The Nine Year Change in Children

Jake describes the nine-year change. This can happen early in some kids, like when they are 8 years old. It is a time when they realize for the first time that they are separate, that bad things happen, that they may die or loved ones may. It is a time to talk to your child and tell them to please communicate any fear they have and you will help them work through it. Eventually, you and your child will develop a new toolbox to deal with the empathic responses your child is experiencing by living in a world dominated by separation, duality, us against them and impermanence. Ultimately they will learn how to navigate and better to do it while young.

How to Treat Lice

Head Lice have been raging around Nevada County and people have been asking if I have a more natural remedy than using insecticide on your or your child’s head.  Indeed, I do!  The American Academy of Pediatrics published an article by an MD on using the gentle facial cleanser Cetaphil to rid the lice.  Here is the beta.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/114/3/e275.full

Quick directions

Go to your drugstore and buy Cetaphil cleanser (no prescription needed, get the regular one, not the one for oily skin!) in the soap department. It works by coating the lice and suffocating them.

Apply the Cetaphil cleanser throughout the scalp to dry hair.

After all the hair is wet, wait 2 minutes for Cetaphil to soak in.

Comb out as much excess cleanser as possible.

Blow dry your child's hair. It has to be thoroughly dry down to the scalp to suffocate the lice. Expect this to take 3 times longer then it would if the hair was just wet with water.

The dried Cetaphil will smother the lice. Leave it on your child's hair for at least 8 hours.

In the morning, wash off the Cetaphil with a regular shampoo.

To cure your child of lice, REPEAT this process twice in 1 and 2 weeks.

The cure rate is 97%

Other resources:
http://nuvoforheadlice.com/test/

http://nuvoforheadlice.com/test/?page_id=9#acceptLicense 

Some other fun facts:

Lice can only live 24 hours with no food (our blood), so if you have them on furniture, etc, they will die after 24 hours. 

Nits that hatch into lice take 7-10 days to sexually mature, so they cannot reproduce before that, so if you suffocate them in that time period, they cannot lay more eggs.

BaseLine Blood Testing for your Optimal Wellness

What is your BaseLine

of Optimal Health?

As you know, we are dedicated to help you achieve exceptional health and wellness. That is why we want to let you know about our new BaseLine bloodwork panel. We have a cash lab that costs only 10% of what insurance charges.  Dr. Heather has put together a BaseLine panel which costs $225-$250 and includes many tests not included in regular blood panels or even covered by most insurance companies.  Dr. Heather has devised a test to analyze the fuel sources for your body, what gives you energy and makes you feel good in your body, along with the typical tests regularly ordered by your primary care doctor.  This test is perfect for someone who feels off and has been told that everything is "normal" by their doctor.

Establishing BaseLine bloodwork is useful for discovering what is out of lab range normal that needs attention. Also, we look for patterns that may indicate future health problems which may be avoided with proper care and lifestyle changes. Dr. Heather has been working in Functional Medicine now for over seven years and feels confident in her ability to help her patients and also get them the resources they need for optimal vitality. 

The BaseLine test includes:

• Adrenal function (stress response system)

• Thyroid function

• B12 levels

• Metabolic function

• Immune System

• Vitamin D

• Blood sugar markers

• MTFHR/methylation markers

You may also add other hormones like testosterone (think sex drive), progesterone (think calm and sleep) and estrogen (think juicy and confidence).  People may choose to add cardiac risk and inflammation markers like C-Reactive Protein and blood sugar markers like Hemoglobin A1C.  Cholesterol is also an important marker that we can add. All these can be added for very low cost to you.

Chiropractic and Functional Medicine have always focused on optimal function and preventitive care.  Adding BaseLine bloodwork into the mix allows for a more full picture of health and more opportunity for healing and vitality.

TESTIMONIAL

"Using Dr. Heather’s wellness blood work, she was able to help me understand how my low levels were contributing to my feeling of exhaustion. Like an artist, she crafted a specialized plan to get me back to my energized self again."
–A.A.

Drop In with Dr. Dale: Meditation & The Importance of Rest

“‘Healthy people to create healthy families to create healthy communities so you can create healthy worlds. And where you start is rest.”

— Dr. Dale

From Dr. Heather:
As many of you have experienced, we have a rare gem in my dad Dr. Dale.  He is not only a highly skilled chiropractor, but he also has many other interests that he has shared though his book Guide to Healthy Living. However, he also has a deep wisdom into the nature of humanity, thoughts, emotions, meditation, relationships, family and more that he has not written about yet.  In an effort to share this wisdom with more people, I have requested that he make an evening available a month for people to come, ask questions, share and listen to him talk on subjects important to him that are a little more “outside the box.”  So as an office and family we are excited to announce a new monthly series called Drop In With Dr. Dale.  These will take place on the first Tuesday of the month at the Jacobson Dude Ranch yoga studio next to the barn at 6pm.
 
June will be the kick off and Dr. Dale will be discussing Meditation and the Importance of Rest.  To give you a taste, we had Alexis Rosenbaum, our social media expert, interview Dr. Dale (even with him having a cold!) about his own meditation practice and his thoughts on the lost art of rest. You can listen to this interview with the below link.

