BLAH!!!

Do you feel Fatigued, Weak, have unexplained Weight Gain or difficulty losing weight, Coarse (dry) Hair, Dry rough Pale Skin, Hair loss, Cold intolerance, Muscle cramping (muscle ache), Constipation, Depression, Irritability, Memory Loss, Abnormal Menstrual Cycle, Decreased Libido if your thinking I just described you than you might want to read this.

Over 5 million people (in my opinion there are many more) feel this way and are then diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a disease that means that the thyroid gland is under active. This condition may lead to you feeling like that first sentence (like Crap).

The reason I bring this up today is that I have many people that come into my office and say I have all the symptoms of Hypothyroidism, but they tested me and I am in a normal range. I am not going to get off track by saying too much about that other than far to often Dr. X just looks at the test and ignore the physiological aspects (the symptoms you feel). I am here to tell you that YOU are the only one living in your body and you know how you are supposed to feel. Don't just use a test to tell you that you are alright (when you know that you are not alright). One other insight that I would like to share is the health and disease model. They call it a disease process because it is a PROCESS. What I mean by this is that you do not go to bed one night and are completely healthy and wake up the next morning with the disease (it is a gradual process). This means that you can test negative for the condition and be moving toward Hypothyroidism in this scenario.

O.K.... I am getting a little carried away. To make a long story short, you have to catch the disease before it is the disease........ I know what your thinking.. "Dr. Stinemetz you already told us that the tests will come out negative. So what are we supposed to do?". I am so glad you asked that question. One early Test is "The Iodine Patch Test". See the Thyroid is the only structure that uses iodine. The thyroid uses iodine to make the hormones that it produces. Thus if you are deficient in iodine than you are not going to make the hormones that you are supposed to make. Then you feel like CRAP.

There are many other structures and hormones that can cause Hypothyroidism (and Hypothyroid type symptoms), and you should always seek a professional to help with figuring these issues out. And remember too much of a good thing can be a bad thing also. Do some research on your own and be sure to schedule a consult with me if you have any questions.

Your partner in HEALTH Dr. Nathan

Heres to Good Health

Have you heard the saying Magnesium does a body good. Probably not because I just made that up.... But really Magnesium is a very important mineral that is necessary for your body to function correctly. It is estimated that 75% of the population is deficient in Magnesium. Magnesium has been studied and has been found to help with problems like Migraines, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Muscle Cramps, Fibromyalgia, and even can help lower Blood Pressure. A decrease in the amount of magnesium can increase the risk for Osteoporosis and can change the metabolic functions of the body that may contribute to heart attacks and stroke.

Diabetic patients are at an increase risk of being deficient in magnesium because an elevated blood glucose level will increase the loss of magnesium in the urine. This is the mechanism by which a diabetic suddenly has high blood pressure. I encourage everyone to read more about the benefits and issues that are related to magnesium.....

I know what your thinking How can I make sure to get magnesium in my diet. Well you can always take a supplement, but if you would rather eat foods rich in magnesium here is a short list (Tofu, Whole Grains, Green Leafy Vegetables, Almonds, Cashews, Pine Nuts, Black Walnuts just to name a few.). I would encourage everyone to research this yourself and again you can always feel free to ask me any questions. Your partner in Health Dr. Nathan

A Pain in the Neck

No I am not talking about my children. I am going to take a moment and discuss a email I received from a reader. A reader of my blog sent me this message I am going to keep it anonymous for reasons of protecting the privacy of the individual. They wrote:

My neck keeps me up and wakes me up and my shoulders stay tender.Massage therapy has been a temporary relief. Exercising helps only because I'm so tired afterwards I pass out. I'm running out of options.Thanks

Well I am going to do my best with this. I have to first say this is by no means a diagnosis for you. It is really hard to tell you exactly what is going on with out an examination and x-rays, but I am going to give my opinion based on educated and experience. First off I or some other Dr. would have to take a history. I start with that because it is common sense to start with that. We need to identify what started it was it (accident, sports, repetitive motion, work injury, etc.) though all of these may seem the same the Mechanism of injury is very important to the treatment of the problem.

Then we follow with an exam this can lead you to identifying the cause of your pain. Side note there is a reason that you have pain Identifying that source and fixing the source will decrease pain. what I am going to assume (I know you should never assume) is that the massage worked better at the beginning than it does now... I will list a few things that might cause this pain.
1. Subluxation (misalignment of the bones of spine)
2. Muscle (spasms)
3. Disc Herniation (bulge)
4. Disc degeneration (loss of the cushion between Bones)
5. Nerve (what some people call a pinched nerve)
6. Spinal stenosis (you don't what this can affect the spinal cord)
7. and many other significant diagnosis

Again I am not telling you you have any of these things, but these diagnosis have to be ruled out. You rule out or in the diagnosis with things like Physical Exam of area (spine), X-rays, MRI, EMG etc....

