Welcome to COEM
We don’t just get sick, but are being made sick. Rarely does something happen to us by chance. “Why me?” and “Why now?” do have answers. At the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, we have been providing answers and successful comprehensive treatment programs for 29 years.
“The Center” specializes in Environmental Medicine, a board certified and evidence-based branch of medicine formed over 50 years ago. This is one of the most exciting specialties in medicine. The Center offers many people, who’ve already seen numerous physicians without benefit, the opportunity to find causes behind their signs and symptoms and the means for restoring health.
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Have you ever noticed that the day to day demands of life, of making a living, for example, interfere with our ability to live? We all have dreams, the things that are important to our souls, that keep getting put aside because we don’t think we have time for them. After we have reached a certain age and the day to day demands get fewer, sometimes our dreams reawaken. Even though we have more time that we could spend living out our dreams, we may feel a little foolish spending time doing something that may not produce a tangible reward. But if we remember that often just traveling down a road is worthwhile, even though we never reach the destination we had thought we would reach, we may be encouraged to pursue that dream. The process itself is often as important, if not more important, than the end product. This is true in education, for learning how to think is much more important in the long run than getting a good grade, which only represents someone else’s opinion of our work. We may never live long enough to see the fulfillment of our dream as we imagined it would be, but so what. Make time for your dream, don’t wait until you have time for it.
Make time for good health. Make time to plan healthy meals and shop for good food with lots of color from a variety of fruits and vegetables and high quality protein. Keep in mind that a small amount of meat protein is sufficient and should not be the major portion of your meal. Rely less on “fast food” with its empty calories and skimpy nutrients.
Make time for exercise, and you know you don’t have to go to a gym to exercise. Walk more, ride less. Stop doing the things you know are bad for you, and stop making excuses or saying, “one of these days.”
Make time for your family if you’re lucky enough to have kids. They grow up in the blink of an eye, and remember they need you to spend time with them much more than they need the “toys” they think they have to have, the things you work overtime to afford. Talk to them; let them know you consider what they have to say as important as what your business associates or your buddies have to say.
In other words, make time to live.
Patients often wonder why on earth we not only recommend they be tested for foods in our allergy testing room AND follow an Elimination Diet or Rotation Diet of some sort. Isn’t that diagnostic overkill?
Actually, not. Each has its place in helping a person to understand his/her own body. We discuss these options with each new patient and they’re able to choose which approach feels most comfortable for them to begin. In our experience, the patients who combine both food allergy testing in our testing room and one of the other diets, especially Rotation Diet, get the best results possible.
However, some patients only want to follow the shortest diagnostic route. They’re happy to sit in our testing room and be skin tested for food allergy all day long, but the thought of trying to follow a special diagnostic diet for a week or more is beyond their tolerance. They also love the “Ah ha!” moment when our Allergy Testing Supervisor injects (painlessly) a minute dose of a food under their skin and—seemingly magically–if they are sensitive to the food, some of their troublesome symptoms are reproduced. Typically patients never relate their individual symptoms to something within their own control like what they choose to eat.
Other patients prefer the most economical route possible, and that would be a Stone Age Rare Foods Elimination Diet or a Rotation Diet. Of the two, the Stone Age is the shortest (only 11 days), but is also the most restrictive. Only foods that that patient does NOT eat frequently and are on a specific list of foods are allowed to be eaten for 5 days. And the patient needs to be prepared then to follow this clearing phase for another several days of single-food re-challenges. This is a great diet for a person to see for himself what reactions are provoked by a wide variety of foods, and it doesn’t cost anything other than time and effort. Why would we suggest an approach that seems so hard to follow? Frankly, because it works and results are so reproducible that some allergists consider food elimination and re-challenging to be the “gold standard” of food allergy testing. The trick is to have only certain foods allowed during the clearing phase, and Dr. Lieberman has worked for years to perfect that list for greatest success.
The Rotation Diet is the easiest diagnostic route in some ways and is appropriate for even young children. A Rotation Diet is quite diverse and not restrictive at all in terms of amounts eaten or variety. Its basic guidelines are that no one food is eaten any more than once every 4 days (an appropriate clearing time for metabolites of that food) and foods within the same food family are eaten only once every other day. Since we provide a detailed handout to follow, there’s nothing difficult except planning when shopping or preparing foods. Most patients are able to identify their allergenic foods within 3 to 4 cycles of the Rotation Diet (12-16 days). In addition, many patients feel so well on a Rotation Diet that they opt to stay on a modified version thereafter.
