Summer 2007
In This Issue:
Breaking Out of Stagnation with Five Element Acupuncture
Lori Horan Soule, N.D., L.Ac.
After graduating from art college 2 years ago, Mary had trouble getting motivated. She had been sitting on a great idea for starting her own jewelry business for years, but she just couldn’t find her “mojo” for taking any action. Mary was also suffering from uterine fibroids and debilitating fatigue. Taken together, these symptoms are known in Chinese medicine as “stagnation.”
Stagnation can take many forms: physical symptoms are fatigue, pain and growths (like fibroids). In the spirit, it might be experienced as flat-line desire, disconnection from one’s goal, or by being drained of energy through useless pursuits. In Mary’s case, we were able to use Five Element acupuncture to move her “blood stagnation” and to boost her “inner fire.” Within three months she had abundant energy and was self-employed.
Five Element Acupuncture is a comprehensive style of acupuncture that can be used to treat far more than just physical problems. It excels in freeing up the creative life force that empowers you to transform your dreams into life actions. By removing energetic blocks in the body, it is possible to free up your life force to move beyond stagnation in your psyche and actually accomplish what your spirit envisions you to do.
Five Element uses a method of constitutional diagnosis. Your unique characteristics are compared to one of the elements found in nature (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). It uses information such as the sound of your voice, the color of your skin, the dominant emotions that you experience, etc., to determine your constitutional type. Once your type is determined, treatment focuses on removing blocks and increasing communication in the body where it is needed. The result is a freer, more empowered you.
In Mary’s case, her “Fire” element was weak, and her predominant emotion was joylessness. By treating her fire organs (heart and small intestine), she was able to feel inspired again, and able to circulate her blood as well as her enthusiasm. A “Water” constitutional type feels fear as a predominant emotion, and fear can be the limiting factor for breaking out of patterns of stagnation. By treating the organ most associated with fear, the kidneys, the magnitude of fear will diminish, and an individual can make choices without fear as the core motivation.
“Wood” types feel anger and frustration as their predominant emotions. By treating the organ associated with anger, i.e., the liver, it allows a “Wood” person to uncoil from a frustrated position and move forward.
A few years ago I treated a patient who was a writer who felt “writers-block” while working on his book. For years he had hobbled along with his writing, often taking month-long breaks as he grappled with his depression. He had all the characteristics of a Metal constitution, such as residual grief from earlier losses and chronic bronchitis. After boosting his metal energy, he was able to complete his book and has written another since. This is the power of Five Element acupuncture.
Are you doing something you wish you could stop doing but can’t? Do you have something that you absolutely want or need to do that you just can’t bring yourself to do? Or are you spending major amounts of energy on something that you just aren’t sure you should keep doing? If you feel blocked or stagnant in your life in any way, Five Element acupuncture can help. Call Dr. Horan for your constitutional diagnosis and treatment.
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Heal Your Knees with Prolotherapy
Noel Peterson, N.D.
Drs.Yoo-Sin Park and Si-Woong Lim had kept careful notes for several years as their patients’ knees responded to Prolotherapy. Their older patients had less pain and found it easier to climb stairs, walk the golf course, and ride their bikes, while many of their younger patients recovered from knee trauma and surgeries as if they had never been injured. The doctors began to think of how to design an experiment that would demonstrate to their skeptical colleagues that cartilage regeneration was the cause of their patient’s improvement. They assembled a team of researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Science of Hanyang University, College of Medicine and at the Department of Physical Medicine, Inje University, School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea.
They knew that laxity of knee ligaments increases the wear-and-tear on joints, causing cartilage to wear out prematurely. They decided to surgically cause osteoarthritis and loss of cartilage by transecting the anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) in the left knees of 24 New Zealand White rabbits. ACL transection destabilizes the knee, much like weakened and lax ligaments do as we age and after sports injuries.
Half of the rabbits were given injections of a nutritive Prolotherapy solution into the left knee at week 6, 8, 10, 13 and 16 after surgery, while the other half were given placebo injections of normal saline (NS) at the same interval. The animals were sacrificed at 19 weeks and the knees were examined by pathological sampling and staining and by electron scanning microscopy for pathological and arthritic changes. What they discovered was remarkable!
