Chiropractic Activator Method

This is a picture of a chiropractic tool called the activator. If you are terrified of chiropractic, but have been told you really need an adjustment, or are still in pain for whatever reason, call around and find a chiropractor that uses the activator method. It is a very patient friendly, low impact method. There will be no popping. You will stay in one position. All parts of your body are easily adjusted with it. I prefer this method as a patient.

Osteoarthritis: Lynn's story

The following is Lynn's story about her osteoarthritis in both knees and her success with chiropractic and acupuncture in treating it:

Dr. Witter has helped me tremendously. Before meeting Dr. Witter, I couldn’t bend my left knee. I couldn’t even roll over at night without it waking me up in pain. I limped when I walked. I hurt all the time.

Although I have osteoarthritis in both of my knees, my left knee is worse than my right but, due to various injuries, neither one has any cartilage left. I wish I could say the injuries were due to playing sports—something fun---but they weren’t. Even now with the excellent care of Dr. Witter and her staff, I have an electric scooter that I use when I am at the mall or shopping because pounding bone on bone for an extended period of time can be very painful.

I’ll never forget my first appointment with Dr. Witter. I cried in pain when she lifted my leg only two inches. She gave me my first chiropractic adjustment ever. Then she did acupuncture on me and gave me some exercises to do. I am religious about my exercises. I do them in exactly the way she taught me to, the exact number of times recommended. One thing I have learned is that more is not better with exercises. She also started me on chrondoitin, glucosomine, bromelain and horse chestnutt.

Within a week of that first appointment, I felt a difference. And within six weeks my leg could go up over my head! It was amazing! My orthopedist was so impressed, he refused to give me what was to be my first injection of artificial cartilage that I was scheduled for. He wanted her card and wanted to know exactly what she was doing. When I told him everything, including acupuncture, he said “I know acupuncture works. They’ve done it on dogs and dogs don’t know anything about the placebo affect.”

Our goal was for me to go dancing again. I just recently did this on my birthday and when I told Dr. Witter her face just lit up---she was so happy for me.

Susan again: Because of a former injury years ago, my husband has no cartilage on one of his knees. Within a few months of taking Sam-E, he could jog on that knee again. Soon, he could run.... and does, everyday now, four miles a day. This is a personal miracle in his life, and it may be for you as well.

Curtis had started Sam-E to help him access emotions, and this was an added fringe benefit. Off of the stuff, and he found, surprisingly, that he can access his emotions better, but he had to stop running because his knees hurt so much. Needless to say, he went back on Sam-E.

What does this mean to you? It means that if you have trouble accessing emotions and you don't have any cartilage, try Sam-E. Get a good brand. it also means, DON'T TAKE SAM E IF YOU ARE BIPOLAR!

Let me repeat that: DON'T TAKE SAM E IF YOU ARE BI POLAR OR EVEN HAVE BI POLAR TENDANCIES. One bipolar friend was taking Sam E, recommended by her wholistic chiropractor who had no idea my friend can so easily access so many emotions on both ends of the scale! When I saw her, she was a couple of weeks in taking Sam E and had overwhelming thoughts of suicide. She said she just couldn't imagine a reason to go on living. I had known her for a quarter of a century, and NEVER once had her problems so overwhelmed her.... and I had seen her suffer the loss of a husband as well as her mother and father. So, I immediately said, go off of your Sam E. She did. Within about 1-2 days, she was back to her old self again. She had been taking Sam E to improve her immune system. I told her, honey, there a lots of ways to improve your immune system! You don't have to take one that makes you suicidal to do so!

But let's get back to why I wrote this article: Sam E is great for building cartilage. If you have no serious mood swings, and you want to build cartilage, give it a try, perhaps in addition to chiropractic and acupuncture. If you have serious mood swings, then try chiropractic and acupuncture only. My point being, you have a lot of options. YEA!!!

