Conditions Archives - Dr. Donata Girolamo, Naturopathic Doctor

3 SECRETS TO TREATING CHRONIC PAIN & FATIGUE AS A NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR

Many patients walk through my office door having struggled with chronic pain and fatigue for many years, having very little idea of what they can do about it. Often these patients believe there is nothing that can be done to manage their symptoms beyond the standard treatments they’ve already tried. A surprisingly high percentage of these patients actually have: A wrong diagnosis (ie. they’ve been told they have fibromyalgia, and [...]

Endometriosis: “I love being a woman and I know where I belong”*

March is Endometriosis month. Endometriosis is a condition resulting from the appearance of endometrial tissue outside the uterus which causes pelvic pain. Some causes may be: Altered immune function Exposure to environmental chemicals that mimic estrogen, like dioxin Increased free radicals (oxidative stress) Retrograde bleeding Qi and blood stagnation (Chinese medicine) Risk Factors: Estrogen dominance Hormone replacement therapy Environmental estrogens through food sources; meat, dairy Increased body fat Lack [...]

With Heart

Love songs come from it. Shakespeare wrote endlessly about it. It breaks. It bursts with joy. It’s what dreams are made of. February is heart health month. In honour of this significant organ and system, here is my ode to the heart. Function The cardiovascular system circulates blood, amino acids, electrolytes, oxygen, and hormones to our cells, nourishing us and helping us maintain homeostasis. The Traditional Chinese medicine perspective acknowledges [...]

3 Mistakes with DIY Candida Cleanse

Candida is a very common problem for most people, whether they know it or not. It is an imbalance of bad bacteria relative to good bacteria. Sounds easy enough to correct, right? Just take the probiotic advertised on TV? Not necessarily. Your body is intuitive. It always has a purpose. Candida blocks even worse things from affecting your health – like mercury, or other heavy metals that may be stored [...]

Depression – How Does Good Nutrition Affect It?

Depression comes in many guises that have spawned a plethora of labels. You may have recently started to feel depressed having never experienced this condition before. It may scare you to feel this way and the thought of your emotions being out of your control is indeed a daunting prospect. If you go and see a medical doctor you may be prescribed powerful psychotropic (mind altering) drugs. Besides being addictive [...]

Thyroid and Sinus Connection

The auricular assessment allows me to check for areas in the body that harbour infections, like the teeth, sinuses, gallbladder, and prostate. These areas are small and walled off, making them prone to an imbalance in bacteria, and hard for the immune system to penetrate. I checked my patient for a sinus blockage, as she reports chronic stuffiness, and decreased sense of smell. She had already limited/eliminated dairy consumption, with [...]

Men, give the fish oil some lovin’

Relationship of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids with semen characteristics, and anti-oxidant status of seminal plasma: A comparison between fertile and infertile men Infertile men had lower concentrations of omega-3 Fatty Acids in spermatozoa than fertile men. These results suggest that research should be performed to assess the potential benefits of omega-3 FA supplementation as a therapeutic approach in infertile men with idiopathic low sperm quality and count. Clinical Nutrition [...]

Cellulite – the truth about cause and cure

This information is taken from the supplement company Pascoe's educational brochure. I am posting it, because cellulite is not just a superficial concern for overweight and thin people alike. It indicates an underlying problem, that can have more devastating consequences. Cellulite Bulging, lumpy, orange peel appearance of skin, termed cellulite, can be a devastating condition, affecting both men and women, who are thin, overweight and of normal-weight. Areas of the body that [...]

Fertility and Thyroid – one woman’s story

"One day my girlfriend called to tell me about a friend of hers who’d spent a fortune on IVF and then went to a naturopath for something unrelated. The naturopath had asked if she’d had any miscarriages (she had) and then checked her thyroid. He said her thyroid wasn’t functioning properly and told her to take two drops of iodine under her tongue daily. Incredibly, my friend’s friend did get [...]

Endocrine Disruptors and Fertility

"It can be hypothesized that the ingestion of endocrine disruptor (ED) metabolites (from the water supply and food chain) can result in detrimental outcomes for males and females, such as prostate and breast cancer, infertility and C-sections; either through mechanisms of hormonal imbalance or dysfunctional metabolism. Physiological and biological mechanisms of action thought to be involved include creation of a state of estrogen dominance, and that EDs can alter the [...]