Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from April 2004

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from April 2004

Letter from the publisher.
April 1, 2004... In Seattle most of the alternative and chelating physicians did their real "internship" not in the hospital, but at a low-cost clinic set up by the Well Mind Association in an older Victorian home. The clinic was part charity work, part street...

Getting in tune with nature.
April 1, 2004... Staying Healthy with the Seasons by Elson M. Haas, MD Celestial Arts, P.O. Box 7123, Berkeley, California 94707 USA; www.tenspeed.com Lge. Softcover, 1981, 2003, $16.95, 266 pp. Whoever wishes to investigate medicine should proceed...

Rife Conference 2003 summary.
April 1, 2004... The Rife Conference 2003 in Seattle was a whopping success with about 400 people attending. The exhibitors had their many types of machines on display, and there was even a Multi-Wave Oscillator to see, as well as a recreation of the late...

Mental health without drugs? Doctors, scientists share latest research.
April 1, 2004... At the age of 29, Donna, a mother of two, working on a post-graduate degree, was jolted when her doctor told her she had generalized anxiety disorder. "He immediately wrote me a prescription for Paxil and Valium. I waited three weeks...

IBCMT workshop in the Philippines.
April 1, 2004... On January 3-6, 2004, the International Board of Metal Toxicology (IBCMT) held its first Philippine workshop at the Watergate Hotel in Cebu, Philippines. Nearly 50 medical doctors attended, including doctors from Hong Kong and Malaysia. The...

Niacinamide for depression.
April 1, 2004... The world was still deep in the Great Depression when William Kaufman, MD, PhD had already begun treating osteoarthritis with two to four grams of niacinamide daily. Now, over 60 years later, his pioneering work in orthomolecular medicine is...

Key ingredient missing in some arthritis supplements for people and pets according to ConsumerLab.com.
April 1, 2004... ConsumerLab.com has announced test results for supplements used in treating osteoarthritis that contain glucosamine, chondroitin, and/or MSM. These ingredients accounted for $790 million in product sales in 2002 according to Nutrition Business...

Shorts.
April 1, 2004... Depression in Japan Until very recently, the Japanese viewed depression as "a figment of the imagination" that should be overcome with willpower, says The Wall Street Journal (9 October 2002). The Japanese attitude toward depression was so...

Literature review & commentary.
April 1, 2004... Chromium for dysthymic disorder... Following a patient's report of a dramatic response to the addition of chromium supplementation to sertraline (Zoloft) therapy for dysthymic disorder, the authors initiated a series of single-blind and...

The war on cancer.
April 1, 2004... Beans Against Cancer? "... and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink." -Daniel 1.12 Beans are among our most ancient foods. The major problem in discussing Phaseolus vulgaris is, well, its vulgarity. No other kind of food...

Homeopathic cartography: a roadmap to finding remedies.(Healing with Homeopathy)
April 1, 2004... Homeopathic Geography The sheer number of existing homeopathic remedies is daunting- over two thousand. More new medicines are becoming available than ever before due to new provings and to the rapidly growing demand for substances not yet...

Fragrance alters mood and brain chemistry.(Health Risks and Environmental Issues)
April 1, 2004... Fragrance materials are added to give products a scent, to mask odors of other ingredients, and in some cases to alter mood. Fragrance materials may be synthetic, natural, or a combination of both. Using scented products causes exposure to...

Phytotherapy review & commentary.
April 1, 2004... Ginkgo and Bleeding Tendency: Guilt by Association? Ginkgo biloba as the 50:1 standardized extract (EGb) has been used as an herbal treatment for "cerebral insufficiency" and intermittent claudication for almost 40 years.(1) It is often...

Pathways to healing.
April 1, 2004... When people talk about the Integrative Medicine Department at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare System, their voices change. "I chose to work here specifically to be in a team environment, because I like to share information, I like to learn...

Depression & Chinese medicine.(Chinese Medicine Update)
April 1, 2004... During the Cultural Revolution and for some time after, depression was a politically incorrect term in the People's Republic of China. What is now called depression was, for many years, referred to as "neurasthenia" in China. However, today,...

What's in a name? Terming non-standard medical treatment.(Townsend's New York Observer)
April 1, 2004... In 1987 the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), a late research arm of Congress, set to work on a report about cancer treatments that lie outside standard care. The OTA mulled over a number of terms for these treatments, none of which...

The Anti-Dementia effect of Lion's Mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceum) and its clinical application.(Lion's Mane)
April 1, 2004... Introduction Medicinal Mushrooms have become a hot item in the mass media in the last few years but the information being disseminated about them is not always scientifically accurate. Most of the studies on the efficacy of medicinal...

Lithium, part 2: other effects.
April 1, 2004... What would you call a substance associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of homicide, suicide, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, mental hospital admissions, and drug addiction-related arrests? Some would call such a substance a...

SSRIs: are they as safe as promised? Part 1.
April 1, 2004... Sixteen years have passed since Prozac, the antidepressant drug, was introduced to the US market and quickly achieved the label of a "wonder drug." During that time, Prozac has indeed helped many people who suffer from severe depression. But...

