Archive for the ‘Hormone Clinic’ Category

Dr. Drew Pinsky stopped by"Salon Talks" recently to talk about a new thriller called "Final Kill," in which he plays a therapist. Many will know Pinsky from his nationally syndicated radio show "Loveline," which ran from 1984 to 2016, and his many TV shows focusing on sex and addiction, as well as reality shows like "Teen Mom" and "Celebrity Rehab."He also hosts the advice-driven podcasts,"Dr. Drew After Dark" and "The Adam and Dr. Drew Show."

"Medicine saved my life, quite literally," he told me. "I woke up every day of my training thinking, 'I love doing this,'feeling like it was so important what I was doing." Pinskybegan his radio career as a medical student during the AIDS epidemic of the1980s. "No one was talking about it, particularly not to young people," he remembers. "That's what motivated me to get on the air. I thought I was doing community service for the first 10 years of going on the radio."

The desire to help people led Pinsky to get additional degrees. He originally trained as aninternal medicine doctor, then later moonlighted at a psychiatric hospital and became a specialist in addiction. "I have noticed that I start to gravitate towards the big problem of the time," Pinsky said. "Right now, to me, it's homelessness. I'm deeply involved in big problems. Childhood trauma has been a massive issue for the last 30 years, so I got involved in that, and then drugs and alcohol became the problem, so I spent 20 years running a drug and alcohol treatment center."

Calling Los Angelesan "open-air asylum" for homeless people, within which diseases can spread rapidly, Pinsky expressed concerns about transmission of COVID-19, in a way no pandemic has been in many years. Pinsky alsosays he is working on a new book directed at young people, which he hopes will address a key important issue in sex and relationships.

To hear more from Pinskyon playing a real and pretend doctor on TV, and why he thinks millennials reject addiction treatment methods that have worked for previous generations, watch my "Salon Talks" episode with Dr. Drew here, or read a Q&A of our conversation below.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Is true that you love to sing opera or did at one time?

I did. Some people will know I was on "The Masked Singer" a couple months ago.

How'd that go?

Not so great. It turns out that in the intervening year,I've lost a little bit and I have all kinds of problems with my vocal cords, but I got through that show, which was the goal.

What happened? Polyps?

A hemorrhage andreflux and all kinds of good stuff. They wanted to do a bunch of laser, which I don't have time to do because I spend my life talking. The way I got the hemorrhage is I knew I was about to do that show. I thought, I better to do some singing. So I was down both at Stonewall and The Monster in the Village, and I started, I really pushed it. And also, my mid-range was gone. I thought, oh Jesus, something's wrong. It was.

But did they love it at Stonewall Inn? That's the famous gay club here in New York.

Yeah, and The Monster is another great gay club that has a pianist there. Onthe weekends, they do a lot of cabaret, karaoke stuff.

What is your favorite thing to sing?

Musical stuff. It's so easy for me, and you don't want to hear this whole story, but when I got into "The Masked Singer" I put the costume on and all of a sudden I realize it's a rock eagle. I have to sing rock songs, and had to change everything. It was a big mess and I got through it. Then I got kicked off so it's fine.

You're glad that you stayed in medicine?

Yes. Medicine saved my life quite literally. I mean I woke up every day in my training thinking, oh God, I love doing this. I felt like it was so important what I was doing and I was deep in the AIDS epidemic back in the '80s, and that's what got me on radio. I wanted to talk about it, and I realized no one was talking to it, particularly not to young people about it. I was like, are you kidding? We've got to talk about this. That's what motivated me to get on the air. I thought I was doing community service for the first 10 years I was doing it. It was a one night a week thing. I was talking about medical topics, a lot of HIV and safe sex talk back then, and suddenly became a huge part of my life.

It was a taboo topic at the time and people had so many misconceptions.

It was weird. Because yes, there were loads of misconceptions, but no one was talking to young people. Literally, I was 24 years old and I was thinking, oh my God, I know what 18- to 20-year-olds are up to, we got to tell them about this. That was considered outrageous. Why would you talk to them? They're not having sex. And I thought, oh my God, we've got a problem. I was there, I was elbows deep in it. And if you weren't there administering, you're not here now. You know what I mean? You forget how horrible that was. I get chills.It was the most tragic, saddest chapters. Wonderful people are lost. They're just not here to tell the story, so really the rest of us got to kind of tell it.

Do you have fun playing a therapist in films and on TV? What kind of allowances can you make there, as opposed to working with your real patients?

What people don't understand about reality shows we put together, that was real work. That was me and my team doing what we do, period. And how they put it together and edit it, and what you see is a little distorted because people would say things like where's the treatment? It's like, yeah, no kidding. It's just the drama is all you're seeing, okay, that happens in treatment. The reality shows we did, I just took my team and we just did the work. We always do.

On this movie ["Final Kill"], I find it interesting. It's kind of like Tony Soprano, right? I'm treating a criminal essentially, or maniac, and I'm trying to understand why he's so messed up. Why is he such a disturbed patient? That's an interesting challenge to put yourself in that spot and then try to imagine what that would be like. I enjoyed it.

Yes, tell us more about your role in "Final Kill."

Think Tony Soprano and his therapist. I'm trying to get him to take medication mostly. And then you find out as the viewer why he's so stressed out. He has a pretty, pretty violent life. Pretty violent, messed-up challenge ahead of him.

How many takes did you have to do to keep a straight face with Ed Morrone screaming in your face and being so crazy?

A bunch. And he was even supposed to be crazier in the script, and I said, look, if you got crazy like that, I would call law enforcement. That's what I would do in that situation. They were like, okay, we're changing it.

In one scene, the character Mickey has a long stretch where he berates therapists, including you, in saying that you're using people and giving them medication for all sorts of purposes, including one that he thinks makes him not perform as well in bed. In your real life treatment of patients, how much of your real advice about sex is based in talk therapy versus necessary medication?

Idon't do a lot of day in, day out sex treatment in my clinic work. On the radio, many, many years of helping with that area. It ends up being talk, but I'm gravely concerned about psychotropic medications and their effect on our sexual functioning. And they can affect any stage of the sexual arousal and detumescent cycle. Doctors don't pay enough [attention]. I'm worried about hormones and their effect on that too. I'm worried about lack of hormones. On some of my streaming shows and podcasts, I will focus on those issues because people need to be informed. The doctors don't have the time, and aren't spending the time to educate them. And when a woman is put on a hormonal contraceptive, they should be given a ton of education.

I can't tell you how often it's vaginal dryness and decreased libido and no orgasm function. It's from these high-dose progesterones. By the same token, we were kidding about peri-menopause, but women are treated for depression when they should be treated for hormonal imbalances, and they leave out testosterone always. That's sexist in my opinion, because that's the "male hormone" no, it's not. It's kind of a big topic for me, proper assessment and proper education, and time spent doing that, not available as medicine is practiced today.

That's probably the case in a lot of silos of medicine, right? There's too many patients, too much of a load.

Everything is funneled up to the doctors and we don't have time to do what we'd like to do, which is build a relationship and spend time educating you. That goes to paraprofessionals and physician extenders. That's sad. It really bothers me.

We're both parents. What kind of advice do you have on raising teens today?

The biggest problem right now is screens. I think within 20 years we will think of screens the way we think of tobacco now. Screens are the source of a lot of really serious distress for young people. It's bad enough dealing with it normally without the screens. But the screens have added a layer where it's 24/7, it's raining down on them all the time. There's no escaping whatever they're trying to escape. There's mistakes that we all make during adolescence that now exist forever. There are literally crimes they could commit unknowingly. In many states, just sexting or requesting a sext, both are felonies and can affect these kids the rest of their life. And there's just a whole layer to the experience that. I have friends that are therapists and mental health professionals that just focus in this area, and they only give their kids 30 minutes a day on the screen. I don't know how you do that. It's almost impossible.

All right, so you and Adam Corolla and "Loveline." I remember those early days on MTV, which of course evolved from radio and the awkward questions in calls. What madeyou want discuss sex and addiction on air?

I'm an internist by training. I do internal medicine and that's why I was doing AIDS patients. I was struggling with that epidemic. I was there when we brought out the first AZT, and I was in the middle of all that. Then I ended up moonlighting in a psychiatric hospital and got very involved dealing with psychiatric patients, both medically and through the addiction. And what I noticed is, is eyes start to gravitate towards whatever the big problem at the time is. Like right now, to me it's homelessness. I'm deeply involved in that problem. And at the time, it was HIV and AIDS. Then that translated to sex and relationships, trauma, childhood trauma has been a massive issue for the last 30 years.

I got involved in that and the treatment of trauma, then drugs and alcohol became the problem. And so I spent 20 years running a drug and alcohol treatment center. I finished that up, started thinking about other things. And now I've been involved with the homelessness epidemic. And this corona[virus]thing has been sort of a sidebar. And by the way, if the homeless start getting corona, in Los Angeles, we're going to have a big damn problem. It's an open-air asylum. These are open-air asylums with people rotting in our streets, dying three a day in LA County. If three a day were dying of corona, people would be running down the street with their hair on fire. Because they're homeless, dying three a day and drug addicted, everyone goes, oh well. This is unconscionable.

It sounds like you tend to focus your energy on where the problem is.

Yeah, that's where I tend to go and because I've had this crazy broad experience in medicine where I did general medicine and infectious diseases and then I did a whole lot with psychiatry and drug and alcohol, I have kind of a broad experience that young physicians don't have. They don't get that training. I'm trying to use as much of it, give as much of it back as I can.

This is one of my little policies since I got involved in media. I was like, these guys know how to create media that people listen to and I'm just going to inject myself into it. That's always been my policy. If you need to go somewhere crazy, you go, I'll try to make it meaningful at the end.

And inject the medicine.

Yeah, inject some of my message. "Teen Mom" is another model of that. When they came to me with "Teen Mom," I was like, this is going to work. This is going to affect teen pregnancy in this country. I know it. Whenever you have a dramatic story with a relatable source that helps young people, attracts young people's eyes and so they could see what happens if you make certain choices, my job is just to explicate and they'll get it.

How do you yourself mitigate stress?

I noticed early on in my work at a psychiatric hospital that certain personality types and addicts were having their way with me. They could really manipulate me and get me to do, respond in the middle of the night and try to help them and do all these crazy things that always ended up in catastrophes. So I went into therapy for a long time and it's just essential. Doing your own work is just a key part of being effective in all cases. You have to be able to just be present on behalf of the patient and not let your s**t get in the way of it.

How do you define yourself in the field? Years ago the New York Times called you Gen X's answer to Dr. Ruth, with an AIDS-era pro-safe sex message.

That was then. Now again, I have this broad medical and psychiatric experience, and I'm just trying to use the media to do good. That's it. I'm a medical professional with lots of extraordinary experience, and I'm trying to inject myself into the media in places where people are watching, to try to shape things. My naive little idea back in the beginning was, oh my God radio has been such a negative influence on people's sexual behaviors and drug and alcohol and they've been encouraging all this stuff. I wonder if I climbed into that vehicle, if I could move the battleship in a better direction. That kind of idea has been with me ever since, like just shaping the culture. I may not be able to get every case we're dealing with, but there'll be somebody listening and that will kind of move things in a healthier direction, which these days is hard, hard, hard, hard.

Do you get a sort of a sense of the zeitgeist, if you will, about what people, at least in the world of addiction and sexual challenges, are looking for these days, especially with the internet?

I'm very, very concerned about the impact of pornography. We don't even know what it's doing to our brain development and I'm concerned it's doing something. Obviously it does a lot of things to our attitudes and our feelings about men and women, and what's appropriate behaviors and whatnot. And the drug and alcohol issue is completely out of control right now. We have just been through this opiate crisis and we're mostly getting the prescription opiates under control, but fentanyl is still massively a problem. Meth, massively a problem.

A publication [coming out] in a few days that shows that mutual aid societies, free services, are as effective or more than professionally managed services when abstinence is your goal. More effective than professionally managed services, and it's free. That should not be under attack, ever. Now there's an evidence basis for it, and it's been under attack and people reject it, in particular young people reject it. That's been one of the challenges lately, is they just won't engage the way previous generations have.

Why do you think that is?

I don't know. We can't figure it out. None of us can figure it out. It's literally like, "Hey, that's not for me. It's not something I can relate to." And it has something to do with the spiritual piece. Like the idea is anathema to them. It's not the God thing so much as . . . millennials really don't perceive hierarchies.

They either don't perceive them or don't like them. And lot of these communities have hierarchies. They're old timers, or people that have long periods of time there. And you're supposed to look to them for guidance and help. Alot of the millennials are just like, I don't even know what you're talking about. That was just some old person.

We're talking about narcotics anonymous, NA?

Any of the 12-steps.

What about moderation therapy?

It doesn't work, but really what you're talking about is harm avoidance, right? If you got opioid addiction, or any addiction, we would not be doing moderation therapy, we'd be waiting for abstinence. But there are people for whom that is appropriate, and for whom nothing better is likely to work. Harm avoidance and replacement therapies of all kinds need to be used, but they need to be deployed appropriately. One of the problems in my field is, we don't know which cases to select for which treatments. There tends to be enthusiasm one way or the other rather than good science. And my thing is, I use replacement where we should be using it, use abstinence where we should be, and let the science direct us, and that's it.

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Dr. Drew is worried about the "impact of pornography" and reveals his COVID-19 fears - Salon

Definite Wellness is bringing a whole new meaning of health to residents of Tullahoma and surrounding areas. Owner Candi Kinney has been a nurse practitioner for three years. She graduated from MTSU and was previously an RN for 3 years.

When I was a nurse, I worked at a hospital. I did not like the concept that patients would come in really sick and all we would do was put a Band-Aid on them and send them home fast. I did not like the fact that some patients were so chronically ill, so I decided wellness care was a better fit for me, Kinney said. I want to make it to where patients can come in here, address the issues they have going on and we stop it from getting to that point where it becomes chronic.

The office, located inside of the Coker building, houses two exam rooms, an office, and a main room with a front desk and chair where intravenous (IV) therapy is administered.

Kinney offers eight total signature IVs including the energizer, the glow, the fighter, the quencher, the athlete, the classic, the Candi cocktail and the morning after.

People can also come in and create their own IV by looking at the menu and all that I have to offer, she said. IV add-ons include B12, Calcium, Zinc, Mag-nesium, Vitamin C, B-Complex and Glutathione for an extra charge.

She also offers injections including B-12, lipo shots, Toradol, Vitamin D and Zofran.

Benefits of wellness care

I am all about things that make and keep you well. When you come in and get a B-12 or Vitamin D shot, that is going to keep you well because when either one of those is low, it can cause a lot of problems. That is what got me started with wellness care, Kinney said.

What got me started in IVs was the interest that people have in them today. This trend is huge out west. There are IV bars everywhere and I thought This is really good for recovery, athletes, dehydration and more. It is so interesting that this is something I can do, Kinney said. I signed up for an IV hydration class and decided to start offering it.

I had a man call me the other day who was so sick and asked if I could come to his house and give him an IV. I went to his house and gave him two bags of IV fluids and he texted me the next day telling me how much better he felt, Kinney said. It is also good for athletes, especially those who are into CrossFit or running marathons. Coming here is a good way to prepare your body for that and it is also a great way to recover from them. It is replenishing.

One of my friends came in and told me that she was so stressed out and wiped and needed some help, so I gave her an IV. A few hours ago, she said she felt fantastic, she added.

These IVs are not just for running marathons. There are a lot of benefits if you are big on working out. I am a former football player, so every spring I start working out again. I was very skeptical of the IV trend, Kinneys husband and business partner Eugene said. I was telling Candi how sore I was from a workout and asked her if she had anything to help me. She gave me an IV called the athlete. After I got it, I felt okay but was not that impressed. However, the next morning I was so surprised to be up and ready to go workout again.

Athlete Jordan Sheffield receiving intravenous (IV) therapy to feel replenished.

As a person who has struggled with weight my whole life, I do not believe in easy, quick fast out there diets. I can put anyone on a low-calorie diet and give them HCG shots and they will lose weight, but it will not be sustainable, Kinney said. My patients need to have a sustainable lifestyle. I advocate a whole food diet, 30 minutes of exercise and 60 ounces of water per day. If you do that in conjunction with what I offer, it is going to get you to your goal weight. However, it is up to you to maintain it.

With weight loss, I do a couple of different things. I offer three different weight loss programs, Kinney said. I distribute phentermine here in the clinic so it is like a one-stop shop.

The first option, Tier 1, is a 12-week program that includes one visit each month with Kinney, a 30-day supply of phentermine if qualified, six bi-weekly fat-burning lipo shots and one Slim IV each month, totaling at $600.

Tier 2 is a 12-week program that includes one visit each month with Kinney, a 30-day supply of phentermine if qualified and six bi-weekly fat-burning lipo shots, totaling at $285.

Tier 3 is an a la carte program that includes monthly visits with Kinney as well as a 30-day supply of phentermine if qualified, totaling at $50.

I have had four patients now that have hit their goal weight, Kinney said. One reached hers in only four months and another met her goal weight in two to three months.

You are allowed to take phentermine for six months and then you are required to take a break. I have other medications such as Topamax because it is an appetite suppressant that you can take that for a whole year, she said.

I usually do not treat patients under the age of 18, Kinney said. If you are 16 or older and you come in with a parent, I can treat you.

Kinney has a large menu of signature IVs, wellness shots and injections.

When a customer comes in, they are instructed to fill out paperwork and Kinney reviews the forms with them. If there is no conflicting medical history or a contraindication, Kinney administers the IV the same day. There is no additional charge for coming in to receive an IV. A customer will only be charged for how much the IV costs. She also does sport, D.O.T. physicals and walk-in sick visits that do require a $75 fee.

I treat simple things like ear infections, UTIs, sore throat, flu and strep for much cheaper than an urgent care visit would be, she said.

Kinney also offers bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. This is typically for middle-aged people for replacements of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, she said.

This is one of those shops where people need this, they just do not know that the services are here, she said.

For more information about Definite Wellness, visit http://www.definitewellness.net, their Facebook page Definite Wellness, their Instagram @definitewellness, or call 434-0439.

Definite Wellness is located at 401 Wilson Ave. in the Coker building.

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Definite Wellness brings definite results | Local News - Tullahoma News and Guardian

Is your idea of getting hot and steamy taking a shower afterspin class? Join the club. Many women discover their libido is lacking,especially as they get older.

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Thats not necessarily a problem, as long as yourecomfortable with the (in)frequency of your romantic dalliances. But it can befrustrating if you miss the intimacy that goes along with sex. And if you andyour partner have mismatched libidos, that can be a big source of relationshipstrife.

Luckily, treatments are available to rev up a sluggish sex drive, says womens health specialist Holly Thacker, MD.

There are all sorts of reasons your sex drive might have shifted into neutral. Pregnancy, breastfeeding and menopause can do a number on your hormones. Stress, illness, medications and relationship challenges can also interfere with sexual desire.

If you notice a dramatic dip in your arousal level, firstrule out any medical causes. Yes, it might feel weird talking to your doctorabout getting frisky, but medical professionals have heard it all. Your Ob/Gynor primary care doctor or womens health specialist can pinpoint problems suchas medication side effects or hormonal changes (like perimenopause) that mightbe interfering with intimacy.

Yet many women experience reduced sexual desire for no obvious reason a condition sometimes called hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). And in the last few years there has been more research and medical options for this condition. We now have some excellent options, Dr. Thacker says.

