Toxic heavy metals are found in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the houses we live in. They have become so pervasive in our environment that it is no longer a question if a person has heavy metals in his or her body. The question is how much metal and which ones. Toxic metal exposure can result in a wide array of common mental health disorders that can mimic many psychiatric “diseases” and thus lead to psychoactive prescription drug use or other unnecessary treatments. Some of the metal-related neuropsychiatric symptoms include memory loss, cognitive impairment, attention deficit … Continue reading
Category Archives: Medicine
Before the introduction of psychiatric medications in the 1950s, researchers studied the relationship between nutrients and mental health. They noted, for example, that people known to be deficient in B vitamins had more of a tendency to be moody and irritable. However, interest in nutrition took a nosedive with the ever-growing number of prescription medications that doctors used to treat their patients’ symptoms. Why do we need to take supplements? Until recently, doctors frequently reassured patients that there was no need to take supplements and that eating fruits and vegetables would provide all the nutrients they needed. In fact, I … Continue reading
In the early nineties, a 38-year-old patient named Marianne came to me complaining that her antipsychotic medication had made her gain more than twenty extra pounds of weight. The medication also made her chronically tired and restless. She wanted to look for an alternate way to treat her schizophrenia and said that she was willing to “try anything.” And that’s what we did. I had read in the medical literature that some cases of schizophrenia resolved with high doses of B vitamins, and some with high doses of fish oils. We tried that approach along with many other vitamins and … Continue reading
“Is this gluten-sensitivity business just the latest fad among food fanatics?” An older man shopping at the local health food store recently asked me this question, knowing that I was a doctor. When I first began to practice medicine in 1983, I rarely encountered patients with serious gastrointestinal problems or food allergies and sensitivities. Since the early 1990s, various gastrointestinal conditions have become increasingly common. In recent times, about half of the patients in my medical practice have one or more abdominal symptoms, ranging in severity from chronic diarrhea or constipation, chronic gas and bloating, and gastro-esophageal reflux, to multiple … Continue reading
We know that the concept of vaccination is valid and has saved lives. But do we know for sure that the additives in the vaccines made by the vaccine-manufacturers—and endorsed by the CDC—are as safe as they claim? Most of the studies on vaccine safety that get published are designed and funded by the pharmaceutical industry—an inherent conflict of interest. Does the CDC, with CEOs of the vaccine manufacturing companies on its board, deserve our trust when it comes to the safety of vaccines? Let’s look at the information we have available. Long-term vaccine safety studies Astonishingly, no long-term safety … Continue reading
In the US, shortly after babies are born in the hospital, they are taken from their mothers and subjected to a number of interventions in the newborn nursery, including antibiotic ointment in the eyes, an injection of synthetic vitamin K to prevent internal bleeding, and often an injection of the hepatitis B vaccine. Three hepatitis B shots are part of the standard government-recommended childhood vaccination schedule, with the first dose given to newborns before discharge in most US hospitals. Even premature infants are given the hepatitis B vaccine while in neonatal intensive care nurseries. What do these injections do to … Continue reading
The concept of vaccination is brilliant. Minute amounts of infectious particles (antigens) in the vaccines stimulate the immune system to make antibodies to the infectious substances and can thereby potentially prevent specific illnesses. However, vaccines that are used commercially contain other substances besides the infectious agents, such as preservatives, immune stimulants, and culture mediums. These additives have the potential to cause harm. Women who are pregnant, or thinking about getting pregnant in the future, will be faced with important decisions regarding vaccinations that could significantly impact the health of their unborn babies. Pregnant women have to make these important decisions … Continue reading
Rachel began her life with the deck stacked against her. She has had serious medical problems since birth, most of which are related to the genes she inherited from her parents, and then exacerbated by environmental factors, like the food she eats and the air she breathes. With persistence and determination, Rachel has managed to navigate her way through life, overcoming one challenging health obstacle after another—all the time maintaining her inimitable Jewish sense of humor even in the bleakest of times. We actually laugh together during her appointments with me—even when she is in serious distress. Rachel’s long list … Continue reading
“I can’t believe what just happened,” she said breathlessly, as she repeatedly raised and lowered her arm, free of all pain and limitations. A few weeks ago, Sydney Coates, a 67 year-old advocate for the elderly and the dying, called me to ask if she could be seen right away, saying that she had torn her left rotator cuff tendons. While squatting on the floor to remove a stain, Sydney reached her left arm around to pick up a large bowl of water. As she brought her arm back, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. After standing up, … Continue reading
A good friend of mine wrote to me that approximately twenty years ago his wife had what was diagnosed as an aggressive type of breast cancer, discovered on routine mammogram screening. Both he and his wife feel that early detection was lifesaving and that the current diagnostic protocols are not aggressive enough. He wrote, “It’s one thing to speak globally about over diagnosis leading to over treatment, but there’s little consolation in being a statistic, the exception that proves somebody else’s rule.” Many of us have a friend or family member with breast cancer, and some of us have lost … Continue reading