We hope to see you for Drop In with Dr. Dale sessions the first Tuesday of the Month starting Tuesday June 6th at 6pm.  11153 Cement Hill Rd.  Go 1.1 mile up Cement Hill and turn left at the Jacobson Dude Ranch sign.  Follow driveway straight to the back of the property and the yoga studio is next to the red barn.  Free.  Open invite. 
 
From Alexis:
Did you know that Dr. Dale and his wife Diane have been practicing Transcendental Meditation daily since they were about twenty years old? Neither did I until I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Dale and learning more about his experience.
 
After learning a brief history, him being initiated into Transcendental Meditation (TM) in 1969 and Diane following shortly after, he explained the main goal is ‘to get you out of your head’ which we definitely know the importance of but don't necessarily know how to do. But where our conversation went next is what I’m excited about…
 
Dr. Dale explained how TM enhances our rested state because we obtain a deeper sense of rest when meditating than when asleep (google for the scientific research of how this works). AND with R E S T, we heal. We heal our hearts, our minds and our bodies. It is only from a rested state that we can fully function and respond to life, instead of reacting to it.
 
‘If you’re rested the world is not that bad of a place. If you’re tired the world is a big problem. And so rest is one of the main deficiencies of this society. People aren’t sleeping anymore...the mind is constantly bombarded, they don’t have an escape from their mind. And as their mind fatigues their body falls apart. And then they do more and more and more drugs and then we have the society we have now….(TM ) is a meditative system, something to calm your body down and something to clear your mind.’
 
He then went onto share something that has changed my life because I struggle with fatigue and depression on occasion….
 
‘Fatigue is what you don’t understand. Fatigue is the concern of what you don’t have a conception to break down...depression is accumulated fatigue. If you don’t have the solution to a conflict you get more exhausted...it’s what you don’t know that fatigues you.’
 
This is incredibly valuable information for those of us that oscillate between anxiety and fatigue. Especially in today’s society where we are bombarded with stimulation and rarely given a moment to breathe.
 
‘If you look at everything from a lack of rest, if your body could have rested, it wouldn’t have had that particular pattern, but it didn’t have the energy to deal with the intrusion, so it started to breakdown. And if people don’t respect that, they end up with chronic illness. You have to rest.’
 
As our chat came to close, I felt an deep sense of gratitude for Dr. Dale and his commitment to health and truly holistic medicine. He is a Doctor, a husband, a father and a member in our community who recommends rest, rest and then some more rest when we are out of alignment. And a 3-day apple cleanse if we need a reset! His parting words of wisdom were...
 
‘Healthy people to create healthy families to create healthy communities so you can create healthy worlds. And where you start is rest.’

The Wisdom of Self Check-IN by Dr. Heather Hunt DC

The Wisdom of Self Check-IN

There is so much going on in the world right now it is hard to stay balanced, joyful and calm.  When one is feeling “off” (anxious, irritable, frustrated, angry, sad, panic, reactive, exhausted) it is important to run through a mental check list to see what these feelings may be a result of so that we can more quickly get back to a more stable, balanced state.  There are so many things that can determine how we “feel.”  We survive in the intersections of our own physiology and mental/ emotional/ spiritual states.  Since we live as part of a greater whole, we are also “at the affect” of people we are in relationship with, our communities, and our nations, indeed, a collective consciousness (meaning we are affected by these things). We are also at the affect of our earth, our weather, and many would argue our solar system.  Since many of us are very sensitive, it is important to check into all of these systems when we feel something is “off” in ourselves. 

Here is a simple check-IN list to naturally restore balance and understanding for what it is to be you in the moment.  I hope you feel it to be IN-powering!

1. What emotion/feeling am I experiencing right now? (happy, sad, scared, angry, confused, etc)________________________________________________________

How is my body doing? ________________________________________________

3.     When was the last time I ate? (blood sugar is so important!  Eat a combination of  a protein, fat and carbohydrate every 2-3 hours)_______________________________

4.     How did I sleep last night?_____________________________________________

5.     Where am I in my menstrual cycle (women often are more sensitive/variable in the luteal phase, the two weeks before you get your cycle)? _________________________

6.     Am I just exhausted?  (so much of our problem is FATIGUE!)  If so, how can I rest today? _________________________________________________________________________

7.     Why am I exhausted? _______________________________________________________________

a.     Lack of sleep?  __________________________________

b.     Have I been running in fight or flight mode and my adrenal glands/stress response system is depleted?  ______________________________________________

c.     How is my thyroid?  Is it low? (am I gaining weight, losing hair, feeling depressed, constipated and overwhelmed?)  If you have a history of thyroid disorder, please get your TSH tested at least!  We can do this at our office for under $20 and you can order your own testing through Direct Labs. _____________________________________________________________

d.     Stress Level (1-10, 10 is high)__________________________________

8.     What are my main stressors in this moment? _________________________________________________________________________

9.     Do I have any control over these stressors? _________________________________________________________________________

10.   How can I better my own reaction to these stressors if I have no control over them?____________________________________________________________________

If you go through your own system and realize that everything is fine, but you still feel “off” (example: I slept well, just ate, and just had a great weekend, why do I feel panic?) then examine---

What am I “at the affect of?”

