Can you help me out here?  My memory has failed me.  Someone, somewhere (Mel? Syd? Auckland? Online during a mentoring session? In a Mullumbimby supermarket?!), in the past month asked me for this paper documenting the increased pain perception reported by subjects given IV saline with a slightly acidic pH compared to a neutral preparation. Quite an extraordinary illustration of the potency of small pH changes in the ECF and the impact this can have on our pain perception.  This study is one Professor Vormann has previously talked about and as I’m touring with the fabulous German Professor right now I said, ‘Sure!’…then seemingly instantly erased from my mind who made this request! Is it you?

This month is a fabulous blur of travelling & speaking, getting back face to face with everyone at a bunch of seminars & conferences, which I love but I do forget some days where I am, who I am and exactly what I have promised and to whom!

Touring with Professor Vormann is always a delight and the new studies he brings to each presentation are fascinating  Here’s one of my personal favourites from this tour: Efficacy & safety of oral magnesium supplementation in the treatment of depression in the elderly with type 2 diabetes: a randomised, equivalent trial.  What’s interesting in particular about the comparison between oral magnesium and imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, in the treatment of depression was for me, not so much the comparable efficacy of the two interventions in this very small randomised (but not controlled) trial but the subsequent research suggesting that imipramine blocks the extracellular passage of Mg+, effectively trapping Mg intracellulary.  Interestingly it also blocks influx of this mineral but much less potently. A fascinating finding that although not all positive, may be a secondary mechanism of these antidepressants.

So anyway, whoever you are and wherever we were when we had this conversation…I hope you’re reading this right now and I’ve finally delivered on my promise!  Let me know 😉

Lots of people are getting excited about alkalising as a multi-systems approach to health, after hearing Professor Vormann & Rachel tour again this year but if you missed out last year on her pivotal presentation: the ABC of Acid Base Assessment – you’re missing a big piece of the puzzle! 

Without these skills you might be tricked into thinking every client is equally acidotic.  The ability to clearly identify which of your patients is in the greatest trouble with mild acidosis and what pathophysiological consequences are starting to manifest, is right there, once you learn your ABCs!