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Jamieson
Health Center
Newsletter
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September 27, 2011 |
Volume 3, Number 6 |
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Dear patients, dear friends, I wanted to share with you
some good news about the progress that’s recently being made in understanding
the complexity of perimenopause and menopause. It is not a secret that many
women are suffering from the effects of perimenopause/menopause
in silence. I’m not just talking about hot flashes, but about the
immunological and neurological impact it can have. Many women are suffering
from depression and anxiety. Their personalities change. They lose their
passion. They can’t handle life anymore. They can’t concentrate and their
memory fails. They are tired all the time. They can be in constant pain and
nothing seems to help. Families fall apart because the mother or grandmother
who made life run smoothly is falling apart. A large body of evidence now
suggests that estrogen fluctuations in peri/menopause
are associated with a spontaneous increase of proinflammatory
cytokines causing a fire of inflammation in your body, especially in those areas
that are already a problem. Most people know that the
decline in estrogen affects the tissues of the body. In the conventional
medical world, the decrease in tissue proliferation of the breast, vagina,
skin, nail and hair is managed with hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
However, the increase in systemic inflammatory cytokine production is
typically ignored until symptoms develop that can be diagnosed as a disease. I hope you don’t wait to get
help but stop the decline now: ·
For those of you
who have not yet reached perimenopause, there is a
way to lessen the problems or avoid them altogether. The key to a healthy
transition is a healthy adrenal system, because the adrenals compensate for
the loss of estrogen. ·
But for those of
you who are suffering, we need to identify where the fires are and support
the adrenals, the immune system, the brain and the gut. How can you avoid or stop
the fire? ü The most important step is to regulate your blood
sugar by eating every two hours and avoiding sugars, sweets and simple
carbohydrates. ü Second is to reduce your stress and take time to
unwind. This will allow the adrenals
to make estrogen instead of constantly trying to regulate blood sugar levels
or handle stress. Estrogen fluctuations will stop and cytokine production
will stop. In addition, once there is a
fire, you need expert help to support your adrenals, immune system, gut and
brain by using supplements and treatments to
put out the fire. So I hope you don’t suffer
in silence and call us to get help. Yours in good health, Dr. Samuel Jamieson, D.C. |
Perimenopause & Menopause: Stop your Decline. Healthy adrenals for a
healthy transition. A woman’s health drastically declines at perimenopause. Statistics show that for many females, there is a
rapid decline in their health once they reach perimenopause.
And I’m not just talking about hot flashes. Women are challenged with other issues.
They become depressed. They struggle with anxiety. Their memory and
concentration fades. They feel different. Their personalities change. They
lose their passion and their drive. They find themselves often in rage. They
observe changes in their skin tone. Their hair starts to thin. They are in
constant pain. They don’t’ sleep well. They suffer.
Many women are prone to develop serious diseases after perimenopause. Studies show that the following conditions increase
in risk with perimenopause and menopause: ·
cardiovascular disease ·
stroke ·
osteoporosis ·
dementia and Alzheimer’s disease ·
arthritis ·
autoimmune diseases Perimenopause starts a fire in your body. As estrogen declines and if your body is not
prepared for this transition, a spontaneous surge in proinflammatory
cytokines can cause a huge fire, a systemic inflammation in your body. With
the decline of estrogen, women lose a hormone with protective
characteristics, since estrogen is known to decrease neurodegeneration
and oxidative stress. Once this fire starts, women are more vulnerable to: ·
Antigens causing an immune activation ·
Body fat which produces inflammatory cytokines ·
Increase of proinflammatory prostaglandins ·
Microglial cell activation and neuroinflammation in the brain ·
Compromised blood brain barrier ·
Free radicals and oxidative stress ·
Nitric Oxide Isomer shift ·
Low plasticity of the limbic system in the brain ·
Stress response ·
Increased HPA axis activity For
more information about perimenopause and menopause,
call our office at 408-517-0706 or
visit our website at http://www.jamiesonhealthcenter.com. |
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Why do women deteriorate when they reach perimenopause? To
answer this question, we need to understand how estrogen affects the female
body. Estrogen is responsible for tissue proliferation in the breast, vagina,
skin, nails and hair. But estrogen also has a modulating effect on the immune
system. As a result, once estrogen declines, there will be a loss of tissue
proliferation, but also an increase in immunological and neurological
consequences. As a matter of fact: ·
Recent studies show that the decline in ovarian function with
menopause is associated with a ”spontaneous”
increase in proinflammatory cytokines. And that the
magnitude of the increase in cytokine production may greatly depend on the proinflammatory stimuli that are present in the cellular
environment at the time of menopause. (Endocr Rev.