With such a comprehensive approach to the identification and management of food allergy, we get very good results at COEM. Allergy extracts made on the basis of individualized testing in our testing room, sometimes paired with a Rotation Diet, allow a patient to get a great deal of relief from their troublesome symptoms produced by food allergy. Of all the treatment techniques we offer at the Center, our treatment of food allergy remains one of the most popular and helpful for patients.
I learned recently that an old friend of mine has been diagnosed with cancer. I have not kept up with what was going on in her life in recent years. We’ve known each other since kindergarten, but I haven’t seen much of her since our college days. I learned indirectly about her diagnosis, and I’m not yet sure how the source of the information made the connection between us. It’s a mystery. Maybe I’m supposed to track her down and tell her about our cancer treatment options here at the Center.
We don’t do chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, but neither do we tell patients not to use these options. What we do offer is nutritional support , non-invasive treatment modalities, and emotional and spiritual support in the form of our wonderful Larry and Donna Lewis. We encourage patients to educate themselves about all treatment options, the positive and the negative consequences of each one, and to make an informed decision regarding treatment.
Cancer is not a death sentence. Our bodies are “fearfully and wonderfully made” so that they can defend themselves against anything harmful. We try to restore the body to a healthier state so that it can heal itself, and if the patient chooses to use chemo or radiation, it can defend itself against the negative consequences associated with these forms of treatments. We have had patients who lost the cancer diagnosis after following our protocols.
Of course the best attitude to have in regard to cancer is prevention. We at the Center have definite nutritional protocols and lifestyle advice which is designed to prevent cancer from taking hold in the first place. Read our health alerts and come see us to find out more.
COEM has a new product called Natural ZZZ’s. Intermittent wakefulness, difficulty falling or staying asleep, or waking too early are all signs that the body is having difficulty managing stress. Restlessness and difficulty falling asleep are often the root cause of many daytime problems, including loss of energy, concentration and productivity.
Natural ZZZ’s addresses these issues with natural ingredients without the side effects often associated with other regimens. Natural ZZZ’s contain Valerian Root-long known for its effects on anxiety and nervousness related sleeplessness-valerian root acts to promote smooth muscle relaxation.
Jujube Seed-Used for centuries in Traditional Chinese Medicine has been scientifically shown to be an effective sleep aid. Passionflower-The dried flowering and fruiting tops of the Passionflower are used in traditional herbal preperations for nervousness and difficulty sleeping.
As I was driving down the highway the other day I saw the delicate gold leaves on some of the trees, and I remembered a poem I heard quoted in the movie, The Outsiders, based on the book of the same name by S.E. Hinton, I believe. With apologies to Robert Frost, I think, if I get the lines wrong:
Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.
As leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief.
Nothing gold can stay.
I believe the poet was talking about the lost innocence of youth, but I think of the renewal of so many things when spring comes around each year, and I feel young again. I also enjoy more daylight in the evenings and being outdoors again without needing a sweater or jacket. I love that we don’t need to heat or cool the house, and the electric bill will be lower. I would love to leave the windows open, but the negative part of spring, the pollen, will come in along with the fresh air. I love the sunshine, but I am also grateful for the rain when it washes the pollen out of the air, but sometimes with the rain and dampness come mold spores in the air.
I test patients for allergies, and they usually ask me if they will have to keep taking shots forever. I always tell them that the answer is different for each patient. If the allergy symptoms are a recent development and not a life-long problem, the answer is usually, “No.” I tell them many patients take the shots for a year or two and make other changes which help to lower the total load, and they are able to discontinue the shots with no ill effects. Sometimes after a while they find that the allergy symptoms return and they are more comfortable back on the shots.
My own experience with allergy testing and treatment began about fifteen years ago after I started working at COEM. I had been noticing that I seemed to develop a “cold” each spring which lasted 3-4 weeks. My supervisor suggested I be tested for tree pollens, and sure enough, when I began taking allergy shots, no more spring “colds.” After taking the shots for about 2 years I decided to try getting off the shots. For several years I was fine, but then one spring the pollen was horrible, and I got back on shots. After Christmas this year I stopped my shots once again, and I was o.k. About 3 weeks ago I started sneezing almost non-stop. After getting back on the shots the sneezing stopped, and I noticed an overall feeling of well-being with the first shot, an “ahh” of relief. One of my friends at church asked me why I didn’t just take Zyrtec or something. I told her I don’t like taking medications because of the possible side-effects, and I don’t want to just cover up the symptoms; I want to treat the problem directly. Finding out the cause of a problem and treating the cause is what we do here at COEM.
If you’re like me and love the spring but hate the sneezing, come see us at COEM. We can help.