This can merely be collective.  Things outside of your control that you are affected by.  Like when you wake up in a panic for no apparent reason then later in the day realize why you had the panic in your system when you see news headlines, find out the stars shifted, that there was a massacre somewhere in the world, or that someone you know just had a tragedy.  The more attention you pay to yourself, the more you realize the collective really does influence you as you will become more and more aware that you are part of a unified whole.  It is like in Star Wars, where the Jedi Masters say, “I feel a disturbance in the force.”  That is real!

Obviously we are “at the affect” of our partner’s, children’s, family’s and friend’s wellness.  When someone is having a hard time that you care about, it is hard to stay balanced and well ourselves.  My tools for dealing with this are to remember that I don’t have to “fix” everything.  Indeed, it is rather presumptuous to think I know what is best and to try to “fix” things towards that end.  Also, I remember that it is important to be “in relationship with” but not “responsible for” (obviously we are responsible our young children and for ourselves/our own actions which if we stay aware of we should be more pleasant to be around).  Finally, I turn towards trying to trust and have faith.  Whatever your belief system, I think we can mostly agree that we are part of an interconnected whole of which we are expressions of.  There is a love/divine, which is the undercurrent of this wholeness, and in that love things tend to be exactly right, even if we only get that 20/20 vision in hindsight.

Remember, things may draw your attention for a reason.  If you wake up thinking about politics, global warming, a friend, an “enemy” there may be something you can do about it.  Since we are all webbed, merely paying attention and offering love/prayer you have a way you can help the situation.  The Tibetan Buddhists have a Meta-Meditation (loving kindness) and that is something that can actually create great change.  Repeat, “may all beings be peaceful, may all beings be happy, may all beings be free.”  The Hawaiians developed the Ho’oponopono prayer, which also really changes the entergetics of the situation.  Repeat, “I am sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you.”  You will be amazed at how bringing this transparency to a situation diffuses the stress immediately.

It is helpful to feel connected to a unified whole.  To feel the undercurrent of love and light in our world that Creation is reaching out to you as you reflect it and embody it.  I stay reminded of this by paying attention to synchronicities and signs.  Synchronicities are merely things that you realize are not random, but are really a gift.  Signs for me are more like rainbows, seeing the clock at 3:33, 4:44 etc.  It is important what you pay attention to, because what you pay attention to gets anchored in your being and becomes a reality.  I encourage you to pay attention to what is life-enhancing and what supports life.  Don’t feel guilty if you ignore that which is life-defeating or goes against life (like the news!)  You can notice them, but seek out/share the stories of hope and progressive forward movement if you want to have that life-enhancing, hopeful, unified reality to be the dominant one.

Weather can also really influence your moods.  Track your feelings seasonally and see if you are really one of those people that dip in the winter, etc.  If so, get your Vitamin D levels checked and I would recommend getting a general blood panel.  Physiology really does affect mood!  If your Vitamin D levels are low and your B vitamins are low it is hard to be “happy.” 

You can start tracking yourself with this simple tracker

1.     Today (at this moment) I feel_____________________

2.     My energy levels is _________ out of 10 (10 being the best)

3.     I slept _________ out of 10 (10 being the best)

4.     What did I eat today? (avoid much caffeine, sugar, simple carbohydrates and ALL trans fats) ________________________________________________________________________

5.     What times did I eat?  (eat every 2-3 hours if you are the typical person who runs low blood sugar/hypoglycemic) _______________________________________________________________________

6.     When was the last time I had my thyroid and or thyroid medication checked? ____________

7.     Are there any known disturbances in the field?____________________________

8.     Is there anything I can do about these disturbances or do I just need to put intention there/pray/trust? ______________________________________________________________________

The Importance of Rest and Sleep

Don’t underestimate the importance of rest!  It is recommended that you sleep 7-8 hours a night (at least) and more if stress is high.  Try to be asleep by 10-10:30pm for the most regenerating sleep.  Remember your organs, hormones, and stress response system gets rejuvenated during the night.

If you are having trouble falling asleep, consider changing your bedtime routine.  “Sleep hygiene” is real and there is much information online (which I have a difficult time following personally!)  Make sure you catch yourself before you get a second wind that can keep you awake past a healthy bedtime!

If you have trouble staying asleep that could indicate a problem with your blood sugar or adrenal glands (stress response system). 

1.     Try eating a good snack (protein/fat/carbohydrate) before bed (whole milk yogurt and some homemade granola, a handful of nuts with raisins, cheese and a ½ apple, etc.  For more information on blood sugar refer to my hand out on hypoglycemia.  Going twelve or more hours between meals is too much!

2.     If you try the snack before bed and you are still waking in middle of the night, especially if it is between 2-4am and your mind is “busy” or “racing” that is likely due to a dysregulated adrenal system.  Please refer to the Adrenal Health articles on my website or Dr. Aviva Romm has great info on her website and a book on it!

