Taking Steps

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS - RESOLVED!

2010-01-09T22:03:00.004-05:00

By now, you may be feeling a little more stuffed than the turkey was, or perhaps you are just regretting how much you ate over the holiday. You aren't the only one. For many people this is the time of New Year's resolutions -- the time when we make stronger commitments to do something better than we did last year, or perhaps to just stop doing something from last year that was bad for us.

Although New Year's Day represents for many people "a new beginning", it may not be the best time to actually make change. The best time to make change is when you are ready, not necessarily at a certain time of the year. We are usually motivated to change our behaviour by feeling bad about something that we are doing - the proverbial 'stick'. However, we also need something to look forward to - the proverbial carrot - or the original motivation will likely disappear as time goes on. Think about it this way - say you want to "get more exercise to lose weight". If you are doing this because you feel bad about being overweight, as you begin to exercise,feel better, and lose weight, you will also lose motivation because the bad feeling of being overweight will often disappear! So you simply become a statistic - one of the four-out-of-five people who give up on their New Year's resolution.

So here are some tips for improving the possibility that you might be one of those people that actually keeps moving towards their New Year's resolution, or whatever resolution you make down the road.

If you are not ready to change now, then choose a date in the future when you will be ready. January is not necessarily the best time. Choose the best time for you personally.
Make your goal very specific -- for example, "losing weight" is too general. Make it a specific number of pounds, and make it realistic and attainable. If you are 50 pounds overweight, make your goal to lose 1/10 of that. You can always continue to change the goal as you move towards it.
As you set a date in your mind - ask yourself what is motivating you? Are you being motivated by negative intention? If so, make sure that you have some positive intention to move towards in the future. For example, if losing weight is something you would like to do because you feel unhealthy at your present weight, then form a positive image of yourself in the future being the weigh that you will be. Actually visualize in your mind's eye, the person you will look like when you are at your goal. Make this internal picture very compelling, bright and close to you, but not so close that you feel overwhelmed by it. (You can even draw it on paper, using colours to help you imagine it in your mind more easily). Make it so compelling that you just want to rush towards it!
Once you set this image in your mind, notice how are you feel when you are at this goal. Think of all the positive feelings that you can experience actually being there now. Do you feel healthier, more energetic? What are other people saying about you? Imagine that you can actually 'become the part of you that has changed' and actually feel these emotions now.
What are some of the encouraging things that you are saying to yourself? Remember, very soon you will no longer be motivated by that bad feeling, so you will need to continue to see a different you in the future in order to keep you moving in that positive direction.
Take the first step. Some people like to take small steps and others make big steps. Choose the step that works for you.

Typically, when people set themselves a goal to change their behaviour, and something happens in their lives that is stressful, the new goal is often the first thing to go. You have to consider that possibility -- that you will make a mis-take. But let that mis-take be a sign that you can simply take that first step again. Don't fall into the trap of saying to yourself "it's no good I can't do it" or some such phrase. Think of a movie -- when you watch a movie,each scene is the result of many mis-takes. You get to see the final product as a result of many steps that the actors, director, and technical staff made that were mis-takes. When they made a mis-take, they didn't just pack up and go home, they did it again until they got a right, and you get to see the final product. Be the creator of your own real-life home movie.

Remember -- this is a journey. It's like opening a gift, sometimes the best part is unwrapping it. Enjoy your change-- and keep the change!

TOO MANY 'SHOULDS' ON YOUR SHOULD-ERS?

2010-01-09T21:57:00.003-05:00

Well it's the New Year - 2010. I woke up one morning just before the end of 2009, realizing that it was time to write and publish this newsletter. I groaned to myself. What was I going to write about? I had just had a few weeks off from having to think about anything to do with work, writing, or anything that requires obligation. It was truly a pleasant relief from some of the daily mundane obligatory activities that we all have. I certainly didn't have any topics in mind, and as I laid there in the early hours of the morning wondering about it, it suddenly hit me... why not write about the obligation I have to do a newsletter?

It's always fascinated me that the word 'should' -- a word that implies obligation and responsibility -- can dominate our lives in ways that can create a great deal of misery. 'I should do this', or 'I should do that' are frequently things that I hear patients say, when they don't enjoy doing something. Should implies obligation, although it is actually only the past tense of the word shall, that does not have obligation attached to it. Although completely unrelated in terms of derivation -- the phrase to "shoulder something" also implies responsibility and obligation. Which brings me to my title -- do you have too many 'shoulds' in your 'should-ers'?

Is your life run by things that you should do, as opposed to things that you enjoy doing, and can you actually enjoy something that you should do? Human beings I believe are ultimately driven and motivated by pleasure, and away from pain. Getting away from pain and moving towards pleasure are great motivators. Of course, we all have obligation - things that we should do so that we can actually survive and get pleasure at some point. Personally, I prefer to find ways of doing things, even though they might be obligatory, that help me to feel good about doing them.

So in writing this piece I am in fact actually enjoying it, whereas I thought when I woke up that morning that I wouldn't because it was an obligation. How did that change? It changed because writing about something like "shoulds" caused me to feel a little bit excited and interested. What if people, like you and me, could find ways of enjoying things that are sometimes mundane, sometimes just necessary, and sometimes could actually be done almost automatically without really thinking about them?

Let's take something as simple as doing the dishes. We would all probably agree that at some point they have to be done and 'should' be. Now, if you enjoy the process of doing dishes -- your hands in the sink, the feel of the soapsuds, the look of the pots and pans as they sparkle as you do them then great -- you have succeeded in enjoying an obligation and turned it into something pleasant. If you don't actually enjoy doing dishes you could learn -- it could become a kind of meditation where you focus on the moment to moment experience and enjoy the sensations! If that seems too much for you and a little off-the-wall consider this -- what if you imagine that the dishes are actually done and the kitchen is really clean and sparkling the way like it? How does that feel when you think about it as a future event? I would bet that you will probably feel pretty good.

Now if you had 3 ways to do the dishes which one would you choose?

Being driven by obligation and feeling miserable.
Enjoying the process.
Looking forward to having them done and enjoying the outcome as you do them.

Life is always about choice - your choice. We make hundreds of choices every day. So your New Year's resolution might be to take pleasure in the every day mundane activities either by focusing on the sensory experience of the moment, or looking forward to the experience that you will have when they are complete. Why feel miserable when you can have fun?

Well, I have written 700 words in 15 minutes. I actually enjoyed it, even though it was something that I felt obliged to do so that you could receive this blog in early January. Have a wonderful year!

ARE YOU SPEAKING OUT OR HOLDING IT IN?

2010-01-09T20:06:00.001-05:00

At one time or another we have probably all felt taken advantage of or hard done by. It's an unpleasant feeling of dis-empowerment and helplessness. Maybe something has happened, or someone has said something or done something to us that we feel powerless to change. Sometimes it is true that we are unable to change a particular situation, because it requires that the other person change their behaviour in some way to satisfy or ameliorate our feelings and emotions. However, when we require someone else to behave in a certain way in order to make us feel better, we immediately place ourselves in a one-down position.

A feeling of dis-empowerment can occur any time that we require external conditions to change in order to make us feel better. For example, we buy something that doesn't satisfy our needs, or a product does not perform as expected. This could be something we buy at the store or something that we purchase at a restaurant that doesn't taste good. Or perhaps our boss is demeaning or a bully. Sometimes, if we don't speak out about these things, then we continue to feel cheated or hard done by. So speaking out about what it is not right for us is important. It helps to maintain our self-respect.

When we are at the effect of other people, it is because we believe that other people have the power to make us have certain emotions -usually negative ones. This is impossible. We choose how we feel. How we perceive the world 'out there', and how we feel as a result, is our decision. It is not usually a conscious decision, and often comes from unconscious old patterns of behaviour, limiting beliefs, and attitudes that we learned long-ago.

So take an opportunity to step towards self-empowerment by owning your emotions, and speak them out when you can. If you think you cannot speak out your emotions in reality because you feel too scared or don't know how then do the exercise described in my blog - Are You at Cause or at Effect of the World Around You? Sometimes, even writing out your feelings and the perceived feelings of others can be helpful. Look upon this initially unpleasant event as a learning experience, and ask yourself "how can I feel better under the circumstances and retain my self-respect?" You can find a way to feel better.

EXERCISE INDUCED DAMAGE

2010-01-09T20:02:00.002-05:00

Few people realize that exercise can induce damage - after all, exercise is supposed to be good for you. The fact is that too much of a good thing, can be just as damaging as too much of a bad thing. Interestingly, even in an elite athlete, the ability to use oxygen during maximal exercise by muscles far exceeds the capacity of the body to deliver it. So even these well-trained people are in an oxygen debt, and it's good to know they suffer too!

What happens to our bodies when we go beyond our sensible exercise tolerance levels is well documented. Researchers have even given it a label - Exercise Induced Pathology or EIP. Any kind of exercise, but particularly intense exercise, will induce a number of negative effects - inflammation, muscle fibre breakdown, acidosis, and what is called oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a universal phenomenon. It consists of the manufacture of something called free radicals. These are produced directly as a result of increased energy production in the energy producing factories of the cell called mitochondria. Free radicals are highly energized, and they damage tissue. The body has a way of dealing with free radicals -- it quenches them using antioxidants. You have heard of antioxidants -- they are vitamins like vitamin C, E, carotenes, selenium, glutathione, and Co-Enzyme Q10 etc. Antioxidants literally 'mop up' the free radicals generated by exercise. Free radicals create inflammation, DNA damage, and host of other unpleasant end products. The result is aching muscles, headache, fatigue and exhaustion.

All research suggests that moderated, carefully crafted exercise in proper balance with your prior experience of exercise is important. Listen to your body -- it will let you know when you've done too much too fast! At the beginning of any exercise program you will feel some discomfort. As you gradually increase your exercise program that discomfort will disappear, because the body accommodates to the increase with positive results. You always want to push yourself a little bit, but not too much. Will antioxidants help? Yes. If you are in an exercise program that involves aerobic conditioning or resistance training, then in my opinion you require antioxidant supplementation to minimize muscular, DNA, and mitochondrial damage. For very intense exercise, there are products available that combine antioxidants with certain proteins that can be taken before, during and after exercise to minimize damage. Extra protein is especially important for the elderly person who may be more prone to muscle loss because of their age.

Four hundred units of vitamin E (mixed tocopherols are best), 1000 mg vitamin C, 100 µg of selenium, and 15 mg of mixed carotenoids are a good start. In addition, eat lots of fruits and vegetables that have lots of colour in them -- dark green, orange, red, and yellow vegetables all have an abundance of antioxidants.

Coughs & Colds

2010-01-09T19:58:00.000-05:00

Coughs & Colds

The winter season makes us all more susceptible to coughs and colds. People often ask me what they can do to prevent coughs and colds during the winter -- here are some recommendations for you that I hope will help.

First, make sure you eat and exercise well - a good diet and exercise go a long way to ensuring a healthy immune system to prevent cough and cold viruses from both entering and multiplying in your body. Most of you probably know this already. Vitamin supplements are also helpful, and particularly Vitamin C in doses of 1-3 grams daily.

Echinacea tincture is also a good preventive in a dose of 15-20 drops per day -- three weeks on and one week off.

For those with susceptibility to recurrent sore throats and head colds specifically, a good preventive is the homeopathic remedy Thymuline 9CH (Dolisos) taken once a week for a month and then once a month throughout the cold season from October to April.

Another good preventive is Cold-FX by HerbTech from Alberta. Take one capsule daily through the winter season, or as directed on the package insert for acute onset of symptoms.

In the event that symptoms of chills, fever, sore throat, etc. occur, we recommend Dolicoccil 30 CH taking 1 complete tube 2 times daily for 2 days, and then 1 tube once daily for 2 days. You can also double up on the Cold-Fx if you are already taking those.

None of these products has any side effects. Sorry but none of them comes with a guarantee either!

INFLUENZA VACCINE - YES, NO, OR MAYBE?

2010-01-09T19:56:00.000-05:00

INFLUENZA VACCINE - YES, NO, OR MAYBE? Right about now you may be considering whether you or other members of your family ought to be getting the 'flu vaccine. The advertisements are already flooding the print and visual media, and they present a foregone conclusion -- "get vaccinated now!" However, the research data regarding whether the flu vaccine is effective is less than compelling. Indeed, the literature search that I did for this article indicates that there are a number of studies both for and against vaccination. To believe the advertisements is unwise because they are based on fear and incomplete evidence. For example, they fail to point out that the deaths from influenza that they quote are almost totally related (75%) to those people who are chronically ill and over the age of 70. Deaths from influenza rarely occur in healthy adults and children.

What is a person to do? There are a number of points to consider when thinking about whether to get vaccinated against the flu or not. Here they are:

Realize that influenza is often confused with the common cold, sore throat or cough. 'Flu vaccines do not protect against the common cold or sore throat, and those who claim that they do are misinformed.
There are many viruses that cause real influenza. Each year scientists attempt to evaluate which viruses are likely to be causing influenza in the subsequent year. About once in every 5 to 10 years they are totally wrong, and the vaccine has no impact at all on the incidence of influenza in the subsequent year. That means that if you have a shot that year then you have taken it in vain.
Although several studies have been done in the last 10 to 15 years regarding the effectiveness of the 'flu vaccine the results of these studies are inconsistent because:

1. Many of the people in the studies did not suffer from influenza but actually had what is called "influenza-like illness" or ILI. This means that they may have had the symptoms of the 'flu, (often similar to the symptoms of the common cold or cough), but that the diagnosis of influenza was not confirmed by laboratory. Studies based on this presumption are unscientific. In Canada in 2004/2005 only 15% of those tested with ILI were positive for influenza virus.[1]
2. Some studies on the elderly suggest that they reduce mortality and others do not. The same applies to many of the studies in different groups reviewed over the last 15 years. There is no evidence to suggest children less than 2 years benefit form the vaccine, and more importantly there are no studies of safety in children at all!
3. There is a 'selection bias' in many studies suggesting that the results of the study are influenced by selection of the population studied. This may over-estimate the effectiveness of the 'flu vaccine.

If you are a health care worker, evidence suggests that there is no point in being vaccinated unless the patients that you are in contact with are vaccinated as well.
Side effects (that we know about) are few, but there are some serious ones including a creeping paralysis known as Guillain-Barre Syndrome. This occurs in about 1.6/100,000 people. Its incidence may increase with the 'flu vaccine. Supposedly reversible it can nevertheless leave you with chronic illness. If only 1/4 vaccinations actually prevents the "real 'flu" then why risk this?
'Flu vaccines contain mercury, and are derived from egg. Those allergic to eggs and those concerned about mercury for whatever reason should avoid the vaccine.