Insomnia options; natural medicine choices.
April 1, 2004... When supplied with correct and ample amounts of nutritional factors, brain chemistry can be altered in such a way that nutritional treatments for conditions of the mind can be more easily executed. Current and past medical research contains a...

Why nutritional therapies fail in patients who need them the most.
April 1, 2004... Even though I do not have multiple sclerosis, the Letter from the Publisher in the November 2003 issue struck a familiar chord because I also have been trying to understand why nutritional therapies that benefit the majority of people, fail to...

Fibromyalgia: clinical management improves outcomes, reduces treatment complications.
April 1, 2004... Fibromyalgia (FM) is a 'medical mystery syndrome' characterized by disabling, treatment-resistant pain localized in tender ('trigger') points. (1) The classic definition requires that 11 or more of 17 specific points show significant...

Guided digital medicine: the law of unintended consequences and non-disease treatment of diseases--part 1.
April 1, 2004... Once upon a time (a real story), there was a beautiful, large lake plentiful with fish that had fed many generations of tens of thousands of people in the vicinity. Yet, one day, some industrious folks had decided to bolster its fishing...

GPC (GlyceroPhosphoCholine), ortho-nutraceutical for active living and healthy aging.
April 1, 2004... GPC or GlyceroPhosphoCholine (pronounced gli-sero-fos-fo-ko-lean) is a small molecule with a large place in the scheme of life. It is a cell protectant, a pro-phospholipid building block for cell membranes, a chemical transmitter source, and...

Food allergy and food intolerance: specific versus innate immunity.
April 1, 2004... Nomenclature The concept of allergy was fairly well understood when von Pirquet, an Austrian physician, first introduced the term in 1906. It was intended to denote an altered reaction to a normally innocuous substance. Two decades later...

Meat trees to provide a 'carnucopia'?(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: As I read the opening of Gina Nick's December column on genetically modified foods, in which she discusses the development by British scientists of trees that bear fruit with "meat flavored, textured and smelling pulp" (Medicinal...

Hair analysis study flawed.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: Dr. Alan Gaby's review of the Seidel, et. al. hair analysis report in the January 2004 issue was unfortunate. He mentioned none of the flaws in the study and just accepted its incorrect conclusion. Even JAMA published several...

Favorable outcome with removal of amalgams.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: Dr. Gaby's comments on silver amalgams in the November 2003 commentary don't make real sense to me. Metals in the mouth conduct more heat and cold than plastics and should give more sensitivity than a good composite filling. This...

Hair analysis can permit accurate diagnosis and treatment.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: It was with the greatest of interest I read the January 2004 TLfDP which highlighted Alternative Laboratory Examinations. In my practice as an Orthomolecular Nutritionist, I began specializing in Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis [HTMA]...

Completely natural cholesterol reduction nature's perfect statin[R].(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: Vitamin C is the original HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor. The hot selling statins, such as Lipitor[R] and Zocor[R], lower cholesterol by blocking the coenzyme HMG-CoA reductase. The first statin drugs were released to the US in 1987,...

The potential health benefits of purple corn.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: As a health-conscious consumer, I find it a daunting task to read grocery store labels in order to ensure that I eat what is best for my health. It seems that most companies are more interested in producing low cost consumables...

Curcumin (turmeric) to prevent blood clots.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: This is about the benefits of curcumin, often called turmeric. It is the herb curcuma longa. I am taking my information from firms selling this herbal remedy but it is worth reading about. First is the publication of Vitamin...

Dr. Don Carrow's tale.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: I read the article and story about Dr. Don Carrow's untimely death, his background, education, and multiple medical and non-medical specialty interests he had, in the January 2004 issue of Townsend Letter. Like Dr. Carrow, I have...

The benefits of medical freedom.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: "My brother-in-law Tex has been told he has, maybe, one week to live with Stage IV liver cancer. Do you have any suggestions?" The question was posed in late November, 2002, to an American who has established an expertise in...

Caffeine anaphylaxis-stage II: obsessive-compulsive disorder.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: With toxicity progressing, simultaneously or after manifesting as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ongoing caffeine anaphylaxis continues poisoning the brain and generates the repetitive, obsessive behavior noted in...

Integrative psychiatry.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: This is from a subscriber to your excellent publication for several years now and I am enclosing a copy of my "Statement of Professional Policy" which has been placed in my waiting room for the patients of the Brief Therapy Center...

Statement of professional policy.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... To All My Patients The practice of psychiatry has in recent years come under the influence of many parties with divergent motives, financial interests, and orientations. These have, in my opinion, corroded the prevailing protocols and...

Antioxidant activity of fruit juices.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: The antioxidant activity of fruits, vegetables and grain products is probably a reflection of their phenolic content. (1) We wished to ascertain this for commercial fruit juices and, hence, the in vitro antioxidant activity of...

Two vitamins cut ICU deaths in half.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: Every once in a while I see another article that gets plastered all over the media telling folks they don't need nutrients or antioxidants. As I've shown in many issues of my monthly referenced newsletter of 17 years, Total...