3.     I keep an adrenal calming natural lotion on my nightstand and use it if I wake in the middle of the night (AdrenaCalm from Apex Energetics available at our office) and after using it within 10-15 minutes I usually take a deep breath and feel peaceful again, which helps me better fall back to sleep.  If you try AdrenaCalm or an equivalent natural remedy and it does not work for you, you may need to use melatonin to re-train your system. 

4.     I personally love the NeuroScience product Ultra Kavanase PM which is melatonin and neurotransmitter support.  It works fabulously and we have been successful in getting people off Ambien with it.  Remember, melatonin is in a dance with cortisol, when one is up the other is down.  So when you take melatonin you are interfering with that dance and it is not a solution, just a way to get enough rest to reset your cortisol rhythm so that you can sleep without the help of sleep-aids.

The Importance of Tummy Time

Babies have it rough.  Smashed up in utero, the act of being born, the shock of infanthood and newness.  One of the most important ways to help your baby deal with all of this both on a physical and emotional level is TUMMY TIME!  Strangely simple.  My colleague Michelle Emmanual is a Tummy Time expert and her website is filled with important information.

http://www.tummytimemethod.com/

Anxiety caused by your Adrenal Glands?

Dr. Aviva Romm has another great article and podcast on Anxiety and Adrenals.  I personally know this connection and as I have learned how to calm my adrenal glands and lower my cortisol my anxiety gets better!  I love Apex Entergetics' product called AdrenaCalm.  It is a cream you can put on when you feel wired, anxious and stressed and it helps to calm.  Wonderful!

http://avivaromm.com/adrenal-anxiety-connection/

Post-Partum Thyroid-- What ALL women need to know!

Two years one of my best friends called me and said she was just feeling really tired after the birth of her second daughter.  Instead of just offering adrenal (stress) support supplements, I asked her to do my blood work to make sure we were not missing anything.  I was SHOCKED to find that all 9 of her thyroid markers were out of lab range normal.  She had raging Post-partum thyroiditis and we caught something that goes missed on many.  Since then I have devoted much time to learning about this condition that affects so many (1 in 20!!!).  It has been disappointing how little good information I have found... Until NOW!  Dr. Aviva Romm just came out with a great Podcast and article on it.  Please listen and share!

Why I Threw Out My Multivitamins

This Is Why I Threw Out My Multivitamin

Suzy Cohen RP

From Dr. Heather Hunt DC

I love this article written by pharmacist Suzy Cohen.  I have never been a fan of multi-vitamins myself, and she articulates my feelings about it well.  I am also a real stickler for quality. Personally, I try to eat organic whole foods and stay away from synthetic ingredients, GMOs, etc.  This is why I only carry a few lines of supplements in our office.  There truly is a quality difference and just like the food I buy, I want my vitamins to be top quality.  And I do think that natural supplements can be absolutely vital in improving our health.  Instead of a general multi-vitamin, I recommend doing some blood testing, system surveys and a personal intake with a qualified health care professional to access what your body truly needs, instead of throw a bunch of possible synthetic harmful substances at it.  I do not recommend buying supplements from GNC, Costco, Drug stores or online retailers selling cheap supplements.  In this case, often you do get what you pay for. Indeed, the New Your Times (Feb 2015) and others reported a raid on popular brands of supplements and stated this:

“The authorities said they had run tests on popular store brands of herbal supplements at the retailers — Walmart, Walgreens, Target and GNC — which showed that roughly four out of five of the products contained none of the herbs listed on their labels. In many cases, the authorities said, the supplements contained little more than cheap fillers like rice and house plants, or substances that could be hazardous to people with food allergies.”

Because the FDA does not regulate supplements, it is important that you really investigate the quality of what you are ingesting.  Indeed, they may be doing more harm than good.

Yours in heath,  Dr. Heather

From Suzy:

I’m just like you and have spent a lot of hard-earned money on multivitamins figuring they will work behind the scenes and improve or maintain my good health.  I was never really sure if they did anything for me, so I’d just keep switching brands. It’s not like I felt anything happening, nor did I feel more energy. If I missed a day, I wouldn’t even notice. Was I just making ‘expensive’ urine?

Call me cynical but if you have to spend that much money advertising to convince me your stuff is good, how much money have you put into the formula? Is it possible that companies multi-million dollar advertising budget is just causing you to skimp on ingredients?  And in order to produce massive quantities of multivitamins, cheap excipients have to be used in order to make their machines run faster. It’s a universal dilemma, one that I have faced myself. Take a multivitamin or not? So I don’t. I threw them all out recently.

I used to think multivitamins filled a nutritional gap, but today I think differently. There’s no way that 1.7 mg of any B vitamin will boost energy, or 20mg of magnesium could improve mood. I’m beginning to realize that multivitamins are an absolute joke! It’d be funny except the jokes on us, and you spent good money on them. Here’s my rationale:

Negligible amounts- There are so many nutrients in a multivitamin that the amounts of each become negligible. For example, 1 mg of pyridoxine (B6) doesn’t impact you metabolically speaking. I think it’s on the label ‘for show’ as clearly, this amount doesn’t optimize health. By the time this 1 mg gets past your digestive tract, hardly anything could have made it to your blood stream, no less your nerves where B6 is required. The same goes for cyanocobalamin, a typical form of vitamin B12. One popular multi-billion dollar producing brand has 1 mcg cyanocobalamin in it! MICROGRAM folks, that is just one-thousandth of a milligram. With hundreds of B12 dependent metabolic reactions (including methylation), what do you think that 1 microgram does for you? I’ll tell you, nothing! It’s there ‘for show.’

