functional medicine doctor Archives - Natural Medicine Clinic

Natural Treatment for Autoimmune Conditions

March 9, 2019 Dr. Tom Rofrano

Hi, my name is Dr. Thomas Rofrano from The Natural Medicine Clinic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Today I’m going to talk to you about healing autoimmunity, and specifically a case we recently had where I was able to help a patient completely resolve her elevated autoimmune antibodies in three months. I’m going to talk to you about the exact framework and protocol we used for her case, and exactly what you need to do to help yourself in the same area.

I’ve been practicing for over thirty years, and I’ve seen over 100,000 patient visits for nutrition, chiropractic, and functional medicine. One of the more common things people come in with these days is autoimmune conditions.

My Personal Experience With Autoimmunity

As a matter of fact, over ten years ago, I was busy in the practice, things were going really well, but I was feeling pretty miserable physically. I did a lot of testing, and was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, which is an autoimmune thyroid condition. I also had elevated Rheumatoid arthritis antibodies on top of that. I went to doctors and they told me that Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition where antibodies attack the thyroid, and with Rheumatoid, the antibodies attack your joints, and it continues to get worse.

I asked if there was anything I could do about it, and they said yes, you can take medication that can control it, however your condition will continue to deteriorate, and that’s it. I asked them what causes it, and they said they don’t know what causes it, and there’s no cure.

For me, that was just one option, and for a lot of people, that’s okay to go down that route where they just take medication and go on with their lives. But for me it just wasn’t enough. I really had to figure out what was causing it. If it wasn’t there at one point, and now it was, there had to be some cause that was bringing it on.

After doing a whole lot of research and a whole lot of testing on myself, I figured out some things that were triggering it, and over time—it took me a little over two years—I was able to completely heal the condition and normalize my antibodies. They’ve been at normal levels for over ten years now.

Transferring My Success to My Patients

Since then, I’ve been able to continually refine the process and help many other patients with all kinds of autoimmune conditions.

We recently had a patient come in, a fifty-six-year-old woman, who was feeling awful. She had numerous symptoms, including: constant headaches; vertigo (since she was a teenager, sometimes so debilitating she couldn’t get out of bed); depression; brain fog; poor memory; fatigue; insomnia; difficulty losing weight; hair loss; dry, itchy skin; pain in every joint in her body; constipation; gas; bloating; abdominal pain; indigestion—and the list goes on. She had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and was already on medication, but was still feeling miserable.

A Natural Approach

The first thing we do is a complete evaluation to figure out what tests need to be ordered to get to the underlying root causes.

Autoimmune conditions basically come down to three causes:

Physical stress
Mental stress
Chemical stress

When we look at the chemical stress aspect, we break it down into:

Deficiencies

She had low levels of magnesium, B12, vitamin D, zinc, iodine, iron, and selenium. All of these deficiencies affect your immune system, and remember that autoimmunity is where your immune system starts attacking different parts of your bodies.

In the case of Hashimoto’s, it’s your thyroid, and in this patient’s case, she had severely elevated ANA, or antinuclear antibodies, indicating scleroderma or connective tissue disorder, where the antibodies attack connective tissues such as skin, joints, muscle, tendons, and ligaments.

Deficiencies are a very important aspect of autoimmune conditions. Once we tested and identified deficiencies for our patient, we started working on correcting them.

Toxins

The other important aspect are toxins. We ran tests and found she was highly reactive to mercury, vinyl chloride, and other toxins. Following our protocol, we worked on cleansing or detoxifying her from those.

Pathogens and Infections

Next, we conducted comprehensive stool testing to test for any pathogens and infections that might have been causing her symptoms. She had elevated levels of yeast and bacterial growth, which can then lead to leaky gut.

When you have these types of infections going on, they ramp up your immune system. Your immune system’s antibodies are trying to fight these things off. Then it begins to attack different parts of your body, depending what kind of autoimmune condition you may have.

Then we work on identifying and elimination what is causing the bacteria and yeast, in this case, to clear it up and calm down the immune system.

Food Sensitivities

Finally, we look at food sensitivities. This patient was positive for gluten sensitivity—actually celiac disease—which is the most common sensitivity among all the autoimmune cases I see. Almost every single one is either gluten sensitive or celiac. It’s a common cause of the immune system’s seeing and attacking the gluten as a foreign invader, and then in turn attacking other various parts of your body in molecular mimicry. This response leads to all sorts of symptoms.

Along with gluten, the patient tested positive for a number of other food sensitivities. I prescribed the FreeDiet® as treatment, which is the diet I came up with over the years, initially for myself, when I had Hashimoto’s and Rheumatoid antibodies and had tested positive for gluten as well.

