No vitamin C? Scurvy in three months. No vitamin D? Osteoporosis in three decades. No oxygen? Death or brain damage in three to ten minutes. Sounds like oxygen’s the winner for the body’s most essential nutrient.

Nutrients like vitamins C and D are easily supplied to the body through specific foods and/or in supplement form. How, though, can you increase the availability of oxygen?

Breathe more oxygen, right? It’s not that easy. Room air contains enough oxygen (at a 21-percent concentration) to fill most of the oxygen-binding sites inside our red blood cells. Breathing even 100 percent oxygen only fills the few remaining sites, and it increases the blood level of oxygen by only a small percentage. Although this can be life saving in many instances, it is insufficient in others.

Thousands of people every year are affected by an event or condition that causes some body tissues to live in a perpetually low oxygen state. This includes many people who have had an injury, a surgical wound or skin graft, plastic surgery, a limb reattachment, radiation therapy, burns, head trauma, or poisoning. Recent studies suggest it is also true for some people who have had a stroke, have cerebral palsy, or who have autism or chronic viruses. In each of these challenges, there are cells around the area of injury that do not get sufficient oxygen to function at their best. The cells aren’t dead, but they have too little of the essential nutrient to do their jobs. They are on idle, so to speak.

Cells in areas of low oxygen can be given a new lease on life by receiving oxygen in a different way. In the same way that forcing carbonation into a can of flavored water can create a bubbly soda, oxygen can be encouraged to “dissolve” into body fluids to nourish body tissues more deeply. This is accomplished by increasing the pressure under which the oxygen is breathed. Pressure is provided by placing the person in an above-normal pressure chamber, or hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The chamber is sealed, and pressure inside is slowly increased to a level appropriate for the person’s condition. Extra oxygen is often supplied but is not necessary for results. A treatment session will usually require an hour or more to accomplish; the frequency depends upon the condition being addressed. Some conditions require only a few treatments, while others respond best to ongoing sessions.

Not too long ago, hyperbaric oxygen chambers were only available in a few specialized facilities, usually hospitals. Initially, these chambers were primarily used to treat deep-sea divers who surfaced too quickly, resulting in “the Bends.” These individuals would be pressurized back to their dive pressure and then be decompressed at a slower rate. Gradually, other applications have been discovered. It is now widely accepted that HyperBaric Oxygen Therapy, or HBOT, can facilitate improvement of a variety of conditions, even years after a problem has first occurred.

Currently, HBOT is officially approved for conditions such as cyanide or carbon monoxide poisoning, smoke inhalation, decompression sickness (the Bends), crush injuries, poor wound healing, tissue damage from radiation, skin grafts and limb reattachments. Applications are expanding, and HBOT is now being used “off–label” for the improvement of stroke, autism, multiple sclerosis, plastic surgery, heart attack, near drowning, sports injuries, Lyme disease, head trauma and other conditions.

Results of HBOT depend on the individual and their specific problem. Not everyone achieves the desired result, and studies are underway to help decide who will have the best outcomes. Often, however, results are remarkable. Healing time can improve, spasticity can be reduced or disappear, the ability to perform tasks can be regained or appear for the first time, inflammation can improve and other symptoms can become a thing of the past. For example, the World Federation of Neurology has devised a specific protocol for the use of HBOT in the treatment of some types of strokes.

Further research and the development of soft-sided portable chambers that supply a lower level of pressure (at a much improved price) have helped HBOT become an option for use with many more conditions. These so-called “mild hyperbaric” chambers are appearing in physicians’ offices, in outpatient facilities and even in homes. They are being used to improve outcomes in most of the areas mentioned above as “off-label,” as well as in performance and wellness. Although there are few contraindications to HBOT, it is important that you be assessed by a physician to determine the appropriateness of adding HBOT to your care plan. So, on your path toward wellness, ask yourself, “Is my body getting enough of the most essential nutrient?”

Sharon Willingham, M.D. is a physician at Asheville Integrative Medicine (AIM), located at 832 Hendersonville Road in Asheville, NC, where research-based health care, including mild HBOT, is offered. She can be reached by phone at 828-252-5545 or through AIM’s website at www.docbiddle.com.

