Velocity Chiropractic Wellness Center Blog-cast with Dr. Mike Okouchi

Arthritis (specifically Rheumatoid Arthritis) affects millions of people worldwide and researchers have found a link to leaky gut syndrome.

Leaky Gut?  What’s that doc?

Well your intestines function as a selective barrier, meaning that they let in the “good” stuff while keeping out the “bad” stuff.  So when you ingest food, the job of the intestine is to absorb the nutrients while keeping out potential pathogens.

Sometimes, however, the “bad” guys get through the intestinal barrier and can stir up an immunological response.  When I use the term “bad” guys I mean relatively large particles.  So instead of absorbing amino acids (which are the smallest portions of protein), macropeptides (or long chains of amino acids) are absorbed.  Your body dislikes this kind of activity because absorbing large particles makes the immune system think a pathogenic invader has entered the system.  (A pathogenic invader can be a parasite, bacteria or virus which have protein coats on it).

So here’s the link between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Leaky Gut: a heightened immune response due to absorption of large particles causes an auto-immune reaction where your body’s own immune system begins to attack itself.  The protein coats from pathogenic invaders is similar to the protein content of the joint in your body.  The immune system cannot distinguish between the two.

Predisposing factors for Leaky Gut:

• Smoking
• Drinking alcohol
• Taking aspirin/ibuprofen/antibiotics/drugs
• Exposure to environmental toxins
• Poor digestion
• Sluggish liver detoxification
• Stored Toxins
• Those who have bacterial/microbial infections or inflammation

Symptoms of Leaky Gut:

• Fatigue
• Arthralgia
• Myalgia
• Fever
• Abdominal discomfort
• Diarrhea
• Skin rashes
• Toxic feelings
• Memory deficit
• Shortness of breath

Nutrients and Herbs to repair Leaky Gut:

• Glutamine: this is the fuel for intestinal cells
• Lactobacillius bifidus: this probiotic helps to re-establish proper gut flora
• N-acetyl Glucosamine: prevents binding of harmful products to the intestinal lining
• Vitamins C and E, lipoic acid, zinc and ginkgo biloba: these antioxidants help to decrease free radical damage to the intestinal lining
• Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL): increases the lifespan of intestinal cells
• Slippery Elm: helps to calm the inflammation of the intestinal lining

Technorati Tags: Antioxidants, Arthritis, DGL, Glutamine, Lactobacillus bifidus, Leaky Gut, N-acetyl Glucosamine, NAG, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Slippery Elm

I’ve been hearing talks about this so called recession and took some time to really step back and take a look at the bigger picture. So here are my general observations:

• People still need to drive to work, but gas prices remain high (probably about 30-40% higher than “normal”). This dips into a person’s discretionary income.
• High gas prices increase the cost of almost all types of goods we purchase due to shipping. This increase dips into a person’s discretionary income.
• People spend most of their income on taxes, shelter, food and transportation.
• Most lenders are tightening up on loans, so the average person is finding it difficult to secure a mortgage for a home. Because there’s a high demand for rental properties, property owners hike up the prices for rent. This dips into a person’s discretionary income.
• People shy away from doing or buying “fun” things. Novelty shops and retail outlets are having to cut back on employees. Without a job, you hardly have any income.

So with my observations I have come to some conclusions and predictions:

• Because discretionary income is decreasing and jobs are thinning, people will begin to look to “save” money. How can I “cut” back on things. One of the first things people cut back on or not make a top priority is the foods that they eat. Often selling their health to the lowest bidder, most Americans will shop for what’s on sale, which is almost the most nutrient devoid “foods” on the planet.
• We won’t see the impact of this recession on our health until 15 - 20 years from now when a huge outbreak of diseases with “unknown” causes will erupt. I’m not talking about infectious diseases or a viral outbreak, but people who are just run down and unhealthy.
• This current generation’s lifespan will be shorter than their parents and grandparents. (Yes go back and read that again) And the economic burden it will place on our nation will be unfathomable because insurance companies will not cover medical costs. People will, in essence, choose to die rather than pay for their medical care.
• The average lifespan will decrease from mid-70’s to late 50’s.

My solution:

• Find a way to establish multiple streams of income rather than just relying on one source of income. The whole reason we as a society claim to be in a recession is that we think about scarcity rather than abundance. We’re lazy. We’re content with waking up every morning to the sound of an irritating alarm clock, sitting in traffic, eating a stale, nutrient devoid bagel and complaining about a job and a boss that we hate. No, seriously, we’re content. Because if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be in this so called mess. We’d figure out a way for change.
• Prioritize your finances and put your health at the top.  Without your health, you can’t do anything else.  Don’t sell your health to the lowest bidder.
• Don’t become a statistic. Do something different.

Technorati Tags: finances, health, How the recesion affects your health, Recession

Today we honor “Cancer Awareness.”  I like the term “awareness” rather than “fight against,” because it’s relatively useless to fight against anything.  Becoming aware empowers you.

