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One of the most common goals for the new year is a decision to be more active. I started day one of January first with an invigorating Polar Bear swim! One of the most common blocks to being more active is pain. This is where I can help.

Acupuncture can be very effective to treat pain from many causes, from injury and surgery recovery, to arthritis, to menstrual cramps, to headaches, to migraines, to digestive disorder pain, and more. Check out my website for more specific information for each of these types of pain: http://www.activetcm.com/injuries.shtml

There are a multitude of supplements both online and in stores with claims to cure your pain, but which ones are right for you? First of all, that depends on your type of pain. Is it from muscle injury? Joint degeneration? Nerve impingement? Internal organ disease? Immune system imbalance? Hormonal imbalance? All of the above? None of the above?

Because there are so many causes for pain and because pain is such a subjective experience, it is important to get a proper assessment. That usually starts with a complete and thorough consultation determining when/how the pain started; what aggravates the pain; what alleviates the pain; what concurrent medical issues there might be; what the health history indicates; whether lifestyle, emotional, mental, or spiritual aspects are big contributors (they always contribute something!); and more.

Some common supplements that may crossover treatment for several different kinds of pain include magnesium, fish oils, and coenzyme Q10.

Magnesium

Though magnesium is found in a lot of foods, including dark leafy green veggies, legumes, and nuts, rates of deficiency are high in North America. In fact, approximately 68% of the US population consumes less than the RDA (recommended dietary allowance) of magnesium and 19% of the population consumes less than 50% of the RDA!

Magnesium deficiency can contribute to muscle cramps and tightness, migraines, fatigue, poor sleep, weak bones, menstrual cramps, and anxiety.

Supplementing magnesium is easy. Look for magnesium glycinate, bisglycinate, or citrate, avoiding magnesium oxide, which draws water into the bowels to act as a laxative (thus poorly absorbed). I most often recommend magnesium glycinate capsules or magnesium citrate powder.

Fish oils

It almost impossible not to have heard about omega 3 essential fatty acids. These “good fats” are often in the news because of their many health benefits, including reducing inflammation, improving heart health, decreasing joint pain, supporting healthy skin, and easing depression.

My mom also told me years ago to eat more fish so I could be smart. I admit I hated fish. Though I’ve now learned to like it, I still take fish oil capsules as I know that I cannot eat enough fish to match my busy and active lifestyle and supply me enough DHA and EPA (main components of the omega 3s from fish).

When choosing a fish oil, quality is key. Poor quality fish oil capsules may taste fishy because the oils are rancid. Inappropriately processed fish oils may not be as health beneficial because heat and light can destroy these delicate fats.

If you want to know more about which fish oils I prefer, feel free to ask me.

Coenzyme Q10

This powerful antioxidant can be your buddy and you can call him by his nickname CoQ10. He will help protect you; he can be your body guard. As an antioxidant, he assists in decreasing cellular damage. CoQ10 is also involved in making a key energy molecule called ATP. Thus, if your body doesn’t get or make enough CoQ10, you may feel fatigued and/or depressed and many of your body’s processes will not function properly.

Your body makes CoQ10 and we also consume it via oily fish, organ meats, and whole grains.

So, how do you know if you have enough? If you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or heart disease, you may benefit from taking CoQ10. Statin drugs so commonly used to treat high cholesterol contribute to lower CoQ10 levels, so if you are taking these drugs, talk to your health provider to determine if supplementing will benefit you.

CoQ10 has also shown great promise for treating migraines at dosages of 150mg-300mg daily. Once again, quality matters.

Questions?

As always, feel free to ask me. Email drcarr@activetcm.com.

-       If you are flying into a different time zone, check out how to limit the effect of jetlag by clicking here.

-       To avoid catching someone else’s cold or flu when flying, make your own anti-viral aromatherapy spray. Mix 100% pure lavender and tea tree essential oils in purified water in a glass spray bottle. Spray the blend into your face and inhale deeply while on the plane. Not only will it keep your nasal passages moist and help stop you from getting sick, it’ll also smell pleasant and help you relax.

