Acid Reflux, what it is and what to do about it.

by Drlisa | Jul 12, 2018 | Uncategorized

How many people do you know who take acid reducing medications? You may take them yourself or have a family member who does.

It usually starts with discomfort after eating. Maybe it feels like heartburn, a burning feeling in your stomach that eventually becomes moderately or severely painful in your chest or back or even in your neck and head. The symptoms can be frightening and makes some people wonder if they are having a heart attack. Maybe you’ve had this, and you figured it wasn’t a heart attack so you took Tums or some other over the counter antacid. The logic is fairly linear–because the pain is burning and acidic, decreasing the acid seems to be the thing that will help the pain go away. And when it happens again, you take the antacid again, and again. You make a list of foods that cause it and do your best to avoid them. But because of its frequency you may find yourself wondering “what food could it possibly be this time?” The pain continues and eventually it starts affecting your ability to participate in aspects of your life. It makes it hard to go out to eat with your friends, and it might even be difficult to plan meals at home.  

Acid reflux is when stomach acid travels from your stomach back up into your esophagus, causing burning pain. The medical approach of symptom reduction is the prescription for even stronger acid reducers. But these prescriptions are only meant for temporary use. In some cases, when the prescriptions stop reducing the reflux,  it is likely that a doctor will recommend surgery. Many people stay on the medications year after year, which is dangerous. 

So let’s take an alternate look at this whole problem. Let’s look at how the stomach works and what goes wrong to cause acid reflux.

When digestion goes well, after you chew your food, it travels down your esophagus, a valve opens and your food goes into your stomach where it breaks down into smaller pieces with the help of strong stomach acid. It then goes through another valve into your small intestine where it gets absorbed so your body can use the nutrition you have just fed yourself. The valve that opens to allow the broken down food out of your stomach and into your small intestine only opens when the stomach contents are at a certain level of acidity.  

There are a couple of ways that this system can go wrong.

The first is that there can be a hiatal hernia, a weakness of the area around the valve at the top of the stomach. In most cases, that problem can be handled by particular chiropractic techniques.

And the second is that there is too little acid in the stomach. We tend to lose the acid in our stomachs as we get older and so the food that we eat doesn’t get digested properly (the scientific name for the condition is hypochlorhydria). This causes the food to sit in the stomach longer than it is meant to, and go back up into the esophagus when it should be going downward into the small intestine, especially when a hiatal hernia is also present It is like your sink backing up when the pipes aren’t clear. Remember, the stomach needs to be at a certain level of acidity in order for the valve at the bottom of the stomach to open and allow the food to leave the stomach and continue down the digestive tract into the small intestine.

If there isn’t enough acid in the stomach, then reflux occurs.

If food doesn’t break down in the stomach due to low stomach acid, it doesn’t make it onto the small intestine in a form that is absorbable, the nutrition in the food doesn’t get into the organs and cells, and the end result is malnourishment of the body. And since our organs need nutrients to function well, we end up with organ dysfunction and illness.

So what is the solution? Correcting the acidity of the stomach with specific supplements, or even in some cases, something as simple as using apple cider vinegar (the kind that say “with the mother” on the label), improving the diet and correcting the hiatal hernia using noninvasive techniques works in almost all the cases I have treated in my practice.

Since the side effects of the medications are serious and dangerous, and since no two bodies are exactly the same, it makes sense to find out exactly why YOU have acid reflux and do what YOUR body needs in order to get better without drugs or surgery.

Call 410-717-6610 to make your appointment to start handling your digestive troubles naturally.

Tips for staying safe in the heat.

by Drlisa | Jun 30, 2018 | Uncategorized

It looks beautiful outside but it is extremely hot, and it is important that you take precautions not to overheat. Here are some tips to keep you safe and avoid overheating.

1. If you can stay inside, that is best. Find some indoor activities such as reading, doing yoga, dancing in the living room, making a lovely salad, enjoying something you’ve always wanted to watch, writing about your ideal scene for a goal you have or the life you are working toward living, or playing a board game with friends or family.

2. If you do outdoor activities, be sure to stay hydrated. Some people choose high sugar sports drinks to keep their electrolytes balanced. Sugar is dehydrating as well as creating a stress on your pancreas and adrenal glands and inflaming your body. (Notice the word flame in inflame. There is heat involved with inflammation.) A better option is to prepare a big pitcher or water bottle with a small pinch of good salt like sea salt of Himalayan salt (salt that has natural minerals in it) and a big slice of lemon or lime.

MY PERSONAL RECIPE: I like to put a pinch of my favorite salt, Herbamare or a good unprocessed salt along with the juice of half a lime or lemon into my 24 oz water bottle and I might drink 3 or 4 of those bottles a day when I am out in the heat.

