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arthritis houston

Arthritis Care In Houston

, , General Health, blog, Family and Internal Medicine, Arthritis Care
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]We tend to think that all family doctors are practically the same; and that any differences that exist are so unimportant that it doesn’t matter whose clinic you end up going to. For certain areas of practice, yes, this may be the case. When you are in need of getting your blood taken, for instance - sure, it doesn’t really matter where you end up going. The services you will get at one clinic will be pretty similar to the services you will get at any other. They will take your blood and then ship it to another company that deals with analyzing it. Often times, two separate clinics end up sending your blood samples to the exact same company. So as far as the quality of the analysis goes, you’re pretty much getting the same thing. But make no mistake about it - doctors are not fungible. You cannot replace one doctor or clinic with another and expect the same results all the time. There are certain areas of practice which some doctors have more speciality and understanding in than others, and this can make all of the difference. When it comes to arthritis care, you will see that some doctors don’t even want to deal with the problem, and that is because they haven’t the slightest of clue how to. A quick google search can be very telling. If you search for the term family doctor Houston in Google, you will end up getting over eleven million results. But if you search for the term arthritis care houston, you get only a quarter of a million, less than three percent of the former. And this makes sense; clearly there are less arthritic are specialists than there are general doctors, and there are less general doctors who treat arthritis care than those who do. Because of this fact, it is vital that people do their own research online before visiting just about any clinic that comes to mind. Sometimes visiting a clinic that is further away saves time and money in the long run. It may seem very inconvenient in the moment to drive twenty minutes further, but as time goes on, that twenty minute investment could end up saving you a couple of hours or more. So we know that an all-encompassing or umbrella-term like doctor houston or family physician houston won’t give you the results you need if you’re looking for any specialized health service. Often times a clinic will have one or two doctors in or near their facility that specialize in exactly the service you are in need of. It is very important that you give a call to your clinic and ask whether that is the case. This information may be on their website, but from personal experience, we’ve seen that most clinics’ websites fail to list the names and credentials of their doctors. Of course, nothing beats a referral - and if you have a friend or family member who has gone to a certain clinic and received wonderful service, then maybe you don’t need to do any further research. It depends on how credible you think the person giving you the referral is, and whether you think the two of you have similar standards. If yes, great; if not, then at least you have a logically consistent, empirically verifiable methodology for determining which clinic will best meet your needs.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
immunization services houston

The Benefits of Vaccines & Immunizations

, , General Health, blog, Flu Shots, Immunization
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]I have grown up in an age where most most of my peers were, and continue to be, incredibly skeptical of the government. They feel as though the men in power lie to their citizens time and time again in order to pursue their own agenda. Conspiracy theories abound in the minds of millennials, and they're only going to grow. Now I’m not one to jump the gun and say that they are all a bunch of loonies, but hey, life’s short - time is limited - and I cannot spend my entire life determining whether these conspiracies are true. Some are outright ridiculous, and can be thrown out right away. Others, not so much. There is one new conspiracy, however, that is gaining all the buzz these days - and it happens to be about, of all things: vaccines. Yes, apparently the government has decided to buy out your doctor! Now we’re being facetious here; but unfortunately, humor and sarcasm cannot be used to refute an argument. It’ll take a bit more than an appeal to humor to dispel all these theories about how vaccines cause autism (just one of a slew of supposed vaccine reactions). So what is it about vaccines that the conspiracy theorists are pointing to? Apparently, there is this theory that eugenicists are trying to sterilize the population as a way to reduce the number of people in the future. So where is their evidence? That’s the thing. It’s shoddy. It’s not waterproof. People have mistakenly confused correlation with causation - assuming that just because there are links between two different phenomena, that one caused the other. Apparently there was a Wakefield study that came out - fraudulently linking vaccines to the development of autism. This one study spread like wildfire and had half of the world raising an eyebrow about the need of vaccines. Of course, I’m no expert myself, but merely looking at history will invalidate the conspiracies that people are being injected with dangerous chemicals; a history that displays the successful prevention of smallpox, deadly flus and many other horrible illnesses with the help of vaccines. For those who are still interested in getting vaccines, who see the value that they bring to the world, Doctors Clinic Houston is proud to offer immunization services to fellow Houstonians. Our commitment to offering the very best to our patients has helped us develop quite the following on the web - even ranking for high-end keywords like immunizations Houston and vaccination Houston. The market has spoken, and our doctors are confident that the services offered here at Doctors Clinic Houston are among the best in the county. So come in when you can and make sure to get yourself and your family immunized. Often it’s worth it to defer gratification and take precautionary measures. In the immediate now, it may seem like an inconvenience, but believe us when we say it - you’ll totally regret not being proactive if you end up with some ungodly illness that’ll leave you bedridden for weeks. Vaccines are an insurance policy - and a relatively small price to pay, given how pernicious the recent illnesses of our age have been. And with the doctors we have at our disposal, the price you pay will be even smaller - both from a money and time standpoint.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Lack of Sleep Equals More Prone to Choose Junk Food

