Gil Winkelman ND

Restore your heart-body-brain balance for optimal health

You are here: Home / Archives for Treatments

The Simple Way to Cure Your Stubborn Migraine Symptoms

by 30 Comments

Migraine symptoms can be extremely painful. If you have never had one, you are lucky. Migraine symptoms consist of debilitating head pain, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to sounds and light. In extreme cases, one can feel weakness on one side of the body that can last minutes to days.  Some people never get head pain; rather they have problems with vision such as an aura around everything (ocular migraine symptom), stomach pain (abdominal migraine), or some other unexplained phenomenon. An article in the Sunday NY Times provides a bit of a first person account of migraines. Natural migraine treatment requires us to know the cause. I have identified at least 9 different causes of migraines. Likely there are more than the nine. Let’s explore the causes of the migraines and possible treatments such as LENS Neurofeedback.

Before we jump into the categories of migraines, I just want to give a brief overview of the scope of the problem.  Estimates vary between 10-20% of the US population suffers from migraine symptoms. It  costs consumers approximately $12.7 billion a year in medical costs plus another $12 billion in missed workdays. People who suffer from migraine headaches make less money than people who don’t.  Not only that, people who get migraines are at a greater risk of heart attack and stroke.

Traditional medicine manages migraines headache symptoms with polypharmacy, or the use of multiple drugs. While providing relief, many of this drugs have side effects too. Determining triggers can help reduce the frequency of migraines. Chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, menses and barometric changes are some of the common ones. A trigger creates a migraine but isn’t necessarily the cause. The cause though is what makes the trigger manifest into a migraine. Not everyone who eats chocolate gets a migraine. For those who are susceptible to migraines, chocolate can create one. By the cause, I mean what is it that allows a trigger to work.  Stress and a lack of sleep may also affect people. The trigger though, isn’t the same as the cause. I work with people to help them understand triggers because it can bring relief. Then we  find the underlying cause so they don’t get sick again. Many of my patients tolerate the thing that made them ill previously. They start to live their life more fully.

The Simple Way to Cure Your Migraine

Understanding the cause is the simple way to cure migraines. Finding the cause is not always so easy. Let’s explore some of the different causes.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): One of the most common causes of migraines is previous head trauma. I discuss the details of head trauma in the last post. Head injury is common and can cause migraines. Even minor bumps on the head or whiplash injuries can add up and lead to headaches later in life. In the last post, I go over the treatments in this situation.

Migraine CausesFemale Hormonal Imbalances: Many women get migraines related to their menstrual cycle. The headaches can occur right before or when their menses start.  While this can be its own cause, it is usually related to liver imbalances. Treatment requires balancing of the hormones first. Ensuring that the cycles are regular is the first thing I do in this case. More often than not, though, it requires looking at the liver.

Liver Imbalance:  Liver imbalance is common for people with migraines. The liver clears toxins from the body, and hormones are no exception. But other imbalances can occur too. The inability to eat rich foods or drink alcohol without a problem maybe a sign of a liver issue. The way I describe this issue to patients is that their liver cells just aren’t working as liver cells. Naturopathic treatments  remind the liver cells how to do their job. Our DNA is more of a blueprint than a hardcoding. The body has flexibility in what it produces. If the liver isn’t doing its job, it means it’s not producing the proper proteins to be doing its job. I use a variety of supplements that assist the liver and others that work to reset the epigenetic state. Gemmotherapy, homoepathy, and low dose botanicals can all help with the liver.

Gastrointestinal: This is distinct from a liver problem. Sometimes, there is a problem with the foods we eat because we aren’t digesting them. This could be due to food sensitivities causing GI distress. For reasons unknown, this can lead to migraines.  Changes in the healthy flora in the intestines can lead to this issue. These organisms help protect the gut and allow us to digest food well. The reason why so many people react to so many foods is that the gut is too loose. Leaky gut is a real problem, and one of its symptoms is migraine. Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO can be the culprit too. Proper diagnosis of this problem starts with an elimination diet. If the problem isn’t completely resolved, then I run other tests. SIBO, Leaky Gut, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and Crohn’s can all be causes of migraines. Treatment varies based on the diagnosis.

Hormonal: Other hormonal imbalances can lead to migraines. Adrenal imbalances causing rapid changes in cortisol or epinephrine can cause migraines. The adrenal gland is also responsible for instructing the liver to produce certain proteins. Sometimes the liver is fine but the adrenals aren’t directing it appropriately. Or the thyroid may be out of balance. An imbalance in either could disrupt sleep, and fatigue is a common trigger for migraines.

Metal Imbalance: This is a new one for me although the research about this is almost 30 years old. The main culprits here are Zinc and Copper. The body requires both metals for proper functioning. In general, Americans are low in zinc and high in copper. This may be due to the effects of food processing, but it is unclear why. High copper levels may cause both migraines and menstrual difficulties. It also exacerbates low zinc. Zinc supplementation has shown promise in research studies as a treatment for migraines. (Med Hypotheses. 2011 Jul;77(1):147-51.  A new horizon into the pathobiology, etiology and treatment of migraine. Dillion, Singh, Lvall) Simple testing of blood and/or hair can help reveal this issue.  Zinc supplementation can be effective for raising zinc levels. Vitamin E and other nutrients can lower copper levels.

Heavy Metals: Another issue with metals is the heavy variety. Mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and aluminum can all contribute to migraines. Heavy metals can come from a variety of sources, and often the headaches come on as the body is trying to get rid of them. Elimination of metals needs to be gradual to prevent severe symptoms. A simple mineral prescription can start to mobilize the offending metals out of the body. Headaches will be completely gone in months.

