Rachel's Blogs
My Big Fat Greek (month-long) Feast!
Somehow it didn’t dawn on me immediately, that I was in fact living this nutrition nerd’s dream…I WAS ACTUALLY EATING THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET! 🤯 😍 Like, the real-deal, legit, bona fide, honest-to-goodness, original, dinkum 1960s Greek diet. That...
Suboptimal Thyroid Function? Could It Be Their Psych Meds?
Gone are the days, thankfully, when we could all easily identify any individual taking an antipsychotic 1) because they were the marginalised 'mad' and 2) stigma and shame were rife. With the seismic shift that has occurred both in psychiatry & society we now know...
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New Insights into Vulvovaginitis: Getting Species Specific & Sex Hormone Savvy
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...
Is Your Rep a Good Rep?
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...
Dump The Dairy But Not the Calcium?
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...
Is there a role for you here?
A 33yo Female presents with severe long-standing diarrhoea, weight loss, fatigue and generalised musculoskeletal pain. Initially without a medical diagnosis, however she's been told by an 'integrative practitioner' that unusual African parasites were the cause of her...
Hold the DHA in Mental Health?
About a decade ago there was a lot of excitement about using fish oils in the management of mental health, so much so even the American Psychiatric Association developed recommendations suggesting that people with mood, impulse control & psychotic disorders should...
The Inclusive Specialist?
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...
Speak of the (Synthetic Folic Acid) Devil!
It's just been reported on Medical Observer today that because of a 'worldwide shortage of food fortification folic acid' all Australian commercial breads covered by the mandatory fortification laws, will potentially be without this additional synthetic folic acid for...
Unmetabolised Folic Acid – Should We Be Worried?
Using products that contain synthetic folic acid (SFA)? Worried about this? There’s so much misinformation, fearmongering and hysteria out there I’m not surprised! I’ve been bombarded this year by really experienced & cluey practitioners who have...
Ever Wanted to Pick Rachel’s Brain For An Hour?
Well now’s your chance! Due to some of our regulars being away, suddenly a group mentoring session has opened up for tomorrow that offers you this fabulous opportunity! Running at 11.30am tomorrow at EST via Skype for 1 ¼ hours, Rachel will be holding a Q & A...
Is General Practice the toughest gig?
I will never forget a conversation I had with a GP colleague many years ago now, he looked tired and we were chatting about workloads etc. and he said to me, “If I had have known in uni what I know now about general practice I would have specialised!” He then went on...
Why I wouldn’t use Vitex
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...
Want Help With Your Grave’s Patients? Recording Available
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...
Money and Meaning?
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...
Do You Know Men Like I Know Men?
I’ve just completed a seminar series educating practitioners across Australia about how to recognise & correct sex hormone dysregulation in men & the response has been overwhelming. Everyone seems to be in agreement that this subject was seriously...
Avoiding Overwhelm In Clinic
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...
Iodine Excess in Action
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...
Why Haven’t I Heard About This Before?!
Last week I spoke to a group of psychiatrists, doctors and nurses working at a psychiatric hospital about N-acetyl cysteine for a whole hour! Anyone who has worked in pharmaceuticals, (which of course I did in a previous life) or has seen medical CPD up close even,...
Bad Patient Days (BPDs)
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...
What Do You Do For Post-Partum Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis?
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...
Who gives an RDW about RDW?
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...
Do We Need to Relearn Something Old about Addressing Iron Deficiency?
These days it seems like patients can almost be divided into two groups: those that have a tendency to iron overload and those that struggle most of their lives just to keep ferritin in the red…and what a struggle it can be. So many clients have spent years...