There are still too many unanswered questions and not enough consistent results to recommend whether a flu shot is advisable. One of the most prominent researchers and commentators in this area is Vittorio Demicheli who has made several comments about the provincially funded Ontario, Canada vaccination program initiated in 2000. On the heels of the 2000 decision by the Ontario government to invest $38 million of taxpayer's money in a universal flu vaccine program, Demicheli writes in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2001:

"Given the quality of the information available... the Ontario decision... [could be considered] an experiment, a sort of pilot project. Unfortunately, the level of uncertainty that still surrounds the problem of influenza prevention is so high that the consequences of this decision... will probably raise many new questions and leave the crucial ones unanswered."[2]

So where does that leave you, the reader, in terms of making a decision? In my opinion, if you are a healthy person between the ages of birth and 70, stay away from the 'flu vaccine. If you are over 70 and you have a chronic illness that might result in increased lung infections, then the flu vaccine may be considered helpful in preventing either the flu or possible pneumonia or other respiratory infection, although some would disagree even with this advice.[3] . If you have fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease, multiple chemical sensitivity, or chronic fatigue syndrome then you should definitely stay away from the flu vaccine. In these chronic conditions the immune system is sufficiently compromised that its stimulation by vaccine is unwise.

[1]ACS-615 June 2005 An Advisory Committee Statement (ACS) National Advisory Committee on Immunization Statement on Influenza Vaccination for the 2005-2006 Season Canada Communicable Disease Report Volume 31

[2] Demicheli V. Mass Influenza Vaccination in Ontario: Is it Worthwhile? Canadian Medical Association Journal Jan 9, 2001 164(1):38

[3] Lancet Infectious Diseases Volume: 7(10) pp. 658-666 October 2007

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Passive Concentration

2010-01-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

Passive Concentration

Sound like a contradiction in terms? After all, doesn't concentration need to be active? Well, only sometimes, especially for linear, logical tasks like math and reading. If you want to relax, then passive concentration is essential. How do you do it? Well, in a few words you allow sensations, images and thoughts to just float on by...just notice them and let them go...like a leaf floating by you on a stream. You don't hold on to anything that your attention is drawn to...just let it go. This kind of concentration is great to develop anytime you want to relax now and then. The other day I was feeling stressed, paying attention to all the niggling thoughts in my mind. I went out to the front veranda and sat down. I looked up and saw in front of me a beautiful flower from the fuchsia plant we have hanging there. It was just being, it wasn't doing anything, just hanging there...and in that moment I realized how, if it could hang there just being, so could I! Just by seeing it, and with that realization, I was suddenly pleasantly relaxed. Now that is passive concentration - just being...like a fuchsia flower.

Protect Yourself with Vitamin D!

2010-01-09T19:45:00.001-05:00

Protect Yourself with Vitamin D!
This is the time of year in the northern latitudes when the days get shorter and our sun exposure goes downhill. Well, it's the time to breakout the vitamin D! Research over the last several years has shown unequivocally that we become seriously deficient in Vitamin D, especially in the winter months, and even in the summer if we stay inside or use sunscreen outside. We need at least 1000 IU/day of Vitamin D3; (Note: it's the D3 you want not the D2 sold in some forms of supplement). It's cheap and easy to take as a supplement.

Because Vitamin D is really a hormone regulating messages between cells, it's not just important in bones, but in many other organs throughout the body. There are many recent studies to show this, and many of them come from Dr. Reinhold Vieth at the University of Toronto, as well as Dr. Michael F. Holick at the Boston University Medical Center in Massachusetts.

Studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to a number of chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis and various cancers including the bowel, prostate, and breast. It's not that vitamin D deficiency actually causes these diseases, but it is strongly associated with them.

Do you want to know if you are deficient? A simple blood test will tell you. Ask your doctor for a 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D3 blood test. The level should be between 80-120 nmol/L. In the summer, 15 minutes in the sun with the face and arms exposed without sunscreen should give you enough vitamin D so that you don't have to supplement.

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2008-11-23T13:45:00.001-05:00

THE TREATMENT OF MIGRAINE HEADACHES USING HUMAN CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN

Edward Leyton MD CCFP

Introduction Hormonal migraine headaches are defined as a typical migraine headache that occurs in a periodic fashion around the time of the menstrual cycle. The preventive treatment outlined here was first described by Nevil Leyton MB LRCP in London England in the 1940's. Dr. Leyton noticed that migraines could be induced in some individuals who were given estrogen by injection. Subsequently he developed the idea that an 'anti-estrogenic' hormone such as that found in the chorion of the placenta might prevent attacks. This was supported by the fact that for many migraine patients the headaches disappear or markedly improve during pregnancy, when Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) is secreted by the placenta in high levels. He subsequently went on to treat migraines using both this approach and that of histamine or prostigmine desensitization at his Harley St. Clinic and the London Clinic. Over thirty years Dr. Leyton treated over 10,000 patients from all over the world. This approach was never accepted by the mainstream medical profession, even though he published three books on the subject (now all out of print). The treatment was first described in the Lancet in 1942(1), and subsequently in the Medical Press and Circular in 1944 and 1952(2,3). Dr. Leyton also authored three books on the subject: two medical texts entitled "Migraine and Periodic Headache - A Modern Approach to Successful Treatment"(4); "Headaches - The Reason and Relief"(5); and a lay text "Migraine"(6). The treatment was so successful that another book written by E. Harvey-Sutherland entitled "Migraine Clinic - An Eight Year Survey of Preventive Treatment" described the advent and growth of the Putney Migraine Clinic and was published first in 1957 with a second addition in 1958.(7)

I have used his HCG treatment for the past 20 years in my practice with good success, but have not used the histamine or prostigmine part of the protocol. I prefer to use food avoidance and stress reduction as adjuncts. This is a preventive treatment - it is not to be used in acute attacks.

History The following clinical history points are helpful in deciding whether you will respond to HCG treatment:

migraines began at or shortly after menarche

migraines are made worse by oral contraceptive, or other estrogenic hormones

migraines are absent or markedly reduced during pregnancy

migraines are limited to the peri-menstrual period. This is not an absolute condition for a trial of HCG

migraines are reduced or absent after menopause, but resume with hormone replacement therapy

the migraines are 'classical' vs. cluster type headaches

Side Effects One side effect is a risk of ovarian cysts - I have not observed this in 20 years - it is only a theoretical risk. The menses may be affected - they may be delayed at higher doses of HCG, but this delay can be avoided by giving the injection at least 1 week before the expected date of the onset of menses.

The Protocol In Canada HCG is available on prescription sold as Profasi HP® in 10,000 IU vials as a dry powder with a diluent of 10 ml. The treatment is administered according to the following schedule, after obtaining your informed consent:

Week 1: 0.1 ml. (100 IU) intramuscularly into the deltoid twice. (eg Mon. & Thurs.)

Week 2: 0.2 ml (200 IU) intramuscularly into the deltoid twice.

Week 3: 0.3 ml. (300 IU) intramuscularly into the deltoid twice.

Week 4: 0.4 ml. (400 IU) intramuscularly into the deltoid twice.

Week 5: 0.5 ml. (500 IU) intramuscularly into the deltoid twice.

Week 6-11: 0.5 ml. (500 IU) intramuscularly into the deltoid weekly for six weeks

Week 12-23: 1.0 ml. (1000 IU) intramuscularly into the deltoid every two week

Month 6-12: 1.5 ml. (1500 IU) monthly until the patient has had a year of injections

As you reach the 500 IU level try to avoid having the injections less than one week pre-menstrually, although this is not critical. You will usually notice an effect by the time 12 weeks are up. This effect is usually a decrease in frequency, severity or duration, or all of these. You may be completely free by then. Any improvement should be a sign to continue, hoping for further improvement. At the end of one year you can be given the option of stopping the treatment, but I usually do not advise this, as the migraines often return in a few months. The treatment can safely be given indefinitely. You might want to stop at menopause. If you stop and the headaches return, you should begin at the low dose again. In Dr. Nevil Leyton's experience, the second attempt at treatment after discontinuation may not be as successful, possibly due to anti-HCG formation.

The use of this treatment for male patients is entirely empirical. Obviously they do not have a menstrual cycle so the choice of whther to give this treatment to a male migraineur cannot be based on the above. If a male patient has not responded to diet and stress changes then HCG could be tried. There is no harm to be done at the dosages used, and males have similar pituitary hormones to females.

The Results The success rate is usually about 70-80% if patients are chosen by the above criteria. Since migraine is a multi-factorial disease, it is important to address other triggers such as tyramine containing foods, dairy allergy, stress, and difficulty expressing anger in conjunction with the above treatment. Migraines do not usually return if the treatments continued.

References

1. Leyton, Nevil. Lancet(1942);1:488

2. Leyton, Nevil. A New Approach to the Treatment of Migraine. Med. Press and Circ. (1944);11:302

3. Leyton, Nevil. Med. Press and Circ. (1951) 226:46

4. "Migraine and Periodic Headache - A Modern Approach to Successful Treatment" by Nevil Leyton MA, MRCS, LRCP. William Heinemann Medical Books Ltd.(1954 - 2nd edition)

5. "Headaches - The Reason and Relief" by Nevil Leyton (Heineman 1958)

6."Migraine" by Nevil Leyton MA, MRCS, LRCP. W & G Foyle Ltd. (1962)

7."Migraine Clinic - An Eight Year Survey of Preventive Treatment" by E. Harvey-Sutherland Saint Catherine Press Ltd. London (1958 - 2nd edition).

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge with pride my father's untiring and creative energy in the prevention of suffering by migraine patients. Please forward any treatment results to holodoc@sympatico.ca, as I hope to publish something on this sometime. Thank you.

Disclaimer

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to prescribe treatment. Please see your health care provider for details of any treatment. This treatment must be administered by a physician.

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2008-11-13T17:06:00.001-05:00

STORIES FOR HEALTH

Stories have been told since humans began to talk. Their purpose can be everything from simple and light to meaningful and profound. Milton Erikson, probably the foremost medical hypnotherapist of our time, used metaphor or stories to access the unconscious mind in order to help people make changes in their behaviour. Indeed, metaphor itself can often do just that. It seems to by-pass the conscious mind, even when the receiver is in a ‘normal’, non-hypnotized state. As an integrative medical doctor I am always looking for ways to help patients that are more natural and non-toxic than some of the modern medical approaches. A while ago, a friend happened to mention that her 7 year old daughter Julie had a bed-wetting problem. I wondered if a story would help because there is a strong link between mind and body in this condition. The muscle that controls the flow of urine is under unconscious control, and therefore any ‘behavioral’ approach must address the unconscious mind to be effective.

I composed a story called 'Calico Cat and the Waterworks' and much to my amazement the child stopped wetting her bed within a few days, and the condition has not recurred. Originally, I had thought that because this story was written especially for Julie, that it would not work for others. However I have found that to be untrue, since a few other children about the same age have responded well. I was so pleased with these results that I faxed the story to some colleagues. A few days after sending the fax I got a return fax from the secretary of one of my colleagues. She said, "I hope you don’t mind, but I read your story. I have been getting up every night to urinate for 2 years. After reading your story, I have slept through the night for the first time in years!

Stories can help us by accessing the unconscious mind which may be the source of the problem. 'The Boy from Two Worlds' is another story that might help chronic bed-wetters. The third story was composed for a child with seizures and is called 'Jenny and the Magic Clown'. The structure of the stories is such that the parent makes a connection to the child’s unconscious just by reading the story at bedtime on a regular basis. The story can certainly do no harm, and at the very least is pleasant to listen to. Parents should read the stories in a natural way, slightly emphasizing the boldface phrases. Even if the child does not appear to be listening, read the story to the end. Then sit back and wait for the change to occur!

I would be most interested in hearing from the parents who have tried this, and I can be contacted through www.arfe.ca. Of course, a Family Physician should be consulted first if any medical condition has not previously been investigated.

2008-09-02T11:36:00.009-04:00

CREATING THE ENERGY FOR ACCOMPLISHMENT

Going for the Goal(d)!

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat.
I don’t much care where…” said Alice.
Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” said the cat.
Alice in Wonderland ~ Lewis Carroll

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
Albert Einstein

There are those that think that finding and moving towards a goal in life is the most important step to take towards a more fulfilling life. I don't want to decrease the importance of having goals; there is no doubt that they are an important step, but the actual fulfillment of those goals is more important. There is really no point to a goal when you are not moving towards it.

Today many people are setting goals for themselves, but how many are actually attaining those goals? How many of you are even starting towards your goals, even after setting them? I don't have any statistics, but I do know that when people set New Year's resolutions many of them don't even get off the starting block. Why is this? In my blog 'Creating Healthy Goals' - see Archive 2007) I made the following statement:

“Firstly, although New Year's Day represents for many people "a new beginning", it may not be the best time to actually make change. The best time to make change is when you are ready, not necessarily at a certain time of the year. Secondly, since most of our behaviours are unconscious habits, we need special tools to help us change those habits. Even though our behaviours are repetitive and unconscious, bringing awareness of our unwanted habits to our conscious mind does not necessarily mean that the behaviours will change automatically.”

In that article I went on to talk about how we are motivated by either moving away from something negative, or moving towards something positive. Now I want to take that idea to the next level. It's become clear to me, (thanks to my forward thinking teacher in the field of Neurolinguistic Psychology™ John Overdurf - www.johnoverdurf.com), that we cannot use the same energy or motivation to move somewhere different when it’s the same energy we have as when we have the problem. For example, if you feel stuck and cannot seem to motivate yourself to do something different whether it is exercise, diet, or some other a lifestyle change, then it may be because the energy that you are using to accomplish it is the same energy that created the problem in the first place! (See Einstein quote above) Being ‘in the problem’ (i.e. not being able to reach the goal) does not have enough positive charge or intensity to shift the problem to the outcome. In other words you must find an energy that is different from the energy you have now that is keeping you stuck.

How do you do that? Well, to start with you imagine yourself going out beyond the time when you have completed the goal! Sound odd? It is a little strange. After all, how can you get there when you haven’t reached the goal yet? Briefly it’s all in the way you think about it, and imagine it. Look at the diagram below and do the following:

a) See the goal from where you are now and notice how you feel. What is your energy like?
b) Imagine yourself way out beyond the goal that you want. Really see yourself there, what you look like, what you are wearing, who else is there etc., even brighten up the picture and hear what you are saying to yourself. Then, in your mind’s eye, imagine floating up and out into the picture that you have just created (2) and get the energy you feel. In a way it is like imagining ‘living beyond the completed goal’.
c) Now – come back to the present moment bringing the new energy with you and see the problem from a whole different perspective – (3)

It does take imagination to do this, and you may run into a few blocks along the way, and honestly it’s a little more complex than that. The point is that the energy you feel having been past the point of completing the goal, is the very same energy you need to get to where you want to go!

It is sometimes less than easy to do this on your own. You will know that you are there when you get the feeling you want, and it seems easy to take a small step towards the goal! In case you get stuck or are unsure of just exactly how to do this, I want to introduce you to my new coaching program. This program uses the unconscious mind to change old patterns and shift them automatically to new patterns using the above approach through HNLP™ (Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology). For more information go to my website at www.arfe.ca and click on the Coaching tab.

© Edward Leyton MD 2008 ©Accessing Resources for Empowerment 2008

2008-08-05T14:41:00.002-04:00

THE POWER OF THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND

Many people do not realize the power of their unconscious minds. Not surprising really since no one really teaches us how to use it! We get taught how to use our conscious minds through logical, linear teaching that we get in school and other ‘learned’ institutions – but there are no schools for the unconscious.