Inflammation: Inflammation is starting to gain traction as a cause of many different conditions. Recent publications have suggested that migraines may be inflammatory. What does this mean?  Inflammation is the process the body uses to heal damage. It is to be a short-term activity to do so. Cells release hormones called cytokines that are signals to repair damage. These make us feel achy, sluggish, and depressed. For various reasons, the body sometimes gets into a chronic inflammatory state. This means that the entire body feels down, as if ill. In some people, the inflammation leads to headaches. The reasons aren’t completely clear. Treatment would consist of lowering inflammation in the body. This is probably a good idea for most people. An anti-inflammatory diet, omega-3’s (fish oil), and turmeric are simple ways to reduce inflammation.

Cardiovascular:  Changes in arterial pressure may also contribute to migraines. In this situation the pain doesn’t start with stress but when there is relaxation. Patients get migraines on the weekend or on vacation. What is interesting is that some of these patients may have had asthma earlier in life. There appears to be changes in the autonomic nervous system affecting the arteries. Another issue that can arise is that the person with migraines has a small hole in their heart. We have no idea what the relationship is between the two and it is somewhat rare.  Treatment here definitely varies depending upon the situation. Neurofeedback or biofeedback can be helpful to stabilize the nervous system.

Musculoskeletal Issues: TMJ, neck issues, and shoulder injuries can all cause migraine symptoms. I didn’t include this in the first iteration of the article and a chiropractor reminded me of this. We don’t know the exact mechanisms of this but there may be a stress or emotional component. Many patients find relief with physical adjustments, massage, and craniosacral therapy.

Emotional: Mental/emotional issues can cause migraines. And what comes first, is not clear. LENS Neurofeedback can be extremely useful for decreasing migraine symptoms (or even curing them entirely.) But for many people, simple exercises that reset the autonomic nervous system can improve people’s lives.

These are some of the causes of migraine. Others exist, of course, but these are the ones that I see most commonly in my practice. As you can see, it is a complex problem, and just treating the symptoms won’t change the issue. Treating the underlying cause helps reduce the problem. If you or someone you love suffers from migraines, please call me. I have a Naturopathic practice in Portland but can work with people remotely using Skype or telemedicine. While my I delight in helping people. And maybe you too can one day be migraine free.

Pyroluria Supplements and Test Kits: How to Improve Your Anxiety

by 13 Comments

Jason’s parents brought him to my clinic because of violent behavior. (I am not using anyone’s real name.) Several suspensions from school alerted his parents there may be a problem. But it was his punching a hole in the wall of his bedroom that led to the call to me. Lisa’s anxiety became so debilitating that she didn’t want to leave her house. By the time she called to make an appointment, she had confined herself to only her room and the adjoining bathroom. Clark’s sudden mood swings correlated with depression and not knowing what he wanted to do with his life. Though very smart and done well in school, Clark was currently underemployed. His mom convinced him to see me. We sent pyroluria test kits to all three of these patients, and I knew the results would be positive.

While depression, anxiety, oppositional defiance disorder (ODD), and reactive attachment disorder (RAD) may arise from different causes, pyroluria should be ruled out as the cause of these and other mental health problems. Testing is easy to do at home. The lab sends a pyroluria test kit; the sample is collected and sent back to the lab. After Jason’s mom called, we had results within two weeks, and I developed a treatment plan of vitamins and minerals ready for Jason.

“He’s a different kid,” his mom reported to me after the first follow-up appointment. “Had I known that treatment was so simple, I would have called you much sooner!”

Jason is not unusual. I have treated hundreds of people with pyroluria over the last seven years with great success. A pyroluria test kit is inexpensive and easy to do. Pyrrole supplements cost little and are simple to take. If that is the only imbalance in the body, we see changes in the person within a month.

What is Pyroluria?

What exactly is pyroluria? Confusion abounds as to how to explain pyroluria or Pyrrole Disorder. Other names include Mauve Factor and Kryptopyroluria. Many doctors do not recognize the clinical significance of pyrrole disorder. Though I didn’t learn about it in medical school, I can assure you that pyroluria is real.

Kryptopyrroles seem to appear under conditions of oxidative stress in the body. The body produces an unusable form of the part of the red blood cell that holds the oxygen, called a heme-ring. This molecule, harmless in most people, will deplete the body of nutrients such as zinc, vitamin B6, and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) in others. People who have pyroluria be in normal range for these nutrients in their blood tests but still have symptoms. What are some of the symptoms? The chart below shows the effects of pyrrole disorder. You only have to have two or three to be positive. Oddly, there isn’t always a correlation between symptoms and amount of pyrroles. I have seen patients with extremely high numbers but few signs and patients with lots of symptoms and a low kryptopyrrole result. Over the course of the next could of articles, I’ll explain why that is. Suffice to say, pyroluria can affect different parts of the body in different ways.

Why would oxidative stress lead to the creation of kryptopyrroles? The short answer is we don’t know. There are many different theories, but the one I like the best is trauma. Early childhood trauma seems to be a commonality of people with this condition. Pyrrole disorder and oxidative stress, in general, seems to be a physiologic response to emotional or physical trauma. Jason’s parents adopted him as a baby. Early childhood wounding contributed to his behavior. Pyroluria may be a clue to mind-body connections; the bridge between the trauma that one experiences when younger and the physical symptoms that occur later in life. A diagnosis doesn’t mean that psychotherapy is unnecessary, but it can make it more successful.

pyroluria supplements and symptoms

Pyrrole supplements make a huge difference in the patients who have pyroluria. Treatment plans are inexpensive and easy to follow. While the number of pills can be daunting, most people find it effortless to integrate the task into their day. And the results are extraordinary. Lisa’s anxiety abated so she could continue her life again. Jason finished high school and responded to the new counselor his parents arranged. Clark’s mood swings disappeared with pyrrole treatment, and his motivation returned. “I feel that I have my son back,” his mother said to me. “He’s calm, funny, and is starting to have direction in his life again. He’s doing great!”

