Healthy Connections

Change in drug classification immediatly makes more people sick

Daniel Bannard — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:55:45 +0000

Many people who were considered to be in perfect health in the early 1990s may now very well be called sick, unhealthy or in need of medical treatment based on the standards of the 2000s.
Why? Very simple! The major pharmaceutical companies cleverly influenced changes to the systems by which diseases were classified to make more people appear to have medical difficulties requiring treatment when no problem previously existed. The motive? Sell more drugs to more people.
Do you want to sell more cholesterol lowering drugs? Here’s how you do it. First, get nationally recognized associations to establish a lower healthy number. Next, get doctors to buy into the lowered standard and start writing their prescriptions accordingly. Finally, heavily market the new number to the public, create worry and send them to the doctor. The big pharmaceutical companies continue working to reclassify the levels for more health concerns and soon it’s gravy train time in the boardrooms.
Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School recently found that this was indeed happening. They estimate that during the 1990s, tens of millions more Americans were reclassified as having hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes or obesity simply because the definitions of those diseases were changed. As a result, tens of millions more Americans were reclassified with a serious health problem.
This research points out that currently, due to the expanded diagnosis parameters, as many as three out of four Americans technically have at least one of these commonly medicated diseases. The truth be told, millions of these people are not really sick at all. Dr. John Kitzhaber of The Foundation for Medical Excellence in Portland, who was also Oregon’s governor from 1995 to 2003 stated, “We have a system that nobody but Big Pharma is happy with.”
Every time the boundary of a disease is expanded, such as the hypertension blood-pressure threshold lowered by 10 points or the guideline for obesity lowered by 5 pounds, the market for drugs expands by millions of consumers and billions of dollars. The result is skyrocketing sales of prescription drugs, soaring health-care costs and escalating patient anxiety. Worst of all, millions of people are now taking drugs that may carry a greater risk than the underlying condition. The treatment, in fact, might make them sick or even kill them.
Dr. H. Gilbert Welch is a Dartmouth medical professor and editor of Effective Clinical Practice, a journal of the American College of Physicians. He, too, voiced his concern that more healthy people are being classified as sick only to increase drug sales. “You can’t tell me that three-quarters of my population is sick before I start. That just doesn’t pass the laugh test. Our business is in a hard place right now. A lot of docs know it’s not right.”

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Dr. Leavitt: It is never too early to have a chiropractic treatment.

Marina Lando — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:42:24 +0000

“Everything you experience in life, you experience through nervous system”, – said Dr. Molly Leavitt, Chiropractic Physician and the owner of Health Touch Chiropractic and Wellness. “Chiropractic does not treat disease we treat spine and remove interferences, helping body to achieve ultimate health. We look at the body in whole.”

At the time when children are prescribed endless antibiotics, antidepressants and cholesterol lowering medications, chiropractic care might be the solution for many health problems to name a few:

Migraines
Ear infections
Sinus infections
Digestive problems
Reproductive problems
Back and neck pain

“It is never too early to start chiropractic treatments, as we can detect and fix problems before they manifest themselves. We can even examine and treat newborn babies who often suffer undetected birth traumas to the spine”, – continued Dr.Leavitt, who works a lot with women and children.

In her everyday practice Dr. Leavitt uses precise equipment that measures autonomic nervous system and presents all findings on the computer screen. There are two ways to detect spine problems: one is by measuring difference in temperature on both sides of the spine; another is by measuring the muscle tension. In the perfectly aligned body temperatures and muscle tensions on both sides of the spine are equal. The difference indicates the problem, which must be addressed during the chiropractic session.

“I work a lot with pregnant women. Chiropractic treatment can support healthy back during the pregnancy and we can even help to turn bridged baby” – explains Dr.Leavitt, who come from the family of chiropractors. – “I like to treat the whole families, because if one member is sick it affects everybody.”

“Physical, chemical and emotional stress can get spine out of alignment. For example, it is now an established fact accepted by medical doctors that pregnant women who use cell phone more than three times a day increase the chance of having a baby with behavior problems.”

Dr. Leavitt favors gentle style approach and uses supplements that are custom built for each person based on the lab tests.

“It is an incredible feeling helping people,” – smiles Dr. Leavitt.

Keeping her clients best interests in mind, she cut her overhead and passed saving to her clients. A session fee is between $50 and $75 , and adjustment fee is $30.

