Category: General

Cortisol is a stress hormone made by the adrenal glands. Cortisol levels are highest in the morning and normally go down during the day. Keeping balanced cortisol levels is important for optimal health. Low levels are associated with fatigue, low blood pressure, salt cravings, immune system dysfunction, and adrenal exhaustion. High levels are associated with hypertension, immune suppression, increased thirst, elevated blood sugar, abdominal weight gain, loss of verbal memory, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. In the context of cardiovascular disease, we are primarily concerned with the destructive effects of high cortisol. Cortisol breaks down muscle and fat to provide the body with glucose for energy. Cortisol also relocates fat deposits to around the internal organs and inhibits the formation of collagen. Collagen keeps our skin and joints young and healthy. Visceral fat is the fat around and between your organs. Excess visceral fat leads to the classic “beer gut.” Visceral fat is connected to insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. It’s worth saying again:  “your gut should not be bigger than your butt.” Changes in levels of stress hormones have been considered a central component of stress for many years. Cortisol also suppresses testosterone levels...

Testosterone may be beneficial as a treatment for CAD because testosterone can improve conditions that contribute to heart disease, such as diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and triglycerides. Testosterone improves conditions that contribute to heart disease by: dilating the arteries, improving circulation, and lowering blood pressure in most studies (Dubey et al. 2002). Because some people get an increase in blood pressure with testosterone therapy, it is very important to monitor blood pressure. binding to receptors on the arterial wall. Testosterone receptors have been found within human arteries, including aortic, coronary, pulmonary, and carotid arteries, providing evidence that it can affect the arterial wall (Muller et al. 2004). lowering LDL, triglycerides, and Lp(a). activating nitric oxide synthase and, thus, increasing nitric oxide-dependent vasodilatation (Jones, Hugh Jones, and Channer 2004). converting into estrogen via the aromatase enzyme. Normal levels of estrogen may have a beneficial impact on the arterial wall in men. If your total testosterone is normal (say, above 350), your free testosterone may still be low. Make sure to ask for total and free testosterone. If you are borderline low, your doctor may be unwilling to prescribe testosterone. Don’t despair, because there are methods for raising the free level with...

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) is a major contributor to CAD, but not the only cause. Risk of getting CAD can be reduced by approximately 20 to 40 percent if you can get your LDL down to optimal range. This sounds good until your realize that we still have 60 to 80 percent available for further risk reduction. This is where the benefits of raising HDL come in. Cardiac risk is thought to drop by 2 to 3 percent for each 1 mg/dL increase in HDL.             High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is the “good” cholesterol. It’s considered good because it facilitates reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). Low HDL cholesterol is an important risk factor for CAD. Anyone with atherosclerosis should be interested in RCT, which means taking cholesterol away from where you don’t want it and metabolizing it. HDL helps remove cholesterol from arteries in the early stages of disease and from established atherosclerotic plaque. This is why having low HDL is a risk factor and also why raising HDL to as high a level as possible helps reverse plaque! The importance of raising HDL cannot be overstated, but it is often understated in conventional medicine. Data shows that raising HDL gets similar...

CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME  Although newly defined and currently popular, CFS is not a new disease at all. References to a similar condition in the medical literature go back as far as the 1860s. In the past, chronic fatigue syndrome has been known by a variety of names including, among many others: •   chronic mononucleosis-like syndrome or chronic EBV syndrome •   Yuppie flu •   postviral fatigue syndrome •   post-infectious neuromyasthenia •   chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) •   Iceland disease •   Royal Free Hospital disease In addition, symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome mirror symptoms of neurasthenia, a condition first described in 1869.Although a definitive cause of CFS has not been determined, one of the most persuasive hypotheses is that various triggering events, such as stress or a viral infection, may lead to the chronic expression of cytokines and then to CFS. Physical or emotional stress, which is commonly reported in CFS patients, activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis, leading to increased release of cortisol and other hormones. Long-term activation of this axis may lead to adrenal fatigue/exhaustion. Cortisol and corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), which are also produced during the activation of the HPA axis, influence the immune system and many...

Stephen W. Parcell, N.D. NatureMed Integrative Medicine Boulder, CO   Lumbrokinase: Acute conditions 2 capsules three times day 30 minutes before meals for 3-4 weeks. For maintenance and prevention: 1 capsule 1-3 times per day 30 minutes before meals. Lumbrokinase is a fibrinolytic enzyme purified from the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus. The effect of lumbrokinase is related to the inhibition of the intrinsic coagulation pathway and the activation of fibrinolysis via an increase of t-PA activity[1]. Lumbrokinase also referred to as: earthworm powder, fibrinolytic enzymes, earthworm powder enzymes (EPE), e-PPA, and Boluoke. The earthworm's ability to break down fibrin was reported by Fredericq and Krukenberg in the 1920's. Since then, some Japanese scholars like Mihara Hisashi succeeded in extracting fibrin dissolving enzyme from Lumbricus rubellus, and found that this enzyme consists of six proteolytic enzymes, which are collectively named Lumbrokinase. Boluoke is easily taken, has few side effects and no hemorrhage risk, it can be used as long-term anticoagulant agent in accessory treatment of coagulation disorders. Since Boluoke has no gastrointestinal reaction, it can be used as a substitute for patients who are unable to tolerate aspirin. Nattokinase 4000 activity units day: Recently a new enzyme with potent fibrinolytic activity that...