Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy

5 years ago, I was working with a patient who had severe knee pain. We were successful with her prolotherapy treatments; so it took me by surprise when she told me she was mad at me. 

“Why didn’t I hear about you years ago!” she growled. Cautiously, I tiptoed back into decades of medical training.

“Tell me more about that,” I said.

“I’ve been limiting my activities for years when all this time you had the training to fix me!” 

At that moment, I realized, my sister was right, I really am selfish.

 

From that point on, I understood that I had both a duty and an opportunity to let people know about regenerative therapy. Online blogging is a great way to provide you with the level of understanding you may need to make the best choice for your health prior to making an appointment.

 

I hope you find this resource useful and helpful to you in the weeks to come! 

Until Next Time, 

Dr. Amy Haynes 

Dr. Amy Haynes-Leonard

Dr. Amy Haynes-Leonard

missoula naturopathic medicineThe Philosophy of The Founder of Full Circle Natural Medical Clinic

“I have a profound respect for the ability of the body to heal itself. I guide my practice using the principles of Naturopathic Medicine.”

Dr. Amy Haynes, N.D.

Naturopathic medicine emphasizes the body’s inherent self-healing process through the use of natural and therapeutic methods and substances. Dr. Amy Haynes has been practicing in her Missoula, Montana clinic since 1984 and has seen patients with a wide range of ailments. Chronic disease has now replaced accidents and acute illness as the leading cause of suffering and death. The number and range of these chronic diseases is continually growing at breakneck speed. The good news is that chronic disease still has a strong answer in naturopathic medicine. With a basis in traditional healing methods that have proven successful over time, naturopathy also includes modern, scientific and empirical methods. True healing requires a focus on the interplay between bodily systems as a whole, rather than treating symptoms individually as they emerge one after the other.

People come to our clinic as a last effort for what has seemed like a hopeless pursuit toward healing. They are often grappling with the idea that they may have to learn to live with their maladies for the rest of their lives. While there are certain physical issues that may be permanent, natural healing always improves a person’s health; oftentimes, dramatically. Our patients are always thankful to have re-discovered confidence in their body’s ability and tendency to heal itself with proper support and healing treatments.

Principles of Naturopathic Philosophy

The Healing Power of Nature

The healing power of nature is the inherent self-organizing and healing process of living systems that establishes, maintains and restores health. Naturopathic medicine recognizes this healing process to be ordered and intelligent. It is the naturopathic physician’s role to support, facilitate and augment this process by identifying and removing obstacles to health and recovery, and by supporting the creation of a healthy internal and external environment.

Identify and Treat the Cause

Illness does not occur without cause. Causes may originate in many areas. Underlying causes of illness and disease must be identified and removed before complete recovery can occur. Symptoms can be expressions of the body’s attempt to defend itself, to adapt and recover, to heal itself, or may be results of the causes of disease. The naturopathic physician seeks to treat the causes of disease, rather than to merely eliminate or suppress symptoms.

Our providers utilize a broad range of diagnostic tools, including complete history, physical exam, blood work, specialized allergy testing, environmental toxins and metals testing, in-office lab work, urine profiles, saliva profiles and stool analysis.

Do No Harm

Naturopathic physicians follow three precepts to avoid harming the patient:

Utilize methods and medicinal substances that minimize the risk of harmful effects, and apply the least possible force or intervention necessary to diagnose illness and restore health.

Whenever possible, avoid the suppression of symptoms, which generally interferes with the healing process.

Respect and work with the healing power of nature in diagnosis, treatment, and counseling—for if this self-healing process is not respected the patient may be harmed.

Doctor as Teacher

The original meaning of the word doctor is “teacher.” A principal objective of naturopathic medicine is to educate the patient and emphasize self-responsibility for health. Naturopathic physicians also recognize and employ the therapeutic potential of the doctor-patient relationship.