Bio-identical, Synthetic and Plant Hormones: What’s Right for You?
Sort through the hormone hullabaloo with Bill Cheek, RPh.

Hormones. The mere mention of this word evokes different thoughts from different people. For some, it might mean relief of tormenting hot flashes. For others, it might conjure up dreams of the fountain of youth and an increase in libido. To athletes, it might mean strength, endurance and power: an edge. And, others might think of hormones as a dangerous drug that could have something to do with cancer, stroke and heart attacks. Let’s clear up some misconceptions about hormones so that you may be better able to make the right decision for you about hormone therapy.

What is a hormone? According to the Medical Dictionary, a hormone is a substance produced within the body of an animal and carried by the blood to an organ that it stimulates. In other words, a hormone is like a messenger produced in one part of our body that goes to another part of our body and delivers a message. In this article, I will refer to our sex hormones, the ones that give us our male and female characteristics. For men, it is testosterone; for women, I will talk about estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

For all practical purposes, there are three different types of treatment options for hormone balancing: natural,or bio-identical hormones; synthetic hormones; and phyto, or plant hormones. There is much confusion about the differences in these, so don’t feel alone if you have been bewildered by all of the information. If it makes you feel any better, many health care practitioners don’t know the difference either!
First, let’s talk about bio-identical hormones, meaning those that are identical in chemical structure to human hormones. They are derived from the molecule diosgenin, which occurs naturally in soybeans and the wild yam. Diosgenin is isolated from these plants and is converted in the lab to all of the human hormones: estradiol, estriol, estrone, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and pregnenolone. When taken up into our bloodstreams, these hormones are very physiologically active substances and have a powerful effect on humans. Some of these require a prescription from a medical doctor and some do not.
Second, synthetic hormones are, generally speaking, a version of human hormones with a twist. The molecules are manipulated and changed to make them more powerful, longer acting, and, in the process, patentable. Any substance that occurs in nature is not patentable in the U.S., so with a variation of a molecule, a pharmaceutical company can produce an exclusive product that is protected from competition for 17 years. These all require a prescription from a physician.

Third, many herbs contain constituents that may have some hormone balancing properties by weakly binding to receptor sites without actually altering blood hormone levels. In other words, plants do not contain human hormones, nor can our bodies convert these substances over to a hormone. Herbs like black cohosh, red clover and chasteberry tree, and foods like soy and yam have shown to be very beneficial to women during years of hormone fluctuation. These are all available over the counter without a prescription.

It is possible that the first sex hormone hit the market around 1900: the androgen (male) hormone testosterone, extracted from bull testicles. It was expensive, crude and full of impurities. Drug companies began to synthesize female hormones in the 1940’s and 50’s, starting with very powerful and dangerous estrogens such as diethylstilbesterol (DES), and over time have produced more effective, safer and lower potency estrogens and progestins, mainly for use in birth control. The most well known hormone is Premarin®, which is actually not synthetic, but rather is derived from the concentrated urine of a pregnant mare, thus its name. These non-human hormones are very effective in relieving uncomfortable symptoms of hormone change, but side effects are fairly common, often limiting their use.

Bio-identical hormones have made quite a dash to the forefront of today’s hormone therapy, for men and women alike. Several reasons account for this: baby boomers tend to seek out more natural treatments than their parents, they are more widely available today through compounding pharmacies, and synthetic hormones have the unpleasant possibility of causing serious problems like stroke, blood clots and even an increase in the risk for cancer, whereas natural hormones, while not having the luxury of a well-done long-term study of effectiveness versus risk, seem to be gentler on the human body. Interestingly, several bio-identical hormones are produced by drug companies— Estrace® (estradiol), Prometrium® (progesterone), and Androderm® and Androgel® (testosterone)—so there is growing evidence of safety and efficacy with these hormones.

There is no doubt that when men and women go through andropause and menopause, the aging process speeds up rapidly. There is a wide range of opinions on what to do, if anything, about this. Several viable options are widely available in our country. First, you can simply let nature run its course as it has done for eons, living a healthy lifestyle through common sense and wisdom of our bodies. This would include using naturally occurring herbs and foods. A second option is the use of synthetic hormones, or thirdly, we can replace our hormones with those that look like ours: bio-identical hormones.

