Metal Taste In Canned Foods!---A Red Flag?---

Canned foods have been in the US markets over many years.  Go to any grocery store and there are shelves and shelves of canned food.  An entire population lives on  canned foods.

Yet, when we stop and think and just use common sense, why do we still have canned foods in the 21st century?

Cans contain heavy metals.  Many are simply thrown away and become trash.  Some are recycled but many are not.  In my opinion, we have enough metal to recycle than the need to mine more ore and thus extract more of Nature's resources.

Aside from this, just think about the food that is sitting in can for weeks and months on end!  According to Ayurveda Medicine----food that sits becomes tamasic which means inert, dull, and lack of vitality and loses its vital energy.  According to Ayurveda, food just not only carries physical nutrients and so on, but each food has an energy that is transferred to the body and mind and this in turn affects our health.

Just compare fresh food and frozen food/vegetables to the way canned vegetables look and taste.  Our common sense knows the difference.

And yet, because of economy, many with shoe string budgets have to depend on these kinds of food, unfortunately. And remember millions of children that are eating canned foods for their school lunches that are cooked for them on a daily basis in schools across the country, as well at home.

And the biggest thing is----that metallic taste that one tastes really is disturbing, at least to me.

Open a can of Spagettios@, or soup or vegetables.  They have a terrible metallic taste!  And in naturopathic medical theories, these trace metals that leak into the food, accumulate in our body along with many other environmental toxins that may produce many unexplained syndromes in those who are genetically vulnerable or susceptible for many other reasons.

There is much controversy in this area and it will be debated for a long time.  However, just through one's intuition and common sense---does it not raise red flags?

Doctors Sometimes Are Still Too Negative, In My Opinion and are Sometimes Operating in Negative Environments

In  my opinion, I feel my profession still operates in the negative.  It may seem benevolent and positive on the surface of Medicine in the Western World, but is it really?

Every day I am bombarded with articles, reminders, conversations and dialogues about patient complaints about cost of co-pays, deductibles and so on.  I am reminded about long hours, exhaustion and burn out. There are constant complaints about managed care and the pharmaceutical industry as well as many other related issues.  I hear of many practices closing, physicians changing careers, physicians being stuck, physicians getting ill----and needing therapy, support and medications themselves.  Some physicians are dying of heart attacks in their 50's---and some are aging prematurely.

Long hours, less dollars after so much time energy and sacrifice over the years.  Is this the energy of the 21st century in health and healing?  Is the focus that a new paradigm in Medicine is supposed to be about?  Technology and rigid mental focus over the heart?

Not only are physicians and other health care workers feeling the impact of many negative forces, they also I feel sometimes still project this negative energy to clients and patients and the  medical environment----including myself at times.

This takes many forms.  In my experience, physicians are relating less openly with colleagues, staff, and patients.  Everything is cut to the chase, very brief dialogue, rushed and stressed encounters, quick focus on test results lab numbers, emphasis on medical procedures,  decisions about care and in an out quick rounds with the pressures of seeing high volumes of people for so little reimbursement---and thus difficulties maintaining stable practices for some.

I wonder about the internal world of the physician.  Are we really happy?  Did we start out idealistic only to find that we have reached a glass ceiling and that we are caught in a web of financial and other logistics that are hard to break free from to really feel like we are doing our mission that we had set out to do in this field.  Are we on a hamster wheel that has no stopping or relief?----

I see colleagues for support and treatment and there are many internal woes including depression, anxiety, fear, anger resentment bitterness and many negative emotions at how this highly professional group of people are being reduced to worker bees by large corporations who know nothing really about the subtleties of medicine, and in my opinion, sometimes pretend to care when they really do not. Behind closed doors it is really about numbers and dollars.

And then you take all of this and in conversations with patients and clients ---so much negative support is consciously or unconsciously given:----Still I hear many say;  "she will never walk, he will never be normal, they will never do this and that......"---This negativity is a powerful force that can affect patients and clients and subsequent generations. And, doctors are sometimes too tired and exasperated to provide empathic, longer support time ----due to high volumes and demands that even staff cannot sometimes manage.

Please understand, I am not saying every physician is a miserable wretch, they are all negative and they hate their profession.  Not at all.  There are extraordinarily stellar physicians who are making fantastic contributions to their communities and to the world.  And there are many that carry the gift of being able to hold positive energy for themselves and others and do many interesting things inside and outside of Medicine.

