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Note from Dr. Gedde Dear Anne,
End-of-summer is beautiful here in the Rockies - still hot in the day, but cool at night. It feels like a great time to set intentions and wishes for months to come. I've been doing that while taking walks at night on the quiet, peaceful streets of Salida.
Tomorrow I'm heading out on a road trip through Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - another chance to reflect and dream. I'll share photos when I'm back!
One thing in the works is more support for folks who are using the HCG protocol for weight loss. In my current round, I've reached a weight I haven't been at since 2005. That feels great! My plan is to start blogging my progress daily once we get to September, during my transition to the stabilization phase we call Phase 3, and through those critical 3 weeks.
Also, I've accepted that a weekly newsletter schedule is too difficult - I just haven't been able to manage it. So New Medicine is switching to a twice monthly schedule, and I feel that will work well. I'll continue to serve up high quality health information to you in each issue!
This issue of New Medicine has the third article in a series on dealing with sleeplessness. Cortisol is a major hormone that needs to be in balance - not too high, not too low - for us to get restful, rejuvenating sleep. Read about how to restore normal cortisol patterns and get a good night's rest.
If sleeplessness has been a problem for you, I would love to guide you personally on how to sleep normally without pharmaceutical drugs. To find out more about scheduling a health advisory consultation with me, go to www.natural-hormone-balance.net/getmyhealthback.htm.
Please feel free to forward New Medicine to people you think would be interested. And please do send your feedback to [email protected]. I'll use your input to improve New Medicine and will plan articles around your questions.
To your health and healing,
Feature Article “Get this Hormone Just Right for Restful Sleep” by Margaret Gedde, MD, PhD
If you have trouble getting restful sleep, your nighttime cortisol level may be too high – or, ironically, it may be too low.
Since cortisol is an important “wake up” hormone, if it stays high at night it’s hard to wind down and drop off to sleep. Any sleep you get is restless – and you wake still stressed and tired, no matter how many hours you slept.
But your sleep can be just as disturbed if cortisol drops too low. Cortisol supports essential body functions, so your nervous system sees low levels as dangerous and triggers a surge of adrenalin to keep your body going. This is sure to wake you, maybe with a pounding heart and a sense of doom – and you’re likely to be awake for the next 2-3 hours, until cortisol rises again toward morning.
If you think high or low cortisol is keeping you awake at night, what can you do?
Since this is such an important hormone, it’s a good idea to start with a lab test to measure your daily cortisol rhythm. You can do this easily at home using a kit sent to you by a laboratory that does saliva testing. You collect four different saliva samples in the course of a day, and ship them back to the lab.
The report shows your daily cortisol pattern. Cortisol is normally highest first thing in the morning, to signal your body to be awake and alert, then tapers through the day to its lowest levels at night so you can relax and sleep. Changes in the pattern could be affecting how you rest.
Once you know your cortisol levels, follow these steps to help restore a healthy daily rhythm and get your restful, rejuvenating sleep back.
1. High nighttime cortisol
If you know or suspect that your nighttime cortisol is high, here’s what to do.
- Identify and reduce stressors. All manner of stresses can raise cortisol, including from work, family, finances, relationships, pollution, toxins at home or work, poor nutrition, eating chemicalized foods, emotional upset, trauma, chronic pain, chronic illness and chronic infections. Eating too much starch and sugar in the day may be the most common cause of high cortisol at night.
- Add adaptogenic herbs to help balance and normalize your nervous system. Look for the following herbs, or for blends containing them (you can take these whether cortisol is high or low): holy basil (Ocimum sanctum), ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), schisandra (Schisandra chinensis), gynostemma (Gynostemma pentaphyllum), astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus), rhodiola (Rhodiola rosae), eleuthero (Eleutherococcus senticosus), ginseng (Panax ginseng). Avoid licorice root, which amplifies the effects of cortisol.
- To specifically reduce nighttime cortisol, take phosphorylated serine 1000 mg 3-4 hours before bedtime. This normalizes the cortisol-releasing hormone ACTH.
If your cortisol is high in the daytime as well as at night, it’s especially important to find out why. Look for chronic infections such as dental infections, sinus infection and intestinal overgrowth of parasites or yeast, since these activate your immune system and trigger the cortisol response.
If your cortisol is below normal in the day and rises above normal at night, your adrenal glands (which make your cortisol) are fatigued and need daytime support. In addition to the steps above, add dessicated adrenal cortex or whole adrenal gland, an animal product. Dessicated adrenal contains cortisol and other hormones and building materials, to fill the gap between your metabolic needs and what your own adrenals are able to produce.
