THE CURIOUS MINDS CLUB 
Wouldn't life be a breeze if there was a calculation telling us how much to prescribe of a given nutrient for every different patient to take them out of deficiency, into repletion or even optimal? Well there is. Kinda If the nutrient in question is Vitamin D...
'Good v Better v Best', is often the value statement attached to each new nutritional product innovation as it enters the market...making the existing and older forms, according to the pattern, 'Bad'...or 'Inactive', certainly 'Superseded' etc. But changing the form...
Cheesy I know! 😉 However, recently the issue of knowing when to use Withania somnifera & when not to, came up again in mentoring so I thought it's probably a good one to share. Withania, aka Aswagandha or Indian Ginseng, has become a...
During mentoring sessions over the last week I've been prompted to ask a few practitioners if their patient had any signs, either clinically or in their pathology results, of high oestrogen. Each time it kind of caught the practitioner off guard because their...
Howdy practitioners - I've had an inspiring month of clients. Not because I cured anyone, answered some major riddle previously unsolved by modern medicine or any of these enormous tasks we or our patients often set ourselves but rather because I got back to basics....
We kicked off mentoring this year with some great cases last week. One was a pregnant hyperthyroid client. During the session the wonderful practitioner mentions that the client is using Withania somnifera as required for anxiety. Insert sound of brakes screeching...
Low dopamine as an underpinning cause of depression, anxiety and even addiction (illicit drugs, sex, gambling) has been gaining increased recognition in research. In spite of this there are no antidepressants currently on the Australian market that address dopamine...
Most of us know that measuring a fasting blood glucose to assess how well someone is managing their glucose levels is about as crude and insensitive as waiting for the smoke detector alarm to tell you your dinner is cooked! If we wait to see an abnormal result here...
I've just come across yet another woman who has developed an unprecedented fungal nail infection (Onychomycosis) in her toenails following a trip to Bali. This infection is usually due to a species of tinnea that has managed to infiltrate the nail structure....
Howdy hard working praccies 🙂 well I received a very interesting email this week from someone asking me if I thought her urinary iodine result was accurate or if, as I have written about previously...
No matter how long I am in practise there is always a group of patients for whom 'vaginal thrush' is a major problem. Most of us have some fabulous tricks up our sleeves to help resolve these issues & reduce their susceptibility - intravaginal lactulose is...
Recently a practitioner lamented that because of her clinic location she didn’t see company reps very often & felt this was a barrier to her staying current with her clinical knowledge. Of course, I had to beg to differ. We’re quick to judge the medical...
It’s not sexy but it is one of my favourite deficiencies. Favourite because it’s incredibly common…make no bones about it (tee hee)! Favourite because a deficiency is actually reasonably easy to recognise once you know how (watch increasing phosphate levels...
Lots of great conversations with practitioners following my recent post on the need to specialise – really thought provoking & clarifying ones which makes me think it’s been a good conversation starter. Key things that have come up for people are: How do I...
We had a great case in one of our graduate mentoring sessions the other day (thanks Kate 😉 ) , about a 40 something mum of 3 who reported to have cyclical mood and depression. Further investigation of the case, however, revealed that some of the key characteristics...
So...a 55 year old female walks into your clinic only recently diagnosed with Graves disease but when you look through her old blood work it looks like actually she has had hyperthyroidism (or at the very least suppressed TSH) for some time prior. She is experiencing...
I had one of those conversations with a friend recently in which he was wondering out loud about what the point of it all is. Now don't panic...this is not 'suicidal ideation over a cuppa' kind of stuff ... no this is the regular existential crises that many of us...
So…a 40 something female walks into your clinic with depression & anxiety…sounds common enough right? But here’s the twist: she’s already seen another practitioner who ran a range of investigations revealing she has pyrroles, high copper levels & is...
I'm only human & there are some questions that do make me silently groan & invisibly (I hope!) roll my eyes. One is the old chestnut: “but the Japanese consume on average 7mg of iodine a day!” which is typically offered up as a rationale for the need...
I was chatting with a colleague today about a complicated & interesting case of hers, severe hypothyroidism coupled with overt hypercortisolemia (salivary cortisol up to 230!). This is a distance patient & she’s sharing care with a couple of other health...
Like all thyroid disease, post-partum thyroid conditions seem to be on the rise – and often they rewrite the rule book when it comes to thyroid pathology & its management. Therefore for many of us it can add an extra element of uncertainty about how to help...
Ever noticed that thing called RDW (red cell distribution width) reported in your patients’ haematology results? Given that this parameter is currently regarded as one of the most important & earliest markers of a wide range of serious diseases, you might start...
We should all be as skilled in investigating & treating male hormone imbalances as we are female ones, yet this is often not the case. A lack of confidence in this area, which seems to be an issue for many, in particular will compromise our ability to...