Rachel's Blogs
The Big SAMe Rethink Continued
You know the saying, 'If I had a dollar...', well there's so many ways I could finish that sentence, especially in relation to the most common questions I'm asked by praccies on a weekly basis and 'Can my patient on antidepressant 'X' take SAMe?', would be in the top...
The Big SAMe Rethink Starts Now
Recently a very experienced practitioner who uses SAMe frequently and successfully in her patients and also delivers education said to me, "I don't know what I am doing wrong - practitioners still come back to me with cases where they're throwing 8 different products...
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Satisfaction in Strange Places
There are many different potential sources of satisfaction that come from working in integrative health. The first that comes to most of our minds of course is the deep satisfaction that comes with solving a complex health riddle for someone and knowing that you have...
Who is ‘Molly’??
I keep hearing the name, 'Molly': "I think I'll use 'Molly' for this patient" or "A bit of 'Molly' might go well with the zinc for their high copper"... a moment of confusion on my behalf, (Molly who?) and then the slightly late...'ooooooooh Molybdenum'. Gotta love a...
The Conference Trifecta! This is a Must Watch
Recently, I posted about my very positive experience of the AIMA NZ conference, prior to that I was gabbing on about the upcoming ACNEM Brain Health conference in Melbourne in May and now I am going for the conference hat trick! I want to revisit a really impacting...
Elusive Integration?
Just back from a truly wonderful Australasian Integrative Medical Association (AIMA) conference in NZ. I don't know what it is about the land of the long white cloud but they seem to produce some of the loveliest, most earnest health practitioners and this conference...
Did we Leave Oestrogen in the 80s?
Duck duck GOOSE! Do you know this game? That's how I'm feeling with oestrogen - high-high-high-LOW!-of late. Likely similar to your experience, the majority of my female clients battle with oestrogen dominance, therefore I get so used to looking for it, expecting it:...
Pig Thyroid For Who?
Got any patients on Natural Thyroid Extracts (NTE)? Me too...and I am finding it's on the increase. What's the deal? What do we need to understand about this form of thyroid replacement therapy to best monitor and manage those patients already on it or...
Hear ye, hear ye…Adrenal Fatigue is Dead!
That's the word on integrative medicine street. I had a sense this was coming, not just a tightening of our terminology but also a challenge of the very concept of 'adrenal burnout'. Hear me out. This important information was presented by Dr. Kamal Karl, an...
Welcoming a New Member to the Family!
I just want to scream with joy...and then keep on screaming with utter frustration! Last week I presented the culmination of months of work looking into the extraordinary manifold relationships between thyroid health, fertility, pregnancy & post-partum health for...
Hey, Weed Lovers
I know you're out there. Reading a recent news article I had instant flashbacks of being a young, big-eyed, rosy cheeked naturopathic student of 20+years ago. While my career since may have taken me in somewhat of a different direction, I know many of my colleagues...
Bringing Up Teens – Yes, Yes but No
This week I must have spent more than my daily time allocation (5mins) on Facebook and as a result I stumbled across an article I actually read from beginning to finish! The title called to me, "Bad Parent, Hey Bad Parent"...it works every time right? Anyway, once I...
A Bit of Culture Shock
I've managed to befriend a microbiologist. I know it wouldn't excite everyone, but it's my big good news story of the month and I can't wipe the smile off my face when I announce this to friends and colleagues. Friends don't get it. Yet another Rachel weirdism. But...
Digging Deeper Into Thyroid
Have you still got some thyroid patients that don't fit any sort of traditional thyroid disease model and are difficult to get results with? Oh yes me too... and watch out...I've been spending the last few weeks with my nose firmly embedded in hundreds of articles...
Freya’s Coffee Rules
We all try and surround ourselves with fabulous people in our workplace and I have been luckier than most. I'll talk more another time about how to attract the right people to work for your business but right now I just want to share a gem from the fabulous Freya who...
Are You Over-Delivering?
This year has kicked off with lots of time spent re-calibrating my own and other practitioners' businesses models via business mentoring and it's such a privilege. One symptom that seems to creep into almost every practitioner's business model though, is one of...
Appendicitis Update
I've been digging around in the scientific literature all about appendicitis and I've ended up here. Long gone are the days when medicine foolishly considered the appendix without purpose - a dispensable 'extra' of the GIT and now, thanks to genetic PCR bacterial...
Misunderstandings & Mistakes – I’ve Made a Few!
Yep, I've had them...and made them. I often hear practitioners say they cringe when they think back about the patients they saw in the first year because of the vastly greater knowledge they have now. I do too. But my mistakes are more recent than that! I know more...
Final Day for Update in Under 30 Podcast Subscription Special Offer!
Make the most of this special offer! If you become a 12 month subscriber before the end of January (that's tomorrow!) you receive 10% off ALL individual mentoring sessions in 2017! And just so you know what we have in store for you as an Update in Under 30 Subscriber...
1 Week Podcast Subscription Special Offer
Have you heard what everyone is saying about the "Update in Under 30 Podcasts"? But more importantly, have you heard about "Update in Under 30 Podcasts"... fullstop?! If you've somehow missed out on being a subscriber & receiving these monthly gems over the...
Back to ‘Basics’ for New Year Resolves?
Sheeeeeshkebab I squirm at the whole premise of new year's resolutions. If you understand a little about the process of behavioural change, you'll appreciate that there's no magic dust (or firework pollutants!) you are going to get sprinkled with between pre and post...
Chew
Ask me to name a lymphatic herb other than Cleavers and Poke Root and I might struggle (sorry Sue!) but some other things stay with us forever. One of my stayers pops into my head every time I eat a carrot. Every time I make my partner or my kids eat a carrot. Every...
Are you Listening for the Good News?
Want to start 2017 with some good news? Sometimes working with patients challenged by mental health I get scared. A well-known colleague of mine introduced me to the notion of the 'clinician in crisis'. The practitioner who, in the face of their patient's...