2. Low nighttime cortisol
Do your sleep symptoms or testing show that cortisol is too low at night? This means your adrenals need rest and support. Here’s what you can do.
- Build energy by adding adaptogenic herbs in the daytime. Details are in the section above.
- Add dessicated adrenal cortex at night. Take a small dose of adrenal glandular at bedtime, and again if you wake in the night. Don’t take too much, or cortisol will go high and keep you awake for that reason.
- Look for and reduce all forms of stress. If you know that a particular stress is affecting you, that is the place to start.
If saliva testing shows that your cortisol is high in the morning then drops rapidly to a low level at night, you may have a hidden, chronic infection pushing morning cortisol high and depleting your reserves for the rest of the day. In this case it’s especially important to look for and treat dental infections, sinus infections, intestinal overgrowth of pathogens and anything else that’s activating your immune system and driving production of cortisol.
What if cortisol is low all day and at night too? This means your adrenal glands are exhausted and need major support and rest. In addition to the steps above, support your adrenal glands during the day with dessicated adrenal glandulars, or with prescription cortisol (hydrocortisone) under the guidance of a knowledgeable practitioner.
Disclaimer: Remember, this article is not medical advice. It is for your information, and the suggestions here may not fit your situation. Be sure to consult a qualified health practitioner about your health concerns.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Dr. Margaret Gedde, MD, PhD publishes "New Medicine Health & Healing", a weekly email newsletter for people who want to get healthy and feel better now with powerful nutritional and hormone therapies. Sign up for your FREE tips at www.GeddeWholeHealth.com.
About Dr. Gedde Dr. Margaret Gedde, MD, PhD - "The Doctor Who Is Not Your Doctor"™ - is a licensed medical physician who helps people with fatigue, anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia and weight gain feel better and get their lives back through non-drug therapies and balancing their hormones.
If you liked today's issue, you may benefit from a Health Advisory Consult with Dr. Gedde. A consultation can help you to find out the roots of your symptoms, what to do to feel better and how to get your own doctors in alignment with your health goals. Click here to learn about Health Advisory Consults.
Learn more about Dr. Gedde and her programs at www.GeddeWholeHealth.com. (Note: Dr. Gedde is not taking patients.)
We’ve got some excellent stress reduction tips here from Andy Weil, as well as David Edelberg’s combo of “three magic herbs” to get you back on track and into emotional and biophysical balance. So read on, dear peeps!
Andy Weil MD has this pretty comprehensive list of suggestions for managing stress on his website.
1. Determine what is causing stress in your life. There may be particular situations, people or events that make you feel nervous, anxious or fearful.
2. Keep a diary to record the events or situations that are stressful for you. Record your physical symptoms and emotions.
3. Strengthen your support system and communicate with family and friends. Most people who are able to cope well with stress have strong social support networks with family, friends and even pets.
4. Open up. Learn how to express your thoughts and feelings.
5. Don't be afraid to say "no" when someone asks you to do something. Learn your limits. You can't do it all and you shouldn't feel guilty about it.
6. Learn how to express your feelings appropriately by not insulting or hurting others. Say "I feel angry" instead of "you make me feel angry." This will help maintain and improve the important relationships in your life.
7. Simplify your life. This means restructuring your priorities. Evaluate what activities are most important, and get rid of the ones that aren't. You will feel less worn out and more rested. You'll also have more free time to spend with family, friends or even to be by yourself.
8. Recognize that drugs and alcohol are not effective methods to solve problems. If you feel that you are relying on drugs or alcohol to escape from your problems, seek the advice of a mental health counselor or community health service about special programs for stress management.
9. Improve lifestyle habits. Increasing physical activity and eating healthily can do wonders for your ability to manage stress. Regular physical activity and a healthy diet can improve weight, energy levels, self-confidence, and overall health and well-being, making it much easier for you to handle daily stressors.
10. Reduce stress at work. Seek out support from your Human Resources department or a sympathetic coworker or manager. Learn how to communicate your needs in a non-confrontational manner, such as giving suggestions on how to improve working conditions to help increase productivity.
11. Laugh it off. Did you know that laughter is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress? No matter how bad things are, laughing dissolves tension and seems to help brighten the situation. Try not to take things too seriously - a negative mood only adds to your level of stress. Another plus - laughter seems to help boost the immune system, in turn making you less prone to developing colds and other infections.
12. Take a media break or a news fast. Research has shown that the emotional content of the news can affect mood and aggravate sadness and depression.
