Events

Evolution of Medicine – Heathcare from Scratch

September 21, 2015 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

Today, our healthcare system works well when you have an emergency, but to treat chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, anxiety and depression we need to reinvent healthcare to help you live a longer, happier, calmer, stress-free and healthier life. The Evolution of Medicine Summit can help you avoid chronic diseases, keep your family healthy and learn about healthcare that actually works!

Plus, the summit will introduce the very first affordable, ACA-compliant alternative to health insurance, Liberty Direct!

I know the host, James Maskell and love that he is tackling this topic and that they are introducing this new health insurance! Exciting!

30+ great speakers will discuss:

Our current health system and its limitations (plus, alternatives you can access!)
How to take advantage of health technology
A vision for an empowered, proactive and participatory healthcare system
Preventing chronic disease and taking control of your health today

It will take all of us, patients and practitioners, to create a medical system that truly combats chronic disease. I invite you to join me in learning at The Evolution of Medicine Summit!

I’m not a speaker on this one – just interested in learning and sharing this information with you!

Here are a few snippets from three of the interviews:

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Eric Zielinski, DC, MPH (C)

2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics every year. And 23,000 people die as a direct result. We’re dealing with an epidemic here, unbelievable epidemic where these super bugs, we’re calling them, are just becoming resistant to every medical approach. As far as we could tell, there is no resistance to essential oils, because that is the natural way that God created the planet which has a natural resistance. Once man gets involved, we see things becoming tainted.

When it comes to rebuilding healthcare from scratch, it has to start with you. It has to start with me. It has to start with every mom and dad to take accountability for their own health. Stop giving their accountability to doctors in the medical system and saying, “I’m really responsible for my own healthcare.” That means do your own research. That means go to trusted websites. And that means you go to seminars as they’re available to you. Get plugged in. There’s a lot of good networks locally. There’s networks globally through the internet. There are a lot of tools. You just need to find them.

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Suzanne Somers – What is making you TOX-SICK

Remove all the chemical elements that you can whether it’d be what you put on your skin, what you put on your hair, what you put on your face, what you put on your lips, what you clean your house with, and what you put in your stomach really matters in today’s world, because it’s not the same world of our parents or grandparents. We’re under the greatest environmental assault in the history of humanity.

Doctors who have stepped out of the safety of the standard of care box should be called heroic because here is an example where in almost all cases, it’s not about making money. It’s about doing the right thing.

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Marc David, MA – The Psychology of Eating

Good nutrition is important. And oftentimes it’s only half the story of nutrition, meaning what we eat oftentimes is only half the story of good nutrition. And the other half is who we are as eaters, meaning what we’re thinking, what we’re feeling, what we’re believing, our level of stress or relaxation, our level of pleasure, how much awareness we’re getting from a meal, the story that we’re living out in life, the timing of our meals. All of these are dramatically impacting our nutritional metabolism.

Stress will powerfully deregulate appetite. Many people think that they can’t control or manage their appetite because they’re willpower weaklings. I want to say 8 out of 10 times it has to do with stress. It has to do with anxiety and fear, which will deregulate appetite from a number of mechanisms.

You can register here https://ji177.isrefer.com/go/summitreg/trudyscottcn/

Benzodiazepines do patients more harm than good

September 15, 2015 By Trudy Scott 91 Comments

Dr. Nicole Beurkens recently shared her experiences about benzodiazepines on the blog: Say NO to Benzodiazepines for anxiety!

In my experience as a clinical psychologist benzodiazepines do patients more harm than good. While it is appealing to think that a pill can quickly and effectively remove symptoms of anxiety, panic, and/or insomnia, the reality is that there are significant negative long-term consequences for most people who use these medications.

It is not uncommon for me to have patients on multiple psychotropic medications, including benzos, due to symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, or other mental health issues.

Patients can quickly become dependent on these medications, and they are often prescribed higher doses over time with diminishing returns.

Some patients reach a point where they are not having symptom relief with the benzos, but they cannot function at all without them.

This issue is fresh in my mind because I have a 24-year-old male patient who is entering a rehab program next week due to addiction and substance use issues. The gateway drugs that led to these addiction issues for him were Ativan and Adderall prescribed to him since he was 14 years old. He now sees that these drugs have done a significant amount of damage, but we are having to admit him to a long-term treatment program to get off of these medications (and other substances) safely.

I maintain that if prescribers fully informed patients of the risks involved with these medications most people would never start taking them. We need to do more to educate patients and practitioners about the realities of these medications, as well as safer alternatives.

I am now devoting a significant amount of time and attention to this issue not just for benzodiazepines, but psychiatric medications in general. Especially where children are concerned, parents and professionals needs to have appropriate facts about these drugs and understand the many non-medication options that are available. I’m writing about this and providing resources at my site http://www.DrBeurkens.com for anyone who is interested. Thanks, Trudy, for getting this information out to more people!