A Comprehensive Saliva Hormone Panel measures 10 different hormone levels:
• The three forms of estrogen (Estrone or E1, Estradiol or E2, and Estriol or E3)
• Progesterone
• Testosterone
• DHEA (an adrenal hormone)
• Four Cortisol levels (morning, noon, afternoon, night), since cortisol levels vary throughout each day
Both the Laboratory analyzing a patient’s saliva samples and the Doctor who has ordered the test look closely at the results and provide an interpretation for the patient. Since hormones all work synergistically, with intricate feedback mechanisms designed to balance hormones in relation to each other, it’s very helpful to look at the full hormonal picture rather than one or two hormones separate from the others.
One of the most important factors found via saliva hormone testing is the relative balance between Estrogen and Progesterone. Since Estradiol (E2) is the form of estrogen that is considered proliferative and may lead to increased cancer risk if chronically unbalanced, the Doctor looks to see if the results show optimal Progesterone to E2 ratio. If this ratio is too low, it indicates relative estrogen dominance. The Doctor can then begin to examine what might be the reasons and how to achieve a better ratio. Sometimes diet and lifestyle changes are necessary, sometimes previous hormone therapy needs to be adjusted, sometimes a different hormone treatment using only bio-identical hormones needs to be started. The Doctor will be the one to make these decisions and discuss them with the patient.
Another important factor identified via saliva hormone testing is the relative balance of Cortisol levels throughout the day. Cortisol levels should be highest in the morning and steadily decrease over the course of the day until they reach their lowest point in the middle of the night. Very low morning Cortisol may indicate that the adrenals are weakened to the point that they are not recovering well with rest. Cortisol levels measured later in the day that do not generally follow a steadily sloping downward curve may indicate that poor diet or other stressors are interfering with good adrenal function. A steady diet of highly processed foods (foods and beverages containing much sugar, high fructose corn syrup, other refined sweeteners, or white flour or white rice) will stress and eventually weaken the adrenals as they try to keep the blood sugar balanced despite the chronic “hits” of refined carbohydrates. Even wholesome carbohydrates that are not balanced with adequate dietary protein or fiber may cause these problems over time. A different pattern of Cortisol levels that are too low in the early part of the day but rise too high in the evening and night may indicate that the adrenals are chronically fatigued and trying valiantly to compensate, as the person pushes on despite feeling exhausted.
These are only a few of the possible interpretations that a Doctor may derive based on Comprehensive Saliva Hormone Testing. It’s best for each patient to make an appointment with their Doctor to discuss their own individual results at length.
Treatment is most effective when a comprehensive approach is taken based on saliva hormone testing, including any needed changes in diet, lifestyle, and natural bio-identical hormone supplementation. Ideally, saliva hormone testing will be repeated periodically, often annually, to monitor over time the effect of changes in treatment.
This special weekend includes a comfortable 2 bedroom cabin for 2 nights, a campfire social, a potluck GLUTEN-FREE picnic and barbeque, a sensory friendly dance party and family movie under the stars-and time to enjoy the lake and playground and hiking trails at lovely Lake Wateree. The date is April 27th-29th in Camden, South Carolina. The fee will be $250.00 for the weekend (this includes cabin fee).
Dr. Tamara Grosz
Wateree Recreation Center
2030 Baron Dekalb Road
This information was accessed from “The Autism Calendar” found at http://www.sarnet.org/events/. They post special activities and dates for children with autism with locations all over the world.
Who has time to read all of the food labels that we encounter in the supermarket? Who can afford to not read them, though? And why bother when the food industry has permission to put stuff in our food that they don’t need to indicate on the label?
The easiest answer is that we all should be eating real food instead of convenience ‘food products’ that are full of chemicals we can’t pronounce. If we buy collards from a farmer who doesn’t use chemicals in the soil or on the produce, we get exactly what we think we’re getting (collards), and no hidden surprises. Anything that gets added to those collards is what we have decided to add.
Unfortunately, in the real world, organic and minimally processed foods tend to cost more than their more processed counterparts. Also unfortunately, minimally processed means that you may have a nicely identifiable food, but then you have to figure out how to cook it (and where to find the time to cook it in)…
One good reason to read food labels is to avoid allergens. Once you find out that you’re allergic to certain foods that are often hidden ingredients such as corn or soy, you will soon be able to recognize those foods in all of their disguises- high fructose corn syrup at least has the word ‘corn’ to clue you in, but hydroxypropyl methylcellulose could be from corn or it might not be, and if you’re very allergic to corn, you just have to assume that it is. Or you can just skip the label-reading (and the chemistry class you need to take to decipher labels) and try to stick to foods that you can easily identify as foods.
