Category Archives: Integrative Medicine

Deepak Chopra, Special to SFGate

By Deepak Chopra, MD

Its rare to find someone with an optimistic view of humanitys future. The prevailing mood globally is dark, and yet David Deutsch, a far-seeing British physicist, argues that humans are responsible for everything newwe are the ultimate creators in the cosmos.

I was excited to view his April 2019 TED talk headlined After billions of years of monotony, the universe is waking up By monotony Deutsch means the mechanistic processes that have been in place ever since stars and galaxies began to form, and by waking up, he means us. We are a unique source of creative novelty in the universe, so far as we know.

To support this very original idea, Deutsch points out that humans have told themselves a story for centuries that is mistaken. We have seen ourselves caught in the middle of struggle between cosmic good and evil, which was expressed in religious terms for a long time but has been updated by science into the struggle between order (the good side of the war) and chaos (the destructive side of the war, and therefore bad).

What we fail to realize, he says, is that human beings are not subject to the laws of nature; we use them in creative ways and therefore have broken the monotonous chain of pre-determined cosmic forces. This became possible thanks to DNA. When life first appeared, it began to change planet Earth.

In itself this was unparalleled in the universe, where tiny things are as a rule dominated by bigger things. When a comet hits the sun, for example, the comet is destroyed while the sun, being much bigger, is unaffected. Earth has been hugely affected by DNA, however. Photosynthesis from one-celled plants provided the necessary oxygen in the atmosphere to sustain higher life forms. The planet has chalk deposits, oil, gas, and coal thanks to dead life forms.

This amounts to the first time that the monotonous universe found a new direction, hence his use of waking up. The epitome of waking up arrived with Homo sapiens. Since that is the theme of my new book, Metahuman, I was particularly fascinated by this part of the argument. If we stop seeing ourselves as passively trapped between good and evil, evolution and entropy, the light and dark sides of our own nature, we can redefine what it means to be human.

What it meanshere I totally agree with Deutschis unbounded creative potential. In Deutschs view we are the only life form that has the ability to acquire new knowledge that can be communicated in language, and from this unique ability we can turn any knowledge into technology. Our whole reality is already mind-created, and there is no reason to believe that the creative process is about to end.

In my book I also speak of human reality as mind-made, but I see that a choice is involved. Besides creative knowledge, we walk around prey to illusions created by the mind. The war between cosmic good and evil serves as only one example. Everyone is trapped in beliefs, prejudices, second-hand opinions, and unproven assumptions. These, in fact, are the source of war, crime, violence, racism, famine, anxiety, and pessimism. There is nothing in the setup of reality to confirm the necessity of any of these limitations.

Everyone knows before going into a war that the outcome will be pointless destruction and suffering, yet we find ourselves unable to turn this realization into lasting peace. Our self-made constructs push us in directions we know are bad for us. The point of Metahuman is that only by going beyond, arriving at a new level of self-awareness, can human beings evolve. I feel that this adds a new element to Deutschs model for the future. Where he places his faith on knowledge as the ultimate creative agency. I think the picture must be widened. Knowledge depends on the ability to know, an ability that is traceable to consciousness.

This doesnt sound like a big distinction, but it is. Deutsch offers a radical rethinking of what it means to be human, yet his basic worldview is physical. He ascribes novelty and creative force to DNA, not to consciousness. But if he is right that evolution has led to humans as the ultimate knowers, where did this knowing arise? Either it was present in the creation to begin with, or you are forced to find the time and place where atoms and molecules bunching together learned how to think. Such a time and place has never remotely been discoveredand it never will be.

Knowing, as a trait of consciousness, must pre-exist. There is nothing to know without a knower, yet humans cannot be unique knowers. It took knowledge to create us. We didnt create the trait of knowing; it came with life itself, and indeed with the whole project of the created universe. It takes a whole book to explain how existence and consciousness are one. But in his TED talk Deutsch describes just how far knowledge has gotten us, pointing out that our creative unfoldment is hardly about to end. Accepting that is half the battle.

Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, founder ofThe Chopra Foundationand founder of Chopra Global and co-founder of Jiyo, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego. Chopra is the author of more than 85 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His latest book is Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential. Chopra hosts a new podcast Infinite Potential and Daily Breath available on iTunes or Spotifywww.deepakchopra.com

See more here:
Are Human Beings the Ultimate Creator? - SFGate

What if your doctor failed to talk to you about the most important threat to your health? Wouldnt you worry about the quality of your health care? Poor quality diet is a leading cause of death in the United States, but it is unlikely that your doctor has the knowledge to even begin a meaningful conversation about your nutrition or to make an appropriate dietary referral.

Most doctors lack the knowledge necessary to offer nutrition advice to patients; indeed, fewer than 14 percent of physicians report feeling equipped to advise on diet or the connection between food and health. This is unsurprising given that, for example, 90 percent of cardiologists in a recent survey reported receiving minimal or no instruction on nutrition during medical training.

Yet it is also concerning. Obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States, all are closely linked to diet and nutrition.

Nearly 40 percent of adults and 18 percent of children are obese, and these numbers are increasing; almost 10 percent of Americans suffer from diabetes, compared with less than 1 percent just 50 years ago. Even more concerning, more than one-third of Americans have pre-diabetes.

A focus on treatment rather than prevention has led to medical education that ignores the central role that food plays in health. The average U.S. medical school devotes less than 1 percent of total lecture hours to nutrition. Accreditation requirements for medical residencies and fellowships do not include nutrition.

The standardized exams that medical students must pass to become board certified lack questions that test the ability to advise patients on diet. And to date, no state requires continuing medical education in nutrition or diet-related disease as part of the ongoing education for physicians to maintain licensure.

This dangerous gap in their education means that doctors do not learn the basic guidance in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, or stay apprised of the latest nutrition science. Accordingly, they fail to recognize, and are unable to convey to patients, the importance of diet to health. This means fewer referrals to nutritionists, even when diet plays a vital role in their patients health.

The lack of nutrition education during medical training is also a costly mistake. Health-care spending has skyrocketed Medicare benefit payments exceeded $730 billion in 2018 and account for nearly 15 percent of all federal spending.

At its current rate, Medicare spending will exceed $1 trillion in the next 10 years. Diet-related diseases account for 5 of the 8 most common conditions among Medicare beneficiaries, so its clear that as the prevalence of diet-related diseases increase, health-care spending increases.

Fortunately, we can change this troubling status quo. Opportunities exist for policymakers at the state and federal level, as well as the bodies responsible for testing and accreditation, to make systemic changes to medical training.

For example, state legislatures and Congress can offer grants to medical schools to develop curricular content; the American Council of Graduate Medical Education can amend residency requirements to require competency in diet and nutrition; and testing organizations like the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Medical Specialties can incorporate nutrition-focused content on step and board examinations, respectively.

Perhaps the most logical and effective solution is to ask Congress to spend our health-care dollars more wisely. Medicare is the single largest source of federal funding for graduate medical education, providing more than $10 billion to eligible programs in fiscal year 2015.

This funding comes with no strings attached, i.e. no curricular requirements or performance benchmarks, and certainly no expectation that residents or fellows receive education in nutrition.

Rather than spend a whole lot more on Medicare to treat diet-related diseases down the road, Congress should leverage this funding to require nutrition education for residents and fellows. These policies and others are explored in a recent report from the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic.

