One of Dr. Connie's favorite places to Muse is in the gardens at Pacific Naturopathic Retreat in Hawaii

Memories, Dreams and Reflections

As we age, the young person's desire to live long is most often replaced with the older person's desire to live healthy. So many of us have had the experience of losing family or friends to senile dementia and/or Alzheimer's Disease. We inevitably have become aware that a most important aspect of living healthy is aging with our minds intact. In my article below, I talk about some of the things we can do to protect memory and mental functioning. In these musings, however, I'd like to write about other aspects of mental health.

With Alzheimers, there comes the point where family can no longer care for their loved one. Thus, my mother spent her last 18 months or so in a care facility. The care facility was the only care facility in the small town where I grew up. There were therefore, in addition to my mother, other residents in the facility that I had known in my younger years.

The interesting thing was that, some 40 or 50 years later in life than the time I had first encountered these people, though their minds were gone, their personalities were pretty much intact. My mother eventually lost her ability to speak, but remained kind and gracious to the end, and was beloved by the staff. One of her old time friends, more than a bit of a pill in her early years, was hilariously imperious as she presided over the dining hall.

We are who we are. We do tend, however, to lose our filters. Issues that have been repressed or unresolved resurface unpredictably and in exaggerated ways.  Keeping this in mind, it behooves us to keep working to evolve into more conscious ways of being while we're still able.

The yogis teach that environment is stronger than will. While it is often said that it takes a community to raise a child, I say it takes a community to transition an elder. We uprooted my then 97 year old father-in-law from his home of many years, and placed him with a small spiritually uplifted and serviceful community of caring friends of all ages. After a predictably difficult reorientation, we found that his mental health improved in all ways. As we age, more than ever, we need to be involved with family, friends, and community. In the best of all worlds, our involvement is a natural progression in the context of long term commitment to such a community.

You Can Keep Your Mind Young

One of the latest approaches to health is an array of therapies that falls under the classification of "Anti-Aging Medicine." The definition is easy - it means the process of slowing down or reversing the aging process to extend life beyond the average lifespan, AND to live in a healthy body as we age. 

Indeed, the sale of anti-aging nutrition products, physical fitness memberships in gyms, anti-wrinkling agents, hormone replacements and vitamins, supplements and herbs is a lucrative global industry.  Also, there has arisen a whole new breed of doctor who utilizes evidence-based approaches for the detection, prevention, treatment and reversal of age-related dysfunction, disorders and diseases.  The anti-aging doctor offers protocols to maintaining sound mental function throughout one's life, regardless of genetic predispositions.

Naturopaths have practiced anti-aging medicine for decades.  Safely balancing body chemistry to restore health and increase vitality has long been our stock in trade.  It is what we do and have always done.  And to this day, there is not another profession that has more experience in the anti-aging field than naturopathic doctors. We have always been cutting edge.  To this extent, the big thing for us at Pacific Naturopathic in the field of anti-aging medicine has been the addition of intravenous (IV) nutritional therapy to our list of offerings. This is powerful, safe and highly effective medicine.

Intravenous therapies involve administering nutrients directly into the bloodstream. This extremely safe and exceptionally powerful delivery system circumvents the chaos of the GI tract and the poor absorption qualities of some orally administered nutrients. For example, a Myers Cocktail, which is extremely safe and tolerated by almost everyone, addresses several deficiencies of an aging metabolism with its focus on B-vitamin and Vitamin C.

Even if you eat well, your body might not be absorbing the vitamins and minerals it needs to fight the aging process.  IV therapy boosts the antioxidant vitamin and mineral levels in your body much more effectively than oral supplements.  

Intravenous alpha-lipoic acid easily passes into the brain, providing protective effects on both brain and nerve tissue. Research indicate that it preventive both preventive and treatment benefits for stroke and other brain disorders involving free radical damage. This therapy is also available at Pacific Naturopathic.

If you would like to discuss the feasibility of intravenous therapy as part of your anti-aging protocol, I'd be delighted to chat with you.  Please phone 650-917-1121 to schedule a short phone consult, free of charge.

Find out more about Dr. Marcel's work with men at:

How You Can Protect 

and Enhance Brain Function

* * *

Connie Hernandez, N.D.

Before my very smart father suffered the first of the two strokes which eventually took his life, he started suffering from some loss of cognition. I remember his humiliation at misplacing his cards in the middle of a card game, finding them again in his shirt pocket and not remembering how to proceed from there. My sadness at his plight motivated me to place him on an extensive protocol to support his mental functioning. I'm happy to say that my father went back to beating me at cards. Simple considerations and minimal interventions can sometimes have profound results.