 

Treat the Whole Person

Health and disease result from a complex of physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social and other factors. Since total health also includes spiritual health, naturopathic physicians encourage individuals to pursue their personal spiritual development. Naturopathic medicine recognizes the harmonious functioning of all aspects of the individual as being essential to health. The multifactorial nature of health and disease requires a personalized and comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment. Naturopathic physicians treat the whole person, taking all of these factors into account.

 

Prevention

Naturopathic medical colleges emphasize the study of health as well as disease. The prevention of disease and the attainment of optimal health in patients are primary objectives of naturopathic medicine. In practice, these objectives are accomplished through education and the promotion of healthy ways of living. Naturopathic physicians assess risk factors, heredity and susceptibility to disease, and make appropriate interventions in partnership with their patients to prevent illness. Naturopathic medicine asserts that one cannot be healthy in an unhealthy environment and is committed to the creation of a world in which humanity may thrive.

Who is Dr. Amy  Haynes?

Dr. Amy Haynes is a naturopathic doctor who has been practicing holistic medicine in Missoula, Montana for over 35 years. Using natural means to treat the whole body, rather than simply masking symptoms, Dr. Amy is able to determine the root cause of an ailment and help her patients heal from the inside out and experience a better quality of life. 

Dr. Amy grew up in a suburb of Detroit and was inflicted with numerous health issues. Her own conditions drove her to pursue a career in medicine. After attending the University of Michigan and realizing that traditional western medicine wasn’t the right place for her, she transitioned the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, in Portland Oregon. Upon graduation, she moved to Montana and started her practice, where she has been working towards helping the community with their health since 1984.

Dr. Amy is passionate about utilizing methods and natural substances to minimize the risk of harmful effects and apply the least possible force or intervention necessary to diagnose illness and restore health. With long term patients, Dr. Amy focuses on preventative care so her patients to obtain their optimal health.

What does Dr. Amy Haynes believe?

Naturopathic medicine is centered on treating the whole person, including body, mind, and spirit. In alignment with this philosophy, Dr. Amy practices holistic care, attending to the body’s needs in order to support the mind and the spirit. 

She holds a belief that the gift of life gives us the opportunity to become more than what we were born to be, to expand our potential beyond our birthright. For that to happen, health has to be a number one priority. Wholesomeness and integrity bring us into alignment with our place in this beautiful web of nature. When we live in alignment, when our body and mind are nourished, we can become our best, healthiest selves. Ideally, we want to flow quickly and effortlessly.

 

Dr. Amy believes we are as healthy as our relationships with each other, with the land, and with our creator.
Dr. Amy believes that some answers live outside of the box of our beliefs, our opinions, and our feelings.
Dr. Amy believes that clarity happens when we shift our paradigms.
Dr. Amy believes that fixing cellular inflammation is the key to relief from chronic disease.
Dr. Amy believes that for her to help you, she needs to know you.
Dr. Amy believes that there is a reason for pain and suffering.
Dr. Amy believes that the story needs to make sense.
Dr. Amy believes that all living beings possess an intelligent, divine spark called the Vital Force, which gives us an innate ability to heal.

How Can Dr. Amy Haynes Help You?

Dr. Amy is highly skilled in a wide array of natural healthcare treatments. Some of the ones she is most passionate about are:

Ozone Therapy

Dr. Amy loves providing ozone therapy for her patients. It seems so simple, such an obvious treatment because it uses oxygen, an essential element to life! Ozone works beautifully—killing microbes and stimulating healing. Because it can’t be patented, it’s available to everyone. The applications of ozone therapy are endless—from treating bacterial infections to enhancing anti-aging. It can insufflate into an orifice, be injected into a joint or sinus, and be infused into the blood. 

Prolotherapy

Chronic Pain is horrible. It alters the course of lives by limiting our decision-making abilities.  Like a thief, it steals our ability to feel pleasure in our lives. Patients come to us broken and in pain and, using prolotherapy, Dr. Amy enables their bodies to heal themselves. A month or so after treatment, they are better, without the use of drugs or surgery. Dr. Amy uses and loves prolotherapy as a means of treating chronic pain because it proves that our bodies are designed to heal. 