The education of doctors is a critical issue with universal implications for our national health. When it comes to the care we receive at each doctors visit, we reap what we sow. By not insisting that physicians receive at least foundational education in nutrition, we produce a medical system that is focused almost exclusively on drugs and devices, and in which the most costly diseases continue to grow.

Alternatively, by helping physicians understand the connection between food and health, we can produce better individual patient outcomes, improve population health, and change our nations health-care landscape for the better.

Emily M. Broad Leib, J.D., is an assistant clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School and the director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic. Stephen Devries, M.D., is a preventive cardiologist and executive director of the nonprofit Gaples Institute for Integrative Cardiology. Walter Willet, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Link:
Our diets are killing us and doctors aren't trained to help | TheHill - The Hill

Data Demonstrated Cannabics' SR capsules with 5 mg dosage seems to be appropriate for the treatment of cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome (CACS) in advanced cancer patients under active treatment.

TEL AVIV, Israel and BETHESDA, Maryland, Oct. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc.(CNBX), a leader in personalized cannabinoid medicine focused on cancer and its side effects, announced today that the final results of its pilot study to test the efficacy of Cannabics' Dosage-Controlled capsules for the treatment of cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome (CACS) in advanced cancer patients have been published on the Journal of Integrative Cancer Therapies.

The study was performed at the Rambam Health Care Campus (HCC), Division of Oncology, in Haifa, Israel, and led by Dr. Gil Bar Sela (MD). The study objective was to evaluate the effect of dosage-controlled cannabis capsules on CACS in advanced cancer patients, and more specifically, on patient weight variation.

Inclusion criteria comprised: age older than 18 years, histological evidence of an incurable malignancy, estimated life expectancy 3 months, performance status 3 (ECOG [Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group]) classification, weight loss of at least 5% during the preceding 2 months (as documented in the patient's medical file), and the patient's belief that loss of appetite or weight loss is an ongoing problem for him/her. The use of chemotherapy or radiotherapy was allowed.

The study protocol was approved by the Ministry of Health Unit for Medical Cannabis and by the hospital's institutional ethics committee (0275-14-RMB). The study (NCT02359123) was conducted in accordance with good clinical practice and the Helsinki Declaration.

The cannabis capsules used in this study contained 2 fractions of oil-based compounds, provided by Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. All stages of the technology are being protected under Cannabics' rapidly expanding patent portfolio.

The formulation of the study capsule is a lipid-based drug delivery system, which highly improves the relatively low oral bioavailability, related to absorption, degradation, and metabolism.

Story continues

During the study, some patients reported several psychoactive side effects and it was decided to reduce the capsules' dosage to 5 mg. Almost no side effects were reported with the Cannabics 5 mg dosage. It seems that this dosage is appropriate for the treatment of CACS in advanced cancer patients under active treatment.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effect of dosage-controlled cannabis capsules on CACS and, more specifically, on weight variations in advanced cancer patients, according to the Good Clinical Practice criteria.

Despite various limitations, the current preliminary study demonstrated a weight increase of 10% in 3/17 (17.6%) of the patients with doses of 5 mg 1 or 5 mg 2 capsules daily, without significant side effects. The results justify a larger study with dosage-controlled cannabis capsules in CACS.

Eyal Barad, CEO and Co-Founder, said: "This study is an important milestone in our mission to bring clinically tested products to cancer patients around the world. We always believed that our Cannabis based products have the potential to help support cancer patients as part of their treatment plan, and today we have clinical data indicating we are on the right track. Based on these results we are now in the process of initiating collaborations with leading international medical institutions to continue and expand our research and commercial activities."

Findings are available online and can be found here.

About Cancer-Related Cachexia and Anorexia Syndrome (CACS)

Cachexia is defined as a "multifactorial syndrome characterized by an ongoing loss of skeletal muscle mass (with or without loss of fat mass) that cannot be fully reversed by conventional nutritional support and leads to progressive functional impairment. Cachexia may be masked by excess weight, obesity, edema or tumor mass. Anorexia is a subjective term describing reduction or loss of appetite. Although it is commonly known that patients coping with cancer and cancer treatments experience loss of appetite, the exact prevalence of anorexia is unknown. In one study on advanced cancer patients, more than half the patients experienced anorexia. A North Central Cancer Treatment Group study of 1115 patients with colorectal and lung cancer found that cancer patients with anorexia had lower survival rates and experienced more toxicity from chemotherapy than similarly matched patients who maintained their appetite. Cachexia primarily caused by anorexia or reduced intake has been defined as cancer-related cachexia and anorexia syndrome (CACS). CACS, unlike cachexia, includes weight loss caused by muscle wasting, as well as lipolysis and decreased intake.

About Cannabics SR capsules

The cannabis capsules used in this study contains 2 fractions of oil-based compounds. A liquid and transparent fraction, which contains pure cannabinoid extract dissolved in organic coconut oil, is responsible for the quick onset of the therapeutic effects within 20 to 60 minutes. A consolidated cannabinoid, lipid-based drug delivery systems fraction is responsible for a gradual and long-lasting therapeutic effect (6-8 hours), due to a proposed constant and steady release of active cannabinoids. The formulation contains a pure extract of cannabinoids, monoglyceride, and diglyceride (E471), combined with carrageenan, which is known for its controlled release properties and organic coconut oil. The 2 highly abundant cannabinoids in cultivated cannabis plants are THC and CBD (cannabidiol).

The study capsules contained either 10 mg of active cannabinoids of which THC is 9.5 mg and CBD is 0.5 mg or 5 mg of active cannabinoids (THC 4.75 mg and CBD 0.25 mg).

About Cannabics Pharmaceuticals

Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CNBX) is a U.S public company that is developing a platform which leverages novel drug-screening tools and artificial intelligence to create cannabinoid-based therapies for cancer that are more precise to a patient's profile. By developing tools to assess effectiveness on a personalized basis, Cannabics is helping to move cannabinoids into the future of cancer therapy. The company's R&D is based in Israel, where it is licensed by the Ministry of Health to conduct scientific and clinical research on cannabinoid formulations and Cancer. For more information, please visitwww.cannabics.com.

For more information, please visitwww.Cannabics.com.

For the latest updates on Cannabics Pharmaceuticals follow the company on Twitter@Cannabics, Facebook@CannabicsPharmaceuticals, LinkedIn, and on Instagram @Cannabics_Pharmaceuticals.

Disclaimer:

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other U.S. Federal securities laws. Such statements include but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, results of clinical trials and/or other studies, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, the effect of any competitive products, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, changes in government policy and/or regulation, potential litigation by or against us, any governmental review of our products or practices, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, our latest 10-Q Report filed on July 15th, 2019. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time. Finally, the investing public is reminded that the only announcements or information about Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. which are condoned by the Company must emanate from the Company itself and bear our name as its source.

For more information about Cannabics:Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc.Phone: +1(877)424-2429info@Cannabics.comhttp://www.Cannabics.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cannabics-pharmaceuticals-announces-publication-of-clinical-data-from-its-sponsored-pilot-study-on-controlled-release-capsules-on-the-journal-of-integrative-cancer-therapies-300939561.html

Go here to read the rest:
Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Announces Publication of Clinical Data From Its Sponsored Pilot Study on Controlled Release Capsules, on the Journal of...

The ancient practice of mindfulness may be a powerful tool in fighting the modern-day epidemic of opioid addiction, new research suggests.

