Posts Tagged ‘magnesium deficiency’

Pain Seminar: Key Highlights…by Madonna Guy ND

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Key highlights of November’s Pain Seminar at New Leaf Natural Therapies were interesting…  Attendees were from different walks of life, with varying levels of pain and inflammatory conditions: gut pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, exhaustion, rheumatoid arthritis, menstrual pain, insomnia, depression…

When you put it all together pain, regardless of the type, comes from the same causes which were discussed:

  1. chronic nutritional deficiences such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and B vitamins
  2. inflammation
  3. acidity
  4. toxicity
  5. structural imbalances and
  6. stress… leading to the fight and flight response

Our tests can measure these problems and then our naturopathic processes can start to reverse these problems in the body.

Madonna Guy ND
Chief Clinician

Side-effects of Natural Therapies???

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Are there any side-effects of natural therapies?  Having been in the industry for 20 years I have a lot of thoughts on this.  People respond in different ways to different therapies.

Imagine an elderly person, on many medications, who has her first massage in years: a gentle relaxation massage.  Imagine some of the muscle starting to release toxins – inflammatory hormones being released into the bloodstream, coupled with a lack of hydration since medications dehydrate the system so much!  Link that to a huge magnesium deficiency created by a lifetime of poor diet, excess tea and coffee and depletion via the medication and you end up with pain after a massage…  a side-effect???

There needs to be support for natural therapies for pensioners!  The only healthcare the elderly can often afford is medical drugs with it’s huge government assistance.  It’s devastating for us to speak to people every single day who cannot afford our services and yet they get unhealthier and unhealthier following a ‘medical lifestyle’!  This needs to be changed!

Madonna Guy ND

Chief Clinician at New Leaf

Madonna on Radio 4BC: chronic sinusitis, magnesium and iron deficiency

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

I did another session today on Radio 4BC with Alex Bernard: the callers asked about chronic sinusitis; magnesium deficiency in the soil (and foods) and a wife with iron deficiency. 

The poor girl with the chronic sinusitis has been treating it medically for sometime, with lots of doses of anti-biotics.  The problem with anti-biotics is that although it helps in the short-term it doesn’t help the long-term problem – the immune system isn’t functioning properly.  Rhinocort and claryntyne seem to work in the short term but long term the problem simply returns – the cause of the inflammation hasn’t been found.  What can we do?  We can do a live blood analysis and determine how active the immune system is, along with the gut.  If there is leaky gut that needs healing before the sinusitis can ever be healed.  We can do some food or environmental sensitivity testing and immune balancing with kinesiology.  We would also provide some supplementation to really kick the body into action, reduce the inflammation of the sinuses and prevent further damage of the gut.

Another gentleman asked why Australian soils are magnesium deficient.  It is my understanding that it’s not just magnesium, but many other minerals as well that are very deficient, and that over 70% of Aussies are magnesium deficient – of course lots of other things deplete this mineral such as coffee, tea, stress, insomnia as well as many drugs.

And with the lady who has long-term iron deficiency, it was asked if liquid iron tonics were better than tablet iron supplements.  This may be true except that it’s more ‘dodgy forms’ of iron which cause constipation (the concern) so when naturopaths prescribe iron we use good forms such as ‘diclycinated iron’ which is absorbed without causing constipation.  If the stomach or small intestine are not working properly, we don’t absorb iron very well either…we break it down firstly in the stomach and then absorb in the small intestines…

Until next week,

Madonna Guy ND

Another caller asked about iron supplements

Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia are 2 of the most frustrating ‘disease states’ these days.  Medically, there is no ‘proof’ for either Chronic Fatigue or Fibromyalgia, so doctors or patients diagnose based on a lack of other diagnosis, and are often given advice like ‘take a holiday’, ‘take some anti-depressants’ or pain-killers which really don’t do a lot in these chronic health problems.  Of course, anyone who takes these drugs know that they are poor substitutes for a healthy life…

In Europe, in 2009, it states in medical literature that there is no cure for chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and that the only treatment is anti-depressant therapy!  And yet, naturopathically at least, it has been found that both disease states have chronic magnesium deficiencies; small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO); the energy-creating mechanisms (Krebs Cycle; Citric Acid Cycle) aren’t working properly and neither are the detoxification processes in the body.

Naturopathically, these are the keys to our success!  Detoxify, lots of magnesium and energy-creating nutrition, clear SIBO …

Madonna Guy ND

Chief Clinician