Other Services Provided By Dr. Amy

Dr. Amy is experienced in everything from acupuncture to labor and delivery. She is capable and experienced in full body healthcare, including every service offered in our clinic. See the full list of services here. 

 

Acupuncture

Acupuncture

  Acupuncture is an ancient system of medicine, which relies on the stimulation and sedation of access points to harmonize and balance our bodies. Acupuncture has the ability to successfully treat most disease processes. Using tiny filaments (about the width of three hairs) magnets, electricity and heat, acupuncture can shift our bodies into balance. Acupuncture can remove inflammation and infection, while addressing the hypo (less) and hyper (more) function.

  Full Circle Natural Medical Clinic has been practicing acupuncture since 1984 as a means to aid in the treatment of pain, gastrointestinal issues, and much more.

Learn more. Read:
 The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medical – by Ted J. Kaptchuk

 

 

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP)

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP)

Platelet Rich Plasma is another form of Proliferative Therapy. The PRP process utilizes a person’s own blood to stimulate the body to repair ligament and tendon fibers, as well as bones and muscles. Healing components, extracted from the blood, are injected into an area of injury (joints, ligaments and tendons). Once injected, the solution  stimulates the body to initiate its own healing process.

Soft tissue injuries treated with PRP include:

  • Tendinopathy “torn or ripped tendons”
  • Tendinosis – tendons weakened
  • Acute and chronic muscle strain
  • Muscle Fibrosis – a type of injury cause by over training or extensive strain
  • Ligament sprains
  • Joint capsular laxity – the loosening of joints due to weakened muscles
  • Intra-articular cartilage problems
  • Mensical injury – a type of knee joint tear or sprain
  • Chronic synovitis or joint inflammation

Platelet Rich therapy is revolutionary new technique that has achieved dramatic results in difficult orthopedic situations.  PRP has been hailed in many publications as a remarkably effective healing process that works where other healing techniques fall short. It is being used more frequently in sports and injury-related healing with increasing effectiveness.

Learn more. Read:

Free Yourself from Chronic Pain and Sports Injuries – by Donna Alderman D.O.

Pain Free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain – by Pete Egoscue

Prolozone Therapy

Prolozone Therapy

Like prolotherapy, prolozone  is a regenerative therapy (using oxygen) to promote that body’s natural ability to repair itself. Our Naturopathic Doctors utilize prolozone therapy as a non-surgical means of treating pain. The goal with prolozone, as with all of our treatments for pain, is to end discomfort so the patient can get back to doing the activities they enjoy.

What is Prolozone Therapy?

The oxygen in the air we breath is in the form of O2, whereas Ozone is O3. When ozone is used medically it adjusts itself to O2 + O1. The singlet oxygen, O1, is absorbed by damaged tissues and immediately used for healing.

Prolozone is a type of proliferative therapy, which uses a combination of vitamins and ozone, to encourage self-healing. Used to treat pain and inflammation in and around the tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints, it can effectively resolve injury and repair damaged tissues.

What Can Prolozone Therapy Be Used For?

Prolozone therapy has been used to treat a variety of symptoms revolving around pain and inflammation, including: low back pain, sports injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, sprains/strains, rotator cuff injuries, plantar fasciitis, and much more. Ozone can also act as a powerful disinfectant, eliminating bacteria, yeast, virus, and fungi that are hiding in the body.

How Does Prolozone Work?

Damaged cells absorb the oxygen and use it to up-regulate cellular healing and stimulate the growth of new, healthy tissue.

The Process is Simple

Our doctors combine B vitamins, ozone, and a numbing agent and slowly inject it into the treatment area. Because ozone is absorbed quickly and easily by damaged cells, it triggers a natural healing response.

Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy

What Is Prolotherapy?

Proliferative therapy, more commonly referred to as prolotherapy, is a type of regenerative therapy used to naturally heal, strengthen, and repair ligaments, joints, and tendons without surgery. 

