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Adults
General Health
Endocrine / Hormonal - Our endocrine system regulates most of our bodily functions from reproduction and immunity to energy and our internal clock to moods and digestion to fat storage and body temperature to sleep and wakefulness to blood sugar balance and mental acuity.
Hormones signal the endocrine system to turn on or off, speed up or slow down. Most are made of essential fatty acids combined with several vitamin and mineral cofactors. In the case of adrenal corticosteroids and reproductive hormones, there is an elegant cascade that starts with the right balance of essential fatty acids turning into cholesterol turning into pregnenolone turning into sex hormones and cortisol. Several substances can interrupt the choreography essential to facilitate these conversions. NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) including aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen are high on this list, as are alcohol, trans fats including margarine, caffeine, sugar, smoking, heavy metal toxicity, low protein diets, starvation/fasting, steroids, and aging.
Hormone balances are not static. They change throughout a month. When we look at sex hormone imbalances, we need look at imbalances in their production and imbalances between them throughout the course of a month. Generally, we use a series of saliva collections throughout the month to study adrenal and sex hormone patterns in women and girls of child-bearing age. We'll talk more on that in the hormone discussion under Women's Health Issues. Thyroid hormones have historically been studied using serum. Men's cortisol and sex hormones are tested the same as women's hormones, and are in fact identical hormones with different ratios.
Digestive - Of all the systems in the body, the one that ties everything else together is the digestive system. This is where we receive our nourishment and this is where we decide what of the world outside our body to allow inside our body. It is little wonder that more of the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems are involved with the continuum of digestion, detoxification, and elimination than with any other processes in our body. It is also not surprising that the health of the rest of the body is dependent on the health of the digestive system.
Beginning with our oral and dental health, continuing to the patency of the diaphragm muscle and the ability of our stomach to make acid and pepsin, on to the health of the environment and ecology of the small intestine, the pancreas' ability to release digestive enzymes and the liver and gall bladder's ability to produce, concentrate and release bile, our digestion is a very complex dance which requires timing, sequencing and organizing as well as needing all the right chemistry and neurology to run smoothly.
Problems here ripple throughout the body: Toxicities back up into the liver, kidneys, colon, and skin. Low blood sugar from poor digestion interferes with brain function. The inflammatory effects of disrupted gut permeability show up as aches and pains and autoimmune problems all over the body (e.g., allergies, lupus, arthritis, MS). The rest of our systems are unable to work properly when they aren't getting the micronutrients that provide their energy and run their chemistry.
The digestive system has been called the Mother of the rest of the body and, as an old Blues standard reminds us, "when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." We are especially good at getting your digestive sytem put back together and functioning properly.
Immune - The best offense, it turns out, is a good defense.
Your immune system is responsible for keeping pathogens and toxins out of your body and for neutralizing them if they get in. The biggest parts of your immune system are connected to your small intestine and your respiratory tract.
This is where you decide what of the outside world to let into your inside environment. Your largest immune organ is your skin. If you have recurrent immune system challenges including inflammation, colds and flus, infections, and detox challenges, then the first line of defense isn't working well.
The bugs and gunk are getting past the gates and you are having to go to Plan B. This is also the beginning of auto-immune challenges that occur because you have so many immune responses going on together that your immune system is having trouble discriminating your body's normal proteins from the foreign invaders.
To reclaim your health we first need to fix the defense system so you can keep the rest of the world's garbage out of your body and then remove the offenders which have already gained access. There is a right way and a wrong way of gong about this and we have the experience to guide you through the process with the most effect and the least discomfort.
We usually begin by restoring the normal function of the digestive system, cleaning out the respiratory system, and improving its defenses. Then we increase the circulating immune system's ability to recognize foreign substances and your liver's ability to break down the toxins and metabolites which are presented to it. The next step is to allow each cell of the body to dump out all of the metabolic wastes it has been storing, break them down to manageable compounds, and pass them out through bowel and bladder.
Once we have cleaned out the gunk and turned on the defense systems, you will be able to experience a life filled with more energy, health and joy.
Sleep - In general, sleep problems come in a small variety of flavors and they can tell us volumes about what is and isn't working in neurotransmitters and neuro-endocrine systems.
- We differentiate "Can't get to sleep" from "Can't stay asleep".
- There are people who sleep lightly, wake at small disturbances of sound or light, perhaps several times through the night and fall right back into sleep or twilight.
- And there are those who wake up after a few hours sleep and can't get back to sleep for quite a while, perhaps stretching into hours.
"Can't get to sleep" problems are most commonly caused by chemical over-stimulation, either by food sensitivities, drugs, or environmental irritants from the outside or by internal neuropeptide and adrenal chemistry imbalances which may result from blood sugar dysregulation, emotional upheaval, physical pain, immune and inflammatory challenges, etc.
Repeatedly waking up and falling back into a light sleep or "dolphining" is typically the result of neurotransmitter imbalances, while waking up, sometimes startled, and being unable to fall back to sleep for long periods of time (20 minutes to hours) is usually related to the adrenal hormone "cortisol".
We work with each of these four scenarios very differently and often find that more than one can be occurring at the same time.
Snoring and sleep apnea are additional factors which may indicate issues ranging from food and environmental sensitivities to cardiovascular challenges.
Neurological - Your nervous system is the fundamental control system for all of your muscles, organs, and senses. It helps your brain understand where your body is in time and space, and respond with appropriate balance and motion. It provides communication between your organs and your brain, keeps your heart and lungs, digestive and detoxification, reproductive and endocrine systems working in balance. It truly is your body's "information superhighway".
When the nervous system is out of balance, we can develop a wide range of problems from dizziness, vertigo, nausea, tinnitus, visual problems, tremors, shakes, and other motor control problems to Parkinson's, post-stroke, and post traumatic brain injuries. Autistic spectrum disorders, learning and behavioral disorders, attention deficits, and related problems which often occur in childhood and continue into adulthood are neurologically based. Imbalances between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems can result in mood, sleep, sexual, digestive, and cardiovascular problems affecting rate and rhythm. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Learning is all about the parts of the brain working together in an intricately choreographed dance which requires precise timing and sequencing. Virtually everything that happens in your body depends on your nervous system.
When there is an imbalance, we can usually correct it by using movement, light, sound, scent, and touch very precisely applied to regain proper function. This therapeutic approach, which works without drugs or surgery, is known as "functional neurology" and Dr. Ennen is specially trained as a functional neurologist.
Using light and scent, suppressive amblyopia or "lazy eye" can usually be corrected in two or three visits, even after years of dysfunction. Using cross cord reflexes and controlled brain activation we can often restore some or all of the muscle control lost to a stroke. Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit disorders respond particularly well to gross motor activation of specific brain areas through the repetitive patterns.
Each of us has unique neurological strengths and weaknesses. The functional neurological approach begins by considering these essential markers of our individuality and then moves to maximize our ability to express our humanness.
Post-trauma - Traumatic injuries run a wide gamut from irritating to life threatening. We do an excellent job of rehabilitating and restoring more of the function that you enjoyed before the injury. We are particularly good with posttraumatic brain injuries and provide a variety of functional neurological rehab tools ranging from applied kinesiology to chiropractic techniques.
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