Acupuncture for Multiple Sclerosis

Acupuncture is a great resource for patients who suffer from the Western diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  Research has shown that Chinese medicine can keep MS patients in remission longer and slow this condition’s progress.

While Chinese medicine cannot cure MS completely, you can feel confident in knowing that it CAN offer considerable help to alleviate symptoms and slow down its progress.

For example, acupuncture can significantly eliminate the feeling of heaviness and tingling in the limbs. And the earlier the treatment is started, the better the results. If treatment is started at the very early stages, the symptoms can be eliminated completely and the progression of the disease halted indefinitely.  The patient should plan on receiving treatment 2-3 times per week for several weeks, and then once a week for a time. Once the patient is stabilized, they should be seen once a month thereafter to keep the disease from progressing.

Let’s consider differences between Western and TCM analysis of MS:

Western Analysis of MS

• An autoimmune disorder characterized by patches of demyelination (damage to the protective covering of the neurons) in the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord. This causes an interruption of signals between the brain and the body.
• Symptoms may include any of the following: numbness of the extremities, trunk or side of the face; weakness of the arms or legs; visual disturbances; problems with bladder control; emotional disturbances; paralysis.
• Shows up without warning, and presents as alternating periods of remission and exacerbation.
• There is no specific treatment.
• As the disease progresses, periods of remission grow shorter and eventually progressive and/or permanent disability occurs.
• Those with MS typically have nutritional deficiencies.
• Intolerances to certain foods are also common.

TCM Analysis of MS

The most common patterns seen for MS patients are Spleen Qi Deficiency, Liver Qi Stagnation, Liver/Kidney Yin Deficiency. These patterns are often complicated by a number of other patterns such as: Damp Heat, Blood Stagnation, Internal Wind (spasms), Kidney Qi Deficiency, and Kidney Yang Deficiency.

• The first thing to realize is that you ALWAYS have to strengthen the spleen, move liver qi, and tonify liver and kidney yin because this is the base pattern.
• It is important to teach your patient about a spleen-happy diet, which includes avoidance of foods that are uncooked and adding in foods that help to strengthen the function of the spleen, such as warm root vegetables and soups. A poor diet makes MS symptoms worse.
• Liver qi stagnation exacerbates symptoms! Get your patient on a regular treatment protocol and teach them how important it is to avoid “unnecessary” stress. Help them find ways to move liver qi between treatments. Some suggestions for home treatment remedies include foot rubs, going for a walk, or an herbal formula that keeps liver qi moving.
• Help your patients to realize that when they are overtired, their symptoms become worse. MS patients have to learn when to say no to excessive activities. They may also need to be on a formula to supplement their qi.
• Women may experience an exacerbation of their symptoms related to the spleen, liver and wind (bloating, loose stools, irritability, more severe tremors) in association with their menstrual cycle.
• Education about how Multiple Sclerosis can be treated with Chinese Medicine is a key factor in combating this disease. Spread the word that getting treatment early and regularly can keep MS from progressing!

 Call 718-375-1144 for appointment

Effective Diet for weight loss

If you’ve ever tried a diet, you know that it’s very seldom a permanent solution to weight loss. Often it involves an extreme diet that is impossible to maintain for longer than a few weeks. If you see results, often they vanish after you’ve strayed from the strict diet you began. How frustrating!

Have you heard the term “weight loss resistant”? People who are “weight loss resistant” have tried everything to no avail. They start to feel depressed and defeated because they think there is something wrong with them. Well, there probably is. But it has nothing to do with willpower or determination.

Most “weight loss resistant” people don’t know that they have a medical issue that is stopping them from losing weight. Very rarely do doctors screen weight loss patients for food allergies, digestion efficacy, hormonal balance, thyroid function, brain chemistry, nutrient absorption or fasting blood sugar. Yet, these are essential building blocks to health. Without these vital components in place, a healthy weight will never be achieved.

