Monthly Archives May 2010

The New York Times had a front page article on May 12th, 2010 entitled: “Doubt is Cast on Many Reports of Food Allergies“. The article reviewed a government report on the concept and prevalence of food allergies. From the NY times report (I have not read the article, as it is not available yet) there are some valid points (e.g., a food allergy must involve the immune system, certain food reactions are not true allergies, such as lactose intolerance). However my concern is twofold: The NY Times summary of the article, and perhaps the publication itself, seem at this point
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As I mentioned in part I of this blog, there is a strong association between insulin resistance, diabetes and mental health. Caught and treated early, insulin resistance is reversible in >90% of patients, and there is a clear improvement in well-being associated with this reversal. To get to the foundation of the problem, you must do a diagnostic work-up, to identify and deal with the layered factors which promote insulin resistance and diabetes. Factors to be assessed include: a) Cortisol-levels which are too high, (as might be the case in anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders) cause insulin to
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Insulin resistance is a fully reversible condition in which the cells of the body become insensitive to the insulin signal, which itself is designed to take glucose (sugar) out of the blood and into the cells (for energy). If insulin resistance becomes severe enough, it progresses into type II diabetes. Diabetes is more difficult to reverse, and is associated with frequent urination, increased weight, increased thirst, and a host of other problems. The connection between obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and mental health problems is no longer questioned. There are number of reasons for the association, including the use of psychotropic
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I was thinking about the high rate of fractured families and the lack of community in the US, when I began to look at the issue from a different perspective. Fractured families may not be pathological from the planet’s point of view. The earth’s limited resources, or at least the way we are using them, cannot sustain the increasing numbers of human inhabitants. These days, it is clear that the tide has changed; we are not living in a time of easy expansion, which has been present for years. We are now at a point where resources are becoming scarce,
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Insomnia, an all too common problem, is usually attributed to stress, depression, anxiety, alcohol or caffeine use, poor sleep hygiene, restless legs syndrome, and sleep apnea. Hormonally, thyroid abnormalities, and unusually low levels of melatonin can cause insomnia as well. While all of these syndromes should be considered in evaluating insomnia, the role that PMS and female hormones (progesterone, estrogens) play in insomnia is rarely discussed. Background In healthy women sleep disturbances occur twice as often as they do in men. Insomnia is also often more common in the 1-2 weeks before menstruation begins (the luteal phase of the cycle),
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