In a series of studies, an eight-week course in mindfulness techniques appeared to loosen the grip of addiction in people who had been taking prescription painkillers for years and experienced powerful cravings for the drugs.

Compared to research subjects who discussed their pain and opioid use in group sessions for eight weeks, those who focused on their breathing, bodily sensations and emotions showed evidence of reduced drug-craving and greater control over those powerful impulses.

The brains of subjects who got mindfulness training also evinced a renewal of pleasure in people, places and things that typically falls away as addiction takes hold. The brain activity of those who attended group sessions showed no evidence of having recaptured a sense of joy in lifes positive offerings.

The results were published this week in the journal Science Advances.

If borne out in further research, the findings may open a new front in a battle against an epidemic that has claimed 400,000 lives and holds roughly 2 million Americans in its grip. The study suggests that mindfulness training can help to reverse the process by which opioid drugs hijack the brains reward and pleasure-seeking networks, making drug use the central focus of a persons life.

In so doing, it could become a powerful addition to or, for some patients, a replacement for medication-assisted treatment. That approach uses drugs such as methadone, buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone to wean people with addiction back to a lower and safer opioid dose, or off the painkillers altogether.

Those medications are considered the most effective addiction treatments available. But a report issued in March by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concluded that they are not yet widely available to most who need them. The report also noted that many patients would need to take these medications over a lifetime, as treatment for a chronic brain disease.

These drawbacks have made the search for better or complementary treatments an urgent one.

This is another potential tool in the toolbox of addiction treatments, said Dr. Cecilia Westbrook, a researcher and resident physician at the University of Pittsburghs Western Psychiatric Hospital who was not involved in the new study. Not every patient will be open to it, or have the mental powers to practice these techniques, and making it widely available to people with addiction could be a challenge, she said.

But for many, mindfulness training might be part of a powerful cocktail to fight addiction, said Westbrook, whose own work found that mindfulness can aid in smoking cessation. Just as depression treatment appears more effective when medication and psychotherapy are used together, mindfulness might help boost the impact of medication-assisted addiction treatment.

Those who study the effects of substance abuse have observed for more than a decade that as addiction takes hold, the human brain experiences profound changes. Brain regions that drive us toward pleasurable activities to eat, play, socialize, have sex begin to discount those normally healthy behaviors as the reward-seeking network turns up the volume on cues linked to the addictive substance.

Scientists call the result hedonic dysregulation. Addicts call it jones-ing.

Evolved to ensure the survival of species, these impulses to identify and move toward rewards are powerful drivers of behavior. When theyre hijacked by unhealthy substances or activities, the new normal can be a spiraling, and self-reinforcing, loss of pleasure from healthy activities.

Eric L. Garland, director of the Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development at the University of Utah, wondered whether mental training could help reverse this implacable dynamic. So he recruited 135 chronic pain patients with opioid use disorder and ran some experiments.

The study participants were white men in their mid-50s on average who had typically taken opioid medications for about a decade. Many did not consider themselves addicted to painkillers, but most recognized that their opioid use had become problematic.

Researchers at the University of Utah prepare for an electroencephalogram test to see whether mindfulness techniques helped people overcome their addiction to opioids.

(Spencer Bott / University of Utah College of Social Work)

Garland and his team gauged the subjects level of hedonic dysregulation with an electroencephalogram, a device that can capture the brains distinct electrical signals through the scalp.

At moments when a person is viewing, pondering or reacting to a cue the elicits strong emotions, the brains electrical activity offers up a tell: theres a spike in the amplitude of an electrical signal called the late positive potential, or LPP. That distinctive signal typically reflects broad activation in deeper regions of the brain that are key to the processing of emotions.

In his first experiment, using 40 subjects, Garland established that when his opioid-using subjects were shown pictures of opioid pills or pill bottles, their brains responded with much higher LPP amplitudes than when they looked at pictures of household objects unrelated to their medication.

In two experiments that followed, 95 veterans with long-term, problematic opioid use were divided into two groups. One group attended eight weekly meetings where a social worker prompted participants to express their emotions and discuss topics pertinent to chronic pain and opioid use (or misuse).

The other group got eight weeks of mindfulness training for two hours a week, and were asked to practice meditative techniques for 15 minutes a day. Subjects learned to control and focus on their breathing, progressively relax their bodies, and take note of their emotions and sensory experiences as if from a distance. They learned to recognize the longing, jitters, tightness and tingling of a drug craving. In a process sometimes called urge surfing, they practiced breaking cravings down into their component parts and noticing how those feelings changed as they focused their attention on them, rather than acting on them.

The mindfulness training also contained a cognitive-behavioral component. As subjects practiced conscious control of their breathing and attention to sensations, they were instructed to contemplate the consequences of indulging the craving versus remaining abstinent.

Finally, they got an intensive course in savoring the pleasures and meaning of beautiful or moving things first a rose, and then an object, place or experience of their choosing. They practiced shifting attention away from drug cravings to those powerful objects.

After the eight weeks were up, researchers attached an array of electrodes to the participants scalps and measured their brains responses to images of pills and pill bottles.

The researchers collected data on how the body automatically responds to emotional images and drug-related stimuli. They measured where a persons eyes looked, variations in heart rate from moment to moment, smiles and frowns, and eye blink responses.

(Spencer Bott / University of Utah College of Social Work)

The brain signals of those who attended group therapy suggested their emotional response to cravings had increased over eight weeks. But those who got the mindfulness training exhibited a significant downward change in their LPP response to pictures of opioids. When viewing cues that would ordinarily induce cravings, they showed a marked ability to manage those powerful prompts to action.

In a third experiment, participants were shown photos that elicit happy emotions in healthy people: friends laughing and socializing, scenes of natural beauty, and moments of athletic triumph. Then they were asked to imagine themselves being in the picture and savoring the feeling.

Those who got the mindfulness training had LPP responses that were significantly higher than their pre-treatment scores, a sign that their brains had shifted to attach more meaning and positive emotion to these happy scenes. Participants who attended group therapy sessions, by contrast, saw their LPP responses decline.

In a final test, Garland and his team asked participants to rate their feelings of drug-craving or happiness as they viewed those pictures of happy, beautiful or inspiring scenes. The graduates of mindfulness training and especially those who were most successful at savoring these happy moments assessed their opioid cravings as much less urgent than their counterparts who got group therapy.

Subjects who spent the most time spent practicing mindfulness techniques outside of class were more keenly attuned to positive pictures and less triggered by pictures of opioids. In other words, dose mattered.

The idea that ... with care and effort you can begin to undo that rewiring that comes with addiction that is significant, Westbrook said.

Now the research team is extending these studies under grants from the Defense Department and National Institutes of Health. To Garland, treating addiction with mindfulness training holds the promise of making recovery stronger, more durable, and more meaningful.

Recovery is much more than relapse prevention, he said. Recovery is a holistic process, and one part of that is for a patient to reclaim a meaningful life in the face of all the hardships he or she has experienced. Giving patients a specific set of tools to cultivate meaning in life is important.

Read more from the original source:
Opioid addiction can be overcome with mindfulness, study suggests - Los Angeles Times

By Mark HanselNKyTribune managing editor

St. Elizabeth Healthcares partnership with Utah-based doTERRA International will allow the Northern Kentucky health care provider to further its objective to provide integrative cancer care for its patients.

doTERRA has donated $5 million to the St. Elizabeth Foundation Cancer Center Community Campaign to support the development of a new facility focused on integrative care.