Allergies– Multivitamins have upwards of 68 different ingredients, some of which are synthetic, are you sure you’re not allergic to this stuff?

Inactive forms– It’s one thing to take insignificant amounts of a nutrient, but there are usually completely inactive vitamins in your multivite, and they remain inactive until converted by your liver to something that could work. After you take cyanocobalamin B12, your body breaks it into cyanide and cobalamin, and then you have to methylate it. Superior forms of B12 are methylcobalamin, hydroxycobalamin or adenosylcobalamin.

Potential toxins– Let’s revisit that cyanocobalamin B12, what I consider to be inferior to other B12 supplements. It contains minute amounts of cyanide which has low potential to do harm when bound to organic cobalamin, but still, I don’t want it in my body even in teeny-tiny amounts.

Cramps and diarrhea– Yep, you could get that due to the addition of cheap forms of magnesium such as the “oxide” form. Gentler forms of magnesium include the “chelated” forms, or threonate, or glycinate.

Artificial colors– One popular brand contains three artificial colors FD&C Red #40, Blue #2 and Yellow #6 and there is a controversy over the safety of those dyes. I’m not sure why colors matter on a multivitamin but apparently the biggest makers like to use them. If you have all the money in the world, why not choose natural colors?! There are many, including blueberry juice concentrate, carotene from carrots, paprika, beet juice, purple sweet potato, hibiscus, natural astaxanthin, CoQ10 (it’s a beautiful orange) and red cabbage extract.

The greatest deception is that the minerals from these multivitamins will get into your bones. Magnesium oxide and calcium carbonate don’t penetrate your bone cells well. They have a tough time leaving your intestines so if you’re taking these minerals to improve bone mass, make sure you take easy-on-the-tummy supplements that break apart easily and travel to your bones.

In my humble opinion, it’s not possible to take a multivitamin once daily, that contains biologically active ingredients, and has them in dosages that advance your health.  This is why I threw out my multivitamins. You can get biologically active nutrients if you just eat real food, nothing from a box or can. Your diet should include the basics like salads, greens, nuts, seeds, citrus fruits, berries and of course, lean, clean protein.

http://suzycohen.com/articles/multivitamin/

Urinary Tract Infections-- what to know

D-Mannose for Urinary Tract Infection Prevention

By Dr. Mercola

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the second most common type of infection in the body, sending more than eight million people to their health care providers every year in the US alone.1

Women suffer from UTIs far more often than men, and more than 50 percent of women will develop a UTI during her lifetime. For about 20 percent of women, the infection becomes recurrent and some will suffer from three or more UTIs a year.

This is concerning, as the treatment most often recommended by conventional medicine is antibiotics. Antibiotics kill even the friendly micro-organisms in your body, leading to major disruptions in health (including an increased risk of yeast infections, among other issues, in women). If you suffer from UTIs on occasion or more frequently, there's a natural treatment you should know about that is effective in more than 90 percent of cases.

In a study of more than 300 women with a history of recurrent UTIs, researchers treated the women with either two grams of D-mannose, 50 milligrams of an antibiotic, or no treatment daily for six months. D-Mannose is a naturally occurring sugar that's closely related to glucose.

Only 15 percent of those taking the D-mannose had a recurrent UTI compared to 20 percent for the antibiotic group (both of which were significantly lower than the no-treatment group).2 However, the incidence of side effects was significantly lower in the D-mannose group than the antibiotics group.

Dr. Jonathan Wright was among the first to begin using D-mannose for UTIs some 20 years ago, and in his experience administering it to more than 200 patients, the treatment is 85-90 percent effective.

It works for treating acute UTIs, for prophylaxis in women prone to recurrent infections or for the prevention of post-intercourse UTIs, and it's safe for both adults and children. Dr. Wright recommends the following doses:

·       For treatment of UTIs: 1 teaspoon (about 2 grams) for adults, ½ to 1 teaspoon for children, dissolved in a glass of water and repeated every two to three hours. Continue for two to three days after symptoms have disappeared.

·       For preventing recurring infections: Start with the dosages listed above for treatment, then gradually reduce the dose, if possible.

·       For prevention of post-intercourse UTIs: Take 1 tablespoon one hour prior to intercourse and another tablespoon immediately afterward.

Why Does D-Mannose Work for Treating UTIs?

More than 90 percent of UTIs are caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli), which is normally found in your intestinal tract. Problems only arise when this ordinary bacterium is present in high numbers in places where it shouldn't be—like your urinary system.

