Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
PRIMARY FOOD, LIFESTYLE AND OUR HEALTH~AN INTRODUCTION TO A NEW WELLNESS SERIES By: Allie Might, FMC, INHC, ATT Primary foods are an essential part of our health and wellness plan that is often overlooked and even misunderstood. While the topic of self-care in important, …
VEGAN AND VEGETARIAN~ THE SIMILARITIES, DIFFERENCES, BENEFITS AND TROUBLE By: Allie Might, FMC, INHC, ATT Vegan and vegetarian diets….or as many people commonly referred to them as, plant-based diets. I am often told “I eat well, I’m vegetarian” or “My diet is so good, …
From a Naturopathic Point of View Part 4
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
The importance of western and holistic medicine working together!
One of the key pathways to helping people become healthy is learning how to balance both western and holistic medicine. These 2 ways of looking at health are not, nor should they ever be considered to be enemies. Sometimes they may look at situations differently but that doesn’t mean they can’t work together. As a naturopath I see the 2 working together like your left and right hand.
I wrote a blog in this series about why it is important to be in control of certain chronic diseases. In some situations this may mean that in addition to supplements medications may be required to help prevent dangerous complications. For example high blood pressure. Any reading over 180/120 requires immediate attention since it is considered to be a “hypertensive crisis”. One way this is managed is with blood pressure medications. (1) Now I know it can be intimidating to start a new medicine. However in some cases it may be important to prevent dangerous complications. Depending on the type of medications that are used certain supplements may be helpful. I’ll be reviewing a few supplements that are generally helpful for blood pressure at the end of this blog. However, it’s always helpful to speak to a nutritionist and make sure the supplements are the ones that would work best with any medications that you may be taking. Just like with blood pressure having abnormal cholesterol can also have complications. Just like with blood pressure sometimes medications can be needed to help bring levels down to safer levels. Remember you can always seek out a second opinion. (2) Just like with blood pressure I’ll be reviewing some supplements that can be helpful for cholesterol.
In addition to medications sometimes surgeries may be needed for best results. A prime example of this would be joint pain. While in my clinical experience joint pain can be greatly helped with supplements once the joint is “bone on bone” there is little that we do to help with supplements. At that point it can be critical to follow up with your doctor or even get a second opinion. (3) A personal experience with this is in regards to a customer who was in severe pain due to a joint that needed to be replaced. Her doctor indicated that if she didn’t replace the joint she would end up in a wheelchair. After talking with me about a post-surgical protocol she bravely underwent the procedure. Just 2 months after the procedure when she followed up with me it was to let me know that between the surgery and the supplements she felt better than she had felt in years. I was very happy for her.
I want to wrap this up by saying sometimes medications are important to save your life. Years ago I received a call from someone who was bitten by a dog. By their descriptions the bite sounded as though it was likely to be infected. I told them to go to the ER. Over a month later they called me back. They had a severe infection and according to their reports “almost died” and they needed strong antibiotics. In other case’s people will call with questions about situations such as a UTI. This is a great way to work with both holistic and western medicine. Treating a UTI with both western and holistic medicine can help reduce the risk of complications. (4)
Overall as a Naturopath I feel that both holistic and western medicine work best together.
High blood pressure:
Cholesterol helpers!
Our product high light will be Flex Hx!
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Krill Oil vs Fish Oil Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND One of the most confusing topic’s in the vitamin world is the difference between krill oil and fish oil. I get asked pretty much all the time what exactly is the difference between the 2. …
ORGANIC, GMO/NON-GMO, CONVENTIONAL~ UNDERSTANDING THESE DIETARY TERMS By: Allie Might, FMC, INHC, ATT There are so many different terms when deciding what to eat that it can be confusing. There are also many different opinions on what is good for you and what to …
From A Naturopaths Point of View Part 3
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
Self-diagnosis?
One of the most integral parts of a consult with an Invite nutritionist t is knowing exactly what is going on in your body. In other words it’s important to see a doctor, get appropriate tests and finally receive an official diagnosis. However in this day and age medical information is all over the internet. There’s WebMD, Wikipedia and even google itself! The problem with all this easy to access information is that very often people will use this to self-diagnose rather than go to the doctor and receive the tests they need that can help to determine what the diagnosis actually is. This can be a huge problem for a number of reasons.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? When we say self-diagnose we refer to the process of diagnosing or identifying a medical condition yourself without a doctor. This is a very bad idea for a number of reasons. Very often a self-diagnosis is wrong. What this means is that when you call you can not only receive wrong advice but cause a delay in getting the actual advice that would help you. (1) This is especially true in cases where your symptoms are not unique and can be a symptoms of many different diagnosis. For example fatigue is such a common symptom that it’s almost impossible to form a diagnosis just based on it!
In some case’s delaying proper treatment can be annoying. For example if you have a misdiagnosed rash it can be annoying but not necessarily life threating. In other case’s delaying proper treatment CAN be dangerous and even life threating. For example you may self-diagnosis panic disorder but actually have a problem with your heart that needs immediate treatment! (1) A personal experience that I can mention is as following. An induvial called Invite for a consult and I responded. They had self-diagnosed as having depression. I advised them to go to a doctor and get appropriate testing done. Well it turns out they had extremely high blood sugar and needed medication to control their diabetes. If I had just recommended things for depression they could have become very ill due to the high blood sugar! This was a prime example of just why a self-diagnose is so dangerous since uncontrolled diabetes can have very severe complications!
Additionally there are often things that we don’t notice about ourselves. It is common for people who diagnose themselves to overlook key symptoms. In some case’s an induvial may miss signs of depression and think they have anxiety. (1) Anther example is when someone who is suffering from dementia thinks that they have depression.
Another concern is the actual websites themselves. In fact search engines often bring up either the most severe ailment possible or the most common. Just because a diagnosis is common doesn’t mean it is correct for you! (1)
So what do I think about self-diagnose as a Naturopathic doctor? Well I think it can be a great idea to get a list of your symptoms ready so when you go to see your doctor you are ready. That being said overall I don’t think that to self-diagnose is a good idea nor do I encourage it. Remember that knowledge is power and knowing exactly what is wrong can help us and your doctor help you!
So what are some things that are good for our overall health?
Our product highlight will be talking about the difference between Krill and Fish Oil. I hope to answer any questions you may have on these fantastic nutrients.
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