Vascular inflammation often contributes to and may, in fact, be the cause of complaints such as tension and sinus headaches, jaw pain, neck discomfort, fatigue, as well as low back pain. The mechanism by which vascular inflammation works is through inflammation of the arteries and veins that form the vascular structure of the meninges, the thin material that lines and protects the brain and spinal cord. For example, in the case of chronic sinus congestion, the cause is often thought to be allergies or some structural abnormality. Most of the time, however, the actual cause is vascular inflammation which blocks the areas of drainage. This congestion often leads to bacteria accumulation and an infection, a symptom which is mistakenly treated with antibiotics, while the actual cause is ignored.
Vascular inflammation, in addition to causing a variety of headaches, also causes pain in the spinal cord all the way down to the low back. A constant popping and grinding sound in your neck and back may not be due to any structural dysfunction or arthritis but an area in your spinal cord that is chronically inflamed. Treating vascular inflammation is complex. It cannot be treated solely with medication or even a series of chiropractic visits. The treatment must be holistic. Most importantly, it involves dietary modifications which eliminate trigger causing foods in the diet.
Previous approaches on treating vascular inflammation have often been unsuccessful because they focus on one suspected triggering factor at a time. A triggering factor includes stress, heat, barometric pressure, as well as dietary items like caffeine, chocolate, and MSG. These triggering factors do not work in isolation but together. One day may be very stressful, and it's on that day that you eat a chocolate muffin and your symptoms flare up. Another day you may not be experiencing any stress and the chocolate muffin may not cause you any trouble. It is this type of thinking that causes people to to give up too quickly on the diet component of their treatment.
When going into this diet, it is extremely important that you realize that each of these foods stack on top of each other until they reach a level where your symptoms flare up. If you are suffering from chronic pain caused by vascular inflammation, the level in your system is already above this point which means, in order for this diet to work, almost everything on this list must be eliminated for a period of two months.
For more information on the details of this diet please contact me at 503.232.3139
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Multivitamin
Studies done by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that the typical American diet does not provide a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals. Okay, that comment falls under the common sense category; however, even people who eat the right foods can suffer from nutrient deficiencies. Those same studies indicate that 92 % of American’s are deficient in one or more nutrients under the Recommended Daily Allowance(RDA). The levels set under the RDA are the minimum levels needed to prevent rickets and scurvy. They are far from what is needed for someone to feel even 50% healthy.
The vitamin deficiencies I’m talking about don’t cause acute diseases like scurvy and rickets but the chronic type of diseases. These are the types of diseases that sneak up on you over the years because you basically feel fine. These diseases include: blindness, osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, and more.
The best place to start in preventing these diseases is a high quality multivitamin. It’s very confusing since there are many choices out there. Some of the essential things you want the multivitamin to have are mixed carotenoids, which include lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as at least 400 mcg of folate and a mixed B vitamin-complex. You also want to look for a multivitamin that comes from whole food sources. This is a new concept in the industry which involves not separating the vitamins and minerals from their food source. In this way, the body can absorb nutrients the way it is meant to.
There are many good multivitamins on the market. I take “Nature’s Way Alive Whole Food Energizer.” This doesn’t have the mixed carotenoids. I get those through another supplement, “Nature’s Plus Ultra Source of Life Liquid with Lutein.” I order both of these through vitacost.com. If you know any other good multivitamins please let me know so I can pass it on. So far, these are the ones I have used. They have worked well for me.
The vitamin deficiencies I’m talking about don’t cause acute diseases like scurvy and rickets but the chronic type of diseases. These are the types of diseases that sneak up on you over the years because you basically feel fine. These diseases include: blindness, osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, and more.
The best place to start in preventing these diseases is a high quality multivitamin. It’s very confusing since there are many choices out there. Some of the essential things you want the multivitamin to have are mixed carotenoids, which include lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as at least 400 mcg of folate and a mixed B vitamin-complex. You also want to look for a multivitamin that comes from whole food sources. This is a new concept in the industry which involves not separating the vitamins and minerals from their food source. In this way, the body can absorb nutrients the way it is meant to.