As she says, it’s so important that we need to do more to educate patients and practitioners about the realities of these medications, as well as safer alternatives. Here is a recent blog post where she does just that: Beware the Rush to Prescribe

I appreciate that Dr. Beurkens is now devoting a significant amount of time and attention to this issue not just for benzodiazepines, but psychiatric medications in general. Her motto is to provide “Solutions to End Overmedication of Children with Developmental or Mental Health Concerns.”

Balance Neurotransmitters for Pain and Anxiety: The Healing Pain Summit

September 11, 2015 By Trudy Scott 20 Comments

Joe Tatta is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and he is putting on The Healing Pain Summit which is focused on healing pain of all kinds using an integrated approach. Having practiced Physical Therapy for 20 years, Joe knows first-hand that pain is THE thing that will stop you in your tracks … completely. To help people with pain of all kinds Joe has brought together experts on:

Healing joint pain and muscle pain
How the foods you eat can cause you physical and emotional pain
Healing spiritual pain
Healing sexual pain

Here are just a few of the summit topics that may interest you:

Natural Ways To Heal Fibromyalgia
Your Adrenals and Pain: What is the Connection?
Solutions for Cancer Patients and Cancer Survivors

My interview will be: How Balancing Neurotransmitters Can Help Pain and Anxiety. I’ll be sharing new information on pain and the amino acids – something I don’t often talk about but can be a very powerful addition to a pain management program. I’ll cover how GABA, DPA/Endorphigen and tryptophan/5-HTP can help with various types of pain (and anxiety). I’ll also discuss some of the many mood and anxiety side-effects we can see with pain medications.

Here are some reasons for concern when it comes to pain medications:

Glucocorticoid medications like cortisone and prednisone can actually contribute to mood and cognitive issues. A 2014 paper titled Adverse consequences of glucocorticoid medication: psychological, cognitive, and behavioral effects reports that

Severe neuropsychiatric consequences (including suicide, suicide attempt, psychosis, mania, depression, panic disorder, and delirium, confusion, or disorientation) have been reported to occur in 15.7 per 100 person-years at risk for all glucocorticoid courses, and 22.2 per 100 person-years at risk for first courses

NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as ibuprofen are well known for causing injury and bleeding throughout the GI tract, but there now new evidence of an increased risk of a brain bleed when someone is also taking an SSRI. According to a Medscape article

The combination of antidepressants and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) is linked to an early increased risk for intracranial hemorrhage, regardless of the type of NSAID or antidepressant, new research shows.

Most worryingly, conditions requiring NSAIDs and antidepressants commonly coexist; 65% of adults with major depression also have chronic pain, with both morbidities sharing common psychological risk factors and neurobiological processes.

The good news is that amino acids can be a very powerful addition to a pain management program. One example is 5-HTP, an amino acid that raises serotonin levels. Anxiety, depression and increased pain can all be caused by low serotonin.

A paper published in 1998 and called 5-Hydroxytryptophan: a clinically-effective serotonin precursor reports that 5-HTP

easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and effectively increases central nervous system (CNS) synthesis of serotonin. In the CNS, serotonin levels have been implicated in the regulation of sleep, depression, anxiety, aggression, appetite, temperature, sexual behaviour, and pain sensation. Therapeutic administration of 5-HTP has been shown to be effective in treating a wide variety of conditions, including depression, fibromyalgia, binge eating associated with obesity, chronic headaches, and insomnia.

You can register here https://gc182.isrefer.com/go/hpsreg/trudyscottcn/

Say NO to benzodiazepines for anxiety!

September 3, 2015 By Trudy Scott 61 Comments

Professor Malcolm H. Lader says it well:

It is more difficult to withdraw people from benzodiazepines than it is from heroin.

For this reason we need to say NO to benzodiazepines for anxiety (and other conditions)!

Benzodiazepines are a class of psychoactive drugs that work by enhancing the effect of the calming neurotransmitter GABA, and are used to treat anxiety, insomnia, pain, muscle spasms and a range of other conditions. They are widely prescribed, particularly among elderly patients and may even be used off-label with children with autism.

Use of this medication is very controversial. We know long term use leads to tolerance, dependence, and many adverse psychological effects and even physical effects. Short term use is generally considered safe but even using them for 2 – 4 weeks can lead to problems for certain individuals.

In this presentation I’ll be providing an overview of benzodiazepines; when they are used; who they are prescribed to; details about tolerance, dependence, and the many adverse effects; how to taper, including nutritional support during the taper; what to do instead of saying yes to a benzodiazepine prescription in the first place; and additional resources.

This will be a webinar for Hawthorn University and will be on Tuesday Sept 15 at 4pm PST. Register for the webinar here:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2859158311212769537

I’d love questions/feedback/comments/your benzodiazepine experiences and topics you’d like me to address during this presentation.

Encore day Mental Wellness Summit – Gut, root cause, inflammation, pyroluria

August 17, 2015 By Trudy Scott 2 Comments

A heads up that today is encore day of the Mental Wellness Summit and the last day to purchase at the summit special price.