My suggestion to you would be to get it checked out. The problem with waiting is that no matter what you think it is not going to get any better, and more than likely it will get worse. You need to be proactive with this condition or you might end up with not a whole lot of options left to treat the condition. This is by no means to scare you just to motivate you.

I hope this helps answer a few questions. And to all Remember that you can call my office to set up a Consult to discuss options Free of Charge. Your partner in health. Dr. Nathan

Low Back Pain

Did you know that 85% of Americans will suffer from incapacitating low back pain at some point in their life that means that more than likely you will fall victim to pain that is unimaginable. I know what that feels like. Just to give you a little history about myself 2 months before going to chiropractic school at 21 years of age and in my invincible time of my life I suffered a major trauma to my back from a fall that took place during Martial Arts training. I landed so hard that I did not get up. My father adjusted me everyday for a month to get me going again, however, I was not able to finish up with the treatment because I was on my way to school. To make a long story short, I suffered for 3 years with bilateral leg pain that affected everything thing that I did. I was to the point that I thought I was never going to practice my profession.

Well as you know I am practicing my profession. I am writing this for the sole reason to let everyone with low back pain know I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE AND HOW IT AFFECTS EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!!! I also want everyone to know that there is hope beyond pain killers, muscle relaxers, injections, and surgery. I have made it one of my pet projects to learn and buy everything that can offer relief to this kind of debilitating problem.

What needs to be done if you are experiencing a problem like this is to seek out a professional trained to identify if the problem is skeletal, muscular, nerve, or something more like a tumor. After the identification then you need someone that will educate you in a non bias way on all your options and how you can fix the problem and just not mask it. Just remember masking the symptoms is not fixing anything, and be aware by masking the symptoms your problem could be getting worse.

I offer many options so call and set up a time for a consult to discuss your options. You might want to check out this site also https://axiomworldwide.com/ this is information on non-surgical decompression that helps with Disc Degeneration and Disc herniation of lumbar spine.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Your partner in health Dr. Nathan signing off.

Gray Winter Days

Does any of this sound familiar low mood, depression, anxiety, overweight, overeating, carbohydrate craving, and occasional sleeplessness. Well for millions of people this is far too familiar.

Winter season is a very tough time of the year for many people. It could be the lack of sun light, the cold, being cooped up in doors, no matter what the cause there is no denying that there are millions of people suffering in this country.

There is help; if diet changes and proper sleep is not enough then you might want to ask your doctor about 5-HTP. 5-HTP is extracted from the seed of the griffonia plant and is a precursor for making serotonin in the human body.

Serotonin is one of the ten major brain neurotransmitters. Yeah that is important. Deficiencies of serotonin have been linked to depression, anxiousness, irritability, suicide, alcoholism, violent behavior, PMS, obesity, compulsive gambling, insomnia, carbohydrate craving, SAD (seasonal affective disorder), and migraine headaches.

5-HTP may not be the cure all for Gray days of winter, however it may provide that little bit of help when you feel everything starts to close in on you.

A little Sun light or a trip to Florida would not hurt either.

Anyone with blood pressure check this out

Seven Ways to Promote Brain Health

Cognitive health all starts with proper sleep, nutrition and lowering your stress with out proper sleep nutrition and stress management all the supplements or techniques are not going to make a difference. when these things are not enough then try these seven things.

1. Increasing Antioxidant levels which reduce lipid per oxidation and therefore can help support brain health. ex. bilberry, rosemary, selenium and many others.

2. Restore Growth Factors - when acetyl carnitine and acetyl carnitine arginate are combined they dramatically stimulate nerve growth factor levels in the brain.

3. Blood sugar support - there is a link between free radicals and insulin resistance. all you have to know is that nerves can be damaged by diabetes and the brain is a big nerve. ex. cinnamon, bitter melon and many others.

4. Environmental Neurotoxins - these are things like aluminum and lead among other things using a technique to eliminate these toxins are beneficial. A metal cleanse like Metaloclear may help.

5. Lowering homocysteine - this can be done by using B vitamins.

6. Stress Reduction - So important that I am going to mention it again. this can be done if not able to regulate on your own by controling Cortisol levels. Suppliments that stimulate the adrenal gland.

7. Improve Sleep Quality - if unable to fall asleep or stay asleep both can affect sleep but are two different problems both can be helped if you can not regulate on your own. ex. 5-HTP, Melatonin and many others.

Everything listed here are things that can be regulated on your own, however if having trouble or just don't know how to regulate contact me and we can work through the problem together.