Carolyn Dean MD ND

Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND, has been in the forefront of health issues for 28 years. She graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1978, holds a medical license in California, and is a graduate of the Ontario Naturopathic College, now The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto.

Dr. Dean has authored or coauthored fifteen books, including VidaCosta Good Health Encyclopaedia, Death by Modern Medicine: Seeking Safe Solutions, The Magnesium Miracle, The Yeast Connection and Women's Health, IBS for DUMMIES, and Hormone Balance.

Presently, Dr. Dean is Medical Director of VidaCosta Spa el Puente, a medical spa in Costa Rica, opening in 2010. She is also President of VidaCosta Academy, U.S. working closely with Danna Hallmark, inventor of a unique functional, computerized, urinalysis lab test. Dr. Dean and Ms. Hallmark teach Laboratory Technician, Wellness Counselor, and Certified Naturopath courses in their licensed school building a network of practitioners in their National Wellness Project and educating staff for VidaCosta Spa.

Dr. Dean also conducts Telephone Consultations, assisting individuals with all types of illness at any stage or degree of severity.

Dr. Carolyn Dean is a medical doctor, naturopathic doctor, herbalist, acupuncturist, nutritionist, lecturer, consultant, and author and coauthor of 15 health books.

www.drcarolyndean.com

Articles by Carolyn Dean MD ND

Yeast and Inflammation

Inflammation is a HOT topic, an Internet search on the word turns up an overwhelming 37.5 million hits. Journals of inflammation, inflammation research associations, and drug companies are all scrambling to find a drug to treat this scourge.

The cover story blazing through flickering flames on a February 2004 issue of TIME magazine notified the public about The Secret Killer: The Surprising Link between Inflammation and Heart Attacks, Cancer, Alzheimer's and Other Diseases. The lead in to the story was just as dramatic:

Over a decade ago I viewed with amazement a published study reporting that the previous year the American public had spent $27 billion dollars on natural medicines, foods, vitamins, minerals, teas, herbs, etc. And this enormous sum had been expended in a great majority of cases without any professional guidance whatsoever in what to buy and how to use it. This indicated to me that people in general were attempting to improve or maintain their health by their own means – like many of us have done, reading what we can find on the subject, then choosing those available products that seem to be indicated for our problem.

If the report was true, imagine how much healthier the public might be if they did have guidance in choosing their health programs, products, and regimens. It was obvious at the time, and still is, that the need is nearly overwhelming for more comprehensive, wider spread, and easier accessible mechanism to guide the public to better natural health.

I’ve been writing and speaking about detoxification for decades. Ever since I realized that the purity of the body was being breached beyond our ability to detoxify, I have advocated safe and gentle ways to cleanse. Cleansing is always the first step in any healing diet or supplement program. Sure, you can start eating organic and taking supplements, but if you don’t detoxify it’s like putting pure water into a dirty pot. The dirt prevails. Let’s first clean out the pot.

The body has pathways named “phases of detoxification” that are geared to kick out toxins and poisons. Unfortunately, many of us have overworked our detox pathways to the extent that if we don’t help support our body’s detoxification pathways, we can become ill. When detoxification is not working as well as it should and foreign chemicals build up, the body stores them away in fatty tissue, which can lead to inflammation and fluid retention.

In the previous issue of Good Health Is Real Wealth, I wrote about the loss of nutrients due to diarrhea, and the best way to replace lost electrolytes. In this issue, let’s look at how to prevent nutrient loss so that osteoporosis will not develop. Because, unfortunately, the main medical treatment for this condition includes harsh drugs that are very destructive to the gut.

My topic this month is why size matters in electrolyte and fluid replacement for people with chronic diarrhea.
Physicists tell us that the channels that allow minerals to enter our cells are 4-5 angstroms in diameter (between a nanometer and a picometer-very tiny), yet most oral mineral supplements are thousands of times larger. Obviously, this hampers absorption and utilization of  the mineral. If you experience diarrhea, you can experience severe fluid loss and need proper electrolyte and fluid replacement.

To explain what can happen when you use the wrong kind of replacement I have permission from my veterinarian friend, Dr. Terry Wood, to reprint an article he wrote this topic. His piece focus on athletes, not animals, and not specifically on people with IBS. But, what he says is just as relevant for people with IBD.

The Magnesium Maze

After studying and writing about magnesium over the past 10 years, I’m prepared to say it is the most important mineral in our body. However, my clients still want to know two things: “How do I know I have magnesium deficiency, and what form of magnesium should I take?