Though it has been gaining popularity amongst the medical community and illustriousness with press in recent years, it is one of the oldest methods of healing. Prolotherapy actually dates back to ancient medical practices, with its roots in Chinese acupuncture.

How Does Prolotherapy Work? 

Prolotherapy stimulates a process that speeds up healing and enables the body to strengthen tendons, ligaments, and joints. It can reduce or even eliminate pain and inflammation naturally, without NSAIDS or surgery. 

Prolotherapy is performed by injecting a solution of dextrose (sugar) and procaine (a local anesthetic) into and onto joints, ligaments, and tendons. The ligament and tendon cells absorb the solution, stimulating the body to send healing blood components to the injection site. Proteins that serve as connective tissue, called collagen, are then stimulated, which signals the body’s natural process to strengthen and restore joint function. 

What Is Prolotherapy Used For?

Prolotherapy is a natural, effective, and incredibly useful therapy for many different types of musculoskeletal pain, including:

Old injuries to knees, ankles, hips, elbows, wrists, shoulders, fingers, and feet

Back, neck, and rib pain of ligament and tendon origin

Chronic tendonitis or inflammation of tendons

Sports injuries of many kinds, including leg, arm, back, and shoulder injuries

Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ) causing jaw, facial, and shoulder pain

Carpal tunnel syndrome, causing numbness and muscle weakness

Arthritis

Degenerative Disk Disease

..and more

WhyDoes Prolotherapy Work?

Ligaments are the structural “hinges” that hold our bones together to create a joint. When ligaments become weak or injured they may not heal back to their original strength or endurance. Because ligaments have so many nerve endings, ligament injuries can become extremely painful. Tendons attach muscles to bones. When they are injured they can become very painful and can be very difficult to heal due to continued usage.

Luckily, our bodies are incredibly intuitive. They recognize inflammation and irritation as signs to send healing cells to the troubled area and repair it. Continued uses and NSAIDs used to reduce inflammation inhibit that function. 

The solution injected during the prolotherapy treatment acts as an irritant, triggering the body’s healing response. The injected area becomes stronger and more stable and the patient can experience permanent relief since the body is being healed rather than simply masking the symptoms.

Stem Cell Therapy

Stem Cell Therapy

What is Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine?

Regenerative Medicine is an exciting new field of therapy that specializes in rejuvunating body function and tissues. Stem Cell Therapy helps treat: Osteoarthritis, Athletic injuries, Traumatic Brain injuries, Male and female patterned baldness, COPD, Facial aging, Erectile dysfunction and Long Covid.

It includes therapies such as:

What are Stem Cells?

Stem cells are a type of cell found in every human body and in many areas of those bodies. Like other cells, stem cells are capable of dividing and becoming new cells but they differ in that the new cells created when a stem cell divides, have the ability of becoming either new stem cells or any other cell—think blood cells, skin cells, muscle cells, bone cells, nerve cells, and more.

Though stem cells are found in many different areas of the body, most stem cells used in stem cell therapy are harvested from cord blood at the time of birth (upon the approval of the person giving birth), from bone marrow, or from an individual’s circulating blood.

What is Stem Cell Therapy?

Stem Cell therapy is a type of regenerative medicine that, as the name suggests, uses stem cells to allow the body to regenerate tissues and heal itself.

Stem cell therapy is a relatively new type of treatment and has only been practiced outside of scientific studies in recent years. Many scientists and physicians believe stem cells show great promise for curing diseases and could change medicine as we know it. Imagine being able to replace damaged heart and brain tissue, regenerate new bone and cartilage tissues, and yes, cure many types of cancer. These are just some of the things that stem cell therapy could make possible.

What are Placental Allographs and Second Generation Step Cells?

Second Generation Stem Cell Therapy is the most advanced regenerative therapy used today. Using advanced technology, cells harvested from the afterbirth of a birthed baby, are incubated on a special medium. The cytokines, growth factors, and other healing components are extracted, leaving behind the DNA and the cell membranes. The mothers who donate their placentas and umbilical cords are heavily screen, via a blood draw, for all risk factors associated with blood transfusions and organ transplants.

