An Integrated GP's Blog in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Medical and health

An Integrated GP's Blog

Locality: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 9754 7566

Address: 80 Main Street 3158 Melbourne, VIC, Australia

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25.01.2022 See how Functional & Integrated Medicine can help you heal and improve your health and quality of life

24.01.2022 Did you know that there are symptoms of undiagnosed hypothyroidism and that it is possible to just have a few of them and not all and be hypothyroid? Did you know that your laboratory biomarkers can be falsely reassuring? Top 10 symptoms suggestive of Hypothyroidism: Chronic tiredness or fatigue Unexplained weight gain... Sensitivity to the cold Dry hair or skin and scalp hair loss Menstrual irregularities Swelling or puffiness Muscle aches and or joint pains Constipation Low mood or depression Low sex drive There are different angles of looking at thyroid disease and this includes the history of a person's illness, symptoms of disease,using various questionnaires,nutritional evaluation,laboratory biomarkers and concluding the diagnosis and providing management. Thyroid disease is the most under recognized disease worldwide with up to 10% of the general population having sub clinical (un diagnosed) hypothyroidism and only 1% having clinical (having a diagnosed problem). The disease is more common in women with 1 in 4 having evidence of chronic autoimmune thyroid disease. Hypothyroidism as a possible cause for chronic disease gets less likes in modern day medicine. As Dr. Jeffrey Bland says, the thyroid is a sentinel gland for the environment having huge interconnections with the person's lifestyle and surroundings. Today,we live in a world where we are bombarded with pollutants and toxins that affect our health in various ways. The term for these compounds are EDC’s or Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (like Roundup or Glyphosate) and they compromise the ability of our endocrine system (the glands and hormonal systems) to function at its optimum and therefore under perform most of our lives. This compounded by our modern day lifestyle of high chronic stress,nutrient deficiencies from nutrient poor diets and medications play a multi-factorial role in causing thyroid illness. If these symptoms are adding up to the myriad of problems of your life, I recommend a systems based approach to look at matters with an ultra wide angle lens,which then helps you to address issues in your body in a better way. If you need assistance,please contact 9754 7566 to arrange an appointment.

22.01.2022 We have only started thinking about the role of foods in our search for a cause for our current modern day chronic disease epidemic. This has been largely fueled by the knowledge we have been acquiring about our gut microbiome. For those who are science naive,the gut microbiome refers to the trillions of bacteria that reside within your colon that are not disease causing but rather are life giving,life forming and disease healing. Until 15-20 years ago,we knew little about th...ese microorganisms that co-inhabit,whose DNA outnumber our own by a ratio of 10:1! It's news, right? It's good news because we now know that we are not human alone but rather we are a colony of microorganisms that function in symbiosis to keep us alive and healthy. Each of our microbiome is unique and is a footprint of health and vitality that is responsible for digestion and absorption of nutrients,regulation of hormones in the body,cell signalling and talk,production of vitamins and neurotransmitters and lots more. Ever wondered where 90% of the receptors for your happy hormone serotonin are? Ever wondered where 70% or more of the serotonin needed for optimal brain function is synthesized? You guessed it - The Gut. Now let’s think about our modern day western foods (I am not referring to foods that our ancestors grew up eating). Our foods have changed dramatically in the last 50-100 years,now largely consisting of highly processed and refined foods made with highly inflammatory ingredients. Cooking and eating home made foods is becoming increasingly difficult with our modern day work and family life and it's easier to ‘grab’ something on the way. Ever wondered how this is prepared and did you think about the nitty gritty of the cooking methods and the actual ingredients? You would if it were a drug, so why not here in this instance? Next week, I will share some amazing facts about the gut microbiome that will blow your mind away and get you thinking more deeply about the tenants residing inside of you. Guaranteed,when finished, you will be a better landlord (or want to be one at least)!

16.01.2022 Vitamin D is a misnomer and a big one too. After all these years,we now know that it is a pre hormone which gets activated in our bodies to 1,25 Dihydroxycholecalciferol which is the active hormone. This is then responsible for a wide spectrum of signalling within the body from neuronal,immune, detoxification to other hormonal activities that maintain our bodied systems in equilibrium and perfect homeostasis (otherwise called Health & Vitality). Vitamin D is necessary for neu...ronal development and its importance was proven in a study published in the BJPsych Open (2017) involving 4429 mothers and children. The study followed the children for their first 6-7 years and assessed them through a scale called Social Responsiveness Scale [SRS]. The conclusion of the study was that mid-gestational Vitamin D deficiency was associated with an increased risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Though association does not prove causation,it is a strong directive to look closely at this little regarded vitamin we all tend to shoo-shoo.