I am defining the unconscious mind as the part of us that we are not aware of at this very moment. For example, you are probably aware of reading the words on this page – that’s a pretty safe bet! You may be aware of the chair that you are sitting on, or wherever your body is as you read this. You may be not however, be aware of your breathing, your heart rate or your digestion. Now as I mention those things you may become aware of them – or not – depending on how your conscious mind is focussed. Most of us are not aware of our digestion for example unless we have in-digestion, in which case our unconscious makes us very aware of that!

Your unconscious is responsible for all the things you do automatically – like driving your car, dressing, brushing your teeth etc. Originally you learned to do these things consciously – and if you remember, it was hard work when you were learning it for the first time – you were what we call ‘consciously incompetent’ at the task. Eventually, when you learned to drive your car for example, you became over time – unconsciously competent at it. You just don’t have to think about it any more. It’s automatic!

The unconscious mind also:
• Runs the body – breathing, digestion, movement, B.P. etc.
• Is self-preserving – hard wired to maintain instincts – our survival mode operates unconsciously
• Generates energy – this becomes a problem when the energy can’t go anywhere and be dissipated. Energy is generated because of the ‘stress’ of survival. In the past (for example when we were hunter/gatherers) we required an energetic response that we now call ‘fight or flight’. We had to run away from our enemy or fight; or run to catch our dinner!
• Includes the emotional brain -- anger, love, fear, sadness etc.
• Perceives in whole or gestalts -- uses perceptions -- images, sounds, tastes, smells, and sensation as its means of communication.
• Stores and organizes all memories and experience.
• Automatic in the sense that keeps doing the same thing, unless you tell it to do something different; needs repetition in order to learn.
• Generalizes its response to other similar situations

When we are stressed today, we tighten the same muscles that we used to fight or flee 10,000 years ago. But today there is ‘nowhere to run’ so the stress builds up. Here are some ways to ‘talk to your unconscious’ so that it can learn new patterns:

Give it positive pictures or images to focus on – relaxing scenes, imagined in the mind’s eye actually stimulate the brain relaxation centres.
Give yourself encouraging thoughts about what outcome you would like, and see it in your mind.
Reduce the energy of stress by doing something physical – anything is better than staying in the same position!
Change your emotional state by moving about, thinking differently, and paying attention to something different, preferably something out there in your world around you, not inside your head.
Make a connection with someone other than who or what is stressing you at the moment.
Teach your unconscious to relax – my CD "Learn to Unwind and Enjoy Your Life" at www.arfe.ca is a good start.
Have fun and take things less seriously – life is supposed to be good!

© Edward Leyton MD 2008
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2008

2008-06-16T09:50:00.001-04:00

DIETS COME AND GO - BUT THIS ONE IS HERE TO STAY

If you have ever been by the self-help section in a book store you will be aware that there are multiple diets touted as potential lifesavers and life extenders. It's a confusing array of information is difficult to sort out and comprehend.

When looking at diet and lifestyle in general as predictors of health and life extension, scientists have to measure an outcome which is reliable. Researchers also have to look at a variety of lifestyle factors other than diet that might confuse outcomes, such as smoking and lack of physical activity. In other words it's a complex area of research.

The Mediterranean Diet has been in the forefront of research in the last 10 years because it appeared that people who lived, particularly in Southern Europe, had greater longevity and less illness than people who live in North America. This was in spite of the fact that that their diet contained more fat and alcohol, and for this reason was originally labelled the "French Paradox". How could the French have a greater longevity than North American's when they ate cheese and drank wine?

We are now just beginning to sort out that paradox. The Mediterranean diet refers to a diet that contains the following components:

Abundant plant foods that include fruits, vegetables, breads and other forms of cereals, as well as beans, nuts, and seeds as major components.
Minimally processed, seasonably fresh and locally grown foods.
Fresh fruits as the typical daily dessert.
Olive oil as the principal source of dietary fat.
Dairy products consumed in low to moderate amounts -- mainly cheese and yogurt.
Less than 4 eggs per week.
Red meat consumed in low frequency and amounts, with high fish intake.
Red wine consumed in low to moderate amounts generally with meals.

It is this kind of diet that led to the landmark study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association 2004 in which Europeans in the later stages of life who were 70 to 90 years of age, from 11 European countries, were followed until their death and divided into categories that looked at their nutritional intake as well as alcohol, physical activity, and smoking. This carefully crafted study showed that the mortality rate (the final endpoint of the study) was decreased by 60% in those who followed the Mediterranean diet, compared to those who remained on a more traditional processed food diet. Sixty percent -- that's right!

Now if I was to tell you that there was a pill that you could take that would reduce your mortality by 60% without side effects, would you take it? Of course you would. But changing lifestyle is a complicated process requiring behavioural changes that some people are often unwilling to take. This is not the only study that has shown significant benefits. This study used healthy people before they started to change their diet. In the Lyon Heart Study other people that suffered initially from heart disease for example, have also benefited from the Mediterranean diet reducing risk of recurrence of heart attack by 80%.

The Mediterranean Diet -- with its emphasis on high plant food products probably works because the levels of anti-stress plant nutrients are very high. These phyto-nutrients are also present in alcohol particularly from red wine. Its natural pharmacology at its best, utilizing what is natural to our bodies in foods that have been around for millennia.

This is simple, and within reach. It’s a great time of year to start exploring this way of eating. Markets are full of fresh, organic, locally grown food that will enhance your health. Try it – you will like it for sure.

© Edward Leyton MD 2008
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment 2008

2008-05-27T08:43:00.002-04:00

DEALING WITH DEPRESSION
Anyone who has suffered from depression knows how debilitating it can be. As many as 2 million people may be suffering from depression in Canada alone. Depression is more than just "feeling blue" occasionally, and consists of feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and sadness, together with sleeping difficulties. There are often changes in appetite that can vary from eating too much to not eating at all. Other feelings associated with depression can be a loss of interest, a lack of motivation, and a meaningless feeling about life in general. Suicidal thoughts may be present.

Depression is not the same as feeling sad as a result of loss. Grieving in the face of loss is a natural, normal experience. People grieve in different ways -- some people are very expressive and cry a lot, while others grieve quietly. It is natural to grieve the loss of a loved one, so don't let anybody talk you out of it. If you are still feeling intense grief after a year, then you may need to seek assistance.

Depression can result from external events such as highly stressful experiences that go on for a long time, from chronic illness, or from events that remind us of significant emotional experiences from our childhood that are unresolved. In depression we literally "depress" or suppress our feelings/emotions. When we hide our feelings, or keep them inside the result is depression. Some people do this without really understanding or realizing it, and have no idea why they are depressed.

There is therapy for depression, but unlike most doctors I don't believe that the standard antidepressant drug therapies are necessarily helpful. In fact, recent studies have suggested they are not. In spite of that, doctors tend to prescribe antidepressants very early on in the treatment of depression, when often all people need is a listening ear and some sensible therapeutic behavioural psychotherapy.

Nutrition can play a big part in depression for some people. There are many people who suffer from more severe depression as a result of depletion of their B vitamins. B complex vitamins (B12, B6, and folic acid) can be depleted by too much alcohol, caffeine and even the birth control pill or synthetic estrogen, and of course eating poorly. Although this has been known for some time doctors don't always prescribe B complex vitamins for depressed patients. Vitamin B6 and magnesium are often very helpful in depression associated with Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). Aerobic exercise has been shown in many studies to be really helpful for depression, and is a necessary part of treatment.

Depression can also result from decreased light exposure, and this kind of depression is known as Seasonal Affective Disorder. It can be alleviated through daily exposure to special full spectrum light, usually about 30 minutes a day, beginning in October and ending in April. People with seasonal affective disorder have significant depression only during those months.

So the bottom line is, if you think you are depressed, contact your family physician, or other health care practitioner for a diagnosis. Once a diagnosis has been made find yourself a good psychotherapist, and begin taking extra B complex vitamins -- about 50 mg a day is adequate. There are other natural agents you can take. S-adenosylmethionine, affectionately known as Sammy (available over the counter), as well as herbs such as St. John's Wort can be effective in depression, but you should check with your healthcare advisor before taking these, as they can interact with each other, and any medication that you may be taking.

On another note thank you to those who responded to the idea of a sleep clinic. If you didn’t indicate on the last post that you would like such a workshop then please email me at MD@steannes.com

© Edward Leyton MD 2008
© Accessing resources for Empowerment 2008

2008-04-06T09:32:00.001-04:00

INSOMNIA – A COMMON PROBLEM WITH A NATURAL SOLUTION

Gone to bed and having trouble actually going to sleep? Are thoughts rushing through your mind like a runaway train? Or have you gone to sleep and then suddenly woken up thinking of something you should have done, and can’t go back to sleep? We all have trouble sleeping once in a while, but sometimes stress and other factors contribute to insomnia that can last weeks, months, and even years. It’s estimated that 20%-40% of people suffer from chronic insomnia and its no fun!

St. Anne's Spa may be a place where you have been able to sleep peacefully. Taking yourself away from the stresses and strains of everyday life can be helpful, but what happens when you return to work or home? The surroundings may not be as restful as they are at the spa. If you find yourself tossing and turning when your head hits the pillow, and worrisome thoughts just keep crowding in on you then it may be time for you to learn a way to withdraw from the world naturally into a peaceful sleep.

Sleep is both precious and precarious. It is precious in the sense that we cannot do without it. We must sleep, we must dream, and we must awake the next day to carry on with tasks that are appropriate to being awake. Sleep is also appropriately restorative -- there is a lot going on during sleep we are unaware of in our conscious mind, sometimes that includes dreaming, and in the deeper stages of sleep, restoration and regeneration of cells. Sleep is not simply rest without restoration. Sleep is precarious in the sense that there are many things that can disrupt it -- particularly in a world where psychological stress during the day is ongoing.

I have just released a 2-CD set called, "Learn to Sleep Peacefully -- Awake Refreshed" designed to help you to learn about sleep, how to sleep peacefully at night, and even how to have a power nap during the day to energize you. The two CDs are designed to help you to learn how to sleep peacefully, restoratively, and awaken feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. When you learn some of the simple principles found on this CD, sleep will become much more restful and much less precarious. The CDs contain information on proper sleep patterns, how to prepare for sleep, and even two tracks on the ‘power nap’ – how to take an energizing daytime nap. Although napping during the day is controversial amongst sleep specialists, it is becoming more popular and better understood. In fact, recent studies have shown that naps as short as 30 minutes a few times a week can even reduce the risk of heart disease. The second CD is a standalone CD for use just at night or whenever you sleep for long periods of time. Gentle hypnotic voices and calming sounds lull you into a deep sleep state.

The CD set is available at both the Ste Anne’s boutique and front desk, and samples are available in the rooms for you to try when you come for a visit. Since insomnia is such a problem for so many people I am going to offer a one hour sleep clinic for visitors to Ste. Anne’s Spa. If you are interested in such a clinic please indicate this by clicking on the email link md@steannes.com and putting “interested in insomnia clinic” in the subject line. If we get enough people, we will set up a clinic just for you.

To access these posts at later dates, and for past posts go to www.accessingresources.blogspot.com

2008-03-07T19:34:00.001-05:00

Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin

If I told you to go out into the sun without sunscreen on a regular basis you would probably think I had lost my marbles. But that is exactly what I am going to tell you. Why? Because research in the last decade proves that people living in the northern hemisphere particularly, have as a population, a significant deficiency of vitamin D. There are countless studies to show this, and many of them come from Dr. Reinhold Vieth at the University of Toronto, as well as Dr. Michael F. Holick at the Boston University Medical Center in Massachusetts.

Studies have also linked vitamin D deficiency to a number of chronic diseases including diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis and various cancers including the bowel, prostate, and breast. It's not that the deficiency of vitamin D actually causes these diseases, but that a vitamin D deficiency is strongly associated with them.

Vitamin D used to be recommended in relatively small amounts, and was added to milk in the early part of the last century to prevent the onset of a childhood bone disease known as rickets, that softened the bones of young children. Although the addition of small amounts of vitamin D in food has for the most part prevented rickets, we now recognize that vitamin D is actually needed in much larger amounts.

Vitamin D is actually more like a hormone that it is a vitamin. A vitamin is actually defined as a substance, not made by the body, that must be obtained from our diet and that is vital to our well-being. Vitamin D is certainly vital to well-being, but it is actually made in the body with the help of sunlight, and it is only contained in small amounts in certain foods. The bulk of vitamin D comes from the ultraviolet light action on the skin causing the cells of the skin to make it. Initially this is not its active form, and it must be converted to an active form both in the liver and finally in the kidney before it can act. Once in its active form it is responsible for calcium absorption and bone formation, as well as regulating many other processes in the body.

Here are some interesting vitamin D facts:

The further you live from the equator and the darker your skin, the longer you need exposure to the sun to generate sufficient vitamin D. Ultraviolet light does not penetrate glass sufficiently for the body to make vitamin D, so you actually need to be outside.
Having kidney disease or liver damage can impair your body’s ability to activate circulating pro-vitamin D.
Osteoporosis is commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D, which impairs calcium absorption.
Sufficient vitamin D may help prevent prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer and depression, and low levels have recently been associated with chronic pain.
Vitamin D deficency may exacerbate type 2 diabetes and impair insulin signalling.
Obesity impairs the action of vitamin D in the body, and obese people need more vitamin D, but they can store more of it in their fat cells and release it when needed.
Your risk of developing serious diseases like diabetes and cancer may be reduced 50% - 80% through simple, sensible exposure to natural sunlight 2-3 times each week.
Infants who receive vitamin D supplementation (2000 units daily) have an 80% reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes over the next twenty years.

So how much sunlight should you get? Experts recommend about 10-20 minutes exposure of the head, neck and arms, to sun without sunscreen daily. In the winter, because of the angle of the sun at this latitude, it is impossible to get sufficient vitamin D and it is recommended that everyone take at least 1000 international units per day during the winter. You should of course wear sunscreen after your daily exposure.

That’s the good news! Sun exposure is not all bad, in fact a small amount is needed for good health.

