Radio Naturopath Episode 401: Vaginal Dryness, Tick Repellent, Heart Healthy Foods

This week I talked about three topics. The first is one especially important to peri- and post-menopausal women, vaginal dryness. There are some simple things you can do to help, and not necessarily hormonal! The second is TICKS. My patients are coming in with tick bites and frank Lyme disease. We discuss how to prevent getting them on you, how to look for them, and natural tick repellents. The third is a long list of heart healthy foods! Lots of things that you can eat and generally help your heart to be healthier, and some that are actually studied to do great things like lower LDL, increase LDL size, raise HDL, lower triglycerides, improve endothelial function, and lower blood pressure. 

Radio Naturopath Episode 223: More on Lyme and CT Incidence, Hashimoto's, and Babesiosis; Insect Repellants; How Stress Affects Your Health

MORE stuff about Ron and his Lyme and Hashimoto's, and also the incidence of Lyme in the state of CT by county. New London has the highest incidence, but we wonder if it's underreported elsewhere. Ron makes the point that there is a lot of effort put into West Nile Virus which has an incidence of 23 cases/year in Connecticut, and less effort into Lyme disease which has 1800+ reported cases! And remember that these are the properly REPORTED cases, where the doctors have been presented with a state reporting form AND have managed to fill them out and send them back in. I made sure to encourage everyone to use bug spray, whether natural with essential oils, Bio UD from tomatoes, or even DEET if you must! I also make the point that the danger of antibiotic resistance is far outweighed by the need to eradicate a tick borne disease from a person, which can go on to have lifelong consequences, especially musculoskeletal and neurological.

We also talked about how stress affects your health. It can, of course, affect every system in your body, from headaches to digestion to muscle pain! And some suggestions to help.