You too can get help. If you or a loved one has some of the symptoms listed, call or email us today. We will be happy to send out a pyroluria test kit and consult about the results, which we can do via an online doctor consultation. Pyrrole supplements can be life-changing. We’d be happy to help facilitate moving you into a happier place.

Though the patients mentioned in this article had an easy time with treatment, not everyone does. The next article will discuss some of the pitfalls of self-treatment.

How to Benefit from Online Doctor Consultations

by 6 Comments

Online doctor consultations are becoming more popular. And why not? Patients don’t have to travel to the office, park the car, and wait for the doctor. You can stay in the comfort of your home and consult with the doctor through your computer or phone. But are online doctor appointments good for everyone? Not likely. But for many people, virtual medical visits provide a simple approach to medical care. Let’s explore what online doctor consultations look like with Dr. Gil and what sort of conditions are appropriate for treatment.

Online Doctor Consultations with Dr. Gil

Dr. Gil has been using telehealth services for mental health for many years. The process begins with either a phone call or email and determine if labs need ordering. If you have the correct labs run relatively recently, there’s no need to repeat them just yet. Sometimes Dr. Gil orders additional labs, especially if you attempted similar treatments that didn’t work or only had partial results. Labwork performed by other providers may be reviewed before your appointment.  Labs aren’t required for every patient before the first appointment but can expedite the treatment process. For most patients in the US, we can arrange for the lab collection to occur near your location. Outside the US, some results are challenging but not impossible to obtain. The office staff assists as best it can to help you get what is required.

Before the appointment, you will fill out an extensive questionnaire that combined with the lab results helps Dr. Gil uncover possible causes of the ailment.  The first appointment lasts up to an hour whereby Dr. Gil comes up with a treatment plan for your condition. You can merely order the vitamin and supplements from Dr. Gil’s medicinary or obtain through another source.

Conditions Treated During Online Doctor Consultations

It is difficult to say what conditions can or cannot be treated online. New technologies are making it possible to do medicine via telehealth services. Dermatology, for example, is moving to a model that allows doctors to diagnose skins conditions via online doctor consultations. Some situations require an in-person visit before telehealth services will be useful. The Walsh Protocol, a system that uncovers nutrient deficiencies causing mental health issues, can be productive using telehealth services for mental health.  Some of the conditions that Dr. Gil treats using online doctor consultations include:

Insurance may or may not cover telemedicine visits but may reimburse the lab fees. Check with us first about whether coverage is possible. Neurofeedback services typically require appointments to be in-person.

Demand for online doctor visits has increased as patients discover its advantages.  Find out for yourself how easy it is to get help for you or your family member. Schedule today for a free pre-consultation.

The Colossal Mistake of Everyone Taking Methylated Folate

by

NB: This article was modified March 2024. I am offering two new courses about this. The short course covers the specifics of folate, what to do, how to figure out if there’s an issue, and a decision tree to determine what to do if you have trouble with folate. The longer course goes into other problems related to anxiety and other mental health issues

(I also published this article in Holistic Primary Care about the topic.)

I get a lot of questions about the methylation cycle and taking methylated folate. In articles and podcasts, I go into great detail about undermethylation. This causes a lot of confusion amongst patients because most providers don’t understand the full impact of methylated folates. Folate is a wonderful vitamin for many people. But for undermethylators, folate can cause problems. Why is that? To understand the issue, we have to first understand more about the methylation cycle, DNA, and why genetic tests may not be the right approach.

Methylated folateUndermethylators are one of the primary subtypes described by the Walsh Protocol. To understand why folate is a problem for them, we should discuss undermethylation.

Methylation is the process where DNA gets “tagged” by a small hydrocarbon group. Methyl is one carbon and three hydrogens. Carbon can bond to four different atoms, so a methyl group has one spot that allows it to attach somewhere else. The body uses methyl in many reactions and one of them is to turn off DNA.

How does it do this?

Though we are not exactly sure, methyl groups change the charge of chromatin, making it bind tighter to histones. What does this mean? The DNA is less accessible for transcription, so turning off those genes. Acetylation has the opposite effect. Here DNA becomes more available and turns genes on. Folate appears to increase acetylation of chromatin, though the mechanism is unknown.

One gene methyl turns off is the serotonin reuptake gene. Folate or folic acid appears to turn this gene on. If you have too much serotonin reuptake happening, serotonin levels will be low. If you have too little reuptake, serotonin will be too high. (Yes, you can have too much serotonin in your body and some people do.)

Undermethylators with anxiety or depression are vulnerable to folates. The folates turn on the serotonin reuptake gene that is already not downregulated because of the lack of methyl. For some people, they find that a sudden intake of folic acid causes a precipitous drop in mood or exacerbation of symptoms.

This gets further complicated when you add in high S-Adenyl-Homocysteine (SAH) a substance that regulates the enzyme methyltransferase. (This is a topic beyond the scope of this article for the moment. But the plasma methylation test is a wonderful way to determine if one is an undermethylator and the best treatment approach.)

NOTE: If you are a pregnant woman, it is advisable to have your folate levels measured to determine the amount of folate to take.