Much like the comprehensive approach to cancer treatment St. Elizabeth Healthcare embraces, a team of leaders working together will bring integrative oncology to the new Cancer Center. Left to right are, Dr. Doug Flora, executive medical director of oncology services at St. Elizabeth, Carri Chandler, vice president of the St. Elizabeth Foundation, Dr. Russell J. Osguthorpe, chief medical officer at doTerra, St. Elizabeth President and CEO Garren Colvin, doTerra Welness Advocate Nicole Chase, and Brannick Riggs, vice president of healthcare initiatives at doTerra (photo by Mark Hansel).

doTERRA will play a foundational role in the development and implementation of the Center for Integrative Oncology within St. Elizabeths new Cancer Center in Edgewood, scheduled to open next year.

Dr. Russell J. Osguthorpe, chief medical officer and vice president of medical and scientific initiatives at doTerra, said the company embraced the opportunity to partner with St. Elizabeth.

Northern Kentucky has a problem with cancer and we are privileged to help be a partner and part of the solution, Osguthorpe said. They are on the front lines and we are privileged to work alongside of them.

doTerra is an integrative health and wellness company. In just 11 years, it has gone from a start-up to being the world leader in the global aromatherapy and essential oils market.

Integrative care is to be used in conjunction with and throughout a patient experience as they go through their diagnosis and treatment to improve their quality of life, Osguthorpe said. Cancer is one of the great plagues that we face as a country and the treatment for it can be so hard for families to go through. Anything that we can do in partnership with St. Elizabeth to make that experience more human, more caring, is needed in health care.

Garren Colvin, president and CEO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare said when the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center opens next fall, it will include nearly an entire floor dedicated to the holistic, patient-centered approach to care known as integrative oncology.

We want patients (and their caregivers) to have as much support and access to resources as possible under one roof, Colvin said.

The doTERRA Center for Integrative Oncology will be more than 8,400 square feet on the first floor of the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center.

Dr. Doug Flora, executive medical director of oncology services at St. Elizabeth, said St. E is responding to changes in the way patients and their families want and need to be treated.

Fifty percent of all cancer patients report using some alternative or complementary medicine, Dr. Flora said. The number gets as high as 80 percent when you survey women with breast cancer.

Dr. Brannick Riggs, vice president of healthcare initiatives and chief medical director of doTERRAs medical clinic, said complementary medicine is critical to treatment and recovery.

Its a way of rebuilding the patient after the treatment, Dr. Riggs said. We know that traditional treatment by design wreaks some havoc on the human body. We hope that these modalities help support the rebuilding of a life afterward.

Dr. Flora said the relationship is a culmination of years of planning, during which St. Elizabeth has tried to build a sturdy table that will hold cancer treatment for the community.

The first leg was screening, prevention and early detection. The second leg was precision medicine and targeting therapies so we are more intelligently designing treatments for our patients who need care, Flora said. The third leg was the clinical trials themselves and how do we find the next drug, the next best agent to reduce morbidity and mortality. Then the fourth leg was how do you take care of the whole person, by keeping all of the science in mind.

Osguthorpe said that is one aspect of the partnership that really excites him. He calls the ability to collaborate on research around the use of integrated modalities in cancer care groundbreaking.

We know thats a neglected part of clinical trials, Osguthorpe said. If we study these things and we show with real scientific intent that there is use. That aromatherapy reduces fatigue or improves quality of life or that medical massage relieves anxiety or helps with depression we can publish that and people start using it as a standard of care.

Those treatments are now readily accepted in breast cancer.

Throughout all of our literature now, there is a lot of level-one evidence, randomized control clinical trials showing that things like this work, Osguthorpe said. Its now time to get that out there for the rest of the cancer patients.

Flora believes the therapies that will lead to real advances in cancer care and treatment can best be achieved by exploring new methods.

This is a combination of using really rigorous clinical trials and investigating these agents and these modalities to see if we can improve the quality of life of our patients, Flora said. It lets us combine our level of science and our enthusiasm for taking care of the whole patient in one package.

doTerra Wellness Advocate Nicole Chase of Burlington and St. Elizabeth Healthcare Dr. Doug Flora,executive medical director of oncology services, explain how the partnership between St.E and the integrative health and wellness company came about.

Colvin said that the addition of an integrative care center is a critical next step in methods St. Elizabeth has already embraced.

Its something that we have been doing and we have sold doTerra oils in our gift shop for quite a while, Colvin said. This allows us to achieve our main goal, which is to have all the services necessary for the mind, the spirit, and the total patient under one roof. We are trying to make sure that whatever our patients feel they need, we have the ability to deliver and this partnership allows us to do that.

The Center for Integrative Oncology will provide a calming space with holistic care options to complement St. Elizabeths comprehensive medical care.

A large portion of the first floor of the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center in Edgewood will be dedicated to the doTERRA Center for Integrative Oncology. (renderings provided by St. Elizabeth Healthcare)

It will include the use of doTERRA essential oils and aromatherapy, yoga, meditation and a spa-like atmosphere for patients undergoing cancer treatment.

I think the one thing that has become clear to me is that when you have a patient going thorough this, its not just the patient that needs care, the whole family needs care, Colvin said. This allows a space where the entire family can relieve tension, relieve stress, so they can better take care of the patient who needs the most care.

doTERRA first learned of the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center from Nicole Chase, one of its wellness advocates.

Six years ago Chase, who lives in Burlington, was diagnosed with cancer and was referred to Dr. Flora for treatment.

Obviously nobody wants to go in and be treated for cancer, Chase said. When I went in I didnt want to be happy and wanted to be a little bit miserable and he wouldnt let me. He pepped me up and made me laugh and I walked out of there really confused because I was happier leaving than I was coming in and he made the treatments bearable.

As Chase continued to go through chemotherapy and radiation, she realized she needed other ways to treat the whole person.

I began to use essential oils and additional modalities to help me through emotionally, Chase said. After I exited my cancer, I wasnt really living the life I needed to live and I needed to do more because I was getting a second chance. I started learning more about essential oils and I started helping other people who were just like me and it really fed me and helped me with my recovery to do that.

When Chase learned St. Elizabeth was building a new cancer center her first thought was that she wanted to be a part of that and wanted to help other people treat the whole patient.

So I reached out and asked (Dr. Flora) if he would take a meeting with me and thats how it got started, Chase said.

Flora soon came on board and that discussion led to meetings with Dr. Riggs and others from doTerra.

It was a vision I held and I wanted and I started passing it around and it grew, Chase said. It might have started with me, but it wouldnt have happened without a major collaboration between everyone.

The Integrative Center will provide a calming space with holistic care options to complement St. Elizabeths comprehensive medical care. It will include the use of doTERRA essential oils and aromatherapy, yoga, meditation and a spa-like atmosphere for patients undergoing cancer treatment.

Osguthorpe said Chases efforts and Floras support drove the partnership.

These two brought our two companies together to provide the type of care that both of our companies want and need, Osguthorpe said. They collaborated and shared it with us, and now we all sit here with the same vision that she had before any of us did.

The $130 million St. Elizabeth Cancer Center, with its integrative approach is the next step in Colvins vision to make Northern Kentucky the healthiest region in the country.

