Vaccines are only part of the disease prevention scenario. Your personal health status and stress load are HUGE factors in your suceptibility to diseases and your ability to recover. Vaccines also have their limitations. Flu viruses are notorious for mutating. This means that by the time a vaccine for one strain is made, distributed and available to you, that virus  has probably changed enough to sneak by your immune system and get you sick! So don’t rely on a vaccine to protect you from any flu or any other disease. And don’t panic if a vaccine is not available. Your health and lifestyle are more important.

Concentrate on helping your body stay strong and healthy. Help your immune system with good nutrition, plenty of fun exercise, and good stress management. Have a holistic doctor on your health care team. I teach my patients how to optimize their health and know their vulnerabilities. I teach home treatments for many ailments. I help my patients create natural medicine home first aid kits. Then, when they do get sick or injured, I can start treating them at home even before they can get to my office.

Remember the following common sense advice:

1. WASH your hands before preparing food and before eating food. WASH your hands after using the bathroom. Teach your children to do the same. Hands that come in contact with coughing, sneezing, runny noses and diarrhea spread infectious diseases.
2. Stop eating sugary foods especially when you are run down and/or sick. Candy, desserts and sweetened foods load down your immune system and make it easier to get sick.
3. REST and sleep when you are sick. Stay off computers, phones and any electronic devices. Read (light not academic), listen to soothing music and REST. Your body is working to heal. Don’t give it extra work to do!
4. Give yourself TIME to heal. Rushing your recovery often leads to relapse.

Dr. Wendy Van Dilla practices holistic medicine in Los Alamos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. For further information, please go to her website www.drwendy.info or call (505) 986-1370.

Go see the current movie “Food Inc.” for some very graphic reasons why to buy and eat organic foods. It shows part of what has happened to the meat, chicken, corn and soybean industries in our country. The damage is much deeper than the movie portrays. The movie “Food Inc.” shows factory-style feedlots, slaughterhouses, chicken warehouses and meat packing plants. It also shows a small organic farm with grass-fed animals and free-range chickens. The comparison is shocking.

The moral of their story is that if you don’t like what you see, don’t support these industries by buying their products. Don’t support the fast food, factory-processed food, and genetically-modified food industries. If you want to be healthy, eat foods that lived healthy lives before they ended up on your plate! Buy from small farms and ranches that treat their soil, plants, birds and animals with respect and keep them healthy. Buy what grows locally and in season. These small actions have long range impact, on our and our environment’s health.

Dr. Wendy Van Dilla is in private practice in Santa Fe and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Please go to her website at  www.drwendy.info for more information.

Fever is one of the ways our bodies fight infections.  Our body thermostat is turned up from the normal oral temperature of around 98.6ºF to a higher temperature.  The optimal temperature range to fight serious infections is between 102ºF and 103ºF.  Higher temperatures for brief periods of time can be safe but should be monitored closely in consultation with a medical professional.  Fevers between 104ºF and 107ºF can cause serious dehydration and above 107ºF are very dangerous.

The biggest problems during high fevers are usually from the person becoming dehydration and from eating food.  The digestive system shuts down at temperatures above 99.5ºF.  So eating during a fever will add to the toxic load of the body and weaken efforts to fight any infection.  Properly managed, friendly fevers are helpful and part of the healing process.  This means drink lots of water and herbal teas (no caffeine, no refined sugars) and fast (no food) during a fever.

Friendly fevers fight infections by stimulating our fighter white blood cells to go to work, makes it harder for bacteria to grow, suppresses our appetite and hopefully make us get help, go to bed and rest!  We feel chilled when a fever is developing as our body thermostat is being turned up.  We shiver and want more blankets to warm up.  When our body wins the fight over the infection and the fever is no longer needed, the fever breaks.  Our body thermostat is turned back to normal.  We then feel very hot and sweat to cool down to our normal body temperature.

Please remember that friendly fevers are helpful and part of the healing process.  It is a strong, healthy person that can mount an optimal, friendly fever during a serious illness.

For further information, please contact Dr. Wendy Van Dilla at (505)986-1370.

A cure for a grudge starts with the owner’s desire to change. Our intellect can find many reasons and rationales for keeping grudges around. Being “right” is not often being happy, in harmony and at peace with a person in your life. So if the grudge owner is ready to let go of the grudge, here are some helpful tips. The following steps come from a simplified spiritual practice. To heal emotional wounds we must use skills beyond our emotions and intellect. I call these “spiritual” skills. If the word and/or concept of “spirituality” turns you off, think of them as “life skills” or “living-in-peace skills.”