General Health, blog, Weight Loss Program
Being sleepy might make you more prone to munching on junk food rather than snacking on nutritious vegetables. Research published Aug. 6 in Nature Communications reveals that lack of sleep leads to brain changes that make it harder for us to make good decisions -- and in turn make us more likely to give into some cravings. "What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified," study senior author Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience, said in a press release. Walker said that this means that high-calorie foods are more appealing because of the brain's altered state. The researchers looked at the brains of 23 healthy young adults after a normal night's sleep and after a sleepless night. They measured brain activity in the subjects using an fMRI scan as the subjects looked at 80 different pictures of food that ranged from high to low-calorie, and healthy and to junk food. Items included burgers, pizza, doughnuts, strawberries, apples and carrots. The subjects were also asked to rate how much they wanted to eat the particular food. After the experiment, they were given the item they wanted the most. The researchers discovered that lack of sleep negatively affected the brain's frontal lobe, which is a region in charge of decision-making processes. Sleepiness also increased the activity in the deeper centers of the brain that are involved in reward pathways. When junk foods like pizza were put in front of sleep-deprived subjects along with leafy whole grains, they eagerly picked the greasier path. However, they were capable of making better choices after a good night's rest. "These results shed light on how the brain becomes impaired by sleep deprivation, leading to the selection of more unhealthy foods and, ultimately, higher rates of obesity," lead author Stephanie Greer, a doctoral student in Walker's Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory, said in a press release. A 2012 study from Columbia University researchers also found similar evidence of increased activity in the brain's reward centers in sleepy subjects shown pictures of unhealthy foods. Recent research in the America Journal of Clinical Nutrition also suggests that junk foods full of processed carbohydrates like cakes, cookies and chips may affect pleasure centers in the brain more than other foods, causing people to crave them and overeat. Dr. Laurent Brondel, from the department of physiology at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France, added to  New Scientist that the study's results may link back to our evolutionary roots. Brondel, who was not involved in the study, explained that longer summer days, especially in high altitudes, make it harder to sleep, which means that people would spend more time awake and eating. This would help them get through shorter days during winter when food was not as available.   Dr. Kenneth P. Wright Jr., director of the sleep and chronobiology lab at the University of Colorado at Boulder, told the New York Times that the study might explain why people make bad food choices when they are tired and eat more when they are exhausted. "There's something that changes in our brain when we're sleepy that's irrespective of how much energy we need," Wright, who was not involved in the study, said. "The brain wants more even when the energy need has been fulfilled." In addition to getting sufficient sleep, you may want to try eating before buying food in order to make healthier choices. A separate study published May in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed that shopping on an empty stomach makes people more likely to buy higher-calorie foods.   Source: CBS News

Ebola: A Briefing

General Health, blog, Immunization, Immigration Physicals
There are two main reasons why the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has become so overwhelmingly rife. The first has to do with the travel patterns of bats across the African continent; the second, recent weather patterns in the region. Informing oneself with the origins of the Ebola virus, where it started, to where it spread to, and so on, is important and definitely time well spent. The said knowledge can in turn provide the necessary information to develop an antidote. However, because we are still in the early stages of fact gathering, any expectation to come up with a cure right away would be impetuous and not in accordance with reason. For now, we can only share with the world the little information we have gathered, and that information mainly has to do with the history of the virus. Our doctors at Doctors Clinic Houston are putting in extra hours to find out what can be done to obviate any potential Ebola outbreaks. The Ebola outbreak started out in Guinea, and, shortly after its emergence, spread to the neighboring countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Sadly, an incredibly dangerous virus has emerged in the region of the world that is arguably the least prepared for it. The Ebola virus has five species, and each has resulted in outbreaks in different regions. Experts were absolutely shocked to discover that the most noxious Ebola virus of all wasn't the one that originated in Guinea, but the one that originated in Zaire. This Zaire Ebola virus is the culprit that is even striking fear into the eyes of those in the western world. It has killed up to 90 percent of those infected with it. And it is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. For now, all we can do is continue our research - assiduously and with a commitment to reason and evidence.

