Depression

STRESS – part 3

Liz James · November 30, 2021 ·

Chronic Stress Part III : Solutions
Today’s post is full of butterflies, kittens🐱, and unicorns (Literally!). That’s a welcome change, I’m sure, considering the sobering long term ramifications of unmitigated chronic stress we’ve talked about these past few weeks. Chronic stress usually creeps in on very soft feet, so consider taking a few minutes to answer this simple yes/no “day to day stress assessment”:

stress assessment

Coping with stress involves two steps:
1️⃣Recognizing the signs and symptoms of EARLY burnout and stress (you’ve got the tools now!)
2️⃣Activating any or all of the self care tools below.
Now, here’s the fun part….. Giving yourself some self care time by mixing and matching ways to “de-stress” on the regular. This is not a “once and done” experience. These are lifestyle changes for life!
🙌Stressbuster Options🙌
👉Get regular exercise!
👉Engage in self care activities (ex: a long soaking bath or a massage)
👉Prayer, meditation, and/or quiet time with no electronic or television distractions
👉Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (aka CBT) . This can be a very valuable tool, especially if you find yourself trending in negative thinking patterns. I would really recommend picking up Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book and workbook, “Who Switched Off My Brain? Controlling toxic thoughts and emotions” to begin diving deeper into this subject.
👉Journal. Write out your thoughts instead of letting them fester in your mind. Create a gratitude journal, write a letter you’ll never send to someone, or begin success journaling)
👉Turn off social media and electronics as often as your day allows.
👉Limit scrolling time
👉Get outside as much as possible and connect with nature. Go barefoot or get your hands on plants and in soil. (Grounding! ….. We’ve talked about this in previous posts)
👉Read something relaxing and nontriggering (ex: a work of fiction). Allow your brain to wander within the pages of the book.
👉Engage in Yoga, pilates, Tai Chi (soooo many health benefits!)
👉Practice breathing exercises ( left nostril breathing or box breathing are both excellent breathing patterns to quiet the mind)
Improve your sleep in both quality and quantity (we talked about that last week)
👉Try salt water floatation therapy for deep relaxation
👉Listen to 432 Hz frequency healing music ( check out the company WholeTones for more info!)
👉Laugh! It releases endorphins.
👉Spend time with a pet. Did you know that a cat’s purring frequency corresponds with established healing frequencies in therapeutic medicine for humans?
👉Practice saying no to the things that bring stress, and saying yes to the things that will bring joy.
👉Avoid procrastination and just do the thing. Learn time management techniques and goal setting.
👉Eat healthy nourishing foods
👉Engage in a hobby
👉Connect with actual people in a community….. In person. We are not created to be an island.
👉Examine your values and beliefs and then live by them. An enormous amount of internal stress comes from living differently from your beliefs and values.
👉Oils and Supplements. We have so many amazing tools to help us navigate stress:
🌿Lavender, Vetiver (Yes, it doesn’t smell great, so apply to bottoms of feet!), Bergamot, Roman Chamomile, Frankincense, Sandalwood, Ylang Ylang, Orange, and Geranium are just a few oils known for their calming qualities.
🌿Young Living has created an amazing array of perfectly blended oils to help add to the peace and tranquility in our lives: StressAway, Tranquil, RutaVala, Peace and Calming, and Valor are just a few that come to mind.
🌿An herb called Ashwagandha is known for its beautiful ability to lower symptoms of stress in the body. It is one of the important ingredients in Young Living’s EndoGize (typically for women) and PowerGize (formulated for men).
🌿Young Living’s Calm CBD Roll-on is another fantastic tool to help relax and quiet the mind. Have you tried it yet? Be sure to find and follow Dr. Oliver Wenker MD, DEAA, ABAARM, FAARFM, MBA on his website and social media to learn in depth information on all things CBD.

Unfortunately, many doctors don’t recommend steps to help mitigate stress in a patient’s life. Nearly 20% of adults age 18 or older are on medication💊 for symptoms related to stress. A patient may present with anxiety, depression, or any of the other stress related clues we’ve talked about, and a prescription is written without any further discussion (and often, without comprehensive lab work being ordered to ensure there’s not also an imbalance somewhere in the body causing the symptoms). There will always be a time and a place for medication as a final option, but patients need to be fully aware of the problems that lie with using medication long term as a coping mechanism.
💊Many of the medications used to treat symptoms of stress are highly addictive. Additionally, these medications have the capacity to impact brain function when taken over extended periods of time.
💊According to a study published in 2010 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, one of the most common classes of drugs (SSRI’s) used to treat mild to moderate anxiety and depression was “unable to outperform placebos for moderate symptoms of depression”. So…. there’s that.
💊All of the medications used to mediate stress symptoms have side effect profiles that may well require a 2nd or 3rd medication to help manage the side effects of the initial medication.
💊Very few studies on the effects of a polypharmacy (using multiple medications concurrently) lifestyle exist, yet we know that prescription drugs are the 3rd leading cause of death in the USA (after heart disease and cancer)…… (Don’t let anyone tell you that essential oils and herbs are dangerous!😉).
💊There is no way of measuring serotonin (the primary “happy” neurotransmitter) in the brain of a living person, nor is there a “normal level” of serotonin we should all have to be emotionally healthy. People with high serotonin levels can still be depressed, and people with low serotonin levels can still be happy and joy filled. Indeed, we are largely the masters of our own emotional state.
💊Many medications used to treat symptoms of stress should be used in caution with people who have preexisting extreme mood disorders, diabetes, kidney, liver, or heart disease, or pregnancy (due to risk of miscarriage, congenital heart disease, or persistent pulmonary hypertension of the baby).