Since ACL transection is expected to cause osteoarthritis of the knee, it was no surprise that all of the animals given placebo injections showed advanced arthritic changes. The knees had severe cartilage loss and erosion, loss of chondrocytes, calcification of cartilage, and severe degenerative changes in the medial tibial plateau.
By contrast, the knees in the Prolotherapy treated group looked as if no surgery had been performed. Prolotherapy injections had prevented the erosion of cartilage, and had conferred protective effects against the OA-like degenerative changes in the articular cartilage.
Prolotherapy works in several mechanisms to repair knees. Cartilage has virtually no blood supply of it’s own. Therefore, cartilage cells are almost entirely dependent on the nutrients provided by the synovial fluid. The authors note that Prolotherapy injections are nutritive to chondrocytes and induce proliferation of chondrocytes, osteocytes and fibroblasts. They yield osmotic changes that induce the release of local tissue growth factors and cause the production of precursors for extracellular matrix macromolecules in articular chondrocytes. Prolo injections also enhance protein synthesis and amino acid transport into cartilage cells.
In contrast, conventional treatments have many well-known drawbacks. Steroid injections cause softening and loss of cartilage, weaken fibro-osseous tissues that stabilize the joint, cause immune suppression, are painful and produce “dry knee syndrome”. Ibuprofen and other NSAIDS show no long-term benefit in osteoarthritis. In fact, they inhibit the formation of new collagen matrix, thereby inhibiting tissue repair. Hyaluronic acid only improves short-term viscoelasticity of the synovial fluids and may actually interrupt cartilage synthesis. Surgery is expensive, requires extensive rehabilitation and has been demonstrated to provide no benefit when compared to placebo surgery.
The authors concluded that Prolotherapy injections are “relatively inexpensive, are less painful, less invasive, safer and have long-term benefits when compared to conventional treatment of knee osteoarthritis.”
Arthritis Research & Therapy, Volume 9:1, 26 January 2007
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Allergy Free? It's Possible!
Lori Horan Soule, N.D., L.Ac.
We welcome Summer in all its splendor (unless you happen to suffer from hay fever)!
Allergies occur when your immune system overreacts to normally harmless airborne particles, causing symptoms such as runny nose, itchy eyes, scratchy throat and sneezing. These allergic reactions can range from mild to severe, and can aggravate other conditions including asthma, bronchitis, ear infections, eczema, hives, and headaches. Allergic reactions to dust, pollen and other substances are the body’s way of fending off the intrusion of airborne particles that disrupt the body’s equilibrium.
“I used to get a steroid shot every year to control my symptoms. It was very effective, but eventually my symptoms came back and were a little worse each year they returned,” explains Martin, a patient who wanted to find other means to treat his hay fever and asthma. After treating him with naturopathic and Chinese medicine for about a year, his seasonal cycle of symptoms are cured!
Treatment Of Allergies
While conventional medicine offers drugs that can provide temporary relief of allergy symptoms, these medicines may ultimately lead to new health problems. I have found that by using natural medicines and by modifying the diet to restore normal immune function, the underlying causes of allergies can be cleared for good. This approach can help you breathe, eat, and live allergy free again, without drugs!
Some of the factors that negatively impact immune function include: increased toxic burden; vaccinations and immunizations; damage to healthy intestinal flora due to over-reliance on antibiotics or steroids; repetitive diet habits; pesticides and preservatives in foods; and chronic intestinal yeast overgrowth (candidiasis). Following are a few of the most important things you can do to eliminate allergic symptoms:
Identify Food Sensitivities
A food allergy in the intestines often precedes allergies to airborne particles. Poor digestion, alcohol consumption, anti-inflammatory drugs, bacterial and parasitic infections and antibiotics can all weaken the gut barrier so that partially digested food macromolecules leak into the bloodstream through the intestinal wall. The intestinal mucosa is supposed to protect us against disease causing substances in our diet through an immune network called the gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). This system protects us from pathogens and prevents ingested proteins from hyper-stimulating the immune response. But when over-activated, even simple food particles can flag the immune system, and an allergic reaction is born. Allergy testing can identify these reactive foods, and elimination of these foods can reduce the stress on the immune system so it isn’t so “trigger-happy.” Inoculating the gut with certain beneficial strains of Lactobacillus have been shown to restore the GALT to normal function and reverse allergic reactions to foods. In some severe cases, an intestinal/liver cleanse is recommended.