Back then, I found that going gluten free didn’t really help, because I was eating a lot of gluten-free products, like gluten-free breads and bagels and cookies and pasta. If you have yeast issues and bacterial overgrowth, which I did at the time, this is not the diet you want to be on, because yeast and bacteria thrive in that, and you want to starve the little critters.

The FreeDiet®, which you can grab a complimentary copy of right here, is not only free of gluten, but also grains, sugar, yeast, corn, dairy, soy, legumes, eggs, and GMO’s—all the most common inflammatory foods. The Free Diet allows your gut to heal, calms things down, and allows your immune system to then balance out.

A Healthy Patient

After going on the FreeDiet®, taking the Natural Medicine Formulas we prescribed to address her adrenal dysfunction and balance her thyroid, and regular manual therapy treatments, the patient’s antibodies began to drop considerably in just two months. After three months, they were completely normal. They’d gone from some of the highest levels I’d ever seen to normal in three months.

Not only that, but all of her symptoms cleared up. No more daily headaches, no more vertigo, she was sleeping well, she lost over twenty pounds, and she had great energy. Clearing out the underlying root causes allowed her body to heal.

In these cases, people can choose the medicine route—the drugs, the procedures and surgeries—or they can choose health. They can choose to do some discovery, find out what is causing their issues, and get them cleared up. My belief is that most every single health condition has a solution. If you discover what the root causes are, you can be provided with long term, permanent solutions.

Thanks so much for joining me today, and don’t forget to pick up your complimentary copy of the FreeDiet® .

Feel free to like and subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you get early notification of new videos. See you next time!

Why Gluten-Free Diets Don’t Work

July 31, 2018 Dr. Tom Rofrano

I’ve seen more than 100,000 patient visits and many of our patients come in with chronic complaints of digestive issues, IBS, IBD, headaches, migraines, aches and pains, fatigue, anxiety, depression, skin issues, brain fog; just a host of chronic complaints. I mean, we’re talking complaints beyond those, but those are the basic ones — the foundation, really — and they’ve had them for years. They went to this doctor, that doctor, they tried gluten-free diets and nothing worked long term.

Testing and Going Gluten-Free

We do a lot of testing and almost everyone, the majority of our patients, is gluten sensitive. So why would I say gluten-free diets don’t work? Well, one reason is when you’re sensitive to gluten, when you have these chronic issues, you’re not only sensitive to gluten but I found it’s also grains, yeast, sugar, soy; a number of different foods that you’re sensitive to. So just eliminating the gluten out of your diet might make you feel good for a little while, but is not going to do the trick.

My Symptoms

Roughly 10 years ago now, when I personally had a lot of these same health issues like IBS, aches and pains, fatigue, brain fog, skin issues, and just overall felt miserable. I had thyroid Hashimoto’s, and my rheumatoid antibodies were elevated so I had aches and pains all over. I was just feeling really miserable and I found out I was gluten sensitive, which runs in my family, so I went on a gluten-free diet. For breakfast, I would have gluten-free toast that contained millet, yeast, and other ingredients. For lunch, I would go to the Chinese restaurant next to my office at the time for rice with plenty of vegetables. For dinner, I would have gluten-free pasta or more rice or millet. I mean, I was feeling miserable.

Feeling Worse

I might have felt a little bit better mentally because I was doing this, but I just continued to feel worse and worse. I stopped to evaluate what was going on. It turns out there were many other foods I was sensitive to as well. And when you are sensitive to gluten, I’ve found the best diet is free of all the common allergens, which I call the FreeDiet™. Those foods are the most commonly responsible for digestive and other chronic health issues in hundreds and thousands of people.

Process of Elimination

The common food allergens include gluten, grains, sugar, yeast, dairy, eggs, soy, legumes, nightshades and corn. When I started eliminating those all the grains, sugar, yeast, I was eating lunch and dinner full of proteins and vegetables. (You know, more meat, chicken, fish, lots of vegetables, essential fats and eliminating those common allergenic foods.) Then I started to feel better: Digestive issues started clearing up, brain fog lifted, my skin started clearing up and the antibodies went down to normal. And that’s when I really started healing.

A Different Way to Eat

Since then, I have had so many patients on The FreeDiet™ and found it really effective for people to follow. The other thing that’s interesting is when people go on a gluten-free diet is they start buying all these gluten-free products. Some patients come in and with symptoms like IBS and say they’re gluten-free. I ask what they eat for breakfast, and it turns out its gluten-free bagels or gluten-free toast. Then for lunch, they eat rice and gluten-free pasta and the same thing for dinner. They might have some protein with that but they’re eating starches, carbs, and grains for meals. And then there are snacks like gluten-free cookies, gluten-free cake, and gluten-free brownies. Like seriously, it’s the grains, the sugar, and the starches that are driving all that inflammation.

