The winter blues, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), usually begin when the days get shorter and the sky clouds over into perpetual gray. Many people with SAD dread late autumn because the clocks move back an hour and, in a single day, autumn twilight becomes dark night. Symptoms of SAD include depression, brain […]
Category: Knowledge Base
What is Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) and Can It Help Me?
Fifteen years ago or so was the first time I wrote about the endlessly fascinating multi-purpose inexpensive Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). Among the majority of conventional physicians, the “needle” has moved slightly from “never heard of it” to “I’ve heard of it but don’t prescribe it.” I guess you could call it a ‘guarded improvement.’ […]
NINE IMMEDIATE STEPS TO PRESERVE YOUR BRAIN
High on the wish list (probably highest, actually) of a new patient coming into WholeHealth Chicago for “wellness” is not just “longevity” but “longevity plus ‘brains/wit/wisdom’”, a la Betty White, Norman Lear, George Burns, actor Mike Nussbaum. So let’s talk “brain” and say you’re in one of these four situations: For everyone listed above, 1 […]
Some Easy New Year’s Resolutions for Longevity
Now that we’ve entered another New Year, here are a few REALLY EASY resolutions that will boost your health and likely to prolong your life. If I’m wrong, and you find yourself unexpectedly on the underside of the sod, call me for a full refund. No questions asked. You probably never called it that but […]
You Can Get Better Sleep
You may have discovered as you travel this weary road of life that you’re not sleeping quite as well as you did when younger. Gone are the glory days when you fell asleep next to Mom listening to a bedtime story, and then it was morning! “Why?”, you ask (and probably too often), “Am I […]
I Have So Many Symptoms and Have Seen So Many Specialists!
I knew exactly where this conversation with new patient, Mary, was headed (for me). In fact, when I read through my associate Brett Eaton’s intake notes, Brett herself had made Mary’s diagnosis during her first visit to WholeHealth Chicago. She was seeing me for ‘confirmation’ and to discuss treatment. But equally adept diagnosticians are any […]
WHY THIS SUDDEN INCREASE IN “FATTY LIVER”?
I know ‘fatty liver’ has an unhealthy ring to it and all-in-all, without even knowing exactly what ‘fatty liver’ happens to be, you’d rather hear, “Your liver tests all look fine” from your practitioner then, “Hmm, need some more tests. Might have some fatty liver here.” Don’t start wringing your hands in despair, eyes Heavenward, […]
Wellness Path To Cancer Prevention 2024
After a certain age, every person fears getting cancer (and believe me, doctors are just as fearful as everyone else!). Being told, “I’m sorry but the biopsy confirmed it. You have cancer,” or “we need to find you a good oncologist,” is a moment you will remember the rest of your life. As you leave […]
Women and ADD: Part 1
Already ten minutes late for her first appointment, Claire phoned from her car that she’d be in the office in five minutes. Fifteen minutes later, she arrived flustered and embarrassed, and “Oh, my gosh, I left all the forms on my kitchen table, but I did fill them out,” and “My insurance card? I’m sure I had it, I can call my husband, he has one, I think,” and “Could you please put money in the meter for me, I just realized I forgot and I have s-o-o-o many tickets…”
Time-Crunched, Inattentive Physicians Working In Silos
Back in 2011, I wrote a Health Tip entitled, “Physicians as Morons”, whose title over the years I have come to regret, the unpleasantness of name-calling and all. You can read about this case here, but it’s just easier if I summarize it. A young woman had contacted me for help with the unusual diagnosis […]
Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS for short) is one of those annoying conditions in which a patient, after having read an article like this one and suffering similar symptoms, asks her doctor and gets one of two disappointing answers: “Never heard of it” (translation: MCAS is fairly new and often overlooked) or “Consulting Dr. Google […]
NAD+: Getting Serious About Anti-Aging Therapy
We’re living in a time of major, worldwide breakthroughs when it comes to understanding how we age and also the steps we can take to not only slow down aging, but to all appearances reverse the process. Over history, the fountain of youth seekers came, literally and figuratively, to dead ends, but back then Ponce […]
Women and ADD
Already ten minutes late for her first appointment, Claire phoned from her car that she’d be in the office in five minutes. Fifteen minutes later, she arrived flustered and embarrassed, and “Oh, my gosh, I left all the forms on my kitchen table, but I did fill them out,” and “My insurance card? I’m sure […]
Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation
You’ll see ultraviolet lamps in many areas of hospitals and medical centers used in a variety of ways. Doctors began to appreciate the healing powers of ultraviolet light as far back as the early years of the 20th century. In 1903, Dr. Niels Finsen won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for curing lupus of the skin with ultraviolet violet. To this day, dermatologists rely on external UV for psoriasis and certain skin cancers. But sterilizing medical equipment, or treating psoriasis, use UV externally.
Infusions & Supplements to Maximize Your Surgical Success
If you’ve ever undergone surgery, either “emergency” (like “we need to remove your appendix
NOW”) or “elective” (a strange term basically meaning “you can put your surgery off until it’s
convenient for either of us but let’s not forget about it”), you may remember you needed to
undergo “surgical clearance.”
Infusions At Wholehealth Chicago #1: Ozone Therapy: What It Is And How Doctors Use It
If you’ve been to either of our centers, I’m sure you’ve seen the large leather recliner chairs, often containing a patient, busy on their smartphone, tablet or reading a book and on the receiving end of an intravenous drip. Over the next few Health Tips, I’ll be talking about what these infusions are used for […]
The Statistically Proven Dangers of Television Watching
There’s some interesting data in this Health Tip based on both recent and older research concerning our screen viewing habits and their effects on both mind and body. When I present you with a “number” like this one, “the average American watches 3.1 hours of TV every day” (in this, we’re highest in the world), […]
You Know It’s Time To Change Doctors When…
Despite waiting weeks for an appointment and filling out all those forms, you can tell from the get-go, you’re being regarded as an inconvenience. Maybe, despite your persistent symptoms, you “look” too healthy to have anything seriously wrong with you and your new doctor has scheduled you for a cursory history/physical/basic blood work before she […]
Longevity Medicine: Three New Facts And Five Anti-Aging Supplements
Scientists completely agree coffee drinking helps longevity. During these days of generally bad news (people getting shot, the Monarch butterfly population in steep decline) it is heartening to read the findings from a huge study (over 170,000 men and women with average age 55 tracked over seven years) whose “all cause death rate” was dramatically […]
Commonly Missed Diagnosis: The Three Faces of Lyme Disease
It’s midsummer and the tick population is exploding. They can latch onto your ankles and fall into your hair and when they bite (which you won’t even feel), they’ll attach themselves and empty their gastrointestinal tract into your bloodstream. Ticks are a cesspool with legs and this story can end with Lyme disease. The total number of Lyme disease cases, caused by the organism Borrelia burgdorferi, is definitely on […]