Mast cells are immune cells that line the surfaces of the gut and respiratory tree. Certain water-soluble plant substances called flavonoids, are thought to work by preventing the release of the inflammatory chemical histamine from mast cells.
In my experience, the herb Urtica dioica reduces symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis. Research shows that this herb relieves allergy symptoms in about 58% of patients with allergic rhinitis.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Research suggests that essential fatty acids reduce the production of inflammatory chemicals in the body (prostaglandin E2 and inflammatory cytokines). Good sources of omega-3 fatty acids are fish oil capsules of EPA and DHA, up to 3000 mg. per day.
Homeopathy
Desensitization drops can be very helpful in calming allergy symptoms. We use homeopathic combinations that can help you desensitize, and we have seen a good response using these sublingual drops in allergies to foods, animal dander, dust and all the typical pollens found in the Willamette Valley.
Acupuncture
In a German study published in the journal Allergy, 52 people with hay fever received acupuncture (once a week) and a Chinese herbal tea designed to address allergic symptoms (three times a day) or placebo acupuncture and a regular herbal tea. After 6 weeks, people who received the acupuncture and herbal treatment noticed an 85 percent improvement on a “global assessment of change” scale compared to 40 percent in the control group.
If you suffer from allergies, consider seeing Dr. Horan for acupuncture treatment and to learn other natural solutions to heal your allergies instead of just suppressing the symptoms.
Xue CC, et al. Effect of acupuncture in the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis: a randomized controlled clinical trial. American Journal Chinese Medicine 2002;30(1):
1-11
(Planta Medica 1990 (56):44-47)
Immunomodulating Effects of Peptidic Fractions Issued from Milk Fermented with Lactobacillus,” LeBlanc, Matar, Valdez, et al., J. Dairy Sci. 85:2733-2742
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Vitamin D Deserves an “A”
Noel Peterson, N.D.
What if there was one vitamin that has been proven to prevent osteoporosis, cut the risk of breast cancer by 50%, cut the risk of colon cancer by 58%, cut the risk of prostate cancer by 60%, prevent depression, prevent knee osteoarthritis, prevent hip fractures in women, boost viral immunity and prevent autoimmune disease? Would you be interested? What if I told you that less than 10% of those reading this have enough of this vitamin to do much more than prevent Rickets, and that this vitamin is not a vitamin at all, but a hormone made in your skin? Would you guess that this substance is known as 25(OH)D, or vitamin D?
Sadly, most people don’t know the truth about vitamin D, or that the RDA of 400 iu for vitamin D is less than 10% of what is required to prevent cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and depression. That’s because the RDA was originally based on the dose required to prevent Rickets, a bone softening disorder, and was never intended to be a recommendation for preventing other diseases.
Want to know more? Then go to www.MyCTM.org to read more about vitamin D, or go to www.vitaminDcouncil.com for all the latest expert opinion and research on vitamin D.
“Vitamin D and prevention of breast cancer: pooled analysis,” Garland CF, Gorham ED, et al, The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2007; 103(3-5): 708-711.
“Prospective study of predictors of vitamin D status and cancer incidence and mortality in men,” Giovannucci E, Liu Y, et al, J Natl Cancer Inst, 2006; 98(7): 451-9. (Address: Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
“Positive association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and bone density in osteoarthritis,” Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Zhang Y, et al, Arthritis Rheum., 2005; 53(6): 821-6. (Address: Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
July 2005 FASEB Journal, Adrian F. Gombart of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. Published online January 30, 2007.
American Journal of Preventative Medicine. 2007;32:210-216.
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Is Your Peri-Menopause Coming From
Adreno-Pause?
Lori Horan Soule, N.D., L.Ac.