The 233,000-square-foot facility will be the regions leading comprehensive cancer center when it opens in the fall of 2020.

Carri Chandler, vice president of the St. Elizabeth Foundation said that at the Cancer Center groundbreaking 14 months ago, the foundation stamped its commitment to the project.

Foundation chair Bob Hoffer announced the ambitious goal of the foundation to raise $35 million for the project.

Prior to that, the largest goal achieved by the foundation was $15 million for the St. Elizabeth Heart and Vascular Institute.

Weve raised about $29 million, Chandler said. Its not just our foundation team, its our volunteers, our community leaders, its everyone getting engaged and being a part of the solution. With cancer being so pervasive in this area, everyone has been touched in some way and they just want to help out.

The 233,000-square-foot St. Elizabeth Cancer Center will be the regions leading comprehensive cancer center when it opens in the fall of 2020.

The $5 million donation from doTerra is the largest ever received from a corporation by the St. E Foundation.

In our early conversations, we discovered that Kentucky had the highest incidents of cancer and Utah had the least, Chandler said. It really says a lot that doTerra would go out of their own state to come and lend us a hand.

Riggs said as the team at doTerra learned about St. Elizabeth Healthcares approach to cancer treatment, they knew the company wanted to be a partner.

The culture of St. Elizabeth is very patient-oriented, very warm and mindful of the individual dealing with their challenges, Riggs said. doTerra has a very similar culture, so we are so well aligned as companies, this really is a partnership that makes sense for us. The time has come in health care and there is a rising tide, mainly brought on by patients asking for, but also physicians taking note, that there is a need for integrative care.

Colvin said doTerras commitment should spur even more involvement from partners within the region.

You have a Utah-based company, that is a world leader in their field of expertise, that wants to come to Kentucky to address a chronic issue that we all know that we have, Colvin said. It warms my heart and it fuels a passion that you know exists within the people in this room. It allows us to take that to our community and say you need to help us support this, because we are going to make all of you better.

Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com

See the original post:
Objective of St. Elizabeth Healthcare's partnership with doTerra International is integrative cancer care - User-generated content

Deepak Chopra, the doctor and self-help guru, who turns seventy-three next week, has written more than one book for every year he has been alive. Chopra was born in New Delhi and studied medicine in India before moving to the United States, in 1970. After practicing as an endocrinologist in Massachusetts, he became involved in the Transcendental Meditation movement. He eventually relocated to the West Coast, left T.M. behind, and became a spiritual adviser to Michael Jackson and other celebrities. A quarter century later, his books have sold millions of copies, and his television appearancesespecially alongside Oprah Winfreyhave made him perhaps the most prominent advocate for alternative medicine recognizable around the world.

Chopras work evinces a consistent skepticism toward the scientific consensushe has called into question whether evolution is merely a process of the mindand a firm belief that mental health can determine physical reality. He has written of a place called perfect healththe title of one of his books, and now the slogan for one of his wellness retreatsin which human beings can go somewhere internally that is free from disease, that never feels pain, that cannot age or die. These beliefs have made him controversial among doctors and scientists. In 1998, Chopra was awarded the satirical Ig Nobel Prize for his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness. A random Chopra-quote generator is popular online, and Chopra has been called out for tweeting and writing phrases that, in the words of one paper, may have been constructed to impress upon the reader some sense of profundity at the expense of a clear exposition of meaning or truth. (Example: Attention and intention are the mechanics of manifestation.)

Chopras latest book is Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential, and it touches on a number of themes that have been present throughout his career: that human beings can become metahuman by reaching a new place of awareness; that science has served to block the way to the absolute freedom that metahuman holds out; and that self-improvement can move creation itself. I recently spoke by phone with Chopra. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed controversial remarks he has made about cancer and AIDS, his claim to have never been even a tiny bit sick, and whether there is a reality that exists independently of our own minds.

How do you define yourself and what you do?

I would say that to define oneself is to limit oneself. But Ive had various roles through my life. Im an internist, an endocrinologist, a neuro-endocrinologist; a teacher of integrative medicine and an author; a husband, a son, a father, a child.

I know you are a doctor, but does thinking about yourself as a doctor seem limiting to you in some way?

It seems limiting to me, but I would say I think of myself closer to a healer. Because, when I look at healing and the origins of the word healing, its related to the word whole. So wholeness means everything, including body, mind, and spirit, and the environment. I think of myself as a doctor who is interested in the physical body, but also in all aspects of human experiencehuman emotions, human thinking, human experience, and, ultimately, in understanding ourselves beyond the conditioned mind. So I would say I want to be a healer. Thats my aspiration.

At what point in your career did you become famous?

Some people think it happened with The Oprah Winfrey Show, in 1993, when she did a one-to-one with me for a book called Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, which then stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for thirty-some weeks. Actually, my most well-known book is The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. But I have to say that Oprah helped me a lot with the launch of my career, and shes been an ally ever since. Weve taught six million people meditation online together.

How many books have you written now?

This is my ninetieth book.

Would you say your writing process has changed between your first and your ninetieth?

Yes. My process was more structured in the past. And now I feel its more a flow than anything else. I used to always be told by media and publishers, and even the BBC when I was in England, to dumb everything down, and I used to, and I dont anymore. I feel free to say whatever I want to.

Ive been looking for a through line in your work, and the one that Ive noticed most is the idea that our minds can determine reality, or that theres a connection between our minds and reality. Is that a fair way of phrasing it?

Yes. The correct phrase would be that our experience of the world, and of our body, is a projection of our conditioned mind. So, when youre born, you have no human constructs. Youre looking at the world as a messy, gooey experience of color, form, shapes, sounds, pictures, smells, tastes, and random thoughts, which are yet not clear. But then a construction process begins. And so youre told, Youre male, youre of a religious background, ethnic background, nationality, gender. And that begins to create a provisional identity. And then that provisional identity has perceptual experiences but interprets them as the physical body and the world. But, in the deeper reality, theres no such thing. All there is is consciousness experiencing itself perceptually, as perceptual activity, which is species-specific. You dont see the same world as a painted lady, a species of butterfly that smells the world with an antenna, tastes the world with her feet. So what is the picture of the world to a snake that navigates through the experience of infrared?

If you and a snake perceive the world differently and experience it differently, does that mean that the world is actually different? Or does it just mean that we perceive it differently?

We can only experience a narrow band with our perceptual reality. So there is no such thing as a physical world. Thats where Im going. Our experience of the world is species- and culture-specific. And that is what we interpret as fundamental reality.

You once said, Consciousness is key to evolution and we will soon prove that. What did you mean?

You know, Ive said in the past that Darwinian evolution is a human constructthat, ultimately, consciousness drives at least human evolution. We can direct our evolution by the choices we make. And now that we know the science of epigenetics and neuroplasticity, we can see very clearly that, because we are self-aware, unlike other species, we can consciously direct our evolution. And that is what epigenetics and neuroplasticity are showing us.

Epigenetics is not that we can direct our evolution, though, is it?

