Luckily there are so many remedies we could use and most of the time work well. Most of them you can buy from your local health store and have them available as an emergency supply.

Here are a couple of my favorites supplements:

Quercetin: a very powerful phytonutrient found in plants and fruits.It prevents the release of dreadful histamine which is the chemical responsible for the allergy symptoms.You can get it from foods like citrus and broccoli but you will probably need a supplemental dose during an acute attack.

Vitamin C: essential vitamin for many chemical reactions inside our body, fights the inflammation and colds and viruses also present this time of the year.

Stinging nettles: despite the name don’t be scared …the leaf extract contains good nutrients that reduce histamine release and inflammation as well.Use it as a tea to prevent the flare-up or take the capsules during an acute attack

OMEGA-3 Fatty acids: another great anti-inflammatory supplement or even better get it by eating seafood, flaxseed or olive oil just to name a few.

Probiotics: allergies can be the result of an imbalance in the immune system that causes the body to react strongly to an allergen.There has been new research showing the beneficial effect of having a balanced gut bacteria environment.The best way to get them is by consuming fermented foods and drinks like Kombucha or Kefir or to take a high-quality probiotic capsule.

These supplements can be used individually or in combination to help alleviate your symptoms or even to prevent future reactions.

Feel better!

By encouraging your system toward balance, Reiki practice can help you in any situation.

Balance means different things at different times. If you are tired, you’ll feel refreshed. If you are anxious, you’ll feel serene. If you are distressed, you’ll feel comforted.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, you’ll discover a renewed clarity and purpose. And these subjective changes come with physical changes associated with deep relaxation, such as a slower heart rate and easier breathing.

The first session usually brings improvement, and the benefits grow with repeated sessions.When you receive Reiki healing, you’ll lie fully clothed on a treatment table while the Reiki practitioner places hands lightly on or just above your head and torso.

Do you have a health — or wellness— problem you’re trying to solve?

It could be anything from staying as healthy and happy as you are now to the most debilitating disease. Maybe you suffer from chronic pain or anxiety or fatigue.

Reiki practice can help in a wide range of situations because it doesn’t treat the symptom or condition directly; rather, Reiki practice helps restore balance so you feel better and your system can shift gears from coping to profound self-healing.

Patients typically report improvement during their first Reiki treatment, although more sessions may be needed to stabilize and strengthen that benefit.

Reiki can help them to cope better with a wide range of health conditions, including:

• Cancer
• Heart disease
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Chronic pain
• Infertility
• Neurodegenerative disorders
• ADD/ADHD

• HIV/AIDS
• Crohn’s Disease
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Emotional illness
• Fatigue syndromes

How does Reiki achieve that? It creates relaxation and helps with pain management. For other people, it reduces anxiety and depression or helps with sleep and even supports digestion. Other ways:

• Enhanced well-being
• Stronger self-esteem
• Accelerated surgical recovery or as a preparation before surgery
• Reduced side effects from radiation, chemotherapy, and Rx meds
• Greater self-awareness

We can start optimizing your health and well-being now.

Here are few helpful tips:

• Use a HEPA air filter or a whole house air filtration system
• Avoid other possible food allergens such as dairy, sugar or soy
• Keep windows closed during allergy season and close the fresh air vent in your car to prevent pollen, dust, and smog from entering in.
• Learn how to use a nasal rinse pot with saline solution after work or outdoor activities. This is recommended by conventional medicine as well so ask your doctor if you are a good candidate. This method works better if you use it as soon as you start feeling bad. A word of caution: use distilled water not tap water!
• Dietary changes: try an anti-inflammatory diet, rich in fruits and vegetables and rich in OMG-3 or fatty acids to decrease the histamine release. Lots of curcumin and raw local honey daily in small amounts can help too.
• Consider using a high-quality essential oil like lavender, peppermint or lemon. Inhaling diffused oils can help unclog the sinuses and offer relief to scratchy throats.
• Acupuncture or acupressure (no needles!) can also help most of the time.

 Supplements

Consider starting Magnesium at bedtime and a good brand of Omega 3 fish oil. Most of the time, these supplements are extremely safe but always check with your doctor first, especially if you have any kidney disorder or take a blood thinner!  Magnesium helps with the anxiety/irritability part and also prevents the headaches associated with menopause.  Fish oil is a great anti-inflammatory agent and I even heard from my patients it helps them think faster and clearer.

 Botanicals

One of the best-known remedies is Black cohosh and it can be  pretty efficient, especially combined with other plants like St. John’s Wort. Even used as a tea in the evening, it has an additional effect on stress reduction. Both botanicals are not a good choice if you have liver disease and St. John’s Wort can interfere with quite a few medications! So, again, checking with your doctor is a must.