Chiropractic, Protien Producing Genes

The following article came from Live Science on Yahoo News. Scientists are studying mice brains and spines to better understand how serious nerve illnesses arise. If you think your spine is just bones and tissue to support your body, think again. You have genes in your brain and spine, in a constant state of flux, that produce proteins. Read this article.

"Scientists exploring the blasted terrain of nerves that give rise to crippling ailments like Lou Gehrig's disease now have an atlas to guide them.
The Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle unveiled the first phase of the world's first genetic atlas of the mouse spine today on the Internet, posting it alongside an atlas of genes in the mouse brain completed two years ago.
ON THE WEB: See it in 2-D and 3-D from the Allen Institute
Displaying about 20,000 active genes in the brain and spine, the two databases offer researchers their first look at normal gene activity in the spine and brain, displaying genes that are "turned on" — meaning they're actively producing proteins that are the workhorses of healthy brain and spinal tissues.
"This is an undiscovered world," says Allan Jones, the institutes's chief science officer. "To see where every one of the genes is turned on is enlightening." "

Doesn't it make sense that you want to keep your spine in alignment to keep those genes, that are in a constant state of flux, producing all necessary proteins? I do. The very fact that we have genes in our spine and brain producing proteins in a constant state of flux might also explain why chiropractic, keeping your spine straight and healthy, can often be so effective when maintained on a lifetime basis.

Make a Plan for Great Health

Inspiration: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.






Think about this: you probably have insurance, and your insurance probably covers chiropractors. For now, take just this one step toward planning for really great health. Find a chiropractor, or chiropractic office, who also practices acupuncture, and nutritional counseling. If you can't find that, just find a chiropractor. They are far more common in communities everywhere than are acupuncturists, wholistic medical doctors and wholistic pharmacits. Ask around amongst your friends, make the calls using your insurance list.

Remember the big wholistic four for truly great health are chiropractor, acupuncturist, wholistic medical doctor, wholistic pharmacist. You can fudge wholistic on chiropractor and acupuncturist, because they are inherently wholistic, but you can't fudge wholistic on medical doctor or pharmacy.

Your new chiropractor/acupuncturist/nutrionist will probably know of a good local (within fifty miles) wholistic medical doctor, and even perhaps a wholistic pharmacy. If not, for pharmacy, unless you are urgently sick, you can always use http://www.peoplesrx.com/ They ship anywhere, to anyone, and overnight. Nobody does wholistic pharmacy better than Peoples. They will tell you if this drug is depleting you of vitamins, enzymes, etc. and make sure you get them.

Remember, for today, I am helping you make a plan to succeed at really great health.

When it comes to medical doctors, nobody does wholistic medical better than Dr.Gilbert Manso. http://www.drmanso.com/ And he does phone consultations. If you are in question about a procedure or a drug, call and schedule an appointment for a second opinion. As well, your chiropractor (you have gotten one by now) is a marvelous second or third opinion. Check my blog about their education.

I may seem redundant about this big four wholistic healthcare practioners, I know I have said it in previous blogs, but there is a reason.

Even if you are not 'sick' like I was, having wholistic healthcare practioners always in your back hip pocket, is literally like money in the bank. They keep you well. and if you are well, you are not wasting money on being sick. That is their job. Their primary job is not to take away symptoms nor even to eliminate the source of the symptoms (which is what they do well and why we all go to them in the first place). Wholistic healthcare practioners, when used regularly...when you don't have symtoms, keep you well! That saves you money.

For example, I was talking to one chiropractor who listed the chiropractors she knew who had their children receive absolutely NO innoculations, yet received routine chiropractic adjustments. The kids never got sick, and certainly never those illnesses the innoculations were meant to avoid.

This is not an argument for or against innoculations. This is to point out the value of chiropractic--routine chiropractic adjustments at least once a month, as well as the supplements and herbals and dietary style they reccomend, stemgthems you rimmune system and thereby, keeps you well!

Consistently, if I get sick with whatever germ is floating around, , I have not been taking my herbals and supplements as I should, and without a doubt, have gone more than two moths without an chiropractic adjustment.