I had a patient who had chronic migraines her whole life and was in her early 50’s by this point. She had a lot of symptoms associated with gluten. She had depression and anxiety, chronic pain, digestive issues, and migraines — debilitating migraines. We got to a point between the Free Diet, supplements, and treatment where she was completely better.

Relapse to Migraines?

Then one day she called for an appointment and came in with a severe migraine though she hadn’t had one in quite a long time.

“What do you eat? Do you have anything gluten?” I asked.

She said she had not.

“Well, any new foods or snacks or anything?” I asked.

“I have been eating these gluten-free rice crisps,” she said.

And after I got the name of these snacks, I looked them up online. Sure enough, it says gluten-free. You know, it’s another example of great marketing, saying no high fructose corn syrup, low cholesterol per serving, made with corn and a whole grain brown rice. But I looked at the ingredients. The gluten-free snacks contained brown rice flour, corn, whey, salt, corn, sugar, cheese, and monosodium glutamate (MSG). Aha, there’s MSG in these ‘healthy gluten-free products’ and you’re wondering why you have a migraine?

Gluten-Free Products – The Deception

Just because it says a gluten-free product does not mean it’s healthy or it’s not going to mess you up. Be aware of that. So there are gluten-free products per se that have a lot of these other things in them. If you’re going to eat gluten-free, then just choose foods that are naturally gluten-free; like vegetables, meat, chicken, fish, you know, avocados, and fruits. Those are all naturally free of gluten, but these packaged products, you can often land you in trouble.

Another Reason They Don’t Work

And then lastly, there’s another reason why gluten-free diets don’t work. A huge factor is that when you have a chronic digestive or other health issues or pathogens, infections, most are phases. These issues have yeast, parasites, or bacterial overgrowth. So we do lab testing, we do a lot of stool test kits that we send patients home with to check for all these digestive markers, pathogens and infections. Almost everyone comes back with parasites, yeast overgrowth, bacterial overgrowth, or all three. So when you have these growing in your system, just avoiding gluten isn’t going to get you better.

Get the Facts

You really need to find out what’s in there first, and then we can provide solutions to clear it up. There are different things we can do to help resolver bacterial overgrowth or parasites. The bottom line: It comes down to honing in on what exactly is the root cause of your symptoms and then providing long-term permanent solutions so that you can get better.

Thanks for joining me this week. If you know anyone that would benefit from this, feel free to share it. If you’d like to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get notification of new videos, go ahead and do that. And if you want a copy of The FreeDiet™, you can just click here.

Healing Hashimoto’s Thyroid Disease [Video]

May 15, 2018 Dr. Tom Rofrano

Today, I’m going to talk to you about healing Hashimoto’s. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune thyroid condition where your body produces antibodies against your own thyroid tissue. The thyroid starts to get destroyed over time causing typically low thyroid function. It is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States.

Many Are Unaware

Most people aren’t even aware that they have it. Over 20 million Americans have hypothyroidism, most of which are caused by Hashimoto’s. Many are even unaware that they have that. Most people that have it are women, although some men do have it.

Usually, I’ll tell the story of certain patients I’ve treated with it. But today I’m going to talk about my own experience because I had Hashimoto’s over ten years ago. I was able to clear it up so I’m going tell you about how I was able to do that.

The Symptoms

The usual symptoms that you’ll have with this are fatigue, brain fog, difficulty getting up in the morning, aches and pains, numbness and tingling, carpal tunnel, anxiety, hair loss. These are all very common symptoms, even headaches, plantar fasciitis which is heel pain. And infertility and miscarriages are very common for low thyroid function. Chronic infections, constipation, and many more symptoms beyond that. As you can see, it can really make you feel terrible.

Why It Goes Undiagnosed

The reason why it mainly goes undiagnosed is typically when you go to a doctor and get lab work, they will check just a few different things like a chem screen CBC, lipids, and TSH. And TSH is not enough to evaluate the thyroid. That’s a pituitary hormone that indirectly measures your thyroid function, but misses most cases.

When patients come in, I’ll order typically six different thyroid values along with everything else and often a TSH will be normal but when I look at the free T3 and free T4, they’re often below optimal ranges and the thyroid antibodies are often elevated, and that’s what indicates Hashimoto’s.

You May Never Find Out Unless…

So, if you’re just getting a TSH and maybe a T4 test and you’re not checking the others and your antibodies, you may never find out. You can go on feeling tired, have hair loss, brain fog, anxiety, depression, and feeling miserable.

What’s even worse than that is if you do go to your doctor and they find it, they’ll usually prescribe synthetic thyroid medication which in my experience, many people don’t do well with. It synthetic T4, and it doesn’t address T3 which many people are low in.