What I am saying in my opinion, physicians and all health care providers and staff have an opportunity if they are open to find ways to at least create or find some kind of sacred atmosphere for themselves to bring back the energy of the "Divine Feminine"---this means to remember the softer side of healing---love, purity, wholeness, re-generation, positive thinking, rejuvenation, healing, any form of relaxation and Spirituality.  Many areas that include artwork, expressive and creative therapy and activities, help to get back to feeling and experiencing one's real and authentic emotions.  

A review, study, and understanding of ancient Medicine principles that are currently mostly lost in today's Modern world would greatly help I feel....Ancient medicine is based in principles of enlightenment----ancient health focused on prevention through spirituality as a means to heal-----Ancient medicine is well-versed in the energy and the Spirituality behind the body and mind, something not really taught in conventional Medical schools in any real depth.

Group support and therapy within clinics --that involve group yoga, prayer of any kind, meditation, journal writing and sharing, creating a sacred space for all involved will truly go a long way to create this kind of positive energy within a clinic and truly shift the day into something that everyone can look forward to rather than dread.

And in doing so, a light in the heart can be lit---and if it is already lit --the heart can burn brighter so that some of these ideas and experiences can be introduced into one's busy practices.  By awakening inside, the positive energy and Higher Self can be channeled into one's work and career in a new and profound way that fosters the sacred in clinical medicine.

 

Western Medical Students Need Significant Exposure to Eastern Medicine Dr. Rama

In my opinion, it is time for Western Medicine to be exposed to Eastern Medical theory and practices. There is a vast wealth of knowledge within Chinese and East Indian Ayurveda Medicine and I feel medical students should have required hours in these subjects.

Western Medical schools, I feel are still strongly patriarchal, fear based, controlling, and extremely mental in their approach.  While it is important to be very meticulous and thorough in Medicine, sometimes seconds count in saving lives and so on, I feel that the softer side of Medicine is largely buried and under emphasized.

Students are rigorously and quickly run through many medical subjects, over short periods of time regurgitating memorized facts, figures, data and so on and then have to perform from what they learn on many psychologically  demanding clinical rotations and rounds.  They then graduate and enter a difficult and sometimes vicious world of hospitals, clinics and many dead end jobs that result in running a hamster wheel of high volume of patients through a series of tests, diagnoses, medications and treatments in very short periods of time without dealing with the spiritual, emotional, and mental needs of patients in any real or practical manner.

What is missing in Western Medicine is the return of the Divine Feminine..a slower, deeper, more understanding approach that deals with nurturing, emotions, empathy, many forms of subtle and overt healing practices of body and mind and helping understanding the underlying energy balance inside the body that is producing a set of symptoms.

Western medicine is completely brainwashed into quick fixes, fueled by insurance companies and financial burdens that constantly influence quality of care at the minimum of what can be gotten away with.

I am not arguing at all that  Western Medicine is vastly important of course to treat, diagnose, and manage and so on for all ailments--there is no doubt.  But, I feel Western Medical students and residents get lost and caught in figures, facts and procedures  and do not dive deeper into the realm of the actual life force, the treatment of various energies of the body, the understanding of the subtle nature of the bodies and the interesting treatments to help with ailments from a different approach that the East offers.

And I feel that medical students and residents should practice any form of deeper spirituality along with medicine---and practice holistic methods for themselves as they apply them to the patient population at large as well.  This is all part of what I call  "enlightened medicine....." and is part of "doctor heal thyself......"

Most if not all of the history of Medicine in schools and residencies is quoted from ancient Rome and Greece, when in fact many ideas were borrowed from the East.  There is a vast body of literature from the East on Medicine that is largely still untapped and ignored by Western Medical schools.

In fact, many of the Eastern Masters were enlightened beings, the caduceus was borrowed from the East to represent the Kundalini energy:  the powerful hidden coiled energy inside each person that when awakened affords natural meditation, expanded states of consciousness as well as spontaneous energy healing of disease states----all mostly not understood nor practiced in the heart of Western Medicine.

Eastern Medicine deals with energy and function of the body, and actual consciousness that pervades the body.  It has many protocols and practices in preventive care and also to alleviate and balance various energies that manifest as symptoms rather than just finding a symptom and masking it with knee jerk medicines that many students and residents automatically prescribe.  It has many, many herbal protocols that are only recently being understood by the West----powerful knowledge that was obtained from deep meditation and intuition on the nature of plants and herbs and their potent effect on the human body, mind and Spirit.

The new model in the 21 st century must thus in my opinion form a harmonious marriage between East and West and I feel that a portion of medical school and residency should teach mandatory subjects in Eastern Medicine as well.

