Colorado Springs Functional Medicine

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Enterovirus 68 – Don’t freak out

I was in a seminar all weekend and honestly, don’t pay much attention to news but a few people have alerted me to the ‘mystery Enterovirus 68’ that’s going around.  Before you freak out, take a deep breath.  

The term outbreak and epidemic is being thrown around which are scary terms.  For something to be considered an epidemic, only 4 people have to be infected.   Current estimates are that 1,000 kids are sick with this virus.  If there’s an estimated 72,000,000 kids in the US, 1,000 is pretty small and your child has a 0.0013% chance of getting the virus.

Media outlets will also show you pictures of kids hooked up to ventilators, bed-ridden, and feeble looking.  Here in Colorado, Children’s Hospital of Denver has admitted 86 kids out of more than 900 that have symptoms.

Enterovirus 68

Who are the most susceptible?  It’s the kids that are already sick.  The kids that are having the hardest time with this virus are the ones that have asthma.  Dr. Kurt, how can you call a kid with asthma already sick?  Imagine a person that you think is the pinnacle of health, do they have asthma?  No.

Asthma is an underlying immune dysfunction that is more than just a lung illness.  The affected breathing is most likely gut dysfunction, over production of antibodies, chronic inflammation, and autonomic imbalance, which stem from deficiencies and toxicities that could have started in the womb, prior to the child even being born.  Most of these kids are on steroids to control exacerbations of asthma.  What’s one of the biggest effects of steroids?  A decreased immune system.  Asthma is listed under the morbidity stats of the CDC.  If you’re on the morbidity list, you’re not healthy.

According to the CDC, 6.8 million kids have asthma, which is roughly 9.3% of our kids.  What’s the bigger issue, that close to 10% of our kids have a chronic condition in asthma or that the news is littered with hysteria that your kid has a 0.0013% of contracting Enterovirus 68?  The problem and reason that asthma continues to get worse is that we now associate being sick as being ‘normal.’  If you want real news, what about the 1,800,000 visits to the ER with the primary diagnosis of asthma?  1.8 million ER trips for ‘normal’ sickness vs. 900 ER trips for news hysteria.

If you’re worried about the Enterovirus 68, then do as the CDC recommends and wash your hands, cover your cough or sneeze, and don’t hang out with other sick people.  If you want to a create amazing health for your child, dig deeper, and team up with a professional that understands the mission behind creating More Health, Less Healthcare.

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#ALSIceBucketChallenge, what about the real victims?

I have been away from the office for a good 10 days.  By away from the office, I mean I didn’t have cell reception (I still have a dumb phone) and our GPS wouldn’t even spot our vacation spot.  I did have some spotty WiFi connection with my iPod at the vacation spot to check things online once in a while. 

ice bucketOne message I received was that I was challenged to the ALS Ice Bucket on the head thing.  My first thought was ‘not me, not now.’  My second though was still a big, fat, ‘no.’  It was an easy decision not to participate.  Why?  Because it’s not going to do anything to cure the disease.

How many walks, rides, 5ks, and community events do we have to raise awareness and research dollars to end a disease?  If you live in a city big enough like Colorado Springs, you can probably find one every weekend.  A ton of time, effort, and resources go into making these events successful and what do we have to show for it?

Back in the 60’s, Nixon fired up the nation to raise $1 billion to end cancer.  The next decade we needed another billion, and every decade after that, it seems that we need more money to do more research.  It’s not just cancer.  You name a diagnosis, there’s a fundraising effort to support research to cure that disease.  Billions upon billions have been raised in the name of cures and research and we get sicker and sicker.  It’s not working.

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Measles Schmeasles, Herd Turd

As a parent, you can probably trace all decisions into a level of fear management.  We all do things because we think it’s good for our kids but how do you let the fear of not doing that good thing dictate the behavior?  We don’t give our kids cereal and milk because we know the benefits and have seen the result of feeding them a paleo style diet.  But I also fear what would happen if we started slipping and letting them eat the Standard American Diet (SAD).  I would like to think my decisions are based more upon the short and long term benefits opposed to the short and long term consequences.

The problem is that the consequence side is an emotional side.  This emotional side is where our ‘healthcare’ system fears parents into doing things they are not comfortable doing.

It’s weekly that I get questions about vaccines.  These parents are already leaning towards non-vaccinating or spreading the vaccine schedule out.  As confident as these parents are in their decision, they always question (as any parent would), what could happen by not vaccinating.

For measles, the danger of not getting the vaccine is that you can get measles.  According to the CDC, measles begins after 7-14 days after a person is infected, and includes: blotchy skin; fever; cough; runny nose; red, watery eyes, feeling run down; and tiny white spots with bluish white centers found inside the mouth (Koplik’s spots).  The fever, cough, runny nose, and sore throat starts the indication that something is happening.  Doesn’t look much different than any infection right?

After 3-5 days, the rash starts. The fever may spike but a fever may spike in any virus, right?  After a few days the fever and rash clear up.  You had measles, you are now immune.  Welcome to being human.

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Snack Bar Review.

Rule #1 while grocery shopping is to never shop while hungry.  This should not be an epiphany to anyone on a health journey.  But I broke this golden rule recently.  

I was at my favorite local natural health store to pick up some water for the office.  I was hungry so I ventured down the aisle that contains all the protein, meal replacement, and supplement bars to see if they had anything new and eye catching that may entice my appetite.

They did.  I actually picked up 3 of them.  This is my snack bar review.

Tour de Bars

1. Epic Bar.  I’ve been seeing this bar more and more lately through the publications that I read from running and CrossFit magazines to paleo publications.  The concept of it really entices me.  It’s basically meat in a bag made of bison and bacon.  I love bison and bacon so why not?

2. Clif Kit’s Organic Fruit and Seed Bar.  This is basically Clif Bar’s version of the Lara Bar.  If I need something quick, Lara Bar is usually a quick eat to pick me up or even give to our son as a snack.  Kit’s looked very similar to Lara Bar just with some added chia seeds.

3. 22 days daily Mocha Mantra Bar. This is a vegan protein bar that was gluten free and dairy free.  And who doesn’t love the flavor of mocha?  I was hungry, give me a break.

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Best Seth Godin Advice Ever.

I just read a great blog post from one of my most favorite authors on the planet,  Seth Godin.  It was only 2 sentences long.  It goes something like this:

“Don’t measure anything unless the data helps you make a better decision or change your actions.  If you’re not prepared to change your diet or workouts, don’t get on the scale.” – Seth Godin.

Mr. Godin is in the marscaleketing world but he just nailed one of the biggest reasons why our healthcare system fails to create health. We have become a nation that is focused on our numbers.  Most people know their total cholesterol, blood pressure, their weight, and maybe even their blood sugar levels.

The problem is that with all the emphasis on the numbers, only 1 solution has been offered…a drug to control that number.  We have been led to believe that the only reasonable and successful manner to manage those numbers is through chemistry not innate to the body.

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