-       Drink lots of water when on the plane and avoid alcohol.

-       If you worried about getting “Montezuma’s Revenge”, bring some grapefruit seed extract and some oregano oil (both are anti-parasitic, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral). You can use the grapefruit seed extract to wash your fruits and vegetables. Remember to use boiled or purified water. Oregano oil is a powerful remedy that you can take orally. It tastes horrible, but it really does help! NOTE: Pack both in plastic baggies because you don’t want either bottle leaking on any of your stuff in your bag or suitcase!

-       Bring digestive enzymes if you are going to be eating different (or more) foods and your digestive system is challenged.

-       Probiotics (choose the kind that don’t need to be refrigerated) can also help avoid digestive ills.

Keeping meals simple and balanced is best.

Plan simple meals for a day or a week at a time (e.g. easy dinner leftovers re-worked for lunch the next day or making larger amount and freezing extra for future meals).

Make sure to drink enough water or fluids throughout the day.  Camomile tea is calming and ideal for the evening.  Avoid caffeinated drinks, but if you need a boost, try yerba mate or green tea (they contain less caffeine than coffee or pop like Coke).  Green tea also contains L-threanine which helps release chemicals in the brain that promote a feeling of alertness with calmness.

Avoid sugar and sugary foods as they cause sugar highs and lows and put stress on your body.

Try eating more fish like wild salmon, sardines, and herring as these supply the essential fatty acids DHA and EPA, important omega 3 fatty acids that feed the brain and thus help to regulate emotions.

Green veggies are rich in magnesium which restrains the “anxiety peptide”, a complex of amino acids in the brain which seems to play a role in anxiety.  Magnesium also helps calcium work properly in the heart and nerves.
Unrefined complex carbohydrates (e.g. brown rice, whole grain pasta, whole grain bread, etc.) maximize the presence of L-tryptophan in the brain which aids in the formation of the neurotransmitter serotonin.  Serotonin is required for calming the mind and promoting sound sleep.  L-tryptophan is found in most foods, but other amino acids in high-protein foods compete with its use in the formation of serotonin, so carbohydrates are your best source. Eat in moderation.

When I ask patients if they are impacted by stress, many say “As much as always.” In other words, yes, but that is normal for them. Stress is important. It is key to survival. Fight or flight reaction causes blood to pump to the big muscles of the limbs, the lungs, the heart, and the primitive reactionary brain. This helps when trying to run away from or fight an attacker. The problem is that this same reaction takes blood away from the immune system, the digestive system, the reproductive system, and the “thinking” brain.

How can you get yourself out of a chronic stressed state? Check out some basic suggestions and a breathing exercise by clicking Stress handout.

.........Travel fun up in a tree in Hawaii

I LOVE to travel! Traveling isn’t always a true holiday for me in the sense that I don’t like to just lay on a beach doing nothing but rotating periodically. My pale and freckled skin would not easily forgive me if I did do that. When I travel I usually have a planned itinerary of things to do, see, taste, and experience. Because I feel the need to squeeze every second out of my travel destination, I want to avoid the dreaded jet lag phenomenon.

Melatonin is a commonly used supplement for helping to reset an internal body clock. I don’t normally find I need to bring melatonin with me, but I do always bring a mix of valerian root, passion flower, hops, and lemon balm in tincture format to help with my first couple of nights of sleep, just in case. I also like to bring my list of acupressure points to press while waiting for the plane, on the plane, and perhaps during the first few hours of arrival at my destination.

The idea is that there are specific organ systems active during each 2-hour time block. That means that all 12 TCM organ systems are represented over a 24 hour period. Each 2-hour time block is thus associated with a different point to stimulate that organ system. So, your Lungs are most active from 3-5 a.m., Large Intestines from 5-7 a.m., Stomach from 7-9 a.m., Spleen from 9-11 a.m., Heart from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Small Intestines from 1-3 p.m., Urinary Bladder from 3-5 p.m., Kidneys from 5-7 p.m., Pericardium from 7-9 p.m., Triple Warmer (not a real organ) from 9-11 p.m., Gallbladder from 11 p.m.-1 a.m., and Liver from 1-3 a.m.