2002 Feb;23(1):90-119) ·
Other studies show that there is an inhibitory effect of estrogen on
spontaneous proinflammatory cytokine release but
not after the cytokine secretions have been stimulated. (Bone, 2001
ul;29(1):30-34) ·
Studies say that inflammatory cytokine response is attenuated by
estrogen replacement therapy (Prac Natl Acad Sci
USA. 1989 Apr;86(7):2398-2402) ·
In addition, research shows that estrogen deficiency also enhances the
responsiveness of cells towards inflammatory cytokines (Clin
Endocrinol (Oxf.),1999 Dec;51(6):801-807). This means that not only the
cytokines increase, but the tissues are more receptive to the cytokines which
amplifies the inflammation even more. ·
Studies show that estrogen deficiency increases the production of pro-inflammatory
prostaglandins from diet (PGE2). (J Clin Invest.
1995 July;96(1):539-548) What
this means is that: 1.
If there is a decline in estrogen levels in a female patient in perimenopause, the inflammatory cytokine system is
up-regulated and may stay up-regulated even after estrogen levels are
restored. 2.
This also means that even HRT cannot solve the issues, but will likely
make them worse. 3.
The patient’s preexisting inflammation will determine which systems or
tissues will be mostly impacted. 4.
Even when a patient is otherwise healthy and eats a healthy diet, once
there is preexisting inflammation, perimenopause
will aggravate it. A healthy diet alone cannot dampen it. On the contrary,
prostaglandin production from diet is now shifted to PGE2 pro-inflammatory. In other words, estrogen fluctuations cause an immunological effect
that triggers extreme inflammation in areas with a pre-existing condition. If
this fire is not dampened, the inflammation becomes systemic and the entire
body starts deteriorating. |
If you are approaching perimenopause, can this fire be
avoided? Yes,
it can. As mentioned above, what really causes the fire is a fluctuation of
estrogen. Once a woman enters perimenopause, the pituitary
FSH/ovarian feedback loop to the brain is not working properly anymore. Her
cycles change and estrogen levels start to fluctuate. When estrogen levels
drop, the adrenals start to produce estrogen to compensate for the loss. All
of this is part of a normal transition into menopause. However,
when the adrenals are exhausted, they cannot make up for the drop in estrogen
and women start to have hot flashes and an avalanche of other issues. So the
key to moving through this period with ease is the health of your adrenal
function as well as your focus on the fundamentals of health. A healthy adrenal system
is the key to a smooth transition. We
need to understand that the function of the adrenals is not just to make up
for a loss of estrogen. They are also producing other hormones such as the
stress hormone cortisol and constantly play a role
in regulating blood sugar and insulin levels. The adrenals can either make cortisol or estrogen, but they can’t make both at the
same time. ·
When you are under a lot of stress, your adrenals will need all the pregnenolone to make cortisol,
they can’t make estrogen. That’s why patients on HRT still have hot flashes
in stressful situations. ·
When you suffer from hypoglycemia or insulin resistance, your adrenals
produce cortisol to trigger the production of
insulin to regulate blood sugar. They can’t make estrogen. That’s why patients with dysglycemia
don’t get better, even with supplements and a healthy diet. To ensure healthy adrenals, it is imperative to: ü Reduce stress – change your lifestyle to reduce stress in your life and take time
to unwind ü Avoid blood sugar imbalances – Eat
every two hours & choose a diet rich in proteins, fats and vegetables,
and avoid all sugars, sweets and simple carbohydrates to maintain optimal
blood sugar levels. If you are in peri/menopause, how can you
put out the fire? Since the surge in inflammatory cytokine
production has consequences throughout the entire body, we need to put out
fires in many different systems. 1
Nurse your adrenals back to health. As mentioned above in the
section about avoiding the fire, we first need to work on getting your adrenal
system functioning properly. Eating regularly and reducing your stress is the
key. Strategy: ü
Once diet and stress are addressed, additional therapies and supplements may be needed to modulate
the stress response and stabilize blood sugar imbalance 2
Support and supplement the systems that
directly interact with cytokine activity Recent studies show that compounds
directly interacting with cytokine activity are more effective in
neutralizing the effects of menopause. (Endocr Rev
2002 Feb;23(1):90-119). So it’s important to support
those areas of the immune system that can dampen cytokine activity. Those
are: Strategy: ü
Optimize nitric oxide