Our evolving maladaptation.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: Congratulations (belatedly) on your wonderful 20th birthday issue (April 2003). In it you featured the work of two visionaries in medicine, Dr. Alfred Plechner and a review of the book September 11, 2005, by Dr. Majid Ali. This is...

Mental illness may really be infectious disease.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Editor: I'm going to give my psychoanalyst one more year then I'm going to Lourdes.... Woody Allen Psychological treatment of chronic "mental illnesses" is often lengthy and of limited efficacy. Carolyn Raser was a healthy, energetic...

The medical malpractice crisis.(Editorial)
April 1, 2004... America has the only medical-care system in the world in which patients get to play simultaneously, both Russian roulette and the lottery. On the one hand, many conventional medical treatments or diagnostic procedures carry an unacceptably high...

Why the 'healthy heart diet' isn't healthy.
April 1, 2004... The Modern Nutritional Diseases and How to Prevent Them by Alice Ottoboni, PhD & Fred Ottoboni, MPH, PhD Vincente Books Inc, P.O. Box 50704, Sparks, Nevada 89435-0704 USA;VBI@775.net Softbound, ISBN 0-915241-03-X, c. 2002, 216 pp,...

Amino acids & health.
April 1, 2004... The Healing Nutrition Within (3rd ed.) by Eric R. Braverman, MD Basic Health Publications, 8200 Blvd. E, North Bergen, New Jersey 07047 USA, 201-868-8336, fax 201-868-2842 432 pgs, quality paperback, $17.95 US, $28.95 Canada,...

Ethical medicine.
April 1, 2004... Professionalism and Ethics in Complementary and Alternative Medicine by John Crellin and Fernando Ania Haworth Integrative Healing Press, 10 Alice Street Binghamton, New York 13904-1580 USA Hardcover, ISBN: 0-7890-1225-1,...

Environmental illness at home.
April 1, 2004... The Sick House Survival Guide by Angela Hobbs New Society Publishers, P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, British Columbia VOR IXO, Canada, 1-800-657-6772 Softcover, 2003, 160 pp., $18.95 CAN, $27.95 US In the distant future, it...

Quality milk: a nutritious food.
April 1, 2004... The Untold Story of Milk, Green Pastures, Contented Cows and Raw Dairy Foods by Ron Schmid, ND, foreword by Sally Fallon New Trends Publishing, Washington, DC 20007 USA Quality paperback, 4 pages of color illustrations, appendices,...

Medicinal properties in whole foods.
April 1, 2004... The Disease-Fighting Effects of Hyaluronan Hyaluronan (also known as hyaluronic acid) is a naturally occurring, ubiquitous, safe and non-toxic chemical (1) that is demonstrating surprising results for addressing inflammation and pain. Its...

A column devoted to informative alternative health resources on the internet.(Web Page Potpourri)
April 1, 2004... Mad Cow Disease http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm The emergence of Mad Cow in the United States, while shocking to many, was no surprise to longtime readers of this site. It's a huge treasure-trove of news and information....

Migraine headache, brain chemistry & the "Matrix" point formula.(Acupuncture and Moxibustion)
April 1, 2004... Recent Western medical research on migraine headaches suggests that one cofactor producing these vascular events may be improper serotonin metabolism. (1) Since it is also well documented that acupuncture has a powerful impact on brain...

In a good mood: culture and the reinvention of happiness.(Medical Anthropology)
April 1, 2004... Recently, I watched the film Whale Rider, on the Maori culture in New Zealand and their struggle to maintain their cultural heritage in the face of modernization. In writing this column I thought about my experience in some of these cultures,...

Mood disorders, depression, brain chemistry relationship to weight loss and sleep disorders.(Psychotherapist Review and Commentary)
April 1, 2004... Low back pain-hypnosis Fifteen adults 18-43 years of age with chronic low back pain (mean duration 4 years) were found to be moderately/highly hypnotizable based on the modified 11-point Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale....

How CFS, Fibromyalgia, or stress can make you gain weight.(Highly Effective Treatments for Pain and Fatigue)
April 1, 2004... In addition to the myriad other problems they have to bear, a recent study of ours found that Fibromyalgia and CFS patients have an average weight gain of 32 pounds. Because of the metabolic problems that occur, it is almost impossible to lose...

Calendar.(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... MARCH 15: DEADLINE FOR PAPERS & POSTERS for the International Conference on System Science in Health Care (September 1-4 in Geneva, Switzerland). CONTACT: http://www.unige.ch/formcont/icsshc2004 MARCH 19-20: INTEGRATIVE HEALING SEMINAR...

Insomnia and sleep disorders in women.(Women's Health Update)
April 1, 2004... Overview of the Problem Inadequate or dissatisfying sleep is the most common sleep disturbance in America. As many as 40% of adult Americans report at least occasional insomnia, and of those, nearly 20% have severe insomnia. Severe...

Nutritional influences on sleep.(Nutritional Influences on Illness)
April 1, 2004... In this month's column, we will review both how marginal nutritional deficiencies may interfere with sleep, and how supplementation (even in the absence of evidence of deficiency) may improve it. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Vitamins ...