“I’ve been pushing myself past my fatigue since my kids were little. I do what needs to be done, without questioning whether I have the energy to do it,” admits Carole, a 48-year-old mother of four and owner of a home-based business. “But now my night-sweats are disturbing my sleep enough that I can’t push myself like I used to.”
The prime sign of adrenal exhaustion is relentless, debilitating fatigue. Carole is learning the hard way that women in a state of adrenal exhaustion can get “adreno-pause” and are at a distinct disadvantage when they near menopause. The adrenal glands secrete key the hormones DHEA and cortisol. These hormones give us energy and help us deal with stress in life. Since we make estrogen and testosterone from DHEA, low levels of DHEA can impact menopausal symptoms as the sex hormones begin to change. Low levels intensify night sweats and trigger mood and sleep disorders. Cortisol secretion increase when we are in the “fight or flight” mode and lead to bone loss, muscle loss, water retention, blood sugar spiking and weight gain. Furthermore, it can decrease production of melatonin resulting in sleep disturbance.
After supplementing with DHEA, Carole now she feels much better and has fewer night sweats, improved sleep and stronger energy. If you are also in a habit of pushing your body to keep going when you are fatigued, you may be in the process of weakening the hormone production of your adrenals. If you are peri-menopausal, this may be a good time to be tested for adreno-pause.
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Testimonial: Prolotherapy Works For Me!
By Lorri Olssen
I am a 50-year-old mother of two. Several years ago I started having terrible migraine headaches that would incapacitate me for days.
I was taking Topamax to lessen the frequency and also MaxAlt for when I would get a migraine despite the Topamax. The longer I took Topamax, the less effective is was and I was starting to get weekly migraines. I tried chiropractic and initially it seemed to help as long as I took my prescriptions and I got an adjustment at the earliest sign of a migraine. But I needed to get adjusted at least every week and even then I had several migraines every month. After a year of treatment it no longer helped at all.
That’s when I made the trip from my home in southern California to see Dr. Peterson. He treated me twice with Prolotherapy for my migraines and the change has been remarkable. I no longer take the Topamax, which was costing me $200/month and in the past 8 months since my last treatment I’ve only had 2 migraines, which were greatly reduced in strength and I was able to handle them with Excedrin. The Prolo has also had the added benefit of lessening my neck aches and making my neck feel much stronger.
Three years ago Dr. Peterson had also treated my hip with Prolo when I lived in Lake Oswego. I sleep on my side and was finding it difficult to get a full nights sleep because my sacroiliac would start aching, feeling like it had slipped out of place. Chiropractic helped temporarily, but with Prolo my hip became stronger and it no longer slips out. I no longer have the constant ache in my hip and can now sleep on my side without pain.
Dr. Peterson had also treated my knees about 5 years ago. Climbing stairs, walking and working on my hillside garden had been painful. Dr. Peterson treated my knees several times, and has given me a couple of knee “tune-ups” over the years. The result is that I am feeling much more confident when walking, climbing stairs, etc. because my knees feel much more stable and are pain free. It is such a relief to know that as I age, I don’t have to just put up with the pain or take toxic medicines but can in fact make my joints stronger with Prolotherapy. I’ve sent my brother and several friends to Dr. Peterson for their knees, thumbs, low backs and shoulders and they have all had great results with Prolotherapy. My husband is finally going to see him this summer for his chronic low-back pain. Prolotherapy really works for me!
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More About Bones
Connect the Dots: Teenage Bone Loss, Soft Drinks, Hip Fractures, Acid Blocking Drugs, Hypertension, Vitamin D Deficiency and Lead Toxicity
Noel Peterson, N.D.
Do Soft Drinks Cause Calcium Loss in Kids?
Yes! Most researchers agree that we are now seeing osteoporosis develop in childhood. Adolescent diets are notoriously full of empty calories and low in essential minerals and calcium. We know that low calcium can cause muscle spasms, hyperactivity, nervousness, irritability, insomnia, seizures, subnormal intelligence and cardiovascular disorders, just to name a few. But did you know that drinking colas and other sweet and caffeinated beverages causes bone loss? A recent case-controled study published in the Journal of Pediatrics (Vol. 126:940-942. 1995) found that intake of 1.5 liters a week of soft drinks containing phosphoric acid caused low blood levels of calcium. Children who drank cola beverages were 4 times as likely to have muscle cramps and 10 times as likely to have suffered a seizure in the last month. All cola drinks and many other soft drinks contain phosphoric acid.