Several treatments are available to turn up a womans arousal:

This prescription pill has been available to treat HSDD since 2015. Flibanserin is taken nightly and can ramp up sex drive, says Dr. Thacker. It may cause drowsiness and shouldnt be taken within 2 hours of drinking alcohol.

The downside is it takes about 2 months for the medicationto start working. But for many women (and their satisfied partners), thetreatment is worth the wait.

This on-demand prescription medication was approved totreat HSDD in 2019. Women inject it under the skin at least 45 minutes beforethey anticipate getting frisky.

Dr. Thacker notes that as many as 40% of women experiencenausea after taking the drug. So she suggests this workaround: Take it rightbefore bed and cancel your morning meetings. Since the medication lasts 16hours, youre likely to sleep through any discomfort and can enjoy the amorouseffects when the sun comes up.

This hormone suppository can ease vaginal dryness and discomfort in postmenopausal women. Some women with low libido find it increases genital sensitivity (in a good way).

Testosterone can treat low libido in women but its not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, so this off-label use is controversial. It can cause side effects, including acne, hair loss, facial hair growth and mood changes.

Medications arent always the best way to deal with a limp libido. Sometimes, low sex drive is related to psychological issues, such as poor body image, past negative sexual experiences, trust issues or relationship problems. In those cases, it can help to work through your thoughts and feelings with a mental health professional.

And some women just need a crash course in sex education,Dr. Thacker says. Learning the ins and outs of your sexual anatomy includingthe importance of clitoral and G-spot stimulation can also improve desire,she adds. After all, if it doesnt feel good, you wont crave it.

And remember that you can have a healthy sex drive withoutbeing a seductress. Most women just arent thinking about sex that often. Theyhave a more responsive reaction to sex, Dr. Thacker says.

You dont have to be the initiator to enjoy a roll in thehay. You just have to be open to it, she adds. Its like exercise: You may notfeel like doing it, but once you start, youre usually glad you did.

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What Help Is Available for Low Sex Drive in Women? - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic

In a year when the General Assembly passed sweeping LGBTQ-friendly legislation, its a relatively low-profile health bill that has opponents questioning whether the state is going too far in its protections for transgender Virginians.

The Senate Commerce and Labor committee voted 12-2 on Monday to report a bill from Del. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, that would ban health insurance companies from denying or limiting coverage based on a patients gender identity or transgender status. The legislation, which passed the House 54-41, is expected to clear the Senate in a similarly party-line vote.

The bill codifies federal protections first established under the Affordable Care Act. In 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services issued final regulations clarifying that the law would extend nondiscrimination protections to patients on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. While the federal government has never clarified that sex discrimination includes disparate treatment based on sexual orientation or transgender status (the subject of an ongoing Supreme Court case), the regulations make it clear that the federal Office for Civil Rights would consider gender identity when evaluating discrimination complaints from patients.

Since then, health insurance carriers have covered treatment thats consistent with a patients gender identity, said Doug Gray, executive director for the Virginia Association of Health Plans. That can include hormone therapy for a patient experiencing gender dysphoria the diagnostic term for someone whose gender identity doesnt align with their sex assigned at birth.

Patients dictate the extent of their treatment, but current medical standards include hormones or gender reassignment surgery. Numerous research papers, including a 2018 study on transgender veterans, have found that the treatments can significantly improve mental health outcomes and reduce the risk of suicide.

Roems bill would require carriers to cover those treatments and other medically necessary transition-related care, including mental health services. It would also ban plans from denying coverage based on a patients transgender status or imposing extra fees.

Even post-2017, transgender people are given misinformation about what these policies actually are, said Roem, Virginias first openly transgender lawmaker. Supporters of the bill, including Gray, argue the policy simply codifies federal protections to ensure theyre applied equally to Virginia patients.

But shifting federal guidelines and inconsistent application of the regulations have led opponents to argue that the bill goes farther than other LGBTQ protections by mandating coverage for transition-related medical services. In his testimony against the bill, Jeff Caruso, founding director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, likened the legislation to the 2014 Hobby Lobby case when a Christian-run craft store chain successfully challenged the contraception coverage requirement imposed by the Affordable Care Act.

Due to the tenets of our faith, the health plans of the two dioceses I represent do not cover gender-transition surgeries, he said in an email Tuesday.

Our understanding of the human person is that one has an innate sexual identity that is reflected in the persons biology, he added. Gender reassignment surgeries do not align with this understanding.

Caruso argued that the bill should include a religious exemption, while Josh Hetzler, legislative counsel for the Christian-affiliated Family Foundation of Virginia, opposed the bill entirely.

Were creating a new category of personhood, he argued in his testimony against the bill on Monday. Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb added that the bill set a new precedent by defining gender identity as an internal sense of gender that could include male, female, neither, or a combination of the two.

How can anyone know how to provide medical direction to someone who claims they are an unknown combination of male and female?, she wrote in an email on Tuesday. Why should the insurance company bear the liability to cover unexplored areas of medicine?

Their arguments gained little traction with members of the Senate committee, including Chairman Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, who sharply reminded Caruso that the Hobby Lobby ruling was narrowly tailored to apply to contraceptives. Sen. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake who visibly rolled his eyes during the opposing testimony strongly implied that Catholic Church should refrain from criticizing anything on moral grounds in light of the ongoing sexual abuse scandals that have embroiled the church for years.

One church should be the last to say that kind of stuff, given whats going on, he said during Mondays meeting.

They garnered even less sympathy from Roem herself, who said she was unwilling to explicitly deny care for transgender patients under Virginia laws. Advocates argue that the law is especially important given proposed revisions to federal protections, which could roll back nondiscrimination mandates on the basis of sexual identity.

Even with the ACA requirements, health care plans often fail to cover services for transgender patients, said Afton Bradley, care coordination manager for the Virginia League of Planned Parenthoods transgender health care services division.

Afton said roughly a third of VLPPs hormone clinic patients, among those with insurance, were denied coverage by their insurance carriers. Sometimes the denials are based on administrative errors, such as a health plan flagging a prostate exam administered to a patient who identified as female. But Afton said insurers often made it difficult to correct the error during the appeals process, or ended up denying the claim after several weeks of back-and-forth.

Unfortunately, that leads to a lot of our patients paying out of pocket or going without medication, Afton said. And we know that when patients dont have access to transition care, there are serious consequences to their health.

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Over the objections of religious groups, Virginia is poised to mandate nondiscriminatory care for transgender patients - Virginia Mercury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. On Sunday, March 8, we "spring ahead" by changing our clocks forward one hour for Daylight Saving Time.

But can one hour of lost sleep really impact how we feel? As it turns out, yes, especially if you already struggle to fall asleep at night. Luckily, there are some things experts say you can do to prevent feeling sluggish in the days after the bi-annual time change.

Dr. Harneet Walia of the Cleveland Clinic says people who struggle to get a good night's sleep will feel it the most.

"We, as a society, are already sleep-deprived," Dr. Walia said. "A normal person requires at least seven to eight hours of sleep on a daily basis, and we know that the majority of us don't get that much amount of sleep."

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Luckily, the time change doesn't come as a surprise, so there are things you can do ahead of time to minimize its impact.

"We recommend a few days earlier than the time change is supposed to occur, start going to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier than your usual time," Dr. Walia said. "That way, your body will adapt, slowly, but surely, when that time change occurs."

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For a good night's sleep, it's best to keep the room dark and avoid looking at devices. Blue light from screens can suppress melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep. If you're still dragging in the morning, sunshine and caffeine may help.

"We tell people to expose themselves to bright light in the morning. Sunlight is a great thing," Dr. Walia said. "If they're feeling sluggish, caffeine is okay for that day, but not later during the day, because that can then impair their sleep during the nighttime."

Daylight Saving Time officially begins in the Carolinas at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8. We will "fall back" to Standard Time on Sunday, November 1.

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'Sunlight is a great thing:' Doctor explains how to get over Daylight Saving Time sluggishness - WCNC.com

When I last droned on about car insurance, you may recall I was on the verge of biting the bullet and staying with my current insurer, even though they'd hiked the premium by eight per cent. Instead, I phoned them. The upshot was that they increased my annual mileage allowance by 2,000 miles, extended my policy to cover driving other cars and raised my premium by just 1 a year. Go on, haggle.

Did anybody not see this coming? A 23-year-old started life as a girl, transitioned through surgery and medication to become a man and now, having abandoned hormone treatment, identifies as a woman. She is suing the NHS clinic responsible on the grounds that, as a teenager, she was not challenged enough about her desire to become male. Her lawyers will tell the court that children such as she was cannot give informed consent for such procedures. The clinic says it welcomes this legal examination to clarify things. And so should we all.

Until now, anyone daring to question gender-transition, including medical staff, has been denounced as transphobic by the small but noisy trans-activist lobby. This stifling of dissent may explain why hundreds of young transgender people are now seeking help to return to their original sex. They have been through hell. As this column noted on October 7 last year, While these cases are individual tragedies, the financial outlook for the NHS is terrifying. Five or ten years from now, how many sad transitioned young people will be suing the Department of Health for wrongly advising and treating them?

I got the time-scale wrong. This ethical and financial nightmare is right here, right now and you and I and every other tax payer must foot the bill. (If you resent paying you are, of course, transphobic).

Meanwhile, coronavirus marches on. I am aware, thanks, that it is no laughing matter but doesn't it make you smile just a bit to see a nation preparing to mark the 75th anniversary of VE-Day and to celebrate the courage, resilience, self-sacrifice and community spirit of the wartime generation, while frantically stripping supermarket shelves of tinned food and antiseptic gel?

On the other hand, the wartime generation wasn't composed entirely of angels. I was once researching a book and ploughing through hundreds of back issues of local and national newspapers from 1939-45. I was amazed how many court and tribunal cases involved soldiers deserting from their barracks, civilians refusing to do war work in city factories, publicans watering the booze and plucky Brits fiddling the rations on an industrial scale. The nation that produced heroes like George Mainwaring also produced plenty of spivs like Private Walker.

And if you don't recognise Captain Mainwaring as a hero, then you don't know your Dad's Army.

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Peter Rhodes on panic-buying, gender-changing and the not-so-noble side of the Home Front - expressandstar.com

A 17-year-old trans girl has spoken out about the heartbreaking impact of being forced to go through male puberty because she wasnt given access to puberty blockers.

Sonja, a college student in the West Midlands, told the ithat missing out on puberty blockers left her feeling self-conscious, uncomfortable, on the verge of self-harming, suffering from regular panic attacks and struggling to sleep.

I know theres a lot of debate at the moment about hormone blockers and regret but nobody is listening to people like me, Sonja said.

I cant put into words how much I regret nothaving access to blockers and hormones.

Theyre a necessary requirement for me to comfortably live my truth and the fact that Im still not being given that opportunity has such a negative impact on my psychological well-being.

Puberty blockers have been in the news for the past week, since the UKs High Court finally granted permission for a judicial review into whether young transgender people are able to give informed consent to the treatment.

The medication is prescribed to trans teens by specialist gender doctors at the NHSs gender clinic for under 18s, GIDS.

The legal challenge is an attempt to force trans teens to go before a judge before being given medical treatment by doctors.

I think it is important for there to be a judicial review in any system, Sonja said. I do think there are parts that need to be reviewed, like waiting list times.

But the idea being lodged that a person is rushed into taking the blockers and transitioning seems to me a rare occurrence.

I know an exhaustive amount of people who have gone through the system at GIDS.

They wont even approach the issue of puberty blockers until they address a patients preexisting mental health conditions first, and make sure they are making the right decision in a mentally sound state.

Sonja was put on the waiting list for GIDS in November 2017, but two years later was told she was being taken off the waiting list because she wouldnt be seen before her 18th birthday.

In the time she spent waiting for an appointment at GIDS, Sonja went through male puberty and its irreversible effects, which means shell have to undergo invasive surgery to minimise.

The idea of puberty blockers is to halt the natural progression of biological puberty, stop the effects, at least halt the effects of [testosterone] on the body, the enlargement of the Adams apple, the change in muscle density, overall bone structure, and bone growth, she says.

The blockers are taken to pause the onset of puberty while a person contemplates whether or not they want to transition. It means that if they do, they wont have to undergo invasive surgery to remove those characteristics brought about by biological puberty.

Ive had to come to terms with the fact that part of my transition will require significant amount of surgeries, invasive and not. Because the blockers wont put a pause on my puberty, I will enter adulthood tasked with feminising my male characteristics.

To alter from just my neck upwards, theres probably around five facial feminisation surgeries, including the reduction of my jawline, rhinoplasty, and a tracheal shave to reduce the size of my Adams apple. Those surgeries are specifically to remove the effects that male puberty has had on my body.

Mermaids, the charity working with young transgender and gender-diverse people that supports Sonja, has said it may apply to intervene in the High Court case on behalf of the young people it supports.

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which GIDS falls under, said: We welcome the opportunity to make the case for the quality of care the service provides in a thorough and nuanced way. Our work in GIDS is provided in accordance with best practice and relevant national and international specifications and guidelines.

We are disturbed by the level of misinformation in relation to the support provided to these young people. The often-toxic debate around the topic has caused considerable distress to patients and families. We hope the hearing will serve to set the record straight and put centre-stage the voice and interests of young people living with gender dysphoria.

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Trans teen who waited three years for puberty blockers reveals devastating impact of being denied the treatment - PinkNews

Aesthetic treatments have become increasingly popular among Irish women; not because they make you look radically different, but for their ability to make you look like the best version of yourself.

Here we shine the spotlight on one of Ireland's leading clinics The New You Clinic, who offer the most innovative and leading treatments on the market today from lasers to dermal fillers delivering instant and long-lasting results.

Internationally renowned Claudia McGloin, a registered nurse with dual nursing registration in both the UK and Ireland, is the clinical director and owner of The New You Clinic, a multi-award-winning business in Sligo.

The clinic has gone from strength to strength over the past eight years to become one of Irelands most recognised and trusted medical aesthetic clinics. Due to growth and demand, the clinic has recently rebranded to include Womens Health to address hormone health and the menopause. The New You Clinic also owns the franchise for Motivation Weight Management.

The clinic offers a variety of medical aesthetic procedures including: Claudia Rejuvula Vagina Rejuvenation - a procedure that Claudia co-created to help women suffering with menopause, stress incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Currently, this is only available at The New You Clinic.

In addition, Claudia also has her own skincare brand called New You which currently has 13 products in the range, as well as four Bespoke Medical Facials.

Being a featured writer for the Journal of Aesthetic Nursing, Claudia is also regularly featured in the media. She is passionate about Patient safety and is highly involved in educating the public and highlighting issues regarding the lack of regulation within the Aesthetic Medicine sector.

The New You Clinic was recently awarded Commended Best Clinic Ireland and a full list of medical procedures and information can be found on the clinic website.

The New You Clinic, First Floor Millennium House, Stephen Street, Sligo

Ph: 0719140728

E: claudia@claudiamcgloinclinic.com

W: http://www.claudiamcgloinclinic.com

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Irelands Leading Aesthetic & Skincare Clinics: The New You Clinic - RSVP Live

Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, said he will not run a bill this legislative session banning transgender hormone therapy and surgery for minors. He has opted instead to run legislation to study puberty blocking drugs.

The replacement bill directs the Health Department to commission a review of scientific research on the effects of puberty blocking drugs. Some lawmakers had told Daw they needed more clarity on the effects of the drugs before they would support a bill banning them, according to Daw.

He said he also heard concerns from parents who told him their kids needed the drugs to treat their gender dysphoria and avoid serious mental health issues.

If they look at what the potential side effects are, and what theyre potentially buying in to, they may decide, you know what, I can wait, Daw said. It's giving them information to make a better decision.

The drugs dont cause a permanent change to someones body, but instead pauses puberty, providing time to determine if a child's gender identity is long lasting, according to the Mayo Clinic. Side effects may include weight gain, headaches and fertility issues.

Daw said right now he has no plans to introduce a bill to banhormone therapy or surgery, as he had originally intended, and wants to gather more information before he makes a decision.

If we need to take the next step, we will, Daw said.

While Equality Utah executive director Troy Williams is glad that Daw has abandoned his original bill, hes worried that the results of the review would be skewed.

We need more than one doctor reviewing the literature, Williams said, adding that the people reviewing the scientific literature should have experience in transgender-related health care. We also need to look at not just the side effects of medication, but also benefits of medication.

And though hes advocating for those changes to the bill, Williams hopes it never sees a committee hearing.

No transgender youth who's struggling with their care and navigating school needs to hear a bunch of bunk and transphobic rhetoric spewed at the Utah state Capitol, Williams said. That's not good for their mental health This is really about trying to intimidate and create fear in within the transgender community.

Sonja Hutson covers politics for KUER. Follow her on Twitter @SonjaHutson

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Utah Lawmaker Won't Introduce Legislation To Ban Transgender Hormone Therapy For Minors This Session - KUER 90.1

In the mid-2000s, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris opened a children's medical clinic in the Bayview section of San Francisco, one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. She quickly began to suspect something was making many of her young patients sick.

She noticed the first clues in the unusually large population of kids referred to her clinic for symptoms associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorderan inability to focus, impulsivity, extreme restlessness. Burke Harris was struck not just by the sheer number of ADHD referrals, but also by how many of the patients had additional health problems. One child arrived in her clinic with eczema and asthma and was in the 50th percentile of height for a 4-year-old. He was 7. There were kindergarteners with hair falling out, two children with extremely rare cases of autoimmune hepatitis, middle-school kids stricken with depression and an epidemic number of kids with behavioral problems and asthma.

Burke Harris noticed something else unusual about these children. Whenever she asked their parents or caregivers to tell her about conditions at home, she almost invariably uncovered a major life disruption or trauma. One child had been sexually abused by a tenant, she recalls. Another had witnessed an attempted murder. Many children came from homes struggling with the incarceration or death of a parent, or reported acrimonious divorces. Some caregivers denied there were any problems at all, but had arrived at the appointment high on drugs.

Although none of her mentors at medical school back in the early 2000s had suggested that stress could cause seemingly unrelated physical illnesses, what she was seeing in the clinic was so consistentand would eventually so alarm herit sent her scrambling for answers.

"If I were a doctor, and I was seeing incredibly high rates of autism, I'd be doing research on autism," she says. "Or if I saw incredibly high rates of certain types of cancer, I'd be doing that research. What I was seeing was incredibly, incredibly high rates of kids who were experiencing adversity and then having really significant health outcomes, whether it was difficulty learning, or asthma, or weird autoimmune diseases. I was seeing that the rates were highest in my kids who were experiencing adversity. And that drove me to the latest scientific literature."

What Burke Harris found there would eventually thrust her to the forefront of a growing movement that aims to transform the way the medical profession handles childhood adversity. Childhood stress can be as toxic and detrimental to the development of the brain and body as eating lead paint chips off the wall or drinking it in the waterand should be screened for and dealt with in similar ways, in Burke Harris' view. As California's first Surgeon General, a newly created position, she is focusing on getting lawmakers and the public to act.

Earlier this year, thanks in part to her advocacy, California allocated more than $105 million to promote screening for "Adverse Childhood Experiences" (ACEs)10 family stressors, first identified in the late 1990s, that can elicit a "toxic stress response," a biological cascade driven by the stress hormone cortisol that is linked to a wide range of health problems later in life.

In recent years, epidemiologists, neuroscientists and molecular biologists have produced evidence that early childhood experiences, if sufficiently traumatic, can flip biological switches that can profoundly affect the architecture of the developing brain and long-term physical and emotional health. These "epigenetic" changesmolecular-level processes that turn genes on and offnot only make some people more likely to self-medicate using nicotine, drugs or alcohol and render them more susceptible to suicide and mental illness later in life. They can impair immune system function and predispose us to deadly diseases including heart diseases, cancer, dementia and many others, decades later. Not only does childhood stress harm the children themselves, but the effects may also be passed down to future generations.