Press the points associated with your destination time in order to ready your body for the new time clock. For example, if your location time is 1:30 p.m., but your destination is 3 hours ahead, you will be pressing the Urinary Bladder point (associated with the 3-5 p.m. time). Two hours later you would press the Kidney point, etc. If you miss some of those 2 hour blocks because you’ve slept or forgotten, don’t worry about it, just press the points when you can over the first 24 hours of your travel. Try to catch at least half of the points. For details about point locations and more about how to do this, click Jetlag acupressure. For more travel tips, click Travel Tips. Enjoy your trip!

I was recently asked this question at a health show: Can acupuncture be used to treat tension headaches?

Acupuncture absolutely can help treat, manage, and prevent tension headaches. Here is a link to an article about tension headaches and migraines and the use of acupuncture to treat them: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/136103.php

I have been treating patients for a variety of health problems for more than 10 years, but my experience started with receiving acupuncture to treat my own headaches. I used to get daily headaches, from the time I was a child until about a month into getting acupuncture, taking Chinese herbs, and implementing some nutritional changes.

Acupuncture is best recognized for its ability to treat pain and relax tight muscles. It is also fantastic at helping to relieve stress, a major cause of tension headaches.

So, if you get frequent headaches or any migraines, know that you need not suffer! Whether a tension headache or ones caused by blood sugar imbalances, changes in weather, allergies, sinusitis, chemical sensitivities, hormonal imbalance, or other, get yourself treated sooner than later.

In our world of now, now now, we have been trained to become impatient. Fast food, microwaves, instant messaging, pharmaceuticals have all made our wait times shorter. We feel rushed and often short on time. I know that for me, one of my most valuable assets is, indeed, my time.

For this reason, we sometimes forget that our bodies are not machines. We can replace some parts, but even what we do that, there is recovery time. We can take a pill to relieve a symptom, but that symptom often returns when we don’t address the cause.

So, when people come in for TCM treatment, there needs to be the understanding right from the start that I have no magic wand. While some patients do find instant and lasting relief from just one treatment, there is usually a series that needs to be completed to maintain that relief as the body sets down new, healthier patterns.

More acute, less severe issues generally take only a few treatments to resolve. The more entrenched a pattern of imbalance, the longer it usually takes to create lasting changes. I often expect that it will take 3-4 sessions before some symptoms will start to show obvious and significant changes and I tell my patients this at the start. Hormonal shifts usually take at least 3 months. Pain usually finds some relief after just a few sessions, if not the first. Sometimes one simple addition, like getting enough essential fatty acids or receiving a B12 shot, can cause amazing nearly instant improvements in energy. But, remember your body is learning and learning often takes time.

Be conscious and attentive, however, to the smaller improvements that can happen very early on. We often forget to even pay attention to how we feel following a treatment, just as we often shove food into our faces without even experiencing the taste of that food. Be mindful of the small, yet important, changes that happen and they will multiply.

I was recently asked this question at a health show.

There are two parts to this question.

One aspect is keeping limited the bad bacteria in the body. Some ways to do that include limiting its food source, especially sugar; keeping the immune system strong; and not putting in more bacteria and yeast through poor quality food.

The second aspect is to boost up the good bacteria and limit their demise. Fermented foods like miso, tempeh, kombucha tea, sauerkraut, and yogurt are food sources of this good bacteria. There are many different strains of good bacteria (probiotics), including acidophilus, bifidus, and a multitude of others. A variety of strains is important. Probiotic supplements are the best way to make sure to you get enough of this good bacteria. Antibiotics kill good bacteria as well as the bad bacteria that they are intended to kill.

When Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) originated, we did not know about good and bad bacteria in the body. However, TCM can address improving the digestive system, immune system, and the nervous system, all related to treating and preventing yeast infections and balance the body’s natural flora.