© Edward Leyton MD 2007 http://www.integrativemedicineclinic.ca/
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007 http://www.arfe.ca/

2008-01-23T13:24:00.000-05:00

FOOD IS INFORMATION – GET INFORMED

"The Medium is the Message" from Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man - Marshall McLuhan (1960)

You might ask, "What does McLuhan’s aphorism have to do with food?” Can food be a medium and does it contain a message? We are used to thinking of food as simply carbohydrate, protein, and fat and we ask ourselves questions such as: “Am I getting enough carbs, am I getting too much fat, and how many calories are all of these contributing?” In other words we think food is just energy. This is now known to be false. It is only within the last 10 years or so that scientists have discovered that food is not just calories, carbohydrate, fat and protein but that it also contains a message. Food contains vital information for our cells. It's like a language. But as McLuhan suggested we pay attention really only to the obvious, to what we see in the foreground -- in this case calories -- and we lose what's in the background – the rest of the information.
Food is information in the same way that the words on this page are information that hopefully you take in and digest. Now you would probably agree that it is difficult for you to get the full impact of the words that you are reading right now because in a certain way you are only receiving one channel of information -- words on the page do not convey tonality, timbre, volume or inflection, visual clues and body language. In the same way we loose certain information from food when we consume processed food because much of the information contained in the nutrients has been lost.
How is food information? We are now discovering that food is information because as it is broken down in the gut and absorbed into our system, those small molecules not only produce energy, but also bind to our cells’ surfaces in certain ways that convey messages to our genes. These messages can turn on or turn off certain genes in the cell nucleus -- and those messages cause the genes to make certain proteins that in turn create more messages to turn on or turn off immunity, inflammation, hormones, and other cellular signals. It's a dynamic ongoing process of information exchange that occurs between what we eat, the breakdown products, and the messages that get transmitted to our genes.
While McLuhan saw telephones, radio and television as the ‘media’, in this case the medium is food, and the message, unfortunately, has been lost! Our food manufacturers’ especially have only paid attention to the calories, carbohydrate, protein and fat issues. Not only that, but they have paid attention to those matters only in their own egocentric fashion – in the form of “…let's make food tasty and not necessarily nutritious”. That sells more food, but the information that we get from that food is the wrong kind of information. The balance of nature has been upset by the runaway forces of profit and sales. Food manufacturers have stripped our food of important information, information vital to ourselves and our wellness. Of course they did not do this deliberately; they did not realize, and many of us didn’t, that the removal of fibre, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that we had not yet discovered 60 years ago, would have such a huge impact on the health of our society.
Let me give you some examples. Removing B vitamins from whole-wheat grains to make white flour actually caused an increase in the birth defect known as neural tube defect. It took over 25 years for scientists to act on this fact after it was discovered! Finally, in 1998 folic acid (vitamin B9) fortification of cereal products became mandatory in Canada. Since we have added back that particular B9 vitamin, folic acid, the incidence of neural tube defect has decreased by 50%, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine by Canadian authors in 2007. In other words, putting this particular information back into food has helped. Folic acid is an information molecule. It is critical in the development of other information molecules such as hormones and neurotransmitters that effect not only our emotions, but also our blood pressure and heart health.
But we have taken far more nutrients out of our food than we have put back. When we took out fibre, which 35 years ago scientists thought was an inert substance that really didn't do very much, we didn't realize that it was actually food and nutrients for the 5 or 6 pounds of healthy bacteria in our bowel that help with digestion, immunity, and vitamin production. Taking away that fibrous nutrition for those bacteria created an imbalance that causes us much distress in our digestive tract -- inflammation, pain, irritable bowel disease, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, and so forth.
Yet another example resides in fat. Thinking that fat was just calories; food manufacturers just went ahead and made oils solid, calling it margarine. Again about 25 years later we realized that the fats in some margarines, known as trans-fats, can increase the incidence of heart disease in a fashion similar to, or greater than, the increase in blood cholesterol. Here are some more facts about fat -- there are two important kinds known as omega-6 and omega-3. Omega-3 fats tend to come from cold-water fish and nuts; whereas omega-6 fats come from meat. In Paleolithic times the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 in the diet was less than one – in other words more omega-3 than omega-6 fats. Now that ratio is somewhere between 5:1 and 15:1. The problem here is that omega-6 is inflammatory and anti-immune, whereas omega-3 is anti-inflammatory and pro-immune. Do you wonder why we have so many allergies and infections in our society? One reason is that that balancing fats is important.
Our bodies are highly adaptable and in the 10,000 years that we have been on this planet as human beings, it is only in the last 100 years that such huge changes have taken place in our diet. The nutrients that are contained in plant and vegetable foods are in the thousands -- we don't know the half of it yet. But while scientists try to find out what all those nutrients are, all we have to do is go back to basics, back to what our grandmothers and great-grandmothers knew best -- eat your vegetables, and fruits. Not the juice, which is a form of processed food, but the whole fruit or vegetable. These foods contain phytonutrients – plant substances that act as good messages for your genes.
The messages generated by the kind of food that we eat today are messages of inflammation, and irritation. Give yourselves good messages as often as you can. The New Year is always a good time to start!
Happy Eating in 2008!

© Edward Leyton MD 2008
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2008 http://www.arfe.ca/

2007-12-11T15:22:00.000-05:00

GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST

Christmas can be a very strange time of year considering that it's supposed to be a celebration. Many people can get quite emotional at Christmas in a negative kind of way. I work a lot with young people in their 20s and 30s, and as a psychotherapist the post-Christmas season is often filled with people who have had emotional difficulties over the holiday season. Why is this?

I think there may be a number of reasons, but I think the bottom line is something that therapists call "spontaneous regression". Spontaneous regression is an emotional state that we can get into suddenly and without warning, where we begin to behave in a way that is less than our present age -- usually a lot younger. Spontaneous regression is perfectly natural; it's not a disease or pathology. For example you might spontaneously regress to a child-like state when you are buying toys in a toy store. I usually gravitate over to the train sets, I often get that "wouldn’t it be nice if I had one of those" feelings - kid-like feelings of excitement – because I loved trains as a child. In spontaneous regression we unconsciously move into an emotional state that harkens back to our childhood. It happens frequently in families when they get together after the children have left home, and even more frequently during the Christmas season.

These spontaneous regressions are triggered by certain things that we see, hear, taste, or smell -- particularly the latter. Smells and odours go directly to a part of our brain called the limbic system that has to do with emotion. If you are an adult and you imagine going back to visit your parents for Christmas there are many things that can trigger memories and feelings from the past. Have you ever felt as though you have stepped back into the past when you enter into your parent's home -- all of a sudden you are overwhelmed by feelings that you haven't felt for a long time? That is a spontaneous regression. Now there wouldn't be any problem with this, if we recognized it consciously and could move out of that place of feeling a bit like a child and back into our adult state. However, there are so many of these anchors around – smells, sites, and sounds of the past -- that sometimes we can get stuck and we actually begin behaving as though we were still a child. This can be a problem if parents insist on still acting like parents, thus closing the loop and setting in motion a parent/child interaction that may be unhealthy. (It can also be perfectly healthy and fun too -- but we usually move through those easily!) People can get locked into those negative states fairly easily. But why does it happen at Christmas time? I suspect because there is so much expectation tied up in the season -- expectations of extra love and attention through gifts and food that may not actually satisfy. An unsatisfied child does not a pleasant experience make! Whatever the reason, people tend to get kind of emotional and sensitive at Christmas time, often setting off unwanted family dynamics that can be a painful reminiscence. If you now have a family of your own and you don't go home any more for Christmas to your family of origin, then it is quite likely that your own children will bring up those past emotions at the unconscious level.

So here is something that you can do before you set off for those holidays that previously may have been difficult. First of all, you need to recognize that you are responsible for your own emotional states – positive or negative. You create those states through the representation you make in your mind of that "outside reality". That being said, the good news is that you can change an unresourceful state to a resourceful state. If you have found in the past, for example, that walking through the door to your parent’s home gives you that strange mixed feeling of warmth and uneasiness, here is an exercise you can practice so that you can feel different. You just have to use your imagination.

1. In a comfortable chair, just momentarily imagine that point in time when you first begin to feel that uneasy feeling that you would like to change. Then quickly clear your mind and think about, or look at, something neutral.
2. Now imagine for a moment a memory of feeling really alive, confident, and happy with yourself as an adult – a feeling a well-being. It doesn't have to be a big thing, just one of those moments when you felt that way. Just allow yourself to experience that feeling of inside confidence, noticing what you are thinking about and visualizing it in your mind as clearly as you can. What would people be saying to you to let you know that you are feeling that way? Hear them say it now in your mind. Notice how you feel inside as you access that emotional well-being.
3. As you do that, and the feeling of confidence and well-being rises to a peak, just go ahead and touch something on your body such as a piece of jewellery that you always wear, or perhaps press your thumb and forefinger together, or even just touch your ear lobe or squeeze a finger, and associate that touch with the feeling now. This is called your anchor. Now let go of that anchor just before the feeling reaches its peak.
4. Now just look around the room for a moment. Get up and take a break if you like.
5. Now coming back to your chair, just think about going into your parent’s home, smelling that turkey, or whatever it is that used to trigger those uneasy feelings around Christmas. As you think about that, and as you may begin to get that uneasy feeling, just touch that anchor that you chose and notice that you feel confident in "yourself as an adult". In fact, you can probably even walk yourself through the whole experience of Christmas feeling that feeling of confidence and pleasure.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 at least 3-4 times, to embed this new state firmly in your unconscious mind.
7. You have just learned how to anchor a pleasant state to what was a negative trigger. You can use that anchor any time you want to generate a feeling of confidence and just being yourself. That way you don't have to be at the effect of all those people around you this Christmas season, and you can really celebrate who you are as a person, so that you can truly give the only gift that there really is -- the gift of love and who you are.

Merry Christmas season!

© Edward Leyton MD 2007
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007
http://www.arfe.ca/

MIGRAINE – PAIN THAT CAN BE PREVENTED ~ New Ideas and Preventive Approaches

2007-10-31T21:44:00.007-04:00

The pain of a migraine headache is one of the most excruciating pains that can be felt. A migraine headache is different from a tension headache both in its cause and severity – often intensely throbbing and one-sided. Migraines affect approximately 8% of the Canadian population, females three times more frequently than males, and can cause huge losses in time spent away from work and pleasure.

Migraine sufferers (migraineurs), also have to contend with nausea, vomiting, and increased sensitivities to light and sound in addition to the throbbing pain. The headaches can last anywhere from hours to days; and many people end up in the emergency rooms looking for relief. Migraine headaches are vascular - small blood vessels in the brain expand and press on nerves causing the pain; whereas tension headaches are due to muscular contraction.

Although the treatment of migraine has advanced somewhat in recent years with the advent of abortive medications, there is still a huge amount of suffering. As usual, not enough time is spent on creating programs of prevention or alternative methods of treatment other than medication.

From a preventive aspect migraine headaches can be divided into 3 categories:

Allergies/Intolerances
Stress
Hormonal
Some or all of the above

1. Migraines can be triggered by many different substances in the diet. Most commonly these are substances such as sulphites contained either naturally or as a preservative both in wine and some juices, particularly concentrated lemon and lime juice, as well as dried fruits. Here is a partial list of foods that might contain sulphites – check the labels - canned vegetables, pickled foods, dried fruit, potato chips, vegetable juices, grape juice, apple cider, fresh or frozen shrimp, guacamole, maraschino cherries, and dehydrated pre-cut or peeled potatoes. Sulphite-containing ingredients to look for on food labels include: Sulfur dioxide, Potassium bisulphite or potassium metabisulphite, sodium bisulphite, sodium metabisulphite or sodium sulphite. Monosodium Glutamate or MSG, a flavouring used in many prepared foods and often in Chinese food can also precipitate migraines as well as other symptoms.

Migraines can also commonly be triggered by a substance known as tyramine. Tyramine is an amino acid that is often present in larger quantities in aged cheese, fava or broad beans, sauerkraut, pickles, olives dark chocolate and red wine. Any fermented soy products may contain tyramine – for example miso, soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce. Marmite® and Vegemite®, processed fish and meats containing nitrites (such as hot dogs), citrus fruits, and caffeine can also be suspect. Almost any food can precipitate a migraine – I have seen both wheat and diary very specifically bring on a migraine headache.

2. Stress can precipitate migraines as well. Sometimes however, migraineurs do not get their headache until after the stress is over. This paradoxical stress response is common. People with migraines often push themselves to do more than they can comfortably manage, and they do well during the stress itself, and the migraine comes on only after the stressful period is over.

3. The hormonal aspect of migraines is probably the most overlooked aspect. We know that the birth control pill can make migraines worse and that it can also precipitate migraines in those who have not suffered prior to taking it. There is a danger in taking the pill if you have migraine, especially if you have an ‘aura’ before the migraine comes on, as there is an increased likelihood of stroke in migraineurs with auras and those who take the birth control pill. Migraines can occur exclusively premenstrually, coming on 7-10 days prior to the beginning of the cycle, and then magically disappearing a few days after the cycle begins.

4. We all tend to look for a single cause for migraines or any illness for that matter, and more often than not it is a combination of factors that can precipitate any illness, and migraine is no exception. This makes prevention somewhat tricky. It means that you have to consider all of the above elements in prevention. As a start I would recommend the following.

The Bottom Line in Migraine Prevention

1. Diet – eliminate all processed foods and pay special attention to the foods listed above that contain tyramine, sulphites, and MSG. If nothing from this elimination helps, then next eliminate milk and dairy first, and then wheat, rye, oats, and barley (all gluten contain foods) from your diet. If you do this around the time of your expected migraine attacks, you should only have to eliminate these for 1-2 weeks before you know if they are having a negative impact. Do NOT eliminate these staple foods for any long period without assistance from a health care practitioner.

2. Decrease stress through a regular relaxation/meditation program (as usual I recommend my “Learn to Unwind & Enjoy Your Life” CD available at Accessing Resources for Empowerment^TM Above all, migraineurs should pace their lives as much as possible, prevent stress and manage it well, rather than actually getting stressed and then having a migraine, if that is your pattern.

3. No migraineur should be on the birth control pill. If your migraines are related to your menses (i.e. they come on within a week of getting your period on a regular basis), and if they were ever absent during a pregnancy, you have a very good chance of preventing any further attacks by having a program developed by my father, Dr. Nevil Leyton of Harley St. London, UK, using a natural hormone called HCG(human chorionic gonadotropin). This treatment is 80% effective in preventing migraine in hormonally induced situations. More details can be found at www.integrativemedicineclinic.ca, and scrolling down to the article "Migraine - a natural preventive treatment for the sufferer of hormonally related migraines”. This treatment must be given by a physician.

4. Consider all of the above as possibilities as well as the following: The use of some herbs has been found helpful – as a preventive feverfew is one found in many health food and drug stores. Recently one vitamin and two notable antioxidants have been found to be useful in prevention. These are important new studies. Two studies have shown that taking a supplement called Coenzyme Q10 in doses of 180 mg/day can reduce attack frequency by 50%. Another study using riboflavin (Vitamin B2) at a dose of 400 mg daily can reduce attack frequency and severity by 50%. Both of these take from 1-3 months to take effect. Nobody has studied these two together, but they both act in the same area of the cell, so they may be synergistic. The other study shows that the antioxidant lipoic acid may have some potential benefit at 600 mg/day, but this is by no means conclusive. Side effects are non-existent in these new treatments.