A groundswell of support has arisen in the world of public health in favor of treating childhood adversity as a public health crisis that requires interventiona crisis that seems to run in families and repeat itself in trans-generational cycles. At last count, at least 25 states and the District of Columbia had passed statutes or resolutions that refer to Adverse Childhood Experiences. Since 2011, more than 60 state statutes aimed at ACEs or intervening to mitigate their effects have been enacted into law, according ACEs Connection, a website devoted to tracking the phenomenon and providing resources. California's effort is among the most aggressive. The state has set aside $50 million for next year to train doctors to provide screening, and $45 million to begin reimbursing doctors in the state's MediCal program for doing so ($29 for each screening). If it proves effective, other states may soon follow.

"The social determinants of health are to the 21st century, what infectious disease was to the 20th century," says Burke Harris. She rose to national prominence after writing a 2018 book on the subject, embarking on a national book tour and recording a TED Talk that has been viewed more than 6 million times. She was tapped for her new post by Governor Gavin Newsom in January 2019.

The research is so fresh that many clinicians are still debating the best way to tackle the problem, most significantly whether the science is mature and the interventions effective enough to implement universal screening. And the details of California's approach to screening are controversial in the world of public health. (The epidemiologist who developed a key questionnaire being used as a screening tool says it was never intended to be used to evaluate individuals.) But there is broad consensus, at least, about one thing. For all the buzz in public health and policy circles about "ACEs," few people have heard the term before. The first task, many people on the front lines of health education agree, will be to change that so that caregivers themselves can learn about the vicious cycle of childhood adversity, and get the help they need to break it.

The Science of Toxic StressThe research on ACE stems from a seminal 17,000-person epidemiological study published in 1998. The first clue came years earlier, however, with the plight of an obese, 29-year-old woman from San Diego named Patty.

Over the course of a 52-week trial of a weight-loss diet, Patty dropped from 408 lbs. all the way down to 132. Then, over a single three-week period, she abruptly gained 37 pounds of it backa feat that her doctors didn't even know was scientifically possible.

Patty's dramatic weight swings got the attention of Vincent Felitti, the head of the preventative medicine program at the massive managed care consortium Kaiser Permanente, and the man who had designed the obesity study. Felitti had been astounded at the rapid pace with which the study subjects lost weight. "In the early days of the obesity study, I remember thinking 'wow, we've got this problem licked,'" Felitti recalls. "This is going to be a world-famous department!"

Then, for reasons nobody could explain, patients began dropping out of the program in droves. Felitti found it particularly alarming because the ones leaving the fastest seemed to be the ones losing the most weight. When Felitti heard about Patty, he arranged a chat. Patty claimed she was just as mystified by her massive weight gain as he was; she assured him she was still vigilantly sticking to the diet. But then she offered up a suggestive clue: Every night when she went to bed, she told Felitti, the kitchen was clean. Yet when she woke up, there were boxes and cans open and dirty dishes in the sink. Patty lived alone and had a history of sleepwalking. Was it possible, she wondered, that she was "sleep eating?"

When Felitti asked her if anything unusual had happened in her life around the time the dirty pots and pans began to appear, one event came to mind. An older, married man at work had told her she looked great and suggested they have an affair. After further questioning, Felitti learned Patty had first started gaining weight at age 10, around the time her grandfather began sexually molesting her.

Felitti came to believe that for Patty, obesity was an adaptive mechanism: she overate as a defense against predatory men. Felitti began asking other relapsing study participants if they had a history of sexual abuse. He was shocked by their answers. Eventually, more than 50 percent of his 300 patients would admit to such a history.

"Initially I thought, 'Oh, no, I must be doing something wrong. With numbers like this, people would know if this were true. Somebody would have told me in medical school,'" he recalls.

Felitti started bringing patients together in groups to talk about their secrets, their fears and the challenges they facedand their weight loss began to stick. Within a couple years, the program was so successful that Felitti was receiving regular invitations to speak about his program to medical audiences. Whenever he brought up sexual abuse and its apparent link to obesity, however, audience members would "storm explosively" out of the room or stand up to argue with him, he says. Nobody, it seemed, wanted to hear what he had to say.

At least one person was intrigued by his findings. Robert Anda, a researcher at U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), had been studying chronic diseases and the counterintuitive links between depression, hope and heart attacks. He knew firsthand what it was like to deal with colleagues who considered his work flaky. Anda and Felitti got to talking. They realized there was only one way that both of them would be able to overcome the skepticism they were encountering: they needed to do a rigorous study. At Anda's urging, Felitti agreed not just to recruit a larger sample but to expand its scope to examine the link between a wide array of common childhood stressors and health later in life.

This became the ground-breaking "ACE Study," a 17,000-person retrospective project aimed at examining the relationship between childhood exposure to emotional, physical and sexual abuse and household dysfunction, and risky behaviors and disease in adulthood. Starting in 1998, and continuing with follow-ups well into the 2000s, Felitti and Anda's team published a series of counterintuitive papers that upended much of what we thought we knew about the mind-body connection.

To gather the data, Felitti persuaded Kaiser Permanente-affiliated doctors to recruit patients in Southern California undergoing routine physical exams. The patients were asked to complete confidential surveys detailing both their current health status and behaviors, and the types of adversity they've endured: physical, emotional and sexual abuse, neglect, domestic violence, parental incarceration, separation or divorce, family mental illness, the early death of a parent, alcoholism and drug abuse. To analyze the data, the researchers added up the number of ACEs, calculated an "ACE score," then correlated those scores with high-risk behaviors and diseases to see if they could find any patterns.

The first shocker was just how common these ACEs were. More than half of those participating had at least one, a quarter had two or more and roughly 6 percent reported four or more. This was not just a problem of the poor. Childhood emotional adversity cut across all racial, ethnic and economic lines. Even more surprising was the impact of these stressors later in life. When the researchers ran their analysis, they discovered a direct, dose-dependent link between the number of ACEs and behavioral issues like alcoholism, smoking and promiscuitythose who had experienced four or more categories of childhood exposure had a four- to 12-fold increased risk of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression and suicide attempts.

The results went beyond these common trauma-related health risks. The study also linked childhood trauma to a host of seemingly unrelated physical problems, including ischemic heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures and liver disease.

What made the study so shocking was that the data suggested that even those who didn't drink, use drugs or act out in risky ways still had a far higher rate of developing ischemic heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures and liver disease. Unexpectedly, the researchers had discovered that childhood adversity seemed to be an independent risk factor for some of the leading causes of death decades later.

"We found a strong graded relationship between the breadth of exposure to abuse or household dysfunction during childhood and multiple risk factors for several of the leading causes of death in adults," the authors wrote.

The study dropped like a bomb in the world of public health. But the scientific work was just beginning. In the years since, scores of researchers have begun to dig into the biological mechanisms in play. And with emerging brain scanning technologies and advances in molecular biology, an explanation for the ACE study has begun to emerge. Some clinicians and scientists have begun to turn these findings into concrete interventions and treatments they hope can be used to reverse or at least attenuate the impact.

Much of the research has focused on how ACEs affect the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a biological system that plays a key role in the mind-body connection. The HPA axis controls our reactions to stress and is crucial in regulating an array of important body processes including immune function, energy storage and expenditureeven our experience of emotions and mood. It does so by adjusting the release of key hormones, most notably cortisol, the release of which is increased by stress or low blood sugar levels.

Cortisol has many functions. On a daily basis, it regulates the level of energy we have as the day progresses: we generally experience our highest levels of cortisol, and energy, upon waking up. These levels gradually diminish throughout the day, reaching very low levels just prior to bedtime.

Cortisol also serves a role in the body's energy allocation during times of crisis. When all is calm, the body builds muscle or bone and socks away excess calories for future consumption as fat, performs cellular regeneration and keeps its immune system strong to fight infection. In the case of a child, the body fuels normal mental and physical development.

In an emergency, however, all these processes get put on hold. The HPA axis floods the bloodstream with adrenaline and cortisol, which signals the body to kick into overdrive immediately. Blood sugar levels spike and the heart pumps harder to provide a fast boost in fuel. If an 11-foot-tall grizzly bear is lumbering in your direction and licking his chops, the additional burst of energy helps you run screaming through the woods or wrestle the critter to the ground and plunge a Bowie knife into its heart.

However, when the emergency goes on for a long timeperhaps over an entire childhood of abusethe resulting high levels of cortisol take a big and lasting toll.

Almost as soon as the ACE study was published, dysregulated cortisol levels seemed a likely culprit to explain the study's startling implications. Was it possible that the chronic stressors identified by Felitti and Anda led to elevated cortisol levels in children? And could those elevated levels account for seemingly unrelated diseases and the range of additional problems that researchers were beginning to link to ACEs?

In the decade after the 1998 ACE study, researchers began seeking out children in Romanian orphanages and measuring cortisol levels, in the hopes of verifying this hypothesis. When researchers began to compare their levels to that of children who had not faced adversity, they found substantial differences. But the results were difficult to interpret.

"There was growing evidence that there was an impact, but the studies were contradictory," says Jackie Bruce, a research scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center, an NIH-funded research center in Eugene that studies child development. "Sometimes people were finding kids with early adversity had low cortisol and sometimes they were finding they had high cortisol."

In 2009, Bruce and her colleagues demonstrated a possible explanation for the discrepancies. Since morning cortisol levels play such an important role in getting well-functioning individuals ready for the day, they sought out a group of 117 maltreated 3- to 6-year-old children transitioning into new foster care placements in the United States. The researchers then trained the children's caregivers to collect saliva samples before breakfast. For comparison, they recruited a control group of 60 low-income children living with their biological parents who had no previous record of abuse or maltreatment.

Children who had experienced more severe emotional, physical and sexual maltreatment did indeed have abnormally high morning cortisol levels. But scientists also found that children who experienced more severe neglect had abnormally low morning cortisol levels. Different types of adversity, in other words, had different impacts on the HPA system. But whether the adversity took the form of an absence of stimulation or the presence of negative, threatening stimulation, the effect was bad for normal development.

"Low cortisol levels, particularly in the morning, had been linked to externalizing disordersthings like delinquency and alcohol usewhereas high cortisol levels have been linked to more anxiety and depression," and post-traumatic stress disorder, Bruce says.

Even so, Bruce and her colleagues noted that within both groups, "some kids are doing really well, some kids are not doing well." This suggested other factors were also involved. And in recent years, much of the research has focused on understanding the complex interaction between external stressors, genetics and interpersonal interventions.

One of the most important findings to emerge recently is that the experience of childhood adversity, by itself, does not appear to be enough to lead to toxic stress. Genetic predispositions play a role. But even among those predisposed, the effects can be blunted by what researchers call emotional "buffering"a response from a loving, supportive caregiver that comforts the child, restores a sense of safety and allows cortisol levels to fall back down to normal. Some research suggests that this buffering works in part because a good hugor even soft reassuring words from a caregivercan cause the body to release the hormone oxytocin, sometimes referred to as the "cuddle" or "love" hormone.

One of the reasons the ACE study was so effective at highlighting the potential long-term health effects that early childhood adversity can have on health, says Burke Harris, was the nature of the stressors measured. The stressors took place within the context of a family situation that often reflected the failure of a caregiver to intervene as a needed protector.

"The items that are on the ACE screening have this amazing combination of being high stress and also simultaneously taking out the buffering protected mechanisms," Burke Harris says. "If you're being regularly abused, often it's partially because your parents are not intervening."

This hypothesis is supported by experiments in rodents. Back in the 1950s, the psychiatrist Seymour Levine demonstrated that baby rats taken away from their mothers for 15 minutes each day grew up to be less nervous and produce less cortisol than their counterparts. The reason, he suggested, was due to affection from their distressed parent in the form of extra licking and grooming. Studies in the 1990s confirmed that the extra affection and comfort offered by the affectionate parents seemed to have flipped biological "epigenetic" switches that caused their offspring to internalize the sense of safety that had been provided and replicate it biochemically as adults.

Scientists have since documented many biochemical mechanisms by which emotional buffering can help inoculate children exposed to adversity to long-term consequences, and how chronic overactivation of the HPA axis can interfere with developmentor, as one widely cited scientific paper put it, can have an impact akin to "changing the course of a rocket at the moment of takeoff." Neglected and abused Romanian orphans were shown to have smaller brains as a population than those placed in loving foster homes, suggesting a lack of stimulation interfered with normal neuronal growth. Adversity and stress without adequate buffering can turn on genes that flood the system with enzymes that prime the body to respond to further stress by making it easier to produce adrenaline and reactivate the fight-or-flight response quickly, which can make it harder for children with toxic stress to control their emotions.

Toxic stress can also have powerful influences on the developing immune system. Too much cortisol suppresses immunity and increases the chance of infection, while too little cortisol can cause an inflammatory immune response to persist long after it is needed. That can act directly on the brain to produce "sickness behavior," characterized by a lack of appetite, fatigue, social withdrawal, depressed mood, irritability and poor cognitive functioning, according to a 2013 review paper aimed at bringing pediatricians up to speed on the emerging science. As adults, children maltreated during childhood are more likely to have elevated inflammatory markers and a greater inflammatory response to stress, the researchers reported. Chronic elevations in cortisol have also been linked to hypertension, insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In recent years, Fellitti and Anda's original 1998 paper has been cited more than 10,000 times in further studies. And as awareness in the public health community has risen, so too has the amount of data available to work with, and the vast body of research documenting the far-reaching consequences of ACEs. Last fall, the CDC analyzed data from 25 states collected between 2015 and 2017, and more than 144,000 adults (a sample 8.5 times larger than the original 1998 study). The authors noted that ACEs are associated with at least five of the top 10 leading causes of death; that preventing ACEs could potentially reduce chronic diseases, risky health behaviors and socioeconomic challenges later in life and have a positive impact on education and employment levels. Reducing ACEs could prevent 21 million cases of depression; 1.9 million cases of heart disease; and 2.5 million cases of obesity, the authors said.

Hundreds of new studies are published every year. In just the last month, studies have come out analyzing the "mediating role of ACEs in attempted suicides among adolescents in military families," the impact of ACEs on aging and on "deviant and altruistic behavior during emerging adulthood."

How to Save the KidsWhile these findings help explain the link to chronic diseases, Harris Burke and other public health officials believe they also provide the basis for some of the most promising interventions in the clinic today. Not surprisingly given her background, Burke Harris looks to pediatric caregivers and other doctors to lead the effort to detect and treat patients suffering from toxic stress. To help them do it, late last year, California released a clinical "algorithm": basically a chart spelling out how doctors should proceed once they compiled a patient's ACE score.

Patients are found to be high-risk for negative health outcomes if the doctor, using a questionnaire, can identify four or more of the adverse childhood experiences or some combination of psychological, social or physical conditions found in studies to be associated with toxic stress. For children, that's obesity, failure-to-thrive syndrome and asthma, but also other indicators such as drug or alcohol use prior to the age of 14, high-school absenteeism and other social problems. For adults, the list includes suicide attempts, memory impairment, hepatitis, cancer and other conditions found to be higher in populations with high ACE scores.

Doctors are encouraged to educate all patients about ACEs and toxic stress regardless of their ACE scores. For patients found to be at intermediate or high risk, additional steps are recommended. The first step in the case of children is to make sure parents or caregivers understand the links ACEs can have to adverse health outcomes. That way, they can be on the lookout for new conditions and take action to prevent them.

Key to this educational process is making sure caregivers understand the protective role buffering can play in countering the corrosive effects of stress. Buffering includes nurturing caregiving, but it can include simple steps like focusing on maintaining proper sleep, exercise and nutrition. Mindfulness training, mental health services and an emphasis on developing healthy relationships are other interventions that Burke Harris says can help combat the stress response.

The specifics will vary on a case-by-case basis, and will rely on the judgment and creativity of the doctor to help adult caregivers design a plan to protect the childand to help both those caregivers and high-risk adults receive social support services and interventions when necessary. In the months ahead, the protocols and interventions will be further refined and expanded. "Most of our interventions are essentially reducing stress hormones, and ultimately changing our environment," says Burke Harris. "But some of the things that I think are really exciting are on the horizon."

In recent years researchers have begun to explore whether the "love drug," oxytocina hormone released when a parent hugs a child might form the basis for potent pharmaceutical interventions. For now, however, "we're on the scientific frontier," she says.

The relatively young state of the science and the fuzziness and subjective nature of the tools California plans to use to evaluate the threat have alarmed some public-health experts. They worry that the state is moving too fast, before more is known about the science of toxic stress. Robert Anda, for one, is uncomfortable with the use of screening tools that rely on an ACE score. He worries it might be misused in the doctor's office because it doesn't measure caregiver buffering or genetic predispositions that might prove protective. The questionnaire he and Felitti developed for the original study was always meant to be a blunt instrumentsuited for a survey of a huge population of patients. The problem with applying it to individual patients, he says, is that it doesn't take into account the severity of the stressor. Who's to say, for instance, that someone with an ACE score of one who was beaten by a caregiver every day of their life is less prone to disease than someone with an ACE score of four who experienced these stressors only intermittently? On a population level, surveying thousands, the outliers would cancel each other out. But on the individual level they could be misleading.

It's a concern echoed by others. "I think the concept behind ACE screening, if it's about sensitizing all of us to the importance of looking for that part of the population that's experiencing adversity, I'd say that's good," says Jack Shonkoff, a professor of child health and development who directs the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. "But if it's used as an individual diagnostic test or indicator child by child, I would say that's potentially dangerous in terms of inappropriate labeling or inappropriate alarm. We need to make sure that people don't misuse this information so that parents don't feel like they've just been given some kind of deterministic diagnosis. Because it's not that. It's also dangerous to totally give a clean bill of health for a kid who may be showing symptoms of stress."

Burke Harris notes that she has been using ACE scores as part of her clinical care for more than a decade. When used correctly, it is only one part of a larger screening process. And she points out that despite the early phase of the field, the stakes are too high to wait any longer. "This is extremely urgent," she says. "It's a public health crisis. We have enough research now to act. And once we have enough research to act, not acting becomes an unconscionable path."

In the years ahead, more precise methods of detection will likely be available. Harvard's Shonkoff recently completed a large, nationwide feasibility study aimed at developing and rolling out a saliva test which could be used to screen for biomarkers that indicate a toxic stress response in both children and adults. The test, developed as part of a six-year, $13 million grant, measures the level of inflammatory cytokines present in the spit sample. Shonkoff and his colleagues are in the process of taking the next step, which involves gathering enough data to develop benchmarks that indicate normal and abnormal levels for stress markers by age, sex, race and ethnicity.

Even the cautious agree a little education will go a long way. "The most important fundamental prevention idea is that people who are caring for children, who are parenting children, need to understand that childhood adversities are likely leading to issues in their own lives," Shonkoff says. "And if they don't find a way to do things differently with support, they will be embedding that same biology back in their children."

Originally posted here:
Yes, Stress Really Is Making You Sick - Newsweek

News'Missing out on hormone blockers has made me feel self-conscious and uncomfortable in my testosterone-filled body'

Tuesday, 3rd March 2020, 11:50 am

Sonja is a 17-year-old college student in the West Midlands. She is a transgender teenager, and has been on the NHS Gender and Identity Development Service (GIDS) patient waiting list since November 2017. Here, she shares how she feels after discovering she will not be given puberty blockers, also known as hormone blockers, by the clinic for transgender children and young adults.