When normal E. coli gets into your urinary tract and multiplies, you experience the usual signs and symptoms of a UTI:

·       Burning with urination

·       Frequent urges to urinate

·       Lower abdominal pain or aching

·       Blood in your urine (sometimes, but not always)

·       Cloudy urine

The cell walls of each E. coli are covered with tiny fingerlike projections called fimbria allowing them to "stick" to the inner walls of your bladder and even work their way upward to your ureter and kidneys.

Because they cling to your urinary organs, they can't simply be washed out when you urinate. These little fingerlike projections are made of an amino acid-sugar complex, a glycoprotein called lectin, which makes them sticky.

Lectin on the bacteria's fimbria binds to mannose, which is produced by your cells and covers the internal lining of your urinary organs. This mannose allows the bacteria to adhere to you—like Velcro. But as Dr. Wright explains, when you take D-mannose it sticks to the E. coli so it is can be effectively "rinsed" out by your urination:3

If You Have a UTI, Try D-Mannose First

In the majority of cases, UTIs can be effectively treated without antibiotics by using D-mannose. This is why, if you have a UTI, you should try D-mannose first. It's important to note that D-mannose only works for UTIs caused by E. coli, This represents 90 percent (or more) of infections. If you want to be sure, your physician can order a urine culture to identify the bacteria present, so you'll know if yours is one of the minority of cases not caused by E. coli.

The majority of urinary tract infections can be cured when symptoms first arise, or prevented altogether, using D-mannose and the hygiene steps outline below. Occasionally, despite preventative measures, a kidney infection can develop. If you suspect you have a kidney infection (symptoms include fever and pain in your back, side, groin, or abdomen) see a physician.

What About Cranberry Juice for UTIs?

Many people are aware of the home remedy of drinking cranberry juice for UTIs, and this is because the active ingredient in cranberry juice is D-mannose. D-mannose can actually be derived from berries, peaches, apples, and some other plants. So why not drink cranberry juice instead of taking D-mannose in supplement form?

The amount of D-mannose in cranberry juice is significantly less, making it much less effective. Plus, cranberry juice is high in sugar, which adds stress to your immune system and can fuel the growth of pathogenic bacteria in your gut. Pure D-mannose is about 10-50 times stronger than cranberry, non-toxic and completely safe, with NO adverse effects.

Natural Steps to a Healthy Urinary System

The most important factor in the overall health of your urinary tract is drinking plenty of pure, fresh water every day. Adequate hydration is extremely important for preventing UTIs (not to mention, is the number one risk factor for kidney stones). As a woman, there are additional hygiene steps you can take to maintain a healthy urinary tract:

·       Urinate when you feel the need. Don't resist the urge to go

·       Wipe from front to back to prevent bacteria from entering your urethra

·       Take showers instead of tub baths. Avoid hot tubs/Jacuzzis

·       Cleanse your genital area prior to and after sexual intercourse

·       Avoid using feminine hygiene sprays, which may irritate your urethra, and use only white unscented toilet paper to avoid potential dye reactions

·       Avoid antibacterial soaps

Mercola, Dr. "D-Mannose for UTI Prevention Validated in a Clinical Trial." Mercola.com. N.p., 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2016. <http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/28/d-mannose-uti-prevention.aspx>.

Other Suggestions:

Uva Ursi herb tincture from your local health food store

You can use probiotic capsules as vaginal suppositories to increase healthy bacteria in that areas

Dr. Heather’s Advice for Pregnancy & Postpartum: What do I want pregnant women & new moms to know?

  Education

*CHOICE you have a choice.  You can choose what feels best for you and your new family.  Make choices out of a place of wholeness and empowerment, not out of place of fear.  Practice using that motherly intuition, even if your baby is still on the inside! 

*READING do not read the typical pregnancy/birth books.  They are fear-based and filled with mis-information.  Refer to my recommended book list.

*READ The BabySense Secret by Meg Faure.  It is the best book I have found on parenting your baby from a sensory perspective.  If you buy one book, buy this.  I do not endorse her feeding advice though, but the rest is great.

Support

*SOMETHING along the way will surprise you in how hard it is.  It may pregnancy, birth or postpartum.  Talk to other women and ask for help from everyone around you. 

*REST more than you think you need to throughout pregnancy: especially the few weeks before and at least 6 weeks afterwards.  But expect to be very tired and recovering for up to one-year post-partum with your first baby especially. 

*ENCOURAGE dad/partner to take as much time off as possible to be with the new baby and support the new mommy.  I really think this first year is a crucial time for development of the deeper patterns, feelings of wholeness and social development.  It is said that the more dependent you let a baby be, the more independent and self confident they will be later in life.

*USE your local resources!  We have great alternative health care providers, lactation consultants, mom’s groups, post-natal yoga classes, etc.  Find like-minded women and families.  Create a mom’s group or join an existing group.  The Nest in Grass Valley is an amazing local resource.

Health

*TREAT YOURSELF to chiropractic, craniosacral, massage, acupuncture, and other bodywork during and after pregnancy!  Chiropractic can keep the pelvis open and balanced throughout pregnancy.  It can also be very useful postpartum as your pelvis is repositioning after birth and as the relaxin leaves your system.  Postpartum is a good time to change chronic pain patterns due to structural patterns and misalignments. 