Is Bipolar Disorder Sometimes Overdiagnosed?

In my opinion, Bipolar Disorder is sometimes over diagnosed or too quickly diagnosed.  Although there are diagnostic criteria, testing, surveys and questionnaires as well as clinical history from patients and clients, I feel that in the current process of public Psychiatry and individual practice this disorder is all too quick to be given medications and to a person is sometimes too quickly labeled "bipolar".

There is no question that the classical syndrome of bipolar disorder is complex and often requires clinical time, expertise and even trial and error to deal with all that is involved including medication management, therapy and all of the responsible interventions we do in this field.

I am speaking though of various situations and inner symptoms, experiences and  issues which make the diagnosis more difficult and challenging to sometimes define and treat.  There are many personality disorders that can resemble bipolar disorder and also substance drug and alcohol use that can mimic its issues--- particularly if there are periods of withdrawal, sobriety and/or any cycle in between.  Anxiety and ADDHD can also resemble bipolar traits and issues in adulthood and even childhood, along with other diagnoses and so these matters need to carefully be sorted out over some period of time.

Some clients have many stressful and intense adjustment issues in their lives to work, money and relationships.  They can have unresolved past grief, trauma, anger and unresolved feelings to past abuse, misuse, stemming from anything and everything.  There is unresolved issues of parental divorce, discord with relatives and friends and many unresolved therapy issues that can be at hand. Self esteem from any and all levels can be undermined and if there has not been healing in this area it can also manifest as bipolar traits in many ways.  And, many who do come to treatment sometimes want a quick and fast medication relief regimen to issues that require a lifetime of healing through therapy, Self-help, supportive groups, their own research and reading, and Spiritual interventions.  Many issues have not occurred overnight and will not and cannot be healed overnight as well.  And I feel we have stepped away from non-pharmacological interventions or we do not have enough time to understand where someone is in their healing process aside from medications.

In addition, nutritional and lifestyle factors do play a role.  In my opinion, Psychiatry should be at the forefront of these matters in bridging these medical/psychiatric factors with other medical fields, but I feel and find that this is lacking---often for many reasons-including--over-focus on medications, lack of interest and time, need for more education on the part of the clinicians and better reimbursement models and support to execute and practice what the recommendations are for lifestyle change.

So when a patient comes in and says they are irritable, edgy, frustrated; that they have mood swings, ups and downs; that they are labile, quick to react and have anger outbursts and of lack of sleep--when they complain of having pressured and racing thoughts and thus all the "buzz words and check list items" for bipolar---it is all too easy to give this label too quickly.

In this day and age of short medication evaluation and management visits and often stops and starts and various other resistances to individual and group therapy---medications sometimes I feel are given too fast, too many, and too much.  Sometimes a messy soup is created where one does not know fully what one medicine does or not--and often there is higher risk for drug interactions when this is the case.

Mood stabilizing medications in various classes are powerful chemicals that do have long and short term side effects and need to be carefully given/prescribed.  All too often, I see children and adults given anti-psychotic/mood stabilizing medications right away without turning to more traditional medications.  While all medications have their risks and benefits, in my opinion the anti psychotic/mood stabilizing medications have very important and serious issues to contend with and should be used slowly, carefully and with a lot of thought---not just a knee jerk reaction because of what physicians in this are conditioned to think sometimes about starting these medications through various channels.

Yet, in our current rushed, and yes, sometimes haphazard, limited,
and plastic model with little diagnostic and supportive time with people (usually about 20 -30 minutes initially and 15 minutes or less for followups---unless there are other arrangements made)---We have to be careful and considerate in separating out what is actually Bipolar Disorder and what are other factors contributing to the complex areas of mood, anxiety, psychosis and other symptom categories.

DR. R

Psychiatry in a new Paradigm has the Opportunity to Focus on Wellness rather than Illness DR. Rama

11/16/13

Psychiatry has made many important advances over this past century in the treatment and diagnoses of psychiatric disorders.  And, I feel that these discoveries will only increase and unfold over time on all levels. 

Yet I wonder if the field of Psychiatry has gone to an extreme of sorts.

There is so much focus on symptoms, illness and disease, have we forgotten about psychiatric wellness and prevention?

Psychiatry I feel needs to move to the forefront of wellness and prevention but instead I feel lags behind in its focus and mission.

Other fields like Internal Medicine, Family Practice and overall Primary Care are at least stepping into the paradigm of prevention, wellness and Integrative Medicine and I feel it is important that Psychiatry even take a lead role.