Feminine Revitalization | O-Shot

Feminine Revitalization | O-Shot

Feminine Revitalization is a non-surgical means of treating sexual pain and displeasure, urinary incontinence, and a variety of other disorders, such as vaginal dryness and lichen sclerosis. This method uses growth factors naturally found in the blood to promote healing for long-term rejuvenation.

How Does Feminine Revitalization Work?

Feminine Revitalization is a 30-minute procedure that starts with a blood draw. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is extracted from the blood and injected back into the patient’s urethral area. The PRP aids the body to rejuvenate the local tissue immediately. It stimulates multipotent stem cells, calling on them to heal the area. Blood flow is increased and new blood vessels and nerves begin to form.

How Can Feminine Revitalization Help Me?

The Feminine Revitalization decreases distress caused by sexual dysfunction and enables a more intense orgasm. Specifically, the O-shot has been successful at treating the following:

  • Decreased Libido
  • Urinary Incontinence and Bladder Leakage
  • Vaginal Dryness
  • Pain During Intercourse
  • Inability or Decreased Ability to Orgasm
  • Lichen Sclerosus and Lichen Planus
  • Pain Related to Childbirth Trauma and Scars
  • Interstitial Cystitis

 

 

Facial Rejuvenation

Facial Rejuvenation

Our providers are highly-experienced in providing facial rejuvenation treatments through the microneedling technique. In doing so, they have helped restore confidence for many men and women.

What is Microneedling?

Microneedling is a minimally invasive technique used in facial treatments to rejuvenate the skin and improve wrinkles, acne, scarring, and much more. Superfine needles are used to pierce the surface layer of the skin and inject it with substances to stimulate collagen production and the body’s natural healing process.

Types of Facial Rejuvenation:

Hyaluronic Acid Facials

Hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in the dermis of the skin and many other tissues in the body. It is an important contributor to the youthful and healthy appearance of the skin. It is biocompatible and safe for every skin type.

Platelet Rich Plasma Facials

Platelet Rich Plasma, or PRP, is a natural healing agent derived from your own blood. It contains a multitude of growth factors, cell adhesion molecules, and cytokines that work together to initiate your body’s natural healing mechanisms. These agents act to increase the extracellular matrix, collagen growth and dermal fibroblasts. Through a simple blood draw, your provider will obtain the blood needed for your procedure. The blood is then centrifuged, using advanced extraction technology, to separate the platelet rich plasma, which will be injected back into your dermis using micro-thin needles.

Second Generation Stem Cell Therapy (Stem Cell Allografts) are the most advanced facial available today. Using advanced technology, cells harvested from the afterbirth of a birthed baby, are incubated on a special medium. The healing components of the stem cells are used in regenerating clear healthy skin.

 

 

Full Circle Blog

GMOs: A Primer

GMOs: A Primer

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are living organisms that have been genetically engineered. Learn why they are reeking havoc on our foods and our bodies.

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GMOs: A Primer

GMOs: A Primer

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are living organisms that have been genetically engineered. In other words, their genetic material has been modified and manipulated in a lab to create combinations that could never exist in nature through ordinary crossbreeding. This is very different than putting a big girl goat with a big boy goat in the same pen for a while. GMO development crosses natural kingdoms. Imagine splicing shrimp DNA with tomato DNA. Or cockroach DNA with human trafficker DNA. Science has come around to a belief that because we can, we should- all without moral obligations or even discussion.

The use of GMOs, particularly in the food industry, has sparked massive debate over the potential for harm these substances pose. Proponents of GMOs, mainly big food and pharma industries, are not interested in conversation, or even letting you know that you are eating GMO’s. They want you to just settle down and eat what they tell you. No need to waste anyone’s time and their money on research. Especially when they need that money to hire more lobbyists to influence the officials that you elected to protect you.