For those interested in following this research the references to these are below.
Lancet(1942);1:488 Leyton, Nevil.
Med. Press and Circ. (1944);11:302 Leyton, Nevil. A New Approach to the Treatment of Migraine.
Med. Press and Circ. (1951) 226:46 Leyton, Nevil
Migraine and Periodic Headache - A Modern Approach to Successful Treatment by Nevil Leyton MA, MRCS, LRCP. William Heinemann Medical Books Ltd.(1954 - 2nd edition)
Headache 2007 Jan;47(1):52-7 Lipoic Acid A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of thioctic acid in migraine prophylaxis
Neurology 2005 Feb 22;64(4):713-5. Efficacy of coenzyme Q10 in migraine prophylaxis: a randomized controlled trial.Cephalgia 2002 Mar;22(2):137-41. Open label trial of coenzyme Q10 as a migraine preventive Rozen T, et al.
Canadian Family Physician 2003 October;49:1291-3 High-dose riboflavin for prophylaxis of migraine Corinne Breen, MD Adrian Crowe, MD Heather J. Roelfsema, MD, MSC Inderpal Singh Saluja, MD Dale Guenter, MD, MPH

© 2007 Edward Leyton MD FCFP CGPP
© 2007 Accessing Resources for Empowerment

2007-09-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

SOUNDS OF SILENCE

Most of us would agree that there is not a lot of opportunity to experience the sounds of silence in today's society. Inundated we are with sensory stimuli, and then with our own thoughts, about 60,000 of them a day apparently. Our bodies and minds process 2.3 million bits of information per second, (don’t ask me who counted!). Fortunately we don't have to pay attention to all those pieces of information -- our minds are fairly adept at filtering out what is unnecessary. But is there such a thing as sensory overload? Do we have too much input? Perhaps I hear a resounding ‘yes’ from the reader! I know that all I have to do is drive down a busy street, and that sometimes picking at a stoplight amongst all the other lights and sounds that are there as distractions can be tricky. And music! It’s everywhere!

As Andrew Waggoner in “The Colonization of Silence” puts it:
“Just give me five minutes without it [music]; that’s all I ask, perhaps all I’ll need to bring it back into being for myself. Imprisoned by it as I am now, assaulted in every store, elevator, voice-mail system, passing car, neighbor’s home, by it and its consequent immolation in the noise of the quotidian, it is lost to me as anything other than a kind of psychic rape, a forced intimacy with sonic partners not of my choosing. When music is everywhere, it is nowhere; when everything is music, nothing is. Silence is as crucial to the musical experience as any of its sounding parameters, and not merely as a kind of acoustical “negative space.” Silence births, nurtures, and eventually takes back the musical utterance; it shapes both the formation of its textures and the arc of its progress through time.”

I experienced silence and stillness on a couple of occasions recently, and I was struck by how much peace they can bring. One such time I was sitting on a promontory overlooking the Minas Basin on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. There is not a lot of sound there to begin with, maybe the occasional shore bird or the lap of waves as the tide comes in. What struck me was that the opportunity to appreciate the silence between those sounds was ever present. When we hear the gaps between sounds – what might be called ‘quiet’ – there is an ever increasing sense of peace that seems to pervade. In a way the sounds themselves become a gateway to quiet – in the gaps between the sounds. Perhaps in the same way when we are meditating or just contemplating, we can ‘listen’ for those sounds of silence and in them find some peacefulness. Time seems to slow down in those moments and there is a rejuvenation of body and mind.

Finding those moments in a busy day can be tricky. Sure – we can take a moment and close our eyes, and the visual stimulus disappears. But even if we put earplugs in the actual sounds can still be heard. And even if in a quiet room we may find that we can still ‘hear’ our inner voice chattering away at remembering, hoping, anticipating, worrying etc. So here is something to consider now so that later you can have a different experience than the busyness of life around you. Listen for the spaces between the sounds; listen for the pause, the gap, where there is nothing – no thing. Just notice it.

Sometimes when we see something still, it enables stillness within us. Recently a small turtle ventured out of our garden pond, its head and tail perfectly aligned as if pointing itself in a certain direction. But what struck me was its ability to stay so, so still; and in fact, in order to observe it I had to be still as well! Not just externally but also internally in awe of its ability! Stillness watching stillness. Just quiet.

I think when we get still inside something powerful happens, even if it’s for a moment, we settle. No equipment is required, and no batteries! Just a willingness to stop for a moment, and listen to the sound of silence.

© Edward Leyton MD 2007
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment 2007 www.arfe.ca

2007-08-13T14:33:00.002-04:00

INSURANCE AGAINST ILLNESS?

In Michael Moore’s new movie “Sicko” about the health care industry in the USA, much is made of the fact that Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) often deny coverage to patients because they failed to declare ‘previously existing conditions’ in their application. In the movie "The Rainmaker" a rookie lawyer defends a poor family against a decision by the insurer to deny their claim to benefits for treatment of their son who has leukemia. He wins the case, but the insurance company files for bankruptcy, so ends up paying nothing. "Never in Canada" you might say -- but, alas, such is not the case.

Although in Canada we have government funded health insurance, there are a growing number of services for which OHIP does not pay. For example, OHIP does not pay for all drugs, only for those generic drugs listed in the Ontario Drug Benefit listing. It does not pay for any ‘experimental’ alternative treatments such as acupuncture, or usually for any treatments given outside Canada. It does not pay for any vitamins or minerals that may be required for those on limited budgets, not having access to quality foods. Of course, it does not, nor has it ever paid for any long term disability (LTD) benefits necessitated by a chronic illness, such as cancer, heart disease, or rheumatoid arthritis. For LTD, Ontarians must rely on the woefully inadequate provincial disability insurance (ODSP), CPP, or private insurance. This is why some people pay premiums for extra insurance, often through their employers, provided by large multi-national insurance companies. When people buy this kind of insurance, they do so with the belief that that the ‘extra medical costs’ listed above will be covered, and that Long Term Disability payments will be granted for any chronic illness.

In 30 years of medical practice I have been less than enamored by the attitude of insurance companies to claimants for illness -- my patients. All too often patients have had to fight tooth and nail, often unsuccessfully, for any benefits. How can it be that people with chronic illness, who have paid hard-earned premiums for many years, are denied coverage for LTD, or for treatments that might help them get better? In "The Rainmaker" the prosecution shows that ‘all claims are automatically denied by the insurance company for a year’, hoping that the claimant will give up and go away. Now I wouldn’t want to suggest that companies in Canada would do that, but here is what can happen.

The patient goes to their family doctor and a chronic illness is diagnosed, for which there is no cure, and which prevents them from working in their chosen occupation. The family doctor refers them to a specialist who confirms the diagnosis. A claim is submitted, and on the basis of the written reports provided by the physicians it certainly ought to be paid. However, the ‘fun’ is only just beginning.

First of all there are the ‘bureaucratic’ delay tactics: this is where the company plays the ‘lost file’ game, or just simply takes a long time to pay the claim. If you haven’t kept photocopies of all your correspondence with the company -- watch out -- they may deny receiving the claim in the first place! Next, your file may be referred to the company ‘medical advisor’-- a physician. The physician has never seen you, and may make a decision based on the reports from the Family Physician, your Specialist, and, of course, their own biased opinion. If the letters from your family doctor or specialist are not strong enough or do not provide ‘hard evidence’, the claim may be denied. In “Sicko” medical doctors actually received bonuses if they denied a certain number of claims!

If not denied at this stage it may be recommended that you have an ‘Independent Medical Examination’ (IME), by physicians who are selected by the insurance company itself. Sound suspicious? Well, it is. Insurance companies appear to have a bevy of specialists, working for them of course, that will assess your condition in one brief session, and who usually tell the company you are fit to work, if not now, then in the future. Although you can refuse such an examination, you will probably be told that your benefits‘…will be discontinued or not allowed’. Somewhere in your contract, it will state that the company has a right to ask for an opinion from its own doctors.

By this time, you are probably frustrated enough with the whole game that it is making your chronic condition worse. You will feel angry and cheated, and justly so. Short of a long legal battle, there is not much you can do at this point. You have complied, you are following treatment, you are ill, maybe weak and tired, and a legal battle is the last thing you need. You may have already been spied on by private investigators and photographed by hidden cameras aimed at showing you lifting something, moving too much, or not taking your doctor’s advice. All of this is more ammunition for denial of your claim. Another nasty trick is to try to prove you are mentally unstable, or have a history of depression or anxiety. This somehow makes your physical illness less ‘real’, or more likely that you are ‘faking’ it.

Why do insurance companies do this? On the surface, there appears to be nothing illegal going on; they have the final word on any claim. But there is an underlying assumption that companies seem to operate under -- that patients would really prefer not to work, and are out to take advantage of the company. In other words in medical jargon they are ‘malingering’, out for a fast buck, so they can sit at home in front of the TV. The fact is that most of the time this is not the case -- for the most part people would prefer to work and lead productive lives. Or perhaps the bottom line is profit. There are many more claims these days for less definable illnesses such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and environmental sensitivities. People with these diagnoses are even less likely to receive deserved benefits, because there is often less ‘hard’ data to ‘prove’ they are ill. Companies are being deluged with these claims, and this is likely to increase as more psychological and environmental stresses take their toll on our lives. As these claims increase, companies ‘tighten their belt’ to offset them. However this is no excuse for the unconscionable, immoral and unethical behaviour that insurance companies pursue. What can you do if you are disabled? In Canada, each company has an insurance ‘ombudsman’ whom you can call or write, once a decision has been made in writing by the insurance company. If you get nowhere with the insurance company ombudsman, you can appeal to the Provincial Ombudsman who oversees the whole system. For further information on these avenues of appeal you can call or write for information on the ombudsman for your insurance company.

Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO)5160 Yonge StreetP.O. Box 85Toronto, Ontario, M2N 6L9
Internet: www.fsco.gov.on.ca Phone: (416) 250-7250 Toll free: 1-800-668-0128
©Edward Leyton MD 2007 © Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007

2007-08-13T14:28:00.000-04:00

AGING HEALTHFULLY

Nobody leaves this planet alive, unless you happen to be an astronaut. Generally, we don't think about aging though until we reach middle-age, usually considered to be about 50 years old. Then we may begin to notice changes in our body that indicate that we can’t do the things that we used to quite as easily. Perhaps we don't move with quite as much flexibility. Perhaps we begin to notice that our ability to read the phone book decreases as the print is out of focus. Perhaps our energy is less than it used to be. In one sense, aging is natural; and yet from another perspective we can certainly slow it down, compress it so to speak, so that there is more time for healthy living later on in life. There seem to be certain parts of the body that age more easily than others -- bones, eyes, ears, brains, and general metabolism, seem to be areas that are hardest hit.

The latest research shows that a number of factors can be introduced through simple lifestyle changes and supplementation, so that some of the problems of aging can be considerably reduced or at least delayed. Below you will find some tips for different organ systems -- tips that you can use on yourself, or tips that you can use to help aging family members. As always, a healthy diet low in animal fat, moderate in healthy fats from cold water fish, high in fibre, with moderate sensible exercise underlie all of these suggestions as a foundation.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Cataracts. These are common diseases of aging that can affect up to 20% of the population over the age of 65. Because the eye is continually exposed to light, it is particularly susceptible to oxidation. Research has consistently shown that age-related macular degeneration can be modified, and prevented, by increasing antioxidants particularly those that contain lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as vitamin A, zinc, and riboflavin (vitamin B2). Lutein and zeaxanthin are a part of the carotene family found in eggs, and red, orange and yellow vegetables and fruits. Vitamin E is also critical to delaying the development of cataracts -- 400 international units per day of mixed tocopherols taken with dinner should be used. Carotenes can be found in supplements but are best obtained from fresh vegetables and fruits. Lutein is also found in the brand of eggs known as Omega Plus®.

Energy, Fatigue, and Cognitive Decline. As we age our metabolism changes. Our ability to digest decreases and as a result our ability to absorb nutrients decreases. Stomach acidity frequently goes down and our ability to absorb vitamin B12 from our diet decreases as a result. Many elderly people are suffering from GERD, also known as acid reflux, and taking drugs to decrease stomach acid to prevent those symptoms. These people are particularly susceptible to vitamin B12 deficiency. In this age group vitamin B12 can lead to significant cognitive decline, tinnitus and even hearing loss. There are a number of studies to suggest both energy and cognitive ability can be raised through the injection of vitamin B12 on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, blood testing for vitamin B12 does not always yield useful results, and only a trial of 1000 mcg vitamin B12 injected weekly will tell us whether it is necessary – you should notice a significant increase in energy for example, if you really need it. There are some oral vitamin B12 preparations that can be taken but if the stomach is low in acid, B12 may not be absorbed. If you are taking vitamin B12 by mouth it should preferably be in the form of methyl cobalamin. Methyl cobalamin works in the brain better than the standard cyano-cobalamin. The herb Ginkgo Biloba has also been found to be helpful here for mental alertness as well as the macular degeneration noted above.

Osteoporosis. A disorder of aging that is far more common in women than in men, osteoporosis is the new epidemic in women after menopause. It is more prevalent in short, slightly built, light-haired women. Fortunately it can be detected by bone scan, and I recommend all women who are in menopause get a baseline bone scan. Although Premarin® used to be recommended for post-menopause, most doctors rightly shy away from using this treatment anymore as a result of the long-term negative heart effects of synthetic estrogen. Regular exercise, calcium carbonate (1000 mg/day) and magnesium gluconate (500 mg/day), and Vitamin D3 (1000 IU/day) can all help bone loss. Natural progesterone cream may also be helpful. Check with a doctor who prescribes bioidentical hormones. Bone maintenance after menopause is critical; once bone is lost it is really hard to get back.

Depression. A common problem with age, depression can often be helped by taking more B vitamins, especially Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), instead of anti-depressants. In addition, S-adenosyl methionine, (fondly known as Sammy), in doses of 200mg can often beat depression single handed. It’s available over the counter in many stores. The herb St. John’s Wort can also be used in mild to moderate depression.

Attitude. Obviously attitude plays a huge role in how we feel at any age. If you can laugh and joke and be grateful it goes a long way. The aphorism “If you don’t use it you lose it” is true particularly as we age. Mental challenges like games, crosswords, puzzles etc. keep us on the ball and using those brain cells. It all helps.

Aging is a huge topic, and I have covered only a few issues. If you want more detailed information I highly recommend the Life Extension Foundation as a reliable source of information about aging. Its generous website is at www.lef.org. Almost any aspect of aging can be read about on the site, and you can easily search for any further information you might need.

©Edward Leyton MD 2007 © Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007

2007-06-26T10:39:00.001-04:00

OUR LIVES AND THE IMPACT OF MEDICATION

Using medication to supposedly cure disease or ameliorate uncomfortable symptoms has become a part of our lives in Western culture. It is a part of the "pill for every ill" mentality that came about in the 1950s subsequent to the development of antibiotics and then tranquilizers. The ability to kill bacteria using antibiotics, thus literally saving thousand lives from the ravages of simple infections, naturally led to the idea that other medications might do the same for other diseases. However, over half a century later the medical profession finds itself in a very awkward and embarrassing position. An editorial in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Jerry Avorn in November 2006 opens with the following paragraph –

"September 30 is becoming a day of infamy for drug safety. On that date in 2004 Merck announced that rofecoxib (Vioxx) doubled the risk of myocardial infarction [heart attack] and stroke and the company withdrew the drug from the market after 5 years of use in more than 20 million patients."