For the longest time throughout my childhood, I thought there was something wrong with me. I wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't feel comfortable. I couldn't understand it, which made me feel isolated, so Id play alone and enjoy my own company. My nursery teachers were concerned.

Fast forward a couple of years towards secondary school, I became more involved with the internet and the online world, and I started to learn the vocabulary for what I was feeling. I considered the prospect that I was transgender, and I thought, maybe this is who I am.

It took a good few years before I spoke to my my student support staff at my secondary school about my feelings. From there, they listened to me, and helped me create a referral to be seen by GIDS, the NHS's specialist children and young adults gender identity clinic, to consider my next steps. They helped me with external support through youth groups and various charities.

Missing out on puberty blockers

But two years down the line, I've received confirmation I will never been seen by GIDS, nor will I be given the chance to take puberty blockers. In December 2019, the December just gone, I received a phone call from a woman at GIDS, saying they would refer me to adult services, because I wouldnt be seen before my 18th birthday. Getting seen by GIDS, in short, is a mission in itself.

Being referred to an adult clinic, where I will not be offered puberty blockers, took me aback. It sucks because by the point of me getting referred in the first place, to get puberty blockers, took so long I had gone through most of my puberty anyways. I already have the effects and it sucks.

Ive had to come to terms with the fact that part of my transition will require significant amount of surgeries, invasive and not. Because the blockers won't put a pause on my puberty, I will enter adulthood tasked with feminising my "male" characteristics.

To alter from just my neck upwards, theres probably around five facial feminisation surgeries, including the reduction of my jawline, rhinoplasty, and a tracheal shave to reduce the size of my Adams apple. Those surgeries are specifically to remove the effects that male puberty has had on my body.

From what I understand of the process, some surgery is considered to be cosmetic, with tracheal shave (reduction of the Adam's apple) and facial feminisation surgery seen as this by the NHS. As it stands, there's only one surgery, gender reassignment surgery, that is usually funded by the NHS.

Constantly painful

If someone told me I was lucky not to have gone on hormone blockers I would struggle to put into words how wrong that is. Missing out on hormone blockers has made me feel self-conscious and uncomfortable in my testosterone-filled body. Its like wearing a pair of shoes with rocks inside them. It's constantly painful, you never forget its there and you cannot take the rocks out.

There are times when Im on the verge of harming myself and I cry alone. Its like sitting in the library at college but constantly looking over my shoulder, hyper-aware of whether people are talking about me and whether someone is going to attack me. I have regular panic attacks which are getting worse. I struggle to sleep because theres so much going round in my head. Every minute of the day I struggle with negative thoughts.

I know there are people who say I should just make peace with my body. Its not like changing your hair colour or weight, its so much deeper than that. I know there are people who cant change their bodies but this isnt about trying to change the way I look for vanity its trying to live as the woman I am.

I am constantly afraid of being attacked on street. Its not a question of wanting to pass" as a woman, its about longing to feel safe. Throughout my transition, I have always been tentatively cautious. Ive always been mindful, am I doing this for me, or am I doing it to fit some societal expectation of what a woman looks like? Through every step of my transition, I have taken a step back and evaluated my situation. I want to do whats comfortable for me, and me alone.

I will never be seen by GIDS after years of waiting. The right to enjoy my life as who I am has been disregarded and taken from me. I cant feel comfortable who I am, and fully experience my young adult life because of my trans status and physically who I am. If I could have started it earlier, and reaped the benefits of puberty blockers, I would be in a much better situation than I am now.

'I regret not having access to blockers'

Throughout my entire transition, I have sought a lot of support. Its a lot to deal with. Im so thankful that there are amazing support networks and charities like Mermaids with dedicated helplines. Samaritans are great for general mental health issues. I would encourage anyone who needs support to go and seek help, and have that support in place.

I just want to specifically reiterate and reinforce that it is important for there to be a judicial review. But people need to be mindful that their situation, if it is unusual, where someone might seek a reversal, or feels uninformed, might be the rarity, and to not harm the wider community as a whole.

I know theres a lot of debate at the moment about hormone blockers and regret but nobody is listening to people like me. I cant put into words how much I regret not having access to blockers and hormones. Theyre a necessary requirement for me to comfortable live my truth and the fact that Im still not being given that opportunity has such a negative impact on my psychological well-being.

Tavistock, representing the NHS's Gender and Identity Services clinic (GIDS), has been approached by i for comment.

Read the rest here:
'I'm trans, and I've waited since 2017 to be given puberty blockers. Now, I've been told it's too late' - inews

February 2020

Are you looking for a health care provider who offers innovative alternatives and a customized approach to your health issues? Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute (IRMI) believes in offering specialized alternatives to health care. Its medical team, headed by Doctor of Chiropractic Preston Peachee, utilizes the latest developments in regenerative medicine, hormone replacement and pain management.

Dr. Peachee is a native of Jasper, Indiana. He graduatedfrom Logan College of Chiropractic and has been in practice since 2003. Hisareas of specialty include patients with chronic and severe back, neck andjoint pain as well as other complex neurological conditions.

Dr. Peachee has earned a reputation as an innovative thinkeras well as a compassionate practitioner who brings his wide expertise andexperience to the Greater Indianapolis area. His ability to help those in needof regenerative medicine, neuropathy pain relief, low testosterone or otherphysical ailments, such as back pain or fibromyalgia, makes him not only uniquebut highly sought-after.

A key member of the IRMI team is Leann Emery, FNP. Emery isa family nurse practitioner with more than 20 years of experience in hormonereplacement and alternative pain management. Emery provides optimal patientcare through personal consultations and assessments to identify her patientsspecific health needs. She was rated in the top 10% of providers in the U.S.with patient satisfaction.

Regenerative medicine is making huge leaps in our understanding of the human body, and it is offering real, possible treatments that would have seemed like science fiction a few short years ago, according to IRMI. Most patients we see have tried other more traditional treatments and have either not gotten any better or have gotten even worse. Unfortunately, a lot of people we see depend on multiple medications per day to try and function but still are not happy with how they feel or how they live their lives. It is unfortunately the nature of deteriorating and degenerative joints, they will get worse with time, and generally the pain increases as well.

Depending on the injury, Dr. Peachee will often combinelaser therapy with the regenerative medicine protocols to improve the outcomesand try and speed the recovery process.

We offer mesenchymal stem cell therapy, Dr. Peachee said. With the combination of laser therapy, mesenchymal stem cell therapy is incredibly effective for rotator cuff problems and treating knee pain. Eighty percent of our stem patients are dealing with knee pain or Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis-or O.A. of the knee- is a huge problem for a lot of people, and we get great results from these therapies. Most people can even avoidknee surgery.

Dr. Peachee recently introduced hormone treatments for low testosterone. Family Nurse Practitioner Leann Emery has been doing [hormone] treatments for 20 years, and that area of medicine became a natural fit for IRMI.

I have several patients who were seeking this type ofcaremany who are police officers and firefighterswho couldnt find thetherapy and individualized care and attention that they needed.

Dr. Peachee explained that low T treatments help patients with unique and even complicated cases of Erectile Dysfunction (E.D.). Most people seek us out for treatment because they are tired, worn out, stressed out and just simply lack the energy they used to have.

We are able to fill a niche with patients who hadcomplicated cases that were not responding well with their primary careproviders or other places, Dr. Peachee shared. We have a patient who hasstruggled for a long time with fertility issues but has done very well [withtreatments], and we just got good news that he and his wife are expecting aftertrying for a really long time. So, he is really enthused about that.

The typical candidates for low T treatments, according toDr. Peachee, are men who feel worn out, are lethargic and have lost theirzest for life.

Our patients dont have the same pep that they had 10 or20 years ago, Dr. Peachee stated. They struggle getting up in the morning andmight be struggling in the afternoon after having six cups of coffee or threeRed Bulls just to get through the day. We have a lot of people that want to getback into the gym and get the maximum benefit of their workouts. We can helpthem improve their overall health and energy so that they can enjoyrecreational activities like working out or practice with the Little Leaguewith their kids. Many times we hear from spouses, friends and family how muchbetter they feel and that they seem happier and get more out of life again.

It goes without saying that proper hormonal balance canimprove a patients personal relationships as well and improve the overallmental health of a patient by reducing stress, anxiety and depression oftencaused by symptoms related to low testosterone levels.

We focus on injectable [low T] treatments because we canmodify the dosage and give more frequent doses to keep our patients at a levelthats going to give them the maximum benefit and improvement for theirconditions, Dr. Peachee explained.

With the modern changes in medicine over the last 20 and 50years, were helping people to live a lot longer and adding 20 to 30 years totheir lives, but we have not given them an improved quality of life as theyage. By working with their hormones and getting them in balance, their qualityof life becomes way better, and were seeing a positive improvement for manypeople with these treatments.

Patients suffering from severe disc injuries, such a bulgingor herniated disc or discs, or who suffer from degenerative disc disease mayhave undergone treatment from chiropractors or have seen physical therapistsbefore coming to Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute.

Our typical patient who comes in for this type of treatmenthas seen other therapists or chiropractors but hasnt found lasting relief,Dr. Peachee said. Many of our patients want to get off the rollercoaster ofopioids and pain medications. They are looking for a solution without narcoticsand risk of addiction or other possible negative side effects of narcoticsand/or surgery. We are generally able to alleviate the pain in 90% of patientsand are able to keep them from having surgery or from taking addictivemedications.

Laser therapy allows Dr. Peachee to work on the damaged tissue so that it can heal, and the method reduces inflammation and swelling in a way that traditional treatments cannot.

Its an innovative new therapy within the last decade thatallows us to do some amazing things, Dr. Peachee stated. We perform ourprocedures in our office and have several different devices for the specificneeds and issues of our patients. For instance, we have a unique device forpeople with knee pain that can help the majority of our patients walk betterand live more pain-free. We get a phenomenal outcome with this procedure.

One of the other major differentiators that sets IndianaRegenerative Medicine Institute apart from other offices and clinics is thatthey are advocates for their patients, especially when it comes to dealing withtheir patients insurance providers.

A lot of our low T patients are able to get their insurancecarriers to cover the services so that it doesnt cost them as much out ofpocket for the care they seek, Dr. Peachee said. Weve partnered with abilling company that has helped us to be able to navigate the craziness of ourmodern insurance companies, and by doing so, were able to keep the cost downfor a lot of patients. Not every insurance plan will cover this type of care,but a lot of them will. When its possible and ethical, we do whatever we canto benefit our patients to help keep the cost low. I have spent a lot of freetime writing letters on behalf of our patients. We go above and beyond with ourservice and care of our patients.

The Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute team will make housecalls or come to a patients place of work when the situation calls for thatlevel of care.

We will go and draw blood for blood work, bring medications and even do exams in some situations, Dr. Peachee said. As I mentioned before, we see a lot of police officers and firemen all over the statefrom Mishawaka to South Bend and all over Indiana. We go once a month to see these patients at their departments and stations so that we see them all in one day versus making 10 to 15 guys drive hours to come in to see us. Its a service we can offer because we are a small clinic and we are focused on that one-on-one patient attention and relationship building. We have great relationships with our patients, and thats something that we work very hard at.

Building trust and transparency is crucial to the success ofhis practice, Dr. Peachee emphasized. The trust that we build with ourpatients is crucial to not only the success of the practice but to thepatients outcomes. And not just with hormone therapy but also with ournonsurgical spinal decompression patients. These are patients with significant discinjuries, and we need them to tell us everything we need to know so we can givemore accurate and complete care for a better outcome.

I would say to anybody if you have any doubts or reservations to take some of the burden and some of the anxiety out of the equation and schedule an initial consultationabsolutely free of charge, Dr. Peachee encouraged.

Dont put off living your best life any longer. Visit Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institutes website at indianaregen.com or call (317) 653-4503 for more information about its services and specialized treatments and schedule your free consultationtoday!

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Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute Offers Innovative Approaches in Regenerative Medicine, Hormone Replacement and Pain Management - Carmel...

CLAIRE Dunwell thought she was going crazy when, after turning 40, she began to suffer heart palpitations, migraines and crippling anxiety.

After going back and forth to her GP, she was given medication for anxiety, beta-blockers for her heart and even sent for an ECG heart check.

6

Claire, 42, now knows she is going through the perimenopause, a phase before menopause when hormone levels can fluctuate. She is now undergoing hormone replacement therapy to ease the effects. But it should all have been diagnosed sooner.

A Mumsnet poll found one in four women with menopausal symptoms sees a GP three times before getting the right help. One in four is told she is too young to be perimenopausal.

Here, Claire, a writer who lives in Wakefield, West Yorks, with husband Ian, 55, a chip shop owner, and sons Sam, 13, and Louie, ten shares her story.

SOAKING up the rays, I should have been living my best life.

It was last August, blazing hot, and we were halfway through a two-week family holiday in Crete.

6

While my husband Ian had his head buried in a book, planning his next trip to the all-inclusive bar, I was frantically searching Google on my phone, hoping for answers to explain the way I was feeling.

Since hitting 40 the previous February, I had been plunged into a dark, unfamiliar world.

I had become anxious, irritable and zapped of energy.

When my head wasnt thick with brain fog it throbbed with migraines, and trying to concentrate on anything for longer than half an hour had become a battle.

I felt like someone I didnt recognise not the fun, happy-go-lucky person I was in my carefree twenties and thirties.

6

Id always been fit, healthy and a cup half full kind of girl.

I exercised three times a week, ate healthily and was incredibly lucky to have a loving husband, two healthy children, great friends and a successful career.

From the outside looking in, I had it all.

But on the inside, I had suddenly lost control.

Even the most mundane jobs such as unloading the washing machine and trying to pair up socks overwhelmed me.

FACT:

1 in 4 women with symptoms have to see GP 3 times to get right help

Headaches, fatigue, anxiety and palpitations made matters worse.

It was three months after I turned 40 when the repeat trips to my GP surgery began.

I beat myself up for wasting precious NHS time.

I felt like a fledgling hypochondriac.At each visit, doctors tried hard to treat my list of ailments but nothing worked for long.

6

For the migraines, which Id never suffered before and became so unbearable I struggled to hold conversation and just wanted to sleep, a doctor prescribed Sumatriptan.

I took it when the migraines hit and although they helped with the head pain, they made me feel sick and groggy.

At another appointment, this time with a nurse, it was suggested I try a high dose of aspirin as soon as I felt a migraine coming.

If that didnt work, she would refer me to a local migraine support group.

Next came the unexplained anxiety and heart palpitations, which were at their worst during the two weeks before my period.

FACT:

A quarter are told they are too young to be premenopausal

Some days, I felt as though I was going crazy.

I could be enjoying coffee with a friend one minute and gripped by an irrational panic the next.

My heart raced, worrying something terrible was about to happen.

My husband took the brunt of my bad moods.

I felt exhausted all the time because nodding off on the sofa by 9pm most nights meant I struggled to get a good nights sleep.

I was less tolerant with the kids too.

All of this was completely out of character.

Despite the odd night every few weeks when I woke up in the night drenched in sweat, it never dawned on me that it could be down to my hormones.

6

Sobbing to my GP at yet another appointment, I was prescribed Citalopram, an anti-anxiety medication which I hoped could be a magic pill.

I was desperate to try anything.

They even gave me an ECG for the palpitations, but it showed my heart was perfectly normal.

Its only now, looking back, that I realise it was around this time my periods changed.

Some months they were lighter than normal and others they were shorter in length.

Neither me, nor my GP, made the link that I could be heading towards The Change.

It was during that family holiday to Crete last year that I finally reached the end of my tether.

I was six months into the Citalopram but because it wasnt making any difference, I stopped it.

FACT:

The average woman hits menopause at age 51

I made another appointment with my GP and was handed a prescription for beta blockers which slow the heart rate and can help with anxiety.

Instead, they left me feeling spaced out and sluggish, so I could only take them at night.

It was during my son Louies routine asthma check-up last September when everything began to fall into place.

Tearful, I begged a friendly nurse for five minutes of her time.

Youre not going crazy, she reassured me, as I blurted everything out.

Youre perimenopausal.

The nurse said how all my symptoms were likely to be down to a drop in my hormone levels.

At first, the idea seemed ridiculous.

I was 41, and the average age women reach menopause when regular periods stop is 51.

But the more I pieced together my sudden onset of symptoms, the more it made sense.

When I asked if there was a blood test I could have to check my hormone levels, I was told it would be difficult to get a reliable result because hormones fluctuate daily.

The nurse prescribed the mini Pill hoping the top-up of progesterone would help. She suggested trying oestrogen later.

6

I went away feeling both relieved and confident that I was finally on the right path.But while the mini Pill helped with the migraines and eased the anxiety, it caused frequent heavy bleeding.

I was determined to find another solution, so I tracked down Dr Louise Newson, a GP specialising in menopause, and author of the Haynes Menopause Manual.

At her clinic in Stratford-upon-Avon she talked through my symptoms and I was given a blood test which found I had low levels of both oestrogen and testosterone.

While Louise said my results suggested I was perimenopausal, she stressed it is better to go on a patients symptoms than blood tests alone.

Hormone levels change all the time, she told me.

We could do three tests on three consecutive days and get completely different results, so the most important part of the diagnosis is the history from the patient.

When Louise went on to explain how it is not unusual for some women to experience menopausal symptoms up to a decade before The Change, I felt a huge weight lift.

Louise explained: Without hormones, its like trying to drive a car without oil.

The menopause occurs because our ovaries run out of eggs and stop producing hormones.

Many women find that their hormone levels start reducing several years before this.

Louise said that the perimenopause could be just as mentally and physically draining as the real thing.

Your age is key to diagnosis

THE average woman experiences the menopause when regular periods stop aged 51. But hormone levels can fluctuate several years earlier and in some people this can have side-effects.

This is known as the perimenopause.

Dr Louise Newson, pictured, says: Most women get some symptoms linked to changing hormone levels during perimenopause.

Some have symptoms for a decade before the menopause. Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says that if a woman is over 45, we dont need to test for perimenopause or menopause.

If theyre 40 to 45 tests can be useful, and if theyre under 40 its important to get a diagnosis. In these situations a woman experiencing menopausal symptoms should seek help and advice from a doctor who specialises in the menopause.

Cells in our hearts, brains, bones, muscles, bladders and blood vessels respond to oestrogen so when levels reduce, all kinds of symptoms can ensue.

My hot flushes, night sweats, low mood, anxiety, joint pains, headaches and even my reduced libido could all be attributed to this fluctuation.

Low testosterone levels can also lead to brain fog, low energy, reduced stamina and reduced libido.

In my case, Louise prescribed an oestrogen gel as well as progesterone tablets, a type of Hormone Replacement Therapy.

She told me: The only way to find out if a drop in hormones is causing the symptoms is by replacing them and then seeing what happens.

The guidelines are very clear that for the majority of women who take HRT, the benefits outweigh the risks.

The menopause needs to be seen as a long-term female hormone deficiency rather than just a natural process that causes symptoms.

By replacing these hormones, we can really improve our future health as well as our symptoms.

I never imagined Id be taking HRT at the age of 42, but I could not contemplate going on for several more years feeling like I had been.

Four weeks into the treatment, Ive found it has already made a huge difference.

SPACE RAIDERSMum shares grab-n-go method for her kids lunchboxes as her house is small

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Mums migraines, anxiety & palpitations were driving her crazy for two years until she was diagnosed with p - The Sun

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced that Kyleena a long-acting, low-hormone, reversible form of contraceptive will be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This will allow general patients to pay just $41 (or $6.60 for concession card holders) for up to five years of birth control.