What about Methylated Folate?

What about methylated folate? Isn’t that supposed to help undermethylators? Many providers prescribe it because folate is intimately involved with recycling homocysteine into methionine. This drives the production of methyl in the 1-carbon cycle in the body. But Dr. Walsh has shown something odd about this. All folates turn on the serotonin reuptake gene so that serotonin levels drop and you have a recipe for problems. Likely, this happens because the DNA responsible for the production of the SERT gene has greater exposure to transcription factors. Increasing methyl causes this to reverse so there is less transcription of the gene.

Having said that, many undermethylators show temporary improvement because of taking methyl folate. After two to three months, the person devolves again. The methyl donation from the methyl folate gets overshadowed by the effects of folate on the body. So the person gets worse.

This is when patients call me. Fortunately, it’s not too late to feel better under this circumstance. A proper treatment plan can benefit everyone. Undermethylators respond slowly; some people may not get a benefit for almost a year after treatment starts.

To learn more about methylation, I’m planning a course that goes into greater detail about the topic and how to recognize the differences between overmethylation, undermethylation, and another underlying issue. A deeper course covers more information  Or if you think you may be an undermethylator or overmethylator, call today to schedule an appointment. Let me review your medications and supplements to ensure you are taking what is right for your healing process.

What you Need to Know About Getting Pyroluria Disorder Symptoms

by 8 Comments

Pyroluria is more common than previously though. Pyro-what? What is this disease? The word pyroluria is a combination of pyrrole and urine. It refers to a molecule that shows up in the urine in most people.  There are different things that can cause pyroluria. For many people, pyroluria treatment can be life changing.  And many kids with Reactive Attachment Disorder or RAD Disorder have pyroluria. Behavior problems can disappear with simple natural treatments. Pyrrole Disorder symptoms are diverse. Let’s explore what pyrrole disorder is and what the symptoms look like.

Pyroluria is a condition that leads to an incomplete breakdown of red blood cells. This causes the formation of small molecules called kryptopyrroles that bind to zinc and B6 in the body. As a result, the body registers a deficiency of both those nutrients. There are many theories about what causes pyroluria but the reality is that we don’t know.  It is definitely a sign of inflammation in the body. Some of the possible causes are as follows:

  • Genetics. Pyroluria does seem to run in families. I have tested kids who are siblings where both have had it many times. But not all the time. If a relative suffered from depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcholism, or another mental health condition, get tested.
  • Childhood Trauma. There may be an epigenetic component to the condition. Trauma may cause a rise in inflammation in the body and lead to this condition.
  • Chronic infection. It is difficult to know if the problem exists because of the infection or if the lack of zinc leads to poor immunity.
  • Alcoholism of the sufferer or parents.
  • Environmental toxicity. Heavy metal poisoning in particular could play a factor in the cause of pyroluria.
  • Processed foods. A standard American diet of processed foods and sugar can stress the body out and lead to absorption problems.

Stress may be a trigger to pyroluria or it could be a result of it. It is not clear at the moment.

What are Pyrrole Disorder Symptoms?

Pyroluria has some distinct symptoms. I have a questionnaire that helps people determine if they have the condition. Most of the symptoms that I see in my practice revolve around mental health problems. But many people experience problems with other areas of the body.  Let’s start with the mental health symptoms first though.

Mentally, people feel stressed. There is a high amount of severe inner tension or anxiety. Tolerance to stress is low. For example, someone who easily stresses out with minimal traffic may have pyroluria. Social withdrawal is common as is sensitivity to crowds.

But more severe mental health symptoms exist too. There can be periods of mild to severe depression followed by hyperactivity. Episodic anger outbursts or other mood swings are common. Panica attacks or severe anxiety. They may enjoy an argument but be upset by criticism. In severe cases, pyrolurics may hallucinate or have delusion disorder.

Physical symptoms also exist though. Here’s a partial list:

  • Fatigue easily likely due to nervous exhaustion.
  • Insomnia.
  • Poor dream recall
  • Ringing in the ears.
  • Digestive disturbances including irritable bowel, abdominal pain, and frequent gas and bloating. (They may have tried avoiding meat as a way to deal but this actually makes the problems worse as we’ll see.)
  • Gluten intolerance
  • Blood sugar control. There may be hypoglycemia with blood sugar drops.
  • Allergies to food or the environment
  • Frequent illnesses
  • Morning nausea and poor appetite in the morning. They may skip breakfast.

There are some people who have few of these symptoms but may still have pyroluria. You may have done blood work for zinc for example and shown that it is normal but still have symptoms of zinc deficiency. This is typically caused by pyrrole disorder. So what can you do? My article about pyroluria gives suggestions but the short answer is get tested! I can do pyroluria testing and help develop a custom treatment plan via telemedicine services. Call today to learn more.

How You Can Get Results from Confidential Telehealth Services for Mental Health

by Leave a Comment

People from all over the world contact me for online doctor consultations. They or their loved ones have different problems. Anxiety, ADD, oppositional defiance, OCD, RAD, autism, and depression are some of those problems. They want to know if can I help them using a natural approach without their coming to see me in Portland, Oregon. Do I offer telehealth services for mental health? The short answer is, sometimes, yes! Insurance may or may not cover it. And I have certain restrictions on how I can help, for sure. But telemedicine is the wave of the future, and may be a good approach for many people. What does this process look like?

Telemedicine services or telepsychiatry is like having an in-person appointment. We can have our appointment on the phone or via HIPAA-compliant video. For most of the diagnoses and/or symptoms I listed above, telemedicine works great. You schedule an appointment and fill out the paperwork. I review the paperwork before the appointment. I have you get labs based on the Walsh Protocol to find what the imbalance may be. Any imbalance found allows me to treat with supplements.

