing of the past.

Ease Pain

Frequent and intense headache pain can really decrease quality of life, affecting relationships and functioning in both work and home. Despite a great deal of research focused on new drug treatments as well as investigations into causes of headaches, many people still prefer a non-pharmaceutical approach to easing pain. Meditation is touted as an effective way to address pain without the potential side effects of conventional treatment. It’s worthwhile to try meditation and see if it makes a difference in your headaches.

There isn’t really a right or wrong way to perform meditation; the aim is to spend time on yourself. It’s a way of giving your mind and body the care it deserves and you may find that a reduction in stress and headaches is only one of many benefits you experience.

Alien writes for Migraine treatment. He also writes for headache remedies and schizophrenia symptoms

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While most people recognize that stress affects our mental and emotional states, it also is important to note how it affects us physically. Poorly managed stress often is associated with common health complaints such as high blood pressure, diabetes, digestive disorders, headaches and autoimmune diseases. Working to decrease the level of stress we experience has the power to directly affect our quality of life.

Although it isn’t likely that all stress can be eliminated from our lives, it is possible to control how we react to it. Realizing that the stressors we often face are there not only to be a negative aspect to dwell on, but they also give us the opportunity to learn, change and grow in ways we may never have thought possible.

Here are a few recommendations on how to better manage stress and help minimize its adverse effects on our overall health and well being:

Decrease the use of caffeine and other stimulants. These chemicals activate the sympathetic nervous system, which decreases the body’s ability to relax.

Eat regular, healthy meals. Stress is known to affect a person’s biochemistry in a way that depletes many nutrients, such as vitamins B and C, at a much faster rate. Also, waiting too long between meals can increase production of stress hormones.

Exercise. Exercise helps to positively affect our hormonal response to stress, and improves our overall strength and endurance to get through the day.

Relax. Deep breathing, visualization, long walks and yoga are just a few of the many ways we can get ourselves into the relaxation mode. There are many ways to manage stress, but finding one that you enjoy is the key to making a lifelong habit.– Michele Campbell, ND resident in naturopathic medicine Bastyr Center for Natural Health Bastyr is a non-profit, private university offering graduate and undergraduate degrees, with a multidisciplinary curriculum in science-based natural medicine. The university’s Seattle teaching clinic, Bastyr Center for Natural Health, is the Northwest’s largest natural medicine clinic. Go to bastyr.edu or bastyrcenter.org.

From lobotomies with ice picks to early antidepressants that caused brain hemorrhaging, Americans have a complicated and ever-changing approach to treating mental illness. Now, spurred by the growing disenchantment with antidepressants, an increasing number of people are seeking treatment for depression, anxiety and eating disorders from naturopaths, acupuncturists and even chiropractors. At the same time, more traditional psychiatrists are incorporating massage and meditation in their practices. Read More...

Group Health Cooperative and Bastyr University have begun a new partnership to bridge the divide between conventional and alternative medicine, officials announced this week.

Starting this summer, students in their final year at Bastyr University’s naturopathic medicine program will have the chance to shadow Group Health doctors and nurses during patient visits.

Students will observe patients, learn how various health conditions are treated with conventional medicine, and answer questions about naturopathic alternatives, said Dr. Bill Huff, a family physician and medical director of Group Health’s alternative-services division. The students will not diagnose or treat patients.

“The whole point was to develop an avenue for the two medical fields to interact,” Huff said. Read More…

Elsie Smothers of Benton, Mo., soaked her feet in bath of reddish-brown water Saturday at the second annual Mother Earth Wholistic Fair.She persuaded John Kirk, the husband of a friend, to do the same thing.

The Benton farmer had his doubts at first but was satisfied. “After I’d been in there for about 20 minutes, I had tingly feet,” Kirk said.

The treatment, called an ionic cleanse, was the one the many services offered at the fair, which was held at the VFW in Cape Gir?ardeau and promoted alternative medicine and natural healing.  Read More…

The future success of modern medicine will include spirituality, alternative medicines and government regulations as the health care system comes full circle.Ronald Blankenbaker, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and president of the Chattanooga Health and Performance Institute, told Sunrise Rotary members, “More Americans are going to alternative therapists than to primary care physicians every year.

“We’re to the point where we have a real need to standardize and at least make credible a lot of these recommendations and the things being said about alternative therapies.” Read More…