WATCH:Abbie Chatfield reveals she had an abortion before going on The Bachelor

Kyleena is the first IUD of its kind in 15 years to be subsidised under the PBS. The move is expected to save women up to $160 a year, totalling $93 million collectively for Australian consumers.

We know from the Choice Project research that long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are highly reliable, desirable methods of "fit & forget" contraceptives and countries that have high rates of LARC use have lower unplanned pregnancy and abortion rates, Dr Karen Osborne, Clinical Director of Clinic 66 tells Womens Health.

RELATED:How To Use Your Birth Control To Prevent PMS

Getty

We want to get as many women to use the more effective LARC methods rather than the higher risk and more inconvenient contraceptive pill.We need to make allLARCS as affordable for women as possible so that they have a better range of choice.

In comparison to a global benchmark of 15 per cent, around 12.5 per cent of Aussies rely on long-acting reversible contraceptives. As well as Kyleena, other popular choices include the Mirena and ParaGard, a non-hormonal copper IUD.

The benefits of using these forms of birth control include:

RELATED:Exactly How Each Form Of Birth Control Affects Your Period

Link:
The Kyleena IUD Is Set To Be Subsidised By The Government - Women's Health

SEATTLE Samira Ummat, MD of Longevity Medical Clinic says there is evidence that androgens (or hormones) like testosterone are breast protective in women.

"Unfortunately, all women after mid-thirties, become deficient in many important hormones. In recent studies, its true, there is an 86% reduction in breast cancer cases when high-risk women were on androgen therapy. "

How does a woman know if she is at high risk for Breast Cancer?

According to Dr. Ummat, women who are at high risk for Breast Cancer often have above-average menopausal symptoms with lots of side effects. Some women breeze through menopause and other women get hammered with mood swings, hot flashes, low libido, and bone loss. The more problems you have, the higher the risk, and the more problems you can get. Plus, some women have genetic predisposition, make poor lifestyle choices, like smoking, living a sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, becoming obese, too much alcohol, poor diet, too much radiation, late menopause, and delayed childbearing. The danger of being overweight is the fat tissue, like visceral fat, is a hormone factory, but it can create too much of the wrong hormones.

To know risk and whether you are getting the right treatments Longevity Medical Clinic, starts with measuring first, if you dont measure, you dont know.''

SPECIAL OFFER: Schedule a free Health Analysis at Longevity Medical Clinic to take a valuable step in understanding how you are aging. During your appointment we will: Take the time to listen to you and your body; Discuss your primary health concerns; Determine your health risks through two free tests; Review your initial health screenings, offering options for a healthier future.

Call Longevity Medical Clinic if you have any questions: 1-866-86YOUNG (866-869-6864)

Longevity Medical Clinic's Health offers a Free Health Analysis: longevitymedicalclinic.com

Longevity Medical Clinic

Sponsored by Longevity Medical Clinic.Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5and streaming live on KING5.com.

The rest is here:
Androgen therapy looks promising for high-risk breast cancer patients - KING5.com

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Daniel Walters photo

Ken Peters, pastor of the Church at Planned Parenthood.

But to local anti-abortion Pastor Ken Peters, Planned Parenthood also represents another setting: the "gates of hell." And it's the job of a Christian church, he argues, to prevail against the gates of hell.

In October 2018, inspired by a sermon from anti-abortion protest movement leader Rusty Thomas,Peters launched "the Church at Planned Parenthood," conducting worship, prayer and fiery anti-abortion preaching on the public lawn directly outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic on Indiana Avenue on Wednesday evenings. Peters didn't consider it a protest. He considered it church.

But Planned Parenthood considered it something else: harassment. The clinic reported that theamplified sermons and condemnations from the Church at Planned Parenthoodwould leak through their clinic walls, and that, according to their attorney, "patients and caregivers cannot hear each other speak even when sitting right across from each other."

Over the last year and a half, tensions between the church, Planned Parenthood and pro-choice counter-protesters have continued to ratchet up. Teams of armed police officers have attended some City Council meetings, responding to unspecified social media threats. And this Monday, the conflict will come to a head when the City Council will likely pass Councilwoman Lori Kinnear's resolution intended to strengthen the city's noise ordinance in response to the concerns.

But last Friday,Mayor Nadine Woodward took her own action: Her staff sent out an email to both Peters and Karl Eastlund, CEO of the Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, with a message: Let's all sit down and talk.

"Mayor Woodward asked if we could arrange a meeting to discuss the current concerns about noise, assembly, ordinances, etc," the email reads."We are hopeful to have a small group that represents the voices of interested parties.This includes each of you, the Police Chief, Councilmember Kinnear, Council President Beggs, the Mayor and the City Administrator."

City spokesman Brian Coddington says the proposal to bring everyone together was Mayor Woodward's idea. The mayor, he says, was concerned about the sheer number of police officers and supervisors who were needed to keep the peace and handle existing noise ordinance complaints during services. According to an email from the Spokane Police Department to Councilman Michael Cathcart, the law enforcement response to the Jan. 29 Church at Planned Parenthood service required one police captain, one lieutenant, two sergeants, one detective and eight police officers, costing the taxpayer more than $5,450 in police overtime in a single night.

Woodward, Coddington says, was "looking for a chance to be an intermediary for the situation and seeing if there's another solution that doesnt involve a commitment of city resources." Local government might be one fo the last places we can get around everyone in the same table with common goals: Lets keep everyone safe, and protect everyones rights, City Administrator Wes Crago says. I think the mayor, to her credit, said, 'Lets reach out to both sides and lets set up a dialogue.'

"Mr. Peters continues to incite his followers with violent rhetoric and has vowed to continue to disrupt our health care services," Eastlund wrote in an email. "You would be better off meeting with him and police separately to discuss how enforcement will impact him and his followers."

Daniel Walters photo

Ken Peters greets Rep. Matt Shea at a December meeting of the Church at Planned Parenthood.

THE KEN PETERS MEETING

He says the mayor wasn't trying to take one side or the other, only looking for ways that everyone could accomplish what she wanted to accomplish.

"I think shes wanting to work this out so where it doesnt escalate," Peters says. "I think shes doing exactly what a mayor should do, trying to resolve problems at a table and bring all the parties together."

City Council President Breean Beggs says there was "no grand resolution" or possible third-way compromise floated at the meeting that would result in delaying or canceling Monday night's vote. Instead, he sees the possibility of addressing the conflict after the ordinance passes.

"The closer we can get to Planned Parenthood the better," Peters says.

"You cant stop sin with sin. You stop sin with holiness," Peters says. "Gods weaponry are prayer and worship and preaching. Its never any kind of sin or violence. ... We wouldnt harm a flea."

"For us, its our constitutional rights of freedom of worship and freedom of speech and freedom to peaceably assemble without a dark cloud held over our head," Peters says. "Thats what we want and thats what were fighting for."

The draft version of Kinnear's ordinance goes beyond the state standard barring "noise that unreasonably disturbs the peace within" a health facility. Instead, it bans intentionally making any noise outside a health care facility that is intended to cause or actually causes "interference with the safe and effective delivery of health services within the building" after a law enforcement officer has told them to cease. Not only that, but it allows individuals to sue violators directly in civil court.

"Im hoping that well find a resolution with all parties involved, so we dont have to go to court and use lawyers and all that stuff," Peters says.

"The First Amendment does not demand that patients at a medical facility undertake Herculean efforts to escape the cacophony of political protests," wrote Chief Justice William Renquist, a Reagan appointee.

"He didnt go run and hide, he kept praying," Peters says. "Theres law that is higher than mans law Gods law. The kingdom of heaven has laws that are higher than the United States of America."

In other words, even if the law passes, don't expect the Church at Planned Parenthood to go away quietly.

"Were going to show up until Jesus Christ comes to take us home or until abortion is abolished in America," Peters says.

Daniel Walters photo

Planned Parenthood has repeatedly asked counter-protesters like these to quit it. In recent months, the numbers of counter-protesters have dwindled as a result.

Paul Dillon, vice president of public affairs, says that Planned Parenthood met with city officials on Thursday. Woodward, he says, left the meeting early on, but other officials like Police Chief Craig Meidl and City Administrator Wes Crago stayed to listen.

"The meeting really started with us explaining how this has been escalating and the fears around that," Dillon says. "It seemed like at the end of the day they understood that and also had concerns."

Dillon sent the Inlander a slew of screenshots of comments from Peters on social media to bolster the argument that Peters is looking to interfere with the clinic, not just to sing worship songs and pray outside.

"The Planned Parenthood Staff fled the building in fear when we showed up and started our church service," Peters wrote on Facebook in October 2018.

To him, there's a distinction: Yelling at a woman that she's a "baby murderer" is harassment, but softly pleading with her not to kill her baby is advocacy.

Confrontations between anti-abortion activists and counter-protesters can become particularly disruptive, Dillon says.

"This guy just drove his car right up to the egress and just looked like he was going to ram [an anti-abortion activist] but stops his car, and just laid on the horn for 15-minutes," Dillon says. "That is really scary."

Dillon says that Planned Parenthood has repeatedly been explicit with counter-protesters: They're not helping.

Because ultimately, Planned Parenthood's complaint is about both the enforcement of the law and the alleged violators of it.

Planned Parenthood supporters were particularly horrified this month when a records request revealed a cop on a body camera assessing the comparative aesthetic merits of the women on each side of the abortion divide.

Daniel Walters photo

Nadine Woodward at her campaign kickoff breakfast last year.

Last year, when Woodward was introduced for her mayoral campaign kickoff breakfast, she was praised for her work with a variety of nonprofits, including Life Services' crisis pregnancy center, an anti-abortion group that aims to both help pregnant women and discourage them from having abortions, sometimes through controversial tactics. Pressed on her position on the issue by the Inlander last year, she said she was in favor of women having "choices," emphasizing the "S."

And at a Spokesman-Review hosted candidate forum last year, Woodward was asked by Planned Parenthood's Dillon what she would do to enforce existing noise ordinances at health care facilities like Planned Parenthood. She replied in generalities.

"Noise ordinances should be enforced everywhere. In neighborhoods, on business districts, I would say they should be enforced everywhere," Woodward said. "I would say everywhere, doesn't matter where it is."

But now, that she's mayor, the question has gone from theoretical to very real:To start with, she has to decide if she'll veto Kinnear's ordinance or sign it. On Thursday afternoon, Coddington said Woodward hadn't committed to either course yet, saying the language of the resolution could still be changed.

"There still needs to be legal review of the language to make sure its practical and implementable," Coddington says. Coddington says the mayor's primarily driven by the burden the conflict has put on the Police Department, and the interests of the surrounding neighborhood. Coddington says the mayor is still looking to broker an agreement between the two groups.

There is a hope that, at some point, we could get to a point where there is a mutually accepted solution, Coddington says. That typically happens better when you can have both parties at the table at the same time.

See the rest here:
Mayor Woodward to controversial anti-abortion church and Planned Parenthood: Let's sit down and talk - Pacific Northwest Inlander

You are infantilising women! I heard my mother yell one day when I was a teenager. Alarmed, I went into the kitchen to find her slamming the phone receiver down.

Have you seen this? she said, holding up a roll of paper towels printed with colourful images of teddy bears and blocks.

Mom, I said. Did you just call the Bounty paper-towel company to complain about these teddy bears?

Yes, she said, eyes flashing. They should be ashamed.

In retrospect, I think that my then middle-aged mother dealing with a grouchy teenage daughter, dying parents, marriage problems and an acting career ending because she was no longer young might have been finding a way to express her feelings without bothering anyone except a supervisor at that paper-towel company.

Twenty-five years later, struggling with a career that felt over, facing various physical problems and trying to get my child into a good school, I found myself paying a lot of attention to my sons pet turtle.

Jenny looks bored, I said, gazing into the tank. When was the last time Jenny had some fun?

Shes a turtle, my husband said. Turtles dont have hobbies.

Maybe they want more! I snapped.

And that was the moment I realised that Jenny the turtle had become my very own paper-towel teddy bear.

Menopause, defined as a full year with no period, hits women on average around the age of 51. But the years before that cessation called perimenopause can be more emotionally and physically fraught than we anticipate. We change a lot during these years. And, as we may remember from puberty, transitions can be awkward. Our bodies and our moods frequently betray us, but one of the worst parts of perimenopause and menopause is that no one talks about them.

Sometimes my own perimenopausal moods are more rage than anxiety. I woke up the other day and noticed that my husband had placed a couple of champagne corks on top of a picture frame. It made me want to start breaking things. What is this, a goddamned student house? In this state, I noticed things I had missed before: bags spilling out of cupboards, stacks of receipts and change on a table, my sons stuff everywhere. Its like living in Hoarders! I ranted. If Id had a pack of matches I could have burned the place down.

When I open the book How to Face the Change of Life with Confidence, published in 1955, I see a question from a woman, 37, who has wild mood swings before she gets her period. The expert male gynaecologist author tells her: Man reaches physical maturity at 25, and emotional maturity at 35. Unfortunately, you seem to have missed the boat somewhere along the line, and you are still in your childish stage of emotional reactions.

Decades of that sort of condescension have kept women from asking certain questions twice.

Almost every woman I know of my age is feeling confused and in a state of transition even as most of us are at the top of our game in our careers, financially stable and pretty comfortable with being parents, said Yvette, 43, a Californian who is the COO of a video game company. I spend a lot of time with other friends of my age. We talk about the fact that we are widening and softening where we dont want to and dont know if it makes us shallow or not feminists to do something about it; the fear that we dont know how to monitor our childrens screen time; the fact that we dont really like or need sex very often; our worry that we are losing time to try our dream job.

Experts in gynaecology maintain that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) remains the most effective scientifically proven treatment for the symptoms of menopause. And yet, fearing the increased risk of cancer, stroke and blood clots that weve long heard comes with a hormone therapy regimen, weve gone rogue. That, perhaps, is why Gwyneth Paltrows online community Goop can get away with selling us expensive jade eggs to stick up our yonis.

Gynaecologists I spoke to said they werent surprised that women were casting around for exotic fixes to their perimenopausal woes. Jacqueline Thielen, who works at the Womens Health Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, said she sees many women in their 40s and 50s who tell her theyre scared of hormone therapy, but made miserable by symptoms and being swamped with responsibilities.

This makes them vulnerable, Dr Thielen said, to controversial things like subcutaneous hormone pellet therapy, inappropriate ovary removal, or pricey vaginal rejuvenation, which can cost a fortune and may involve shooting lasers into your vagina one more thing I guarantee you our mothers did not have on their to-do lists.

For some women, its not a big deal. For others, it can be crushing. In a survey by the American Association of Retired Persons, 84% of participating women said that menopausal symptoms interfered with their lives.

You know, said JoAnn Pinkerton, executive director of the North American Menopause Society (Nams), we tell people who are grieving not to make major changes for a year. I dont think anybodys ever said: Dont make a major decision when youre perimenopausal.

Good idea, I think. We can just take it easy until perimenopause ends. How long is that, anyway? I asked.

Anywhere from a few months to 10 to 13 years.

Oh my goodness, I said.

On average, they call it four years, she said. But she added that menopause is actually a lot easier than the perimenopausal transition which is unpredictable. Its based on ovarian fluctuations. You might have six months of severe hot flashes, skipping periods and then your cycles come back for three to five years before it happens again.

Women need to recognise that its a time of vulnerability, and there are some things that they can do to help.

Dr Pinkerton gave me an example: A woman came into my office and said, I hate my husband. I hate my marriage. I need to get out of this. The husband had called me earlier and said, Ive noticed that my wife is really having exaggerated responses to things around the time of her periods.

We ended up getting her into counselling as well as on to oral contraceptives. The contraceptives calmed the hormones down and then doing some counselling let her start to see some of the stressors that were hidden.

I saw her recently, Dr Pinkerton continued, and she said her marriage could not be better. She recognised that the perimenopausal hormonal fluctuations were making the problems seem incapable of being solved. I guess what I would just say is if youre in perimenopause, recognise that hormonal fluctuations may make the problems at work or at home seem larger.

Women also benefit exponentially from sleeping more, Dr Pinkerton added. Its often the first thing to go, but its absolutely one of the things that can help you navigate this time. Then, stress reduction.

But heres what I want to know: why are Generation X women arriving in their 40s knowing something is going to happen, but without a clear idea of exactly what that is?

One answer is: denial. We have had incentives for a long time to pretend we are the same as men in every way. For decades, women have had to argue that they could still work and function through those messy period, pregnancy and menopause-related symptoms, and as a result weve minimised them, both to others and to ourselves. So as not to call attention to ourselves as women, we pretend its not happening. Boomer women arguably started this, entering the work world in shoulder-pad armour. It makes sense that they felt they had to hide the inconvenient fact of their womanhood, particularly in middle age.

After taking our children to see the latest Star Wars, a friend and I sat at her dining table while the kids ran around. Its just too hard, she said. This has ruined my life! Two years without sleeping through the night! Two years with hot flashes! Two years with no energy.

Id had no idea. I asked why she hadnt told me before.

I hate talking about menopause, she said. Its like saying youve closed up shop as a sexual being. Its embarrassing.

Aside from the embarrassment, we are getting less help than we should from our doctors. A 2013 Johns Hopkins survey found that only one in five American obstetrics and gynaecology residents had received formal training in menopause medicine. Thats 20% of gynaecologists. Forget about general practitioners.

As it turns out, the reason Gen X women have grown up believing that hormone replacement therapy again, one of the only proven treatments for menopausal symptoms is dangerous is something that happened in the medical community in 2002.

Its like saying that youve closed up shop as a sexual being

In 1993, as the menopause was becoming a hot topic, the Womens Health Initiative (WHI), a national, long-term study on the possible benefits of hormone treatment for postmenopausal women, was launched in the US. But, in July 2002, the premature termination of the oestrogen-progesterone part of the study was announced. The reason given was an apparent rise in the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer.

There was a hitch in this: WHI had been looking at what the hormones did in women aged 50 to 79. The aim was to figure out if this type of hormone treatment could help protect these women from heart disease and other illnesses. It was not about short-term hormone therapy for treatment of symptoms in women in their 40s and 50s. But many midlife women heard only cancer and went off HRT immediately.

Dr Wulf Utian, founder of the Nams, wrote an editorial calling the manner in which the study was ended poorly planned, abrupt and inhumane. In 2017, Professor Robert D Langer, one of the original WHI investigators, said that errors in the 2002 report led to a lot of unnecessary suffering for women.

However, this has done little to calm the fears of hormone therapy among women, and even doctors. 9 July 2002 was the day the music died for menopausal women, said Dr Mary Jane Minkin of Yale, one of the nations leading experts on gynaecological health. One of the things that was very bad about it was that no one was given advance notice this report was coming out. There was also a journalistic cock-up. A WHI investigator gave the story to the Detroit Free Press on the grounds that it was an embargoed study due to appear the following week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Detroit Free Press broke the embargo.

Thats how Good Morning America got the story. Everybody went insane, she continued. In that week, every American woman went to her cabinet and took out her hormone prescription and flushed it down the toilet. Which, of course, was ridiculous, because the WHI Part One was the only study that was stopped at that point. That was the oestrogen plus progesterone. The oestrogen-only went on for another two years. It eventually showed a decreased risk of breast cancer, not an increased risk of breast cancer.