Telemedicine services are a great option for many patients.  Most of my patients don’t live in places that have access to alternative providers. And my approach is truly unique. I have seen amazing progress with patients using “just” nutrient therapy. It’s not just taking a bunch of random supplements. It’s a targeted approach to balancing out the body. The combination of the intake paperwork and labs helps me determine the right supplements. In general, we do follow-up appointments every 4-6 weeks, depending upon the case, to make sure you are progressing well.

There are many things, though, that I cannot treat using telemedicine without another doctor’s help. In these cases, I can act as a health consultant. Any time a physical exam is required, you will need to visit your local physician. For example, many digestive ailments need a physical exam and/or imaging for proper diagnosis. While I can assist with naturopathic treatments using telemedicine services, I likely couldn’t diagnose. Some patients may also need neurofeedback or other services. These require a trip to my office or seeing a local provider. In some cases, I can give a referral depending upon where you live.

Also, sometimes other natural therapies are required to treat the problem. In this case, I have other approaches such as biotherapeutic drainage and botanical medicine to assist you.

Find out more about telehealth services for mental health and whether they are right for you or your family member. Call my office today.

Meditation and Anxiety: What You Need to Know About the Benefits of Mindfulness

by Leave a Comment

For many people anxiety is a daily occurrence. Many don’t even know they are anxious. They feel stressed. Maybe they have a vague sense that something isn’t right. They can’t quite put their finger on what the problem is. Some people feel something in their body. They get a headache. Or their chest feels tight. But other people get angry or explode for no reason. Does this describe you? If so, you may be one of the 40 million Americans that experience anxiety at some point in their lives. What can you do about it? Mindfulness meditation can help relieve anxiety.  How does meditation work? What sort of meditations are helpful for anxiety? Let’s explore some of these questions.

The solution that most Americans reach for is a pill. Many people turn to medication. And for many, drugs can help relieve symptoms. But they don’t remove the underlying cause. As I’ve written elsewhere, testing can reveal the underlying physiological causes. But what if there is nothing measurably wrong with your body. Now what? Meditation may be able to help.

For many people, anxiety is a common occurrence.  They know they are anxious. They know what it feels like and it’s not comfortable. They can’t sit still. Their focus is terrible. They are antsy. They might even feel a little agitated. Focusing on anything is difficult.

Other people don’t know they are anxious. They are agitated. They may get into a fight with friends or loved ones. Or they mindlessly eat. Meditation can help break these patterns.

Meditation for Anxiety

It used to be that when meditation was brought up, one’s thoughts went to crosslegged monks on a mountain top. But meditation has become common in the US. The National Institute of Health estimates that about 18 million adults practice meditation on a regular basis.

So what exactly is meditation? It is the act of calming one’s mind and bringing attention to one thing. It could be counting breaths or watching a candle. Every time your attention drifts off you bring your attention back to that one thing. It is a state of calm alertness but more than concentration.

Concentration may be focus on one object. Reading may be concentration, but it isn’t meditation. There is a calm stillness to meditation. You just watch. You watch your breathing, you watch your thoughts. There is no attachment to anything. Writing could be a form of meditation. As I write at this moment, it is like meditation. I am concentrating and watching my mind. But I have an agenda. I want to be sure to cover certain topics. My attachment precludes me from meditating. Meditation is about letting go of outcomes. You are just still. And if you can’t be still, you notice that.

Meditation brings many health benefits. The most obvious is stress reduction. But some research has shown that meditation helps other health problems too. These include lowering blood pressure, improving IBS symptoms, and relieving depression and anxiety. It doesn’t help everyone, and I’ll get to that in a moment. But it does appear to change brain circuits involved with regulating emotions. This will help reduce inflammatory and stress hormones. In theory, meditation sounds great.

But how do you meditate if you’re anxious? We’ve already figured out that you can’t sit still! Sometimes you can’t calm your thoughts down. And sometimes, the act of meditating can make you feel worse. When I was studying counseling psychology, I had a supervisor, Gail Sher, who is a Buddhist. She was an avid meditator. She advised against prescribing meditation for people with anxiety because it often made things worse. They might become more anxious trying to meditate. So how can one benefit from meditation if one is anxious? There are several options. Let’s run through a quick list.

Breath work: Meditation is about slowing down. When we are anxious, everything tends to speed up. Slow down your breath and see if that helps. Sometimes one minute of steady breathing – an inhale for 6 seconds followed by an exhale for 6 seconds – can help.  Often, when one is anxious, it’s because the brain’s alarm response is on over-drive. Simple breath work can be enough to start sending signals from the heart to the brain to turn off the alarm response.

Take a moment to feel your body: Don’t try to push the sensations away. Just feel the anxiety. Notice how jittery you feel. Or notice the tightness in your chest. Just feel what you are feeling in your body in the moment. Don’t judge it and don’t try to change it. If you have experienced a lot of trauma in your life, this may be difficult to do on your own. Many people who have experienced trauma have difficulty feeling their bodies. If that’s the case, try another method. And get help from a qualified trauma specialist.

Listen to the sounds outside: If you can get into nature and listen to the sound of birds, waves, or running water, that can be healing. Many of my patients report feeling less anxious after walking in the woods.

Be mindful of what you are doing: Focus on one task and do just that task with full attention. It can be almost anything, so long as it has your full attention. But it should be something that doesn’t stress you out. For example, don’t try to balance your checkbook if that makes you stressed, and be mindful of that. Do something you like to do, but do it with your full attention.