Leaky Gut Syndrome : What It Is, How To Cure It

General Health, blog, Weight Loss Program

Leaky gut syndrome is one of those insidious ailments affecting millions of people around the world. Our Doctors Clinic uses the term insidious because the majority of individuals suffering from this debilitating problem are totally unaware that they have it. From the sound of it, you may think that leaky gut syndrome only affects the gut, but the reality is that what starts out as a gut problem ends up doing a great deal of damage elsewhere in the body.

Think of the lining of your digestive tract like a net with extremely small holes in it - allowing only a select few substances to pass through it. Your gut lining acts as a barrier that keeps out harmful substances. When it erodes, those harmful substances pass through and do a great deal of damage to your body. The image below does a brilliant job of describing exactly what happens when one has a leaky gut. Doctors-Clinic-omg-My.Gut.Is.Leaky

Looks scary, doesn't it? Well, there's no need to worry. There is a way to treat this issue, and you can return to great health. It just takes time, and a great deal of effort on your part to eat the correct foods and avoid the bad foods. Our doctors at Doctors Clinic Houston are going to go the full 10 yards to give you all the information you need to end the leaky gut madness.

Symptoms

Before we talk about the treatment, let's focus on the symptoms. If you don't have any of these symptoms, then the chances that you have leaky gut are infinitesimal. If you do, then its best that you become not only more vigilant, but more proactive in finding out what is wrong. The inimitable Ayn Rand once said, "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me." That is the mentality you need to accept and live by, if you want to combat this incredibly destructive health issue. You need to fight tooth and nail to get rid of it. And if that means reading this entire article, and then looking into the problem for another 4 or 5 hours, then it'll definitely be worth the time. The symptoms for leaky gut are the following:
  • Bloating
  • Thyroid conditions
  • Fatigue
  • Joint pain
  • Skin issues like rosacea and acne
  • Digestive problems
  • Headaches
  • Brain Fog

What Causes Leaky Gut?

The four main causes of leaky gut which include:
  • Poor diet
  • Chronic stress
  • Toxin overload
  • Bacterial imbalance
There are other causes, but these cover the most common ones. Finding out that you have leaky gut is scary, but knowing what causes can be its own anodyne, for you know that there is a cure!

The 4-Step Plan to Heal Leaky Gut

  1. REMOVE foods and factors that damage the gut
  2. REPLACE with healing foods
  3. REPAIR with specific supplements
  4. REBALANCE with probiotics
The foods you need to eat are the following:
  • Bone Broth
  • Raw Cultured Dairy
  • Fermented Vegetables
  • Coconut Products
  • Flaxseeds and Hempseeds
Eat these foods and you will well be on your way to recovering from such a pernicious health issue.

Strength Training for the Elderly

Physical Medicine, Arthritis Care, General Health, blog
We tend to think that only the youth and virile need to lift weights and build muscle. We think that it's what you need to do to look good. But we forget about how important strength training is to maintain a healthy heart and strong bones. Obviously, strength training strengthens the muscles - the biceps, the triceps, quads, and so on. Everyone knows that. But it does more than just help with muscle tone. It helps prevent osteoporosis and it also keeps the heart strong and running optimally. For this reason, our Houston doctors beseech the elderly to commit to a regular weight training routine. The question arises: what kind of workout routine ought the elderly commit to? Low weight, high repetition workouts. On a daily basis. Contrary to popular belief, weight training becomes more important as one ages. It is incredibly important to keep in mind that by the time one reaches the age of seventy, his or her muscle mass will have decreased by twenty-five percent. A light walk around the park is not enough to make up for this degree of weakening. Rebuilding muscle is imperative to prevent injuries. And, as we mentioned, starting off with light weights, wherein one can do 20 or more repetitions, will be of great benefit. Loss of bone mass is a common sign of aging. Weight bearing exercise, like resistance or strength training, can greatly combat brittle bone formation, even reversing the damage that has already been done. Put great emphasis on strengthening your legs, as without strong legs, your mobility will greatly be hampered. Our doctors at Doctors Clinic Houston highly recommend the following workout routine, on a daily basis. Start with the upper body and then move to the lower body. If you cannot do all of the workouts every day, aim to do them at least every other day. You will not get the necessary benefits of working out if you only do so sporadically.
  • Chest Press: minimum 20 reps
  • Bicep Curl: minimum 20 reps
  • Overhead Press: minimum 20 reps
  • Leg Press: minimum 20 reps
  • Core Exercises: until exhaustion
Ideally, you want to do each exercise until exhaustion. If you can go beyond 20 repetitions, then do not stop. Continue until you can no longer do another rep. That is the best way to build muscle - when you create tiny microtears in the muscle, provoking them to rebuild even stronger than before. For the individuals who think physical exercise takes time away from mental exercise (reading, writing, and so on), studies have shown that exercise improves mental clarity, making a person's mind both sharper and more focused. Think of physical exercise as an investment to not only keep your muscles, bones, and heart strong but your brain as well. Your body and brain will thank you for choosing to strength train.