If they do know that you have Hashimoto’s, if they have your antibodies tested usually by an endocrinologist, they’ll say, and this is what happened to me, when I went in back in 2005. When I went in after I tested myself and found out that I had Hashimoto’s, the endocrinologist told me, “Well, there’s no known cause and no known cure. It continues to get worse, your thyroid will continue to deteriorate over time and your antibodies may go up, they may go down, there’s no sense in even measuring them because it’s not going to get better and you will just continually need more and more Synthroid as you get older because the thyroid will continue to deteriorate. You’ll usually get more nodules and bigger nodules and that’s there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Investigation and Research

That didn’t settle well with me, and I couldn’t accept that. So, I started investigating and researching what causes Hashimoto’s, what causes autoimmune in general because at that time I also tested positive for rheumatoid arthritis antibodies. Usually, when you have one autoimmune, you have another one and one or two or more beyond that.

I thought, there’s something going on, so what can it be? I feel every health condition has a cause, every problem has a solution, so I started researching this. What I found out is it came down to the cause of most autoimmune and chronic health conditions–physical, chemical, and mental stress. So I am going to talk about the chemical stress component. So, breaking that down, I first look at deficiencies.

Nutritional Deficiencies

So, if you have nutrient deficiencies, that can cause your body and immune system to breakdown. In my case, I was low in vitamin D which is incredible because at that time I lived at the beach and was out on the beach, multiple times a week. And I was extremely low in vitamin D. So, that was a shock. When you’re low in D, that can affect your immune system and it’s been linked with autoimmune conditions. I was also low in magnesium which can cause aches and pains and contribute to numbness and tingling and a lot of other symptoms. Vitamin B12 was another one, I was deficient in and that can contribute to fatigue, brain, nerve and blood issues.

The Physical Impact of Deficiencies

So in my case at that time, I was having carpal tunnel syndrome and peripheral neuropathy. It got so bad that I wasn’t able to even work on patients for a number of years. I had to hire another chiropractor to come in and did the manual therapy while I did the evaluations and nutrition and functional medicine. So, I figured out the low B12, magnesium and vitamin D, just to name a few. I was someone who ate what I thought was a healthy diet and was taking supplements but certainly not enough and not the right ones.

Functional & Free

That’s why testing is step one in our treatment program which I call Functional & Free which is a seven-step treatment program to get to the root cause of your condition and provide long-term permanent solutions. Step one is getting an evaluation to find out what’s going on so that’s what I was doing. Another form of chemical stress besides deficiencies is toxins.

Toxins

When I tested heavy metals, I was high in arsenic and mercury which are nerve toxins. Again, the numbness, tingling, carpal tunnel, ulnar neuropathy. As far as arsenic, I was eating a healthy diet which included a lot of rice. I went to the Chinese restaurant, the next door at my office, and I would load up on it. I would get mixed vegetables with rice. I would skip the chicken and would get me extra rice instead.

I thought that was healthy. So, I was eating lots of rice multiple times a week. I was also drinking this detox shake which was rice protein. The healthy hypoallergenic detox shake was at the time made from rice protein. It turns out, it just loaded with arsenic, go figure.

Pathogens / Infections

The third form of chemical stress is pathogens, meaning infections like bacteria, viruses, parasites, and yeast. After doing a comprehensive stool testing, I had yeast overgrowth. I had a lot of antibiotic use when I was a kid. My father was a medical doctor so I was often on antibiotics for all kinds of things.

I had parasite also. Infectious disease specialists say that it doesn’t happen in the United States. Well, I had one. I think I picked it up in Rio de Janeiro, when I was in chiropractic college in early to mid-twenties. A friend and I went down there for spring break to Rio. I guess we thought we were going to pick up women but instead I picked up a parasite!

That wasn’t expected, and all these years I was living with chronic digestive issues, feeling terrible. So when you have yeast and you have parasites, it ramps up your immune system and you’re constantly, your immune system is trying to fight this off. And meanwhile, it can start attacking your own cells, in my case, the thyroid, and joints.

Food Sensitivities

The fourth cause of chemical stress is food sensitivities. So, getting food sensitivity testing is one option, that’s what I did. You know, in my case, I was sensitive to many different foods but gluten was a big one, dairy, yeast, legumes, among other foods. So, that can cause inflammation, leaky gut and in turn, be a trigger for autoimmunity. The immune system is fighting off these foreign invaders, these food reactions.