There are many good multivitamins on the market. I take “Nature’s Way Alive Whole Food Energizer.” This doesn’t have the mixed carotenoids. I get those through another supplement, “Nature’s Plus Ultra Source of Life Liquid with Lutein.” I order both of these through vitacost.com. If you know any other good multivitamins please let me know so I can pass it on. So far, these are the ones I have used. They have worked well for me.
Migraines
There are many preventive drugs for migraine headaches -- calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, anti-seizure medications, and antidepressants. These all work poorly, if at all, and are often accompanied by frequent side effects. Attempts at providing relief for migraine headaches has gone as far as injecting Botox into the neck muscles to ease the patient’s symptoms.
Recently, new medications have been developed that can stop a migraine after it has started. These are part of a new class of drugs called triptans. They include Imitrex, Maxalt, and Zomig. While these new drugs do work much better, they have potential side effects which include strokes. They are also incredibly expensive and very addictive.
The challenge with migraines is that they are treated by doctors more as a cause than a symptom. Migraines can be caused by a number of dysfunctions in our bodies which include: food allergy/bowel and gut imbalances, chemical triggers, hormonal imbalances, magnesium deficiency, mitochondrial imbalances, structural problems
Often patients have migraines following a recent car accident, but often it is not this clear cut. For instance, if you have a chronic migraine associated with tight, irritable, crampy symptoms, this may point toward a nutritional deficiency in magnesium. If your migraine is associated with your period, along with severe PMS, bloating, sugar cravings, breast tenderness, and irritability your migraine might be due to hormone imbalances such as an imbalance in estrogen and progesterone.
In other words, migraines are a huge problem but are also very preventable. The answer is taking the time to investigate, not simply applying a medication or short chiropractic adjustment that may only work to successfully mask the symptom.
Recently, new medications have been developed that can stop a migraine after it has started. These are part of a new class of drugs called triptans. They include Imitrex, Maxalt, and Zomig. While these new drugs do work much better, they have potential side effects which include strokes. They are also incredibly expensive and very addictive.
The challenge with migraines is that they are treated by doctors more as a cause than a symptom. Migraines can be caused by a number of dysfunctions in our bodies which include: food allergy/bowel and gut imbalances, chemical triggers, hormonal imbalances, magnesium deficiency, mitochondrial imbalances, structural problems
Often patients have migraines following a recent car accident, but often it is not this clear cut. For instance, if you have a chronic migraine associated with tight, irritable, crampy symptoms, this may point toward a nutritional deficiency in magnesium. If your migraine is associated with your period, along with severe PMS, bloating, sugar cravings, breast tenderness, and irritability your migraine might be due to hormone imbalances such as an imbalance in estrogen and progesterone.
In other words, migraines are a huge problem but are also very preventable. The answer is taking the time to investigate, not simply applying a medication or short chiropractic adjustment that may only work to successfully mask the symptom.
How cholesterol really works
Cholesterol may not be the best way to measure one’s risk of heart disease. Studies on the use of statin drugs are showing that controlling inflammation is the mechanism by which the risk of heart disease is decreased. In fact, a study of a nonstatin drug called Zetia showed that drugs designed solely to reduce cholesterol without reducing inflammation actually increase ones risk of heart disease. (1) Zetia, in particular, while lowering cholesterol, actually increased the accumulation of fatty plaques in the arteries and increased the patient’s risk of a heart attack. Another new nonstatin drug, torcetrapib, was recently pulled from the market in 2006. Studies of this drug showed that, while raising HDL levels and lowering LDL in the 15,000 people, the cholesterol altering effect of the drug, in fact, caused more heart attacks and strokes.(2)
The best way to battle heart disease is not to focus on lowering cholesterol numbers but to focus on lowering inflammation with a proper diet and appropriate exercise. Statin drugs are still effective at lowering inflammation but should be used only as a last resort.