Combating Insomnia

General Health, blog

Sleep. It's something we've been doing all our lives, since time immemorial. Babies do it, those in dotage do it, as well as everybody else in between. Despite all this, very little is known about sleep. It is one of the great mysteries of life.

However, there is one thing that we do know about sleep: good sleep is one of the cornerstones of health.

Interrupted sleep can cause a bevy of problems, including:

  • a dramatically weakened immune system
  • accelerated tumor growth - studies show that tumors grow up to 5 times faster in lab animals with severe sleep dysfunctions
  • a pre-diabetic state wherein you always feel hungry despite having eaten already
  • an impaired memory and decrease in cognitive abilities

Impaired sleep can also cause:

  • Heart diseases
  • Stomach problems - including ulcers
  • Constipation

There's more. Sleep deprivation results in premature aging, and it does this by interfering with one's growth hormone production, which is supposed to be done by the pituitary gland as one sleeps. A study has revealed that individuals with chronic insomnia are 3 times more likely of dying from any cause.

Optimizing Sleep

In order to help you fight insomnia, you can do a few things to reverse your condition. Our doctors clinic has compiled a list below:

  • Make sure to sleep in darkness. Even a little light in the room can cause a disruption in one's sleeping pattern. Your internal clock has a difficult time adapting to brightly lit rooms at night.
  • Maintain a temperature of no more than seventy degrees F. When you are asleep, your organ's internal temperature drops to a very low level, typically 4 hours into it. Scientific studies have revealed that a cooler abode and a cooler bedroom is most conducive to sleep, as it emulates your body's natural temperature drop.
  • Reduce EMF exposure. Some doctors claim that EMF negatively affects one's health. The studies have not been definitive, and so, we cannot make that claim ourselves. However, there is evidence to show that EMF can disrupt sleeping patterns.
  • Don't use noisy, blaring alarm clocks. It is very bad for you to be jolted awake all of a sudden. Loud alarm clocks result in just that. Make sure to avoid this. Our Houston doctors clinic beseeches all to not shock your body with these blaring bells.
  • Use the bed for sleeping only. If you generally watch televeision while you're laying in bed, you will find it much more difficult to fall asleep. That is because you are tricking your body into making it think that it is not supposed to sleep in the place where it is at. Television is indeed a passive activity, but not passive enough to help you fall asleep in bed.
  • Go to bed as early as you can. Your body tends to recharge between the time of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Typically, your gallbladder expunges toxins during this exact time period. You want it to do its work while you are sleeping, for it works more effectively when you are relaxed. Thus it is important to fall asleep earlier, and thus it is most beneficial for your health to do so.
  • Establish a routine. As human beings, we are systems oriented. We like patterns. Establishing a routine will make us feel comfortable. Comfort is necessary but not sufficient for a good night's sleep.
  • Limit fluids before bedtime. A lot of people have to get up during the night to urinate. This isn't a terrible thing, but it'd be most preferable to avoid said occurrence. Limit your fluids before you go to bed. It is best to not drink anything two hours before bedtime, but if you have to, if you are parched and need some fluids, drink no more than one cup within that time frame.
  • Eat some protein a few hours before you go to bed. The L-tryptophyan that you get from protein will optimize your melatonin and serotonin levels - both incredibly important for your well-being.
  • Snack on a piece of fruit. Experiment with this. It doesn't work for all, but for most, it does. Bow down to reason and evidence. If it doesn't work for you, don't do it. If it does, please, do it as often as you can. Fruit can help tryptophan cross your blood-brain barrier.
  • Skip the grains before bed. Grains cause bloating. Bloating causes a great deal of discomfort, not to mention gas that nobody wants when in the sheets, particularly with a partner to one's side. Skip beans and grains and sugar. You want to feel light and easy when you hop into bed.
  • Listen to relaxation CDs. This goes against the advice to avoid EMF exposure. For those who aren't as sensitive to EMF, this may help. You want to feel soothed before bed. Relaxing music can do that for you.
  • Journal before bed. Contrary to popular opinion, journaling is an incredibly challenging activity. It takes a lot of brain power. Introspection and reflection are skills that need to be honed. Honing skills takes time and effort. The effort can result in one feeling tired and exhausted - a great state to be in when you want to fall asleep.
  • Avoid caffeine. This one could arguably be at the top of the list, but because it is so obvious, we thought to include some of the less known pieces of advice first. Caffeine energizes an individual and, obviously, you don't want to be energized before bed.
  • Exercise regularly. Exercising for at least half an hour every single day can dramatically improve one's sleep. You don't want to actively suppress your own needs and preferences. If you have a need for good sleep, then it is important to invest those thirty minutes of your time to improve your chances of good sleep.
  • Avoid alcohol like the plague.
    • Or any drug for that matter. You don't want to throw your system into shock with noxious substances.