Other studies have shown that beverages containing sugar and caffeine but no phosphoric acid are also causing significant calcium loss in our children. L.K. Massey studied eighteen adolescents aged 13-18, who on four separate mornings drank a caffeine and sugar free soft drink with 0 and 30 mg caffeine added and 0 and 30 grams of sugar added. Caffeine increased total three-hour urinary calcium loss by 25% (without sugar) and75% (with sugar). Sodium, chloride and potassium loss were also increased by caffeine. The study showed that the combined effect of sugar and caffeine almost doubled calcium loss in these adolescents!
Do Acid Blocking Drugs increase the risk of hip fractures?
Yes, according to Drs. YX Yang, JD Lewis, and DC Metz at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. They recently studied the connection between the use of acid blocking drugs commonly used in acid reflux and hip fractures and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that use of PPI's (proton pump inhibitors) for one year or more increased the risk of hip fractures by 44% to 265%. Why? Several mechanisms are possible, but the two most likely are that acid blocking drugs inhibit calcium absorption and that they may exhibit a direct inhibition on bone forming cells called osteoblasts. Either way, acid blocking drugs are largely avoidable through changes in diet and the use of safe alternative remedies.
Is there a connection between High Blood Pressure, Bone Loss, Brain Fog and Lead?
Yes! Researchers in Britain and the United States recently examined over 3700 elderly women, measuring their baseline blood pressure and their current bone mass density. After a follow-up period averaging 3.5 years, researchers again measured bone mass in the women and compared it to the initial blood pressure readings.
Women with highest baseline blood pressure readings showed the greatest subsequent decline in bone mass density, independent of age, weight, hormone replacement, and other factors. "High blood pressure is associated with abnormalities in calcium metabolism," the researchers noted. This sustained calcium loss may lead to greater bone mineral loss over time and may increase the likelihood of future hip fractures.
Other studies have linked lead to bone loss and hypertension. As women lose bone mass, they also lose the lead that has been stored in their bones throughout their life. Mobilized lead damages the kidneys, causing hypertension. There may also be a lead connection to the infamous “brain fog” of menopause.
Vitamin D- Majority of Americans are Running on Empty
More studies point to the surprising widespread incidence of vitamin D deficiency. As many as 78% of the 290 adults studied during admission to Massachusetts General Hospital have insufficient levels of the bone-building vitamin--and what's more--46% of those who said they took a vitamin supplement regularly were also deficient in vitamin D. Recent recommendations suggest that the RDA for vitamin D should be increased by 10-fold.
Do You Know Your Bones?
If you are interested in finding out if you or your child are experiencing bone loss, there are several test options available at the Center. First, we can check vitamin D status with a simple blood test. Second, the NTx test (n-teliopeptide) can be performed. This test requires a urine sample and measures the urinary level of a bone protein that is elevated when a person is experiencing bone loss and is the best way to monitor whether a person is gaining or losing bone mass. Third, I often refer women 40 and older for a DEXA-scan to establish current bone density. With a bone DEXA scan to detect current bone status, and the NTx test to monitor your bone metabolism and guide treatment, osteoporosis can be prevented and in most cases reversed without drugs. Whatever you do, don't let osteoporosis or vitamin D deficiency go undetected.
Yang YX, Lewis JD, Epstein S, Metz DC
JAMA. 2006;296:2947-2953
Massey, l.k. Acute effects of dietary caffeine and sucrose on urinary mineral excretion in healthy adolescents. Nutr. Res 8(9): 1988
Cappuccio FP, Meilahn E, Zmuda JM, Cauley JA. A prospective study of blood pressure and bone mineral loss in elderly white women: the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (#3455). Circulation 1998;98(17 Suppl):I657.
New England Journal of Medicine(1998;338:777-83)
For a recent discussion of the advantages of bone resorption testing, read:
British Medical Journal 1999:318:862-65.
Full text online at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7187/862
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