Let’s start with two thyroid facts: The diagnosis of hypothyroidism (low levels of thyroid hormone) is missed by most physicians. Patients arrive with obvious symptoms of hypothyroidism every doctor learned in medical school: sensitivity to cold, hair loss, weight gain, dry skin, fatigue, constipation, depression, irregular periods, and infertility. The doctor listens, sometimes attentively, and […]
Author: wholehealthchicago
SAVE YOUR HEARING, SAVE YOUR BRAIN
I’m fully aware the patient group at WholeHealth Chicago is an interesting bunch. With or without any chronic health issues, they’re what doctors call “pro-active” about their health and well-being. For example, Bob, with middle aged spread, his newly diagnosed high blood pressure, high cholesterol, started his treatment elsewhere is now meeting with Olivia Darrow, […]
Lyme Disease: Real or All in Your Head?
Spring! And time for a Health Tip on Lyme Disease and other tick borne illnesses. All in preparation for your summer vacation to those large northern suburbs Wisconsin and Michigan because each exports so many cases of Lyme Disease to our WholeHealth Chicago Centers. The weather is warming and with warm weather, the tick population […]
MEASLES AND SHINGLES VACCINATIONS: IMPORTANT STUFF
Last month, our occasionally misguided Director of Health and Human Services stated something factually incorrect, namely that immunity from MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine wanes at 4.5% a year (it does not) and that “older people are essentially unvaccinated.” They are not. “Older people” (whatever that means) are usually very well protected from measles. If a person […]
YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW ABOUT NAPRAPATHY: HERE GOES!
Although it was unfortunate that WholeHealth Chicago had to close our Riverwoods office because of a change of building ownership, one very definite positive was our Clybourn office gained Dr. Mary Ellen Boyte, D.N., who has been practicing Naprapathic Medicine since she graduated the National College here in Chicago in 2000. You’ve seen the word […]
MALE MENOPAUSE: IS IT REAL?
Definitely. Last week, wrote how actor Naomi Watts experienced menopause symptoms earlier than she ever dreamed possible, her mid thirties. For men, testosterone levels start drifting downward in this decade as well. Most men don’t notice anything, others do feel something is “off”. “My energy is not the same.” “Don’t have interest in sex like […]
WHY I STARTED WHOLEHEALTH CHICAGO: NOT WANTING YOU TO DIE FROM SOMETHING STUPID
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 […]
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, […]