Dr. Leavitt welcomes your questions. Call her at: (919) 720-3000.

http://www.raleighhealthtouch.com/

Health Touch Chiropractic & Wellness
182 Wind Chime Court, Suite 203

Raleigh, NC 27615

What’s Your Vision for 2010?

Susan Bray — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:03:42 +0000

What are your dreams, desires, goals for your life, yourself, your loved ones, your business, your community?
Attend a Vision Board Workshop on February 22 from 1-4 pm and unlock and empower your heart’s desires! Learn how and why visualization is a powerful way to support and ensure your success. Create your vision board with Judy Homer of Soul Based Coaching. Fee is $25 and includes workshop, materials,e-book and one follow up coaching session. Pre-registration is required, call 919-787-1799 to reserve your spot. Held at Calm and Sense, 2603 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh

Second Blooming for Women: Growing a Life that Matters Workshop

Comprehensive neck pain study finds alternative treatments work best

Daniel Bannard — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:40:10 +0000

A recently concluded 7-year study points persons who suffer from the discomforts of neck pain toward alternative therapies and away from medical intervention when seeking help. Researchers named Acupuncture, neck manipulation and massage as the preferred treatments. Improvements through exercise, neck mobilization and continued education were also among recommended interventions.
This long-term study was undertaken by The Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders. The organization produced a 236-page review of the current research on neck pain and published its results in the journal Spine.
A multi-national and inter-disciplinary study team included Canadian, American, South American, Australasian and European researchers.

“Neck pain is not a trivial condition for many people,” says Task Force president Dr. Scott Haldeman, clinical professor, Department of Neurology at the University of California, Irvine, and adjunct professor, Department of Epidemiology University of
California Los Angeles. “It can be associated with headaches, arm and upper back pain and depression. Whether it arises from sports injuries, car collisions, workplace issues or stress, it can be incapacitating. Understanding the best way to diagnose and manage this
problem is of high importance for those who are suffering and for those who manage and pay for its care.”
Researchers suggested that people suffering from neck pain should avoid using neck brace devices in an attempt to handle the condition. Also, they failed to find favor with corticosteroid injections and surgery. Treatments with corticosteroid injections and surgery for neck pain relief should only be considered when there is associated extreme pain in the arm or in the case of a fracture or a serious disease. Surgery should be seen only as a last resort for severe and persistent pain.
Which alternative therapy a neck pain sufferer should embark upon was not designated by researchers. They did advise that alternative treatments to manipulate the neck should be considered. Often, relief can be provided through Chiropractic adjustments as well as the intervention offered through Acupuncture and massage.
Researchers cautioned consumer awareness toward anyone that makes a “big claim” to solve neck pain. They also suggested that some relief should be noticed within 2-4 weeks of beginning treatment. If there is little or no relief after this amount of time, another
form of alternative therapy should be considered.

Surprises: Organic v. Conventional Produce

Laura Combs — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:55:15 +0000

The information below and other helpful posts are on my blog: www.movingstronglyforward.typepad.com.

Luke McMullan, a great person, friend, and owner of Branches Ecological Designs www.branchesnc.com, answered my plea for help in getting to the root of the organic vs. non-organic produce debate. He generously took the time to give me his thoughts. Thank you so much, Luke! You are helping many people!!

Here are Luke’s thoughts:

Laura asked me to talk about plant uptake of heavy metals so that is sort of what I will do. It is generally assumed that organically produced food is relatively non-toxic, while we need to worry about the toxicity impacts of conventional food. Guess what? Worrying is a waste of time, but if you’re going to worry you should worry about both. We know that chemical fertilizers contain significant levels of potentially toxic metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, zinc, and arsenic, which in turn accumulate in the soil and are taken up by plants. What you don’t usually hear about are the organically approved natural fertilizers such as composted manure, rock phosphate, greensand, guano, and fish emulsion, which

contain the same heavy metals
accumulate in soil
are taken up by crops.

The difference? This time the chemicals end up in the body of someone who thinks they are eating something healthier.

Several studies in Europe show that levels of heavy metals in organic food are sometimes twice as high as levels found in conventional food, yet there seems to be fairly dramatic variability. The species and variety of plants have a somewhat significant role in determining the potential levels of heavy metals per unit of nutrient; however, there are some other far more important factors to take into account, foremost being the level of heavy metals in the soil.