And I want you well.

Don't you? So at least make a plan to succeed at great health by getting a really good chiropractor. Use them for a full year, and then decide for yourself.

The majority of one chiropractic office I know in downtown Houston is cash only patients. These are patients who have no medical insurance and limited funds. Why do they use chiropractic? They have heard by word of mouth, obviously not the marketing propaganda of the pharmacuetical companies, that chiropractic keeps you well.

What? I hear you saying, knee jerk, inherent reaction inside of your soul, "Oh, but truly my current medical doctor is trained to keep me well."

Really? What makes you think that? Because he or she is nice, takes time to talk to you (excuse me, isn't that their job?), is on your medical insurance plan, is used by your friends, family, neighbors, and wears a lab coat?

Hum.

What do medical doctors have in their medical bag of tricks except for pharmacy and surgery? As valuable as these are, used judiciously at the right times, what about them keeps you from having the symptoms that force you to need them in the first place? NOTHING!

Remember we are starting you on a plan to succeed at great health, and that means not getting sick, nor needing surgery or pharmacueticals, in the first place.

And while we talk about pharmacy, I am compelled, to bring you one paragraph a day, from THE TRUTH ABOUT DRUG COMPANIES byMarcia Angell, M. D., former Editor in Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, your doctors' favorite professional journal. The situation is even worse than I thought before I began the book. These are her reccomendations for medical schools so as not to incur bias amongst STUDENTS toward pharmcuetical companies often flimsy studies. !!!!

Page 251, paragraph one: "The medical profession meeds to take full responsiblity for education its members. There are a few simple steps to make this happen.

• First, medical schools should teach students about drugs, not leave such educaton to industry-sponsored programs and teaching materials. Many of our best schools have virtually eliminated the pharmacology courses that used to teach the basic principles of drug actions and uses.
• Second, teaching hospitals should regard drug company represetnatives just as they do other sales people, who are not allowed to traipse around at will, promoting their wares and offering gifts and meals to medical students and doctors in training.
• Third, the profession needs to take responsiblity for continuing medical education. Just as there should be no private clinical research indistury, there should be no private medical education industry hired by the drug companies. This would mean that continuing medical education would be less well financed, but it can be made much less expensive without any loss of quality.
• Finally, professional associations should be self-supporting. If breaking their dependence on drug companies means increased membership dues, so be it. Meetings would benefit by being more modest, serious, and purposeful. But if doctors want to to to a resort in Hawaii for a meeting, let them pay for it.

And these are medical schools, where we think our medical doctors are being taught all the latest and greates, but instead are simply being pushed whatever the drug companies want them to prescribe to in turn create the companies the greatest profits. And these drugs educated/marketed to your doctor as a medical student, are often 'me too' drugs, or off label drug usage, with flimsy to no scientific backing AT ALL!

Back to my inspiration for the day, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I don't like worrying about all that political medical pharmacy propaganda stuff any more than you do. That is why I do everything natural--acupuncture, chiropractic, supplements, herbs--I can to keep myself well. And right now I am fat and don't work out and I bet I am still healthier than you, by lab results, and aches and pains, and illnesses, than you are!

The fact I don't like worrying about this pharmacy stuff is why I delegate all that pharmacy worry to those four individuals who have the education to deal with it: wholistic chiropractor (they do have to take an actual class in school an are not taught by drug companies) , wholistic acupuncturist (dittto--and they can create powerful fresh herbal elixirs, often with fewer side effects, in place of pharmacy) , wholistic pharmacist, and wholistic medical doctor.

You can do the same! Do it! Start your plan to have great health always, by getting at least one of the big wholistic four--a chiropractor-today! Give it a full year, you will thank me for it.

Recipe of the Day: Remember our goal this year, is no high fructose corn syrup.