system
with Nitric Balance ü
Optimize the glutathione
recycling system with Glutathione Recycler ü
Increase your vitamin D levels to avoid the pro-inflammatory prostaglandin shift. 3
Dampen the fire in your brain. The loss of estrogen and
the surge in cytokine production have numerous effects on different parts of
the brain. They dysregulate neurotransmitter
receptors, activate the mesolimbic system which
causes continuous stress and fight or flight responses, compromise the blood
brain barrier and open the door for neurological and neurodegenerative
diseases. You may struggle with: Ø
Brain fog Ø
Memory and concentration issues Ø
Depression and anxiety Ø
Handling life (going to a restaurant can be too much for you) Ø
Regular ups & downs Ø
Insomnia – irregular circadian rhythm’s Ø
Visual stimulation (flashing of lights and TV) Strategy: In addition to strategies
under 1 and 2, you may need the following therapies: ü
Dampen inflammation in the
brain
with supplements such as NeuroFlam, Vitanox and/or Herba-Vital ü
Modulate neurotransmitter
pathways
with supplements supporting GABA, Serotonine,
Dopamine and ACH ü
Increase plasticity and build new pathways in
your brain with neurofeedback therapy, improving
memory, cognition, anxiety and depression 4
Fix your leaky gut. The drop in estrogens and
activation of the cytokine surge not only activates the glial
cells in the brain, it can also cause the loss of intestinal tight junctions
leading to intestinal permeability and leaky gut. Unfortunately, at this
point a vicious cycle starts which causes systemic inflammation. You will
struggle with multiple food sensitivities and GI issues and are at risk of
developing autoimmune disorders. Strategy: In addition to eating every
2 hours to balance blood sugar, we suggest that you: ü
Follow an intestinal repair
program, which consists of dietary restrictions and additional pro- and prebiotics, dietary powders, etc. To learn more about how
to heal from a leaky gut, read our April 2011 newsletter . 5
Treat your osteoporosis. Studies show that the
surge in pro-inflammatory cytokines caused by the drop in estrogen negatively
impacts the bones. As a matter of fact, they are among the most powerful
stimulants of bone resorption that are known (J
Bone Miner Res. 1993 Dec;8(Suppl 2):S505-S510) In addition, there is a
second reason why we need to be worried about bone loss. Since the bones store toxic materials such
as heavy metals like lead, during bone loss those toxins are freed up and can
reach the brain. There they can cause additional neurodegeneration
and neurodegenerative diseases. Strategy: ü
Dampen cytokine activity as described under 1 and
2 above. ü
Promote bone health with Vitamin D, Calcifood wafers and other supplementation. For
more information about perimenopause and menopause,
call our office at 408-517-0706 or
visit our website at http://www.jamiesonhealthcenter.com. |
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JAMIESON
HEALTH CENTER
Applied Kinesiology Nutrition Emotional Stress Relief Total Body Modification Advanced Neurofeedback 1175
Saratoga Ave, Ste 8 San Jose, CA
95129 Phone 408.517.0706 Email drjamieson@sbcglobal.net We’re on the Web! |
Seminars we’ve taken. Since I want to make a difference in
your lives and that of your children, I’m constantly trying to keep up with
the latest developments in healing practices, clinical research and new
discoveries in the area of integrative holistic medicine. To that end, I have
attended the following seminars and conferences over the last several months: ·
Neuron Theory
and Neuromuscular Applications ·
Understanding
the complexity of gluten sensitivity ·
Breaking the
complex web of leaky gut ·
Neurochemistry
of childhood brain developmental disorders ·
The neuroendocrine immunology of perimenopause ·
The aging brain ·
The brain-gut
axis ·
Nutrition
Response Testing ·
NeuroIntegration therapy– Level
1 and Level 2 training ·
Autoimmune
regulation ·
Functional Endocrinology ·
NeuroEndocrine-Immune Axis
of Andropause ·
Metabolic
Biotransformation: an overview of detoxification and weight management ·
Restoring
Gastrointestinal Health ·
Practical Blood
Chemistry ·
Functional
Neurology for the Primary Care Provider ·
Neurotransmitters
and Brain ·
The
Thyroid-Brain–Immuno Connection ·
Restorative
Endocrinology: Balancing Female Hormones in Menopausal Women ·
Restorative
Endocrinology: Balancing Hormones in Cycling Women ·
The Impacts of
Estrogen on the NeuroEndocrine-Immune Axis ·
Restorative
Endocrinology: Balancing Male Hormones ·
Advanced
Nutrition Therapeutics for Addictions and OCD Some
patients have asked about previous newsletters and they can be found on our
website at http://www.jamiesonhealthcenter.com/archive.htm |
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