Empowered Patient Blog
Are You Eating Fake Food?
Traveling late at night when a craving hits? No problem as the nearest gas station has your belly and brain covered with an assortment of colorful and wildly flavorful snack options. How could any reasonable human being find fault in such an agricultural marvel?
My Experience with the Clear Passage Approach to Treating Abdominal Adhesions
It had been a long six years. Following remission of the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis that filled my abdominal cavity with tumors, I still suffered from periodic episodes of small bowel obstruction secondary to deep scar tissue known as adhesions. Although infrequent, these episodes were severe, traumatic, and occasionally resulted in hospitalization.
The Future of Cancer Therapy: Adaptive Therapy
The diagnosis of prostate cancer was a bad dream that Jack couldn’t wake up from. At age 53, he was working overtime to prepare for his eldest daughter’s transition to college, and fitful nights of sleep had been plagued by a recurring dream of an angry, burning fire in his pelvis
How to Stream TV Without Wi-Fi
Our family doesn’t watch much TV, but the Olympics were airing soon and we live far enough out in a rural area that an antenna receives few channels. Satellite or cable TV is excessive for our needs, leaving a streaming service as the only viable option. The challenge then became figuring out which streaming device uses ethernet and does not broadcast radiofrequency electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation.
Obeying God Equals Obeying Nature
What does it mean to obey God regarding health? Is an ethic for living a balanced life detailed in the holy book of each religious tradition? Or does following “God’s law” require a reinterpretation to guide modern-day adherents to be faithful servants of soil and spirit to empower human health?
Medical Reformation
We live in a time where the medical-industrial complex and related regulatory agencies are providing medical indulgences to citizens of the Western world. Rather than lead with education and invest in prevention as a first line of intervention, high-priced drugs and procedures cram the coffers of corporate medicine. If you think this analogy is pure hyperbole, what follows is a small sample of “theses” widely espoused by providers in the integrative and holistic medical community.
Breathing in Spirit: How to Recognize and Cultivate Inspiration
Being connected to a universal stream of consciousness may sound as unattainable as it is mystical, but to do so is an inherent feature of a broader spiritual reality we all share. From pre-civilized shamanic peoples to modern spiritual traditions, the same theme has echoed across millennia—we are not human beings having spiritual experiences but spiritual beings having human experiences.
The Rain Man Effect: How to Recognize and Hone Intuition
What is intuition and how do we experience it? This is a question I’ve thought a lot about as a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. Though my work is based on the science of herbal prescribing and acupuncture point indications, there is also a subtle art to the medicine that draws heavily on intuition.
Godspeed Healing a Parkour Knee Injury
It was an epic fail. The full force of an impact that should have been displaced by two hips, thighs, and legs, was instead taken by only the right lower limb. Limping away, I knew I was out for the night with the full extent of the injury looming as pain radiated from the knee joint.
Why do I always wake around 3AM?
There is a frustrating and all too common phenomenon that plagues many a sleeper. It goes something like this: Falling asleep is no problem, but in the early morning hours, one wakes agitated and restless. This can last up to an hour or two before finally falling back asleep. Upon rising is the feeling of being unrested, what we call “non-restorative sleep” in integrative medicine.
The Future of Cancer Therapy: Personalized Medicine
Aside from the respiratory symptoms and mild fatigue, she felt fine. She didn’t hear much else after her doctor suggested a tentative diagnosis of non-small-cell lung carcinoma.
Symphonic Health
Each person is a unique album of divinely inspired music. Sometimes deep scratches of trauma disturb the quality of the sound, but unlike a fixed vinyl album, the human brain and heart can change, can heal, and once again play the sublime chords of the soul.
The Future of Cancer Therapy: Naturopathic Oncology
For the first time since she heard the word “cancer” she was not feeling overwhelmed. Suddenly, healing seemed possible with a roadmap of consulting with a healthcare model that was as invested in her health as her disease.
Beginner’s Mindset
Healing takes time, and it takes the right trajectory. A healing mindset maps the course ahead, providing guidance on treatment options and lifestyle changes that will most effectively help you arrive at your destination of optimal health. Awareness of the obstacles clears that path so you don’t waste time, energy, and money on medical red herrings.
Making Structured, Living Water
I’ve become increasingly interested in the nature of water after reading Dr. Tom Cowan’s book Cancer and the New Biology of Water. There is a lot more to water than two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Water is a living, breathing element and there is a substantial difference between stagnant, denatured water and vibrant, nourishing water.