These talks were voted the best of the best talks and are available for a 24-hour period (I’m honored and humbled be in the top 5 favorite talks!)

Kelly Brogan, MD: Holistic Medicine and Root-Cause Resolution
David Perlmutter, MD: Microbiome: A New Frontier in Mental Health
Chris Kresser, MS, LAC: About the Brain-Gut Connection
Julie Daniluk, Holistic Nutritionist: Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Reducing Depression and ADHD
Trudy Scott, Certified Nutritionist: Anxiety, Pyroluria and Amino Acid Therapy

Here is a gem from Dr. Kelly Brogan:

Here is a gem from Dr. David Perlmutter:

Here is a gem from Chris Kresser:

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Here is a gem from Julie Daniluk:

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Here is a gem from my interview (we’re talking about pyroluria here):

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If you’ve already signed up – enjoy the encores (and big thanks if you voted for me!)

In case you haven’t yet signed up you can do so here and listen to these encores – enjoy!
https://vt239.isrefer.com/go/summitreg/trudyscottcn/

Once the encore presentations expire on Tuesday at 10 A.M. U.S. eastern (tomorrow!), the prices to own the entire set of interviews increase from $47 to $97, and from $97 to $147.

Gain lifetime access to all expert mental health interviews. Click here to purchase The Mental Wellness Summit expert talks. They also come with some great bonus gifts, like eBooks, videos and much more (including an eBook on pyroluria from me!)
https://vt239.isrefer.com/go/summitorder/trudyscottcn/

Lithium, bipolar and heavy metal detox on the Mental Wellness Summit

August 9, 2015 By Trudy Scott 17 Comments

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Ross McKenzie, Co-founder of Mental Wellness Summit, Filmmaker of Bipolarized : Journey Beyond Meds, is interviewed by Dr. John Dempster on The Mental Wellness Summit. Here are a few snippets from the compelling interview “Journey Beyond Meds”:

I was playing soccer. Our soccer team in college, we were number one in the country. And then 6 months later, I’m at this seminar. I’m having this huge euphoric bliss. And then I’m in a straightjacket in a white-padded room. I’m like okay, what on Earth just happened to my life?
I’m just watching my life pass me by. And the expression I think of how it felt for so many years is I felt like the walking dead without the actual benefits of being dead. It was a nightmare. It was like being trapped in my body. And it was brutal.
So I had this big wake up call. One of the things with lithium is that you have to get your kidneys tested. It’s very hard on your organs. And you have to get blood work done just to make sure that you’re not in toxic levels. My first year of taking it, I actually almost died of lithium toxicity. It was so bad. I actually felt my body shutting down from that, which was terrifying.

Ross also talks about detoxing from prescription lithium and how he was then able to start filming his story and making the movie Bipolarized; and how there is this grassroots awakening happening right now [in integrative mental health]. His message is very clear and inspiring:

become your own best doctor. Become an informed consumer, do your research
we can actually address root cause symptoms, heal these symptoms. These diseases are not for life.
So there’s a place for all of it… an integrated mental health holistic model. And to have that be the norm on the planet. What an incredible thing that would be

Ross also says:

I know I can speak from experience now, too, having gone through the [heavy metal] chelation process. There are studies now saying it’s affecting the central nervous system. It can cause anxiety. It can actually lead to psychosis.

During the summit, Ross McKenzie also interviews Dr. John Dempster, who is his doctor and helped him address his high levels of heavy metals – both mercury and lead. Here are some snippets from this interview: “Heavy Metal Detoxification and Functional Medicine”:

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Heavy metals are a neurotoxin. And they’re an endocrine disruptor. And in English, that means that they are going to break a lot of the chemicals, such as your neurotransmitters, which make you feel great. They make you sad. They make you sleep. They make you feel energized. They make you focused. This is your dopamine, your serotonin, your GABAs.
there’s a difference between what we call a toxic metal burden, which means much in your body’s tissues, versus a heavy metal toxicity, which is a bit more in the acute state of where it circulating your blood.
And if we aren’t being careful and we’re mobilizing these toxic agents and they get stuck in these organs, we’re going to have some kidney function issues that can affect all sorts of other aspects of our health. So this is where it does have to be done with somebody who is been trained properly in the proper detoxification programs and processes.

Dr. Dempster goes on to talk about functional testing, food, and the importance of healing the gut, sleep, nature and much more – for anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and ADHD.

On The Mental Wellness Summit you will also hear both these interviews:

Ross McKenzie Co-founder of Mental Wellness Summit, Filmmaker of Bipolarized: Journey Beyond Meds
John Dempster, ND, Co-founder of Mental Wellness Summit: Heavy Metal Detoxification and Functional Medicine

And you can listen to all the other amazing interviews that address functional and integrative approaches to root cause resolution of anxiety and depression.

Please leave your comments, questions and feedback below.