Mental Stress

On mental stress, I had adrenal fatigue issues that I found after testing so I was treating that. At the same time, I was taking digestive enzymes, natural remedies to clear up the parasites, the yeast, and replacing all these nutrients. Over time, I started to get better and my thyroid antibody, started to go down and down and down, and by the spring of 2009, they were completely down to normal. So, it took many months of investigating and finding all this out but I recovered and it’s been about ten years that my thyroid and rheumatoid arthritis antibodies have been in normal range.

Using Research and Experience to Help Others

Since then I’ve used this information I learned on research and figured out to help many other patients. One of the more common things patients come in with over the last many years is thyroid issues, Hashimoto’s. So and when I see that, I just go through the Functional & Free protocol. Do the evaluations to get the underlying root cause. So, besides clearing up all these sources of chemical stress like the sensitivities, the toxins, clearing those out, addressing adrenal fatigue, and, parasites, yeast overgrowth.

Benefits of The FreeDiet®

The type of diet, I ultimately figured out works best. So, I was gluten-free for a while and I found out that it did not work so I started avoiding other foods, the most common food allergens. This list I came up with that really worked well for me and ultimately helped get me better was a diet free of not only gluten but gluten, grains, sugar, yeast, dairy, eggs, soy, legumes. Those are the most common food allergens.

I call it The FreeDiet®. And that’s the diet that really helped me. Within this diet is also a candida diet for yeast overgrowth which most everyone that has Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune condition, almost every person I’ve seen is dealing with yeast overgrowth issues. Ramping up that immune system and wreaking havoc on your whole body. So if you and if you want a copy of phase one of The FreeDiet®, I’d be happy to share that with you.

Replacing the Deficiency

And the other thing is replacing deficiencies. So after testing to find out specifically what’s going on like when I was deficient in all those things. The most common recommendations of the foundational nutritional supplements typically recommend for Hashimoto’s and hyperthyroid conditions are our Natural Medicine Formulas. ActiveMulti, a fish oil supplement, magnesium, probiotics, vitamin D with K2, These are the basic foundational supplements, and there are specific ones beyond that based on testing.

Often selenium is low. Iodine, which is very controversial because so many people out there saying iodine is the devil if you have Hashimoto’s. However, when I tested myself, I was low in it and many other patients I test are low. When we give iodine and that can really help. If you’re low and you replenish that, it helps tremendously. If you don’t need iodine and you take it, it can make thyroid issues worse. So, that’s one thing really needs to be tested before you go and take it.

Lifestyle Matters

So, The FreeDiet® and supplements, are two of the biggest things that help and there’s a lot of different lifestyle issues. Addressing stress and things like that, and if you’re suffering from aches and pains, and physical issues, of course, the manual therapy, the physical aspects of treatment and functional training exercises, are all part of the whole treatment plan.

It’s important to know that if you have an autoimmune condition, Hashimoto’s or any chronic health condition you can get better if you first discover the underlying root causes. Once that is figured out, coming up with a plan to help provide permanent, long-term solutions. You find the cause then you can find solutions to getting better.

So, yes, you can get better. With everything I learned, I was able to do it with Hashimoto’s and a lot of other health issues that I had and fortunately, I’ve been blessed to be able to help so many other patients as well.

Click The FreeDiet® If you would like a copy of the FreeDiet® phase 1 food chart.

3 Hidden Causes for IBS and Digestive Problems [Video]

December 10, 2017 Dr. Tom Rofrano

I am Dr. Tom Rofrano, from the Palm Beach Gardens, Natural Medicine Clinic. I am going to talk to you about three hidden causes of digestive issues today.

It’s one of the most common things that patients have when they come in, digestive problems. It seems like almost everyone that comes in has some abdominal pain, gas, constipation, bloating, indigestion, diarrhea, nausea. It’s just so rampant these days, and a lot of people are wondering why they have it.

They go to this doctor and that doctor and tell them all these symptoms are having. People can have them for months, if not years. And they typically will get an endoscopy, colonoscopy and just tell them, you just need to take this medication, and you have IBS, irritable bowel syndrome. This is not really a disease in and of itself. It’s just telling you what you already know, you have an irritable bowel. But there are causes. What we like to do is find out exactly what’s causing these issues so that we can then provide a solution for you to get better.

One: Food Sensitivities and Allergies

Out of the three things, number one, we see are food sensitivities or allergies that can cause digestive issues, gas, bloating, indigestion, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, all of these and more. There’s a couple of ways to find out what you can do, such as blood testing for allergies and food sensitivities. There are labs we use that can test 100 or 200 different foods.

Then second are certain types of diets, such as elimination diets. I came up with a diet I call The FreeDiet™ because it’s free of all the common allergens, gluten grains, sugar yeast, dairy, eggs, soy, legumes, nightshades, and processed foods. So it’s free of those, and it also allows you become free of digestive issues, pain, and inflammation. That’s what we can use as an alternative to testing. Those are the two different ways.