Fifty percent or more visits to Family Medicine and Primary care have their origin in depression, addictions, and anxiety--- and related issues and these issues can be both covert and above board---- disguised behind medical problems.

In our current system, many receive medications but very little else---in primary care--after checklists of symptoms reveal mood and anxiety. Patients are often given medicines that are being shown to be about 50/60 percent effective and that too useful if they do not have side effects that are not often well tolerated for the long haul.

And, by the time patients and clients come to Psychiatry for treatment (if at all), they have often been through many trials and tribulations of various treatments and medications.

Individual and group therapy abounds but the question is whether people are regularly using these services or whether visits are hit and miss, brief or interrupted for a variety of reasons. 

In my experience there are many internal and external blocks to regular one one one and group therapy and it is often not clear what the ef fectiveness is with therapy in its present states.

Mainly I have found finances, logistical headaches with insurance coverage, transportation to and from the office, severe anger, resentment and disdain from patients at resultant "NO-Show" fees if they do not come to a scheduled therapy appointment,---in general---  resistance to treatment for various reasons all play a key role.

And, over the years I have found that no one component of anything is enough for one's journey in health and healing.

Psychiatry maintains the need for medication management and therapy as the cornerstone of treatment. There are other modalities but they is not as much focus on other methods in a typical psychiatric practice or treatment setting.  But what does "going to therapy"--really mean?   A few visits?  Lifelong interventions?-- Six months, 7  months and so on? Group interventions in an inpatient setting which are often superficial, outdated and cursory at best, unless much time energy and thought is placed into them by the therapist, institution and so on.   Issues then continue to abound things get complex and so the therapist or client sometimes just wind down and say things are better or even sometimes worse?  And what is really gained from therapy in these once or twice hourly sessions --or even 4/5 times per week in classical psychoanalysis?

All of these questions are of course up to the individual--as there is no one prescription, method or journey.  Progress in therapy, medications and recovery is subjective on all levels but sometimes objective as well.

Psychiatry in my opinion is over-focused on medication management.  There are general principles in Psychiatry and a limited range of medicines for various Psych categories that have varying percents of effectiveness.  There is no way to predict individual effectiveness despite studies because in Psychiatry no one medication or combination has the identical effect for another based on multiple genetic, personality, and other biological factors. Insurance companies although they have recently changed coding and billing ---still dictate what happens with time and reimbursement in offices that take insurance.  And, with ever increasing pressures on Doctors and Nurse Practitioners to see high volumes of patients just to keep their doors open---brief med medication still abounds (15 min. or less) ---and this leaves little room to think and practice "outside of the box...."

While medications discovered and applied in Psychiatry have dramatically helped there are still many loopholes including complicated subtle and overt side effects, long term effectiveness, compliance with treatment, wear off and withdrawal issues to name a few.

And there is a limited armementarium of conventional medications for various problems that are circulated over and over again.  In my opinion the poorest options are for sleep and for anxiety---these I feel are the MOST problematic in Psychiatry (except for psychosis)--- and have the least options and the most unclear long term treatment outcomes.

Often people get benefit against a smoldering backdrop of overt and background subtle side effects that they have to bear just to keep functioning---often cognitive slowing and related symptoms, sexual side effects of all kinds and of course dreaded muscle movement problems with anti psychotics that people are at risk for for the long term.  Metabolic syndrome with weight gain, obesity, elevated glucose, lipids and other factors are rampant with anti psychotic/anti manic medications and drug companies have spent and earned billions promoting their medications that have these common ongoing risks.

The key in my opinion is that we have to expand consciousness and creativity in Psychiatry.

We have to encourage new models that are funded by patients, grants and private support that foster Psychiatric Wellness.

This means addressing everything conventionally but stepping above and beyond the disease and treatment symptom model.  It means managing and raising dollars to create positive self and pre-paid groups to address Self esteem, positive thinking and coaching, lifestyle choices and behaviors, dealing with underlying emotions and issues that fuel current patterns of living-----practice of Yoga and other Spiritual methods of any kind---all to name a few.---all outside the usual loopholes of third party payers ---that often ultimately undermine and block various creative treatment potentials.

In the new model clients and patients have to take financial responsibility to create these centers of Psychiatric well-being and realize that the days of third party payors is archaic and cannot be completely depended upon..

New models with new ideas and deeper interventions and treatments require dollars like anything else and Psychiatry is no exception to this.

