Blocked up. Stuffed. Bloated. Impacted even. Whatever term you use, being constipated is a terrible and often embarrassing. It’s hard to talk about these problems because of the stigma surrounding our bowel habits. But waste management, so to speak, is essential to good gut health. Since the 2/3rds of the internet and 86.4% of Los…
Heartburn is one of the most common complaints I see in clinic. Enjoy this animation I did with the TED company on why we can often get that burning feeling….
“There’s a popular saying among doctors: There’s no such thing as alternative medicine; if it works, it’s just called medicine.” ― Ed Yong “No medicine can compensate for un-healthy living.” ― Renu Chaudhary Read time: 20 minutes TL;DR Key Points Avoid catchy headlines that overpromise and under-deliver Alternative health approaches may help but they have been…
“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.” … – Heartburn by Nora Ephron Read time: 15 minutes TL;DR Key…
Read time: 10 minutes It’s the essence of every medical encounter and the basis for doctoring itself – the chief complaint. Patients tell us their primary symptoms and we then proceed to the HPI or History of Present Illness. This dialogue between the sick and the healer is at the core of what we do…
A heart can be no more forced to love than a stomach can be forced to digest food by persuasion. – Alfred Nobel Read time: 15 minutes TL;DR Key Points: Bloating is the uncomfortable perception of gas. Bloating is primarily an issue of gas handling by the gut and less often of excessive…
The wound is the place where the Light enters you. – Attributed to Rumi Read time: 15 minutes TL;DR Key Points: There are two predominant approaches to managing IBS. A similar strategy is useful for related functional bowel disorders This paradigm is based on the current understanding of the brain-gut axis A bio psycho-social…
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. – Helen Keller Read time: 12 minutes TL;DR Key Points: Stress is not your destiny. While it is part of modern life, it can be effectively addressed There are a variety of body, breath and mind techniques that…
All diseases begin in the gut. – Hippocrates Read time: 7 minutes TL;DR Key Points: Recovery is essential to everyday life, much like after a workout. The 24 hour adaptation cycle is key concept in this arena The brain-gut axis means that gut problems like IBS cannot be understood without addressing psychological factors Even…