13. Try mind-body exercises such as imagery, breath work, meditation, yoga and biofeedback.
14. Check your medications including over the counter medications - many can aggravate anxiety or depression.
15. Eliminate caffeine and other stimulants from your diet.
16. Increase intake of omega-3 fatty acids by eating oily fish or with supplements.
And David Edelberg MD, founder of American WholeHealth, suggests what he calls three magic herbs for stress. Here, in his own words, are his recommendations for reducing stress naturally, delivered on his e-news a few weeks ago (You can check out his other stress busters here).
First, an adaptogen. This is any of several herbs that help your body adapt or cope with stress. Acting mainly to fortify your adrenal glands, adaptogens increase your resistance to emotional, physical, and environmental stressors. They stabilize everything. You can take your pick among Panax (Asian) ginseng, Eleutherococcus (Siberian ginseng), Ashwagandha, or Rhodiola. Try a combination like Adreset, or a pure herb like Recovery Tonic. If you’re feeling indecisive, rotate them, depending on what happens to be on sale.
Add St. John’s wort, 450 mg twice a day, to raise your stress-buffering serotonin. The most frequent comment I hear from patients after a month of St. John’s wort is “All the stuff that made me anxious is still there. It just doesn’t bother me much any more.” Since St. John’s wort is essentially an herbal version of prescription antidepressants (such as Prozac, Zoloft, or Lexapro), don’t use it if you’re already taking one of these.
Something to calm yourself. You can think more clearly when you’re calm. Nutriceuticals like Theanine and GABA will relax you without sedation. If you need a sleep aid, consider valerian or melatonin. He says using these herbs can help get you back on track, and you can discontinue them when things settle down. _____________________________________________________________________________________ MY NOTE: St. John's Wort can negatively affect your vitamin D levels, and most people are already deficient in this extremely important vitamin. There are also things you need to know about it. Use a recommended brand*. Check out page 3*, about depression, here, and the SJW, and HYPERICUM websites, via page B. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ STRESS: A certain level of stress is unavoidable, in modern society, so it is a good idea to develop effective coping methods. Light to moderate daily exercise combats stress. For some people, it helps to visualise a quiet, relaxing scene (imagine, as vividly as you can, that you are on a tropical beach, reclining comfortably; you luxuriate, as the the sun warms you, and a gentle breeze caresses your skin lightly, inhaling the tangy, sea scented, salt laden spray from the sparkling, translucent, aqua waves, crashing on the white, coral beach sand, and feeling the hot sand slip through your fingers in one hand, sipping your favorite drink with the other; all the while, the seagulls call, swoop and cavort playfully overhead in a cloudless, azure sky: you feel just like one of them, free to soar and cartwheel, or just glide in the heavy, humid air, and that this moment will last forever). Go to: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meditation/MM00623 & http://www.healthjourneys.com/free_audio.asp & http://www.meditainment.com/stress-buster/ & http://www.freehypnosistreatment.com/meditationtreatment.html & http://www.meditainment.com/free-meditation-content/ which are all free.
Take 4 Omega 3 fish oil supplements, daily; (certified free of mercury) it is best if consumed with an antioxidant, such as an orange, or its FRESHLY SQUEEZED juice. If vitamin E is added, it should be certified as being 100% from natural sources, or it may be synthetic: avoid it. See: Mercola.com SEARCHBAR: "krill oil". The supplement DHEA is thought to counter the stress hormone, Cortisol. Ginseng & Lady's Slipper are recommended herbal remedies. progressive muscle relaxation can be learned quickly, and takes only several minutes, if pressed for time. Also: http://www.mindtools.com/smpage.html & http://relaxationemporium.com/ & http://...com/29so4u & at www.lessons4living.com there is an audio demonstration. At Amazon.com there are: "sounds of the ocean", & "ambient rain sound", & "mountain river sounds" via the searchbar. You could repeat: "I feel calm" and/or "I can handle this.", or employ the EFT version for use in public, for which you can reasonably claim that you have a headache, as you use the acupressure massage/tapping on your temples, but it may be advisable to restrict yourself to subvocalising (saying it to yourself, in your mind, not aloud). "Even though I sometimes suffer from stress, I deeply and completely accept myself". www.mercola.com searchbar: "EFT", & "EFT therapists" - professional is best. Practise a daily relaxation method, such as http://www.drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html or http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/mindbody/a/Meditation.htm or http://www.wikihow.com/Meditate and/or Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or yoga.