The holistic medical doctor at Amita Holistic Healing Center will spend an hour getting to know you and your health history. She would runs complete diagnostics to get the objective data that unlocks the secret to balancing your body. Then, she explains it all to you clearly and discusses your care plan, considering your individual needs and goals. We find highly customized ways to help you shift your metabolism and find a healthy weight for your body by

• Balancing your body’s hormones
• Ensuring proper thyroid function
• Creating a healthy digestive tract
• Programming you to eat only food which is good for you
• Identifying and eliminating foods that cause sensitivities or allergic reactions
• Recommending health-supportive menus
• Teaching you how to make good choices around food and alcohol when you’re out

If this sounds like the experience you’ve been looking for, it’s time to pick up the phone and make an appointment. Call 718-375-1144

Dementia and Alzheimers

Growing number of Americans, almost 10% of the US population 18 years and older suffer from depression. And as the 72 million Baby Boomers in the US head toward retirement, mental health longevity is a real concern for a growing portion of the population.
Two articles in the July 2010 issue of the journal, Neurology, support the theory that older adults who have recurrent depression may be more likely to have dementia and Alzheimer's later in life. In fact, participants in one study had a 50% greater risk of developing dementia if they had a history of depression. These studies suggest that treating depression is crucial for prolonging mental and physical well-being throughout life.
Currently many patients are treated for depression with medications including serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) such as Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft. These medications can have some significant side-effects including insomnia, digestive problems, decreased sexual desire and satisfaction, reduced blood clotting capacity, and perhaps most serious, suicidal thoughts. For some, the side effects are worse than the depression – and for many, the medication doesn’t even relieve the symptoms.
At Amita Holistic Healing Center, we are approach depression, seeking to find the root cause by analyzing brain chemistry to evaluate neurotransmitter levels. Beyond that, thyroid function and sex hormones are evaluated, along with a complete check of nutrient levels. In many cases, by ensuring that appropriate levels of nutrients are reaching the cells and by balancing the thyroid, brain chemistry, and hormones, real relief from the symptoms of depression can be achieved. Dr. Tatyana Yakovleva prefers to use more natural means that have fewer and less severe side effects, if any at all.
To partner with a holistic physician who can find the root cause of your depression symptoms and help you create a care plan that gets you feeling better using natural, holistic treatments call 718-375-1144 to schedule an appointment.

Integrative medicine at Amita

Getting the good vibes at Amita Holistic Center.

Did you know that every organ in your body vibrates with a certain frequency—which means that it emits waves—signals that can be measured and interpreted.  When your organs vibrate with the “right” frequency, they stay healthy and operate as they’re supposed to.  But stress, toxins and age can alter the frequencies—either decrease on increase it, causing organs to either underperform or overperform , which leads to health problems.  Luckily with new cutting edge tools, these vibrations can be measured and interpreted to a get a full-body holistic health picture.

Amita Healing Center in Brooklyn, NY, uses Orion Bioscan, a computer that can read the body’s biofeedback by reading and recording such vibrations—and then generate the picture of the body’s biological state.  The bioscan is done through a headphones censor or a band-like censor the patient wears on his head. It takes about 30 minutes to construct the entire body’s health picture.  When the scan is done, that health picture and problem areas are displayed on the screen.

If you visit a regular doctor complaining about chronic stomach aches, he’d send you for a battery of tests: a blood test, an ultrasound, a gastroscopy test, a colonoscopy and possibly even a CT scan (a series of X-rays) or a contrast scan for which you’d have to drink a mildly radioactive liquid to make your intestines glow brighter during the scan. Besides being time consuming, these tests are also expensive, beyond unpleasant and often unhealthy—the CT scans, and especially radioactive CT scans, are quite bad for your health.  But Amita’s bioscan is quick, painless and even relaxing.  And, unlike the traditional medicine tests, it generates an overview of the entire body, not just one specific area like abdomen. Getting that overall holistic picture of your body is important, because stomach aches may not be caused by any abdominal abnormalities, but by bad teeth, for example. 

But Orion Bioscan’s beauty doesn’t end there. Just like it measures the body’s status quo it can also measure the effect of medications, supplements or homeopathic remedies on the organs that require treatment.  When you place a pill in its probe, the computer can measure how that pill will affect your ailing organ and whether it will have side-effects on your other organs. It can tell whether your organs’ vibrations will get corrected, get worse or remain the same.  By going through a few “candidate” pills you can identify just the right one that your body needs.  So after an hour-long visit to Amita, you can go home with just the right remedy.

In a regular doctor’s office that would require 2-3 visits in addition to all those tests above.  And if the medicines prescribed didn’t work or caused side-effects, there’d be more visits, more medications and perhaps some repeated tests.  Because Orion Bioscan can measure the medications’ efficiency on the spot, the trial-and-error phase so widely used in traditional medicine (if pill number one didn’t work, we’ll move on to pill number two, then pill number three, and so on, while the patient may suffer from side effects and little benefits) is skipped entirely.  Orion Bioscan can also be configured to send the right kind of vibrations to the body to help restore the organs’ natural rhythm. Another technique Amita uses to restore the body’s vibrations is electrostimulation—using very light electrical currents to balance the organs’ vibrations.