Last night I attended a fun and informative open house within the IMC of W Colorado's Bellezza skin/aesthetics, and while I DID want to learn about the additional staff and new products and services, and the attendees were likely there for the goody bags, drawings, and discounts on products purchased at the even, I got a BONUS I went for -- time with Scott Rollins (MD, and Medical Director of Bellezza as well as the Integrative Medicine Center of Western Colorado (link below).
The reality IS, many people care more or notice their outside/skin than what is going on inside their bodies, so aesthetics and skin care is a major portion of 'integrative medicine'. Ironically, my very first occupational therapy assignment at Colorado State University when I was 22 was an oral report to the guru Ellie Gilfoyle's 'Introduction to Occupational Therapy' class, and I was assigned to study and report upon a pediatric burn (child had picked up a lit firecracker which exploded). And while I joke about my memory a lot, I still have a remarkable recall for most things and I do recall starting my first presentation of my new 'career' by asking what the largest organ of the body is. Keep in mind, it was a group of 20 year old women basically with one guy in the class -- who "ironically" has now completed medical school and is none other than in Grand Junction and was my initial ophthalmologist here. (And 'yes', it is interesting the way Grand Junction has pulled so many here or back here to "practice" in our medical specialties.
In addition to aestheticians (hair, face, nails, etc.), "eye doctors", dentists and even gynecologists are important team members to have on your 'integrative medicine team' (suggestion: refer to the "You" model on our website home page). When I had moved to Denver in my first years as an OTR, I went to what I thought was the best specialist in town for my yearly pap smear, which was Planned Parenthood, and received progressive medical model teaching: they used the time 'in the stirrups' to educate women about facial skin care related to sun/skin cancer). Bellezza's progressive staff impressed last night with their professionalism, knowledge and sincerity for the people there. This has been a particularly challenging two weeks for my time and energy and I took the opportunity to settle into the break room and have fun with the family / team atmosphere (and embarrass myself with not being able to stop eating the goodies they served, as they are things I normally don't have yet naturally 'like' as much as anyone)! Erin Larson, CA, CLS and Yvonne Featheringill, CA gave me the quick overview of their chosen makeup line, "Youngblood", which is paraben-free and high in natural reflective mineral in order to minimize sun damage. Youngblood's representative was able to attend and help at the busy event so it truly was a great learning experience for all involved -- I learned their product line has more color choices than others for this type of loose/ mineral product. I encourage you to follow the link below for more information and contact them if you have questions.
I enjoyed being able to open the door for one woman who is a long-standing consumer of Bellezza's services about health issues which sparked her interest for two friends/family who she hoped to have come to the IMC and Dr. Rollins' team related to possible hormone/thyroid conditions, reminding me of the 'in person' educational aspects I and everyone involved with Lumigrate has the opportunity to provide. That encompasses the providers we utilize and you -- right now you've learned something on Lumigrate.com and can talk or write to someone and be a 'peer health advisor' with more ability than you were before you were reading this blog post at Lumigrate.com.
As Dr. Rollins suggested after the busy event was over that we utilize the 'fumes of energy in our professional minds' and relax in the quiet and comfort of the waiting area of the IMC to discuss the latest class he and some of his staff attended, I realized the irony that it had been about exactly three years since we met as 'doctor/patient' at an allopathic clinic he continues to co-partner and co-llaborate at in the small, rural mountain town of Collbran, Colorado. Earlier that fall, I had called around my city's allergy providers and had the unfortunate but informational experience of a front office not accurately knowing what their doctor provided for services and arrived to find out he was NOT progressive, but traditional in his approach and underwent painful and unsatisfactory allergy testing for IgE food and inhalant allergies after one provider in my G.P's office had a smart realization that my then-regular visits for severe respiratory infections had a seasonal (spring/ fall) pattern to them, so inhalant allergies were suspected. Having 10 years prior benefitted enormously from IgG food allergy testing which had been instrumental in helping me solve the puzzle of 'change in condition' to a disturbing level in 1994/5, I was extremely frustrated with the hassle, invasiveness, and expense of something which netted me literally a 'I don't know what is wrong with you but you sure have had some bad luck when it comes to your health' from an allergy 'specialist'. I thought I was at a roadblock on that and simply was looking for a more progressive G.P/ primary care physician and found out, through the new local compounding pharmacy (which are 'progressive' for pharmacies, and keep in mind 'pharmacy' can be a team member on YOUR medical team), and was told "the only doctor that thinks like you do, Mardy, isn't even in town". But I just spent hours and lots of my insurance company's money (and my copay) getting nowhere but frustrated and, quite frankly, feeling physically violated so a beautiful drive on another day when I could again take time off from work would be welcome, if it was a progressive provider like I was searching for.