Although you may be aware of GMOs, at least peripherally, you may want to know more. Here’s a primer to get you started.

Pro-GMO Arguments

There are several arguments posited in favor of GMOs. Whether plants or animals are the result of genetic manipulation, GMO proponents claim that mixing favorable traits between viruses and, say, humans, organisms are produced which are heartier, more resilient, better resistant to disease, more productive- and more than virus but less than human.

While there is evidence to suggest that GMOs are more resistant to pests and disease, or at least more tolerant of pesticides and herbicides, the other claims are more dubious. The argument is that GMOs decrease the potential for waste and loss, which is beneficial to the profits of GMO’s.

Proponents claim the process is really no different from breeding a prize cow to a mushroom to produce an unusual offspring that may have value in the marketplace. Really???

Monsanto

One of the loudest proponents (and the largest producer) of GMO products is Monsanto, a multi-billion dollar food and pharmaceutical company with branches across the globe. Since its inception in 1901, Monsanto has been known to produce chemical products like PCBs, DDT, glyphosate (more commonly known as Roundup),
and even Agent Orange. All of which were ͞completely safe͟ when brought to the marketplace. After cancer, death and other chronic diseases ensued, they were later proven to be dangerously toxic to humans and the environment. Odd how that happened, wouldn’t you say?

More recently, Monsanto has lobbied hard for, and won, the right to mass produce GMOs- most notably corn, soy, wheat, and alfalfa products (fed to cows). Some of these GMO foods are used directly for human food and pharmaceuticals. So, yes, even your drugs can be GMO. They are the largest manufacturer of seeds worldwide and they continue to dominate the GMO marketplace, claiming approximately 80% of genetically modified crop production. The seeds are perfectly sterile, so after one planting, the farmer has to pay again for seeds every year after that. Monsanto seeds are designed to work specifically with Monsanto’s proprietary herbicide, Roundup. Therefore greatly increasing global sales of Roundup as a nice side effect. You don’t have to dig too deep to find Monsanto’s self-serving nature, despite the fact that they claim to be motivated by helping to make food safer and more affordable. Now is that behavior psychopathic or sociopathic? I get those two confused when talking about non-people persons.

Because of their status, funding, and connections, they have been one of the most notable contributors to the spread of GMOs across the globe, and they’ve realized the benefits through profit. From their profits, they have invested their billions of dollars into stopping GMO labeling. As a result, most Americans are unaware of the fact that as much as 80% of conventional processed foods contain GMOs. Surprise!!

Negative Health Effects

Although many countries have chosen to limit or ban GMOs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of GMOs in 1996, largely based on studies conducted, commissioned, or overseen by GMO manufacturers. Since then, the spread of GMOs has been connected to alarming health trends, such as the rise in cases of autism and autoimmune diseases, and other health concerns. It’s hard for real science and real scientists to compete with the mega dollars Monsanto pumps into pseudoscience, deflected science, and lobbyists.

Definitive studies have yet to prove causality, but between 1996 (when GMOs were introduced) and 2005, the number of Americans with three or more chronic illnesses nearly doubled, increasing from 7% in 1996 to 13% in 2005. In addition, studies have shown that genes inserted into corn and soy products linger in the bloodstream and splice into the beneficial bacteria living in our bodies. Now your good, kind, healthy, and useful gut bacteria are splicing with the nasty creepies, right there in your intestines. You yourself become a GMO. (My question is, when can Monsanto patent you? And when they do, will you now have to pay them body use fees?)

Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, has become perhaps the most outspoken opponent of GMOs and their suspected link to health problems, with studies focused largely on the connection between nutrition and health. It is no surprise, then, that she’s had companies like Monsanto squarely in her crosshairs. Let’s get her a kevlar vest, garlic, holy water, and a large life insurance policy anyway.

Globally

There are currently more than 60 countries that have restrictions or bans concerning the cultivation and growth of GMO products, with 38 countries having confirmed bans on GMOs and GMO cultivation. By comparison, only 28 countries, including the U.S., actually grow GMO crops.

