[ad_1] By: BioDesign Wellness Center Staff June 17, 2019 | Category: Environmental Toxins Request A Call From Us Editor’s Note: Last week’s post, which focused on the connection between mold and psychiatric illness, referenced the first annual International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness (ISEAI) Conference in Phoenix, Ariz. That professional gathering included doctors and others in the healthcare field who are blazing trails in the diagnosis and treatment of environmentally acquired illnesses. Today’s post features a report from one of those pioneering doctors — BioDesign Wellness Center’s own Dr. Matthew Lewis, DC, DACBN, CFMP. Below is Dr. Lewis’ report from the conference, including insights on how the event is shaping our own approach to healthcare: The 2019 ISEAI conference featured valuable information shared by pioneering healthcare practitioners from a variety of backgrounds. What I found most valuable were the healthcare providers who spoke about their work with patients suffering environmentally acquired […]
[ad_1] By: BioDesign Wellness Center Staff June 29, 2019 | Category: Meet The Staff Request A Call From Us One of the first smiling faces patients see when they enter our Tampa Functional Medicine practice is that of Phyllis McKinnon, BioDesign’s intake coordinator and office administrator. Phyllis is charged with ensuring that each of our patients and guests is welcomed and taken care of. In addition, this former holistic spa owner educates new patients through our protocol for treatment and wellness. Before joining our team earlier this year, Phyllis was a fulltime hospice volunteer, working with the dying and their families. Bringing comfort to these patients made her more determined than ever to become a part of a team that focuses on preventative health. She says she found that focus in the staff here at BioDesign Wellness. Beginning her career as an esthetician, where she specialized in oncology esthetics, Phyllis
[ad_1] By: BioDesign Wellness Center Staff July 17, 2019 | Category: Gut Health Request A Call From Us Heartburn has been in the news a lot lately — and we’re not referring to the type you might experience while watching a talking head or pundit on CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC. Rather, we’re referencing recent reports that drugs commonly used to alleviate symptoms associated with heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), acid reflux, and stomach and small intestine ulcers, may raise the risk of numerous fatal health conditions. Among these risks are cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and upper gastrointestinal cancer. One such study — Estimates of mortality associated with proton pump inhibitors among US veterans — was published in May of 2019 in the British Medical Journal. In that peer-reviewed study, researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs-Saint Louis, Saint Louis University, and Washington University School of Medicine in Saint
[ad_1] By: BioDesign Wellness Center Staff July 31, 2019 | Category: Mold Request A Call From Us Coffee is a lightning rod for conflicting medical studies. Every few weeks it seems, a new study comes out touting the benefits or risks of drinking coffee or drinking too much coffee — an amount which is also hotly debated. (Photo courtesy of Kari Shea on Unsplash) According to BlueCross BlueShield, here’s where the science stands regarding the pros and cons of coffee consumption: Pros Coffee may help protect against type 2 diabetes. Coffee may help reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease and may help control Parkinson’s related tremors. Coffee lowers the risk of liver cancer and protects against cirrhosis of the liver. Moderate coffee consumption (16 ounces daily) can help protect against heart failure. Cons Drinking too much coffee/caffeine can trigger anxiety symptoms, especially in those with underlying anxiety disorders. Coffee/caffeine causes
[ad_1] By: BioDesign Wellness Center Staff August 7, 2019 | Category: Brain Health Request A Call From Us In AMC’s fictional cable TV series Better Call Saul, Saul’s older brother, Charles Lindbergh “Chuck” McGill, is convinced he suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) — often described as an “allergy” to electric and magnetic fields. Symptoms include anxiety, depression, headaches, itchy skin, blurred vision, and heart palpitations. The condition forces Chuck to move to an electricity-free home, using gas lamps for light and foregoing many other modern conveniences. Visitors, including Chuck’s younger brother Jimmy, are forced to place their electronic devices in the mailbox and ground themselves to discharge any static electricity before entering his home. Chuck even wraps himself in what Jimmy describes as a “space blanket” to shield himself from any electromagnetic fields (EMFs). Fast forward to the real world, where the introduction of 5G networks promises to deliver ultrafast data
[ad_1] By: BioDesign Wellness Center Staff August 16, 2019 | Category: Health Advice Request A Call From Us Even as summer vacations draw to a close in much of the nation, the perils of sunscreen to the environment remain in the news. Of local interest to those of us here in Tampa are recent media reports about a potential ban on certain types of sunscreen — namely those that might provide the best protection against the sun but are toxic to coral reefs. Turns out that even tiny amounts of sunscreen that wash off a swimmer’s skin in the ocean is enough to cause corals to bleach, lose their algae food source, and make them susceptible to viral infections. In addition, the chemical oxybenzone — an active ingredient in many sunscreens — inhibits the ability of baby corals (polyps) to attach themselves to the reef. The chemicals in commercial sunscreens may also affect