Nobody I know was surprised when the president and many of his staff were found to be Covid-19 positive. You can only thumb your nose at science for so long before Mother Nature gets exasperated and lets you have it. To me, the real irony is this: at the same time the upper echelon in […]
Category: Knowledge Base
Welcome Nurse Practitioner Rachel Gates + Lifestyle Medicine 101
This week we welcome Rachel Gates, NP, to WholeHealth Chicago, where she joins nurse practitioners Katie McManigal and Wendy Ploegstra. Like Wendy, Rachel is specially trained in a new (and desperately needed) branch of healthcare called Lifestyle Medicine. More about that later. Indiana-born and raised, Rachel began her education at Purdue University, earning her RN […]
Functional Medicine 101 + Introducing Dr. Parisa Samsami
Functional Medicine (FM) is without a doubt the fastest growing medical specialty of the 21st century. Public interest and broad public acceptance of it continue to please me. Every day I hear the sentence, “I made this appointment because I wanted a functional approach.” When I ask patients how they learned about it, the answer is […]
The Flu Shot: Now More Important Than Ever
When it comes to the flu shot, I take a far more conventional approach than many WholeHealth Chicago patients expect of a doctor who considers himself alternative/integrative. It’s also worth noting that after reviewing some of the online advice warning people away from the flu shot, it’s my sense that this is frequently followed by […]
Lyme Disease In Your Nervous System: Three Cases
“Why am I limiting this to only three cases?” I wondered. Physicians who treat Lyme, like our group at WholeHealth Chicago where we see a lot of Lyme disease patients, would tell you there are so many manifestations of Lyme when it invades the nervous system that I really should list as many as possible. […]
The Heartburn That Wouldn’t Quit
Dierdre had written “I want to get off my heartburn medicine” on her WholeHealth Chicago intake form. This, by the way, was a tele-med appointment. I’ve actually never met her in person. We changed Dierdre’s name to respect her privacy, but her story is worth sharing. Dierdre was in her 30s and had been working […]
The Covid-19 Pandemic and the American Caste System
When I read the opening sentences of the New York Times review of journalist- author Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, I was glad it was soon arriving on my Barnes & Noble pre-order. I’d been deeply impressed by Wilkerson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Warmth of Other Suns, the story of the Great […]
IV Therapies, Part 1: The World Famous Myers’ Cocktail
Over the next few weeks I’ll be writing about the intravenous (IV) therapies we offer at WholeHealth Chicago–what they are, how they work, and who can benefit. There are IV protocols for the immune system, stress, macular degeneration, anti-aging, chronic infections like Lyme disease and chronic mono, toxic metals, and those used as adjunctive care […]
Michelle Obama: Thanks for Reminding Us We’re Not Alone
You probably read last week that Michelle Obama acknowledged she’d been experiencing what she described as low-grade depression. You may have wondered aloud, as I did, how anyone who sees what’s going on in the world could avoid it. Many of us are feeling hopeless or anxious, ruminating about where this is all going, eating […]
Covid-19 Worries
You may have noticed fewer Health Tips about Covid-19 recently, which might have struck you as odd given our dreadful numbers here in the US. Well, there was a reason for this. WholeHealth Chicago was one of hundreds of health-oriented websites that were sent cease-and-desist warning letters from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging widespread […]
You Probably Don’t Need A Colonoscopy
Quite often the patient sitting before me helpfully finishes my sentence. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I need a colonoscopy.” This happens in person or during a Telemed visit when I remark how they’re approaching (or recently turned) 50, 60, or beyond. Or they’re a few years beyond 50 or 60, and I genially ask, “Your […]
Returning To School + Phosphatidyl Choline for Chronic Illness and Anti-Aging
Before I start this Health Tip on phosphatidyl choline I want to voice a quick opinion about kids returning to school in the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. The stance of the Chicago Teachers Union seems totally correct, that the decision should be based on a meeting of the minds: those of teachers and those […]
Survival Steps + Immune Boost IV
Glance at the front page of any major website or newspaper–New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune–and you’ll see there’s just one topic of actual importance to your health and longevity. Now take a few focused breaths and return to calm. You’re not alone with your anxiety. There are actually national shortages of certain anti-anxiety […]
Do You Have Low Testosterone?
For 80 (!) years physicians have prescribed testosterone to men without being certain if it actually had any effect…other than raising testosterone levels. The only FDA-approved indication for testosterone is hypogonadism, in which there’s an actual disorder of the male reproductive system that results in the body not producing enough testosterone. Causes of hypogonadism include […]
WholeHealth Chicago IV Therapies: Metabolic Boost (Skinny Shots)
It’s really a bummer to add weight gain to the stressors you’ve been experiencing in this difficult year of Covid-19, police brutality, and economic crashes. You’re the victim of a perfect storm: inactivity, anxiety, disrupted sleep, and eating too many of the wrong calories. I know comfort foods are comforting, but did you really need […]
I Feel So Inflamed!
Previously, 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, because […]
WholeHealth Chicago IV Therapies: Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation (UBI)
You should know that we follow the CDC safety guidelines and that all IV therapies are administered in a sanitized room by an appropriately attired staff member. You’ll be alone in the room during your 30- to 45-minute IV session, so bring something to read. I was as surprised as everyone else, including Anthony Fauci, […]
WholeHealth Chicago IV Therapies: Ozone
You should know that we follow the CDC safety guidelines and that all IV therapies are administered in a sanitized room by an appropriately attired staff member. You’ll be alone in the room during your 30- to 45-minute IV session, so bring something to read. It’s definitely worthwhile to have a basic understanding of ozone […]
WholeHealth Chicago Has Re-Opened
Is WholeHealth Chicago safe? We’ve followed every possible patient safety recommendation written by Dr. Fauci’s team and our practice administrator, Jamie Ozga, sent us five pages of OCD-laden (that’s obsessive-compulsive disorder) procedures to follow. Our front desk, Apothecary staff, and medical assistants have been so precision-trained they could put the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes […]
Conquering Candida: A Telemedicine Consultation
You might be reading this Health Tip from a town 40 miles north of Mobile, Alabama, or somewhere west of Pecos, New Mexico, and you might be thinking, “Well, this sounds exactly like what I’ve got but there’s no doctor around here who knows anything about it.” We hear you. You’re a victim of the […]