There may be other food additives that you might like to avoid. If you use flour in cooking or baking, you may want to look for unbromated flour to avoid the potassium bromate that’s added as a bleaching agent to many flours. If you eat meat, you may want to find a local source of grass-fed (or pastured) animals that are not caged in a factory farm and given growth hormones and antibiotics. If you do any reading on how sodium nitrite is used to make older, gray meat look fresh and pink, you may re-think your approach to buying and eating meat. Many of the chemicals used in the food industry are used to improve the appearance of foods, and we really need to think about whether we would rather have prettier foods or healthier foods.
Since food ‘manufacturers’ (as opposed to farmers) are not required to tell consumers if they irradiate or chemically doctor foods, or if they use genetically modified ingredients, being able to read a food label doesn’t give you a complete picture of what you’re putting in your body. Still, it is a start, and if you read a food label that seems to go on forever with lots of long chemical names, consider whether that product is really something that your ancestors would even recognize as food.
It’s Leap Year! We have 1 more day this year, more time, or do we? What is time? It’s not a clock or a watch or a calendar. Time, I’ve been told is an artificial construct, something man created to give order to his world. Our ancestors observed patterns of change in the sky above them and used these patterns as a basis for creating the concept of time. Time gives predictability to our lives, even if it is an illusion. “When?” and “How long will it take?” are important questions to us, but perhaps we need to worry less about how much time we have and be more concerned about how we use the time we have, the choices we make.
I’ve observed that the perception of time seems to vary with individuals. Young people often think time is moving too slowly, while older people know that it moves much too fast. Some people seem to think their time is more important than the time of others. Observe the driver who weaves in and out of traffic, unnecessarily endangering other drivers because he or she didn’t allow enough time to get to a destination, or the doctor’s office that expects a patient to be on time only to wait and wait and wait for the doctor who spends 10 minutes with them, if they are lucky, or the insurance company that demands that we pay our premiums on time but makes us wait far too long for them to pay a legitimate claim. My grandson operates on his own time schedule. He doesn’t care what day it is or what time it is. If he is absorbed in completing a task he has set for himself, forget about expecting him to do what you want him to do when you want him to do it. He’s very bright and he usually makes good grades in school, but he sometimes has difficulty completing a test in the allotted time because he wants to answer every question correctly and fully according to his standards.
Most people are concerned with saving time, but what if we could buy time? At COEM we make it possible for women to buy time when it comes to breast cancer with our thermography program. Thermography, a completely safe procedure with little discomfort, gives a woman an early warning signal by providing information about changes in breast tissue which may predict the development of cancer 6 to 10 years before the cancer actually develops, and gives her time to do something about those changes. We offer advice about life style and dietary changes and supplements which can reverse those changes and restore normal tissue, preventing cancer. Thermography helps a woman save her life by buying time. Call and set up an appointment and buy yourself some time.
Since my start of employment with COEM I have learned a lot about the value of nutritional support, disease prevention and individualized patient care. I started with the Center in May 2009. Over the course of nearly 3 years I have not only witnessed many success stories but I have also had a few of my own.
For 2 years prior to coming to the Center, I suffered from constant and painful underarm itching. I visited several doctors each not knowing what was causing my itching. At one point I believed that this itching would never go away and I was to live with it for the rest of my life.
Just a few weeks into my new position at the Center I shared with my co-workers my personal problem. Immediately I was told that my condition sounded very much like candida/yeast overgrowth. It was recommended I try applying Nystatin Powder to my irritated underarms. Within just a few days of trying this treatment I was symptom free. I was elated that I had finally found help for what I was suffering from for years. It amazed me how simple the treatment was considering how long I suffered. Every couple of months the itching would return but not nearly as painful as it was for the first 2 years. Eventually, after repeating the treatment over a period of a few months I am happy to say I have not had any symptoms with this problem for almost 2 years.
Just over a year into my employment with the Center I had a sit-down appointment with Dr. Lieberman to review other symptoms I was experiencing. The major complaint I had was extreme fatigue. Blood tests revealed that I had Hypothyroidism. I’ve been taking thyroid medication since. The days that I forget to take my medication, I resume the symptoms of extreme fatigue and the feeling of being cold. I’m thankful for the diagnosis and treatment Dr. Lieberman has given me.
Most recently I have taken part in the Thermography program here at the Center. I received my first thermography May last year along with my first Comprehensive Hormone Panel results. I’m anxious to see what my new results will be when I repeat the tests after having been on Dr. Lieberman’s treatment protocols for a year.
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