A first step in enhancing brain health is evaluation of excesses and deficiencies in the diet. The polypharmacy that people intake in order to treat other ills often impairs mental functioning. Additional problems are dietary indiscretions (living on sugar and bad fats) and nutritional deficiencies brought on by inability to procure or prepare foods, lack of caloric intake, difficulties chewing, maldigestion or malabsorption  

As the consumption of fresh colored fruits and vegetables and herbs and spices diminishes, bioflavonoids become deficient. Bioflavonoids strengthen and normalize tissue through antioxidant and tissue specific functions. Blueberries and turmeric are two good sources of bioflavonoids. Blueberry concentrates have been shown to enhance brain function and reverse neuronal aging. The bioflavonoids found in turmeric are anti inflammatory and inhibit the formation of the amyloid proteins that are causative suspects in Alzheimer's. Click here for a delicious way to enjoy turmeric.

With regards to vitamins and minerals, Vitamin B12 and folic acid are two of the most common deficiencies in older people. These vitamins impact energy, mood and mental functioning. Together with B6, they quell the brain damaging inflammation that high levels of homocysteine represent.  The mineral lithium, as a nutritional supplement, protects the brain in the event of injury and also promotes the regeneration of brain cells. Even most simple antioxidant formulas are protective of the brain.

Elders (and young people, too!!) are also often deficient in essential fatty acids and other beneficial fats. EPA and DHA, the active constituents of omega 3 fatty acids (as in fish oil), are fundamental to brain health.  Coconut oil provides medium chain fatty acids, which, if we are to believe any of the many YouTube videos, can be a dramatic aid in senile dementia, Alzheimers and other brain dysfunction. Click here for a YouTube video.

Other nutrients, such as phosphatidyl choline, are used to stabilize membranes in the nervous system and throughout the body.  In our clinic, we have successfully used a specialized form of choline called glycerophosphocholine to repair damage from anaesthesia and concussion. Clinical trials show it to be useful in enhancing mental focus and higher cognitive functions. A related nutrient, phosphatidyl serine, enhances memory when high cortisol (brought on by high stress) has been an issue. Phos Serine is used to repair the damage done to the hippocampal area of the brain by the high cortisol and to balance the cortisol levels.

Hormonal balance is important to brain health, especially as we age. A young prematurely menopausal patient of mine had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. She rallied somewhat and was stable for several years after we provided her with age appropriate hormones through bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. The hormone pregnenalone is a precursor hormone to all the sex steroid hormones, and is used to promote brain function. It is neuroprotective and helps store memory and prevent memory loss.

There are a host of helpful botanical options, prescribed according to the problem. Gingko biloba increases circulation to the brain, enhancing oxygen and nutrient supplies. Anti anxiety herbs promote memory by bringing calmness. Adrenal herbs help mitigate the role of stress in promoting memory loss. Other botanicals operate on the pathways affected by the popular Alzheimers medications, but without the expense of those medications and without the side effects.  

As time goes by and as our population ages, we are quickly learning more about the nutrients, botanicals and hormones that can be used to better brain health and to protect and even restore memory. Two points to remember are that brain health is very clearly influenced by what we do and do not put in our mouths, whether food or medicinal. And, though these paragraphs focused on nutrients and other medicinals, I would be remiss not to mention that brain health is profoundly influenced by exercise. So if you've been sitting at your computer for hours now, perusing emails, googling this and that, just get up right now and take a fast walk around the block! Your brain will thank you.

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Find out more about Dr. Connie's consulting services at:  

Rapid Pain Relief 

With Elijah Free

Elijah Free, MH, CMI, CMT  

To contact Elijah, please either call the clinic at 650-917-1121 or e-mail at [email protected].

Latest News Details From 

Dr. Vivek Shanbhag

Dr. Vivek Shanbhag, ND, MD(Ayu), BAMS, CYEd.   Licensed Naturopathic Doctor, Ayurvedic Practitioner & Professor

 

Services Provided at 

Pacific Naturopathic

 

                           

For information, please contact us at 650-917-1121.

* Naturopathic Consultations For All Health Conditions

* Intravenous (I.V.) Nutrition Therapy 

* Breast Thermography

* Rapid Pain Relief

* Tongue and Fingernail Analysis

* Craniosacral Therapy

* Adjunctive Cancer Therapy

* Bioidentical Hormone Therapy

* Men's Health

* Women's Health

* Vitamin B12 Shots

* Flower Essence Therapy

* LaStone Massage

* Earth Friend Herb Company Products

For the following services, please contact each individual provider:

* Transformational Medicine (Shanti Rubenstone, MD, 650-209-5813)

* Ayurvedic Medicine (Vivek Shanbhag, ND, MD (Ayu), 408-876-0636)

* Ayurvedic Nutrition & Diet Therapy (Gayathri Shanbhag, MS, 408-876-0636)

* Foot Reflexology (Nancy Schuet, CNRT, 408-891-4759)

* Clinical Hypnotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Matrix Reimprinting (Jane Hernandez, CCHT, 510-676-1460)

Looking for a conscious, meaningful, caring gift for a birthday or special occasion? 

A gift certificate to a Pacific Naturopathic practitioner lets a special person know you really care about their well-being. 

Gift certificates for all practitioners and modalities offered at Pacific Naturopathic are available by phoning our front desk at 650-917-1121, or just stopping by.