Category: General

By Steve Parcell, ND I had to write about this today as I heard about the crisis in Flint, MI again in the news. As a certified expert in chelation I think I know something about lead.The media is not talking about how to mitigate the lead levels IN PEOPLE only the water. This needs to be discussed. A book could be written about the deleterious effects of lead on humans but lets just put it this way...its bad. Lead is a very toxic heavy metal that can diminish IQ in children. The WHO has stated that there is "no safe level of lead." If I had a patient that may have been exposed I would check a blood lead level. If any lead is detected at all DMSA at 10 mg per KG twice a day needs to be started along with other chelators that help pull it out without the lead being reabsorbed. This must be medically supervised. For more information on how to cheaply get the lead out give us a call.

Thyroid Health! Wilson's Syndrome: Low Temperature Syndrome by Dr Fluss Do you suffer from low body temperature, weight gain, fatigue, cold intolerance and yet your thyroid labs always come back normal? Are you already medicated for hypothyroidism and yet you still suffer from these symptoms?  Thyroid health is more than just having adequate blood levels of T3, T4 and TSH. How the thyroid hormones affect the cell receptor sites and what they do in the cell makes a big difference in how you feel.  Our thyroid gland is our body’s metabolic control. All systems become out of balance when the thyroid gland is not functioning optimally. No wonder you don't feel well when your thyroid hormones aren’t working properly. Thyroid hormones regulate heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, metabolism and the rate at which food is converted into energy. I had the pleasure of attending a conference with Dr. Wilson, MD as well as becoming certified in Wilsons Protocol. Dr. Wilson has based his clinical practice on “Low temperature syndrome” or what he coined as “Wilson’s syndrome”. He noticed that he had a large proportion of patients complaining of typical hypothyroid symptoms such as weight gain, fatigue, cold hands and feet, hair loss...

Dr. Sasha Fluss ND at NatureMed Clinic Boulder/Denver   Boulder is the Mecca for endurance sports. We see a lot of athlets competing at all levels from professional to weekend warriors and in a wide variety of sports from triathalon to swimming to climbing to cycling. Once reason I love working with athletes is that optimizing performane and athletic capacity is really about optimizing health. It is about the little things that give you that extra push. Whether it be extra energy in the morning to get up and complete your workout or less fatigue running up those hills or better recovery from workouts and injury prevention. There is so much we can do when working with athletes looking to increase their fitness and performance at any level. Here are some things to consider and components I generally look at: Iron levels: very important especially at altitude. Iron is what carries oxygen in the blood to our tissues and muscles so we are able to run up that mountain! Levels can be tested in the blood and optimal levels are much higher than what your doctor would call deficient. Optimal iron levels can be achieved via supplements, injections or IVs. Often injections or...

Great article. The three main problems masters athletes need to get screened for are plaque in the arteries (atherosclerosis), electrical disturbances (arrythmia), and unhealthy changes to the wall of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). One thing that the article failed to mention is the importance of prevention through detailed screening. EKG, stress echo and calcium scoring can be used to evaluate whether an athlete needs to back off on exercise. Conventional medicine is not great at this type of screening because it is geared toward intervention once the problem has occurred! My masters athlete workup fills this need.

A recent European study concluded that niacin (nicotinic acid, B3) had too many side effects and is not worth using. The media quickly got on board to spread the news. The study was funded by Merck pharmaceuticals, the makers of the statin drug Zocor. Two grams of extended-release niacin and 40 mg of laropiprant or a matching placebo daily was given. The primary outcome was the first major vascular event (nonfatal myocardial infarction, death from coronary causes, stroke, or arterial revascularization). Problems with this study: I think it's a clear case of profit directed manipulation of research data. The “niacin” was actually not niacin at all. It was niacin with a drug called laropiprant. The study was only for 3.9 years…also not long enough in my opinion. The problem is the laropiprant, a drug used to reduce skin flushing. Laropiprant has never been approved by the FDA and when taken alone has been shown to increase gastrointestinal bleeding. Laropiprant interferes with a basic prostaglandin receptor pathway that is important for good health. Last year Merck announced it would withdraw laropiprant worldwide due to complaints from continental Europe. Therefore the clinical trials in this most recent study could only be performed in the...