Dr. Craig Reese, DC, PC
DR. CRAIG
REESE, D.C.
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2004 NEWSLETTER
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Happy Holidays!
Thanksgiving has just passed and Christmas is barreling down on us full steam! The holidays are a time for parties and eating a lot of food that you didn’t make. Because of that, the holidays are also a time when you can easily pick up parasites. I know that is not a pleasant thought but anytime you eat food that you didn’t prepare, you stand the chance of getting parasites. The two main sources are from someone not washing their hands after the bathroom and cross contamination of raw meat with uncooked foods. Not everyone is as careful in the kitchen as you are so their food may have parasites. Food poisoning is also common during the holidays from food sitting out too long. You know when you have food poisoning because you will have both diarrhea and vomiting at the same time but it only lasts a few hours to less than 2 days at the most. To protect youself from these hidden invaders I recommend taking one dropper full of Jug/Art or 1 Paradex before bed when you have been eating party food or at restaurants. If you start to feel like you may have food poisoning, take 4 droppers of Jug/Art or 4 Paradex and 6 Goldenseal immediately and you may stop it quickly before you get really sick.
Fatigue
The holidays tend to make a lot of people tired but fatigue is a year-round problem. This can range anywhere from “I just don’t have the energy I used to have” to debilitating chronic fatigue that totally disrupts a person’s life. These are just different points on the same scale that can eventually disable even the heartiest among us.
When I first got out of Chiropractic school, I was 29 and in great health. I moved to San Diego and eventually opened a practice there. About 6 months after I opened that practice I started having a runny nose and was exhausted all the time. I barely had enough energy to see patients and would sleep every minute that I wasn’t in the office. After eight months and a dozen different doctors who could not figure out what was wrong with me, I stumbled onto the answer one day. Since I was so wiped out, I had sold my practice and was moving to Colorado to work with a friend of mine in his clinic. I figured if I was sick he could treat my patients and I could take the time to fully recover. I was running some speaker wire through the drop ceiling of the clinic as a favor to the doctor who bought my practice. I noticed that I could look down and see the guys in the shop next door. They had a dry cleaning business and would keep their doors open and big fans running all day. In Southern California I had my doors closed and the air conditioning on all the time. They were blowing all those chemicals into my office creating a “sick building” for me to work in. Shortly after coming to Colorado I had my health and energy back.
Environmental poisoning is just one of the many factors that can be causing your fatigue. Weak adrenals and/or thyroid, hormone imbalance, protein deficiencies, nutritional deficiencies, chronic infections, excess caffeine and/or alcohol, etc.. You may have noticed that age wasn't on the list. I have people in their 30’s that think they are tired because they are just getting older. This is a myth of modern society that we all get old and tired once we are out of our 20’s. Our bodies are designed to be strong and vital until the day we expire. If you don’t feel that way, there is a reason or more likely several reasons why that is true.
The adrenal glands are heavily taxed by our modern lifestyle. No sunshine, junk food, late nights, rushing around, over caffeinated, under exercised, under nourished and living in a sea of electromagnetic waves that were not here 100 years ago. Dr. Hans Selye started researching the effects of stress on the body back in the 1920’s and continued until his death in 1982. He discovered that the adrenals would react to stress by trying to compensate but would eventually burn out and the body would inevitably collapse. The stress can be either real or imagined because the body reacts the same way. So thinking about stressful situations can be just has harmful to your body as the situation itself. The adrenals produce hormones that control our “fight or flight” response, tissue repair, body rebuilding, sex hormones, anti-aging functions, blood sugar regulation, anti-inflammatory responses, immune system, sodium, potassium and fluid balance.
The thyroid is the other gland that can be weak and often goes undiagnosed due to the inaccuracy of blood tests. Hair analysis and saliva tests have proven to be accurate early screening tests for thyroid and adrenal problems. The list for the effects of thyroid hormone on the body is quite long and we have copies available at the office. The list includes basal metabolic rate, protein/carbohydrate/lipid metabolism, nervous system, cardiovascular system, muscle and bone, reproductive system, gastrointestinal system and skin. Having weak adrenals and a weak thyroid can cause many of the common ailments that people suffer from daily.
Two easy habits that you can incorporate into your life to protect you from burnout are; eat real food and get your sleep. Real food is organic unprocessed living food that will rebuild your body not tear it down. It is the food found around the outside aisles of a grocery store not the canned and packaged garbage in the middle aisles. Real food spoils quickly, dead food lasts for weeks or months on the shelf. Pure water should replace most of the liquids you drink. The best sleep you can get is during the hours before Midnight. Your body’s cells follow the sun’s cycles and are built to go to bed shortly after sunset and awaken with sunrise. Getting your 8 hours of sleep from 9PM to 5AM is better for your health than sleeping from 12AM to 8AM. If you think that you may have a problem with adrenal and/or thyroid weakness, we have several questionnaires and lab tests that can help us accurately diagnose any imbalances and get you back to feeling energetic and alive again.
Office News
Over
the Christmas holidays the office will be closed December 19 through the
25. We will be open the Friday and Saturday after Christmas from 9-1.
New Year’s week we will be open our normal hours on Monday, Tuesday
and Friday only (12/29, 12/30, 1/2/2004). The first week in January we
will be closed for lunch from 2-4 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (1/5,1/6,
1/8/2004). After that week, we will resume normal office hours. Have a
great holiday season!!!