If you know why you are anxious, you can talk over the issue with a friend. Maybe you have been ruminating or worrying about something. Getting an outside perspective can help ..

Focus on the Anxiety: For some people experiencing the anxiety can be extremely liberating. Often, it is the avoidance of the discomfort that makes it worse. Feel the anxiety. Feel what your body feels like anxious. Notice how you have difficulty breathing. Don’t try to change it. Just let it be there without judgment.

Avoiding judgment is one of the most important things for anxiety.  It’s OK to feel anxious. It’s OK to experience whatever it is underneath the anxiety. Anxiety isn’t truly an emotion. It’s a state of not feeling an emotion. It’s more rumination on something that isn’t happening in the moment. And that is why getting into the moment through meditation or other means can be so helpful.

If you have trouble with these techniques or meditation it may be that something else is out of balance. It could be something in the brain or the body. Neurofeedback and HeartMath can be extremely useful. LENS neurofeedback can help train your mind to be less reactive to situations. HeartMath is biofeedback that helps people use breath and good feelings to bring body systems into alignment. Both are powerful in gaining some of the benefits of meditation without meditating. Of course, there could be a biochemical imbalance, but I don’t recommend medication. Simple blood and urine tests may uncover the imbalance and help you find balance with a simple supplement regimen.

Anxiety is a big problem in America at the moment. I see many patients with this problem and/or other mental health issues. Fortunately, there is help available without drugs. Meditation may be a good solution for many. But if it makes your anxiety worse, stop. Try one of the techniques above. If those don’t work, get professional help. It may be that you will need it anyway. But mindfulness has helped many people all over. Don’t let anxiety stop you from being your best self.

 

The Secret Way to Boost Your Brain Using LENS Neurofeedback Therapy

by 4 Comments

In other articles, I’ve talked extensively about neurofeedback therapy including LENS. But I wanted to describe LENS in more detail in this article as I have been getting more questions about this type of treatment. LENS is short for Low Energy Neurofeedback System. But how does LENS work and what does it treat? LENS neurofeedback is excellent for mind-body healing. It helps both physical issues such as migraines, autism, and post-concussion symptoms. But it can also help issues in the mind such as emotional trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

LENS neurofeedback is a simple procedure that helps heal the brain. Using the patient’s brain wave pattern, the system nudges the brain. This helps it transform maladaptive patterns. Parts of the brain that aren’t functioning optimally start working more efficiently. Over-functioning areas return to a more normal level. As the brain balances, the patient feels better. It’s safe, simple, and effective as appointments are generally short, but the benefits last for a long time.

How LENS Neurofeedback Works

The procedure of neurofeedback therapy is simple. I attached wires to your ears and head. The wires have a clip at the end and are technically called “leads”. With LENS, there are one on each ear and one or two attached to the scalp. I generally start with a mapping process.  This is a mild form of treatment allowing your brain to acclimate to the neurofeedback stimulation. But it also allows me to get a sense about how your brain is working.

Depending upon the protocol, you may close your eyes for a few seconds or a few minutes. This is repeated depending upon the type of session (mapping or not) and what the treatment goals are. In general, sessions are less than 30 minutes.  I spend a lot of the session assessing the person before and after giving neurofeedback. I want to see subtle changes that may have happened during the session, but also during the previous week. For most patients, one visit a week is enough to see benefits grow over time.

Typically, it takes 2-5 sessions to complete a map depending on the person. Some patients are more sensitive or reactive and benefit from fewer points over time. But those patients typically notice the changes right away and seeing improvement in many areas. With LENS neurofeedback, sometimes less is more. Fewer points result in bigger changes.

With a completed map, I start to analyze it. I won’t go into all the details of the maps here, but we can explore some of the concepts related to maps and neurofeedback therapy.

Types of Brain Waves Measured

Brain waves have two basic measurements, amplitude, and frequency. Amplitude represents the height of the waves. Frequency is the speed of the wave and how we define the type of wave. In general, there are four types of brain waves that are measured with neurofeedback. The chart below is a short summary of that information. (You can click on it to enlarge.)

brainwave_patterns.

The frequency determines the type of brainwave. Each wave frequency will also have a height. A person can have delta waves, for example, with tall or short amplitudes. The different types of waves and amplitudes give us a picture of what is happening in a patient’s brain. As you can see from the table, different types of brain waves have different meanings. Treatment protocols change depending on what symptoms the person is having.

How does LENS Neurofeedback work? No one knows for sure. But we do know it works for many conditions. Several studies on the instrumentation have shown that very little energy goes to the brain. It produces 10 to the minus 22 watts/cm2. That’s not much energy. When it was first tested, scientists assumed it must be a placebo effect because it is so low. But double-blind placebo-controlled studies have shown changes that could be seen on fMRI. A functional MRI can measure changes in the brain in real-time. Patients who received real LENS treatment showed changes while those who received the control didn’t. So what is going on? There are several theories including affecting the vagus nerve, changing blood profusion, or brain plasticity. Brain plasticity is a term coined by Marion Diamond, Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. She published a paper in 1970 suggesting that our brains adapt when we are exposed to different situations and stimuli. This allows for the brain to develop continuously if stimulated.

(As a side note, Dr. Diamond was a professor of mine when I went to Cal as an undergrad. She would write on the chalkboard with both hands and she could play tennis with both too. (Not in class though.) She told us she did this to work both sides of her brain.)