*PLAN AHEAD make a post-partum plan where you freeze meals or get meals delivered for at least 2 weeks.  Postpartum is harder then you think and it tends to be overlooked with the focus emphasizing the birth only.

*NUTRITION eat an insane amount of saturated fat during pregnancy and postpartum: Butter, eggs, animal fats (leave the skin on chicken and eat it, or else put some butter on top of it), raw whole milk/yogurt products, kefir and coconut oil.  Your hormones are made of these fats and cholesterol, and you pregnant women know this is a hormonal time!  You need to constantly replenish the building blocks so that you do not become depleted (which leads to tiredness, general dis-ease, adrenal exhaustion, mood swings, etc).  Olive oil alone doesn’t count.  In fact, it should only be used as a dressing as it gets unstable when cooked at higher temperatures.

*Eat an insane amount of fermented food during pregnancy and afterwards.  You need two cups a day (sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, miso) or else take a probiotic supplement to make your own gut healthy to pass onto your baby.  Your baby is born with a sterile intestinal tract and its first inoculation with bacteria is the journey through the birth canal.  If you have a tendency towards yeast infections (candida, etc), use a probiotics as a vaginal suppository daily during pregnancy or at least for the last few weeks before delivery. We carry medical grade probiotics and also Dr. Dale has a informative and entertaining articles on gut health in his book, Guide to Healthy Living available online and at our office.

*PRENATALS keep taking your pre-natal vitamins after the birth, or better yet ask me for my recommendation on a woman’s multi-vitamin.  You need this extra nutrition more than you might realize and I have some great suggestions.

*ADRENALS: Ask me about adrenal support or read my adrenal health hand out.  Your adrenals are the endocrine glands that secrete your stess hormomes.  Pregnancy and postpartum are times of huge life changes and thus stressful events. Many women get adrenal fatigued and feel mentally foggy, forgetful, have increased anxiety or mood disorders, have sweet cravings and generally just lack the kind of energy they are used to.  Likely you need adrenal support. I use various adrenal support that are safe for pregnancy and breast-feeding and are cost-effective. They will nourish your adrenals so that you can get back on your feet again.

*POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION and BABY BLUES While many women experience some mild mood changes during or after the birth of a child (“Baby blues”), up to 1 in 8 women experience more significant symptoms of depression or anxiety. Please know that with informed care you can prevent a worsening of these symptoms and can fully recover.  www.postpartum.net is a great support network and they have a free hotline.

Baby

*CRANIOSACRAL even the most successful birth is traumatic for both mom and baby.  Due to this, I recommend a baby craniosacral visit for all babies. I like to treat them within the first 3 months of age.  Colic is not normal.  This can usually be helped through cranial work.

*BREASTFEED your baby if at all possible.  It will be one of the greatest gifts you can ever give them, the gift of health.  Your baby is born without a mature immune system and s/he will depend on your immune system that is transmitted through breast milk especially for the first year. Your milk also has the perfect composition for both neurological and gastrointestinal growth and development.

*VACCINATIONS do not vaccinate your baby at birth.  I am not against vaccination, but I am VERY AGAINST vaccinating your baby the day it is born with the Hepatitis B vaccine.  This disease is passed the way AIDs is (through blood and bodily secretions).  Good chance your baby will not be sexually active with infected partners the first multiple years of life!  If you choose to vaccinate, wait until you get to know your baby first so you can tell if there are any adverse effects of the vaccinations.  Only get one shot at a time.  This way your baby can actually mount an appropriate immune response against one vaccine and not be bombarded with many. My dad, Dr. Dale Jacosbon DC has an informative essay on Vaccine Information and Safety.

*USE CLOTH DIAPERS they are so easy now with the new designs.  They cost a quarter of the price of paper diapers.  You can use them on multiple children.  They are better for your baby and the earth.  Enough said.

*IF FORMULA FED if your baby or other babies you know are formula fed, I recommend giving this baby probiotics the whole time the baby is on formula.  We carry International Nutrition’s Baby Biotics and it is a great product.  Always use organic formula, no soy, and if you are ambitious make your own!  Recipe at westonaprice.com.

Recommended Reading

Our Website has tons of great information, www.jacobsonchiropracticinc.com

Dr. Dale Jacobson’s Guide to Healthy Living. Hard copies at our office or online

The BabySense Secret by Megan Faure.  And anything else by Megan including Sleep Sense and Toddler Sense.  Everyone should read Baby Sense, it is invaluable for caring for your baby.  It is my absolute favorite.

Anything by Ina May Gaskin or Dr. Sears

Nourishing Traditions Cookbooks, Sally Fallon

Feeling stressed, foggy, fatigued and wondering why? Learn about your adrenal glands!

Our bodies seek balance.  This balance is referred to medically as homeostasis.  We constantly respond to external and internal input and ideally our bodies process these stimuli, responding appropriately to maintain homeostasis.  However, when there is too much input for too long, or when there is a complicating factor such as an illness or environmental disturbance, our bodies can lose balance.  We can respond in an unpredictable or dysregulated way initially, then eventually become overloaded.  Over time, chronic stress can lead to breakdown of our body’s tissues and vitality. 