1. First, think or say “I’m sorry.” (Even if you are “right” and feel justified in your opinion.) This is a humbling step. Your ego must step down.
2. Second, think or say “Please forgive me.” (Forgiveness is a process that is essential for peace.)
3. Third, think or say “Thank you.” (Feeling gratitude is receiving the gifts of the world, and in this process, the gift of forgiveness. It is the ability to receive mercy.)
4. The final step is to think or say “I love you.” (To give love reconnects us to the other person, it is the ultimate gift we can give, the most help we can ever offer and the one gift that lasts forever!)

Do this process as many times as you need to as often as you need to. It gets easier with practice. It is free and can be done anywhere, anytime. Warning: you may find yourself smiling more often, and feeling quite buoyant!

Dr. Wendy Van Dilla is a Naturopathic Physician with offices in Los Alamos and Santa Fe.  She is trained as a primary care physician with a holistic medical philosophy and uses natural medicines and therapies to help patients heal their whole selves.

Please don’t leave comments. If you seek consultation, please call me at (505)986-1370 to schedule an appointment. I offer phone consultations to my patients after the initial appointment in person at my Santa Fe or Los Alamos New Mexico office. I do house calls within Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties.

To read more, please visit my website, www.drwendy.info.

Now we are “healthy” again, or in some cases, at least not sick anymore. To maintain good health, prevent another infections and speed up recovery when you do get sick again, I highly recommend eating probiotic foods. These contain friendly bacteria that keep the opportunistic microbes from overgrowing. These friendly bacteria also produce nutrients that we absorb and use, thus keep us strong and healthy. Probiotic foods are “cultured,” “aged” or “fermented” foods. All cultures that have long-living folks traditionally make and eat on a regular basis some kind of fermented foods. Like German sauerkraut, Korean Kim Chi, Japanese miso, European yogurt, Russian kefir, many cultures’ pickles and raw vinegars. These foods contain living friendly bacteria, active enzymes, and a wide variety of nutrients. They are very easy to digest and help the body to clean out or detoxify.

Be careful though! Not all old foods are healthy for us to eat. Moldy foods can be very toxic and dangerous. Your nose can help out here. If a food “stinks,” it is often a sign that the food is bad for us to eat. That is not always true though. Sometimes it takes some getting used to a smell, taste and/or texture before you acquire a liking for a food. Most of us can remember some awful food experience we’ve had in our lives! Smell is often our longest lasting memories and last sense to leave us when we are dying.

It is especially important to re-populate our gut with friendly bacteria after taking a round of prescription anti-microbial drugs. This means after taking any antibiotic, antiviral, anti-parasitic or anti-fungal drug. I even recommend that my patients eat probiotic foods or take a probiotic natural medicine during the round of prescription anti-microbial drugs. I suggest that they take the probiotic at the other end of the day then they take their drug. For example, if they took the penicillin tablet in the morning, then they take the probiotic in the evening.

For more information on probiotics or other health topics, please call me at (505) 986-1370 or visit with me at the Los Alamos Health Fair on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at the Los Alamos High School Griffith Gym from 8:00am to 12 noon.

Dr. Wendy Van Dilla is a Naturopathic Physician with offices in Los Alamos and Santa Fe. She is trained as a primary care physician with a holistic medical philosophy and uses natural medicines and therapies to help patients heal their whole selves.

Thank you for reading my health tip.  I don’t respond to comments. I am available for private consultation and public lectures.  To contact me, please call my Santa Fe office (505-986-1370) to schedule an appointment or for further information.

Homeopathy is a unique medical system that uses micro-doses of specially prepared remedies to stimulate the body’s own healing potential.  These remedies can be used for acute illnesses or to help improve someone’s overall health.  They are effectively used with animals.  They are safe to use with children, elderly and during pregnancies.

There is a specific process used to make homeopathic remedies. It starts with an extract of a particular substance, often from a plant, mineral or animal.  Then the extract is repeatedly diluted with clean water and shaken a certain number of times between dilutions.  The remedy’s name is the Latin word for the original substance.  “Calcarea carbonica” is made from the mineral calcium carbonate.

The potency of the remedy, the letter and number after the name, tells how many times the extract was diluted and how much it was diluted. The letters used stand for a number (“X” = 10, “C” =100, and “M” = 1,000).  The higher the number, the more potent the remedy is. Stores usually only carry the lower potencies for general public use (like 6X, 30 X or 30C). The higher potencies and certain remedies are reserved for trained professional use.  Diluting the original substance also makes the remedy non-toxic and eliminates bad side effects.  Homeopathic “Arsenicum album 30C,” made from the poisonous chemical arsenic, is a safe medicine!  It is one of our most commonly used remedies.

