Dr. Katz, the president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and director of the Yale Prevention and Research Center explains naturopathic medicine and why he thinks naturopathic doctors are an integral part of the health care system.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/the-nature-of-medicine-an_b_5965160.html
The times, they are a changing and many of my patients find that their own medical doctors are starting to observe the results I have been able to achieve with my patients. Some are even taking notes as my patients tell them what they've been doing.
It helps everyone when we can all work together to the benefit of the patient.
Yours in Health,
Ian Koo, ND
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www.NaturopathicEssentials.com
"The care you want, the health you need."
Showing posts with label naturopath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label naturopath. Show all posts
Update: H1N1 & Flu Vaccinations - should we or shouldn't we? Pros & Cons
In light of the recent death of a 13 year old boy in Toronto, I've gotten a lot of questions about whether we should vaccinate. Should we vaccinate for H1N1? Seasonal flu shots?
The public is looking for answers and unfortunately I cannot make that decision for you. I do understand your frustration though with so many conflicting points of views, what is one to think. There are possible pros and cons (some theoretical & some not) for getting the vaccine(s) and for not getting the vaccine(s). Parents and individuals need to sift through this information and be at peace with the decision that they make.
Hopefully I can shed some light on this topic.
Dual flu & H1N1 vaccinations:
Ontario and a few other provinces have decided to separate the two and in Ontario, public health officials have decided to delay the seasonal flu vaccine in light of some preliminary (Cdn) data showing that those who received the seasonal flu shot last year had an increased risk of contracting H1N1. In addition, the seasonal flu does not usually lead to fatalities in healthy adults and the young.
Pros & Cons of H1N1 vaccinations:
PROS
CONS
Other things to Note
Statistics seem to indicate that many people born before 1957 already have immunity to the H1N1 swine flu as scientists hypothesize that the kind of flu that infected individuals before this date was more like the swine flu. The H1N1 virus was the culprit in the 1918 flu pandemic and continued to circulate in the population til 1957, when an H2N2 virus displaced it as the dominant virus.
Health Canada's full description of the H1N1 vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline can be found here. This is a must read if you want to form your own opinions. It's pretty frank and quite thorough. Hope you like science!
I found this CBC article to be pretty informative. Dr. Jim Wright at the University of British Columbia makes an interesting point.
If you want to read about the "anti-vaccine" side, you will want to read Dr. Tom Jefferson, MD interview.
A list of vaccine clinics in Peel Region & Toronto. You can even check wait times. If you're not in one of the at risk groups, please let pregnant women, health care workers, the elderly and parents with kids go first. There's nothing worse than seeing a pregnant lady or an elderly person waiting in line for 4-6 hrs with no place to rest.
There are many people who consider themselves healthy because they have no overt signs & symptoms of disease. But I often tell my patients that health is more than the absence of disease. A person who isn't sleeping properly or has a poor diet and is under constant stress is not in a healthy state of being. If you fall in this category, you are definitely putting yourself at greater risk of contracting the flu. Make sure that you're doing everything you can to optimize your health. Naturopathic doctors can certainly help you with this and have many tools to help you should you fall ill.
Important Warning Signs you should be Aware of
Yours in health,
Ian Koo, ND
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic Essentials Health Centre
"The care you want, the health you need"
The public is looking for answers and unfortunately I cannot make that decision for you. I do understand your frustration though with so many conflicting points of views, what is one to think. There are possible pros and cons (some theoretical & some not) for getting the vaccine(s) and for not getting the vaccine(s). Parents and individuals need to sift through this information and be at peace with the decision that they make.
Hopefully I can shed some light on this topic.
Dual flu & H1N1 vaccinations:
Ontario and a few other provinces have decided to separate the two and in Ontario, public health officials have decided to delay the seasonal flu vaccine in light of some preliminary (Cdn) data showing that those who received the seasonal flu shot last year had an increased risk of contracting H1N1. In addition, the seasonal flu does not usually lead to fatalities in healthy adults and the young.
Pros & Cons of H1N1 vaccinations:
PROS
- H1N1 can affect certain segments of the population more severely than the seasonal flu (ie. pregnant women, young children). The elderly and immunocompromised individuals have always been at greater risk of complications from the seasonal flu virus.