We have so many low cost (to free!) tools available to us when it comes to how we choose to deal with stress, and as you’ve hopefully seen, most are very pleasant options with no icky side effects.
Use the two stress surveys📊 you now have on hand to check yourself periodically, and then evaluate your self care / fun quotient. Your future self will thank you!
xoxo~ liz

#sharingiscaring
#beingwellinformedisgoodmedicine
#ThanksYL
#fearfullywonderfullyjoyfullymade
(PS: if anyone needs a stress relieving kitten, I’ve got 4 fosters looking for a home! )

Postpartum Anxiety

Liz James · October 13, 2021 ·

Postpartum depression. It affects 10-15% of women post pregnancy, and often begins a merrygoround of medication use that is hard get off. Take a few minutes to read this gal’s story. She is not alone.
Several years ago at the pharmacy, I began asking women who were getting new prescriptions for antidepressants or antianxiety medications if they had received labwork prior to being handed a first time antidepressant or antianxiety prescription by their doctor. Remarkably, 95% or more had not.
This issue isn’t always about low progesterone (read the story) . It could be an unresolved thyroid issue, a low Vitamin D level, or many other possibilities fairly easily spotted by doing proper labwork analysis. Sadly, insurance often won’t pay for this, and many doctors who work for a medical conglomerate healthcare system won’t order the needed labs because it falls outside of the approved diagnostic protocols set by upper management or insurance companies.
Save yourself some time and grief and get the labs necessary by paying out of pocket. It can be done easily in most states. This is one of the services I offer in my health coaching calls. It just might change your life. 😘
https://www.madinamerica.com/…/postpartum-anxiety…/…
xoxo~ liz
www.goodmedicine.info
#sharingiscaring
#ThanksYL
#thoroughlabworkisgoodmedicine
#listentoyourbody

postpartum anxiety

Zinc Deficiency

Liz James · October 5, 2021 ·

‘Tis the season to chat about zinc (or lack thereof!). Frankly, we should have had this discussion two years ago…..better late than never, right? First, take a close look at the clues I dropped in the graphic, and then hop back here to tackle this very important topic!

Approximately 25-33% of the population is deficient in zinc. The World Health Organization says zinc deficiency is the 5th leading life-threatening factor in the world, especially in 57% of the elderly population. Kind of a big deal for a micronutrient! At least 16% of all deep respiratory infections are related to a zinc deficiency (impaired taste and smell, fever, cough, sore throat, generalized weakness, pain and achy limbs, runny nose, and even occasionally…. diarrhea😬 are all symptoms of deficiency btw).

Why? Zinc is one of the white hat good guys . It has over 200 known roles in body function (just take a look again at some of the clues related to low zinc), and is a key player in our immune system:
✅Adequate zinc is essential for preventing viral entry and also supports appropriate viral response in host cells.
✅Adequate zinc supports ciliary strength and action in the lungs. These are tiny hairlike structures in the lungs that help prevent mucus buildup.
✅Adequate zinc levels directly inhibit viral replication.
✅Adequate zinc levels have a supportive role in balancing immune response during a dis-ease process.

Additionally, 🔥zinc deficiency🔥 has been shown to play a role in:
🔥Type I Diabetes
🔥Rheumatoid Arthritis
🔥Cancer
🔥Neurodegenerative diseases
🔥Depression
🔥Malaria
🔥HIV
🔥Tuberculosis
🔥Measles
🔥Pneumonia
🔥Hormone imbalance

Zinc Factoids:
👉Excess is not stored in the body. Intake must occur daily.
👉Both deficiency and excess can negatively impact immune system function. This is but one reason to have thorough blood work run by a healthcare professional who will take the time to do a complete analysis.
👉Zinc “overload” is rare, but can certainly happen. When it does, it is usually due to a copper deficiency or zinc:copper ratio imbalance. (again, labwork!)

How did we become a world of zinc deficient people? Toxins and poor farming practices. Overworked soil and fertilizers containing too much phosphorus (which binds zinc) are to blame. Zinc cannot enter into the plants and then fails to make it into the food chain.