Options: A massage (at least neck and shoulders) with jasmine, lavender, juniper, and/or bergamot, or German chamomile essential oils added to the massage oil, and to a warm bath, preferably beforehand, to help make any tension knots and muscles more pliant (others may only want, say, a sandalwood & juniper, mix; check first). I am informed that strong heat, applied to essential oils can damage them, so don't use a diffuser. Also consider anise, basil, bay, eucalyptus, peppermint, rose, or thyme, putting some pieces of rock salt in a small vial, then add a few drops of the oil of your choice (the rock salt absorbs the oil and is less risky to carry around than a bottle of oil). opening the vial and breathing in the scent whenever you need a quick stress release. Aromatherapy: http://www.aromaweb.com & http://www.aromatherapy.com/essentialoils & http://www.naturesgift.com/infomenu.htm & http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au and/or long, stretching yoga exercises, or T'ai Chi. Most people are suggestible, to some degree, so you could either seek professional hypnotherapy, or, quicker, cheaper, and more conveniently: http://www.hypnosisdownloads.com Relieve Stress & Tension, & http://www.hypnotictapes.com STRESS RELIEF & RELAXATION _____________________________________________________________________________________ SKU: ADRENAL Adrenal Refresh Crafted from a synergistic combination of botanicals, including a patented extract of ashwagandha root and leaf, which has been clinically shown to strengthen the body from the negative effects of chronic stress$26.95www.drbenkim.com/sunshop _____________________________________________________________________________________ COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS: ( The book: "Feeling Good - the new mood therapy" by David D. Burns, M.D., who was a student of Dr. Aaron Beck's , explains the following in more detail: his earlier version, "Feeling Good", was a bestseller, with 5 million copies in print. The following is from About.com):
Here are the 10 most common (and officially recognized) cognitive distortions, with examples of how they relate to stress. You might find yourself smiling as you recognize one or two as familiar "friends." If, in the coming days, you look for them and gently correct them, you’ll be well on your way to reducing your reactivity to the stress in your life.
All-or-Nothing Thinking This type of distortion is the culprit when people think in extremes, with no gray areas or middle ground. All-or-nothing thinkers often use words like "always" and "never" when describing things. “I always get stuck in traffic!” “My bosses never listen to me!” This type of thinking can magnify the stressors in your life, making them seem like bigger problems than they may, in reality, be.
Overgeneralization Those prone to overgeneralization tend to take isolated events and assume that all future events will be the same. For example, an overgeneralizer who faces a rude sales clerk may start believing that all sales clerks are rude and that shopping will always be a stressful experience.
Mental Filter Those who use mental filtering as their distortion of choice tend to gloss over positive events and hold a magnifying glass to the negative. Ten things can go right, but a person operating under the influence of a mental filter may only notice the one thing that goes wrong. (Add a little overgeneralization and all-or-nothing thinking to the equation, and you have a recipe for stress.)
Disqualifying the Positive Similar to mental filtering, those who disqualify the positive tend to treat positive events like flukes, thereby clinging to a more negative world view and set of low expectations for the future. Have you ever tried to help a friend solve a problem, only to have every solution you pose shot down with a "Yeah but..." response? You’ve witnessed this cognitive distortion firsthand. (My Note: "Yes, But" is one of several "games" listed in the book. "Games People Play", by Eric Berne, M.D. - some others are "Uproar", and "Rapo". He classifies human social interactions as generally being classifiable under Pastimes, [playing cards, Scrabble, etc.] Rituals, Intimacy, or Games)
Jumping to Conclusions People do this one all the time. Rather than letting the evidence bring them to a logical conclusion, they set their sights on a conclusion (often negative), and then look for evidence to back it up, ignoring evidence to the contrary. The kid who decides that everyone in his new class will hate him, and ‘knows’ that they’re only acting nice to him in order to avoid punishment, is jumping to conclusions. Conclusion-jumpers can often fall prey to mind reading (where they believe that they know the true intentions of others without talking to them) and fortune telling (predicting how things will turn out in the future and believing these predictions to be true). Can you think of examples of adults you know who do this? I bet you can.
Cognitive distortions and negative thinking styles are common, and they keep us stressed-out and stuck. Page 1 of this feature covers 5 common negative thinking patterns and explains how they contribute to stress. Here are the other 5 negative thinking patterns that you need to look out for:
Magnification and Minimization Similar to mental filtering and disqualifying the positive, this cognitive distortion involves placing a stronger emphasis on negative events and downplaying the positive ones. The customer service representative who only notices the complaints of customers and fails to notice positive interactions is a victim of magnification and minimization. Another form of this distortion is known as catastrophizing, where one imagines and then expects the worst possible scenario. It can lead to a lot of stress.
Emotional Reasoning This one is a close relative of jumping to conclusions in that it involves ignoring certain facts when drawing conclusions. Emotional reasoners will consider their emotions about a situation as evidence rather than objectively looking at the facts. “I’m feeling completely overwhelmed, therefore my problems must be completely beyond my ability to solve them,” or, “I’m angry with you; therefore, you must be in the wrong here,” are both examples of faulty emotional reasoning. Acting on these beliefs as fact can, understandably, contribute to even more problems to solve.