If this was an isolated situation, then my concern might be less. The problem is that this is a class of drugs known as NSAIDS, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatories -- perhaps better known to you as aspirin, ibuprofen, Advil®, Tylenol®, etc.

Now make no mistake about it, these drugs are effective in relieving pain from acute illness, and indeed they were supposed to be used that way. These long-term side effects that are being discovered are only being brought to light because long-term testing of these drugs does not take place until after they come to market! It takes literally millions of dollars to bring a drug to market these days, and pharmaceutical companies simply do not do long-term testing on all new medications, in the race to have the latest blockbuster drug. So who becomes the guinea pig? The answer is that you become the guinea pig after the drug is initially approved; and it is only after long periods of time with use by many people that these side effects are coming to light. You may recall, particularly if you are woman, that early in the millennium conjugated estrogens, better known as Premarin®, were found to increase heart disease as opposed to decreasing it -- the latter was a claim the drug companies and doctors had made for over 15 years. There was also a slight increase in the incidence of breast cancer. Women had been the subject of a huge uncontrolled experiment. Since that time hundreds of thousands of women have stopped taking conjugated estrogens and guess what? A recent study in 2006 showed that the incidence of breast cancer had decreased significantly over the last 5 years since women have decreased their intake of conjugated estrogens. Coincidence? Perhaps. More likely that the impact of huge numbers of women decreasing conjugated estrogens may actually be decreasing the incidence of breast cancer.

More concerning is that this is becoming a trend. The latest drug to receive a seal of disapproval is the anti-diabetic medication rosiglitazone. All that glitters is not gold! A large analysis in a 2007 study, again in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a significant increase in the number heart attacks and death from heart disease in patients taking this medication. It’s bad enough that diabetes itself causes increased heart problems; we do not need a drug that is supposed to help control diabetes actually increasing death from heart attack!

Do you want to think twice before taking any drugs on a long-term basis? Absolutely. Many of these drugs were developed for acute pain situations -- not always for long-term use in ongoing osteoarthritis or other chronic illness. All these medications are foreign to our bodies, and they not only target those areas of our bodies that are in pain, say for example in the case of Vioxx, but they also target other areas of the body such as our blood vessels and stomach lining causing them to be affected in adverse ways through increased heart disease, or gastric upset and potential bleeding.

Adverse drug reactions were found to be one of the six leading causes of hospital deaths, reported in the Journal American Medical Association in 1997. Why are we taking drugs that are supposed to help us when they are actually killing us? It’s a good question that cannot be answered in this short article.

These adverse effects are not limited to pain killers, hormone replacement therapy, and anti-diabetes drugs, but have also been found to be significant in antidepressants that are prescribed to hundreds of thousands of people every year. A small increase in the suicide rate amongst those taking certain antidepressants, when pointed out by the psychiatric expert Dr. David Healey, resulted in his deferral from his upcoming position with the Canadian Association of Mental Health at the University of Toronto. A few years ago certain drug companies funded multiple clinical trials of their anti-depressants known as SSRIs – but they only reported the results of the favourable trials, and suppressed the unfavourable results! The impact of the pharmaceutical industry on medical science is both enormous and dangerous.

If you have to take medication then stick with the older medications that have been tried and true. You are better off in most cases because they have had the research behind them for many years, but… Lifestyle intervention on the other hand -- taking care of ourselves, eating healthy foods, exercising, relaxation, and just taking time to chill out have no adverse effects. They also have significant impact upon disease -- recent studies in Type II diabetes have shown that compared to diabetic drugs, lifestyle intervention was much more efficacious in keeping diabetes under control.

Take care of yourself – you’re worth it. And if you want to read that editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine you can find it at http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/355/21/2169.pdf

©Edward Leyton MD 2007 © Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE?

2007-05-29T22:51:00.000-04:00

Did you miss my column 2 weeks ago? I should probably have mentioned that I will be taking a break over the summer and writing once every month instead of every couple of weeks. I have been writing these columns now for the last 5 months, 10 articles – one every couple of weeks.

At this point I really want to know what kinds of topics you would like me to write about regarding health issues. I have posted on subjects such as relaxation, diet, allergy, exercise and other health-related material. Sometimes I have written about specific nutritional programs that can be helpful; other times I have written about specific ailments that may be bothering you; and sometimes I have written about more psycho-spiritual or philosophical matters. At this point it is mostly guess-work in terms of what I think you, the reader, might like, and I would like to change that. After all, this column is for you. All of the feedback I have received has been positive, and most of it has been on the articles that I have written that cover emotional issues or related to assertiveness, and how to get more of what you want out of life.

I would really like to hear from you about other subjects that you would like me to write about. I will make it easy for you – just email me back at MD@steannes.com and say one or two words about what might interest you that you would like to hear about in the future. Here are some general topics that will spark some ideas:

Weight loss – which diet is best?
Exercise – how, why, when, where?
Drug Side Effects
Women’s Issues – e.g. menopause, etc.
Men’s Issues – e.g. prostate, etc.
Allergy to food or environment
Specific symptoms like fatigue, energy, bowels, skin, headache, insomnia, pain, etc.
Specific diseases like irritable bowel, colitis, asthma, Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, etc.
Medical politics
Psychological issues – life change, coaching, optimum well being, etc.
‘How to’ issues – such as how to have a better outlook, how to change habits, how to change thinking patterns and beliefs, etc.

Some of you have requested access to previous articles, and these have not been available through the newsletter itself. You can now access previous articles by going to the following website:

http://accessingresources.blogspot.com/

Well that’s it for this month. The weather is warming up, the flowers are coming out and its time to get outside and let the light and warmth flow through you. If you drive to work, try parking your car ½ an hour away and walking the rest of the way, breathing and taking in the fresh air. If you sit all day, then get up and walk around and do a few stretches every ½ hr. or so. Life is supposed to be fun and enjoyable! Choose to make it that way in whatever small ways you can – because all those small ways add up into something bigger!

© Edward Leyton MD © Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007

MD@steannes.com

IMPROVE PMS WITH NUTRITIONAL & LIFESTYLE CHANGES

2007-05-29T22:39:00.000-04:00

“Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is a common cause of substantial psychological and physical distress for women during their reproductive years. Forty percent of women have symptoms that are severe enough to disrupt some aspect of their daily lives; 5% are incapacitated by their symptoms.”

So begins a review article by Dr. Sue Douglas in the Canadian Family Physician journal from November 2002. PMS could have been dubbed the "forgotten illness" until about 20 years ago when gradually it was realized that this collection of symptoms was very common. It was first classified in a useful way by Dr. Guy Abrams in the mid-1980s who outlined 4 types of PMS:
1. PMS-A In this type the symptoms are mainly increased anxiety with too much estrogen relative to progesterone being secreted, that results in a trigger for anxiety. This is the most common type found in about 70% of sufferers.
2. PMS-C This type is associated with cravings for carbohydrate, increased fatigue, headache and frequently heart palpitations. People in this category may have low blood sugar, and represent about 25% of sufferers
3. PMS-D This type is characterized mainly by depression, forgetfulness, and difficulty sleeping. These people might also have low thyroid, frequent crying spells, headaches, and usually too much progesterone in relation to estrogen. They may have excessive hair growth. It is the least frequent of all categories.
4. PMS-H This type is characterized by increased fluid retention, abdominal bloating, breast congestion and tenderness. It affects about 25% of sufferers.
The above categories are not exclusive to each other. People can have mixtures of all of these types, and they can vary in severity from mild to highly significant. Symptoms usually occur within the last two weeks of the menstrual cycle, but usually during the last 7 to 10 days before the menstrual cycle begins. They often end when the menstrual cycle begins. While medications may be necessary in some cases, a good deal of relief can be obtained by paying attention to diet, exercise, and relaxation and supplementation -- in other words, healthy lifestyle changes.
Overall, the diet for anyone with PMS should consist of a Mediterranean type diet that consists of meals high in good-quality fruits and vegetables, low in red meats, sugars, and white flour, with moderate amounts of good-quality protein preferably from coldwater fish such as salmon, mackerel, or tuna, but also from chicken and legumes. Mild to moderate exercise, such as walking or light running, has been found to help the symptoms of PMS. Decreasing the triggers for adrenalin or other stress hormone release through deep relaxation with meditation or self-hypnosis is also important.
Research has shown that a number of supplements can help in all of the types listed:
· B vitamins are very important in PMS-A. Take a 50mg B Complex vitamin through the whole cycle. You can also add another 100mg of Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) on its own if the 50mg B Complex is insufficient to relieve symptoms.
· Good studies have also found that calcium can be helpful. I recommend about 1000 mg per day as the carbonate or about 500 mg a day as the citrate. The latter is better absorbed and you need less of it.
· Magnesium is also helpful, especially in PMS-C, and can be taken as a Calcium & Magnesium tablet combined if you wish. The dose of magnesium required is about half that of the calcium dose.
· Oil of Evening Primrose is an essential oil to be taken by mouth in the reduction of PMS symptoms, again particularly in PMS-A and PMS-C. The oil reduces the formation of inflammatory hormones called prostaglandins. You should take 3 capsules twice daily at breakfast and dinner. The anti-oxidant Vitamin E in 400 IU dose daily should be taken to ensure that the Primrose Oil works effectively.
· All supplements should be taken with meals and are not likely to cause any unpleasant side effects in the dosages recommended here. They should always be a part of an overall lifestyle improvement program for greatest effectiveness.
When you are trying any of these lifestyle and supplement treatments, take them for about 3 menstrual cycles before deciding whether to continue or stop. There are many other naturopathic and homeopathic treatments that can be helpful, but are beyond the scope of this article.
© Edward Leyton MD 2007
©Accessing Resources for Empowerment ™ 2007
http://www.arfe.ca/
28/04/07

The information and suggestions provided in this and other articles are for educational purposes only and are not necessarily intended as treatment to be used without the further advice of a physician or other health-care practitioner familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of this condition using nutritional approaches. Please, always see your health care provider to provide a proper diagnosis and for any further details of treatment.

2007-05-29T22:37:00.002-04:00

ARE YOU AT CAUSE OR AT EFFECT OF THE WORLD AROUND YOU?

At one time or another we have probably all felt taken advantage of or hard done by. It's an unpleasant feeling of disempowerment and helplessness, as though something has happened, or someone has said something or done something to us that we feel powerless to change. Sometimes it is true that we are unable to change a particular situation, because it requires that the other person change their behaviour in some way to satisfy or ameliorate our feelings and emotions. When we require someone else to behave in a certain way in order to make us feel better we immediately place ourselves in a one-down position.

A feeling of disempowerment can occur any time that we require external conditions to change in order to make us feel better. For example, we buy something that doesn't satisfy our needs, or a product does not perform as expected. This could be something we buy at the store or something that we purchase at a restaurant that doesn't taste good. Or perhaps our boss is demeaning or a bully. Sometimes, if we don't speak out about these things, then the disempowerment continues and we continue to feel cheated or hard done by. So speaking out about what it is not right for us is important. It helps to maintain our self-respect. However, realising that we are angry, frustrated or sad and speaking out does not necessarily mean that we get what we want. Assertiveness, something that doesn't always come easily to us, is important but not always empowering. Recently I had a piece of custom jewellery made at what I thought was a quality jewellery store. During the first week the stone fell out of the setting. I returned it, and the repair was poorly done with the stone set crookedly and rattling around in the setting! Unfortunately, the owner of the store tried to argue that it had been "abused", not something to which I took kindly. I managed to get most of my money back, which was only a partly satisfying solution for me. However, that was definitely better than nothing. Although I was still rather angry that I had to spend over $100 for nothing, I was able to let that anger go knowing that I would never shop at that store again, and I would make sure that as many people knew about it as possible.

In relationships with other people, particularly close family members and those in authority at the workplace who are "above us", it is often more difficult to get what we want by being assertive. Family members are often recalcitrant in their behaviours, refusing to change and insisting that the other person change. This often results in a standoff that can be unpleasant and divisive. These kinds of situations actually require a change in perception on our part. We may need to find a way of "seeing it differently". Sometimes it is helpful to step into the other person's shoes. You can do this in the privacy of your own home -- just imagine the other person in the chair opposite you, and then hear them saying what it is that they are proclaiming to be correct. Accept the emotions that you generate within yourself – you have a right to feel them. Then get out of your chair and sit in their chair. This will help to give you some perspective on their position, if you imagine what it is really like to be them. Are they feeling small and insecure? Do they feel threatened or afraid? At that point you can sit back in your own chair and see if you get any understanding from your own perspective. If you do, it may be unnecessary to do the next step, and you may be pleasantly surprised that you can "let go" of any bad feelings. If not, it is often helpful to step into another "perceptual position". Imagine someone who is totally objective who does not even know you, or even a wise part of yourself who is non-judgmental and compassionate. Now stand up, move away from the two chairs, and look at those two people who are at odds, opposite each other in their respective chairs, and see if you have any kind, compassionate, and non-critical advice for them. You can even talk to them out loud if you want, but otherwise imagine you can project that advice to each of them. Now sit down in your original position and see how you feel. Notice the changes that occur in your feelings about the situation.

When we are at the effect of other people, it is because we believe that other people have the power to make us have certain emotions – usually negative ones. This is impossible. We choose how we feel. How we perceive the world ‘out there’, and how we feel as a result, is our decision. It is not usually a conscious decision, and often comes from unconscious old patterns of behaviour, limiting beliefs, and attitudes that we learned long-ago. Nevertheless if we hold onto the idea that someone else can cause us to feel a certain way, then we will always feel at the effect of others and relatively powerless compared to them.

So here is an opportunity to take a step towards self-empowerment by owning your emotions, and speak them out when you can. If you think you cannot speak out your emotions in reality, then do the chair exercise. Sometimes, even writing out your feelings and the perceived feelings of others can be helpful. Look upon this initially unpleasant event as a learning experience, and ask yourself – how can I feel better under the circumstances and retain my self-respect? You can find a way to feel better.

© Edward Leyton MD 2007
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007
15/04/07

EMOTIONS – STRANGE BEDFELLOWS?

2007-05-29T22:32:00.000-04:00

Typically, in this society emotions take a back seat to our rational selves. We pride ourselves on reason and logic, and our ability to manage day-to-day problems using both of these latter characteristics. But some would argue, and I would agree with them, that giving our emotions a back seat to logic and reason can be stultifying and even dangerous. We are by nature emotional beings -- from depression and anger to joy and ecstasy we can experience and express all of these. Emotions are supposed to be expressed -- the very word itself comes from the Latin ‘e-’ outward, and ‘motio’ move. Emotions are supposed to be moved outwards, put outside of ourselves into the world out there so to speak. They are not supposed to be held in, and yet we live in a society and culture where negative emotion especially is often looked down upon and judged. It even seems to vary between genders. Girls and women for example, are taught generally not to express anger, but sadness is okay; whereas men and boys are taught that anger is okay, but sadness is inappropriate behaviour for a man. Personally, being brought up in the United Kingdom in the 1940s and 1950s, I was taught that most emotion was not to be expressed. The result for me, was that I was a pretty un-emotional person, at least outwardly, until I was in my mid-20s. I had to learn, not without difficulty, that there was more to life than my logical thinking, otherwise anxiety and depression would have continued to be my constant companions. Fortunately, in the 1960s and 1970s learning how to express one’s emotions was all the rage. I had some good teachers -- Fritz Perls of Gestalt therapy fame and Alexander Lowen of Bioenergetic therapy among them. When I look back on that emotional training that I had, I am thankful now that when emotions arise in me I can recognize them and for the most part express them, whether they be negative or positive.

