Rachel's Blogs
Another Iron Question For Us All
What level of Serum Ferritin represents 'empty'? As in complete depletion of iron stores? Is it any value below the minimum of the reference range? e.g. < 30 mcg/L Or does the bottom of the reference range allow for a buffer and 'empty' is substantially lower than...
Everyday Q&As – HPA and Sleep Disorders
Practitioner: I haven't yet done the MasterCourse II in Thyroid & Adrenal Diagnostics but I want to better understand the HPA of that patient we discussed with significant sleep disorders. Waking blood? Saliva? Urine? Which one? Rachel: Well, you've heard me say...
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Are You Dancing With The ‘Devil’s…Copper’?
Kupfernickel. It's the original German name for Nickel and it literally translates to 'Copper Nickel' which inferred it to be the 'Copper Nickel' aka 'Devil's Copper'...because each metal can masquerade and be mistaken for the other! There's an interesting story...
Zinc’s Dark Side
There I said it. It was always going to happen. I'm ok, thanks for asking. This week we had a case of a woman diagnosed with MS in her late 20s. That was 5 years ago and she's been medicated ever since with an immunosuppressant and she is understandably very nervous...
Is A Diagnosis Always Helpful?
If you know me, you may wonder if I've recently undergone a personality bypass. I am passionate about diagnostics, pride myself on 'making the invisible visible' through better understanding of pathology markers and confirming the true nature of the...
SAMe Strikes Again!
If my dispensary was on an island and could only stock 3 items, S-adenosyl-methionine would make the cut. That's how important this nutraceutical is to my practice and has proved itself to be to so many of my patients. Regularly, I cross paths with practitioners who...
A Case of Stoned Sperm?
Tonic. Homeostatic modulator. These terms and concepts, which have a long tradition in herbal medicine (and let's be clear, were considered yet another example of the wishy-washiness of the modality) are being appropriated by some areas of mainstream medicine right...
Are You Being Foxed By An Ox…alate Result?
Ok here's some tough Tuesday talk..not all tests are valid. Tougher still...not all of the mainstream nor the functional pathology ones. I am talking across the board here. Each and every pathology parameter requires good knowledge about its strengths. limitations...
How Many Hats Have You Worn Already This Week?
My current count is about 13. Lucky for some? Patient advocate, referral point, primary prescribing practitioner, behavioural change motivator, wise business counsel, good empathetic listener, fearless myth buster, researcher, head chef to a group of...
When the Body Attacks the Mind
Following an important weekend of discussing mental health from a more balanced perspective (that's my new less provocative term for 'integrative' or dare I even mumble...holistic) in Perth for ACNEM, I remain alert but not alarmed of how much is still to be...
Oxalate Overload? The next steps…
When patients present feeling worse every time they DIY a Green Detox, as the practitioner, you're likely to be sniffing around reduced oxalate tolerance as a differential. Rightly so. But what about the patient with joint pains and disproportionate fatigue who has...
This Brain’s On Fire
I was at the Medicinal Cannabis (MC) in Mental Health Conference run by GHI on the weekend and I have to confess, I inhaled. Seriously, deeply, inhaled. Just as I had hoped, this was a very high level of information on this important topic, delivered by outstanding...
There’s Someone Else
Breaking up is hard to do (sounds like the name of a song!) but it shouldn't be! I got an email this week from one of my gorgeous long-term mentees in the vein of a ‘Dear John’ letter. She carefully, beautifully gently let me know... “I've found someone...
Lots to be Said for Boring Basics
Horses not Zebras. You've no doubt heard me repeat that quote which is famous in medical schools, something to the effect of, "When you hear a herd of animals outside your door, think horses not zebras"...unless of course you are practising in Africa might I suggest...
Nutritional Medicine: A Place For Science Not Wishful Thinking
Show me a nutrient that doesn't demonstrate a U shaped curve with our health (too little produces negative effects - too much produces negative effects) and I'll go 'HE!' Go on...try it now... But the way many have been taught nutrition has lead to some erroneous...
A Low Oxalate Diet Is Not A Healthy Prescription
Until it is. Following on from my frolicking in frocks made of my favourite oxalate-rich foods around the Alps, let's be clear these are great, healthy and health-promoting inclusions in ours and our patients' diets. Until they're not. Just like FODMAP avoidance is...
These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things…
Beetroot & Spinach & Lovely Bright Berries Rhubarb & Buckwheat & Baked Sweet Potato Black Tea & Green Tea & All My Dark Chocolate Sins These are a few of my favourite things!! Sounds like a kitchen roll-call at my house...how about yours? And...
It’s Not Rocket (Dental) Science!
With the increasing weight of evidence pointing to a potent pathogenic portal between our mouths and every other part of the body, whether that be in terms of cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, appendicitis, even a growing case for Alzheimer's disease, we...
You Say Tomatoes I Say…
Histamine, Oxalates & Nickel...any of which may be at fault when your patient reports they experience adverse reactions from eating them. The same can be said for legumes, with a few extra contenders thrown in like oligosaccharides for those farty on FODMAPs. ...
Thank You (ACNEM), Next!
Integrative Psychiatry is an inspiring area to work in & its evidence base, acceptance and recognition of potency is rapidly growing & offering more patients, more. Going beyond the 'neurotransmitter imbalance model' for each presenting diagnosis helps us to...
You Might Want to Write This Number Down
No you're right, it's not long enough to be a Hemsworth's mobile number but actually it's more sought after 😉 If you're up to date with reading & recognising all the different patterns of Iron Studies & the stories they tell, which is a daily business for...
ACNEM Goes West
In July I go west again (seriously any excuse...love the place!) and fly over to Perth for the ACNEM Foundations (formerly known as Primary Modules) training course that ACNEM have been rolling out this year around the country. If you haven't seen it already...
Getting to the Guts of it!
I'm calling this one early. The presentation with the most dramatic rise in incidence this year is women aged 20-50 with 'atypical' joint pain. Probably good I don't have a betting account, hey, but in all seriousness I am struck by the increasing familiarity...