I’m going to give you an example of a story. A patient, a 35-year-old woman, recently came in and had all those symptoms I mentioned including severe abdominal pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea indigestion. She was having issues here and there all along, but nothing major. It started after a weekend of celebrating with pizza, cake, wine, beer. After that, she had severe pain and diarrhea, and she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, that’s how bad it was.

But after doing some testing and finding out what was causing it, she was sensitive to dairy, gluten, yeast; those are the three main things. Getting her off those and putting on The FreeDiet and certain supplements helped her to heal, and it completely cleared up. Now she is fine. Food allergies or sensitivities are one huge hidden cause of digestive issues.

Two: Digestive Enzyme Deficiencies

And secondly, are the digestive enzyme deficiencies. So your stomach produces a normal amount of acid and a normal amount of enzymes to break down your foods, hydrochloric acid being the main one. If you have a deficiency of this, you tend to get bloated after you eat. So your stomach will just get large and bloated. Some women tell me they feel like they’re 8 or 9 months pregnant. It’s not that they’re eating a lot, but this is what happens if it’s a lack of enzymes in the stomach. The food just sits there and kind of swells and expands, and then it even causes acid reflux to come up.

What they typically prescribe or recommend is taking acid-blocking drugs either prescription or over-the-counter, and you can feel better temporarily. However it doesn’t take away the problem, it doesn’t fix the problem or correct anything. What we do is find out if that’s a cause then we can recommend some stomach enzymes. We use a product that contains HCL and other enzymes to break down the food in the stomach so that you can then absorb and digest the food and eliminate the bloating. So enzyme deficiencies are a huge cause.

And I recently saw a woman in her sixties who was on prescription acid-blocking drugs for many years. I know if you’ve seen the news lately, all the side effects long-term they’re talking about these including dementia and osteoporosis, bone fractures and on and on from the long-term use of acid-blocking drugs. In her case, we put her on the FreeDiet, some other supplements, some stomach enzymes, Gastriczyme, I was telling about that we have here at the Natural Medicine Clinic.

Within a couple of weeks, her stomach symptoms cleared up, and she didn’t need to take the medication anymore. That’s what we do is look for just root causes to clear up the underlying problems that are being covered up with medications for symptom relief.

Third: Pathogens

And then thirdly are pathogens. Pathogens meaning, for instance, parasites, yeast or bacterial overgrowth. We just had a case recently, a 12-year-old boy who just all of a sudden started getting nausea, loss of appetite and constipation, bloating. He started losing weight, he just didn’t want to eat, and was very fatigued. After he’d been to the pediatrician and other specialists not coming up with anything, we did some more extensive lab testing and stool testing. What it turned out was that he did have a parasite. After putting him on supplements and some different herbal remedies to help clear that up and diet, he got better within a matter of a few short weeks. And he started eating normally again, the symptoms started clearing up, and he began gaining weight.

These are just some of the things that we look for what when someone comes in with digestive issues. Again, these can be sensitivities, enzyme deficiencies, pathogens, yeast, parasites or bacterial overgrowth. In each case, there are different protocols we use to clear these up.

In future entries, I can go over the others more specifically, including different protocols we use.

If you have any questions or want other topics in future talks, make the comments below or email us at info@nmcwellness.com and I would be happy to help you in any of those areas.

Dr. Tom Rofrano

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How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

February 17, 2016 Dr. Tom Rofrano

Are you suffering from insomnia? It is one of the most common complaints I hear from patients.

If you are not getting a good night’s sleep, and by that I mean 7-8 hours, it can contribute to:

Fatigue
Brain fog
ADD
Trouble making decisions
Poor Memory
Depression
Irritability
Immune System Weakness
Increased risk for Heart disease, Diabetes, Cancer and Alzheimer’s
Accelerated Aging
Weight Gain

So how do you get that minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep that you desperately need?

1. Set up a bedtime routine. Go to bed each night ideally by 10 PM, or at the very latest by 11. You can feel so much more refreshed sleeping from 11 PM–6 AM than from 1 AM-8 AM. Wake up at the same time each morning. If you sleep in on the weekends, you may find it much harder to fall asleep early on Sunday night again.

2. Get outside each day for some fresh air and sunshine. Even if it’s just for a 15 minute walk at lunchtime.

3. Avoid using electronics one hour before bedtime. That includes computers, cell phones, tablets and TV. It is just too stimulating for your brain. You should use this time to relax, stretch, write in your journal, or plan your next day. Certainly avoid watching the nightly news before bed!

4. Have your last meal at least 3 hours before bedtime. However, if you tend to have low blood sugar and you wake up each night at 3 AM, then you can have a light protein snack such as a handful of raw nuts about 30 minutes before bed.

