There is a mystique that surrounds laboratory testing. The vast majority of us believe the values we get for any single test sample (blood, urine, saliva, whatever) represent our health status. On the one hand, this is truthful, especially when it comes to the most essential minerals in our body; sodium, potassium, carbon dioxide, acidity, [...]
OF COURSE! Q: Hello - my 20-year-old daughter was diagnosed with genetic high cholesterol. Her total level was 250 with an LDL of 170. She is a healthy weight and very active. We have a family history of heart disease as both her grandfathers passed away from heart attacks one at 58 years old and [...]
Q: I had gastric ulcers a couple of years ago due to real bad heartburn. The specialist placed me on 40 mg of omeprazole each day and that has taken care of my symptoms. I would like to wean myself off of this medicine since it really doesn't cure my problem and I know liver [...]
QUESTION: "I see that the FDA in it's nanny state has shut down the natural progesterone cream (and all compounds without a script that you made). I understand you are recommending the NOW brand. There appears to be a lot of brands out there. Is this the only one that passes your inspection? What about one [...]
I've been asked to evaluate a detoxification program. Here's the basic premise of the 21-day program; "Removing sugar from your diet is the fastest way to lose fat and increase your energy. When your blood sugar is out of balance it causes depression, causes you to store sugar as fat instead of using it for [...]
She wasn't alone, though, because many people of her generation (early to mid-20th century) bore a deep understanding of what it really meant to be healthy. Sadly, they also lived during times when medicine was changing from the old fashioned holistic approach to the modern beliefs about drugs, surgery, and radiation – thank you AMA, [...]
Oxymoron: a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly.". The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect January 17, 1920 and was repealed by the Twenty-Third Amendment on December 5, 1933. During those 5,071 days of Prohibition, citizens found innumerable [...]
Updated May, 2018 | L.J. Frieders Ironic isn’t in? A single elevated PSA (prostate specific antigen) value and our current medical system goes into a tailspin of treatment and surgery for prostate problems - even when the traditional prostate approach is “watchful waiting”. However, a tick bite that might cause decades of misery is ignored [...]
Right after birth, a person has a heart rate of around 159 bpm (beats per minute). By the late teen years, that number falls to around 100 and stays in that range for the rest of their life. Stress and exercise and cause this number to climb, but it should fall back to the normal [...]
A young mother called one morning to tell me her 5 year old son was vomiting, and asked what she could do. I suggested the standard of rest, sips of Pedialyte® or Gatorade®, and time. Later that day,when the vomiting hadn’t stopped, the mother called her pediatrician and was told to take the child to [...]
QUESTION: What would you suggest for a fifteen month old boy who's using a PPI (Protein pump Inhibitor*) medication? Also he has yellow to green stool which varies from clay consistency to liquid with solid. I am his grandmother. LARRY'S REPLY: First, it's good to get off the drugs - for everyone, especially an infant. [...]
Take a look at the packaged food you buy. Every package, by law, bears an expiration date, sometimes referred to as a Beyond Use Date (BUD). We have all been so conditioned to respect those dates that we sometimes fail to use even a small amount of rationality when confronted with a product that is [...]
QUESTION: I am 50 years old and in peri-menopause and I have discussed hormone replacement with my doctor. I am currently taking Realize, recommended by my doctor, to help with hormone related issues. It has helped with the hot flashes, sleeping and night sweats. My concern - along with my doctor - is that hormones [...]
One description of Lactose Intolerance is, “The inability to fully digest sugar (lactose) in dairy products.” One US government website reports, “Approximately 65 percent of the human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy..” Some of the symptoms are diarrhea, gas and bloating after consuming dairy products. It’s usually harmless, but its [...]
QUESTION: Larry, I am wondering if you have a solution for my wife's dry eyes. She currently takes the prescription Restasis which is very [unaffordable]. I was reading that there was a study that a solution with Vitamin A has just as much success as the ingredient in Restasis. Do you have (recommend) anything [...]
There seems to be a recurring theme describing our world today - nastiness. That’s my chosen word for of all the hostilities, war, conflicts, differences of opinions, poor sportsmanship, strong opinions, abusive and insulting language, bigotry, racism, religious persecution, and so on. The nasty list is long and getting longer by the minute. Perhaps it's [...]
Q: Hi! My compounding pharmacy uses sodium bicarbonate as a filler for my LDN [Low Dose Naltrexone]. This led to a discussion on a forum and now I'm curious if this is a bad filler to use? This particular forum was discussing other fillers as well, namely sea salt and sucrose. I'd love to know [...]
A Treatment that Works All treated patients demonstrated complete or partial resolution. Complete resolution occurred in THE MAJORITY of patients. Molluscum Contagiosum is a skin infection caused by a virus, which produces benign (not harmful in effect) raised lesions, or bumps, on the upper layers of the skin. The small bumps are usually painless. They [...]
Someone recently wrote in and asked if I could recommend something other than statin drugs to lower cholesterol. The quick and dirty response is “NO”, but that’s certainly too blunt. The primary question is actually about the necessity for statin drugs in the first place. After years of reading research papers - ad nauseum - [...]
I get asked about vaccinations quite often. Rather than writing about a specific issue that lands on either side of the argument, I have written out some simple steps to follow if you or a dependent are on the receiving end of a vaccine. If the vaccination is mandatory; Observe and document as much as possible [...]