Other than alleviating menopause symptoms or as birth control, why would a person even consider hormones, you may ask? Some reasons might be on this list: libido; tissue integrity, including skin or vaginal; bone density, muscle maintenance, energy, motivation, hair, longevity and anti-aging. Also, there is a growing body of evidence, maybe hopeful thinking and maybe reality, which states that maintaining reasonable hormone levels in men and women can slow down more serious degenerative diseases like cardiovascular disease, arthritis, osteoporosis and even cancer. But for now, the best we can do is look at our options and examine our hearts to see what we want to do, making the decision based on the best information we have to date.
As always, good health for the long run depends on good food, plenty of water and rest, balance between work and play, friends and family, a positive attitude and a healthy spirit. Be well!

Bill Cheek, RPh, is the co-owner of Nature’s Pharmacy and Compounding Center at 752 Biltmore Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina. He can be reached by calling the pharmacy at 828-251-0094 or through their website at www.naturespharmacy.biz.

New Ideas Bring Wellness to New Levels
Leslie Newman, Psy.D., explores new technologies and therapies that might make life (and good health) a little easier.

New products and technologies to assist you on your path toward wellness emerge on the market daily. Consumers can find innovative treatments ranging from newly improved technology for heart patients seeking alternatives to bypass surgery to scientific advancements for those living with cancer that promise treatment with no side effects. You’ll also find new options in terms of the care of your biofield (the energy that surrounds your body) from innovators at BioPro Technology™, who recently patented technology to counteract the effects of electro-pollution and relieve symptoms of electro-sensitivity. The innovative technologies introduced here are available right in our area. Here’s to maintaining and improving your wellness in this ever-changing world!

IPT: Insulin Potentiation Therapy
You can’t forget that fateful day—when the world did a 180 degree turn—and since then you’ve started living on the ceiling. Finding out you had cancer was bad enough, but the knowledge of cancer pales next to the scary side effects of available treatments. Lying in bed, you can’t move without the nausea hitting you, not to mention the horror of losing your hair.

But, Insulin Potentiation Therapy, or IPT, offers a way to deliver chemotherapy to cancer patients without these unpleasant side-effects.

How does IPT work?
IPT uses insulin as a means of delivering chemotherapy. Cancer cells have a hard protective coating (cell wall), making them extremely difficult to penetrate. That is why, traditionally, to breach the cancer cell’s wall, you need massive amounts of chemotherapy agents that “muscle” their way in. But, with high doses of chemo come high side effects; since chemotherapy is an indiscriminant destroyer; it kills all rapidly metabolizing cells. Cancer is the most rapid metabolizer, meaning it reproduces itself very quickly. Other rapidly-reproducing cells include hair cells and the cells that line the intestines and the mouth, which is why patients receiving conventional chemotherapy have side effects like hair loss, nausea and vomiting.

“With IPT, we use the characteristic of a cancer cell against it,” explains Dr. Joseph Rich of the Center for Environmental and Integrative Medicine, a provider of IPT, in Knoxville, TN. “Cancer cells love glucose, and cancer cells are the fastest metabolizing cells in the body. To differentiate that quickly requires energy, or glucose (sugar). So, if you want to create an inhospitable environment for cancer, you should cut out sugar and make your body’s environment more alkaline. An easy way to do this is to go on a low-carb diet. [In fact, the American Cancer Society cites obesity as a severe risk factor for cancer]. Now, if you already have cancer, why not use the cancer cell’s love of sugar to help fight the disease?”

And that’s exactly what IPT does. In essence, IPT uses cancer’s love of sugar to deliver a very small dose of chemo, directly into the cell, bypassing the hard, protective cell wall. With IPT, doctors induce hypoglycemia, and when the cancer cell is so starved of sugar and gladly opens its doors (glucose receptors), doctors deliver sugar (a fifty percent glucose solution along with chemotherapy), and the cancer cell lets them both in easily. So, with the cell’s open reception, much less chemotherapy is needed. And, with less chemo comes fewer side effects.

Which cancers respond best to IPT?
“Any cancer that has been shown to be sensitive to chemotherapy will respond well to IPT,” says Dr. Rich.