5. Drink most of your water earlier in the day so that you can avoid minimize water intake in the evening. This way you can prevent having to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

6. Magnesium works great for helping you relax and sleep better through the night. I usually recommend taking 2 Magnesium Glycinate/Malate capsules 30 -60 minutes before bed.

7. If you suffer from pain, muscle tension or headaches, this can certainly keep you from sleeping well.

One patient that comes to mind is a 40 year-old woman who had constant fatigue, inability to lose weight, migraine headaches, neck pain, jaw/TMJ pain, depression, anxiety, poor memory and concentration, dark circles under her eyes, digestive problems, and you guessed it…insomnia. Besides doing lab testing and putting her on a comprehensive nutrition program, I started treating her with gentle chiropractic adjustments, laser therapy and myofascial release. Within one month her neck pain, jaw pain and migraines cleared up and she was sleeping through the night for the first time in years!

So use these tips to help you get a good night’s sleep, and If you need assistance with this, email us at info@nmcwellness.com or call us at 561-627-5800. We would love to help.

Yours for Optimal Health,

Dr. Tom Rofrano

Yeast Overgrowth & Sensitivity – Candida Solutions

July 25, 2015 Dr. Tom Rofrano

Can you believe this is typical of the type of patient we see in our clinic? A 38-year-old woman came in complaining of fatigue, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, belching, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, eczema on most of body, irritability, mood swings, PMS, headaches, dizziness, itchy eyes, dry skin and hair, easy bruising, chest pain, hyperactivity, sinus congestion, rashes, itching, food allergies, hair loss, frequent urination, recurring yeast infections, sugar, bread and alcohol cravings, insomnia and brain fog.

After seeing many doctors over 10-15 years, she had urged her allergist to test her for Celiac disease and sure enough, it was positive. She temporarily felt a little better on a gluten-free diet, but she still had all those symptoms.

What is going on here? I thought gluten-free was supposed to cure everything!

Well it turns out that you can have sensitivities or allergies to many different foods and one of the most common is yeast.

Most every new patient that comes in with a multitude of chronic symptoms not only tests positive for a gluten or wheat sensitivity but also has a food sensitivity to Brewer’s and/or Baker’s yeast.

Related to this is a condition called yeast overgrowth or Candida in the body. It is normal to have a certain level of yeast in our bodies and Candida Albicans is the most common type of yeast or fungus.

But when it gets out of balance and yeast overgrowth occurs, that’s when it can cause problems.

Yeast overgrowth is usually caused by medications such as antibiotics, prednisone, birth-control pills or antacids.

Just some of the symptoms of yeast overgrowth or sensitivity include:

abdominal pain, gas and bloating
diarrhea or constipation
IBS, Crohn’s and Colitis
fatigue
headaches
dizziness
sinus congestion
chronic cough
acne
numbness and tingling
brain fog- poor memory and concentration
fungal infection on nails
white film or spots on throat or tongue
irritability
mood swings
anxiety and/or depression
muscle or joint aches
eczema, psoriasis and skin rashes
itchy eyes, ears or skin
difficulty losing weight
food sensitivities
sensitivities to perfumes, fragrances and chemicals
allergies
autoimmune conditions
sugar, alcohol or bread cravings
vaginal yeast infections
PMS
frequent urinary tract infections

How do you determine if you have yeast overgrowth or sensitivity?
The first and most important thing we do is a thorough history and evaluation. There are also different lab tests that can be performed to identify if yeast is part of the problem.

And usually this is just one important piece of the puzzle. There are other factors involved also.

So what’s the solution? Although it is much more detailed than this, here is a summary:

1. Diet:
a. Avoid sugar, grains and starches. That includes bread, pasta, crackers, cookies, cake; and yes, even gluten-free ones.
b. Avoid yeast containing foods such as beer and wine, vinegar, soy sauce, aged cheeses.
c. Eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables
d. Eat a moderate amount of proteins such as wild fish, beef, chicken, turkey, and lamb.
d. Consume an abundance of healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, avocado and clarified butter.

2. Nutritional supplements with herbs that have antifungal properties can be very effective. One of the products I have found most effective is called Yeast Defeat. Sometimes antifungal medications are needed.

3. Take Probiotics for digestive and immune support. I’ve used many different brands over the years with thousands of patients. I finally found one that has provided the best results, which is called ProbioSupreme.

By the way, about the patient above who was feeling terrible? After placing her on what I call The FreeDiet™ and some nutritional supplements to enhance healing, she did get better.

Yes, all of her symptoms cleared up and she was feeling good for the first time in many years! If you want to see her video, click here.