People of Generation X tend to be demanding, and theyre having all these things happen to them. Why? asked Dr Minkin. Whats going on? Theyre being told: Just ignore it; its going to get better, or You can take an SSRI [antidepressant], which will help your hot flashes though, yeah, its going to make you love sex less and get fat. Your options are not too fabulous, but they dont know how to handle hormonal therapy, because they think its going to give you breast cancer. The other part of the problem is that you have such authoritative spokespeople as Dr Kim Kardashian, Dr Suzanne Somers, Dr Oprah Winfrey, Dr Gwyneth Paltrow

Dr Minkin does not believe women should grin and bear it. Here is some of her advice for us: get daily exercise, especially weight-bearing exercise; a good diet; plenty of sleep. For hot flashes, she advises layering clothes and keeping a dry set of nightclothes next to the bed so you can change quickly if you wake up in the night. She recommends keeping the bedroom cool and getting your partner an electric blanket if he or she complains.

Other non-pill things can make life easier, too, like absorbent period-proof underwear and period tracker apps. She advises many women to consider oestrogen and progesterone hormone therapy (or just oestrogen, if youve had a hysterectomy), in the form of pills, patches, gels, or sprays, though its important to do so only under the direction of a doctor, because there are risks.

Low doses of an SSRI or SNRI antidepressant can combat hot flashes, as can gabapentin (Neurontin). For heavy or irregular periods, Dr Minkin says you can take a birth control pill or get a progesterone IUD called Mirena. When it comes to herbs and supplements like evening primrose oil or bee pollen, theres no proven benefit, though some women say that those things make them feel better.

Sifting through all the advice is hard, especially because it can seem to change with every new headline. In her history of hormones, Aroused, Randi Hutter Epstein writes: Those of us old enough to be in menopause cant help but wonder if the experts are going to change their minds again.

In her 2019 memoir, Deep Creek, Pam Houston gives a younger woman this advice: Im just saying, I guess, theres another version, after this version, to look forward to. Because of wisdom or hormones or just enough years going by. If you live long enough you quit chasing the things that hurt you; you eventually learn to hear the sound of your own voice.

Perimenopause may last months or years; it may be more or less drastic; but one day it will be over. On the other side, well be different perhaps more focused on whats most important to us and almost certainly calmer. Psychotherapist Amy Jordan Jones told me: This is the time of life when we learn we dont have to be pleasing; the work now is just to become more ourselves.

This is an extract from Why We Cant Sleep: Womens New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun, published by Grove Press UK on 5 March. Order it for 12.59 at guardianbookshop.com

Originally posted here:
Surviving perimenopause: I was overwhelmed and full of rage. Why was I so badly prepared? - The Guardian

The Fulton County Health Department has scheduled the following health clinics and services.

CANTON The Fulton County Health Department has scheduled the following health clinics and services. Please call the number listed with each service for an appointment or more information.

Maternal child health: Health screenings, WIC nutrition education and supplemental food coupons for women, infants and children. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 254). For Astoria clinic appointments call 329-2922.

Canton - Clinic - Monday, March 2 - 8-4 - Appt needed

Canton - WIC Nutrition Education - Tuesday, March 3 - 8-4 - Appt needed

Canton - Clinic/Immunizations - Tuesday, March 3 - 4-7 - Appt needed

Canton - Clinic/Immunizations - Wednesday, March 4 - 8-4 - Appt needed

Astoria - Clinic, WIC Nutrition Educ. - Wednesday, March 4 - 9-3 - Appt needed

Canton - Clinic - Thursday, March 5 - 8-4 - Appt needed

Adult Health Immunizations: Various vaccines are available. There is a fee for immunization administration. Medicaid cards are accepted. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 254).

Canton - Immunizations - Tuesday, March 3 - 4-7 - Appt needed

Canton - Immunizations - Wednesday, March 4 - 8-4 - Appt needed

Other times available by special arrangement at Canton, Cuba and Astoria.

Blood Lead Screening: Blood lead screenings are available for children ages one to six years. A fee is based on income. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 254). For Astoria appointments call 329-2922.

Canton - Clinic - Wednesday, March 4 - 8-4 - Appt needed

Family Planning: Confidential family planning services are available by appointment at the Canton office for families and males of child-bearing age. Services provided include physical exams, pap smears, sexually transmitted disease testing, contraceptive methods, pregnancy testing, education and counseling. Services are available to individuals of all income levels. Fees are based on a sliding fee scale with services provided at no charge to many clients. Medicaid and many insurances are accepted. After hours appointments are available. To make an appointment or for more information call the 647-1134 (ext. 244). *Program funding includes a grant from the US DHHS Title X.

Pregnancy testing: Confidential urine pregnancy testing is available at the Canton and Astoria offices. This service is available to females of all income levels. A nominal fee is charged. No appointment is needed. A first morning urine specimen should be collected for optimal testing and brought to the health department. Services are provided on a walk-in basis on the following days each week:

Canton: Every Wednesday & Thursday, 8-3:30 (for more information call 647-1134 ext. 244)

Astoria: Every Wednesday, 9-2:30 (for more information call 329-2922)

Womens Health: A womens clinic for pap tests, clinical breast examinations and vaginal examinations is available by appointment. There is a nominal fee for this service. Medicaid cards are accepted. Financial assistance is available for a mammogram. Cardiovascular screenings may be available to age and income eligible women. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 244).

Mammograms: Age and income eligible women may receive mammograms at no charge. Speakers are available to provide information to clubs and organizations. For more information or to apply for financial assistance, call 647-1134 (ext. 254).

Mens Health: Prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood tests are available for men for a fee. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 224).

Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Clinic: Confidential STD and HIV testing services are available by appointment to males and females at the Canton office. Services include physical exams to identify STDs, a variety of STD testing, HIV testing, education, counseling, medications and condoms. There is a nominal fee for services. Services are available to individuals of all income levels. Medicaid cards are accepted. To make an appointment or for more information call 746-1134 (ext. 224).

HIV Testing and Counseling: Confidential HIV testing and counseling services are available by appointment through the sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic at the Canton office. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 224).

Tuberculosis (TB) Testing: TB skin tests are available at no charge by appointment. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 254).

Blood Pressure Screenings: The Fulton County Health Department provides blood pressure screenings at no charge on a walk-in basis during the following times:

Astoria - Screening - Wednesday, March 4 - 9-12 - Walk in

Health Watch Wellness Program: The Health Watch Program provides low cost lab services. Through this program adults can obtain venous blood draws for a variety of blood tests. Blood tests offered without a doctors order Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP), Complete Blood Count (CBC), Lipid Panel, Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test, Hepatitis C test, and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). A wide variety of blood tests are also available with a doctors order. There is a charge at the time of service. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 254).

Dental Services: The Dental Center offers a variety of basic dental services to children and adults. An appointment is needed. Medicaid and Kid Care cards are accepted. To make an appointment or for more information call 647-1134 (ext. 292).

View original post here:
Health Department announces services for the week of March 2 - Canton Daily Ledger

February 2020

Are you looking for a health care provider who offers innovative alternatives and a customized approach to your health issues? Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute (IRMI) believes in offering specialized alternatives to health care. Its medical team, headed by Doctor of Chiropractic Preston Peachee, utilizes the latest developments in regenerative medicine, hormone replacement and pain management.

Dr. Peachee is a native of Jasper, Indiana. He graduatedfrom Logan College of Chiropractic and has been in practice since 2003. Hisareas of specialty include patients with chronic and severe back, neck andjoint pain as well as other complex neurological conditions.

Dr. Peachee has earned a reputation as an innovative thinkeras well as a compassionate practitioner who brings his wide expertise andexperience to the Greater Indianapolis area. His ability to help those in needof regenerative medicine, neuropathy pain relief, low testosterone or otherphysical ailments, such as back pain or fibromyalgia, makes him not only uniquebut highly sought-after.

A key member of the IRMI team is Leann Emery, FNP. Emery isa family nurse practitioner with more than 20 years of experience in hormonereplacement and alternative pain management. Emery provides optimal patientcare through personal consultations and assessments to identify her patientsspecific health needs. She was rated in the top 10% of providers in the U.S.with patient satisfaction.

Regenerative medicine is making huge leaps in our understanding of the human body, and it is offering real, possible treatments that would have seemed like science fiction a few short years ago, according to IRMI. Most patients we see have tried other more traditional treatments and have either not gotten any better or have gotten even worse. Unfortunately, a lot of people we see depend on multiple medications per day to try and function but still are not happy with how they feel or how they live their lives. It is unfortunately the nature of deteriorating and degenerative joints, they will get worse with time, and generally the pain increases as well.

Depending on the injury, Dr. Peachee will often combinelaser therapy with the regenerative medicine protocols to improve the outcomesand try and speed the recovery process.

We offer mesenchymal stem cell therapy, Dr. Peachee said. With the combination of laser therapy, mesenchymal stem cell therapy is incredibly effective for rotator cuff problems and treating knee pain. Eighty percent of our stem patients are dealing with knee pain or Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis-or O.A. of the knee- is a huge problem for a lot of people, and we get great results from these therapies. Most people can even avoidknee surgery.

Dr. Peachee recently introduced hormone treatments for low testosterone. Family Nurse Practitioner Leann Emery has been doing [hormone] treatments for 20 years, and that area of medicine became a natural fit for IRMI.

I have several patients who were seeking this type ofcaremany who are police officers and firefighterswho couldnt find thetherapy and individualized care and attention that they needed.

Dr. Peachee explained that low T treatments help patients with unique and even complicated cases of Erectile Dysfunction (E.D.). Most people seek us out for treatment because they are tired, worn out, stressed out and just simply lack the energy they used to have.

We are able to fill a niche with patients who hadcomplicated cases that were not responding well with their primary careproviders or other places, Dr. Peachee shared. We have a patient who hasstruggled for a long time with fertility issues but has done very well [withtreatments], and we just got good news that he and his wife are expecting aftertrying for a really long time. So, he is really enthused about that.

The typical candidates for low T treatments, according toDr. Peachee, are men who feel worn out, are lethargic and have lost theirzest for life.

Our patients dont have the same pep that they had 10 or20 years ago, Dr. Peachee stated. They struggle getting up in the morning andmight be struggling in the afternoon after having six cups of coffee or threeRed Bulls just to get through the day. We have a lot of people that want to getback into the gym and get the maximum benefit of their workouts. We can helpthem improve their overall health and energy so that they can enjoyrecreational activities like working out or practice with the Little Leaguewith their kids. Many times we hear from spouses, friends and family how muchbetter they feel and that they seem happier and get more out of life again.

It goes without saying that proper hormonal balance canimprove a patients personal relationships as well and improve the overallmental health of a patient by reducing stress, anxiety and depression oftencaused by symptoms related to low testosterone levels.

We focus on injectable [low T] treatments because we canmodify the dosage and give more frequent doses to keep our patients at a levelthats going to give them the maximum benefit and improvement for theirconditions, Dr. Peachee explained.

With the modern changes in medicine over the last 20 and 50years, were helping people to live a lot longer and adding 20 to 30 years totheir lives, but we have not given them an improved quality of life as theyage. By working with their hormones and getting them in balance, their qualityof life becomes way better, and were seeing a positive improvement for manypeople with these treatments.

Patients suffering from severe disc injuries, such a bulgingor herniated disc or discs, or who suffer from degenerative disc disease mayhave undergone treatment from chiropractors or have seen physical therapistsbefore coming to Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute.

Our typical patient who comes in for this type of treatmenthas seen other therapists or chiropractors but hasnt found lasting relief,Dr. Peachee said. Many of our patients want to get off the rollercoaster ofopioids and pain medications. They are looking for a solution without narcoticsand risk of addiction or other possible negative side effects of narcoticsand/or surgery. We are generally able to alleviate the pain in 90% of patientsand are able to keep them from having surgery or from taking addictivemedications.

Laser therapy allows Dr. Peachee to work on the damaged tissue so that it can heal, and the method reduces inflammation and swelling in a way that traditional treatments cannot.

Its an innovative new therapy within the last decade thatallows us to do some amazing things, Dr. Peachee stated. We perform ourprocedures in our office and have several different devices for the specificneeds and issues of our patients. For instance, we have a unique device forpeople with knee pain that can help the majority of our patients walk betterand live more pain-free. We get a phenomenal outcome with this procedure.

One of the other major differentiators that sets IndianaRegenerative Medicine Institute apart from other offices and clinics is thatthey are advocates for their patients, especially when it comes to dealing withtheir patients insurance providers.

A lot of our low T patients are able to get their insurancecarriers to cover the services so that it doesnt cost them as much out ofpocket for the care they seek, Dr. Peachee said. Weve partnered with abilling company that has helped us to be able to navigate the craziness of ourmodern insurance companies, and by doing so, were able to keep the cost downfor a lot of patients. Not every insurance plan will cover this type of care,but a lot of them will. When its possible and ethical, we do whatever we canto benefit our patients to help keep the cost low. I have spent a lot of freetime writing letters on behalf of our patients. We go above and beyond with ourservice and care of our patients.

The Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute team will make housecalls or come to a patients place of work when the situation calls for thatlevel of care.

We will go and draw blood for blood work, bring medications and even do exams in some situations, Dr. Peachee said. As I mentioned before, we see a lot of police officers and firemen all over the statefrom Mishawaka to South Bend and all over Indiana. We go once a month to see these patients at their departments and stations so that we see them all in one day versus making 10 to 15 guys drive hours to come in to see us. Its a service we can offer because we are a small clinic and we are focused on that one-on-one patient attention and relationship building. We have great relationships with our patients, and thats something that we work very hard at.

Building trust and transparency is crucial to the success ofhis practice, Dr. Peachee emphasized. The trust that we build with ourpatients is crucial to not only the success of the practice but to thepatients outcomes. And not just with hormone therapy but also with ournonsurgical spinal decompression patients. These are patients with significant discinjuries, and we need them to tell us everything we need to know so we can givemore accurate and complete care for a better outcome.

I would say to anybody if you have any doubts or reservations to take some of the burden and some of the anxiety out of the equation and schedule an initial consultationabsolutely free of charge, Dr. Peachee encouraged.

Dont put off living your best life any longer. Visit Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institutes website at indianaregen.com or call (317) 653-4503 for more information about its services and specialized treatments and schedule your free consultationtoday!

Writer:

Janelle Morrison

Photography:

Laura Arick and submitted

More here:
Indiana Regenerative Medicine Institute Offers Innovative Approaches in Regenerative Medicine, Hormone Replacement and Pain Management - Zionsville...

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida Women who have no history of a full-term pregnancy show an earlier onset of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with those who have had pregnancies, and the apparent onset-delaying effect appears to increase with the number of pregnancies, new research suggests.

The results add to speculation on the effects of pregnancy in MS.

"Our results suggest that a higher number of full-term pregnancies than average is associated with later onset of progressive MS, while having no full-term pregnancies is associated with significantly younger age at progressive MS onset," first author Burcu Zeydan, MD, an assistant professor of radiology in the Center for MS and Autoimmune Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told Medscape Medical News.

The study was presented here at the 5th annual Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum 2020.

The findings, which also link early menopause with faster disease progression, offer important insights into the broader effects of pregnancy on MS, commented ACTRIMS president Jeffrey A. Cohen, MD, who is the director of Experimental Therapeutics at the Mellen Center for MS Treatment and Research, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio.

"We know pregnancy affects the short term disease activity relapses tend to quiet down during pregnancy but what has been somewhat conflicting is whether it affects the long-term prognosis or is just a temporary effect," he told Medscape Medical News.

"So that is the main interest in this study, and it does indicate that pregnancy affects the long-term prognosis and provides some insight into the mechanism by which it might do that."

While being female is in fact considered the most important risk factor for MS susceptibility, pregnancy has been suggested to have a protective role in disease progression. However, more research is needed on the nature of the effect and its mechanisms.

For this study, Zeydan and colleagues evaluated data on 202 patients (134 women, 68 men) with MS who were part of a Mayo Clinic survey.

They found that women who had no full-term pregnancies (n = 32), had an earlier onset of progressive MS (mean age 41.4 12.6 years) compared with women giving birth to one or more children (n = 95; 47.1 9.7 years; P = .012).

In addition, the mean age of progressive MS onset increased with a dose-effect trend according to the number of full pregnancies (no children, 41.4 12.6 years; 1-3 children: 46.4 9.2 years; 4 or more children: 52.6 12.9 years; P = .002).

A look at a subgroup of patients with secondary progressive MS also showed an earlier mean age of onset among women who had no full pregnancies(n = 19; 41.5 9.2 years) compared with women who had one or more full pregnancies (n = 57; 47.3 10.6 years; P = .049).

The later disease onset associated with pregnancy was also seen in relapsing-remitting MS: Mean age of onset was earlier women with no pregnancies (27.5 7.0 years) compared with those with one or more children (33.0 9.4 years;P = .021).

The mean duration of time from relapsing-remitting MS to secondary progressive MS was also shorter among women with premature or early menopause (n = 26; 12.9 9.0 years) compared with those who had menopause at a normal age (n = 39; 17.8 10.3 years).

The pattern was similar for women experiencing the onset of secondary progressive MS after menopause, with a shorter progression among those with early menopause (P = .012).

The trends of later onset with more pregnancies was also observed with the mean age of onset of secondary progressive MS (no full pregnancies: onset at 41.5 9.2 years; 1-3 pregnancies: onset 46.2 9.9 years; 4 or more pregnancies: onset 52.6 12.9 years; P = .010).

And likewise, the later mean age of onset of relapsing-remitting MS was seen with additional pregnancies (no full pregnancies: 27.5 7.0 years; 1-3 pregnancies: 32.4 9.3 years; 4 or more pregnancies: 35.8 9.8 years;P = .012).

"The dose effect was clearly a surprise (having no full-term pregnancies vs 1-3 vs 4 or more)," Zeydan said.

"In addition to the significant difference between having no vs 1 or more full-term pregnancies, the clear dose-effect consolidates our results related to the association between the number of pregnancies and age at progressive MS onset."

The study also showed that women with premature or early menopause had a shorter duration of progression from relapsing-remitting MS to secondary progressive MS (n = 26; 12.9 9.0 years) compared with women who experienced menopause at a normal age (n = 39; 17.8 10.3 years).

The patterns in early menopause are consistent with previous observations regarding menopause and MS progression, Cohen said.

"When women go through menopause, estradiol and pregnancy-related factors further decline and we know this coincides temporally with the development of progressive MS in women," he noted.

Compared with men, women with premature or early menopause furthermore had a longer duration from relapsing-remitting MS to secondary progressive MS (P = .008), and women with secondary progressive MS also had also had an earlier age of relapsing-remitting MS onset than men (P = .018).

The mechanisms of pregnancy could include a complex interaction between estrogen and factors such as astrocyte and microglia function, Zeydan explained.

"Estrogen, through various mechanisms of eliminating toxicity of highly activated neurons including preventing pro-inflammatory molecule release, supporting mitochondria function thereby eliminating energy failure, and promoting remyelination helps neuronal plasticity and delays neurodegeneration, which is closely related to the progressive phase of MS," she said.

"One could easily make the probable association, while yet to be proven, that our findings may relate to these mechanisms," Zeydan said.

The logical question of whether hormone replacement or some type of therapy that could mimic the effects of pregnancy could also benefit in delaying MS onset remain to be seen, Zeydan said.

"While we believe that is possible, particularly for delaying the onset of progressive phase, definitive evidence is lacking at this time," Zeydan said. "However, our study ultimately may lead to such a trial."

In the meantime, the findings provide additional insights that may be beneficial in sharing with patients regarding pregnancy, she said.

"As the contemporary problem in MS care is to delay or prevent progressive MS onset, our findings may suggest that how we counsel women with MS who are planning to get pregnant, or contemplating surgically induced menopause, or how we consider hormone therapies during perimenopause, may impact the course of their disease."

