Dale Bredesen, MD, author of The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program To Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline, refers to the tests you should undergo if you’re concerned about brain health as a “cognoscopy,” sort of a colonoscopy for your brain. Perhaps thinking back on your own colonoscopy, it’s reasonable to ask, “Do I really […]
Category: Inflammation
Inflammation can come from many sources and be a sign of injury or disease. Some diagnostic testing can be done to find inflammation in the body and there are many treatments that may help including nutrition counseling, nutritional supplements, lifestyle changes, infusion therapy, acupuncture and much more.
Reversing Mental Decline and Preventing Alzheimer’s, Part 2
Last week I explained the current thinking about cognitive decline, whose worst manifestation, Alzheimer’s disease, occurs because a protein called amyloid accumulates in the brain, destroying delicate brain cells. Focusing on clearing out amyloid as a treatment of Alzheimer’s has been unsuccessful. The answer is prevention. In his important book The End of Alzheimer’s: The […]
Reversing Mental Decline and Preventing Alzheimer’s, Part 1
You saw a movie last week and in discussing it with friends simply can’t remember the important parts. Plus you just missed another appointment. Planning to drive to a north suburb, you instead got on the southbound expressway and after 15 minutes of Loop traffic realized your error. You’re mixing up words and forgetting too […]
130/80: What The New High Blood Pressure Guidelines Mean For You
You might not have known it, but last Monday, November 13, 2017, you may have awakened with high blood pressure (hypertension). Don’t feel alone. A massive increase in the number of people with hypertension occurred overnight when the definition of high blood pressure was officially changed from 140/90 (and higher) to 130/80 (and higher). I’m […]
Treating Mold-Related Illness
Last week I wrote about mold-related illness, yet another commonly overlooked diagnosis. It’s surprising how regularly mold issues fly under the radar of conventional physicians. When you consider how often homes and workplaces have a leaky roof, unless something smells moldy or we discover creeping black stains somewhere we often don’t think of mold. Moreover, […]
Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Mold-Related Illness
If you believe you’re suffering some of the chronic symptoms caused by mold exposure, you’ve probably also heard the discouraging mantra, “We can’t find anything wrong with you—all your tests are normal.” You’ve told your doc that you’ve read about toxic mold. You point out that you’ve had some water damage, that some rooms smell […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses: Subtly Underactive Thyroid
I went to medical school in London for awhile and quite honestly didn’t learn much. But it was the 1960s and if you were going to be anywhere on the planet, central London was the place to be. The fact that the hospital to which I was assigned had a pub in its basement (where […]
Six Commonly Missed Diagnoses +1: Rx Drug Side Effects
I’d planned a series of six commonly missed diagnoses, but today I have one more, a life-threatening addition you’ll want to add to your mental list. If you’ve been following this series you know we’ve covered low levels of vitamin B-12 and vitamin D, subtly underactive thyroid, gluten sensitivity, intestinal parasites, and candida (yeast) overgrowth. […]
Worrisome Dementia Report For Women and Steps To Take
We’ve always known there was a higher rate of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in women than in men, initially attributed to the fact that women live longer and that the decline in mental function occurred with age. This turned out to be wrong. At 65, a woman has a greater than one-in-six chance of […]
Fish Oil: Finally Some Solid Answers
In the 1970s, epidemiologic studies discovered that Inuit (the indigenous people of the Arctic regions Canada, Alaska, and Greenland), whose diet was extremely rich in fish, had a much lower rate of heart disease than Americans and Europeans. Scientists attributed this to the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in fish, which seemed to protect and […]
Understanding Leaky Gut
If you read much about health, you know about controversial diagnoses. The list might start with candida overgrowth, food sensitivities, and toxic mold syndrome and end with adrenal fatigue, heavy metal toxicity, chronic Lyme, and multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome. Because controversial conditions aren’t routinely covered in medical textbooks, they can easily fly under the radar […]
Toxic Black Mold: Ugly, Yes, But Really How Dangerous?
I think black mold makes us nervous because we can see it, clinging to the bottom of the shower curtain, lurking in the corners of the recently flooded basement. You almost expect it to throb or make a vaguely humming noise. However, far more dangerous as a home hazard is the radioactive gas radon, but […]
Depression, Inflammation, and You
Posted 11/03/2014 You might not immediately think conditions as apparently disparate as depression and inflammation could be linked. Right up front, let me say if you’ve got a history of depression or anxiety, you’re not alone. With 11% of Americans over age ten taking antidepressants daily, we can probably triple that percentage to estimate the […]
Is Inflammation Behind (Almost) All Disease?
You can see your factory-installed inflammation system in action when you cut yourself or get a big zit on your chin. As annoying as the redness, swelling, and pus are, they’re a sign your inflammatory response is functioning well to ward off attackers and keep your body intact. In the grand scheme of things, inflammation […]
The Evidence Is In: Inflammation Shortens Your Life
Did you ever ponder why some obese people, after decades of being badgered by their families and physicians to lose weight, out-live their thin friends and seem perfectly healthy? Or how someone in his 50s falls over dead from a massive heart attack after being told during his check-up that everything was fine, his cholesterol […]
All Hail The Bean!
What a pleasant surprise to open this week’s Archives of Internal Medicine and find the results of a trial on the benefits of eating legumes–beans, lentils, and chickpeas. This was a real clinical trial, working with a group of people who had mild Type 2 diabetes. During the three-month study period, half the enrollees ate […]
Antibiotics: Maximize Benefits, Minimize Intestinal Backlash
Posted 02/20/2012 Patients seem to be divided equally in their attitude toward antibiotics. Either they love ‘em, remembering relief from a painful bladder infection, a nagging cough, or clogged sinuses, or they hate ‘em, recalling minimal relief along with lots of diarrhea and/or an industrial-strength vaginal yeast infection. That first group often progresses to what […]
Turmeric
Although best known as a spice that gives a distinctive flavor and yellow color to curry powder and mustard, turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a member of the ginger family and has long been used for healing. Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and other traditional medicine systems practiced in India have relied on this pungent spice for centuries, and so it’s not surprising that the Asian subcontinent is where the most intensive research about this herb has been conducted.