- Technically, this vaccine should be more effective than the seasonal flu shot because there is no guess work involved as to which strains should be used. In the past few years, the seasonal flu shot has been largely ineffective. To be fair, the "gold standard" of evidence-based double-blind placebo control trial studies, that are often lacking from natural therapies (and thus used by many to dissuade people from using natural medicine), are not really used to test flu vaccines. If you go to the CBC article that I have linked below, you can read about what Dr. Jim Wright from the University of British Columbia has to say about this.
CONS
- Preservatives/adjuvants (ie. thimerosol, squalene) are in the vaccines being given out. Only pregnant women are being given adjuvant-free vaccines. There is debate about whether these pose any risk.
- Some people believe that the H1N1 vaccines were rushed to production and not enough research has been done on them. However, to be fair, the same process used to create seasonal flu shots were used for the H1N1 vaccines so if you have/don't have concerns about the seasonal flu shot, then those same arguments for or against still hold for the H1N1 vaccine.
- One con in general regarding vaccines (1 in one million) is the risk of contracting Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), where certain neurological symptoms appear.
- People with egg allergies should not get the flu shot
- This vaccine is not recommended for children less than 6 months old
- Many believe that the swine flu risks have been exaggerated and the statistics seem to indicate that so far. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that 250 000 - 500 000 people die every year from influenza (seasonal) vs. 5000 deaths this year to H1N1. CBS recently ran a story stating that "the swine flu cases were seriously overestimated." Most people who do get the swine flu will recover. Unfortunately, we are in an age of constant media where we see the worst case scenarios all the time. Having said that, even though the risks are low these worst-case scenarios are present. The CBC recently ran two worst-case scenario stories: 1) the death of the 13 year old boy 2) a gentleman who got GBS from the flu shot and has had complications with his health ever since.
Other things to Note
Statistics seem to indicate that many people born before 1957 already have immunity to the H1N1 swine flu as scientists hypothesize that the kind of flu that infected individuals before this date was more like the swine flu. The H1N1 virus was the culprit in the 1918 flu pandemic and continued to circulate in the population til 1957, when an H2N2 virus displaced it as the dominant virus.
Health Canada's full description of the H1N1 vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline can be found here. This is a must read if you want to form your own opinions. It's pretty frank and quite thorough. Hope you like science!
I found this CBC article to be pretty informative. Dr. Jim Wright at the University of British Columbia makes an interesting point.
If you want to read about the "anti-vaccine" side, you will want to read Dr. Tom Jefferson, MD interview.
A list of vaccine clinics in Peel Region & Toronto. You can even check wait times. If you're not in one of the at risk groups, please let pregnant women, health care workers, the elderly and parents with kids go first. There's nothing worse than seeing a pregnant lady or an elderly person waiting in line for 4-6 hrs with no place to rest.
There are many people who consider themselves healthy because they have no overt signs & symptoms of disease. But I often tell my patients that health is more than the absence of disease. A person who isn't sleeping properly or has a poor diet and is under constant stress is not in a healthy state of being. If you fall in this category, you are definitely putting yourself at greater risk of contracting the flu. Make sure that you're doing everything you can to optimize your health. Naturopathic doctors can certainly help you with this and have many tools to help you should you fall ill.
Important Warning Signs you should be Aware of
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says patients showing these symptoms should seek medical care immediately.
CHILDREN: Fast or troubled breathing; skin turning bluish; not drinking enough fluids; being unusually hard to wake up or not interacting; being so irritable that the child doesn't want to be held, flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough; fever with a rash.
ADULTS: Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath; pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen; severe or persistent vomiting; sudden dizziness; confusion.
Know the Difference between a Cold and H1N1 Flu Symptoms
| Symptom | Cold | H1N1 Flu |
| Fever | Fever is rare with a cold. | Fever is usually present with the flu in up to 80% of all flu cases. A temperature of 100°F or higher for 3 to 4 days is associated with the H1N1 flu. |
| Coughing | A hacking, productive (mucus- producing) cough is often present with a cold. | A non-productive (non-mucus producing) cough is usually present with the H1N1 flu (sometimes referred to as dry cough). |
| Aches | Slight body aches and pains can be part of a cold. | Severe aches and pains are common with the H1N1 flu. |
| Stuffy Nose | Stuffy nose is commonly present with a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week. | Stuffy nose is not commonly present with the H1N1 flu. |
| Chills | Chills are uncommon with a cold. | 60% of people who have the H1N1 flu experience chills. |
| Tiredness | Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold. | Tiredness is moderate to severe with the H1N1 flu. |
| Sneezing | Sneezing is commonly present with a cold. | Sneezing is not common with the H1N1 flu. |
| Sudden Symptoms | Cold symptoms tend to develop over a few days. | The H1N1 flu has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. The flu hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains. |
| Headache | A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold. | A headache is very common with the H1N1 flu, present in 80% of flu cases. |
| Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea | Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are fairly uncommon with a cold | Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are sometimes present in H1N1 flu. |
| Chest Discomfort | Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold. | Chest discomfort is often severe with the H1N1 flu. |
Yours in health,
Ian Koo, ND
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic Essentials Health Centre
"The care you want, the health you need"
Proof positive of how our thoughts affect change.
