I prefer the term ‘poisoning’ over ‘toxicity’ as there are no ‘acceptably safe’ levels of lead in the human body, just as there are no ‘acceptable levels’ of cyanide or strychnine. Low levels of lead won’t kill you with the swiftness of cyanide, but they sure can damage your health, and especially the health and […]
Category: E
This Side Of The Sod: Dr E’s Anti-Aging Supplements
Slowing the rate at which you age isn’t just for old people. If you’re under 40, the supplement basics offered in WholeHealth Plan #1 provide plenty of coverage, provided you live your entire life with the goal of reaching your upper 90s or early 100s. But living a long life, though undeniably nice, isn’t much […]
What Supplements Do You Take, Dr E?
It’s a question I’m asked with some regularity. Last week, when I told you about our new WholeHealth Supplement Plans for personalized monthly supplement delivery (which we started offering yesterday), I ended that Health Tip by mentioning that I swallow 18 supplements twice a day. You might have thought it weird and/or nauseating. But, hey, […]
Exciting News About Early Cancer Detection
When you cross over into your 50s and beyond, like it or not your risk for developing cancer increases. If you’re health-conscious, you try to schedule the recommended screening tests: mammogram, Pap smear, skin check, colonoscopy or Cologuard, and lung CT scan for smokers. More indirect cancer screenings include your physician noticing abrupt changes in […]
Enzymes for Health and Longevity
Until we got our plumbing overhauled, we’d been experiencing some real problems at WholeHealth Chicago, including clogged toilet drains that had bested some of Chicago’s top plumbers. After power rodding and chemicals, followed by actual pipe replacement, in the end we got everything working and didn’t have to send patients to the carwash next door […]
Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV): Trouble On The Horizon
A quick blood test will verify that 98% of you are carrying an inactive form of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), one of several herpesviruses (human herpesvirus 4, to be exact) that can rest quietly in your body. You hope. That high percentage is confirmed by testing large populations for the presence of EBV antibodies, produced by […]
Exiting The Rut
We’ve all been stuck in personal ruts. Trapped on our treadmills. You wake up one morning realizing you’ve somehow gotten yourself stuck. Certain aspects of your life aren’t moving forward anymore. Maybe you’re trapped in the same job, browning over the hot coals instead of actually burning out, but reluctant to make that crucial move […]
“Every Afternoon At About Four I’m So Tired I Could Sleep At My Desk”
“Exhaustion is my reality. At four o’clock, I’m wiped, totally wiped.” Patricia is 33, happily married as far as marriages go, one kid, steadily employed in the usual American less-than-satisfying corporate job, good eating habits, and, until recently, a health club goer a couple/three times a week. Now she’s too tired for that. Just looking […]
On Good Bacteria, Enemas, And Your Health
In certain cultures, like middle class Jews growing up in Hyde Park in the 1950s, everyone remembers being chased through their home by a well-meaning mom armed with an enema bag. “Dr. Nachman said you needed this for a poopy!” I am tearful, dressed only in whity-tighties until caught in the steel grip of my […]
IMPORTANT POLICIES REGARDING ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS (EMR)
As you’ve probably figured out by now, the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) will be bringing a lot of changes to the way health care is delivered in America. Along with additional governmental regulations comes new, advanced access and control of your personal medical information. As a patient at WholeHealth Chicago, you now have the opportunity […]
How I Exercise
With a title like that, I fully understand if you have an urge to hit the delete key. You endured a health tip a few weeks ago about my colonic, and I do applaud your strength for that. But now, having read in this week’s American Medical News that the US is the unhealthiest among […]
Empty Nose Syndrome
Never heard of it? Neither had I. Sounded more like a Sherlock Holmes story than a “condition” somebody could have. But there it was, written by the patient himself in the Reason For Visit section of our intake form. Before he actually walked into the examining room, I made a quick obeisance before my PC, fingers flying across the keys, summoning the all-powerful Wiki gods for some quick education on empty nose syndrome.
The Extraordinarily Persistent Patient
Despite my admonishments to stay well if you want to avoid the multifarious problems of our health care system, sometimes–and through no fault of your own–you’ll get sick.
Your best chance of emerging unscathed from whatever ails you is having what’s called a “self-limiting condition,” namely, one that goes away by itself, with or without doctoring. With any condition that brings the phrase “if symptoms persist, see your doctor” to mind, well, best of luck. Most of the time, the gods will be on your side, your doctor will figure out what’s wrong, and you’ll do just fine.
Europe Bamboozled by Big Pharma, Part 2
Last week we talked about the new European Union laws banning hundreds of herbal remedies. Since a favorite saying of many Europeans is “The problem with you Americans is…” I feel no compunction giving you my opinions about the entire continent getting itself so thoroughly blindsided by corporate-political footsies.
Europe Bamboozled By Big Pharma
Stories like the one I’m going to tell you this week and next make me proud to be a Chicagoan. Nobel prize winning Chicago author Saul Bellow said that we reside in the “contempt center of the USA” and, you know, I’ve got to agree. We take to such chicanery as well-placed bribes, cronyism, no-bid contracts, and politicians hay-tumbling with big corporations as naturally as naive folk worldwide take to breathing.
How Much Exercise?
I owe the details of this health tip to Dr. Joseph S. Alpert, the physician-editor of the American Journal of Medicine. Since a subscription to this highly respectable journal is, for non-physicians, $166 a year, I’ll assume it’s not regularly thrust through your mail slot and share his article with you.
Food Sensitivity Elimination Diet
Purpose: To identify hidden food allergens that may be causing some or all of your symptoms. During the elimination period, all common allergens are completely eliminated from the diet for two to three weeks. After your symptoms improve, foods are added back one at a time to determine which foods provoke symptoms.
Europe’s Healthcare System
I’m writing this health tip to respond to a question I get almost daily from my patients, who ask not my opinion of the current health care bill, but rather whether or not I’m worried about “government control” or “socialized medicine.” Since most Americans haven’t studied how health care is financed elsewhere in the world, here’s some information to consider.
Ephedra (Ma huang)
The Herb ephedra, also known by its Chinese name Ma huang, has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine since 3000 B.C. to treat colds, asthma, and other upper-respiratory disorders. An evergreen shrub, ephedra (usually Ephedra sinica) over the centuries has traditionally been dried as a whole herb and then added in very small amounts to a tea, along with other herbs, to help ease congestion. Preparations made from two other species, E. intermedia and E. equisetina, have also been used in Traditional medicine, but generally have a less potent therapeutic effect. Traditional East Asian herbal medicines containing ephedra were generally herbal combination formulas designed for specific short-term usage. These would be used in illness conditions where the action of ephedra would counteract certain types of unhealthy symptoms.
Exercise and Weight Loss
The Time Magazine article that ran last week was food for thought for people who exercise regularly. Let’s face it, many of us who work out aren’t doing so to boost mood, enhance mental skills, prevent Alzheimer’s disease, or reduce heart attack risk–all of which exercise does–but rather to lose weight.