Happy February everyone, hope it’s a goodie. Here we go with this week’s Clinic Notes for practitioners and expert patients…
Have you heard of Kratom? It was a new one on me until I noticed a piece on overdoses of it becoming quite common in the US. Kratom is a tree native to Southeast Asia and people chew or brew the leaves. It contains 7-hydroxymitragynine, a mu-opioid agonist, that is estimated to be approximately 10 times as potent as morphine. Phew! No wonder people are trying it for pain! You can read a general article about it here and TRC has done a new monograph on it. (You have to own a subscription for that one). General advice is: avoid.
Colabs have a couple of useful things this week for us. I like their article on cortisol resistance as opposed to adrenal fatigue. I need to learn more about this. Any references/info you can share?
Also, Leo Pruimboom is doing a one-day masterclass on on 23 March in London and live streamed. Check out Inflammation as the cause of all disease and how to resolve it. My ears always prick up when Leo is doing something because many years ago when Bonusan were launching in the UK, he did a fantastic series of webinars for them. One of those was on barrier health – as opposed to ‘just’ leaky gut – and it changed the way I practiced, suddenly and hugely. I still use the knowledge I gained from that one session daily.
Interested in natural approaches to CFS and Fibromyalgia? Listen to this podcast for an interview with Dr Jacob Teitelbaum. He knows his stuff. I remember reading his Fatigued to Fantastic book many moons ago. In this interview, he discusses his most recent research on chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as the integrative approach he pioneered to help patients.
Need research resources? I thought this reminder from CThA was useful:
NICE Evidence Services are a suite of services that provide access to high quality authoritative evidence and best practice. Complementary therapies are included and can be searched for using helpful filters.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews has a wealth of evidence that can be searched for specific complementary therapies.
PubMed is a free search engine that provides access to a huge database of references and research abstracts, including those relevant to specific complementary therapies.
Individual research journals that provide open access to articles include:
London NHS Volunteers needed. Barts Health NHS Trust is looking for complementary therapists in London who are willing to volunteer within the NHS. The post is voluntary, however, in exchange for working outpatient and inpatient clinics, you’ll get a ton of experience, I should think! Contact Neil Browne, Lead Clinical Therapist, for advice on how to apply: neil.browne@nhs.net
Telephone – 020 8539 5522 extension 5840
James Maskell of Evolution of Medicine fame, pointed us to an interesting article all about Dediagnosing recently – fascinating stuff. A diagnosis is a powerful thing in medicine, both for professionals and patients, conferring both good and bad effects. Personally, I had to fight to get an MCAS diagnosis for anyone to take my hypersensitivity to food/chemicals etc seriously, instead of the constant ‘no-one can be that sensitive’ comments. The diagnosis meant I managed to get meds to trial, and it helped turn me around after 14 years in food and medical wilderness. Not that I’m bitter or anything ;). Anyway, an interesting read, check it out.
Lastly, a few air fryer recipes for you from Restless to maybe pass on to patients (the healthier ones, anyway!). Just watch the type of air fryer you recommend, though, and avoid more toxin ingestion. I wrote about best ones here, in case that helps. I’m liking the look of that salmon above, not that I’m hungry or anything…
That’s it for this issue, folks!
I truly hope you find Clinic Notes useful. If you like what I’m doing, please support my work by subscribing here. Bless your cotton socks for helping and thank you from everyone who benefits, Micki x