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Women’s Health

Steps Towards a Healthy Spring and Controlling the Winter Blahs.

Prepping to Cleanse Now

1. Reduce Sugar – My sugar rule is 1-2 times a week – ideally mid-morning, mid-afternoon and paired with activity.  Stop grabbing sugar late in the day as most of us cannot process it.

1A – reach for packaged nuts instead when you get a craving for sugar!  Since I added the snack bowl to the office, I cannot tell you how much it helps me reduce my sugar!

2. Address Constipation.  If you cannot have a movement every day, cleansing can create problems!!  Reabsorbing toxin is a terrible idea and can create brain fog, fatigue, aches and pains and poor sleep.  Add Whole Food Fiber – I love this product.  Add Water.  Add Chinese herbs for Digestion.  Add Multizyme to improve digestion.  Add Betafood – phase one of any cleanse!!  Get started gently and ask for help to improve your results!

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Three Ways Acupuncture Can Help with Menopause

Three Ways Acupuncture Can Help with Menopause

For many women, the journey through menopause can be fraught with various symptoms that can range in severity from mild at one end of the spectrum to debilitating at the other. The menopausal transition is different for every woman and tailored treatments offered by acupuncture can provide significant benefits. Although studies outline more, let’s look at just three of the benefits of using acupuncture to treat menopausal symptoms.  continue reading »

Your Thyroid – Is that what the problem is?

Too Fast = Too anxious, not sleeping
Too Slow = Too Tired, can’t get going? Dry Skin? Exhaustion?
BOTH??!! = The majority of my patients have some of both indicating an imbalanced thyroid.

In my body systems approach, I explain to clients how the thyroid and the adrenal glands work together to make energy and how they are linked up to the brain and the ovaries in women, testicles in men on a feedback loop.
Menopause and andropause can create some issues in this feedback loop, turning up the volume in the whole as we age. I call this condition overdrive, if the body is tired, but trying hard to keep going and there is inflammation, and digestion issues…

So, what do you do?

1. The Thyroid can be checked in on by ordering some lab tests.
Thyroid Stimulating hormone or TSH should be at about 2. If it is less than 2, you can be going too fast or in OVERDRIVE as I call it and struggling to sleep, anxious, irritable. The lower the number, the worse it is. If it is higher than 2, your thyroid is going too slow. The higher the number, the more likely they are to recommend levothyroxine or synthetic t4. (Guess where t4 converts to t3? – remember my last blog? – 80% converts in the liver.)
You can also test FREE T3 and Free T4. Those numbers help me know if we have a liver problem of conversion or a thyroid problem or not creating enough hormone (which can also be a digestive problem of not breaking down fats).

2. Give the Thyroid what it needs.
Your thyroid also needs adequate blood flow and it needs iodine and zinc. Iodine and zinc are cancer preventative. A lot of women develop thyroid issues after having babies because the iodine and zinc start going to make milk and to the breast tissue.

3. A Great Starting Point is the Standard Process 21 day cleanse
Your thyroid will respond well to an annual cleanse which frees up the ports in the thyroid from plastics and halogens. I recommend the Standard Process Cleanse. They have several different choices and I usually tailor the choice to my client so that even for those who are reluctant to do big diet changes they get results. And I measure those results with a before and after system survey.
Worried a 21 day cleanse is too much? There are several easier, less stressful ways I like to cleanse. Email me if you want to know how to order and get a recommendation for something easier!

4. Start a treatment plan for low and high thyroid, or for autoimmune thyroid conditions.
There are herbs and nutrition protocols that lower a fast thyroid or speed up a slow thyroid. I prefer to prescribe and monitor these individually. In my experience in some the thyroid shifts very quickly. In others, it takes a longer time and we have to make sure to cleanse and support the liver where thyroid hormone converts. A guided approach can help you stay on track. Some of my clients see me for nutrition every 2 months to check back in for change.

5. Integrate your doctor prescribed Western Medicine with some additional protocols.
I love integrating Western Medicine with these protocols. It is definitely not an either/or – you can have it both ways. However, if you get tested and your doctor recommends a medication, you can definitely consult with me about a natural approach and ask your doctor to give you a little time to try to restore function before taking medication.