It was my first year in naturopathic medical school when I was introduced to something miraculous. A professor of mine introduced our class to the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto. At first I didn't believe it, his research seemed magical.
We watched a video of Dr. Emoto performing experiments with water and photographing frozen water crystals. His hypothesis was that our thoughts and words can affect change even down to the molecular level. To prove this, he wrote negative words like 'hate' & 'sadness' onto glass containing water. He also wrote positive words like 'love' & 'respect' on other glass containers. After a couple of days, he froze the water and began to take photographs of the water crystals. The result was that water that had been exposed to positive thoughts and words formed beautiful, symmetrical water crystals whereas those exposed to negativity produced shapes that weren't as pleasing to look at. Don't believe me, next time you're at the bookstore, look through his published photograph collection entitled The Message from Water. You too will be astounded. Some of you may have heard of the saying "energy follows thought" and I believe that this is an example of that.
Visit Dr. Emoto's website to learn more about his work and don't forget to check out the 'Water Crystal of the month'. This month's featured word is "courtesy".
http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/entop.html
http://NaturopathicEssentials.com
naturopathic doctor
We watched a video of Dr. Emoto performing experiments with water and photographing frozen water crystals. His hypothesis was that our thoughts and words can affect change even down to the molecular level. To prove this, he wrote negative words like 'hate' & 'sadness' onto glass containing water. He also wrote positive words like 'love' & 'respect' on other glass containers. After a couple of days, he froze the water and began to take photographs of the water crystals. The result was that water that had been exposed to positive thoughts and words formed beautiful, symmetrical water crystals whereas those exposed to negativity produced shapes that weren't as pleasing to look at. Don't believe me, next time you're at the bookstore, look through his published photograph collection entitled The Message from Water. You too will be astounded. Some of you may have heard of the saying "energy follows thought" and I believe that this is an example of that.
Visit Dr. Emoto's website to learn more about his work and don't forget to check out the 'Water Crystal of the month'. This month's featured word is "courtesy".
http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/entop.html
http://NaturopathicEssentials.com
naturopathic doctor
Living to 100 may be easier than we once thought.
A study printed in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine (Feb 2008) states that “the probability of a 72-year-old to reach age 90 years was 54% in the absence of 5 key adverse factors.” Those factors are smoking, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and living a sedentary lifestyle. In contrast, having all 5 factors dropped the probability to 4%.
- Eat right – lots of fruits & veggies. In
- Drink right! When you’re thirsty, reach for a glass of water or make some fresh juice from your juicer. Stay away from the soft drinks and the fake juices out there.
- Sleep right. Make sure you get at least 7-8hrs of shut eye at night. Sleep shuts down the mind and body and allows it to repair itself.
- Move right. In today’s day and age, many people live an inactive lifestyle. This has contributed to the ever expanding waist lines of North Americans. Begin by increasing the amount of movement you do during the day: park far from your work entrance and walk, take the stairs instead of the elevator, go for a brisk lunch hour walk with a co-worker. The goal is to get you moving again! Once you’ve done that, you can then begin lifting weights and start a cardiovascular exercise regime.
- De-stress! Stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Human beings need a certain amount of stress to function at peak efficiency. The problem arises when we are constantly stressed and have no outlet to dissipate this pent-up energy. Meditation works well for some people as do yoga and qi-gong. For me, exercise seems to do the trick.
- Share your life with people you love – family, friends, a spouse and even a pet.
- Perform regular check-ups with your health care practitioners and let them know if anything is bothering you. Then try to figure out the cause(s) of the problem(s) together. It’s not enough if you can get rid of the symptoms, you must always try to address the causes of disease.
naturopathic doctor
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