Dr. Len Ochs, the inventor of LENS, said that the signal from LENS may be stimulating the brain to develop new neural connections. This results in changes in the brain. This makes sense given Dr. Diamond’s theory. But the reasons that neurofeedback works may be less important. It works for a variety of conditions and people get better with almost no known long term side effects.

What LENS Neurofeedback Can Treat

LENS neurofeedback can treat almost any condition related to the brain. I have successfully treated people with Multiple Sclerosis, anxiety, depression, autism, insomnia, OCD, migraines or other headaches, RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder), ADD, epilepsy (seizures), and Parkinson’s. The results have been great for all, although other Naturopathic treatments were necessary in some cases. Concussions, post-concussion syndrome, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) respond very well to LENS neurofeedback therapy.  In terms of head injury, it was believed neurons died as a result of an injury. Now we know they don’t die. They involute. Connections get lost and the brain’s efficiency decreases. But LENS neurofeedback therapy appears to “wake” those neurons up, improving symptoms. It may be a clue as to how this form of neurofeedback therapy works.  And it may be why LENS neurofeedback is so helpful with other conditions. For example, some of my patients find their anxiety or insomnia improving though I am treating headaches.

In the case of PTSD, many patient’s reactions to stressful events decrease. The LENS neurofeedback therapy appears to help them be more aware of their reactions in these situations. This allows them to function better in relationships, their jobs, and in society.

There are many types of neurofeedback therapy, but I mostly use LENS neurofeedback therapy. It is simple, easy, effective, and has few if any, side effects. When they do occur, the side effects such as fatigue, are short lasting. The benefits, though, are not. Patients improve and often don’t need other treatments. I have seen life-changing improvements in as few as ten sessions. I find that the majority of my patients improve from neurofeedback therapy regardless of their condition. I offer LENS neurofeedback in Honolulu, Hawaii. You can email me or call my office to learn more or to schedule a session. I look forward to meeting you in person.

What You Need to Know about Diet and Autism Treatment

by Leave a Comment

As a Naturopathic Physician, I get many questions about diet and detox. The most common question I get is around diet with autistic children and adults. Diet plays a major role in autism treatment. Why does this diet work with this child with autism but not this other one? The answer to this question applies to more than just autism. People are often confused about why a new diet may stop working after some time. When they first start it, they feel good but after some time, they notice that nothing changes. Or they tried it one time and it helped, but another time the same diet change didn’t help. What’s going on? In this post, I want to explore these questions and discuss the factors that may contribute to this.

Diet and Autism

I started working with people diagnosed with Autism a few years into my practice. Autism is either a series of conditions or one condition with different causes. It presents in many ways based on the person. I started using LENS neurofeedback in my practice in 2009. I had one child with Autism respond immediately to the treatment. After that, I had many children and adults with Autism come to see me. I ask all new patients about diet. With Autistic children, the parents had tried many different diets. Gluten-free, casein-free, specific-carbohydrate diet, phenol-free, and others were all tried by different people. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. The Autism Research Institute has a chart that shows the efficacy of different diets. What was interesting to me was that some of the diets helped some of the people some of the time. There wasn’t any one diet that worked with everyone. And some people found specific improvements with one diet but not another. Some patients, for example, found that sensitivity to noises improved with gluten-free diets. But they saw no change in sensitivity to touch with the same diet. It was curious.
SIDE NOTE: If you look at the chart carefully, there is a column that shows the ratio of better:worse. The ratio on average is much higher for alternative treatments than for pharmacological treatments. The only pharmacological treatment that shows promise at this time is the IVIG therapy. It is a therapy used to boost the immune system. The chart doesn’t evaluate neurofeedback.
Dr. Kenneth Aiken, a nutritionist in the UK, has a theory that makes sense. His book, “Dietary Interventions in Autism Spectrum Disorders,” gives an excellent overview of the subject. Dr. Aiken explores the different diets and comes up with a few recommendations. It’s a good book about diets in general but he highlights that maybe autism is a series of disorders and not just one. This would explain why some people do better avoiding gluten but not something else. Dr. Aiken comes up with a more holistic dietary approach that is relatively easy for most families. He addresses the challenge that many autistic children don’t eat enough. (If you read the book and are still confused, feel free to make an appointment with me to discuss. I have many different approaches to the treatment of autism. )

Nutrigenomics

What his book doesn’t cover in detail is epigenetics. I have created a podcast about this, but want to explain more here. Epigenetics is the science of how the environment affects our DNA expression. What we eat, drink, breathe, and experience changes how our cells turn processes on and off. There is a relatively new field called nutrigenomics that explores how what we eat can change our DNA function. Research suggests that diet has a big impact on the function of DNA. In mouse studies, researchers observe physical changes in mice with unhealthy diets. Traits like diabetes are then passed to successive generations. This transmission occurs even if the mother changes her diet back to the healthy diet. An intervention like supplementation can restore function. (this part is confusing) It’s amazing.
What does this have to do with Autism? Autism is most likely not a genetic disease but an epigenetic one. Dietary changes can reduce symptoms, but in most cases doesn’t cause a complete reversal. In general, I find that supplementation and dietary changes together are more effective. This could be why my patients of complain that a simple diet shift stops helping. They need more than just a shift in diet.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t change your diet if it’s not healthy! But we shouldn’t expect that by itself to always fix the problem. Other factors may be part of this situation and I will cover those issues in another blog post. For now, remember that diet is part of the solution for autism treatment and other issues.  But there are other aspects that are important in total health. If you want to learn more, feel free to schedule an appointment with me.