High toxin☠️exposure is also to blame. Just one more excellent reason to kick your known household toxins to the curb (toxins typically found in mainstream cleaning products, personal care items, processed foods and beverages, makeup etc).

Thankfully, we have solutions in place🙌 with Young Living Thieves Household Cleaner, a wonderful skincare line, and even our amazing YL Savvy Makeup collection. Kicking toxins to the curb is so easy knowing that pure unadulterated excellence is waiting to replace them!

Other causes of zinc deficiency:
🔥Chronic stress (depletes zinc rapidly)
🔥A high copper to zinc ratio
🔥Leaky gut and digestive disorders (zinc deficiency is both cause and effect!)
🔥Medication usage: ACE inhibitors (blood pressure), antacids and proton pump inhibitors, glucophage, beta blockers (blood pressure), birth control pills, corticosteroids, diuretics, NSAIDS, and statins are among those known to deplete zinc.

The USDA recommended daily allowance for zinc is 10-12 mg/day, but this does not account for the amount of toxins a person may be regularly exposed to. Many functional medicine doctors suggest that optimal daily zinc should be 20-40mg/day.

Foods high in zinc include pumpkin seeds, grass fed dairy (ex: Kerrygold Butter) , cashews, almonds, spinach, asparagus, dark chocolate, grass fed meat, salmon, mushrooms, and turkey.

Thankfully, we also have several Young Living Supplements containing zinc to supplement what we may get from food:
*Organic dried Wolfberries (1.8mg per 100gms)
* Immupro chewable tablets (5mg/tablet)
*Super B (3mg/2 tablets)
*Powergize (5mg / capsule)
*Balance Complete (4mg/ serving)
*AminoWise (2.1mg/ serving)
*Master Formula (15mg/packet)
*MegaCal (1mg/serving)
*MightyVites (for the littles….. 1.1mg/tablet)
*Mineral Essence (contains Zinc and 61 other important trace minerals)
*NingXia Red (contains zinc by virtue of its ingredients. I was unable to determine how much zinc it has per serving)

It’s a good idea to achieve the RDA minimum requirements on a daily basis (especially since zinc is not stored in the body!). My personal preference is to try to achieve the optimal recommendations by way of the foods I eat, and then supplementing with a variety of what is available to us with a Young Living membership. Immupro and Master Formula are two of my faves! In the event of illness, a larger mg/day may be needed.

Finally, there is a test you can do at home. It’s called a zinc tally/challenge (you can find more info on this online). It is an oral “taste test”. What you taste (no or weak taste versus a strong metallic taste) is an additional clue for the “health” of your zinc levels.

As always, do your research, and consult your favorite healthcare professional who should be well versed in analyzing blood work if you suspect you may have a zinc deficiency.
xoxo~ liz

#sharingiscaring
#ThanksYL
#watchyourzinc
#Goodmedicine
(PS: if you do not have a health care professional, I do offer blood work analysis)

Anatomy Of Industry: Commerce and Betrayal

Liz James · September 20, 2021 ·

How can there be unbiased information from our medical industry when money exchanges hands between provider and drug company.
You scratch my back….. I’ll scratch yours.
Even if you do not read the attached article(in the black box below), I’d like to point one name out…. Dr. Sanjay Gupta…… a well known medical correspondent for CNN and social media medical advisor…. if you follow CNN or know someone who does, it’s likely his advice would have been heeded at some point. (He’s made over 1.6 million $$ from back scratching with Big Pharma ).
Lesser known, Dr. Stephen Stahl’s pockets are at the top of the heap…. at 8.6 million $$. He’s considered a foremost expert on psychopharmacology, and has written over 500 papers, 35 text books, and edited 12 more. You can imagine how much influence he has in academic circles. He talks…. people listen.
There’s been some serious back scratching going on there.
Y’all…. there will always be a time and place for Western Medicine pharmacology, but not like this. Vested or veiled interests usually ends in tweaking information leaning towards the hand that feeds. It’s illegal in the government (supposedly ) , it’s illegal in the stocks and bonds industry, it’s prohibited in jury selections….. the list goes on.
Psych drugs are enormously profitable.
It’s a rare day when someone who starts down the path of being on a psych med is able to get off of them. Most of them are not classified as being addictive, yet try getting off of even one (much less a handful of them, as is usually the end case), and the body very much responds negatively. It can certainly be done, with medical supervision and a great deal of time…..each one of the medications so severely alters neurotransmitter production in the body.
We humans are not “medication deficient”. It’s far more complicated than that. The number of psych drugs prescribed (1 in 6 people are on one or more in the USA) is a pure reflection of two things….. the brokenness of our world, and the lack of delving adequately into the root of the problem. How many people who embarked on their medication journey had extensive (and I mean EXTENSIVE) lab work to rule out hormone or nutrient imbalances and committed to God centered compassionate counseling? Only when these fail to bring results should medication be brought in to the picture.
I leave you with this sobering stat: According to the American Addiction Centers website, more people die from psychiatric medication overdose than those who die from heroin overdose in our country. (The biggest killers are the most common ones…. Xanax , Ambien, anti-depressants, psycho-stimulants (ex Ritalin), and anti-psychotics…. in order of prevalence). I can’t imagine what the mayhem of 2020-2021 has done to those numbers in the last two years. (article below in gray box)
Please. Watch whom you get your health information from….. whether it’s on a topic like this, or another. If money is exchanging hands, you can be assured that the information has been tweaked to benefit the financial benefactor. This is only one aspect of the industry. You may be shocked about who else’s backs are being scratched. Well known names. 2020-2021 names that everyone now knows.
xoxo~ liz
#sharingiscaring
#theloveofmoneyistherootofevil
#Jesusdietexercisecommunitytoxinfreelifestyle
#goodmedicineisnotBigPharma
#thanksYL