The new model needs to be holistic to incorporate the vast storehouse of untapped knowledge and principles of prevention and treatment according to Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda Medicine and Naturopathic Medicine.  And, it needs to incorporate treatments that involve the creative arts in the healing process.

We have to completely transform thinking to help clients, and all involved that Psychiatric symptoms and issues are not just  a checklist of symptoms and then a squelching of symptoms through medications or a rambling journey through choppy and inconsistent therapy that has many stops and starts---mostly stops in my experience.

There are many clues in integrative and holistic medicine that psychiatric issues are the result of intense difficult lifestyles that involve severe stress and other negative emotions, the direct result of diet and nutritional issues, unresolved trauma and pain, lack of family, social and cultural connections, divorcing from one's creative hobbies and interests, and many other angles including lack of social skills, inability to empathize with others and so on.

The new model needs to have on site abilities and services for people to go to practice various methods of healing for themselves and have a venue of respite through various programs designed for ongoing practice and support in addition to the usual physician and therapy visits.  They need to be teaching centers on diet and nutrition and exercise

and be facilities where people can actually learn and practice how to actually change their negative and challenging personal habits that have been entrenched over time.

The new models above all need to focus on strengths, positive abilities, hopes dreams, aspirations and wishes and do anything and everything that focuses on reaching one's highest potential.

Psychiatric illness can then transform into Psychiatric wellness over time.

Dr. Rama  

New Website: www.drramamdessenceofenlightenment.com

I have a new website: www.drramamdessenceofenlightenment.com which contains all my blogs in one website a simple and unique meditation room and I will add many things in the weeks, months and years to come.  Hope it is inspirational to all.

Thanks--Hope all tuned in check in !  thanks

Dr. R

11/8/13--WIth the World Waking up to Holistic Health and Enlightenment--Is it Translating into Clinical Environments? Dr. Rama

My entire life has been guided and molded by many great and wonderful blessings, insights, teachings, guidance, sacredness, education, thoughts, mentoring on all levels---- so that I would have the best chance at sharing my abilities to help patients, clients, and those I come across in my day to day. 

Hope that I do share in the right way at least part of the time !  :) :)

I just got back from great review course in integrative and holistic medicine, with many great speakers and very inspiring colleagues and it was great to reflect on every possible angle of holistic health, medicine, healing and Spirituality during this time.

The challenge which I have felt over many years lies is in how to create, implement, and incorporate all of the new findings, recommendations, teachings, and practices into a clinic, spa, ashram, center, or any locus of healing.

There is much out there to help people deal with the entire spectrum of holistic but how to make it practical, accessible, yes even affordable remains the challenge.

This challenge and task is to provide the right guidance, suggestions, interventions, therapies, protocols, prescriptions, advice, experience, wisdom, diagnoses, and holistic treatments that are both intuitive but also evidence based and have all these interventions in whatever form have a lasting impact on the patient and client's life and world.

This calls for a new model that could include the following.

1. Holistic practitioners who individually initially interview and review with patients and clients their central issues, difficulties and diagnostic problems---who then review these with physicians to bring out the best treatment suggestions based in evidence based medicine ---conventional and complimentary while not ignoring the spiritual and intuitive side of healing that often does not fit into a test tube  :)

2. One on one time with a physician  who offers their best experience in dealing with many complexities of clients' needs---one heart at a time.  There are not generalities or cookie cutter tables for such care.  One has to to go in the moment and work on a consistent basis for transformation and change at all levels.

3.  A sacred space and facility with mentoring so that people come to practice what they learn and receive as prescriptions.  Let's face it, giving out lists to people often does not work; one has to work through many layers and levels of issues to remain consistent with any modality of treatment or intervention, just like playing a piano....it takes practice and an environment that fosters this practice.  On one's own alone does not work, otherwise our world would be in a very different state of health!

4.  Constant opportunities for healing endeavors and modalities that offer a wide variety of supports for people even after they have active visits one on one with clinicians and practitioners. --an entire clearing house and array of services for every type of problem and issue.

5. In reality, a mini village of all transformational protocols, procedures, paths and methods that allow people to pick and chose their way of healing based on their needs interests and affinities for what works best for them---

6.  Spiritual transformational work as a whole to awaken dormant inner faculties including the light body and kundalini that would reconnect body and mind with the cosmic Heart, and this in itself would create a core transformation from deep inside Soul into the physical and thus the external world-----

I have only scratched the surface---in this blog------but these kinds of ideas brought into manifestation are paramount if we are to foster transformational healing in any real and practical basis---for a new paradigm of health in the 21st century

Dr. Rama