Well, we can trigger the activity of certain genes and decrease the activity of certain other genes. So, when people practice self-reflection or mindful awareness, or they have the experience of transcendence, you can actually see which genes get activated and which genes get deactivated. Theres a mechanism to that. So you can actually activate the genes that cause self-regulation or homeostasis, and actually decrease the activity of the genes that cause inflammation. So what is healing? It is nothing but self-regulation or homeostasis. And what is disease is mostly linked to chronic inflammation. Only five per cent of disease-related gene mutations are fully penetrant, which means they guarantee the disease. That includes everything, from Alzheimers to cancer to autoimmune disease. Only five per cent is related to genetic determinism. The rest is influenced by life style. [Gerard Karsenty, the chair of the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, says, Those assumptions include non-Mendelian diseases. It is for now hard to precisely assess in multigenic diseases the extent of the contribution of gene mutations and the one of lifestyle taken in a broad sense. This is particularly true for autoimmune diseases that hit at all ages, including during childhood and with a higher incidence in women.]

You tweeted, An emerging view, alternate to Darwins random mutations & natural selection is that consciousness may be the driver of complexity/evolution.

Correct. But there are a few people who agree with that.

So, you know, scientists generally are nave realists. Which means they look at the picture of the world, and thats what it is.

What do you do, if not that?

Ive become aware of that which is having the experience rather than the experience, which in spiritual traditions is called the self. The body, the mind, and the world are the self.

It seems like all of these things are fitting under the rubric of what we were talking about earlier about consciousness and reality. I know you once said something like, The moon doesnt exist unless someone sees it. Is that right?

No, no. That was Einsteins quote, by the way. He actually said, I refuse to believe that the moon doesnt exist if no one is looking at it. [In his biography of Einstein, Abraham Pais recounted an interaction he had with the physicist who asked me if I really believed that the moon exists only if I look at it.] Thats a statement coming from a nave realist. The moon that you and I see is a human experience. A horseshoe crab doesnt have that experience living in the depths of the ocean.

Einstein was incredulously asking someone whether they really believe that the moon only exists when its looked at. Correct?

Yes. The moon is an experience in human consciousness. The moon that you and I see is an experience in human consciousness. If there was no human consciousness, no body, mind to go with it, there would be no awareness of the moon.

But the moon would still be there, correct?

How do you prove that? How do you validate that? How do you disprove that? How do you prove an unobserved phenomenon?

The moon is a human story. The universe is a human story. Its a human construct, or human experiences, and interpreted by the human mind.

So this would be akin to the question, which Im sure weve all heard, that if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

Correct. The sound is only in consciousness. Before that its a vibration of air molecules.

But the vibration of air molecules are occurring. Correct?

The vibration of air molecules is a human construct for a human mode of knowing and experience in human consciousness, so yes, they are constructs. The air molecules are as much of a construct as latitude and longitude, as The New Yorker, as Greenwich Mean Time, as money, as Wall Street, as Manhattan.

Im not sure what that means.

Human constructs are human ideas around modes of human knowing.

I see.

So an atom, a molecule, a force field, vibration of moleculesthese are all human constructs.

So its not that the tree is making a sound and we just happen to be there or not there to hear it. Its that the sound is only present to the degree that we are also present.

Actually, there is no tree and there is no sound and there is no body and there is no mind. Theres only consciousness thats having an experience. The rest is human constructs.

In your book Quantum Healing, you wrote, Research on spontaneous cures of cancer conducted in both the United States and Japan has shown that just before the cure appears, almost every patient experiences a dramatic shift in awareness. He knows that he will be healed and he feels that the force responsible is inside himself, but not limited to him. It extends beyond his personal boundaries throughout all of nature. Suddenly he feels, I am not limited to my body. All that exists around me is part of myself. At that moment, such patients apparently jumped to a new level of consciousness that prohibits the existence of cancer. Then the cancer cells either disappear, literally overnight in some cases, or at the very least stabilize without damaging the body any further.

So if you were a scientist and you saw one case of that, one in a billion, youd want to know the mechanism. And I feel the mechanism is a return to fundamental homeostasis, which means self-regulation, and total absence of fear, including the fear of death. Because your identity is no longer your body-mind.

And so is that more important than medicine?

No, I think medicine is very useful for acute illness. If you have pneumonia, I certainly tell you to take an antibiotic. You break your leg, Id have you see an orthopedic surgeon. If you have cancer, there are many types of chemotherapy and radiation and stem-cell therapies and immunotherapies that will help you. But, in todays age, if you dont understand that integrating that with good sleep, with meditation, with stress management, with mindfulness, with healthy emotions, with good food that actually changes the activity of your microbiomeif you dont conform to that, then youre out of date.

This is from your book Perfect Health: There exists in every person a place that is free from disease, that never feels pain, that cannot age or die. When you go to this place, limitations which all of us accept cease to exist. They are not even entertained as a possibility. This is the place called perfect health. Visits to this place may be very brief, or they may last for many years. Even the briefest visit, however, instills a profound change. As long as you are there, the assumptions that hold true for ordinary existence are altered. If you can be in this place, why would you necessarily need medicine to stay healthy?

We dont. Ive never used medicine myself. Im seventy-three years old, never been in the hospital, never had surgery. Cant even remember having a cold.

You would vaccinate your children, correct?

Of course I would, if Im in a surrounding where there is... You know, I would not vaccinate a child in New York City for polio, because it doesnt exist. But I would for measles, because it does exist.

Even if the child was in this state that you call perfect health?

The child is in a state of perfect health if its born normally. Its in a state of homeostasis. But we also live in a world that has environmental toxins, that has climate change, that has extinction of species, that has poison in our food chain, and that is ready for extinction. And all of that is the projection of our collective insanity.

You say, The cause of disease is often extremely complex, but one thing can be said for certain: no one has proved that getting sick is necessary.

Right. My own situation says that.

Because youve never been sick.

Yes.

Because youre in this place called perfect health?

Because Im aware of being aware and I can choose the experiences I want and I focus on love, compassion, joy, equanimity, and Im beyond the fear of personal death because I dont identify with my provisional, personal, so-called identity. The question you asked me when we started, How do you define yourself?I dont.

If we were all in this place, would we need medicine?

Yes. Because of the world weve created, we would, yes.

But not because

And, besides that, the ecosystem is a predatory play of consciousness where, you know, its a recycling of experience. Birth, death, illness: they are part of our provisional identity, but I dont identify with that identity. If you do not identify with the experience, if consciousness that is aware of experience, if the awareness of experience is not the experience, then youre intrinsically free of the experience. Do you know what Im saying?

Im not sure.

O.K. If you are aware of a thought, then youre not the thought, youre the awareness of the thought.

Dr. Stacia Kenet Lansman, whos a leading vaccine skeptic, cited your work as an inspiration. Do you

I have never been against vaccination.

I know you havent.

I have never spoken against medical treatment or intervention. You should do whatever works.

But do you worry that the idea that we can achieve this place of perfect health based on our own mental state can give license to anti-scientific thinking, like we see in the anti-vaccine movement?

You asked me if I worry about that. I dont worry about anything.

Which is why you havent gotten sick.

But people can take what I say and interpret it how they want to. Theres also a difference between scientism and science. Science is a very neutral activity: theories, observation, experiments, validation or invalidation. Period. I am a big proponent of science as the greatest adventure that human consciousness has taken. With scientism, its a different thing. Its being a fundamentalist and believing that science has all the solutions for human problems, including the existential dilemmas we have about our identity, our fear of old age, infirmity, and death.

There was an interview you gave many years ago, with Tony Robbins, about AIDS. Hed put forth the idea that H.I.V. is not the source of AIDS. You said, H.I.V. may be a precipitating agent in a susceptible host.The material agent is never the cause of the disease.It may be the final factor in inducing the full-blown syndrome in somebody whos already susceptible. He then asked,Butwhat made them susceptible? You answered, Their own interpretations of the whole reality that theyre participating in. Do you still feel that way about H.I.V. and AIDS?