So remember, gluten-free can be part of the solution, but it is not the answer to everything. There can be many other factors involved, and yeast overgrowth/sensitivity is just one of them

If you want to Transform Your Health and Feel Good Again, feel free to contact us at info@nmcwellness.com or call 561-627-5800. We would love to help.

Yours for Optimal Health,

Dr. Tom Rofrano

PS. Look for more on The FreeDiet™ in future blogposts.

Natural Immune & Stress Support for FLU Season

January 17, 2015 Dr. Tom Rofrano

Did you ever wonder why the FLU season peaks right after the holidays?

There are reasons for this and it all comes down to the health of your immune system.

So what could possibly weaken your immune system over the holidays?

Well a simple acronym I came up with for the word FLU can give you some answers:

F stands for Food
L stands for Late nights
U stands for Unlimited stress

F for the immune stress from unhealthy Food. Yes, all of the Holiday food habits that can stress your body and immune system.

It starts with Halloween and all the sugary, chemical-laden treats that many kids (and adults) overindulge in. That’s just the warm-up though for the peak holiday/flu season.

Thanksgiving is all about the food! Most everyone is stuffing themselves beyond capacity, including countless desserts, and maybe drinking too much alcohol. One year, between what my wife Dawn baked and our guests brought, we had 12 different desserts on our table! And that was on top of a huge Thanksgiving meal.

This is followed by Christmas and the winter Holidays- more food, more sweets, and maybe a lot more alcohol; things that your body just isn’t used to. And yes, sorry to say, sugar can absolutely weaken your immune system.

L for the Late nights.
So many things to do, staying out late, kids are out of school staying up way past bedtime. Usually past midnight on Christmas Eve and New Year’s eve (which just happens to be the very peak of the FLU season). Just because you sleep till noon doesn’t make up for going to bed late. Think about how exhausted you feel when you get up a couple of hours later than you usually do. Truth is, lack of sleep can weaken your immune system, making you more likely to get sick when exposed to a virus.

U for Unlimited stress.
On top of your already bursting at the seams schedule, you have presents to buy, more presents to buy, and last-minute presents to buy.

Many are shopping all night on Black Friday. Presents to wrap past midnight, holiday cookies to bake (and eat) and the kids are home from school. Travel, dealing with extended family, ex’s and the in-laws. It’s all crazy!

So to put it all together, getting sick is all about stress depleting your immune system.

Stress from too much sugar, maybe alcohol, and food you’re not used to eating.
Too little sleep or even changing your sleep schedule is a source of tremendous stress and burnout.
And the emotional stress from having so much more to do on top of an already crammed schedule with no time to relax.

Add this all up and it’s a recipe for disaster.

After all this, I bet you just want to take a break, relax and do nothing.
Well as I was writing this it came to me what the FLU stands for if you actually come down with it.

F = Forget everything
L = Lay down
U = Unlimited rest

Finally, this is exactly what you needed after all those weeks of craziness. You get to lay in bed for days, with nothing to do but rest. But the problem is you are miserable- fever, aches and pains, headache, congestion, sore throat, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or fatigue. If you’re lucky, maybe you just catch a cold. In any case, not exactly the “vacation” you were looking for.

There is a better way to prevent this:

F for Healthy Foods. Yes, you can have the sweets and go a little overboard but keep it reasonable and eat plenty of healthy foods as your foundation.

L for Lighten up your schedule and set boundaries. Go to bed at a reasonable hour, ideally by 10 PM, and certainly before 11. Remember, you can accomplish a lot more by getting up early than staying up late.

U for Unwind. Of course, you have a lot more to do but set priorities. Take a day and relax at the beach, make sure you are sticking to your exercise program, go for a walk outside and get some fresh air and sunshine. Maybe you can actually have some quality time and fun with the kids or your significant other. Holidays do not have to mean “Hell-idays”.

For extra help in keeping your immune system healthy, the following supplements have helped many of my patients over the years:

1. Immune Support formula is an herbal remedy that has saved me many times at the first sign of a cold or feeling sick. From my experience, it often prevents anything from taking hold and if you do get sick, I’ve seen many times where it shortens the duration of symptoms dramatically.
2. Vitamin D offers immune support with studies to back its cold and flu prevention powers. I generally recommend 2000 iu/day for kids and 5000 iu/day for adults. Of course, your specific requirements depend on your blood levels, which we can also check if needed.
3. ProbioSupreme 100 is a powerful probiotic. This is for both digestive health and immune support, since over 70% of the immune system is located in your gut.

So remember, stay on the correct path by eating healthy foods, going to bed early and keeping your schedule in check.

Also, use the above supplements for you and your family, and you may be surprised at how healthy you are this flu season.

Yours for Vibrant Health,

Dr. Tom Rofrano

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