Years and years ago, I was the Medical Director of a REALLY LARGE group here in Chicago. At its peak, we had over fifty doctors, both primary care physicians and members of virtually all specialists. We provided care for over 20,000 patients both in Chicago and the suburbs. There were patients in about 15 primary […]
Author: wholehealthchicago
Protecting Yourself (and Your Child) from the Dangerous Anti-Vaccine Cult
I wanted to pull this Health Tip from the archives of the 1,600 (give or take a few) on file since I started this back in 1994. I had written it in response to the vociferous anti-vaccination community which I knew had been funding completely false research, spreading really dangerous misinformation, and causing untoward damage […]
GRUMPY? FEELING LIKE YOU MIGHT SNAP? STOP POSTING YOUR OPINIONS!
I’m sure you’ve read about the anxiety and depression, especially among teenagers, as they dealt with humiliation and bullying on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. Also important, how their depression dramatically improved once they signed off the platforms and didn’t return. In response to reports of ‘anger,’ ‘feeling more on edge,’ and other […]
BLOATED WITH EVERY MEAL? MAYBE IT’S ABDOMINOPHRENIC DYSSYNERGY!
Never heard of this one, right? A real mouthful to pronounce, too. ‘Abdomino’ is easy. ‘Phrenic’ is the nerve from your spinal cord attached to your diaphragm, the large muscle that separates your lungs from your abdomen. Your phrenic nerve controls breathing. ‘Dyssynergy’ simply means things are functioning out-of-whack. More and more gastroenterologists have come […]
Hydration and Longevity
You’ll like this story. Sometime in her eighties, my Aunt Hildy, who passed on at 94 or so, handed me a book, “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water”, by an Iranian physician with a totally unpronounceable name, Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D. She told me it had changed her life. Dr. B. attributed virtually all chronic illnesses, […]
CHRONIC LYME DISEASE: SHOULD I WORRY? ARE YOU SERIOUS?
Yes, I am serious. These days, from what we’re learning about Lyme Disease (more about correct terminology later), anything is possible. Here’s who doesn’t have to worry: if you regard yourself as healthy and if asked, “Overall, how do you feel?” And answer, “Just fine, thanks,” then Lyme in any form is very unlikely and […]
The Supplement I Love Most: Magnesium
Along with most things relating to good nutrition, I wasn’t taught much of anything about supplemental magnesium either in medical school or during my internal medicine residency. It was a professional clinical nutritionist I met during a long-ago meeting of the American Holistic Medical Association who first told me, “You’ll never go wrong if you […]
A CHECKLIST OF OVERLOOKED CAUSES OF CHRONIC FATIGUE
If there’s one single symptom that brings patients most frequently into the offices of WholeHealth Chicago, it’s this: “I’m tired all the time and doctors can’t find anything wrong.” The “can’t find” you all are experiencing is the real problem of today’s health care system. It’s that notorious fifteen minute medical encounter of primary care medicine: […]
LONGEVITY MEDICINE: AN UPDATE
I’ve been getting more and more inquiries about prescription medications, supplements, and infusions all being promoted for their ‘anti-aging’ and ‘longevity’ benefits. Patients want to know, quite reasonably, what’s real? What’s not? What’s dangerous? What’s crazy? Let’s spend this Health Tip on an update among the world of the anti-aging ‘gurus’ (There are plenty of […]
COLOSTRUM: IS IT WORTH ADDING YET ANOTHER SUPPLEMENT?
The word keeps popping up in emails from patients, and I’m seeing it more and more on their smoothie “lists”. Then, when I saw an article in the Washington Post about colostrum, I thought I’d better write about it myself. Colostrum was your first taste of food when you were born, the first milk produced […]
“DIARRHEA HAS CONTROLLED MY LIFE FOR DECADES!”
My 50 year old patient related the following history: “The diarrhea started in my teens and has dominated my life. It got worse when I went away to college, stress was my first trigger, final exams, a date, then almost anything could trigger it. Imagine trying to find a toilet at a Big Ten football […]
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: ANTIBIOTICS AND YOUR GUT MICROBIOME
An astonishing 1% of the U.S, population suffers the joint pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), women far outnumbering men, usually starting midlife 30’s to 40’s. RA is one of the 100 or so autoimmune diseases in which your immune system, generally a “good guy” meant to fight “bad guys” like infections and cancer […]
HEAVY METAL TOXICITY (ESPECIALLY LEAD!) AND YOUR HEALTH
For those who might not have been paying attention that day in high school chemistry, the heavy metals refer to a group of dense metals or metal-like substances (called metalloids) found in the environment. These metals–specifically lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and aluminum–can all be absorbed by your body and stored there. Our environment is already […]
ONE OF THOSE REALLY INTERESTING COINCIDENCES…..
I had planned this vacation for a long time, and now I was having breakfast at my hotel in Tokyo, Japan, planning what sites I would be visiting. Suddenly, my eye caught an internet article in the Washington Post that held my chopsticks mid-air: “Travel Can Slow the Aging Process” The lead author, Fangli Hu, […]
Start By Healing Your Gut
About 25 years ago, when I was organizing what today is WholeHealth Chicago, I attempted to learn everything I could about all the fields of what was then called alternative medicine. Since naturopathic medicine, or naturopathy, didn’t really exist in Illinois (perpetually blocked by the Illinois State Medical Society), I flew to the west coast […]
AKKERMANSIA: THE “SHINING STAR” OF YOUR GUT FLORA
No, that nickname is not from me. However, it definitely is one of the praises heaped upon by scientists around the world as they describe the wonders of this one strain of bacteria in your intestinal microbiome. Read carefully. Link to the research papers if you like. If you have enough Akkermansia (full name Akkermansia […]
NUTRITIONAL INFLUENCES ON DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY
Depressed? Anxious? In the cynical ideal world of your insurance company’s CEO, he’d like you to have a one visit with your primary care provider (PCP) and, if you absolutely must, a referral to a visit to a mental health counselor. Not too many of these visits, as these cost money and you’re usually allowed […]
GETTING YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS FILLED AND REFILLED AT WHOLEHEALTH CHICAGO
“I’m about to run out of my hormones….my Adderall..my blood pressure meds.” “My pharmacist said he sent a FAX…I need an early refill…I’m leaving for Paris in 3 days!” Okay, okay, slow down. I’m going to walk you through the incredible complexity of rules and regulations concerning your prescriptions. On the one hand, my dedicated […]
YOUR “LOW ESTROGEN FACE” AND HOW WE CAN HELP
Sex hormones are not to be taken lightly. Some recent research measuring blood levels of estrogen in several hundred young women and then making facial “composite photos” showed that those with normal to high (but not too high) levels of estrogen were more physically (read “sexually”) appealing. Go overboard with estrogen and all sorts of […]
UNDERSTANDING CANDIDA, ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Patients come to WholeHealth Chicago regularly with this common refrain: “You’re the fourth (or seventh or tenth) doctor I’ve seen. I feel terrible but am always told that my tests are normal and there’s nothing wrong with me.” Then they’ll add: “I read about Candida overgrowth and the symptoms seem to fit me exactly. I […]