Sweet Southern Iced Tea As simple as this is for southerners to make, yesterday I had a conversation with some folks who said, if you are from the north it is just hard, because we know nothing about it. Well, this is how I make sweet tea with sugar. Place three family sized tea bags in a medium sized pan, filled half full with good tasting water, filtered, spring, etc. Bring to a boil. Cover, turn off heat, and let steep. While all this is going on, put two cups of sugar in a four cup, glass measuring cup. Add water to cover. Stir. Microwave on high for two minutes. Take out of microwave, stir again to make sure crystals are dissolved. Pour sugar mixture into a large, plastic gallon jug. Add the now steeped tea (without the bags). Fill to the top with filtered or spring water. If you want to get real inspired, and you have some around, now is the time to throw in some lemon slices and/or fresh sprigs of (washed!) mint. Stick that sucker in the fridge and wait for mealtime or when the moment just moves you and you say, "Wow, it's hotter than Hades, I sure do want some iced tea." Pour over a glass full of ice. The purpose of that thick mixture you just made will become clear to you: it is to melt the ice in a totally delicious fashion! And honey, I have no idea how or why it happens, but even with tea fresh from the fridge, poured on top of ICE, in an air conditioned house, and that ice will still melt, and what seemed so dark and too sweet will now be perfect! And if it isn't, play around with it, (less or more sugar, etc.) till it fits your own family and is your own perfect concoction!

Joke: This was a real headline!

Lack of brains hinders research: The Columbus Dispatch, April 16

Chiropractors: Why Have One?

Proverbs 4:24 Be careful how you think, your life is shaped by your thoughts.







I used to be very medical. I only went to my dear chiropractor here in College Station, Marcy Halterman D.C., http://www.dchealthcenter.com/, in order to get the then one hour massage before hand. That whole one hour massage was completely covered by my insurance then. It's now a half an hour, but that's beside the point.





This is Dr. Halterman with a young patient.




The point is, I was rather terrified. I thought all that popping was bone upon bone. But my selfishness, to get that one hour massage once a month, motivated me to try chiropractic. What a blessing!


The first thing I learned from Dr. Halterman, was the popping sound is made by air pockets, not bone. There is no bone striking any bone. So, I relaxed. Let me just add here that your job when getting a chiropractic adjustment is the same as for getting a massage: make like jello!


After a few months of chiropractic adjustments, I began to realize that I didn't have as many breathing difficulties as I had had before. I started chiropractic after being diagnosed with an enlarging heart (and with it breathing difficulties). Before long, I would realize that if I had breathing difficulties at all, just to call, go into their office, and see whatever chiropractor was available, because very quickly, within about five minutes, and my breathing would be so much better!


What had happened? All those tight muscles around my ribcage had relaxed. It was that simple. I began to wonder how many people wind up in emergency rooms with breathing difficulties that could be easily fixed with a chiropractic adjustment? Which doesn't mean not to do the other emergency tactics, it just means, while you wait for the lab results, get an adjustment....or get one first. Why not rule out this chest tightness FIRST? If it works, it would be cheaper, quicker and have fewer side effects for the patient.


Speaking of side effects, let's talk about the safety of chiropractic. Somehow, we medical beings in the United States, have developed a fear of chiropractic. How did this happen? Was it the huge marketing campaign of the medical field? I have no idea. But if you have fear of chiropractic, for whatever reason, think of this. Chiropractors are sued very, very little.


The best gauge of liability can be found in liability insurance. I can tell you that Matt Witter, D.C. told me that he pays less for his liability insurance than he does for his car insurance. the year he told me, I think it was just a little over $1200 a YEAR!


How much do your medical doctors have to pay in liability insurance? Ask him or her next time you are in there. Google it. Pahleeeze, google it! Don't believe me ;-) The last time I checked, about four years ago, liability insurance for general practitioners is $40,000 and for specialists, $60,000. Doesn't this tell you how safe medical is versus chiropractic?