With that said I’d like to talk a little about what cancer awareness means to me.

When we hear the word cancer, fear strikes at our hearts.  It’s a natural response because of how we’ve been conditioned to the idea of cancer.

A hundred years ago, cancer of any type was a rarity.  Today it is one of the most common causes of death in the US and around the world.  So what has changed?  Have we as human beings changed?  Have we evolved a new cancer gene?

The truth of the matter is that our world has changed.  We live in a fast paced, instant gratification, highly processed, toxic world.  The world we live in today can sometimes over burden our dynamic bodies.  Easy access to cheap, highly processed, nutrient devoid foods causes an imbalance in our bodies.

There are signs along the way to destination cancer.  Cancer is not something that magically and instantaneously pops up one day.  Basically prolonged abuse of your body may lead to some form of cancer.  If you make & intake more toxins than you excrete, you are much more susceptible to cellular damage and DNA mutations.

In my previous post I mentioned some things you can do to PREVENT cancer.

Here are some alternative treatment methods:

• Radio Frequency Ablation - a thin needle is inserted into the tumor and an electrical current is passed through the needle, which then heats and destroys the tumor.
• Insulin Potentiation Therapy - uses low doses of chemotherapy attached to insulin.  The theory is that cancer cells have 10 times the affinity for insulin than normal cells.  (There is some controversy behind this, but hey, there’s controversy over using radiation and chemotherapy).
• General detoxification and making your body more alkaline by eating dark green leafy vegetables.
• Go to Sanoviv.  You need to check out their website to get the full picture.

Technorati Tags: Cancer, Cancer alternative treatments, LiveStrong Day 2008

Many patients come into my office saying “I had blood work done and it all comes out normal, but I still feel miserable.” Or, “I had blood work done and some values were off like my cholesterol and my doctor wants to put me on all these medications.”

If you’ve fallen into this, my heartfelt apologies. You’re a victim of “treating-the-effects-not-the-causes” paradigm.

What do I mean by that?

Well when the average doctor looks at results from a blood test, they look for any values that fall outside of the “normal” range. And if they find a result lying outside the normal range the solution to the problem is a medication.

High cholesterol equals a cholesterol lowering medication.
Low thyroid stimulating hormone equals thyroid hormone replacement therapy.
Low potassium equals a prescription for potassium.

You get the drift.

These are all “effects” of some “cause.” It’s like a ringing fire alarm is the effect of a fire. The solution is not to turn off the alarm, but rather stop what’s causing the fire alarm to go off.

What is Functional Testing?

Move over blood panels and urinalysis, a new kid is in town. The advent of functional tests allows practitioners to see how the body is functioning (what a novel idea). Functional tests consists of two portions:

1. The tests being performed
2. The interpretation of the results

The problem with how most blood panels are interpreted is that your values are compared to a group of people who aren’t you. This means that your results can show up as “normal” according to the group levels, but abnormal for you.

So how did they come up with those values?

Basically, research was done on a handful of caucasian males and females to see what their average levels were for each test item. That became the baselines for “normal” values. Beginning to see the problem with that?

The limitations of evaluating function through blood panels:

Blood is life. The biochemicals within blood must remain at their functional state with very little deviation. To maintain this state (often called homeostasis) your body has all sorts of checks and balances. The more proper term for this is “homeodynamics.” The check and balance systems take from one system to balance another system. For example, when your blood pH begins to decrease, there are “buffer” systems which help to maintain the functional state of blood pH. This buffer system uses up different chemicals. If something is used up it must be replaced.

So basically you can have a dysfunctioning system, but still show normal results upon testing due to these buffer systems.

So…what is functional testing?

Most functional tests do not look at the end results, but rather the intermediates or buffer systems.  Some functional tests include looking at organic acids (the intermediates in biochemical processes).  Other tests include detoxification analysis to see how well your detoxification system functions when challenged.

Here are the tests that I recommend:

• Organix comprehensive profile (Metametrix)
• Comprehensive Hormone Panel (Labrix)
• Gastrointestinal Function Profile (Metametrix)
• Lipid Peroxides (Metametrix)

Metametrix website

Labrix website

If you are having a blood panel done, it would be a good idea to ask them if they can analyze these two compounds:

• Homocysteine - causes micro nicks in your artery walls, leading to arteriosclerosis
• High Sensitive C-Reactive Protein - inflammatory marker

These two are good indicators for prediction of disease.

All in all, you want to go above and beyond your basic blood & urine panels to get a bigger picture of what’s going on functionally in your body.  Remember it’s easier to prevent disease than reverse it.

Technorati Tags: Functional medicine, Labrix, Medical tests, Metametrix

Here’s my audio commentary on medications a post I wrote yesterday.

 

 Medications [8:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Technorati Tags: medication podcats, Questions to ask before going on medications