In addition to that, I would suggest:

– an adaptogen such as Ashwagandha to support your adrenals;

– Maca powder, especially if taken in the morning.  It can increase your energy, libido and hormone levels.

– Sage tea, 3-4 cups a day, is especially good for hot flashes.

Make sure you get your supplements from a reputable health store for both safety and efficiency purposes.

Finally, if you decide to use hormonal replacement for menopause try to take the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration possible. Consider bioidentical hormone therapy if possible since their structure is like ours.  I also like trans dermal (patch) form in terms of safety.

And keep in mind that 50% of women experience recurrent symptoms after discontinuing the hormonal treatment!  So, try using all the above methods prior to, during, instead of, or after hormonal replacement, as they could be extremely helpful.

Consider the potential risks and benefits of each available treatment!

But menopause hormonal testing is not needed most of the time, unless we are trying to rule out an adrenal fatigue or a thyroid problem for example. The same is true for adjusting the dose.  Your doctor should rely more on how you feel and how your symptoms are changing rather than testing.

I will group my thoughts on what can help you feel better during menopause in two short posts – this is a lot of information, and we don’t need to be additionally overwhelmed right now!  Let’s start with the basics:

Most of the time, I would suggest to make sure there is no major nutrient deficiency or imbalance by using something like Spectracell or Genova blood testing. Such imbalance is known to possibly play a role in slowing down your hormone production.  The same is true for adjusting the dose.  Your doctor should rely more on how you feel and how your symptoms are changing rather than testing.

Exercise and stress reduction techniques are extremely important in this phase of your life.  And they work!  Based on numerous studies, the effects don’t take long to show up and help you feel better. Start with something easy like the 4-7-8 relaxing breath: inhale while counting to 4, hold your breath while counting to 7, and exhale all the way to 8.  It’s easy and really works for everything including bad traffic!

 Diet: I always start with discussing the anti-inflammatory diet, eliminating sugar, processed foods are among the most important first steps. Certain foods like flax seed and organic non-GMO soy can help as well, due to their phytoestrogen content.

The conclusion? Women who should not or do not want to take hormones may turn to herbal and nutritional therapies for managing their menopausal symptoms and risk factors.

These natural therapies are increasingly popular and have a growing body of scientific evidence to support their efficacy.

Supplements, botanicals and essential oils will be covered in my next post.

Feel better!

In the last post, I explained why paying attention to your health has benefits not only now but later in life, and in the lives of your children, even before you are pregnant with those children. And I gave five simple guidelines for eating better, no matter what your age.

In this post, I’d like to talk about supplements. Today we have the ability to analyze health with blood testing that goes beyond cholesterol and blood sugar: often this testing can help uncover nutritional deficiencies. And these deficiencies are often the root cause of some of our most stubborn diseases.

But even if you’re not ready to explore your own nutrition in that detail, here are key supplements most of us could use:

Vitamin D

Although our bodies create vitamin D when we’re exposed to sunlight, in today’s world of working indoors and wearing sunscreen to avoid skin cancer, many of us have low levels of vitamin D. If a blood test shows that your vitamin D levels are low, a supplement is a good way to fill that gap.

Multivitamin

Consider taking a good quality multivitamin, no matter what your age. If you’re thinking of pregnancy, a multivitamin is even more important as it may help you conceive, reduces the risk of birth defects, lowers the risk of a miscarriage — and at least two studies that came out in 2011 suggest that it may reduce the risk of autism and other learning disabilities.

Look for a multivitamin with iron (for women only), folic acid 400 or more mcg, iodine 150 mcg, a maximum of 2500 IU vitamin A (as palmitate, acetate or beta carotene), Omega-3, vitamin E (as mixed tocopherols and not the dl alpha tocopherol which is the synthetic form).

Other Supplements to Consider

Probiotics help build up the “good bacteria” in your digestive tract.

Antioxidants like vitamin C or N-acetyl Cysteine help your body’s immune system stay strong.

How Medical Creations Integrative Medicine Can Help

Integrative medicine combines effective strategies and therapies from multiple methods of healing, both conventional and alternative. At its heart, this type of patient care focuses on the true problem, not just the related symptoms and effects. Accordingly, our goal is to discover the root cause (or causes) of whatever issues you are experiencing, then we concentrate our efforts there.

Beginning with your first visit or phone call, we become partners in the healing process, and work together toward your optimum wellness. Our efforts take into consideration the whole body, as well as your mind and spirit, offering responsive as well as preventative care. This is the beauty of integrative medicine.

Call (678) 732-9065 for a free consultation.

About Dr. Neacsu

The founder of Medical Creations Integrative Medicine, Dana Neacsu, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine. She completed a fellowship at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, was awarded the Joseph T. Trubiano award for professionalism in medicine, and has applied functional medicine in clinical practice at the Institute of Functional Medicine.