The next argument I have heard is "Chiropractic isn't effective." Isn't effective for what? It was and still is very effective for my chest tightness that gave and can still give me breathing difficulties. It is absolutely the most effective source of health care for lower back pain. If you don't believe me, and if you have chiropractic as well as medical insurance, call your local insurance representative in your human resources department. ASK them what results they have seen. ASK them which worked best, (quickest, least money paid, most pain relief, etc.) for their patients with lower back pain...pharmaceuticals and/or surgery, and/or physical therapy? Your insurance representative CANNOT tell you what health care you can get, but they can tell you their statistics.


This is exactly what I did when I was constantly having lower back pain. I then began to ask different people if they used chiropractic and who they would recommend. This is exactly how I found dear, wonderful Marcy Halterman.

As a dear friend once remarked, "Chiropractic is the worlds' best kept secret."


My best analogy for chiropractic is this. Last time you watered with a water hose, did it get a kink in it? Did it work pretty good before? And it didn't really bother you till it was almost cut off? And the stream wasn't bad, but then you un-kinked it, either purposely or accidentally, and VIOLA, the water stream becomes so much more forceful. that kink was inhibiting the flow of water.


That is precisely what happens with your musculature....it can happen in not only your back, but all over your body....anywhere bone, tendons, muscles, arteries, and veins all meet. Yes, chiropractors can adjust more than backs, they can also adjust hands, wrists, ankles...you get the drift. And I can tell you, now from experience of a massage therapist, people have kinks all over, and these can cause pain which with routine chiropractic adjustments, are easily be resolved. It is that simple.


One woman I know gets routine chiropractic adjustments IN HER MOUTH, for her nasal cavity, to release mucus. She has bad reactions to pharmaceuticals, so she does this instead, and it works great.


See? Chiropractic is much more than just back adjustments isn't it?


A massage therapist I know gets routine hand adjustments....if he overworks his hand, it tightens up on him and he needs an adjustment.


When I was living in Austin, Dr. Janice Poole, adjusted my ankles. I have had a loose right ankle that I knew about for years....diagnosed by an orthopedic surgeon. I was always twisting my ankle. I had never mentioned it to any chiropractor before. All I know, is that it has now been five years and I haven't had the problems I had with it before.


All of your body's chemistry goes along your bones and joints...ALL of it. Get out a book on physiology and look.... or google online right now. ALL of it. I want all my body chemistry operating unimpaired by kinks of any kind.


I want yours operating unimpaired as well, and this is why I make chiropractic one of the four holistic health care providers I want you to see regularly. If you are well, they can help you stay well. But if you are really sick, like I was, all those adjustments can help your body function at it's maximum capacity. Just remember that water hose! Your body isn't all that much different. And I want the best health for you just like I have.


What is a holistic chiropractor? I honesty think they are all holistic, but some will have more nutritional training than others. and if you are very sick, you want and need all the nutritional knowledge you can get. One of the first concepts you will grasp with chiropractic, one of the first things all chiropractors will tell you, is "I cannot heal you. Only you can heal your body with my help." If you are really sick, you will need a lot of nutritional knowledge to help you heal your body. And all that is worthy of another post.




Joke of the Day:

Always remember that you are unique. Just like very one else. Zen sarcasm ;-)




Easy Recipe of the day:

Peach Cobbler: Can, Cuppa, cuppa, cuppa, stick.

• One can of Peach Pie filling. (yes, I would really love to have one that didn't have high fructose corn syrup in it, but alas, that is hard to find, and so I usually wind up with the regular stuff from the regular store. ;-)
• one cup of sugar
• one cup of self rising flour
• one cup of milk
• one stick of butter

In a square baking dish, (what are they, ten inches, I don't' know LOL), melt the butter in the oven on 350 degrees. You can do this while the oven preheats for the cobbler. Mix together the sugar, self rising flour and milk in a bowl. Take the butter pan of the oven. Pour the wet flour mixture into the pan. If the butter is hot, it will bubble up the sides and the flour mix will kinda cook right here....and later it will be SO yummy! smile. Now spoon the peach pie filling on top and bake. You can use any pie filling, I just happen to like peach the best ;-) Bake for twenty minutes and then enjoy!