I still feel that pathogens are precipitating factors in susceptible hosts, and that the outcome of illness and recovery is very complex. Now, having said that, when you can find a single agent that you can either attack or get rid of, then, of course, thats the solution. You know, you and I can be exposed to a pneumococcus and one person gets pneumonia and the other doesnt. So you can see that illness is not just one mechanistic happening, an encounter with the pathogen. It has to do with everything. Are you deeply rested, are you stressed, whats your nutrition, what are your personal relationships, what is your emotional stateall of these things have an influence. Every experience we have is ultimately metabolized into a molecule in the body. If I gave you bad news right now, your blood pressure would go up. In fact, if I sent a mean tweet to Mr. Trump, his blood pressure would go up even further.

You went on to say, I have a lot of patients with so-called AIDS, this label that weve given them, that are healthier than most of the population thats living in downtown Boston. They havent had a cold in ten years. And then Robbins said, But someone has told them they have this disease. You said, Yes, somebody has told them that. And Robbins says, And they bought into it. And you said, Exactly.

Listen. You can do a five-hour interviewyou can edit it into any way you want. You can take statements out of context.

No, thats the whole context.

And then you can say, This is what you said. Right? I had that experience myself as a physician. I said to the patient, You have cancer. Immediately, he looked like he was going to have a stroke. He was going to faint. And then I realized I read the wrong chart and I said, Sorry, that was somebody else. In two seconds I could see him recover from high blood pressure, sticky platelets, a jittery heart, and so on. So, you know, there is a lot more to reality than just a simple diagnosis and the label.

But to go on to the point youre just making now, about diagnosis, when Robbins said about the diagnosis of AIDS, People are accepting this, and when they accept this, what happens to them? You replied, When they accept it, then they make it happen. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Is that what youre saying?

Yeah. I might have said that. And, if I did, I regret it.

What I say today is, Believe the diagnosis, but dont believe the prognosis.

Youve been criticized before for selling products that people claim can help cure cancer or other diseases via meditation.

No, Ive never claimed that. No.

Never?

If you find a reference of that, let me know.

Well, there was a video called Return to Wholeness: A Mind-Body Approach to Healing Cancer. And the release about it says, Meditation and visualization are two of the most

Right. That video was a program to help people visualize and get into a relaxed state. I believe it was promoted as that on my Web site until I became aware of it, and then it was taken off.

And then you took it down?

Yeah. It was actually an artificial-intelligence program for meditation and self-regulation. And, by the way, used at many cancer-therapy clinics across the world as an aid to relaxation. [A member of Chopras staff named Cancer Treatment Centers of America as one of the clinics that use the video, but a representative for the treatment centers was unable to verify this.]

So, when you say in your best-sellers, like Super Brain, that increased self-awareness can reduce the risks of aging and help people achieve freedom and bliss, do you feel that youre doing that at all, or not?

I am. Of course. Im seventy-three years old, and I dont think my biological age is seventy-three. In fact, I have publicly declared that I am slowing down my aging process. And I think you can go on social media and look at all the pictures over the last few years and you can see, physically, that I am not looking as old, or feeling as old, as I was twenty-five years ago. I know what Ive said is outrageous, but, if people actually listen carefully, they will see that they determine a lot of what goes into well-being and health. And, ultimately, I dont think that health is physical at all. Because, ultimately, we are all going to die, and all going to have some kind of infirmity. But most of what we do is creating anxiety from living a full life in the present moment.

So you feel that youve reached a different stage of human existence?

Im just following the example of people who have lived long, healthy lives without any infirmity and died peacefully in meditation. In the Indian tradition, its called mahasamadhithe big meditation.

When youre selling books by saying that theres a network of intelligence in the human body that has the potential to defeat cancer, heart disease, and even aging itself, is that not selling to people that cancer can be beaten by something other than medicine?

Have you read the book? Or have you read criticisms of the book?

Ive read several of the books, and some criticisms.

So then you have to make up your own mind. Im not a purveyor of false hope. In fact, I think the term false hope is an oxymoron. Either you have hope or you dont. And those that have hope do better than those who dont.

So there is no false hope?

Its up to you how you interpret this, and it doesnt actually affect me. You know, Im at a stage in my life where Ive gone beyond criticism and/or flattery. I dont need that.

See the original post here:
Deepak Chopra Has Never Been Sick - The New Yorker

MEDIA CONTACT

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Irvine, Calif. October 15, 2019 Sean Young, PhD, professor at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine and Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, has been appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine ad hoc committee to address the alarming increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The Center for Disease Control (CDC) through the National Association of County and City Heath Officials requested the formation of the committee.

STIs have reached epidemic proportions nationally and continue to rise. Our committee is charged with investigating the problem and recommending novel and implementable solutions, said Young. Solutions exist. We are optimistic about the CDCs request for help that there will be resources and support to implement the committees solutions.

The Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States committee will examine the epidemiological dimensions of STIs in the United States and factors that contribute to the epidemic (changes in population demographics, sexual and other behaviors, social determinants), as well as changes in the understanding of the agents that cause STIs.

Additionally, the study will attempt to address the economic burden associated with STIs and review current public health strategies and programs to prevent and control STIs (including STI diagnostics, STI vaccines, STI monitoring and surveillance, and treatment. Barriers in the healthcare system and insurance coverage associated with the prevention and treatment of STIs will also be surveyed.

Young was appointed to the committee due to his work at UCI leveraging social and behavioral data to detect real-world problems. He applied insights from psychology to online behavior change interventions and saw social norms could be modified.

Young uses this approach to transform time-consuming and expensive community-based interventions into online variants that more efficiently reach the masses. By analyzing peoples behaviors, problems from these behaviors can quickly be detected and addressed. Working with public health officials, Young is now developing tools that mine social data to identify potential areas of disease outbreak, crime, and poverty. His expertise will be used to address the STI epidemic.

We can now use technologies as a way of predicting and changing behavior, leading to positive and ethically delivered social change, said Young.

About the UCI School of Medicine: Each year, the UCI School of Medicine educates over 400 medical students, as well as 200 doctoral and masters students. More than 600 residents and fellows are trained at UC Irvine Medical Center and affiliated institutions. The School of Medicine offers an MD; a dual MD/PhD medical scientist training program; and PhDs and masters degrees in anatomy and neurobiology, biomedical sciences, genetic counseling, epidemiology, environmental health sciences, pathology, pharmacology, physiology and biophysics, and translational sciences. Medical students also may pursue an MD/MBA, an MD/masters in public health, or an MD/masters degree through one of three mission-based programs: the Health Education to Advance Leaders in Integrative Medicine (HEAL-IM), the Leadership Education to Advance Diversity-African, Black and Caribbean (LEAD-ABC), and the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC). The UCI School of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Accreditation and ranks among the top 50 nationwide for research. For more information, visit som.uci.edu.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. Its located in one of the worlds safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange Countys second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www.uci.edu.

See the rest here:
UCI professor named to CDC committee on sexually transmitted infections - Newswise

Altru Hospital is hosting its Pretty in Pink event in the commons of Red River High School from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16.