The Astonishing Way that Your Mind Can Heal Your Body

by Leave a Comment

The yoga studio I go to has different teachers that teach classes for students of all levels. It is unusual, as there is a mix of advanced students and beginning ones in the same class.  Last week, one of the teachers had us do a lot of planks. This is a core building exercise that requires the yogi to hold the pose as if doing a pushup – at the top of the pushup – sometimes for several minutes. After the class, I had a discussion with another student about all of the planks. “It’s not that the pose is physically hard to hold for that long,” she said to me. “It’s that my mind has trouble holding the pose.” It was a curious comment. What is it about doing something painful that is hard? Why do we have trouble pushing through the sensation?

In this post, I want to discuss how one holds emotions in the body.  Emotional healing is an important aspect of physical healing, and an important part of my practice. But how do we release emotions? Why do they come out at times when we don’t expect them to appear? This is an aspect of my medical practice that fascinates me, and the answer isn’t clear.  The simple answer is, when the person is ready.  There are many techniques to release this storehouse of emotions, and we can explore some of them.

I think most people would agree that stress is held in the body. It’s something that one can feel and experience. Many people feel the effects of a long day at work in their neck or shoulders. But there is a deeper issue that can happen where trauma and grief are stored in the body. I have worked with many patients who have discussed this phenomenon as part of their work with me. Many report breaking down in tears while exercising as something shifted within their body. Emotions stored are released as part of the healing process.

How do we access these emotions physically? Candace Pert was a molecular biologist who studied the mind-body connection.  She discovered that the body synthesized tiny molecules in response to difficult emotions. These get deposited into various places in the body.  She and other scientists proposed that the body is a storehouse of unconscious thoughts and feelings. All of the things that have happened to us are stored in our bodies in response, regardless of whether we recall them or not.

Yoga and Emotions

Why is yoga so helpful for clearing negative emotions? Yoga, as an exercise, focuses on three things: movement, breath, and awareness. These three components play out in many of the techniques used to release emotions. When most people think of yoga, they are thinking about the exercise. Yoga is actually a series of practices that include Hatha Yoga, a series of poses. These poses are either done individually or in a sequence called a vinyasa. Each pose, or asana, has a specific breathing rhythm associated with it. The transitions between asanas also have a breathing pattern. There is a synchronization between the breath and the movement. The breath is part of the ritual and allows for a cleansing of the mind, body, and emotions.  The practice requires awareness and focus. One may become aware of the places that are stuck and painful.

Many yoga teachers say that yoga begins when one wants to move out of a pose or quit.  Bringing attention to the discomfort can help release the pain. The awareness requires non-judgement. It is what a Buddhist would call “Mindfulness.” Mindfulness is awareness without struggle. It is pure acceptance of what is.  It is about being with what is true for you in that moment. You accept the feeling, the pain, the experience.  And by doing that, the discomfort magically begins to soften. It is as if we have given our bodies permission to let go.

Emotional Healing Therapy

Yoga is such a wonderful metaphor for the process of letting go. I suspect that many people benefit from yoga because there is a visceral experience. You can feel where you are stuck and release that tension. You feel the struggle in your body. For example, let’s say you’re trying to stretch your hamstrings. There’s a quality of softening you must embrace to do so. Otherwise you are just tearing at the muscle fibers. You learn to let go.

Doing this on a psychological level, though, isn’t always as easy. This is because we have a different type of block called a “defense.” We still have the same struggle. It’s just happening in our minds. Psychologists tell us that we have defenses for a reason. We build defenses as a way to protect ourselves. They may be hiding trauma, abuse, or shame.  We create them because at the time they form, we don’t have the emotional capacity to process what is going on. The defense becomes a part of us and we begin to identify with it. It is analagous to the tight hamstrings. We don’t remember when the last time the legs were loose.

To move around defenses, psychologists have created various methods. Emotional healing techniques allow us to access these parts of ourselves. Talk therapy helps us see our defenses. We gain greater awareness and can change our typical response. Other techniques focus not so much on the spoken word, but some sort of visceral release. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)  is a technique that helps patients process trauma.  Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT uses a self-tapping pattern while recalling a specific event. Both of these techniques appear to allow for the body to reprocess the events on a cellular level.

While we don’t always recall the specifics, release of the event is possible. These methods suggest that there is a connection between our minds and our body. Memories are stored in the body and accessed through the brain. But the use of these techniques allows us to move around our blocks. We don’t always have to recall a specific incident. (Although both the above techniques require one to do so.) A specific event isn’t always recalled while doing yoga. It arises out of the breathing and the movement.

In my medical practice, understanding this is crucial, as so many people come to me with anxiety. Very often, anxiety strikes and is free floating. There is no easily identifiable event or experience that one can identify.  Focus on the past is less important. Focus on the present is key. It is where the defense lives. It is where the body lives.

A method that I use in my office works on a different principle of mind-body connection. HeartMath is a form of biofeedback that uses heart rate to help the user relax. It’s more than relaxation though. It helps the person see on the screen how their body reacts to different types of thoughts. Calming thoughts help bring the body in a state of coherence or where different systems in the body work together. Negative thoughts bring the body out of coherence. Watching this on the screen allows the user to learn to breathe better to gain more coherence. HeartMath works by helping the user stay in the present and notice subtle changes in their body.

Emotional healing during yoga is a great illustration of a mind-body connection. The body remembers even if we don’t. But there really isn’t a distinction. Our body knows, and it keeps track. From the mild aches and pains we feel getting up in the morning to full-blown disease, our bodies remember.

Contact Me

P: 808-726-2772 (phone and text)
F:503-200-1044
E: info@askdrgil.com

Recent Posts

Ask Dr. Gil Podcast

Dr. Gil Winkelman ND

34 episodes