6. Add some Acupuncture to help regulate the body and decrease inflammation.
Acupuncture is really awesome. Acupuncture regulates the body and decreases inflammation. It also increases blood flow to the area and all by itself it helps to reduce “overdrive” the condition where the thyroid and the adrenal are going too fast. For some people, the acupuncture is just right. It feels good and relaxes them and helps to reset their system. Acupuncture treatments depend on frequency of the treatment and length of treatment. To get results with acupuncture you need to set a regular schedule and persist with it and it needs to be frequent enough to change your thyroid symptoms.

The thyroid is a complex and key piece of your puzzle, that unlocks energy and the weight that you want to be!! I love treating the thyroid with natural approaches to long term production of your own thyroid hormones. Schedule your consultation today to help support and heal the thyroid naturally.

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Six Ways Acupuncture Can Improve Women’s Health

Six Ways Acupuncture Can Improve Women’s Health

Women’s health issues can be complex and unique to each person. However, traditional Western medicine solutions are full of invasive procedures that can alter hormones. Other solutions include prescription drugs that can have strong side effects for those taking them. Unfortunately, many women believe these are the only options. 

However, acupuncture can be a tremendous solution in addressing a growing number of women’s health issues. These are the six most common, but there are many more so be sure you talk to your acupuncturist when filling out your health intake so you can get each of your questions answered.  continue reading »

Acupuncture and Cervical Health

Women’s health is a big part of the healthcare industry. And acupuncture can be very beneficial in caring for the overall health of women. Acupuncture has been especially effective in helping with things like infertility, turning breech babies, inducing labor and clearing up infections. The cervix is just one small part of the uterus. Specifically it is the lower part of the uterus that opens to allow passage between the uterus and the vagina. The cervix widens during childbirth to allow the baby to pass, it also allows the passage of menstrual fluids from the uterus out of the body and it is vital for sperm to pass through the cervix to reach the uterus when trying to procreate.

The cervix is very vulnerable to several health conditions, such as chronic inflammation, polyps, dysplasia and even cancer. Cervical conditions rarely present symptoms in the early stages, which makes it extremely important for women to get regular pap smears. If an abnormality is detected, there are several ways to address it, depending on the severity. In the early stages of any of the aforementioned conditions, acupuncture can be a positive addition to Western medical treatments. Acupuncture is very good at decreasing inflammation and helping to dissolve polyps and tumors. Acupuncture can also balance hormones, which allows the body to correct any imbalances.

One of the most studied areas of acupuncture is in treating fertility issues. When invitro fertilization by itself does not get the job done, adding acupuncture may be the last piece of the puzzle. Acupuncture does much more than just balance the hormones. When a woman is trying to get pregnant and struggling with it due to fertility issues, the stress levels are extremely high. And high stress levels have been proven to disrupt the body’s ability to conceive. One of the things that acupuncture is really successful at is decreasing stress levels. This can make it easier for the fertility treatments to work. Acupuncture has also been shown to increase blood flow to areas of the body, including the uterus. This can help to make a very hospitable place for a baby to grow.

Acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine are also widely used for treating infections and sexually transmitted diseases. In traditional Chinese medicine, most infections have some sort of heat or discharge associated with them. This medicine uses principles, herbs and acupressure points that have specific properties that can drain heat and expel toxins from the body. This can lead to an overall improvement in both uterine and cervical health.

Another area where acupuncture can help with cervical health is at the time of birth. About four percent of babies are presented in the breech position prior to birth. An accessory modality known as moxibustion, has proven time and time again, that it can actually turn the baby to the proper birthing position. Moxibustion involves the burning of an herb, dried mugwort, very near the skin on a specific acupressure point that is located on the outer edge of the pinky toe. By performing moxibustion several times a day, the baby and the body somehow know that there needs to be a repositioning and the baby tends to turn during the night.

When it comes to women’s health, acupuncture is an amazing resource. Contact us to schedule your appointment today.

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