Our emotions are really both a guidance system to let us know how we are doing in life, and also simply there to be expressed when they arise. Emotions are like waves on an ocean and every bit as powerful. Like the ocean they rise and fall, they come and go, and it is only when we try to stop them that they causes problems. Sometimes the ocean is calm, and sometimes the ocean is rough, but one thing is certain - it never stays the same. Emotions are extraordinarily intense energy, that if held in simply stop us from being fully human. Indeed, they may even propel us into anxiety and depression in the long run if not expressed. There is significant evidence that depression and anxiety, when they go on for long periods of time, can make us feel physically ill too. It therefore befits us to keep in touch with our emotions and express them.

Depression is often treated these days as if it is a physical illness caused by a so-called "chemical imbalance". The truth is that this way of perceiving depression has more to do with the marketing of pharmaceutical medications than it has to do with how depression is really caused. It is more realistic to see depression as the de-pressing of emotion - pushing emotion down until it is so out our awareness that we can no longer feel anything. We become almost motionless as well as e-motionless. Anxiety is similar in that it is a holding in of feeling, although in this case the feeling is actually present, but it is stuck. It is usually felt in the chest -- anxiety comes from the word ‘anguere’ to choke off -- there is fear of emotional expression.

Since these articles tend to be about health, you might be asking by now what is a healthy way of dealing with emotion? It is helpful to see emotions as more of a vibration within us, and they can be moved out in a variety of ways. There is nothing wrong with expressing our anger, grief, sadness and fear appropriately; in fact it is to be encouraged. Some people who have pent-up anger need to learn to express it in a way that is healthy and doesn't hurt other people. I often encourage people to write their anger out on paper if it seems overwhelming and possibly violent. I also encourage people to express it physically through sports or other forms of physical activity keeping in mind the person they are angry at. The same applies to grief -- during loss it can be helpful to express this openly to a friend, or again on paper. Personally, I think grief is better expressed when someone is present to hear it. However, someone once said that the "purpose of emotional expression is emotional expression" - in other words the relief from the expression itself is sufficient. Nothing necessarily needs to change on the outside in order for expression of emotions to be effective in relieving the tension inside.

In fact, expressing these more "negative" emotions can automatically lead to a feeling of relief and hope, instead of feeling like a victim and helpless. Once you have hope you can begin to see things differently and the world seems different. If you keep holding in the unwanted emotion, then it simply festers. So I encourage people to move up the emotional scale from depression, sadness, and anger, to hope, fascination, desire, joy and ecstasy. Emotions can often come up at ‘inopportune moments’ – usually when we are not looking! If you have been to a spa for example, and had a massage or other relaxing treatment, you may have found yourself feeling unusually emotional. Well – let it out! In the hands of a caring therapist, nothing can be more healing.

Edward Leyton MD - Medical Consultant Ste Anne’s Inn & Spa
Email: MD@steannes.com

© Edward Leyton MD 2007
© Accessing resources for Empowerment™ - www.arfe.ca
02/04/07

GETTING WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE

2007-05-29T22:23:00.000-04:00

Recently, a patient of mine got out of bed, prepared herself for work, and proceeded to step outside the door only to find that there were sheets of ice covering the driveway. She immediately thought, "This is going to be a bad day". She was right. It was. Everything that happened that day went against her, in fact the whole day was like that and it wasn’t just about the weather! Each time something negative happened she got more and more upset. Why does this happen? The answer is actually quite simple - we get what we ask for. Did she ask for a bad day? Yes, she did. She made a statement about the future, she felt it inside, and then she began to perceive the things that happened to her that day in a negative way to the extent that she drew more negative experiences towards her.

We often don't realize how much power we have over what happens to us. We think that life just happens to us and that we have no control over it. Yet the most powerful principle that guides our life is that of the principle of attraction. We attract things to us by paying attention to them. The more we pay attention to them, the more we get of the same. It’s like tuning in to a certain frequency on your radio dial – you can only hear what is being broadcast on that frequency unless you change the dial. Have you ever been in a movie where you are totally focused on one of the characters, and when you leave the movie you feel like that character? I know that I have to be careful whenever I leave the theatre after a James Bond movie. I know that when I get into my car that I'm going to drive it more like an Aston Martin than a Subaru Forester. Fortunately, it doesn't last long!

What is important to understand about this process, so that we can become more consciously and deliberately focused upon what it is that we want in life, is that we must focus on what we want and not focus on what we don’t want. This is more easily said than done, because frequently our language gets in the way. For example, if I say "I don't want to be sick", then in that negation I really ask for sickness. The unconscious mind (that’s the habit/automatic mind that we have) generally doesn't process the word "not". It can conjure up an image of "sick", or it can hear the fear of illness in your mind when you speak that sentence. But because the unconscious mind processes images, sounds, touch, smell, and taste and it doesn't understand the word "not" -- it just doesn't get that you don't want to be sick – it just gets the “…want to be sick” part.

So is it just a question of thinking positively? Is it just a question of saying, "I want to be healthy"? Well, in some ways the answer to that question is yes. The trick is that you have to feel the health for example, and really bring it to mind when you say it. In other words it's not just the words, but the total sensory, vibrational experience that you bring with the statement. See what you want in your mind, hear yourself saying it, and feel the feelings that go along with it. If you really want something, and you just haven't been getting it, then it's a good idea to practice re-phrasing what it is that you want, so that you eliminate any ‘nots’ in the language. Really focus, feel, and experience what it is that you want for yourself in the future.

Try it out, and see how your life changes bit by bit, so that when you get out of bed in the morning and you've been practising this idea, then you begin to notice how easy your day can become, whether there is ice on the driveway or not. Every single moment of the day we are making choices and the more deliberate and conscious we can make those positive choices the more power we have to get the outcome we want.

There has been a lot of talk lately about a new movie and book called "The Secret". The movie is a docu-drama about attracting what you want into your life. Basically, it says in one and a half hours what I have said to you in this 5 minute blog and the movie is a bit repetitive; but it's an important concept so it bears repeating. Also a Canadian by the name of Michael Losier has written a book called "The Law of Attraction" which talks about some of the same things. If you want much more information and exercises to help you, then it’s a good book to get.

Have any questions about this? Remember, you can always email me at Ste. Anne’s – MD@steannes.ca

©Edward Leyton MD 2007
©Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007
14/03/07

NURTURING THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION THROUGH RELAXATION

2007-05-29T22:15:00.000-04:00

LIFE MASTERY
“The art of remaining flexible enough to adjust to a changing environment, while continuing to access positive resources”
P. Vitale 1996

Would you be interested in gaining some mastery over your life by learning how to control your nervous system – and just relax? After all, when you are relaxed life just seems much easier, and our creativity and energy flows more easily doesn’t it?

What exactly is relaxation? When I talk about relaxation it is certainly different than curling up with a good book or watching television. Although we call activities relaxation, the mind is still in an active state when performing them -- if an EEG (brain wave measurement) was performed on a person reading a book or watching television or other "relaxing activity", the electrical activity would demonstrate what is known as beta rhythm – an active state of concentration. In what I like to call "deep relaxation" that rhythm shifts from a beta rhythm to an alpha rhythm. In order to shift that rhythm in the brain you must turn off the adrenalin pumping nervous system and turn on the relaxation response. You can do this by learning meditation, self-hypnosis, progressive relaxation, or some other technique where a trance-like, inwardly focussed state is produced. One of the common elements here is that thoughts are slowed down, and are less intrusive, and the mind and body rest. The alpha rhythm predominates. This is a state that can be easily learned.

People often ask me what the difference is between meditation, hypnosis, and deep relaxation. They are all similar in the sense that they access and turn on the parasympathetic nervous system or relaxation response. Meditation differs from the others in that its intent is usually some kind of transcendental or spiritual experience. In hypnosis too, there is often an intention that is different from "just relaxation", although both self-hypnosis and meditation can be used to deeply relax. In hypnosis there may be a particular purpose other than simply relaxing, such as increased confidence, increased self-esteem, freedom from fears, phobias, pain and so on. However, the actual relaxation states that are accessed in all of these ways are very similar, as measured by brain wave activity.

When you decide to start a relaxation program of some kind, whether it is meditation, self-hypnosis or some other kind of program, it is important to prepare yourself by finding a comfortable place, a chair, a bed, and make sure as much as possible that you are not going to be disturbed during this time. If you can unplug the phone do so. If you need to let people in your family know that you are "doing relaxation" and don’t want to be disturbed, then do that too. Prepare your conscious mind by telling yourself that you can put away any thoughts of worry, future concerns or past memories for the time being, and if necessary return to them later.

Stress is partly caused by paying attention to thoughts, moving from one thought to another, or focusing on thoughts way too much. Typically we call this worry. When you are learning deep relaxation imagine that thoughts can just float on by, and that you can detach from any meaning that they might have. All relaxation approaches will ask you to focus your attention passively, that is just by noticing, on your breath for example, or certain images, or to focus on certain phrases that you say to yourself. It is important that as soon as you notice that you have strayed from that particular focus of attention, that you simply come back to it, without criticizing yourself for having wondered away from it. This is why it is called meditation practice, or relaxation practice. If we were perfect at it, we would not need to practice! Think of your focus of attention as being like an automatic pilot -- an automatic pilot works by detecting that an object is off course and then bringing it back on course. If you are focusing your attention on your breath, for example, and you notice that you are thinking a thought, -- just bring yourself back to your breathing. If you are using a phrase, image, or mantra in the case of some meditation practises, just bring your mind gently back to that focus. Most people find, and are often surprised at, how easy this is once you let go of the idea that somehow you have to make it happen. Unlike what we have usually been taught, the less you try the more likely it is to happen. When you are finished allow yourself to rise up slowly, sometimes people feel a little disoriented and maybe a little light-headed after they rouse themselves up from a deep relaxation. Just allow yourself a few minutes before you go about your business, and thank yourself for taking this time to relax.

There are many benefits to regular relaxation practice. Whatever program you decide to use, you will begin to notice changes within a few weeks of your commencement of regular practice. By doing this you are instructing your unconscious mind to turn on the relaxation response. Now, the unconscious mind is very smart – after all when you think about it, the unconscious mind controls many complex tasks for you during the day such as driving, cooking, walking, and multi-tasking, as well as controlling those tasks totally outside your awareness such as heart rate and blood pressure. But the unconscious mind is a habit mind. It will keep doing the same things over and over again until you instruct it otherwise. Relaxation teaches the unconscious to respond differently to stressful situations, and even after you have finished meditating it retains that response.

But don’t take my word for it. Access the many tapes, CDs, classes and information on relaxation and try them out. It was through my interest in autogenic training and hypnosis that I developed the CD “Learn to Unwind and Enjoy Your Life” that can be found on the Ste. Anne’s website at ….. Naturally, I particularly recommend that CD as a simple way to learn to unwind and enjoy your life!

© Edward Leyton MD 2007
©Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007

9/02/07

SEASONAL ALLERGIES

2007-05-29T22:09:00.000-04:00

Has anybody noticed that the days are getting longer, and the sun seems a little stronger than usual? I know it's only the beginning of March, but could it be that Spring is on its way? For many of us the idea of Spring brings thoughts of being outside, enjoying life, and letting go of the old winter doldrums. But wait a minute! Not everybody enjoys the Spring - what about those with allergies? I mean allergies to grasses, pollens, trees, ragweed, and other common allergens, that bother us between the melting snow and the frost of October.

Allergy season is the season that literally millions of people dread. Actually you can get ‘seasonal’ allergies at any time of the year -- it just depends to what you are allergic. If it’s dust or mould, then you are more likely to first experience symptoms in the Fall when the furnace is turned on and you close the windows, and to find them easing in the Spring, when you do the opposite.
Most people think of allergies as starting in the Spring and often going through until the first frost. This is when people who are allergic to grasses and pollens have a really bad time. The symptoms of nasal congestion (rhinitis), and itchy, watery eyes (conjunctivitis), are more than some can bear. Perhaps the worst symptom of all is the extreme fatigue that accompanies these symptoms. Some are luckier than others -- they get a short season of pollen allergy in the first part of Spring and then they are free. Others have allergy symptoms all Summer long with symptoms of reactivity to grasses in the mid-summer months, and then finally ragweed beginning around August 15th. However long you have symptoms, they are always miserable although never serious, unless you have asthma as well.

Allergies occur when the immune system overreacts to a harmless substance. Your body is trying to defend itself against a foreign invader, much as it would against a bacteria or virus that could cause you an infection. Thus it mounts an ‘immune response’- rallying the forces against this intruder. Since you are continually breathing in the substance, your loyal body continually tries to defend against it. What a mistake -- grasses and pollens are actually harmless!
When allergies occur the body releases histamine, causing increased secretions and inflammation which cause the symptoms that make you feel so miserable. Drugs that prevent histamine release are called anti-histamines, and there are many on the market. They can reduce symptoms, but they do not ‘cure’ the problem. They can also produce nasty side-effects such as drowsiness and more of the fatigue you already have. The newer anti-histamines such as Claritin® and Reactine® are less apt to cause these side effects, but still seem to in some people. You certainly can't go running through those green fields as the advertisements on television would suggest!

There are more ‘natural' approaches you might want to try. Anything that can reduce histamine release may help. Here are some natural supplements that may help, and certainly won’t hurt to try:

· Vitamin C -- 1000 mg. 3-5 times daily taken through the day with meals. Do not use the timed release variety for this purpose. Vitamin C is an anti-histamine in large doses.
· Pantothenic Acid -- one of the ‘B’ Vitamins -- in a dose of 250 mg twice daily with meals. This is often sold as Calcium Pantothenate
· Citrus Bioflavinoids in a dose of 500 mg. three times a day with meals

All of the above tend to stabilize the mast cells -- those cells that ‘react’ when the allergen is inhaled and produce histamine. You will need to take all of these through the whole season in which you usually manifest symptoms.
Homeopathic remedies can also be helpful. They are very dilute samples of what you are allergic to, and must be taken before the season starts. Pollens 30CH® (Dolisos) are a homeopathic mixture of Canadian pollens and grasses (including Ragweed), obtainable from most health food stores and some pharmacies. They come in packs of 6 doses, each dose being in one small tube. You place the whole tube of granules under the tongue, and let them dissolve, once a week through the season. Homeopathic remedies should be taken in a ‘clean mouth’- between, or one hour before meals, and without the interference of toothpaste or mouthwash, that may inactivate them.

