My Dream Column
Posted by: drthyr on: April 10, 2009
I have often had this vision of myself as a columnist for some fabulous journal or newspaper. Readers would write in their questions and I’d give my perspective and experience as a naturopathic doctor to help answer their questions.
Now, nothing beats and one-to-one appointment with a practitioner to help take care of your health concerns. But this might be an avenue to at least help people care for themselves in simple ways.
I decided this morning, that since I have this blog, I will begin here. I will answer both questions from you, my readers, as well as add some questions that I am frequently asked both in practice and in other settings.
Some things are too complicated. Or too individual. I will tell you when that is the case.
For now my agenda is allergies. I will give as much advice as I can for those suffering this time of year.
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- Natural Allergy Relief May 14, 2009It’s still windy here in Petaluma. I keep thinking it is going to ease up. I know that many people are still really suffering from allergies. I want to give you a couple more ideas of how to help. Vitamin C – good ol’ vitamin C helps allergies because it is a mast cell stabilizer. Mast [...]drthyr
- Vitamin C – My Allergy Saver April 23, 2009It seems so simple, but it’s true. Good ol’ vitamin C, which most of us have in our medicine cabinets, helps relieve allergy symptoms. Vitamin C is an excellent mast cell stabilizer. The mast cells are the ones who release the histamines when in the presence of allergens. So when those cells are a little less [...]drthyr
- My Dream Column April 10, 2009I have often had this vision of myself as a columnist for some fabulous journal or newspaper. Readers would write in their questions and I’d give my perspective and experience as a naturopathic doctor to help answer their questions. Now, nothing beats and one-to-one appointment with a practitioner to help take care of your health concerns. [...]drthyr
- Springtime Self Care April 3, 2009I met with my trainer, Michael Finn, on Monday. I love the workouts he designs for me. He makes me feel good about the little progress I have made. He creates adjustments to make the program more difficult (arghhh!). But when all is said and done, nothing will change if I don’t work on my [...]drthyr
- Happy Spring! March 24, 2009Ahhhh! The first days of spring. Feel the warmth, the movement of new plants, the freshness. We all feel a bit more motivated when the sun shines hotter and the days are longer. Take advantage of the longer light to tend to yourself this spring. Sit outside and listen to the birds for 15 minutes at [...]drthyr
- Liver Detox last day! Hooray!! March 20, 2009I have to say, I have been much better on the detox than I have been about the blog. I mostly just didn’t want to whine. It is difficult to continue this so diligently as well as being the cheerleader. I feel great. Am soooo happy that I participated with the group. I’m ever so grateful [...]drthyr
- Liver Detox Week 2 March 14, 2009This is the main week. It’s the week that we are really perfect in our food choices, elimination of caffeine, etc, and taking more of the detox supplement. I came out of my fog of last week in good form. We’ll see if things get tough as I increase the powder to twice/day. But for now [...]drthyr
May 13, 2009 at 5:25 pm
My biggest complaint is chronic insomnia.
May 15, 2009 at 3:20 am
Insomnia is something that affects millions of people in the US. There are many factors at play. My goal is ideally to get to the bottom of the causes. Then design a treatment plan that is more specific to that peron’s needs.
One example is a woman in my practice who had been suffering from some major health issues, and chronic insomnia was piled on top, which was contributing to her not recovering from the other health problems as well. We all need our rest time to function optimally during the day, not to mention strengthen our immune systems and generally rebuild. For this person, we tried a few simple treatments. There are many herbs that can help with sleep. But that is not getting to the root of the problem. We did an adrenal stress index test and found that her cortisol was increasing in the evening and late at night. It is supposed to be higher in the morning and decrease throughout the day. Her fight or flight response was kicking in when she should be in rest and relax mode. Knowing that, we put her on some supplements that help to keep her cortisol in check in the evenings. It helped her sleep immensely.
That being said, generally supplements and even drugs for that matter can konk you out. But managing stress and meditation may be more useful if you have a busy mind at night. There are some wonderful relaxation CDs out there.
Figuring out hormonal issues, pain, restless leg syndrome, etc are all part of finding and treating the underlying cause.
Feel free to let me know if there is more to this issue. Or we can talk about it in person!