Are they telling you that it’s time to look at your diet?

If you are reacting to pollens, grasses, and other environmental “allergens,” your sensitivity and intolerance to these substances may be just the tip of an iceberg.  It appears that seasonal allergy symptoms are expressed based on a “total load” of antigens in the body, of which food is a part.  Dietary changes have proven again and again to influence our sensitivity to season allergens, having a profound relationship to the cause of our symptoms.

Are they telling you to work on your digestion?

For centuries, Chinese Medicine have given us insight into the relationship between digestion and the entire respiratory system. In most cases where susceptibility to allergy is strong, there is a central digestive component.   This focuses largely on the phenomenon of intestinal permeability, also known as “leaky-gut syndrome,” as well as the process by which poor digestion leads to the production of mucus in the body, which gets stored in the respiratory passages.  Incomplete digestion of food leads to an and accumulation of food “antigens” that are stored, and contribute to a “total antigenic load” that is directly related to your allergy symptoms.  Working on digestion pays big allergy dividends.

Are they telling you have a close look at your “adrenal gland function” which holds your innate ability to control inflammation in the body?

Powerful hormones produced by your adrenal glands assist you in neutralizing all  allergic reactions in the body. Making either too much or too little of the hormone cortisol can be related to your allergy symptoms, and diagnosis and treatment of adrenal problems is often the missing piece in the treatment of allergy.

Are they telling you about an undiagnosed, or otherwise “hidden” infection in the body?

Chronic, low-level infections are usually found in the sinuses or throat, but possibly in other places as well. Chronic sinusitis is estimated to affect 15% of the US population and is the most common “hidden” infection related to allergy.  However, chronic infection of the throat, tonsils, or GI tract also frequently occurs, remaining undiagnosed.  Infections can include yeasts and fungus, molds, parasites, and bacteria.  If they are uncovered, and removed, allergy can often be greatly improved.

Are they telling you to lower your total “toxic” or “antigenic load” and to work on your liver health?

While conventional allergists focus on reactivity to specific allergens, measured through skin testing, what appears to be true is that you are often reacting to a “total load” of allergens with which your body—and more specifically your liver—has to cope.   Centuries ago, in the context of their own understanding of physiology, the Chinese Medicine discovered that the liver is what “courses and drains” the body.  In more modern terms, the liver is the “factory” that filters toxins and breaks them down for excretion from the body.  In allergy sufferers, there can be a fault of this mechanism, where liver detoxification functions poorly, “upregulating” instead of “downregulating,” and building up large accumulations, further exacerbated by any type of weight problem, as toxins are stored in the fat.   Sometimes the “total load” of poor food choices, medications, environmental toxins (such as heavy metals) are simply too much.  In such cases, liver detoxification and support is required, and just what the doctor ordered to treat allergy.

Are they telling you that something is out of balance in your immune function and immune defense?

Allergies are, plain and simple, an over-loaded immune system.  In Chinese Medicine, practitioners have understood that what we call “immune system,” is a function of the “defensiveqi of the lung, influenced strongly by digestion which is described as “spleen.”  The in spring, the “season of the liver” where all the movement of environmental influences (“pathogenic influences) challenges our system, if we are not in balance, symptoms emerge strongly.  It is a tune-up of this system which often gets  to the root of allergies.

At Pearl Natural Health, our allergy treatment approach is based on understanding the root causes of your allergies.

Click here to read about our allergy treatment program.

You may be. Having treated hundreds of patients with symptoms of hypothyroidism, I can say with assurance that many cases where the TSH test was within what is considered to be normal range benefited remarkably from empirical use of the thyroid medicines, usually a desiccated thyroid preparation known as Armour Thyroid™ or Nature-Throid™.   Indeed, if we accepted the TSH test as the only indicator of the need for thyroid, countless patients in our clinic (and in clinics throughout the United States) would be suffering needlessly from symptoms of hypothyroid.