How effective is IPT?
According to Dr. Rich, IPT is very effective as a first line treatment. If you’ve already received a conventional dose of chemotherapy and want to participate in IPT, the success rates are lower, but probably better than with conventional therapy alone.

Quality of life?
“In terms of nausea, vomiting, weight loss, hair falling out, you just don’t get them with IPT,” says Dr. Rich.

Is IPT NIH endorsed?
“IPT is considered experimental; however, it has been studied many times over the years, and there are thousands of case reports. Currently, it is in the second phase of NIH (National Institute of Health) approval—where human clinical trials are about to begin,” he says.

What about cost and insurance coverage for the therapy?
“Insurance does not cover IPT. However, IPT costs much less than conventional chemotherapy because you use so much less,” Dr. Rich says. “For example, a round of IPT may cost between $3,000 and $5,000. A round of conventional chemotherapy may cost $30,000. With insurance, you might pay $6,000—or the same out-of-pocket cost for IPT. And with IPT, you leave your immune system, often compromised to the point of secondary infections (even fatal ones) with conventional chemotherapy, intact and able to fight the disease.”

IPT is an outpatient procedure and is also offered at the Immune Recovery Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information on the therapy and both clinics, call Immune Recovery Foundation at 866-471-4743, visit www.immunerecovery.net, or contact Dr. Joseph Rich’s Knoxville clinic at 865-934-0133.

EECP-Enhanced External Counter Pulsation
You walk to the mailbox but can’t make it because it feels like an elephant landed on your chest as it attempted to do a one-legged pose. You are gripped with pain. “Where is the nitro pill?” You frantically search your pockets and wish you’d gotten the patch. “Try not to panic. Just keep breathing,” you tell yourself as force air into your lungs.
Over seven million Americans suffer from angina pectoris, a disease involving blocked or clogged arteries that inhibits the heart from receiving enough oxygen to work effectively. For most, medications or bypass surgery were presented as the only forms of treatment after diagnosis. With Enhanced External Counter Pulsation, or EECP, angina patients can receive relief from symptoms without any surgery at all.

What is EECP?
EECP is a mechanical procedure in which (while the patient lies on a bed) the technician wraps long, inflatable cuffs (like blood pressure cuffs) around both of the patient’s legs. By means of a computer, the leg cuffs are inflated and deflated with each heartbeat. The computer times the inflation/deflation based on the patient’s ECG so that the cuffs deflate just as each heartbeat begins and inflate just as each heartbeat ends.
“We put electrodes on the patient’s chest and the computer contracts, squeezing at the same time their heart is recovering. It [the machine] acts like a heart in the feet—giving it an extra push at that time,” says Dr. Bailey of the EECP Center at Park Ridge Hospital in Fletcher, North Carolina.

EECP has two potentially beneficial actions on the heart. First, the milking action of the leg cuffs increases the blood flow to the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries, unlike other arteries in the body, receive their blood flow after each heartbeat instead of during each heartbeat. EECP effectively “pumps” blood into the coronary arteries. Second, by its deflating action just as the heart begins to beat, EECP creates something like a sudden vacuum in the arteries, which reduces the work of the heart muscle in pumping blood into the arteries. Both of these actions have long been known to reduce cardiac ischemia, or the lack of oxygen to the heart muscle.

Is it painful?
“Some patients refer to it [the machine] as ‘Old Sparky’ or the ‘Jumping Gizzard’ because it moves you up and down in a walking manner. But it isn’t painful,” assures Dr. Bailey.

How does it help patients?
“We have seen it beneficial in heart-failure and ischemia (lack of blood flow) even to the kidneys or eye. But the patient must have a diagnosis of angina for insurance to cover it,” he says.

Based on observed response in clinical trials, therapy with EECP can offer symptomatic and clinical relief in patients with angina pectoris, including reduced need for anti-angina medications, reduced frequency and intensity of chest pain and increased exercise tolerance.

How often do patients need to be treated?
According to Dr. Bailey, “The literature supports a treatment regimen of five days a week for one hour for seven weeks, and we sometimes even extend that another two or three weeks with good benefit.”