And when he looked at my records, he prepared me for the need to return for future times in order to get many things addressed, but didn't call me 'complicated' as I had been told in the past, and he said 'I want to start with food allergy testing in this different way called IgG (and went on to explain it)', and then also did labs related to gonadal hormones as I was 'of the age', had fibromyalgia, and his specialty was evolving at that time to be bioidentical hormone replacement. (I believe the three years of that therapy has also helped a lot of the system of my body return to a more 'normal, well' state, but that's another subject which has a link to a previous blog which I'll provide below as well.) Now, three years later, he and his R. N. have just returned from a class related to chronic illness' root causes being in foods and toxins which are affecting our gut, leading to 'leaky gut' with it's neurologic and physiologic repercussions and he has advanced his knowledge and ability to treat patients and write or speak about these types of topics.
"6:20 tomorrow morning on the morning news, I'm talking about this" was his clue to me that he'd like me to watch, and Dr. Rollins knows I am NOT the early bird he is, but I did get up this morning and I'm glad I did. I was barely functional to turn on the TV, and here he was 9 hours later in a professional shirt and tie and
"If you have any 'chronic symptom', you should be suspicious of delayed food allergies"
Delayed food allergies can be difficult to detect as it can take 12-72 hours later to have reaction (due to it's being the antibody IgG in the body reacting to the food). Also, the reactions are not what many people think of as an 'allergy' (such as to strawberries, nuts or peanuts (a legume, technically), which cause the mouth and throat to swell or be irritated and are caused by IgE antibody reacting).
Symptoms of delayed food allergies are:
It can be any food, but the 5 most common ones are:
Why did this happen? it's only been 5-10,000 years that we've had agricultural societies in the world and many of us are not genetically prepared for eating the 'typical foods' in our cultures now. Our ancestors did not eat these types of foods, so some people do okay but others don't.
The 11 News reporter, ____ ____, asked a great question: What about organics? The answer is that for food allergies, it does not matter as it is the actual food product that causes the allergy, although
Testing is currently done by the IMC in three ways:
test for 159 different foods is available
test for the most likely ones (less expensive)
food elimination (completely exclude suspected food for a few weeks and see how symptoms change, but Dr. Rollins points out it can be something different than what you have removed so this can be a difficult process.
My experience has been that in 1995 I was found to be allergic to dairy, wheat, eggs and the world DOES still spin if you don't have these items (many people think I don't 'like' cheese or milk and it would be impossible for them to give up their beloved cheese or other dairy item without realizing I enjoyed those products immensely and after years of 'eating away from them', I now can rotate them back into my diet.
In the conversation I was lucky enough to have individually with Dr. Rollins last night, he explained how beans (as in kidney, pintos, etc.) have an effect on the gut that causes problems such as above for many people, and he recalled my testing with him netted those as a food I was sensitive to. In my years of reducing wheat and dairy, I would eat a lot of Mexican food (corn and beans sans the cheese), and possibly created the same problem by eating so many beans thinking they were a great alternative staple in my diet which i wasn't previously allergic to. "The testing and knowledge about this has just burgeoned since you had that first testing done" he said to me.
And I hope YOU have benefit ted from this and we'll look forward to Dr. Rollins adding something in Migrates Forum area (under Food Allergies).
Previous Bog "Hormones are Here" link: www.lumigrate.com/blog/hormones-are-here [1]
Forum (Food Allergies): Please click on "Forums" and see Food Allergies. ("Bog" has a tab as well)
Related seminar by Christopher Pesto, ND on this type of food allergy (at $20 a fraction of a 1:1 consultation and a great place to 'get the petal to the metal' if you are going to consult with Dr. Rollins or Pesto or another provider available to you) and the other $0/free or $20 videos: www.lumigrate.com/catalog/seminars [2]
To learn more about Dr. Rollins, Erin, Yvonne and integrative medicine, the link is: www.imcwc/com [3]
Website for the Grand Junction news channel which aired this story today and has the IMC providers on regularly due to their awareness of viewer's/ the public interest in 'integrative medicine': www.nbc11news.com [4]
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [5] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
Links:
[1] http://www.lumigrate.com/blog/hormones-are-here
[2] http://www.lumigrate.com/catalog/seminars
[3] http://www.imcwc/com
[4] http://www.nbc11news.com
[5] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
[6] http://www.lumigrate.com/blog/5-most-common-food-allergies-scott-rollins-md-tv-news-or-11#comment-1246
[7] http://www.hindijokes.info
[8] http://www.lumigrate.com/blog/5-most-common-food-allergies-scott-rollins-md-tv-news-or-11#top
[9] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/190%23comment-form
[10] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/190%23comment-form
Comments
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