 Despite normal basic laboratory tests for hypothyroidism (i.e., the TSH test), many of our patients are indeed “sub-clinically hypothyroid.”  Another way of putting this is that they have “sub-laboratory” hypothyroidism, a term coined by Alan Gaby, M.D. in his excellent review article entitled “Sub-laboratory” Hypothyroidism and the Empirical use of Armour Thyroid ™in 2004 (Altern Med Rev 2004:9(2): 157-179).  Here Gaby documented the research in this area, explaining with great clarity how it is possible to be hypothyroid despite normal lab tests, citing important studies, and reviewing the evidence for benefits, safety and a rational methodology for treatment.

Possible explanations for the disconnect between clinic and laboratory include a syndrome known as  “tissue resistance to thyroid” (TRTH), defects in the conversion of T4 to the biologically active metabolite T3, possible mutations of thyroid hormone receptors in the brain, genetic variations in the deiodinase enzymes that convert T4 to T3, and the possible inhibition of peripheral thyroid hormone receptors by various environmental toxins, metabolites or byproducts of intestinal flora.

Countless patients present to physicians every day with symptoms of hypothyroidism, including chronic fatigue, constipation, coldness, immune system problems, unexplainable weight gain, problems with hair and nails, and a host of other symptoms.   Lab testing yields normal values in the TSH and other basic tests, and despite their protestations, patients are refused thyroid treatment and offered no significant treatment.

Often enough, these patients show up at the door of Pearl Natural Health, and we proceed to evaluate their problems fully and, when indicated, empirically treat with thyroid hormones.  We will do this, despite conventionally normal lab tests, always monitoring carefully with laboratory every step of the way.  More often than not, when appropriately prescribed, symptoms of hypothyroidism are improved or eliminated, and thyroid function tests remain within normal limits.

While we do extensive laboratory testing, beyond simply the TSH and Free thyroxin test, to include other markers that identify a sub-clinical hypothyroidism (such as thyroid antibody tests, free T3, and reverse T3 tests), we have certainly come to rely more on clinical symptoms for a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, backed up by some trending in laboratory toward a clinical hypothyroidism.  Even the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists argued back in 2004 that the upper limit of TSH be changed from 5.0 to 3.04 mU/L which should raise further questions about the validity of the TSH tests as the chief diagnostic parameter for the prescription of thyroid.

If you suspect that you are hypothyroid, despite normal labs tests, consider a full evaluation at Pearl Natural Health for “Sub-Clinical “ or “Sub-laboratory” hypothyroidism.

Call our clinic at 503 230-8973 and schedule an appointment today with Dr. Weiner.

To read more about hypothyroidism click here.

There can be many causes of fatigue, but one thing is fairly consistent:  it strongly impacts all of your activities, and the very quality of your life.

Fatigue is the absence of energy, vigor, and the drive that was once your’s.  Whatever your definition, it is intolerable, and conventional diagnostic and treatment methods do not address what is becoming an epidemic problem.   Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) affects 1 out of every 544 people in North America, 80% of whom are women.  Fatigue can be a feature of many other health problems, as well as a significant “disease” in itself.  Quite frankly, it is the biggest complaint amongst our patients, sometimes the main problem for someone seeking care, or as is often the case, secondary to other problems.

Common Causes of Chronic Fatigue

• Hormone Imbalances (thyroid, adrenal, sex hormones, pancreatic hormones)
• Prolonged exertion (mental or physical)
• Injury, surgery, or other traumas
• Infections (including altered intestinal bacteria)
• Inadequate nutrition
• Heavy metal and chemical toxicity
• Blood sugar irregularities
• Sleep difficulties
• Fat that fails to “burn” (overweight and obesity)

Our Approach to the Treatment of Fatigue

At Pearl Natural Health, our approach to diagnosing and treating the causes of your chronic fatigue begins with comprehensive  diagnostics and proven therapies.   Through a complete metabolic assessment, detoxification regimen, improvement in nutrition, and treatment of any hormone imbalances, symptoms usually improve while causative factors are directly addressed

For cases that improve too slowly or with difficulty, we probe deeper to find the interference, and address it directly.

For more complete details about the treatment of chronic fatigue,  please call our clinic to arrange a complementary consultation.