Homeopathy was developed in Germany about 200 years ago.  It is widely used today in Europe, England, Canada, India and the USA.  The most popular homeopathic remedy I know of is “Arnica montana.”  It is made from a flowering plant that grows high up in the mountains. You can buy “Arnica” in topical gels and cremes for bruises or sore muscles.  You can also buy it as small sugar pellets that you take by mouth.
Professionals who are trained in classical homeopathy (like me) mostly use oral forms (pellets or liquids) of the remedies and only use one remedy at a time.  It takes learning and experience to figure out which remedy to use, what potency and what dosage.  Newer uses of homeopathic remedies involve combinations of several remedies. In health food stores and even grocery stores and pharmacies, you’ll find homeopathic products made for a specific problem like allergies or headaches.  These combine different related remedies and often other ingredients like vitamins and minerals.  If a product is helpful, enjoy it!  If it doesn’t help, don’t give up on homeopathy!  You may do better working with a trained professional who carefully chooses a specific remedy just for you.

For more information about homeopathy or naturopathy, please call Dr. Wendy Van Dilla at (505) 986-1370.

Many folks take on health-damaging ways to cope with stresses.  These include drug addictions (legal or illegal), smoking, overeating, watching too much TV, emotional outbursts, overspending, excessive behaviors, and numbing emotions.  First recognize that these are harmful.  Then be willing to replace any with healthful choices and actions.

Here are five components of staying healthy in stressful times:

1. Techniques to calming the mind and body – these help us switch from being afraid (sympathetic nervous system) to being relaxed (parasympathetic nervous system).  These include meditation, prayer, deep breathing, reciting a mantra, singing or listening to a soothing tune, going for a walk, and taking a brief mental “time out.”
2. Time Management – set priorities; organize your day; ask for help when you need it; tackle harder jobs when your energy level is the best; avoid procrastinating; plan ahead and be flexible to changes; do the best you can do at the time; and forgive yourself for not being perfect!
3. Relationship Issues – a HUGE topic, but in a nutshell, learn to communicate effectively, with honesty and compassion.  Listen carefully, listen patiently, and listen from your heart.  Be comfortable with pauses and silence.  Much of communication is nonverbal.  Show you care by listening with care.
4. Exercise – the best form of exercise is the one that you DO!  Enjoy the time, try to avoid making exercise a boring task!  Vary the type of exercise to include endurance, strengthening, flexibility, coordination, balance and grace.  (…as Coach Bill Hudson taught me!)
5. Healthful Diet – limit or eliminate the following: caffeine, refined sugars, white table salt, white flour foods, damaged fats, fake sweeteners, and artificial additives.  Recognize and manage food allergies.  Enjoy eating, eat in a pleasant place and chew your food before swallowing.

For specific nutritional supplements and natural medicines, make an appointment to consult with me!  I am available in Los Alamos on Mondays, and in Santa Fe Tuesday through Friday.  Please call me at (505)986-1370 to schedule.  To your good health – Dr. Wendy Van Dilla.

If you know someone in a depression, be extra careful and watchful of them through this season. Be available to LISTEN. Avoid giving advice and uninvited “help.” Don’t try to change their mood or “cheer them up.” That’s their job, not yours. Besides, you can’t change someone else, just yourself. LISTEN with your heart, not with your head/intellect. Be company if asked. Just your loving presence is “doing something” very helpful and important. Identify your supporters and re-enforcement help so you don’t get too overwhelmed and exhausted. These are family members, friends and professional (counselors, doctors, church clergy, curanderos, medicine men and women, …) to call on for help. Know who to call in an emergency and have the phone numbers very handy.

Sometimes calling the police is the best help available.  Police officers can be incredibly helpful in a mental health crisis. If someone is a physical threat to themselves or others and won’t go voluntarily, the police can force someone to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. If a person is suicidal, calling in the police can save their lives. Sharing suicidal thoughts is a SCREAM for help. The message is something like “HELP!!! I’m dying…I hurt so badly, if I don’t get help now, I’ll kill myself.” A person determined to commit suicide will have a workable plan and do it, not talk about it. Then all we who are left behind can do is pray for their soul’s next journey and take care of ourselves through our grieving process.

I know this is a very heavy subject to introduce at such a joyous season.  Please be aware that there are people among us for whom this season is far from joyous. They need our love and watchful eye.

Emergency and Non-emergency HELP phone numbers:
911:  fire, police and ambulance emergencies
(505) 428-3710:  non-emergency police
(505) 455-2295: BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) Tribal police emergencies
(505) 820-6333: Crisis response (24-hour) for local calling area
1-888-920-6333:  Crisis response (24-hour) toll-free for long distance calls

Thank you for reading my health tip.  I don’t respond to comments. I am available for private consultation and public lectures.  To contact me, please call my Santa Fe office (505-986-1370) to schedule an appointment or for further information.