Should Statements Those who rely on ‘should statements’ tend to have rigid rules, set by themselves or others, that always need to be followed -- at least in their minds. They don’t see flexibility in different circumstances, and they put themselves under considerable stress trying to live up to these self-imposed expectations. If your internal dialogue involves a large number of ‘shoulds,’ you may be under the influence of this cognitive distortion.
Labeling and Mislabeling Those who label or mislabel will habitually place labels that are often inaccurate or negative on themselves and others. “He’s a whiner.” “She’s a phony.” “I’m just a useless worrier.” These labels tend to define people and contribute to a one-dimensional view of them, paving the way for overgeneralizations to move in. Labeling cages people into roles that don’t always apply and prevents us from seeing people (ourselves included) as we really are. It’s also a big no-no in relationship conflicts.
Personalization Those who personalize their stressors tend to blame themselves or others for things over which they have no control, creating stress where it need not be. Those prone to personalization tend to blame themselves for the actions of others, or blame others for their own feelings. If any of these feel a little too familiar, that’s a good thing: recognizing a cognitive distortion is the first step of moving past it. See this article for tips on cognitive restructuring, the process of moving beyond cognitive distortions. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Some Ideas about the Fort Hood Shooter, PTSD, Vicarious Trauma & Multiple Rotations….http://belleruthnaparstek.com/update-from-belleruth/some-ideas-about-the-fort-hood-shooter-ptsd-vicarious-trauma-multiple-rotations.html
Well, as you might imagine, since the Fort Hood shootings, the phones have been ringing off the hook and emails have been pouring in. People want to know why the Dept. of Defense and the V.A. aren’t using portable, digitized guided imagery in a more systematic way to combat PTSD in our troops, given the research results we’ve been seeing with it.
It’s hard to know where to begin, so I’ll just start with some random thoughts. Hopefully they’ll come across as sequential.
First of all, it’s always good to have public discussion about posttraumatic stress and our troops, but I’m not at all sure these particular horrific murders had anything to do with PTSD.
I don’t have enough detail to diagnose this guy, but off the top of my head, he’s more likely to be a paranoid schizophrenic under extra pressure from an imminent deployment than somebody suffering from vicarious trauma.
Vicarious trauma is the result of a caregiver’s or reporter’s or bystander’s compassion. In fact, it’s been called “compassion fatigue”. People loaded up on too much identification with the suffering of others are the least likely bunch to go around shooting innocents. Mostly, they suffer and smile less.
People with PTS rarely shoot anyone, period, and on the rare occasion that they do, it’s most likely to be themselves. (Secretary Shinseki has already reported that as many service people from Iraq and Afghanistan have committed suicide as have been killed thus far in these wars – and that’s now over 4,000, folks. Do the math and be horrified.)
Although it’s certainly possible that this was part of some radical, extremist, Islamicist, terrorist plot, it’s far more likely (again, given the limited info) that, like most paranoid schizophrenics, this guy is using the content of his religion as part of his psychotic delusional system. It’s possible that both are true, but that would be highly unusual.
If we want to get rid of PTSD, the first thing we need to do is stop the cruel, multiple rotations. We’re sending some of our service people out on their 8th rotation, people. Do you know what kind of havoc this wreaks on anyone’s psyche, let alone what it does to their families’?
We already know from a very decent pile of accruing research that the things that work quickly and efficiently on posttraumatic stress are the image-based, body-based and energy-based interventions - guided imagery, hypnosis, healing touch, biofeedback, EMDR and the like. This is because PTSD sits in the primitive, survival based parts of the brain, and you need techniques that go straight to those structures to get the job done.
The V.A. has to get over its singular love affair with Prolonged Exposure Therapy and start looking for other kinds of therapy as well - methods that don’t create as much distress, that don’t require 12 sessions with a highly trained therapist and that the troops and vets will actually use – like audio self-help, for instance – shown to be their top choice in two separate studies.
The DoD has to stop throwing frantic money at unproven (for combat stress) methods and start seeing what’s actually out there and working reliably for this population of combat-stressed service people. BG Loree K. Sutton MD at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) is drowning in proposals for every possible ‘cure-all’ scheme – but we have solid results in multiple studies with imagery downloads from Duke/Durham V.A. Hospital; with imagery and biofeedback from Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland; from imagery and Healing Touch from Scripps Hospital in La Jolla. This is where they need to look, for heavens sake.