This list was meant to be illustrative, not complete. Scientists and doctors are gaining more and more knowledge about sleep and how to optimize sleep. Stay tuned for more advice on how to combat insomnia.

Vitamin D3 And Eye Health

General Health, blog

It has become common knowledge that the consumption of vitamin D3 is incredibly important for the health of one's bones.

For the past 8 years, research has continually showed that the moer vitamin D an individual took, the less likely it was for that individual to develop any of the serious chronic diseases, like cancer, heart disease, or multiple sclerosis. And now, the studies have discovered that vitamin D3 also helps improve eyesight problems as a result of aging.

Great for the Eyes

The majority of people think of vitamin A when they think of the vitamin that is good for the eyes. They may also think of beta carotene, for that is another nutrient which helps improve eyesight to some extent.

However, recent studies have discovered that vitamin D is even more important than both vitamin A and beta carotene combined. A bunch of studies were done on mice and the effects vitamin D3 had on their vision. After just siz weeks of vitamin D3 supplementation, the improvements were as follows:

  • improved vision
  • a decrease in retinal inflammation
  • a decrease in the levels of amyloid beta accumulation
  • massive reductions in the quantity of retinal macrophage

These discoveries are proof that vitamin D3 may indeed help prevent age-related macular degeneration, by far the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. AMD is also considered to be related to amyloid beta accumulation and inflammation. Fortunately, vitamin D can help reduce the damage done by both of these conditions.

Eye Health

A List of Other Things That'll Improve Eye Health

Making sure to keep the eyes in optimal condition as you get older takes a lot of work, but is definitely necessary work. It's not just about taking in one nutrient and assuming that you'll be okay forever. A comprehensive strategy is more likely going to help one maintain his or her eye health. This strategy include:

  • Optimize vitamin D levels. By far, the best way to get your vitamin D is by exposing yourself to the sun. If you live in a place where there isn't enough sun, or if you just don't have the time to get under the sun, a vitamin D3 supplement can and should be taken.
  • Pay attention and take care of your cardiovascular system. High blood pressure can be damaging to the blood vessels in the retina, which will subsequently restric the amount of free blood flow to the eye. Avoiding fructose is another must, for it restricts blood flow.
  • Normalize blood sugar. Too much sugar in the blood will eventually reduce fluid from the lens of the eye, affecting one's ability to focus in on one particular thing. It also is notorious for damaging the blood vessels in the retina, definitely something that nobody would want if eye health is of any importance.
  • Eat plenty of fresh, dark green, leafy veggies. Kale is among the most important vegetables you can get your hands on, but all the dark green, leafy vegetables greatly improve eye health. Making sure to get at the very minimum, 3 servings of dark vegetables per day, will go a long way toward reversing eye damage.
  • Omega-3 fats are a must. Omega-3 fatty acids will dramatically reduce the inflammation in the eye. This increases blood flow to the eye and thus makes it easier for one to focus on any given object in line of sight.
  • Avoid trans fats like the plague. Unlike saturated fats, which are healthy, trans fats are incredibly unhealthy. They clog arteries and increase inflammation. They are bad for your brain, your blood vessels, and even your eyes. Avoiding them like the plague is a must if one wants to optimize his or her eye health.
  • Stop smoking. Smoking dramatically increases free radical-production throughout the body, putting one at risk for less-than-sufficient health in a great many way. Poor eye vision is just one of the negative effects that result from smoking.

As you can see, it is not just vitamin D3 that is responsible for maintaining a healthy pair of eyes. But nonetheless, the benefits that come from taking in more vitamin D3 are legion. Making sure to have at least 3,000 IU of vitamin D3 is enough to keep the eyes working properly. The older one gets, the more D3 one needs. As long as one is exposed to enough sunlight, preferably until the skin turns a slight shade of pink, they have gotten their necessary daily dose of vitamin D3. Just make sure you incorporate foods and supplements rich in vitamin D3, and you won't have to worry about a rapidly deteriorating vision.



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