(1) Ridker PM, Cannon CP, Morrow D, Rifai N, Rose LM, McCabe CH, Pfeffer MA, Braunwald E; Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 22 (PROVE IT-TIMI 22) Investigators. C-reactive protein levels and outcomes after statin therapy. N Engl J Med. 2005 Jan 6;352(1):20-8.
(2) Kastelein JJ, van Leuven SI, Burgess L, Evans GW, Kuivenhoven JA, Barter PJ, Revkin JH, Grobbee DE, Riley WA, Shear CL, Duggan WT, Bots ML; RADIANCE 1 Investigators.Effect of torcetrapib on carotid atherosclerosis in familial hypercholesterolemia. N Engl J Med. 2007 Apr 19;356(16):1620-30.
The best way to battle heart disease is not to focus on lowering cholesterol numbers but to focus on lowering inflammation with a proper diet and appropriate exercise. Statin drugs are still effective at lowering inflammation but should be used only as a last resort.
(1) Ridker PM, Cannon CP, Morrow D, Rifai N, Rose LM, McCabe CH, Pfeffer MA, Braunwald E; Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 22 (PROVE IT-TIMI 22) Investigators. C-reactive protein levels and outcomes after statin therapy. N Engl J Med. 2005 Jan 6;352(1):20-8.
(2) Kastelein JJ, van Leuven SI, Burgess L, Evans GW, Kuivenhoven JA, Barter PJ, Revkin JH, Grobbee DE, Riley WA, Shear CL, Duggan WT, Bots ML; RADIANCE 1 Investigators.Effect of torcetrapib on carotid atherosclerosis in familial hypercholesterolemia. N Engl J Med. 2007 Apr 19;356(16):1620-30.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Immune System and Chiropractic
The link between the body’s central nervous system and the immune system is critical. Sympathetic activity in the nervous system releases immune regulatory cells into the blood circulation which alters immune function.(1) Numerous osteopathic and chiropractic studies support the link between spinal adjustments and the immune system. This blog entry will summarize a study that dealt with HIV patients.
In this study, conducted at the Sid Williams Research Center in 1994, a group of HIV positive patients received upper cervical (neck) spinal adjustments over a 6 month period. The study measured the number of CD4 cells (an important component of immune system function) before and after the 6 month period. The blood measurements were taken at the patient’s independent medical facility where they were receiving medical supervision for their condition. The results of the study showed a 7.96% decrease in CD4 cell levels in patients who were part of the control group (no actual spinal adjustments were made). Patients who had received actual spinal adjustments showed a 48% increase in CD4 levels.
(1) Korr IM: "Andrew Taylor Still memorial lecture: Research and Practice - a century later." J Am Osteopathy Assoc 1974 73:362.
(2) Selano JL, Hightower BC, Pfleger B, Feeley-Collins K, Grostic JD. "The Effects of Specific Upper Cervical Adjustments on the CD4 Counts of HIV Positive Patients.” The Chiro Research Journal; 3(1); 1994.
In this study, conducted at the Sid Williams Research Center in 1994, a group of HIV positive patients received upper cervical (neck) spinal adjustments over a 6 month period. The study measured the number of CD4 cells (an important component of immune system function) before and after the 6 month period. The blood measurements were taken at the patient’s independent medical facility where they were receiving medical supervision for their condition. The results of the study showed a 7.96% decrease in CD4 cell levels in patients who were part of the control group (no actual spinal adjustments were made). Patients who had received actual spinal adjustments showed a 48% increase in CD4 levels.
(1) Korr IM: "Andrew Taylor Still memorial lecture: Research and Practice - a century later." J Am Osteopathy Assoc 1974 73:362.
(2) Selano JL, Hightower BC, Pfleger B, Feeley-Collins K, Grostic JD. "The Effects of Specific Upper Cervical Adjustments on the CD4 Counts of HIV Positive Patients.” The Chiro Research Journal; 3(1); 1994.
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