Zeydan cautions, however, that "our findings do not confirm causality beyond an association."

"More studies are needed in this important issue in a disease that affects women three times more than men," she stressed.

Zeydan has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Cohen reports personal compensation for consulting for Adamas, Convelo, MedDay, Mylan, and Population Council; and serving as an editor of Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum 2020: Abstract P135. Presented February 27, 2020.

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Pregnancy Linked to Later Onset of Progressive MS - Medscape

In the predawn darkness, you can see an eerie red glow shining from the windows of the Hudson, Wisconsin, home of Thaddeus Owen and his fiance, Heidi Sime.

The couple are awake, having slept in their Faraday cage a canopy over their bed that blocks electromagnetic fields like the Wi-Fi signals or radiation from cellphone towers, which they believe are harmful.

Their primal sleeping environment also has special pads under the bed that are supposed to mimic the effect of sleeping on the ground under the influence of the Earths magnetic field, thus combating Magnetic Field Deficiency Syndrome.

Their house is bathed in red light because they think white incandescent, LED and fluorescent lighting robs them of sleep-regulating melatonin hormones. They wear special sunglasses indoors for the same reason, blocking the blue light from computers, cellphones or televisions when its dark outside.

Their morning routine includes yoga in a shielded, infrared sauna designed to create an EMF-free ancestral space, and putting tiny spoonfuls of bitter white powders under their tongues. These are nootropics, so-called smart drugs, which are supposed to improve focus, mood or memory.

When day breaks, they go out in their yard and face the rising sun Thaddeus in shorts and no shirt, Heidi in a sports bra and yoga pants doing Qigong in the snow and 25-degree air.

Getting early-morning sunlight, they believe, will correctly set the circadian rhythm of their bodies. Exposing their skin to the freezing temperatures, they hope, will help release human growth hormone, stimulate their immune system and trigger the body to burn fat to heat itself.

Forget Blue Zones. This is what your morning looks like if youre biohacking your way to an optimal you.

DIY HUMAN ENGINEERING

Biohacking is a DIY biology movement that started in Silicon Valley by people who want to boost productivity and human performance and engineer away aging and ordinary life spans. Think of it as high-tech tinkering, but instead of trying to create a better phone, biohackers are trying to upgrade to a faster, smarter, longer lasting, enhanced version of themselves.

Owen, 44, describes it as a journey of self-experimentation, using practices that are not talked about by mainstream media and your family doctor. His aim is to combine the latest technology and science with ancient knowledge to modify his environment, inside and out.

My entire goal is to basically age in reverse, he said.

Owen, who is from New York, studied chemical engineering in college. He worked for Procter & Gamble, helping to create beauty care products, and for pharmaceutical firms, developing manufacturing processes.

Now he works from home, managing worldwide product regulations in the sustainability department for office furniture company Herman Miller. But he moonlights as a biohacking guru.

He started a Twin Cities biohacking Meetup group that organizes weekly cold-water immersions at Cedar Lake in Minneapolis. Hes given a TEDx talk urging audience members to wear blue-light-blocking glasses indoors at night.

He founded the website primalhacker.com and he and the 45-year-old Sime (who also goes by the name Tomorrow) run a website called thaddeustomorrow.com, where they market biohacking products like red light panels, a baby blanket that blocks EMF radiation and a $5,499 Faraday cage sauna thats the same type used by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

Owen said he relies on tons of research to support avoiding blue light at night and the healing properties of the early morning sun.

WHATS THE DEAL WITH BLUE LIGHT?

The Harvard Health Letter, for example, said that blue light from devices, LED and compact fluorescent bulbs can throw off the bodys circadian rhythm, affect sleep and might contribute to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Some studies have shown that exposing people to cold temperatures burns calories and repeated cold-water immersions might stimulate the immune system.

And those infrared saunas? They dont appear to be harmful and maybe they do some good, according to Dr. Brent Bauer, an internal medicine expert at the Mayo Clinic.

But being healthy really doesnt need to be that complicated, according to Dr. Michael Joyner, a human performance specialist at the Mayo Clinic.

All these things sound great, Joyner said of the biohacks. Theres a ring of what I call bioplausibility to them.

But Joyner said its often hard to find evidence that biohacking practices actually work and that most Americans would be healthier if they just followed basic advice: go for a walk, dont smoke, dont drink too much and dont eat too much.

But Owens goal is not to be merely healthy.

I want my biology to be shifted to that supernormal range, where Im optimally healthy, he said.

When he started biohacking about 12 years ago, Owens goal was to improve his sleep. As a competitive athlete, he was fit, but he had problems with anxiety and insomnia.

So he started wearing special glasses to block blue light. His co-workers used to think he was odd. Now Owens company is asking him for advice on what kind of lighting should be used in work settings to keep employees healthy. And his sleep and anxiety problems have gone away.

I went from being the weird guy to being consulted, he said.

We all sort of watch what he does, said Gabe Wing, director of sustainability at Herman Miller and Owens boss. Wing said Owen has influenced some co-workers to try blue-light-blocking tools.

When Owen first got into it, he didnt know of any other biohackers in the Twin Cities. Now there are more than 500 people in the Biohackers Twin Cities Meetup group.

Although many biohacks seem odd now, Owen is convinced that some of them will become common practices.

This whole blue light thing, its not going away, he said. More research comes out every day and its becoming more mainstream.

Owen and Sime have five of their children, ages 8 to 17, living with them. The kids wear blue-light-blocking glasses when they watch TV, but theyre OK with it, the couple said.

I think cellphone radiation is going to be the new lead, asbestos and smoking, said Owen, who turns his Wi-Fi off at night, keeps his cellphone in a special Faraday pouch when he sleeps and sometimes wears radiation-proof underwear.

(The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says scientific evidence has not conclusively linked cellphone use with any adverse human health problems, although scientists admit more research is needed.)

Owen eats what he describes as a local, seasonal diet: local vegetables, fruits, nuts and honey during the growing season. Thats followed by a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet in late fall and early winter. Then an all-carnivore diet in late winter, including animals hes raised at a friends farm.

Owen doesnt have a particular longevity goal, unlike biohacker and Bulletproof Coffee founder Dave Asprey, who has said he wants to live to at least 180.

Owen just wants to be healthy and independent for as long as he lives.

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Can red lights, sleep cages and ice baths really extend life spans? - yoursun.com

Annual Health Fair to be held March 5 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Pond Student Union Ballroom

POCATELLO Continuing a 30-year tradition, the Idaho State University Health Fair will provide education and activities designed to help anyone with the goal of improving their health and quality of life. Among the highlights for 2020 are live food demonstrations, educational health and wellness information booths staffed by ISU students and staff, and free or reduced-cost health screenings.

The 2020 ISU Health Fair will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 5 at the ISU Pond Student Union and will showcase Kasiska Division of Health Sciences (KDHS) clinics. KDHS faculty and students will offerfree health screening services, including blood pressure screenings, point-of-service diabetes screening tests (blood glucose [sugar] and A1c), foot exams, dental screenings, hearing screenings and medication reviews.

Services available at the KDHS Clinics health-screening event are as follows:

After visiting the screening stations, attendees can talk with a health action plan team that includes ISU dietetic faculty and students to answer nutrition and lifestyle questions. ISU clinic personnel, KDHS faculty and students, and Health West ISU care coordinators can review screening results and provide recommendations for follow-up appointments.

As always, the 2020 ISU Health Fair will offer learning centers, educational booths, and displays from ISU programs and community businesses.

Food demonstrations will be offered throughout the day by ISU nutrition and dietetic students:

9 a.m.: Smoothies

10:30 a.m.: Energy bites

Noon: Heart-healthy and diabetes-friendly lunch sampler

1:30 p.m.: Easy salsa with tortilla chips

3 p.m.: Veggies with hummus or Greek yogurt dip

As in previous years, discounted laboratory services will also be available throughout the month of February and at the Health Fair, this year offered by Portneuf Medical Center. Blood screenings at the ISU Health Fair are always offered at reduced rates. Attendees can have all of the following tests performed:

Other blood screening tests are available. Individuals interested in having screening tests done can either have their blood drawn during the month of February at Portneuf Medical Center or the day of ISU Health Fair. Participants do not need to be fasting to have their blood drawn. Blood draws are available all day from 8 a.m. -to 6 p.m. during the ISU Health Fair.

Pre-Health Fair blood draws are available Feb. 1 through March 4 at the Portneuf Medical Center Laboratory Services, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Results for blood work drawn at Portneuf Medical Center Laboratory Services by March 1 will be available for pick-up and review at the ISU Health Fair and can be reviewed by a KDHS faculty or Health West Health Action Plan team member.

Post-Health Fair blood draws are available March 6 through March 15 at the Portneuf Medical Center Laboratory Services, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Event parking is free in the Pond Student Union parking lot during the time of the ISU Health Fair. Additionally, a free shuttle service will be available from the Holt Arena to the Pond Student Union to allow for additional parking. The last shuttle leaves the Pond Student Union at 5:40 p.m.

For more information, visitISU Health Fair.

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Health screenings, individualized health plans, education, food and demonstrations to highlight 2020 Idaho State University Health Fair - Idaho State...

I can do a lot of things: I can finish any quote from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I can spend four hours in a TJ Maxx and be endlessly entertained, and I can recite all of Hasan Minhajs Homecoming King from memory.

What I cant do is sleep.

More specifically, I cant fall asleep.

Most of the sleep problems that college students have and by extension, me can be traced back to a delayed circadian rhythm.

A circadian rhythm is our body's internal clock. Its what causes us to feel sleepy and energized at roughly the same times every day, regulating our levels of alertness with the time of day. A delayed rhythm is when your internal clock shifts ahead a couple of hours.

Dr. Vishesh Kapur, UWs director of sleep medicine, says this shift results in increased alertness late at night and a subsequent inability to fall asleep.

According to the Mayo Clinic, adults require between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Most college students fall short of this requirement and end up building a sleep debt.

Sleep debt is exactly what it sounds like: sleep deprivation compounds on a nightly basis, resulting in longer-term sleep problems.

A student who only gets five to six hours of sleep per night is already around 10 hours in debt by the end of the week. To make up for this, we tend to sleep in on weekends, but even those extra couple of hours arent enough to make up for the week.

While hitting this target sleep goal isnt always easy, there are things you can do to help yourself get close.

For one, a consistent sleep schedule is key.

A nightly routine is a good way to maintain consistency. Whether it's watching an episode (or eight) of whatever it is that youre binging or relaxing with a face mask, doing it every day before sleeping will help you build a positive association between your routine and sleep.

Next, disengage. Turn off your phone, turn off your brain. Stop checking those emails; theyll be there in the morning.

This process of disconnecting lets your brain relax and avoid things that cause anxiety, which can impede sleep.

There is another part of sleep hygiene that is using the bed just for sleep, Kapur said.

This comes down to your brains psychological association with your bed. Studying or reading in bed creates a link in your brain between wakefulness and the bed.

If you spend more time in bed than you need, you spend more time awake in bed, Kapur said. And so, the association gets worse.

Instead of being tired when you get into bed, your brain might use that as a cue to wake up.

Alcohol right before bed can suppress some stages of sleep like REM sleep, which is required for memory consolidation. Alcohol also causes you to wake up in the middle of the night as it metabolizes.

While alcohol does not directly cause sleep apnea, research has shown that habitual drinkers are at a higher risk for developing the disorder.

So, what actually causes you to fall asleep?

Melatonin is the hormone that regulates your circadian rhythm. It is produced in response to darkness and helps maintain your sleep cycle. Melatonin supplements are available over-the-counter and can help with sleep disorders or even recovering after jet lag.

As the worlds leading sleep struggler, Ive grappled with the idea of taking melatonin for quite some time.

A lot of people use melatonin as a sleep aid, independent of changing the timing of their sleep, Kapur said. The danger there is that people end up on [a] high dose.

Instead of relying on melatonin to fall asleep, Kapur recommends taking it in low doses a couple of hours before you intend on falling asleep to help shift a delayed circadian rhythm and move you to an earlier bedtime.

It should be noted that depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders can often cause insomnia. Those conditions should be primarily addressed before adding treatment for insomnia itself.

Overall, most healthy sleep habits involve cutting things out as opposed to actively adopting new habits. Even so, sleeping is hard.

In an insane world, trying to turn your brain off and relaxing isnt as simple as putting your phone away, but its a step.

Reach Science Editor Ash Shah at wellness@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @itsashshah

Like what youre reading? Support high-quality student journalism by donatinghere.

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A crash course: The do's and don'ts of dozing - Dailyuw

Image: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (left) vs. normal ductal epithelium (right). Credit:Ed Uthman,CC BY 2.0

By the time a pancreatic tumour begins to cause symptoms, it is usually pretty advanced, since many of the tumours are silent.

Dr Anguraj Sadanandam, a team leader in the Division of Molecular Pathologyat The Institute of Cancer Research, works on two types of pancreatic tumours: neuroendocrine tumours and adenocarcinomas.

Neuroendocrine tumours are exceptionally rare, making up just one to three per cent of all pancreatic cancers.

There are two types of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour functional and non-functional. Functional tumours are tumours which produce hormones, which means theyre more likely to produce noticeable symptoms.

The majority of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, however, are non-functional, meaning they dont produce any hormones. These tumours grow silently, and without hormone production, they usually dont produce symptoms until they have advanced to a large size.

At this point, the tumours are usually inoperable, and treatment options are limited to palliative care.

In fact, pancreatic tumours are often diagnosed only when they have spread to other organs, and begin to cause symptoms there. Some 60% of patients diagnosed with non-functional pancreatic cancer have metastases at diagnosis half of these in the liver.

Diversity causes difficulty in clinical practice so says Dr Anguraj Sadanandam.

He recently published a reviewon the molecular biology of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours.

There is a clear unmet need when it comes to pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer we know that patients diagnosed with pancreatic tumours are not seeing the same improvements in treatment that we see for other cancer types.

Our researchers are dedicated to tackling cancers that continue to have very poor survival rates such as pancreatic cancer.

Find out more

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours are divided into grades by the World Health Organisation based on features of the cells that are common when we look down the microscope.

When cells divide, they make a complete copy of all of their chromosomes.

Under ordinary circumstances, a cell keeps all of its genetic material wound up and compact inside of the nucleus the control centre of the cell. In order to divide, the cell unwinds all of its chromosomes and unzips them to make copies.

By using special staining, scientists are able to assess how many cells have visible chromosomes. Visible chromosomes give a good indication that the cell is in the middle of dividing.

If lots of cells show signs of being in the middle of dividing, scientists can get an indication of how fast the tumour is growing and how aggressive it is. More cells making copies means more growth and a highly aggressive tumour.

Combining this information about cell division with other visible changes to cells results in pancreatic tumours being divided into three grades.

Grade 1 tumours have the best prognosis patients have a median overall survival of 12 years with this type of tumour.

Median overall survival refers to the length of time from either the date of diagnosis or the start of treatment for a disease that half of patients in a group are still alive.

Grade 3 tumours have the worst prognosis, with a median overall survival of just 10 months.

Roy Bowdery was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 2014 following a prolonged period of pain in his stomach and back.

His pancreatic cancer was an adenocarcinoma these cancers have different biology from neuroendocrine tumours, but survival compared to other more common cancers is also relatively poor.

Although one-year survival rates for pancreatic cancers have been improving in recent years, there hasnt been much of an improvement in five and 10-year survival rates since the 1970s.

Despite repeated trips to his local GP, it took several weeks before Roy was sent for a CT scan as part of a local bowel cancer screening programme, and it was only then that doctors discovered the tumour on his pancreas.

Fortunately, Roy qualified for the Whipple procedure a 10-hour surgery to remove thelower half of the stomach, duodenum, gall bladder, bile duct and the head of the pancreas.

This was followed up with six months of chemotherapy.

Roy now lives cancer-free, but goes for check ups every six months. He knows he's one of the lucky few. One in four people die within the first month of diagnosis and only 1 per cent of patients survive 10 years.

"Pancreatic cancer is a really brutal type of cancer," Roy explains. "It's the most fatal of all common cancers. I've just gone over the five year mark, and now my aim is to get into the one per cent."

Since his diagnosis, Roy has been actively campaigning to change the journey for others in the future.

"The figures haven't improved in my five years, and they haven't even improved in the last 40 years. There needs to be more research, and there needs to be a quick, easy diagnostic test to catch the cancer early, so more people get a chance at surgery and get a chance to survive.

We are now poised to outsmart cancer with the worlds first anti-evolution 'Darwinian' drug discovery programme, in which we will focus on understanding, anticipating and overcoming cancer evolution, and preventing drug resistance.

Find out more

Although the World Health Organisations grading of tumours is useful in that they give some indication of prognosis, there are substantial differences in tumours within the same grade, and this makes personalised treatment for these tumours hugely challenging.

Dr Sadanandam published a major paper five years ago which divided pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours into molecular subtypes.

The study recreated pancreatic cancer in mice, and together with data from human cancers the researchers were able to classify the tumours in three different ways.

Untangling the complexities of the cancer and categorising the tumours can help when it comes to making decisions about treatment - the aim is always to personalise treatment as much as possible for the specific tumour and the specific patient in front of you.

In other types of cancer, recent research has drastically improved our ability to give a precision diagnosis to each patient, which not only improves the accuracy of the information we can give to a patient about how their cancer is likely to progress, but also allows clinicians to pick the best possible treatments.

For example, recent research from the ICRshowed that testing men for faults in DNA repair genes in their tumours could identify those most likely to respond to a new type of search-and-destroy treatment.

The treatment seeks out a particular molecule called PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen) on the surface of prostate cancer cells and uses a radioactive particle to kill the cells.

This type of approach - finding something unique to a particular cancer type, identifying it and targeting treatments against it is the next big challenge when it comes to pancreatic cancer.

Dr Sadanandam explains:

There is a clear unmet clinical need for novel prognostic and predictive biomarkers to complement the World Health Organisations grading system.

We need more detailed information with which we can categorise tumours to guide us in determining overall survival rates and to support individualised treatment decisions for patients.

In order to bring pancreatic cancers to a level playing field with other cancers, research focusing on comparisons is key.

By examining the similarities pancreatic cancers have to other types of cancer, scientists can begin to unravel the specific cell changes that make the tumours so aggressive and difficult to pin down.

In order to bring pancreatic cancers to a level playing field other cancers, research focusing on comparisons is key. Thats an approach Dr Sadanandam is taking in an ongoing study which is comparing the similarities pancreatic and other cancers have to colon cancers.

By classifying and reclassifying cancers into different subtypes, the problem becomes easier to tackle like categorising your belongings before tackling a big spring clean.

Other ICR researchers are taking the same approach Professor Chris Lord, Deputy Head of the Division of Breast Cancer Researchat the ICR works with PrecisionPanc, a research platform which has collaborators from across the cancer research spectrum.

They are translating basic scientific discoveries into the clinic by looking at the genetics of pancreatic cancers, and developing biomarkers which help doctors understand the roadmap of a patients cancer. They are also working hard to develop new treatments to tackle the tumours.

There is a long way to go before the playing field is leveled, but further research will pave the way for smarter, kinder treatments.

Excerpt from:
Squaring up to silent tumours: the research burden of pancreatic cancer - The Institute of Cancer Research

Frank Lawlis possesses a deep Texas drawl, one that makes the now-iconic intonation of Dr. Phil McGraw his decades-long friend and business associate seem almost city-slicker by comparison. His down-home voice, along with the bolo ties, pale eyes and unkempt white hair, are a comfort to the clients who travel to his private practice from all over the country in the hope that he can help mend minds even those minds that other doctors cannot.