Our bodies respond to stress via our adrenal glands.  These small endocrine glands sit on our kidneys and secrete hormones.  These hormones include cortisol (produced in response to stress, it also has a role in regulating blood sugar, fat/protein/carbohydrate metabolism, fetal development including lung and brain, immune function, inflammation, and bone formation), sex hormones, aldosterone (helps kidneys balance sodium/potassium and water retention in blood, helps in regulation of blood pressure) epinephrine (adrenaline) and norephinepherine which regulate the flight or flight response of our sympathetic nervous system (the mechanism that kicks in when we need to run away from a bear or generally survive in our hectic world). 

There are many types of stress, good and bad.  Life transitions, no matter how positive, can cause stress.  Weddings, moving, having a baby, school, work, family, etc. are included.  Difficult situations obviously cause stress too: illness, death, injury, accidents, trauma, disrupted sleep, etc. are included.  Psychological/Physical/Emotional causes of stress include: anger/fear, depression, guilt, worry, mental stress, perfectionist/Type A personality, severe allergies, hypoglycemia/skipping meals, poor digestion, food sensitivities/allergies, inflammation, chronic pain, nutritional deficiencies, musculoskeletal pain, sprains and strains, disease and pain, etc.  Environmental causes of stress include poor air quality, environmental toxins, poor diet, excessive caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and sugar consumption, a no or low-fat diet, the fast pace of modern life, etc.

From this list we can see that we are probably all taxing our adrenal glands in a negative way.  We reach “adrenal fatigue” after such chronic stress that our adrenals simply burnout.  There is a continuum within adrenal dysfunction though, from a dysregulated adrenal output of hormones (alternating lows and highs) to a constant high level output and finally to a true burnout situation where the adrenals simply cannot produce the hormones needed and there are chronic low levels of hormones produced.  My goal is to find where you are on this continuum and to support your adrenal glands so that they heal and can adequately respond to the inevitable stresses in your life as they arise.  My aim is to help you restore balance in your own life.

Signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue/mal-adaptation:

Fuzzy thinking/mental fogginess, fatigue/lethargy, low libido/sex drive, blood sugar imbalances, insomnia, agitation, anxiety, depression, irrational thoughts/fears, poor digestion, sex hormone imbalances, PMS, slow to wake up, hard to get to sleep, wake up at 3am, blood pressure imbalances, light-headedness, dizziness, thyroid hormone imbalances, sweet/salt cravings, caffeine cravings, lowered immune response, memory problems, longer wound healing times, inability to tolerate stress, arthritic pain, increased inflammation and trouble concentrating.

How do we begin to heal the adrenal glands?

Lifestyle Changes:

Sleep, exercise, eat well and often (3 meals a day plus 2 snacks, protein rich), avoid caffeine, sugar and processed foods.  Partake in stress reducing activities: mediation, long walks, yoga, prayer, deep breathing, journaling, connecting with friends, etc.

Supplemental Support:

For those of us who look at the above list and either know we cannot attain this state, or know that we need additional support, there are some particular nutritional supplements and herbs that are useful in supporting the adrenals to help them regenerate.  The body is amazing at regeneration if only given a chance! 

As your chiropractor, I will assess your particular health and environmental situations and I will design a protocol for you using products from Standard Process, Biotics Research Cooperation, Dr. Ron’s or Medi-Herb.  These are affordable and I have found them to be invaluable in my search for adrenal health!

Functional Testing of the Adrenal Glands:
Evaluating exactly where your adrenal glands are is also very useful.  I order a saliva test from DiagnosTechs Labs called the Adrenal Stress Index Panel.  I like this test for multiple reasons.  First, there are 4 samples of saliva throughout a 24 hour period to assess what your cortisol is doing compared to a normal diurnal rhythm.  Second, DHEA (another steroid hormone) is tested as it is an important indicator for how your adrenals may have maladapted.  Third, fasting and non-fasting insulin is measured to see how your blood sugar is involved.  Fourth, gliadin antibodies are measured to check if you have a hidden gluten intolerance (highly linked to adrenal problems).  Finally, Secretory IgA is assessed to see how your stress is affecting your gut and digestion.  We do not mark up this test; our cost (and yours) is $120.

The Role of Chiropractic and Craniosacral Therapy:

Chiropractic and craniosacral therapies are invaluable when attempting to regulate the body’s stress response and heal the adrenal glands.  They both help to free restrictions in the musculoskeletal system, which can put additional stress on the body.  Likewise, they are fantastic at resetting the nervous system into the rest and digest (parasympathetic nervous system) state.  That is why so many patients report stomach gurgles, deep sighs/breaths, and increased relaxation during a treatment, good bowel movements and sleep after a treatment, and an increased feeling of peacefulness and balance along with a decrease in their musculoskeletal pain.

Please ask me if you have any additional questions.

Notes: The signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue are often seen in other more severe medical conditions, so it is important to rule out these conditions with a medical doctor.