It Matters

Without GMO labeling, consumers don’t have the option to avoid foods that contain GMOs – in other words, you have no idea what you’re eating. We have yet to determine the extent of toxicity of GMOs, including what the buildup over time in cells and intestines may do to our bodies. But if Monsanto stays true to form, it’s worse than we now know.

In your everyday life, this could spell the onset of chronic diseases with no cure and the potential to pass along genetic mutations to your children and your children’s children. All signs point to serious health concerns related to GMOs- so until we better understand what these Frankenfoods are doing to our bodies, it’s best to only eat the 20% of our food that is left without the GMO flavor. Do yourselves and your progeny a favor and just say NO to GMO.

The Second Brain: Gut Flora and Why We Need It

The Second Brain: Gut Flora and Why We Need It

All of us need to eat in order to receive the vital nutrients that give us energy and sustain life. Unfortunately, this means that we expose our bodies to outside elements that are both beneficial and harmful. An apple, for example, can deliver water, fiber, and vitamins your body needs, but it could also be a conduit for chemical pesticides and fertilizers, mold, parasites, or harmful bacteria. Even if food is natural, organic, and perfectly healthy, you still need to digest it in order to glean the nutrients and expel the waste. This is where your gut flora, or the microbiome of essential bacteria in your digestive tract, comes into play.

You may be wondering why the gut flora is often referred to as a second brain. It is because your brain and your gut are inextricably linked, with each influencing the other. Not only does the health of your microbiome inform the health of your entire body, but there is also communication between bacteria and the brain via the nervous system, a process known as the gut-brain axis. And all of the signals sent between the two are designed with one goal in mind: survival. Note that you don’t necessarily have to be healthy to survive. You do, however, have to adapt. And the gut is often the first wave of defense because it is where outside elements, good or bad, are introduced into your body.

And from there your two brains – the one in your head and the one in your gut – work together to absorb and distribute nutrients, expel waste, and cope with the rising tide of toxins that are in our environment and that are introduced through consumption. Have you ever heard of a nervous stomach? This is your brain and your gut interacting, creating a physical response to mental and emotional stress. And when the microbiome is out of balance, the result could be inflammation, immune response, and corresponding feelings of fatigue, anxiety, or depression, just for example. In other words, your gut flora could be inextricably linked to all kinds of ailments that are seemingly unrelated to your digestive tract. On the upside, balancing your microbiome and maintaining gut health has the potential to improve the health of your entire body.

So in addition to helping you properly digest your food, the gut flora plays a crucial role in how your body functions as a whole and how it adapts to survive its environment and the items you consume. And just as it can be damaged by outside elements, so too can it be healed by the choices you make. When your gut flora is balanced, you will enjoy optimal health. When your microbiome is compromised, your health is sure to follow suit.

Autoimmune: We Can Heal

Autoimmune: We Can Heal

If western medicine has taught us nothing else, it has imparted the sure knowledge that the genetics we are born with cannot be changed. But is that true? It’s important to understand that genetic predispositions are not foregone conclusions. Even if you have a family history of autoimmune disease, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are on a predestined path toward illness. You are simply at greater risk. But thanks to a revolutionary field of study known as epigenetics, we now know that you can avoid predispositions and potentially even reverse autoimmune diseases after they have been triggered.

Autoimmune disorders are just one possible genetic expression that may occur when you are predisposed to a particular illness. But your genetic code also features a predisposition for health. So how can you control which expression your genes produce? If you listen to allopathic experts, you’ll come to believe that you have no control, that you merely have to wait for inevitable health problems to surface and then treat them forever with toxic pharmaceuticals that suppress symptoms while inundating you with unfavorable side effects. It’s no wonder so many people are looking for alternatives to western medicine.