16.01.2022 As our world battles through the Coronavirus pandemic,it can be challenging for individuals and families locked down and confined to their four walls indefinitely. As difficult and frustrating as this can be,there are a lot of things we can do to help if you find yourself struggling through feelings of anxiety or stress. In particular,if you have children who suffer with anxiety or are on the spectrum,it can be quite challenging for the whole family. Ever heard of Naval Breat...hing to calm and soothe the brain and relieve anxiety? Its a beautiful technique that helps calm elevated cortisol levels and stress by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for relaxation,digestion etc). Have you ever seen Elmo teach Naval Breathing? If not,bring the kids along to see how effective this can be for them. (Psst....Even us oldies can learn a trick or two from this when we get driven up the wall!) See more

09.01.2022 Hello one & all! Welcome to my new FB page,a page I have created to offload a whole lot of medical information I have learnt over the last few years which would empower you as viewers and patients to better understand disease processes and how the body can heals itself,with the right support. This will not provide any personalised medical advice but the focus will be on general topics of interest.... I hope to bring you research articles, video's and my blogs regularly that will keep you abreast and ahead of your league. My vision is to enable you to gain sound medical knowledge and implement changes that would then lead you to achieve lasting health and an optimal state of wellness. So....welcome on board and hope that you are here to stay!

07.01.2022 The revelations we are now seeing in research is shedding light on our chronic disease epidemics. Our struggles with deadly infectious diseases that killed thousands during the world wars and those decades was pretty much halted by the discovery of Penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming which earned him and his colleagues the Nobel Prize in 1945. However,today, we are dealing with a different monster - Chronic diseases of diabetes,autoimmune diseases,heart disease,arthritis etc ...Continue reading

06.01.2022 MICROBIOME FACTS Would you do anything different if you knew that your gut holds the key to preventing you from becoming sick? What if I told you that the size of your entire gut when laid bare out for measuring is around 40 square metres,the equivalent of half a badminton court. Or if I told you that 70-80% of your immune system is housed in your gut. What if I told you that the antibiotic prescription you are about to take does not pick and choose the bugs to suppress but i...nstead works like napalm on your gut and the friendly inhabitants living there,that restoring them back may take upto 12 months if ever or worse.Never. The Father of Medicine Hippocrates said a long time ago that ‘All disease begins in the gut’ and he did not need modern contraptions, inventions or tests to say that. He was a clinician who knew from the patterns of diseases he saw and his vast clinical experience. Today,as we stand, gut disorders account for the vast majority of our ill-health,directly or in-directly. Our gut was made to be a fortress being the biggest interface we have with our environment as opposed to skin etc and this is why it houses the largest part of the human immune system called the GALT (Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue). With our modern day lifestyle (which includes foods,consuming medicines,toxin exposure etc), our immune system is always on the alert and doesn't get a moment of rest. It's akin to an army on patrol duty 24/7 with no rest and this creates a hypervigilant state within the immune system. Ever wondered why auto-immune disorders like Psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis etc are on the rise? You’ve already heard the term ‘Gut Microbiome’ from me (or even a zillion times before) and it refers to the trillions of healthy bacteria that reside within our gut,the average total weight of which exceeds 2.25 kgs (To bring perspective,the average weight of the human brain is 1.3 kgs). We knew little about this ‘organ’ of our body until the last 20 years or so when research exploded rising from a mere 74 published articles in 2000 to a whopping 9600 in 2017 and I would imagine it would a lot more today in 2020. We humans are predominantly microbes taking the combination of skin,gut and others and the right term is a Holobiont (a discrete ecosystem of human genomes and that of various other species that is a functional unit). The DNA of the microbiome outnumber our own by 10:1 and includes viruses,bacteria,fungi,parasites etc that run various operations from a command center that is based in the intestines. Scientists are essentially calling this ‘the second brain’ with the knowledge that there is 10 times more communication heading up from the gut to the brain than the opposite direction. Have I caught your attention now? If so, watch this space over the next few days as I share more gut truths.

05.01.2022 Listening is an art that pays huge dividends in the practice of Medicine. The best way to approach our modern day diseases are to spend time in your doctors consulting room telling your story and the doctor listens and joins the dots! There is so much that can be learnt through approaching a patient the way we doctor's were trained to do in medical school.....LISTEN! That's what makes Functional Medicine unique & different to conventional medicine. It's just good old fashioned medicine!