Anatomy of industry:mad in america

psychiatric medications kill

Health Clues in Your Colon part 2

Liz James · June 1, 2021 ·

What’s your lack of poo 💩 telling you? Colon Part II
There’s no time like the present to start talking about poo, or in this chat…. lack thereof! Chronic constipation affects roughly 28% of the North American population if we abide by the western medicine general rule that it’s “okay” to have only 3 bowel movements a week. (No wonder we have so many chronic illnesses based on this information alone!😱)
Let’s flush that “3 times a week okay-ness”, and look at how an optimally healthy colon should be functioning.
Healthy gastrointestinal transit time should run somewhere between 12 and 24 hours…… optimally, 1💩 to 3💩💩💩 bowel movements a day help keep the toxin load of a body in check. What happens when the body’s toxin load grows due to lack of appropriate time on the throne? Sickness and dysfunction begin rearing their ugly heads in a variety of ways:
1. Weight gain – toxins stored in fat and it becomes increasingly difficult to lose weight.
2. Fatigue – metabolism is disrupted (yet another avenue of weight gain too!)
3. Skin irritation and rashes occur – we expel toxins thru poop, pee, breathing, and thru our skin. When pooping isn’t happening as it should, other organs often can’t keep up with the detox process either!
4. Headaches and migraines
5. Mood Swings
6. Joint and muscle pains and spasms
7. Insomnia
8. Increased or excessive sweating (the body is trying hard to shed the excess toxins!)
9. Constipation breeds an increased toxin load which leads to even more constipation!
Per statistics found on the National Institute of Health’s website, chronic constipation (THEIR version…. 3x/week pooping) accounts for over 5 million healthcare visits or hospitalizations per year, and over 5.3 million prescriptions written singularly for constipation.
These are large numbers☝️☝️, but imagine how much larger those numbers would be if they were to include not pooping daily and the subsequent results….(numbers 1 thru 8 above).
Constipation is a clue, and it’s also largely fixable with lifestyle changes. Oftentimes, if you fix constipation, other health concerns will also begin to quietly fix themselves! 😉
Low fiber eating habits (ie: processed foods), lack of gut microorganism balance (YL’s Life 9 is KEY here), lack of exercise, dehydration, certain medications (Opiates, some antidepressants, calcium channel blockers used to treat blood pressure and heart disease, medications used to treat Parkinson’s, Iron supplements, NSAIDS, diuretics, antihistamines are all known to cause constipation), a magnesium deficiency, hormonal fluctuations, hypothyroidism, SIBO (refer to earlier discussion) and even colon cancer are common contributors to constipation.
For most people, eating more whole fresh foods, exercising regularly, drinking plenty of quality water, and including a top notch probiotic food or supplement source (Did I mention Life 9 or MightyPro for the kiddos?) along with digestive enzymes (Essentialzyme, Essentialzymes-4, Detoxzyme, Allerzyme, or Mightyzyme for kiddos) will often solve the constipation conundrum.
For those who still need a little extra boost to get you on that throne consistently, consider adding in Young Living’s ICP (that acronym has been affectionately known to stand for “I see poop” amongst those who use it). #useittoloseit ICP is a powder (loaded with soluble fiber and other goodness) that is added to juice or smoothies, making it an easy addition to daily routine.
If constipation is something that plagues you, and you’ve tried #allthethings, it may be time to investigate possible food sensitivities, leaky gut syndrome, or severe gut dysbiosis (unbalanced gut bacteria) with the help of a health professional who is experienced working with patients in this demographic.
Happy flushing!
xoxo~ liz
#knowbetterdobetter
#healthcluesyoucanuse
#fixyourplumbing
#goodmedicine
#ThanksYL