I know, I know. It’s presumptuous of me to mention Cleveland Clinic in the same line, much less on the same page, as WholeHealth Chicago, though we do have significant attributes in common, as you’ll see today. This research article, which appeared last week on the JAMA website, links the two of us in ways […]
Category: Immune System
Your immune system is your body’s protector, tackling viruses, bacteria, parasite, and cancer cells. It’s important to make sure your immune system is functioning properly.
Diagnostic Tests Chart Path To A Healthful Longevity
Let me start with a piece of disappointing news. You know that battery of blood tests ordered by your family doctor or internist during your dutiful check-up? That complete blood count (CBC), comprehensive metabolic profile (CMP), and so forth? All of them are pretty useless. Yes, they’re almost always covered by insurance, so they’re free, […]
To A Long and Healthy Life!
You may have read earlier this summer about the public health statisticians who announced that Chicagoans could get a reasonable estimate about how long they’ll live based on their neighborhood, sort of a Death by Zip Code. If you live in Streeterville, you’ve got a good chance to reach 90. If you’re struggling in Englewood, […]
Dandruff, Fungi, and Cancer of the Pancreas
It’s an eye-catching title, I’ll admit. But the links are quite real and further research may guide medicine in new directions of cancer prevention and treatment. It all starts in your gut microbiome, the totality of microorganisms–bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi–present in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract, mouth to anus. Until recently, researchers and clinical physicians […]
New Hope For Sinus Sufferers
When osteopath Dr. Rob Ivker moved to Colorado in the 1980s to set up his family practice, he had no idea that when he stepped off the plane he’d succumb to symptoms of chronic sinusitis that just wouldn’t go away: stuffy nose, thick mucus, pressure behind his cheekbones and above his eyebrows, dull aching headache, […]
2019/2020 Flu Season: Prepare Yourself With IV Therapy
I was struck by this New York Times piece on the severe flu outbreak in Australia with an unusually nasty virus. It took a moment for me to realize it’s spring in the Southern Hemisphere and they’ve just finished their winter flu season. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) predict that our flu season could […]
Director of IV Therapies Katie McManigal, BSN, ANP
Most people at some point in their lives have had an intravenous (IV) line. An adept nurse warned you about the tiny pinch of the needle as it was smoothly inserted and taped in place. Then the fluid dangling above your head slowly started making its way through a tube and into your body. IVs […]
Welcoming Sandra Subotich to WholeHealth Chicago
Normally, when I write a welcome Health Tip announcing a new WholeHealth Chicago practitioner, I go right to the person’s biography to illuminate why you might consider making an appointment. Dr. Sandra is a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and her bio is rich with detail, so I’m saving it for the end. First, […]
Heal Your Gut…Now
Last week I discussed how naturopathic and functional medicine practitioners usually begin their healing process (and prevent future health troubles) with careful attention to that 30-foot food tube meandering through you from your lips to your anus. The essence of good gut health is essentially how well you’re digesting, absorbing, and using the food you […]
First, Heal 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 […]
Chronic Lyme Disease: Best Testing, Best Treatment
Last week I suggested if you’ve been suffering longstanding but otherwise unexplained symptoms, a long-ago tick bite might be an overlooked possibility and you could now be dealing with chronic Lyme disease. I added that your recovery may well be delayed by some totally unnecessary and immature bickering among physicians about the correct name for […]
Chronic Lyme Disease? Me? Are You Serious?
Yes, I am serious. These days, from what we’re learning about Lyme disease (more about its specific terminology later), anything is possible. If you regard yourself as healthy and were asked, “Overall, how do you feel?” and you answered “Just fine, thanks,” then Lyme in any form is very unlikely and testing you would be […]
Case Study: Tracy’s Eczema From Hell
She had wisely trimmed her fingernails to avoid injuring her own skin, but as she sat in my office she continuously rubbed one part of her body or another with the ball of her thumb in order to relieve the itching. Tracy was in her 20s and accompanied by her mother. Although I could see […]
Chronic Epstein-Barr Infection: Diagnosis and Self Treatment
Once, maybe long ago, you came down with variation of mono, what your doctor called infectious mononucleosis. You have the antibodies in your blood to prove it. These are antibodies to a specific human herpesvirus (called human herpesvirus 4), better known as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Back then, you may have felt a sudden onset of […]
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 […]
I Feel So Inflamed!
And among other symptoms, indeed she was. Julia, a bright 40-something, had written “fatigue,” “pain,” “bad digestion,” and “brain fog” on her WholeHealth Chicago intake paperwork. She’d been ill for years and brought with her two binders full of medical info on herself. The thicker of these contained accumulated medical records, lab tests, imaging studies, […]
Here’s What You Should Know About Lyme Disease
In H.G. Wells’s novel (and Steven Spielberg’s movie) War of the Worlds, aliens invade Earth, fully intending to destroy it. Despite our best efforts to defend ourselves, we’re clearly losing until suddenly all the aliens start dying off. Scientists later discover the aliens had no immunity to Earth’s bacteria. The evil aliens were out of their […]
Protect Your Child From The Dangerous Anti-Vaccine Cult
Recently on NPR I heard an interview with a young man who has the unusual occupation of being a Facebook content moderator. For eight hours a day he reads the crazy stuff people post and deletes it. The conspiracy theories (as in 9/11 was perpetrated by Jews), the Holocaust deniers, you know what I mean. […]
Nutritional IV Therapy, Part One
You’ve probably, at some point in your life, had an intravenous (IV) line. You felt the tiny pinch of the needle, watched as an adept nurse’s hands taped the needle in place, and then stared, perhaps a bit apprehensively, as a bagful of fluid dangling above coursed through a plastic tube and into your body […]
Taking Steps Toward Cancer Prevention, Part 2
Last week we began a short series on preventing cancer. Obviously there are no guarantees when it comes to your health. You can do everything exactly right and still get cancer while the next guy lives a life on the edge and dies at 104 with a whisky in one hand and a cigar in […]