3. Wear loose lightweight and light colored clothing. Darker clothing absorbs heat and light colored clothing keeps you a little cooler. Natural fibers like cotton, linen and silk allow your body to breath better than synthetic fibers. A light hat with a brim is a good idea as well.

4. Sweating is normal unless it is excessive. It is your body’s way of maintaining a healthy body temperature. If you stop sweating, it means your body is much too hot, and you may be dangerously dehydrated. You need to get inside, drink more water, take a cool (not cold) shower and rest. Heavy sweating along with muscle cramps mean your body is too hot. If you feel cold and clammy, or have goosebumps with the sweating, it is time to get out of the heat and get hydrated. If someone passes out or if you are worried, call 911. Heatstroke is very dangerous and occurs when the body approaches 104 degrees. Better safe than sorry.

5. Check on each other. Make sure the people you are with are drinking water and feeling good, not lightheaded or faint.

6. Avoid heavy exercise outside when it is very hot. Plan your outdoor exercise early in the morning or later when the temperature goes down.

7. Avoid drinking alcohol, which diminishes your body’s ability to regulate heat and dehydrates you further.

8. For every cup of coffee you drink you need to add an extra glass of water. Caffeine is dehydrating.

9. Check on your family, friends and elderly neighbors. Make sure they are keeping cool and drinking water too.

10. Make sure your pets are safe as well. Their paws can burn on hot pavement, and they need to stay hydrated as well.

With much love,
Dr. Lisa

You are amazing! Is joint pain keeping you from your best active self?

by Drlisa | Jun 21, 2018 | Uncategorized

Do you remember when you could do anything you wanted to do and nothing hurt? When did knees and ankles and hips and shoulders and so on start to hurt, and why can’t you recover as you used to? I don’t like it when people say they are just getting old. People say that to me at all ages. What I say is this: it isn’t necessary to become immobile as we get older, to hurt all the time or to feel that you shouldn’t take that hike, run that 5K or even that marathon, sit on the floor with your children or grandchildren, spend the day at a museum, walk around the lake, travel to that wonderful place you have dreamed of. It is so disappointing to imagine that those things are not possible, and there are things that can be done to allow you to feel much better. I do understand. I am 61 years old and I can’t believe it. I feel like I am 37, or even 27. And my body sometimes does betray me, but I am a stubborn woman, and I still want to be active. And as a chiropractor and natural health care provider, I want to help you stay active too (it might be good to have a determined stubborn doctor in your corner rooting for you). If you are less active than you want to be, with baby steps, I believe that you can become more involved in the activities you love, or even take up new activities. So come join me to talk about these things, see how to have more energy and less pain and get back to living your amazing life!

What? I can find out what my body knows? YES!

by Drlisa | Oct 21, 2016 | Uncategorized

I didn’t have to do it. Why did I spend more than 60 days away from home over the course of a year and a half, taking 500 hours of classes that were not required, that were well over and above the 48 hours of continuing education credits that are necessary to maintain my license to practice my chosen profession of Chiropractic care? Why did I take 15 trips to Florida, not for vacation, but to study? I did it to learn to have insight into health questions that, for nearly 30 years of practice, I have had only partial views. Each of those courses added to my wisdom, allowing me to help one or two or three more people, ten, twenty, thirty, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred and more people. And each and every one of those people are individuals who get my personal attention. I am so proud to have taken this journey to become an Advanced Graduate and Master of Nutrition Response Testing.

What does this mean for my patients and my community? It means that we can be much healthier than we are. It means that if your lab tests are normal yet you still don’t feel well, we can find out why and do something about it. It means that if you have had surgery yet are still in pain or having health trouble, there is a reason. It means that we have a way of analyzing your body so as to access its information systems.

Just like a computer has all of its knowledge and instructions inside of it, to be accessed by someone who knows how, so does your body. Your body knows everything about itself on some level. Abnormal lab tests, dysfunction and symptoms show up only after your body has been trying to adapt and correct itself until it can’t any more.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could sit down with your body’s wisdom and ask it questions? Like, “Hey Body, What’s up? Do you need something? Are you tired? Is there a reason you are so stressed?”

Well, now we can do just that. Using completely non-invasive Nutrition Response Testing, we can get your body to answer an essential series of questions that will then allow us to develop the precise Designed Clinical Nutrition program that is exactly right for your body’s healing.

I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want to be able to have this conversation with their body.

If you have a group of friends who ever talk about how they wish they felt better, could do more, sleep better, have better focus, get rid of their headaches or migraines, have fewer menopausal symptoms, be more patient, have less anxiety, let’s have a tea party. I will come and share this method with you and your friends, and if anyone is interested in a more in depth analysis, we can arrange that easily.