The truth is that your body is designed to adapt and survive, and it has mechanisms in place to achieve and maintain health. However, your behavior and your lifestyle choices play a major role in the ability to regulate health. There are several factors to consider when it comes to remaining healthy, avoiding the onset of diseases, and addressing them if and when they are triggered. Input is essential. You’ve heard the phrase “you are what you eat”. It’s not far from the truth. The nutrients you ingest not only provide fuel that gives your body energy, but they affect you at the cellular level. And they have an impact on gene expression. When you ingest processed foods laden with chemicals and toxins, there is a much higher chance of triggering unhealthy gene expressions that lead to autoimmune diseases.

But you have the power to make a different choice and create a different outcome where your health is concerned. And food isn’t the only factor. Environmental toxins can play a part, as can your very thoughts and beliefs. If, for example, you follow allopathic thought on the matter, believing that you are doomed to repeat the genetic expressions of your parents, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if you believe that you can overcome disease to achieve health, or that you can make choices that allow you to maintain healthy genetic expression, there is another avenue available to you.

In other words, you are a participant in your health, one way or another. You must stop listening to those who tell you that predisposition equates to an indisputable outcome, that there are no causes or cures for autoimmune diseases, and that a lifetime of pharmaceutical Band-Aids is your only option. With proper nutrition, holistic medicine, and a strong belief that you can control your health and your genetic expression, autoimmune and other diseases can be treated, corrected, and even reversed. In some cases they can be avoided altogether, regardless of genetic predisposition. Your expression of health, for better or worse, begins before you’re even born. But you have ample opportunity to decide which way it goes.

Resolving Thyroid Distress

Resolving Thyroid Distress

The human body is adept at healing itself. Unfortunately, the symptoms associated with natural healing are often diagnosed by allopathic medicine as disease. And thyroid disorders are a prime candidate for this type of wrongful thinking. What is taken for disease may be nothing more than the thyroid’s response to harmful factors like toxins, stress, or a lack of proper nutrients. But instead of treating the cause of these symptoms (or even seeking to understand the myriad causes that may combine to induce thyroid disorder), western medicine responds by treating individual symptoms, often following misdiagnosis. And patients are the ones that continue to suffer for this spectacular lack of vision.

There is another option. And it is essential to resolve thyroid distress because it is a precursor for further health problems. The thyroid is often one of the first organs to respond to toxins within the body, especially when nutritional deficiencies are also at play. Its self-defense mechanism is to lower metabolic processes, often resulting in fatigue, which is why thyroid disorders may first be diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The unfortunate result is immune response, a decrease in liver function (and detoxification), and an increase of toxicity at the cellular level. Autoimmune diseases may follow if the condition goes untreated.

And yet, the onslaught of pharmaceuticals is not the answer. Treating symptoms, rather than addressing and removing causes, is pure futility. Not only do these treatments fail to treat the problem; they can also cause further damage in the long run thanks to a laundry list of side effects. And this is supposing that a thyroid disorder is even identified. Often, it isn’t until health issues have progressed to a critical state. In other words, western medicine is ill-equipped to assess and/or treat thyroid distress at every level.

The solution, then, must lie outside the scope of western medicine. Holistic medicine recognizes not only symptoms common to thyroid distress, but also that thyroid disorders are often associated with other diseases, such as heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, cancer, and more. It is not surprising when you understand the role the thyroid plays in setting metabolic rates, and further, how those fluctuations affect other bodily processes. And because the thyroid is more sensitive to toxins (due to its particular function), it can be an indicator of future health problems.

Proper treatment will vary from patient to patient, but resolving thyroid distress begins with addressing the source of the affliction, be it environmental toxins, a lack of nutrients, or several elements combined. Detoxification, diet adjustment, herbal supplements, stress reduction, cellular healing, and reversing the damage done to the thyroid are all possible treatment options. And holistic medicine is uniquely adept at both diagnosing and treating thyroid disorders. If western medicine has not served you well, it’s time to abandon the “no cause, no cure” mentality, leave the pharmaceuticals behind, and try something new.

Dr. Amy Haynes-Leonard

Philosophy

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