The annual event is held by the hospital to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available at the Cushman Field entrance. Attendees are asked to use door 1.

Beginning at 6 p.m., people can explore educational booths and community resources such as Womens Way, Breast Reconstruction Awareness, and get information about Altrus prosthetics and orthotics.

The evening will feature a little pampering as well, with free nail painting and chair massages, in an effort to bring community members together for the womens health awareness event.

People can sign up to win a bicycle donated by Scheels All Sports, and there is also a raffle with several prizes, as well as door prizes. All proceeds from the raffle go to Altrus Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, which seeks to help patients with breast health services not covered by insurance. All attendees will get a small gift to take home.

From 7 to 8 p.m., there will be presentations by breast cancer survivor Wendy Dahlberg, and Jen Haugen, supervisor of Integrative Medicine at Altru Health System.

See the article here:
Altru hosts Pretty in Pink, women's health event at Red River High School - Grand Forks Herald

Two pet ministries of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) and Ministry of Healths National Health Authority which runs Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) are not on the same page, when it comes to practicing integrative medicine.

Currently, PM-JAY cashless insurance up to 5 lakh for poor families only offers hospitalisation based on allopathic medicine. However, the AYUSH Ministry is keen on pushing alternative treatments in the scheme.

A Health Authority official said that inclusion of AYUSH packages in PM-JAY is not feasible currently. It will be too difficult to work our way around fraud control in AYUSH procedures, where we will not be able to ascertain if hospitalisation is for correct purposes, said the official.

AYUSH Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha said that even though such an inclusion has not happened yet, the Ministry is trying hard to get the packages included. We will help the NHA with adequate fraud control mechanisms, Kotecha added.

Last month, AYUSH Minister Shripad Yesso Naik had said that a total of 33 packages had been sent to the Health Authority for consideration to be included under PM-JAY.

The list of pacakges proposed by AYUSH, seen by BusinessLine, includes 19 Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha, eight Yoga and six Naturopathy treatments. These are treatment of respiratory disorders such as asthma, pneumonia, gastrointestinal problems like hepatitis, stomach ulcers, cardiac issues like high blood pressure, metabolic disorders like diabetes, thyroid, gynaecological issues like endometriosis, reproductive tract infections, infertility, skin problems like vitiligo, psoriasis, neurological disorders like mental retardation, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, Dementia, eye problems like diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.

It also proposes to include mental health issues such as clinical depression, anxiety, manic disorders, and other miscellaneous illnesses like varicose veins, diabetic foot in the in-patient hospitalisation packages. AYUSH Ministry has proposed a flat rate of 4,000 per day for hospitalisation in a routine ward, and has said that the average length of stay of a patient could be 14 days costing 56,000 and could extend up to 28 days costing 1.2 lakh. Similarly, cost for Yoga and Naturopathy related to above disorders has been pegged at 1,000 for each specialty per day of hospitalisation.

According to experts, while there is a need to include AYUSH treatments for access to poor, standardisation of procedures is a must. Naresh Trehan, Chairman of Gurgaon-based Medanta Medicity said, There is no harm in including AYUSH packages in PM-JAY, however, standardisation must be done. The authority must ascertain if a hospital is certified to mete out alternative treatments, otherwise anybody can open a centre and claim to give those treatments.

Partha Dey, Chief Operating Officer at Artemis Health Institute in Gurgaon said, It is difficult to control fraud as of now in the scheme, even with allopathic treatments. As far as AYUSH packages are concerned equal standard setting is a must. Dey also said that there is a resistance from patients on addition of alternative therapies apart from allopathy and it causes a confusion for them.

Kotecha said that while there is a popular perception that there are no standards as far as alternative treatments are concerned, this is not entirely true. AYUSH is working with All India Institute of Medical Sciences to develop integrative model for treatment of breast cancer patients. Also, it has been seen that adding ayurvedic treatments to Tuberculosis regimen reduces liver damage. The ministry also showed evidence in Germany for treatment of Osteoarthritis through Ayurveda, he said.

However, Kotecha too agreed that there is a need to have quality services. For this we have proposed to National Accreditation Board of Hospitals that such hospitals which provide alternative therapies should receive Entry Level Certification, he said.

Read more:
Concerns in covering alternative therapies in PM-JAY - The Hindu BusinessLine

Luckily, new tech-forward startups are finding ways to solve that problem. Enter: Begin To Heal, an online platform connecting patients with vetted holistic health professionals. Started by a former busy exec who found herself battling adrenal fatigue and frustrated by traditional medicine, Pooja Khanna finally found healing in holistic medicine. Determined to make this type of treatment more widely available, Pooja developed Begin To Heal. "The idea is to make alternative medicine as accessible as possible, especially to those who might be hesitant to seek less conventional methods of healing due to unfamiliarity with the industry," explains Pooja.

Begin To Heal is partnered with more than 200 licensed wellness practitioners, with services including everything from acupuncture, nutrition coaching, and integrative medicine to hypnotherapy, energy healing, reiki, spiritual coaching, ayurveda, and psychotherapy.

You can view practitioner profiles, sort by specialty, read reviews from other customers, and book your session, all through their website. The Begin To Heal team has even taken sample sessions with every practitioner on the site and verified their licenses and certifications.

And the best part: You can schedule virtual appointments, meaning even if you don't live in New York, where their in-person practitioners are based, you can have access to top holistic healers and alternative therapies through secure HIPAA-compliant video calls. Energy healing from the couch, anyone?

Plus, they offer online courses and guided meditations to round out your care. "Think of it like matchmaking for healing, and then add to it the comfort of being healed in your own home," Pooja explains. "Having it be an online service gives us the capability to create a global wellness universe."

Another New Yorkbased health practice, Parsley Health, just announced they'll start seeing patients virtually as well with new telehealth memberships. Billed as a primary care practice with a whole-body approach, Parsley's online membership is currently available in four states, with plans to go nationwide over the next six months.

When asked why they had expanded to online services, Parsley Health founder and mbg Collective member Robin Berzin, M.D., said it's all about access. While much of Parsley's practice was already digital, with doctor-patient messaging services and video call follow-ups, the first visit always had to be in person. "People shouldn't have to wait for a Parsley Health center to come to their area. We wanted to make Parsley accessible to them now," Berzin explained. "Our new telemedicine memberships will allow anyone, anywhere to do all of their visits online, including the first oneand that's really special."

Worried you won't be getting the "full Parsley experience" by doing it digitally? Robin promises, "For many, it will be even better. The convenience of anywhere access means you can kick off your journey with us from your home or office." Can't beat that.

Another newcomer, Milwaukee-based WellnessScript, has created their own virtual holistic health care program. To get you started, they offer a symptom quiz to learn more about where you are coming from. From there, you can book a one-hour phone or video consultation, followed by two 30-minute follow-up sessions with one of their licensed practitioners. Founded by two physicians, WellnessScript is committed to providing quality functional medicine to anyone, anywhere.

While not all of the services on these online platforms are covered by major health insurers right now, in many cases FSA/HSA benefits and out-of-network reimbursements can be used to cover most of the cost. Hopefully, as alternative medicine options become more widely available, the price will go down, make holistic health care even more accessible. As Robin put it, "This is just the next step. We have so many more steps to take to make comprehensive, holistic, personalized medicine available and accessible to everyone who needs it."

Excerpt from:
How To Get Access To Holistic Practitioners No Matter Where You Live - mindbodygreen.com