How long do benefits last?
“Indefinitely,” remarks Dr. Bailey. “In fact, after a course of EECP, the benefits can last forever—and this is corroborated by the research findings.”

One benefit of treatment he regards as key is having patients in the office for an hour a week. He uses this time for education about lifestyle changes in diet and exercise to prolong their health, in addition to the treatment. “We’re digging our graves with a spoon and a fork,” he says. But, he hopes to change that.

Some preliminary research indicates EECP may be effective in treating heart failure, though the potential benefits remain yet to be evaluated. The FDA, sufficiently convinced by the preliminary research, cleared the makers of the EECP system (Vasomedical) to begin promoting EECP for heart failure.

For more information on EECP, visit www.ucsfeecp.com, www.parkridgehospital.org or call the Park Ridge Cardiology Center at 828-209-5308.

Technological Advancements for Electro-Pollution
In 2005, a government agency in Britain acknowledged that people can suffer headaches, nausea and muscle pains when exposed to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones and computer screens. The condition, according to the British Sunday Times is called “electro-sensitivity.”

What is electro-pollution?
As defined by experts in the field, electro-pollution is a series of symptoms that occur upon acute or prolonged exposure to EMF (electro-magnetic frequencies)—such as in cell phones, computers and other wireless technology—that may include brain fog, anxiety, headaches, insomnia and muscle aches.

What seems to occur is a disruption in the intra-cellular communication abilities for those sensitive to EMFs. The National Institute of Health (NIH) named the energy in and around the human body the biofield: your body’s life-enhancing energy.

The biofield—some refer to it as the aura, or personal energy field—contributes to the health of your body, emotions and mind. Theoretically, your cells experience external stress, whether psychological, emotional or environmental (such as EMFs), as foreign invaders. So the cells go into defense, shifting the energy in the biofield normally used for communication within the body to defense of the body.

BioPro, a company based in Carlsbad, California, is one company that has developed numerous products intended to remedy the adverse effect of electro-pollution on your body and relieve the symptoms associated with electro-sensitivity.

The co-founder of BioPro, Alfred Hanser explains, “When you draw energy away from the cell [to be used in defense] you’re disrupting intracellular communication.” He gives an example of going to the beach and forgetting your SPF sunscreen. “Usually when you’re overexposed to the sun, a message goes out from your body, a 911 distress call to repair the damage from the sun…so repairing cells receive the call and go to the site of damage to get to work. However, if while at the beach, there are many antenna towers or cellular phones in the vicinity, the communication is disrupted, and you go home with skin damage, the 911 lines [don’t work], it’s as if someone cut them off. Miscommunication of the incoming radio radiation waves triggers a misinterpretation of the body cell receptors, which triggers a domino-effect of self-defense. Self defense needs energy, which depletes the biofield and causes a myriad of symptoms.”

The BioPro technology MRET (Molecular Resonance Effect Technology), when in the presence of electro-pollution, triggers a passive noise field that superimposes itself onto the incoming radiation waves and renders the wave incoherent and unrecognizable. If the cell doesn’t recognize the invader, in essence there is none. So the cell does not go through the energy-depleting, self-protective responses. As Mr. Hanser noted, “MRET stops the damage because it allows the cell not to think it’s being damaged.”

BioPro has a line of personal and home products to counteract the effects of electro-pollution. A word of caution, however; currently, there are no double-blind studies that prove the effectiveness of these products, nor is there FDA approval of treatments for electro-pollution.

For more information on electro-pollution, visit emfhealth.com. For information on BioPro, visit www.bioprotechnology.com, and for BioPro product information, visit www.mybiopro.com/tm.

Sources: www.heartcenter.com/eecp.html, http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/coronarydisease/a/EECP.htm, Cancer Facts Figures, http://iptq.com, Cancer Chemotherapy Pharmacology, www.energymed.org/pages/energy_medicine_what_is.htm, www.emfhealth.com/seminar/english, Hands of Light, http://specialkidstoday.com/resources/articles/thebeat.htm, www.interactivemetronome.com/im/cli_add.asp?mn=1.

Leslie Newman, Psy.D. is a freelance writer who specializes in getting to the heart of the matter. She can be reached at LeslieBNewman@charter.net.

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