If you know exactly what you are allergic to you can take individual homeopathic remedies such as mixtures of ‘Grasses’ or ‘Pollens’ or even ‘Dust Mix’. They should be taken in gradually increasing doses following the directions on the bottle -- and often come in liquids, in a glycerin or alcohol base. All homeopathic remedies can be taken in addition to the vitamin supplements mentioned above. Homeopathic remedies have no side effects, and have been shown to be superior to placebo in properly conducted clinical trials.

For Ragweed sufferers, there is an antigen called Pollinex R®. This is a prescription medication of modified ragweed that can be injected once a week by your doctor for four weeks before the onset of the Ragweed season which begins like clockwork on or about the 15th August. Ask your family doctor to give this to you.

None of the above will cause the nasty side-effects of some of the anti-histamines, and are often as, or even more, effective. Regular allergy shots can also be given by you family doctor, but they often have to be given for many years before they work. Make sure you have a proper diagnosis before you self-treat any health condition.

Allergies are additive. That is, if you have a dust allergy through the year, but minor or absent symptoms, and you have allergies to pollens and grasses, then it helps to reduce the total load of allergies by reducing your exposure to dust as much as possible. So first reduce exposure as much as possible to any allergen; then take the vitamin supplements listed, and then add the homeopathic remedies. The positive effects of all of the above suggestions are, of course, enhanced by a healthy diet and good stress management.

The information and suggestions provided in this and other articles are for educational purposes only and are not necessarily intended as treatment to be used without the further advice of a physician or other health-care practitioner familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of this condition using nutritional approaches. Please, always see your health care provider to provide a proper diagnosis and for any further details of treatment.

TOXIC WORLD -- TOXIC BODY

2007-05-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

Detoxification seems to be a buzzword today -- it seems like everybody is detoxifying or wanting to. What does this mean? How does it work? And above all, how can it benefit you?

Simply put, detoxification is the removal of toxic substances from our bodies. Toxic substances can get into our bodies in a variety of ways -- from the air we breathe that is polluted; in our food that is often filled with preservatives; and in the water we drink that may be chlorinated or fluoridated. If you work in a toxic environment such as an auto body shop, with oil paints, or in an industry where there are heavy metals for example, then these are also sources of toxic substances such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury and aluminum. Mercury can also be present in vaccination products, although they are being removed gradually. Pesticides are another source of toxins that are stored for long periods of time in our fat tissue. Obviously there are many ways in which we can slowly poison ourselves.

The body has a variety of ways of removing toxins:

Toxins may be excreted through our skin from the subcutaneous fat that lies just underneath. This is why saunas and steam rooms are helpful in detoxification. Exercise which makes us perspire is also a way of detoxifying. Massage and lymphatic drainage are also significant ways of helping us detoxify through our skin and the lymph system.
Our lungs also help to expel toxins -- every time we breathe in and out in fact, we are not only taking in toxins but also breathing them out.
Toxins are also removed through the urinary tract system, but they must be in soluble form before they can be removed by this method. Making toxins soluble is the job of the liver, and a healthy liver is crucial to efficient detoxification through the kidneys. Alcohol ingestion and certain drugs can severely affect the ability of your liver to detoxify properly.
The fourth way of removing toxins is through the bowel. A healthy bowel requires a healthy diet and a healthy immune system. Eighty percent of the immune system is located around the intestinal tract for very good reason. The intestine is where a decision gets made by your body about whether a substance is friend or foe -- nutrient or toxin. This decision cannot be made effectively if the bowel wall is damaged, thin, or lacks certain immune substances that recognize foreign invaders.

Detoxification is a complex ongoing process. The higher the toxic load from our environment (food, air, and water), the more strain on the system of detoxification. This external load has clearly become very significant since the Industrial Revolution, and the poisoning of our environment in the latter part of the 20th century, that continues to this day. In addition we take in less nutrients through our processed foods, as well as more toxins through additives and colours in those same foods.

I am going to write in more detail about detoxification in future articles, particularly about how you can increase detoxification through various approaches. In the meantime here are some simple ways to help you detoxify on an ongoing basis in your daily life:

Eat natural, whole, healthy foods whenever you can
Exercise three or four times a week to perspiration level
Drink plenty of good, clear, clean water
Have a massage occasionally on a regular basis
Eat plenty of fibre in your diet from fresh fruits whole grains, and vegetables
if you work in a polluted environment take precautions to prevent inhalation of toxic substances when you can.

© Edward Leyton MD 2007
© Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007
27/02/07

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?

2007-05-29T15:52:00.001-04:00

My son Mark, visited over the Christmas holiday 2006, and I thought it would be fun if we had a game of squash. Now I have to tell you that it had been over six years since I had played squash, and my last game was actually with him. That being said, I have been playing squash off and on since I was a teenager and I figured that I still have those potentially active "squash genes" in me. Also you should know that my son is an excellent squash player, playing in the top leagues at some of the clubs in Toronto and Ottawa. You should also know that he is 26 years younger than I am! We had a good game from my perspective, -- he gave me an 8-0 lead and still won the game to 9, but it was fun.

What I didn't bargain for were the after effects on my body. In spite of the fact that I have been exercising reasonably regularly doing aerobics and weights 2-3 times weekly for a couple of months (and off and on for most of my 62+ years), I ended up with considerable pain, fatigue, headache, and generalized misery over the next three to four days. In retrospect it doesn't surprise me, because squash, in a way, is an extreme sport. Short bursts of intense activity are required in rallies, so that the cardiovascular system is stressed in a concentrated kind of way. It simply isn't like going on a treadmill for 30 minutes and gradually increasing your exercise intensity as you proceed. I knew that my heart rate was "over-the-top" when I was playing, and yet my competitive spirit kept me going. This was in spite of the fact that my son would comment, "why aren’t you trying to run after the ball?" The plain and simple answer - I was exhausted half way through the game!

Few people realize that exercise can induce damage - after all, exercise is supposed to be good for you. The fact is that too much of a good thing, can be just as damaging as too much of a bad thing. Interestingly, even in an elite athlete, the ability to use oxygen during maximal exercise by muscles far exceeds the capacity of the body to deliver it. So even these well-trained people are in an oxygen debt, and it's good to know they suffer too!

What happens to our bodies when we go beyond our sensible exercise tolerance levels is well documented. Researchers have even given it a label – Exercise Induced Pathology or EIP. Any kind of exercise, but particularly intense exercise, will induce a number of negative effects – inflammation, muscle fibre breakdown, acidosis, and what is called oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a universal phenomenon. It consists of the manufacture of something called free radicals. These are produced directly as a result of increased energy production in the energy producing factories of the cell called mitochondria. Free radicals are highly energized, and they damage tissue. The body has a way of dealing with free radicals -- it quenches them using antioxidants. You have heard of antioxidants -- they are vitamins like vitamin C, E, carotenes, selenium, glutathione, and Co-Enzyme Q10 etc. Antioxidants literally ‘mop up’ the free radicals generated by exercise. Free radicals create inflammation, DNA damage, and host of other unpleasant end products. The result is exactly what I experienced aching muscles, headache, fatigue and exhaustion.
So what's the take-home from all of this experience? All research suggests that moderated, carefully crafted exercise in proper balance with your prior experience of exercise is important. Listen to your body -- it will let you know when you've done too much too fast! Certainly at the beginning of any exercise program you will feel some discomfort. As you gradually increase your exercise program that discomfort will disappear, because the body accommodates to the increase with positive results. You always want to push yourself a little bit, but not too much. Will antioxidants help? Yes. If you are in an exercise program that involves aerobic conditioning or resistance training, then in my opinion you require antioxidant supplementation to minimize muscular, DNA, and mitochondrial damage. For very intense exercise, there are products available that combine antioxidants with certain proteins that can be taken before, during and after exercise to minimize damage. Extra protein is especially important for the elderly person who may be more prone to muscle loss because of their age.
Four hundred units of vitamin E (mixed tocopherols are best), 1000 mg vitamin C, 100 µg of selenium, and 15 mg of mixed carotenoids are a good start. In addition, eat lots of fruits and vegetables that have lots of colour in them -- dark green, orange, red, and yellow vegetables all have an abundance of antioxidants.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, -- take it easy; don't go at it too hard! I speak from experience. The second game I had a few weeks later with a better matched partner produced similar results, but my recovery was much quicker by 50%, and I won so my ego was happy as well!

© Edward Leyton MD 2007 © Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2007

CREATING HEALTHY GOALS

2007-05-29T15:30:00.000-04:00

By now, you may be feeling a little more stuffed than the turkey was, or perhaps you are just regretting how much you ate over the holiday. You aren’t the only one. For many people this is the time of New Year's resolutions -- the time when we make stronger commitments to do something better than we did last year, or perhaps to just stop doing something from last year that was bad for us.

Usually people decide to lose weight, save more money, quit smoking, maintain a budget, eat better, become more organized, exercise more, or just simply become ‘a better person’. Although many people set out to accomplish something different, only a minority are successful in attaining success in even one of their resolutions. Why is this? There are a number of reasons. Firstly, although New Year's Day represents for many people "a new beginning", it may not be the best time to actually make change. The best time to make change is when you are ready, not necessarily at a certain time of the year. Secondly, since most of our behaviours are unconscious habits, we need special tools to help us change those habits. Even though our behaviours are repetitive and unconscious, bringing awareness of our unwanted habits to our conscious mind does not necessarily mean that the behaviours will change automatically.

We are usually motivated to change our behaviour by feeling bad about something that we are doing – the proverbial ‘stick’. However, we also need something to look forward to - the proverbial carrot - or the original motivation will likely disappear as time goes on. Think about it this way - say you want to "get more exercise to lose weight". If you are doing this because you feel bad about being overweight, as you begin to exercise, feel better, and lose weight, you will also lose motivation because the bad feeling of being overweight will often disappear! So you simply become a statistic - one of the four-out-of-five people who give up on their New Year's resolution.

What are some of the answers to this problem of changing our behaviour? You need to teach your unconscious mind to do something different. Your unconscious mind responds really well to positive suggestion. In fact, the unconscious mind doesn't actually process language very easily -- it thinks more in “gestalts” -- whole images, sounds, and sensations, and specifically language that avoids the use of the word "not". For example, if I ask you not to think of pink elephants, what do you do? You cannot help but simply think of, or conjure up the image of, pink elephants. Your unconscious mind does not easily process the word "not". It is important to teach your unconscious mind in ways that allow it to respond easily.

So here are some tips for improving the possibility that you might be one of those people that actually sticks to their New Year's resolution, or whatever resolution you make down the road.

If you are not ready to change now, then choose a date in the future when you will be ready. January 1st is not necessarily the best time. Choose the best time for you personally.
Make your goal very specific -- for example, "losing weight" is too general. Make it a specific number of pounds, and make it realistic and attainable. If you are 50 pounds overweight, make your goal to lose 1/10 of that. You can always continue to change the goal as you move towards it.
As you set a date in your mind – ask yourself what is motivating you? Are you being motivated by negative intention? If so, make sure that you have some positive intention to move towards in the future. For example, if losing weight is something you would like to do because you feel unhealthy at your present weight, then form a positive image of yourself in the future being the weight that you will be. Actually visualize in your mind's eye, the person you will look like when you are at your goal. Make this internal picture very compelling, bright and close to you, but not so close that you feel overwhelmed by it. (You can even draw it on paper, using colours to help you imagine it in your mind more easily). Make it so compelling that you just want to rush towards it!
Once you set this image in your mind, notice how are you feel when you are there at this goal. Think of all the positive feelings that you can experience actually being there now. Do you feel healthier, more energetic? What are other people saying about you? Imagine that you can actually ‘become the part of you that has changed’ and actually feel these emotions now.
What are some of the encouraging things that you are saying to yourself? Remember, very soon you will no longer be motivated by that bad feeling, so you will need to continue to see a different you in the future in order to keep you moving in that positive direction.
Take the first step. (See Blog #1 December 15th 2006 for suggestions about taking steps). Some people like to take small steps and others make big steps. Choose the step that works for you.

Typically, when people set themselves a goal to change their behaviour, and something happens in their lives that is stressful, the new goal is often the first thing to go. You have to consider that possibility -- that you will make a mis-take. But let that mis-take be a sign that you can simply take that first step again. Don't fall into the trap of saying to yourself "it's no good I can't do it" or some such phrase. Think of a movie -- when you watch a movie, each scene is the result of many mis-takes. You get to see the final product as a result of many steps that the actors, director, and technical staff made that were mis-takes. When they made a mis-take, they didn't just pack up and go home, they did it again until they got a right, and you get to see the final product. Be the creator of your own real-life home movie.

Here is a picture that summarizes these changes.

I am very curious to see how these ideas work for you. You can let me know by writing to me c/o St. Anne's spa. I won't be able to answer your e-mail personally, but I will address some of the common issues that you may have with things that you have decided to do for yourself.

Remember -- this is a journey. It's like opening a gift, sometimes the best part is unwrapping it. Enjoy your change -- and keep the change!

© Accessing Resources for Empowerment™ 2006
© Edward Leyton MD 2006

THE FIRST SMALL STEP

2007-05-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

People frequently talk about steps in analogies and metaphors. "One small step for man -- one great leap for mankind”, said Neil Armstrong as he stepped off the Apollo space craft on to the moon surface. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" said Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. And the truth of the matter is that we can't get anywhere without taking steps, even small ones. In fact, it's one of the first things that we learn, after we learn to stand on our own two feet -- taking that first step. And look at how many steps you have taken since then!

We take steps in order to get from one place to another -- we take steps in order to get from home to work, from one side of the room to the other, from one place to the next in our lives, -- we simply can't get along without taking steps. So what's the problem when we take a step towards our own health and well-being by taking time to treat ourselves well at a spa for example? Why stop there? Why not keep taking steps after that big step that we have taken for the day, overnight, or weekend visit?

Most of the time it seems people say -- "I just don't have time" to take those steps to look after myself out there in the ‘real world’. But when you think about it, how much time does it to really take to take a step? It might need more effort to take one big step, but in fact it takes very little time to make several small ones.

Here is one step that you can take to continue the good feelings that you had when you were at St. Anne's for that day. Remember when you were lying on that massage table, or getting that treatment? Just let your mind go back there now and remember it – right now remember the smells, remember the sensations in your body, remember the feelings that you had, remember the touch. You may not know this, but your unconscious mind remembers every experience that you have ever had, and faithfully stores it away so that you can access that ‘file’ whenever you need to -- like right now for example. Visualize this in your mind, hear the words that were being said to you, feel the feelings that you felt. Take just a moment to re-experience that feeling, and while you are at it, just take a couple of deep breathes and let go of any tension you might have in your body. You felt good then and you can feel good now. Your body and mind will rejoice in the re-experiencing of that moment -- and it's a small step -- and you can take many of those during the day, because you know what? They only take 30 seconds or a minute, and everyone has time for that. All you have to do is just be aware that you can, and make the choice. Enjoy those small moments often, before you return to St. Anne’s for the big one!

© Edward Leyton MD 2006
© Accessing resources for Empowerment™ 2006

Email: MD@Steannes.com