Several decades ago we knew very little about the toxicity of many of these metals or their potential to end up in our food supply, so agricultural pesticides loaded with lead and arsenic were dumped into the soil. These pesticides along with deposits from other industrial chemicals ended up leaving their heavy metals in the soil and there they remain until some plant picks them up to escort them into the food chain. This can happen either by eating a stick of celery grown in contaminated soil or a hamburger from a cow that ate grass or grain grown in contaminated soil.

Ugh. So what is a consumer supposed to do? When food is from a factory (grocery stores stock mostly factory farmed food) we have no idea what we are getting. But that does not have to be the case for you. A good start is to know the people who grow your food and the land where it is grown. Or better yet get to know the soil where you live and produce a portion of your food sustainably.

More thoughts from Laura

Luke is going to help my family prepare to grow some of our own food. He is a talented organic farmer and landscape designer who focuses on creating beautiful, healthy gardens that require little maintenance and produce wonderful food. Luke offers in-person consults, over-the-phone coaching and a monthly newsletter. You can reach him at: branches.landscapes@gmail.com to sign up for his newsletter or inquire about services.

Kinesiology: The Power of Muscle Testing.

Larry Green — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:05:11 +0000

In the 1960’s a Detroit chiropractor, Dr. George Goodheart, made a series of amazing discoveries. He was able to make spinal adjustments hold that would not last for other doctors.

Dr. Goodheart could also strengthen unresponsive muscles and determined complicated nutritional needs quickly for many problems. He developed a system called Applied Kinesiology and began teaching AK to-read more

Relationships

Phran Gacher — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:14:42 +0000

February is the month when thoughts turn to love and relationships. Usually, this brings to mind the opposite sex. Nothing wrong with that. But, it’s not the most important relationship. This may come as a surprise to you that the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.

It’s true. How you think about yourself, how you treat yourself, and what you say to yourself affects all of your other relationships from friend to lover, child to parent and parent to child.

When you get up in the morning and look into the mirror do you say, “I love you just the way you are!” Or do you look for more lines and wrinkles, bags and sags and then go on to count them and complain about your hair.

You say things to yourself that you would never say to your best friend. Worst than that, you’ll easily forgive a friend for an infraction and yet beat yourself over the head for the slightest mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. That’s how we learn. If you didn’t learn from your mistake don’t worry about it because you’ll get another chance to make the same mistake again until you do learn.

You are with yourself 24/7. There’s no getting away from it. If you want a solid, loving relationship with someone, the best thing you can do to promote it is to love yourself. This is not being prideful. This is being smart. Think about it this way….

If you were flying in a plane through turbulence and the oxygen masks dropped down, you need to put yours on first before you can help anyone else with theirs. Why is that? If you don’t take care of yourself – in this case, by getting enough oxygen – then you could easily pass out before you help anyone and then who will be able to help you?

When you take care of yourself and are 100% fit, fine, and optimistic, then you can give 100% whenever needed, wanted, or necessary. If you’re only 50% together, you short change everyone including yourself.

If there are things about yourself that you don’t care for, accept the way you are first and go from there. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Phran Gacher, CH, Hypnotherapist

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Second Blooming for Women: Growing a Life that Matters Workshop

Susan Bray — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:33:58 +0000

Based on the book by the same name, this 4-part workshop will help women who are nearing, at or beyond 50 determine how to build a life that matters. Led by author Betsy Smith, this ineractive 4-part workshop will be helpd April 8, 15, 22 and 29 from 6:00-7:30 pm. It will help women to clarify their passions, dreams and values, build their self-trust and confidence, and determine personal options for the future. Other topics to be explored include setting boundaries, saying no and developing a life purpose statement. Pre-registration is required, call 787-1799 for more information.

What’s Your Vision for 2010?

Common Sense Strategies for Your Weight Loss Success

Susan Bray — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:55:54 +0000

Join Personal Nutrition Coach Simone Horvitz (www.strategicbites.com) for this workshop on successful weight loss strategies. Simone will teach you behaviors of highly effective eaters and how to identify triggers, motivators and barriers to your strategies. Participants will be led through development of 3 strategies for reaching targeted behaviors. This course fee is normally $25 but the first 10 registrants will be FREE. Call 787-1799 to register.

Grow Older, Feel Better, Live Wiser

The healthy Valentine gift guide

Marina Lando — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:59:59 +0000

Lets look beyond a romantic dinner, flower and jewelry and be creative.

Our complimentary medicine professionals and green living consultants share their dream healthy Valentine gifts (see comments below).

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