Rachel's Blogs
ZoomZoom Goes the Zinc Zeitgeist
I'm such a sucker for marketing!...ZoomZoom is from an old Australian car ad - an earworm clearly conveying ' the speed of something', and let me tell you, totally fitting for this little Zinc tale I'm about to tell! Many years ago, I wrote a thesis on Zinc that...
And A Very Menopausal Christmas To You!
Wow, menopause is really having a moment, isn't it? Or is that just me (and my mates who are all somewhere on that perimenopausal path)?! But seriously, medical perception of this reproductive transition is undergoing a revolution right now—widening the lens to take...
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What do you know about Black Pepper?
I am just back from the NHAA Symposium - all informationed-up and raring to share!! LOL I learned some great stuff about Black Pepper and that made me think about a case from mentoring last month🤓 One of the presentations was from Jason Hawrelak during which...
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...
Everyday Q&As – More Postnatal Iodine (Not) Fun
Rachel: And sometimes emails from practitioners provide me with both the question and their own answer to their question even! Cameron Barker's (Ex-student long-term learner & mentee) email arrives titled: Unexpected Source of Iodine in Placenta Caps?! A 32 yo...
Everyday Q&A – Oh Gawd! Grave’s & Iodine in Pregnancy?!
Just as optimal integration of lab results into our patient work-ups makes 'the invisible visible' we thought we might make visible some of the everyday Q & A that we engage in with wonderful practitioners who are fast becoming Diagnostic Divas & Divos....
Everyday Q&As – Time-frames for Change
Just as optimal integration of lab results into our patient work-ups makes 'the invisible visible' we thought we might make visible some of the everyday Q & A that we engage in with wonderful practitioners who are fast becoming Diagnostic Divas & Divos....
Welcome To Our Thyroid Collective!
There's a bit of a backstory - play along at home if you want - by ticking off the steps in this journey we have travelled together! 😂 14 years ago I was first asked to contribute to ACNEM’s thyroid training module 9 years ago I put together a little...
Everyday Q&As – Iodine and Thyroid Nodules
Just as optimal integration of lab results into our patient work-ups makes 'the invisible visible' we thought we might make visible some of the everyday Q & A that we engage in with wonderful practitioners who are fast becoming Diagnostic Divas & Divos....
An Eczema Case – A Nickel For Your Thoughts…
When it comes to the recognition of Nickel as the number one metal allergen worldwide, affecting up to 30% of adults and with a particular predilection for women, it seems like Australian health professionals really do come from the 'land down under', with many of us...
Ever Met A Set Of Thyroid Results You Didn’t Like?
Ever met a set of thyroid results you didn't like? Because you couldn't work them out? Because they defied your expectations, & therefore your understanding, of how they should look in this patient given their weight, nutrition, meds, diagnoses? Yeah - me too. In...
Thyroid Health in a Time of (& after) COVID
Did you know that your thyroid expresses more ACE 2 receptors than your lungs? So while there is nothing new about the potential for a virus (or indeed even a vaccine against a virus) to impact thyroid form and function, the particular predilection this recent virus...
Weight Issues & Thyroid – Are We Asking The Wrong Question?
If I wrote down these 2 elements on a MindMap: Thyroid dysfunction and Adiposity, how would you connect them? Would you reflexively draw an arrow from the former to the latter to flag that the thyroid underpins the weight management issues? My arrow would be the...
A Growing Case of Practitioner Paralysis?
Over the years I've observed an increase in the incidence of practitioner paralysis. This occurs typically & understandably in the face of fearmongering. A good example is in the area of so-called 'methylation medicine' where we've been lead to believe...
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...
How Long Do You Give The ‘How’?
I've been ruffling feathers over here while speaking at AIMA in Auckland. While I am pretty familiar and comfortable with that role (& responsibility?) - this topic ruffled my own, arguably the most. In fact, I kicked off the presentation with, 'What I'm going to...
An Obese Individual Walks Into Your Clinic
This is not about body shaming nor body positivity. I understand the crudeness of the body mass index, as a measure of (un)healthy weight - let alone (un)healthy muscle mass, so I don't use this as a stand-alone assessment of weight, nor rigidly adhere to the...
The Fig Fix for Potassium Goals?
My lord I can go on, I know. And for weeks now I've really been banging 🥁🥁 The 1st drum was me making us all salivate & suffer through my month-long Mediterranean feast The 2nd, my ongoing incurable fixation on the 'Power of the Ps' - Protein &...
My Big Fat Greek Feast…the End?
Ok look away now if you've already heard too much from me about Greece. I understand. For the rest of you, still prepared to tough-out the travel tales, we've been discussing my recent thrill at eating something very similar to the Mediterranean diet - often touted as...
The Protein & Potassium Riddle of Ageing – Muscles and Bones
Notice a bit of a theme? Me too. Ok, so 50 is a landmark year, for lots of great reasons & they are all staring me right in my (increasingly wrinkled) face. But just at the edges of my now newly bespectacled visual field, I catch a glimpse of that stealth threat...
My Big Fat Greek Feast Continues
But just like so many well-meaning researchers who purport to employ 'THE' Mediterranean diet while their dietary intervention is actually just a rough approximation, I can't claim that what I ate over my month in Greece was an identical replica of what the...