The Lawlis Peavey PsychoNeuroPlasticity Center, in suburban Lewisville north of Dallas, primarily caters, by his estimate, to troubled adolescents as well as people decades older "who've never been able to launch themselves," he says. A battery of tests, including brain mapping, is administered in an attempt to pinpoint the problem during a two-day visit. Only a diagnosis is provided in exchange for the $9,295 fee, not treatment.

The Lewisville center is where Lawlis screens select Dr. Phil guests as well as many clients who've found their way through the door because they watch the CBS-syndicated daytime show. It's also where, in between rooms devoted to a hyperbaric chamber and a sensory deprivation compartment, Lawlis takes his seat in a remote studio for his regular Dr. Phil segments.

Lawlis, 79, holds an influential position as chief content adviser to McGraw. Drawing more than 3 million viewers each weekday, Dr. Phil has been the No. 1 syndicated talk show by a healthy margin, ahead of competitors like Ellen and Live With Kelly and Ryan, since Oprah Winfrey left broadcast TV in 2011. McGraw, who has branded himself as an authoritative voice on the nation's public health issues, made an estimated $95 million in 2019, according to Forbes, and received a star on the Walk of Fame on Feb. 21.

Without the platform of Dr. Phil, Lawlis, who espouses ideas and treatments considered controversial and even dangerous by the mainstream medical community, might be a figure on the margins of public health. But his ability to directly impact the show's guests, and inform its massive audience, makes him a figure of consequence.

Dr. Phil viewers recognize Lawlis from his frequent appearances as a designated expert on the show, during which McGraw treats Lawlis with notable respect, often introducing him as one the foremost authors or experts on whatever subject he's conferring on. (Lawlis was McGraw's Ph.D. adviser decades ago.) Beamed in from Texas and donning a white coat, Lawlis weighs in on everything from opioid dependency to autism. In a 2017 segment focused on Chase, a 19-year-old man who claimed his life had spiraled out of control after a marijuana-induced panic attack, McGraw said he was sending him to the Lewisville clinic to get a "scan of your brain." Lawlis, who ventured that "we also might have a feature of PTSD" to explore, explained that techniques "that work very quickly" would be utilized that "will help resolve him back to where he was before." Hearing the news back in Los Angeles on the Paramount lot, Chase and his family dissolved into hugs and tears as the crowd applauded.

While the talking-head segments are Lawlis' most visible contribution to the show, more important is his behind-the-scenes input, acting as the guru's guru. In coordination with producers, Lawlis vets would-be guests with psychological problems, consults with McGraw on how to advise them during their segments (despite his famed honorific, McGraw holds no license to practice medicine), examines the thorniest cases at his Texas clinic and helps coordinate treatment at favored rehab facilities. "There's probably not a show that goes on the air that doesn't have Dr. Lawlis' feedback," explains Dr. Barbara Peavey, Lawlis' private practice partner. Lawlis also has weighed in on McGraw's congressional testimony the TV host has been invited to Capitol Hill to speak about mental health and advised on his best-selling books.

Lawlis derives multiple income streams from his work with Dr. Phil as an adviser to the show, as a proprietor of the clinic where additional services are performed on selected guests, and as a consultant to the rehab facility where many are later treated. (Guests themselves are not paid to appear on Dr. Phil.)

Even apart from his work with McGraw, Lawlis boasts an eclectic rsum. His sojourns have included heading a prayer healing foundation in Santa Fe for cancer patients, running a Silicon Valley institute dedicated to the study of transpersonal psychology mystical experiences, spiritual crises, altered states of consciousness and consulting on a mental wellness program pertaining to employee overwork in Japan for a division of Toyota. For the past two decades, he's worked part-time, designing exams as the testing director for the American branch of the international high-IQ society Mensa. (He's never applied to become a member: "I don't think it makes ethical sense that I take the test that I already know about.") There he sees the effect of Big Pharma a perceived nemesis through much of his work observing that the organization has been grappling with doping among applicants: "Adderall is a big one."

Lawlis sees himself as an anti-establishment maverick. He fondly recalls the Dallas Police raiding a pain group he once ran at an area hospital circa 1980, during which as an experiment in pain relief he passed around a peace pipe whose tobacco included willow bark and sage. The authorities wanted to arrest him on a marijuana charge. "But three of the participants were actually cops, so it was dropped," he says. "The [hospital] administration said never to do it again."

In another incident at a medical facility in Fort Worth, Texas, he constructed a saltwater floatation tank for patient use that soon leaked into the cardiac intensive care unit below. "It turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened," Lawlis remembers. "I walked in, expecting to be fired, and the chief of staff said, 'Frank, don't make anything! If you want something made, we'll do it for you!' He did and it was beautiful." Lawlis shrugs, amused. "I'm always looking over my shoulder, afraid of going to prison."

Lawlis, who's from a small West Texas town, contends his lifelong contrarianism was set in motion by a pair of character-establishing childhood experiences. By his account, he was "born dead," or at least his folks told him so growing up: Because of birthing complications involving pain medication, he'd been oxygen deprived and brain damaged. "This notion existed in my family from that point on even when I got my Ph.D.," he says. "I had tremendous problems in school. Now it could be explained in other ways, like ADHD."

The other defining feature shadowing his youth was his mother's chronic ill health, largely gastric and arthritic in scope, which required more than two dozen operations. "As a kid, I lost faith in Western medicine," Lawlis says. "I had the insight that many of my mother's problems were psychological. My father [a pharmacist turned pharmaceutical sales representative] wanted me to be a doctor. But seeing the failure for her in terms of pills and surgery, I wanted to be somebody who could help through behavior."

Lawlis, inspired in part by The Eleventh Hour, a 1960s NBC medical drama about psychiatry, compares his chosen vocation to a secular ministry and has taught at several schools, including the University of North Texas, where he met McGraw. His future boss stood out to Lawlis from his pupil's first day in his doctoral-level class in advanced personality. "There were about 12 people in there, and all of them were writing notes down like crazy except him," Lawlis says. "He was looking at me like he already knew it. We would have conversations, and he did know it. I made a decision that he was either the dumbest guy or the smartest guy I've ever dealt with."

The pair grew close, bonding over their mutual pasts as college football players and their hobbyists' joy in piloting small planes. In the decades that followed, before national prominence on Dr. Phil, they teamed on business ventures, including a never-launched set of seminars for physicians.

Later, when McGraw had set up his litigation services firm Courtroom Sciences, which inspired the CBS drama Bull, his mentor was regularly contracted out as an expert witness in personal injury cases. "I would testify as to what money [the plaintiff] would've made as opposed to how much money he's capable of now," Lawlis says.

Since Dr. Phil's 2002 debut, McGraw has faced criticism over his credibility. He's taken it all in stride. During a segment on the Late Show With David Letterman the following year, he pulled out a list of epithets (including "half-baked quack") the host had called him and good-naturedly read them on-air. In 2017, medical news outlet STAT and The Boston Globe published an investigation into the alleged exploitation of Dr. Phil guests with addiction problems, asserting some had been allowed easy access to alcohol and drugs in immediate advance of showtime. Martin Greenberg, a psychologist who serves as Dr. Phil's director of professional affairs, denied the claims. Previously, McGraw found himself fighting a yearslong class-action lawsuit involving the psychotherapist customers of a service called the LearnDrPhil Network. The litigation claimed the service had, in exchange for their participation in the program, dangled referrals from the large pool of Dr. Phil viewers. Lawlis was part of the endeavor and named as a defendant in the case, which was settled in 2009. Lawlis says now of the service, "That's gone away."

McGraw's engagement with celebrity mental health issues also has drawn criticism. Britney Spears' parents said he violated their trust after he publicly spoke about a private visit with the troubled pop singer in 2008. Eight years later, a heavily promoted November sweeps episode of Dr. Phil focused on a disoriented Shelley Duvall. Mia Farrow and Ron Perlman called it exploitative. Lawlis stands by the program. "You can't script what a person says, and sometimes the guests are their worst enemies. We don't exploit a person's problems," he says. "I always think we can do better, but I think we do a better job than anybody else has ever done with the types of things we deal with."

***

About 20 Dr. Phil guests cycle through the PsychoNeuroPlasticity Center each season. Its website notes it helps clients with ADHD, autism, mood disorders, OCD, PTSD and other challenges. "I can tell you that for the majority [of visitors]," Peavey explains, "it's 'I've heard about you through Dr. Phil.' "

Peavey, who was once Lawlis' student and now handles the administrative end of their partnership, says multiple show guests have confided that they initially contacted Dr. Phil with the specific intent to secure an expenses-covered visit to the Texas clinic. (Insurers may also cover a portion of the price tag.)

The customized screening includes a variety of diagnostic tests, among them the use of a medical instrument designed by Lawlis and his son, an electrical engineer, called the Bio-Acoustical Utilization Device, or BAUD. It emits calibrated sounds in each ear think of drumming rhythms with the intended benefit of influencing brain function. In 2006, the FDA granted Lawlis permission to use and sell the BAUD "for relaxation training and muscle reeducation and prescription use." Lawlis, meanwhile, characterizes the BAUD as a panacea for a variety of health problems. "A person comes in with PTSD and you give him the BAUD and after 30 minutes it goes away," he claims.

In 2014, the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists disciplined Lawlis and Peavey for the same offense: Allowing one of their staffers, who was not licensed, to provide psychological services under their watch for more than a year. More recently, according to the agency's records, Peavey was reprimanded for having signed an employee application to practice psychology in the state "that contained inaccurate and false information." Peavey is prohibited until August from "providing any supervision of psychological services provided by another person."

Lawlis was unwilling to substantively address his history with the Texas State Board. Peavey didn't clarify either.

In addition to his partnership stake at the Texas clinic, Lawlis is a salaried consultant at Los Angeles-based Creative Care, an inpatient rehabilitation center that specializes in dual diagnosis cases (the overlap of substance abuse and mental illness) and is one of fewer than two dozen "Dr. Phil Preferred" facilities in the country, meaning it's received his on-air seal of approval and is listed on the show's website resource page. Show guests often receive treatment there, their cost covered by the program. In return, Dr. Phil publicizes Creative Care on-air, an arrangement that drives nearly a third of its admissions, according to the rehab. The facility treats 300 people each year. Between two and four Dr. Phil guests, who have often already visited Lawlis' Texas assessment center, are in treatment at Creative Care during the show's season at any given time.

Creative Care has operated for three decades in Malibu, pioneering the region's so-called Rehab Riviera alongside Promises. Its facility on a 40-acre property just up the road from Broad Beach was wiped out by the Woolsey Fire in November 2018, so the center has temporarily resettled to a series of adjacent houses in Woodland Hills, where it can treat up to 24 clients. Lawlis visits for several days each month and works daily by email and phone.

Around the time of the fire, Dr. Farrah Khaleghi, the 30-year-old, recently credentialed psychologist daughter of Creative Care's husband-and-wife co-founders, was appointed its clinical director. "Dr. Lawlis calls me 'the phoenix,' " she explains during a visit to the facility in October. "I wanted to fine-tune all of our program elements. We survived. Let's use this opportunity for a rebirth." Though her parents have had an affiliation with Lawlis and Dr. Phil for more than 15 years, Khaleghi has leaned into Lawlis' methods to put her own stamp on the program a majority of the facility's clients now utilize some component of Lawlis' "Neuroplasticity Transformation Program," which includes use of a sensory deprivation chamber designed to his specifications.

The chamber is a heated waterbed in which clients, cloaked in darkness, speak to their therapist or listen to music. Close to half of those in treatment at Creative Care also make use of the BAUD: "It's an extra layer of support," says Khaleghi. "For our population that's so acute, with really serious mental health and addiction issues, the more tools the better."

By Khaleghi's account, her staff's use of Lawlis' techniques as a complement to the overall treatment regimen has been helpful in convincing clients not to self-discharge during their first month in residence, a common challenge for inpatient rehabs. "Sometimes people that really struggle with nervous system agitation itchy people that are always kind of fidgety neuroplasticity is a way to regulate them, to settle them down so they're not acting out as much and leaving," she says. "The first three or four weeks are super-vulnerable and this is soothing."

Khaleghi notes that the clients often find Lawlis' methods appealing because they're a departure from prescription treatment. "It's not invasive, it's not 'artificial,' it's really present-focused and organic," she says.

Creative Care has its own troubles, past and present. In 2012, the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes produced a report, "Rogue Rehabs," about how the state "failed to police drug and alcohol homes, with deadly results." Creative Care was a key case study. The report noted that the facility had "offered medical care, contrary to state law, for 10 years."

In December, after THR's visit, California's Department of Health Care Services suspended its license following two client deaths. According to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, on Feb. 16, 2019, a 54-year-old woman died by suicide on-site, and on July 4, a 26-year-old man died of a fentanyl overdose. (A representative for Dr. Phil says that neither was a show guest.) "We have no comment," Khaleghi wrote by email when asked about these developments.

Lawlis and McGraw have recently cut ties with Creative Care, and the rehab has scrubbed its website of Dr. Phil material at the TV host's request. "Phil doesn't want anybody to think that he sent anybody to a program that has had its license suspended," Lawlis explains.

McGraw who declined to participate in this story wouldn't say why the facility had long persisted as a preferred provider of care despite its public record. He also wouldn't elaborate on Dr. Phil's vetting process for the treatment facilities it directs its guests and viewers toward.

A CBS spokesperson for the program did, however, provide a statement. "The platform provides the opportunity for guests to connect with and avail themselves to a variety of health care providers, including individual therapy, outpatient and inpatient facilities," it reads. "In doing so, guests meet with the resource representatives and decide for themselves if they choose to participate or not. By forming working relationships with hundreds of quality professionals and facilities, it is expected that these independent resources comply with the laws and regulations of their governing licensing or regulatory agencies. Upon being notified of alleged activity that raises significant regulatory concerns regarding any of these resources, the working relationship is terminated until the matter has been resolved within the rules and guidelines governing state agency or board."

***

Lawlis is strikingly confidentabout the BAUD, comparing his breakthroughs to Charles Goodyear's discovery of vulcanized rubber. By his account, 86 patients were treated by 19 therapists in a study he conducted, and "all were significantly improved, with most having no more symptoms in three sessions or less," he wrote in his 2015 book Psychoneuroplasticity Protocols for Addictions. (He's published more than a dozen books on various subjects.)

Yet despite such an impressive suggested outcome, other researchers have since ignored the device. This is because, Lawlis acknowledges, his own study was never accepted for publication. "Credibility is an issue," he says.

Lawlis who has been published in peer-reviewed outlets like Spine and the Journal of Psychosomatic Research blames conflict-of-interest policies for his inability to gain scientific traction for the BAUD. "I can't get it through a review committee," he says. "They say, 'I'm sorry, you have a self-interest in this. That's a problem.' "

Dr. Stephen Barrett, a psychiatrist and peer-review panelist for several top medical journals, has been skeptical of the BAUD for years, listing it as a questionable medical instrument on his anti-fraud watchdog website, Device Watch. "Conflict of interest isn't a legitimate reason not to be published," he says. "If the study is appropriate, journals simply disclose the conflict. The more likely reason he hasn't been published is that his research hasn't been adequate."

Lawlis contends the BAUD is useful for addressing not just PTSD but drug addiction, ADHD, depression, anxiety, phobia and pain. Barrett believes this transgresses the FDA's allowance, observing in particular that use for depression could be dangerous. "If the device is not effective, and you represent that it treats depression, you may be dealing with people who have the potential for suicide," he says.

Lawlis and Peavey have other views that counter prevailing accepted science. They question childhood immunization scheduling standards that have been established by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "My theory is that if the child is still dealing with the mother's immune system," ventures Lawlis, "maybe in some instances the vaccines confuse the whole immune system. But if you wait a little longer, where you have more of a balanced person that can incorporate it, that might be the solution." The pair also express unease about what they perceive as the pernicious effects of mercury in vaccines, principally the MMR inoculation (scientific consensus has determined it's safe), believing such shots may be responsible for some of the problems their clients face.

Lawlis' belief that mercury may, as he put it in his 2010 book, The Autism Answer, induce "a cascade of poor auto-immune reactions which produce autistic behaviors," has led him to advocate for an unproven application of chelation therapy, a detoxification process in which heavy metals and minerals are removed from the body. The FDA has approved chelation therapy for heavy metal toxicity, such as lead poisoning, but warns against unapproved use for autism disorders.

Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a toxicology expert and co-head of the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, D.C., is alarmed. "Putting aside that the idea that vaccines cause autism has been widely discredited, this treatment approach is both unreliable and may even have negative effects," she says, noting that chelation also can have the deleterious consequence of extracting nutrients, from electrolytes to potassium. "There is no medical basis for it."

While Peavey speaks of chelation as an active component of the Texas practice, Lawlis claims "we have not used it for the last three or four years at all."

Lawlis ventures other arguable contentions as well. In 2008's Retraining the Brain (which McGraw blurbed, touting "groundbreaking techniques that can dramatically improve our lives"), he connects exposure to TV and video games after the age of 7 to ADD diagnosis. "The dust that comes from the heat shields and sound-proofing in the back of color television sets has been shown to have very negative effects on hormone levels and disruption of cognitive abilities," he writes. When asked about the evidence, he responds: "Well, let me just say this. I'm not at liberty to reveal the sources. But it has to do with some people I know in Washington that have been studying these waveforms, especially that come from cellphones and other sources."

***

At a Tex-Mex restaurant north of Dallas, Lawlis sweepingly dismisses the legitimacy of double-blind studies, the placebo-controlled, randomized trials that are a cornerstone of medical research. He argues that humans are too complex to provide a true control group. Regardless, "I read through the journals and they're not making any headway," anyway. "If you read the [studies'] titles, it's amazing how stupid the findings are: 'Children From Conflictual Families Don't Do Well.' " He goes on, "We haven't learned a goddamn thing from that particular approach."

Lawlis' wife, Dr. Susan Franks, a neuropsychologist on the faculty at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth, contextualizes his view. "Where he gets frustrated is, because the double-blind trial puts everything in a box, how do you start moving out of the box?" she says. "How does science advance? He's just so outside the box. He's bringing in concepts and integrating everything and coming up with creative approaches."

As a contrast, Franks points to herself and other academic subspecialists. They're "very focused on the science and the numbers, and we're not the most creative people." She adds, "the data can't show everything."

Dr. Nina Shapiro, an extensively published UCLA surgeon and author of Hype: A Doctor's Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims and Bad Advice, takes issue with the couple's outlook. "It's predatory on people who are desperate, on people who are seeking some sort of 'alternative,' " she says. "If you're someone with charisma and a following, it's enticing to a captive audience. But it's sad."

Lawlis' latest book, Healing Rhythms to Reset Wellness, will be published in April. He wrote it last year following "an a-ha moment when I was studying string theory and, at the same time, I was reading about Egypt's ancient medicine." The treatise, which underscores his break from the strictures of hard science "double-blind research," he writes, "doesn't take into account how human healing happens" contends that treating illness is about balancing circadian rhythms. "The reason we get sick," Lawlis says, "is that we get out of tune with our rhythms."

McGraw penned the book's foreword. "He offers works of magnitude, not frivolity, not pop psychology, not trends," he writes of his mentor, going on to extol their half-century relationship. "In everything he does, Dr. Lawlis' impact has been profound."

Email Gary Baum at gary.baum@thr.com.

This story first appeared in the Feb. 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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The Controversial Therapist Shaping Dr. Phil - Hollywood Reporter