Benadryl vs Melatonin: What's better for you?

When your sleep is horrible during peri-menopause, you might try every and anything to get you back to sleep. Here’s a quick breakdown of Benadryl v. Melatonin. In case you were feeling desperate and wanting to try either.

Benadryl

Taking Benadryl to help you get to sleep is okay in small doses once in a while.  It will work, but at a cost.

Anti-histamines can pressure your body to spend more time in the lighter stages of sleep. So you’ll actually wake up feeling unrested even though you’ve slept 7+ hours.

Benadryl (diphenhydramine) also makes most people drowsy, cause dry mouth and nasal membranes leaving you feeling stuffy and congested.

Melatonin

Melatonin on the other hand helps control your natural sleep-wake cycle. Some research suggests that melatonin supplements might be helpful in treating jet lag or reducing the time it takes to fall asleep and can improve the signal for your sleep hormones to jumpstart.

You can actually test for melatonin levels in the body, and I typically do this for patients when Benadryl and other sleep meds stop working.

The benefit of testing?

When you test for melatonin, you get instant clarity on whether your body has trouble producing the key hormone. If you aren’t making enough, this changes the game entirely on the long term effectiveness of any sleep meds you’ll try in the future. (Ask me about how to get this test)!

Either way, tolerance to the sedative effects of sleep aids (even natural ones) can develop quickly — so the longer you take them, the less likely they are to make you sleepy.

Here’s what you can do if both stop working:

• Stop consuming too much caffeine late in the day. Cut off after 11am

• Keep a regular sleep/wake time to maintain your body’s sleep-wake cycle

• Cut off loose ends and worry so that your mind’s chilled out before you hit the bed

• If you’re waking up frequently during the night, a shift in your last meal to include complex carbs can prevent middle of the night hunger pangs

• Get those night sweats under control. It’s the #1 reason for sleepless nights in peri-menopause

• Cut yourself off from emails, social media and stimulating television shows by a certain time

• Listening to a guided meditation or soothing music

Get Grounded: Nurture your body with this easy technique

As we close out Mindfulness May, I challenged myself to meditate every day, for even 5 mins. Well, it wasn’t a perfect 100% but I realized something in the journey…

I’d been feeling blah, dead, less lively, less like my bubbly self. With all that’s taken place since the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve just been on autopilot with survival as my energy source. Sound familiar?

As things have loosened up and masks have come off, I’ve noticed feeling disconnected STILL and haven’t been able to connect back fully with myself and with my environment even as things are opening up.

As I know in the world of available medication, there is no pill to make you feel more alive, more connected to the soul- to your true self. But, I know in practicing medicine that healing happens thorough energy exchange.

And because I’ve been feeling like dead wood, that flow of energy wasn’t moving as I needed.

I love the saying, “Ask and Ye shall receive” because that’s exactly what happened.

In walked a Chakra Meditation that saved my life! It changed the game.

Chakras are set energy milestones along the center of your body, from where your butt touches the ground to the top of your head. There are 7 of them and each just happens to overlap with key endocrine organs.

1- Reproductive organs

2.-Digestive system

3- Adrenal

4- Heart

5-Thyroid

6-Pituitary

7- Brain

Most chakra meditations focus on using imaging, color or sounds to recharge each center.

I started with the root chakra, #1 as this is the chakra to help with stoking creativity, fire, connection, and bringing forth life to surge oxytocin (one of the key hormones of love & attraction)

This has been a game changer in breathing life into the “dead wood”!

So I decided to create a sacral-root chakra meditation ( and share it with you for free) based upon imagery, sound and engaging the senses. Perhaps if you are feeling the same, I invite you to try this new prescription:

Explore using root chakra mediation to recharge. Take the time to nourish yourself, and if you like, continue with other chakra meditations.

There’s still some time left in May to check it out!

Hope you enjoy this meditation!!

XOXO

Dr. Vera

Ways to Reduce Feeling Overly Anxious

When I learned of the Mindfulness May movement, it thought it was right on time.

It’s not always about the food we eat, but how we are living in our bodies on a daily basis.  Many of the clients I’ve seen recently are completely fried..

This is a classic nervous system dysfunctional response.  

Since a majority of my clients are women in their 40s, many symptoms present as flares of early onset  peri-menopausal  symptoms such as sleepless nights, worsening memory or changes in the menstrual cycle.    

The most disturbing changes occur in the limbic system. This looks like fatigue, anxiety, exhaustion, (the stress eating cycle) and worse of all, changing your internal programming to accept living a blunted life within this dysfunctional pattern. 

As an integrative clinician, I dig down and find out the roots of which hormones need adjusting and use all forms of medicine to achieve the alignment.

My favorite off label go-to for healing the limbic dysfunction is having clients create mantras or meditations for themselves. Have you tried this before?

If not, now‘s a great time to begin.

Here is a freebie meditation on generating more self-compassion. I teach you how to mantra. It will literally reprogram your brain to function differently.

Check it out!

XOXO

Dr. Vera

Still not feeling great after recovering from a COVID diagnosis?

Lingering post COVID symptoms is something you don’t hear about in the headlines.

We hear about the extreme cases of intubation and coma, but as we all know many of you who did test positive or thought you may have contracted it, may still have residual mild symptoms for which traditional medicine has no answer for.

Let's get clear on something- YOU ARE NOT CRAZY or LAZY! While we don’t have clear data about length of time one can experience COVID side effects, as with any fallout from viral infection, there may be susceptibility to develop symptoms- both short and long term.

I've got the support you need... keep reading!

I attended a lecture by a doc who specializes in post infectious fibromyalgia and it of course it makes perfect sense that a deep viral infection like COVID will leave the body in a state of nutritional and energy deficiency.

You must support the deep energy centers within your cells to jumpstart systems back online.

I’d like to share with you this protocol and lecture by my colleague Dr. Teitelbaum who specializes in Fibromyalgia and post viral & infectious disease. While some of the content may be hypermedical because its directed towards physicians, I think you’ll get incredible value by having this email on hand for you, or anyone you know who may be affected as an incredible resource.

Here's the cliff notes version...

Classic symptoms post COVID infection (or post vaccination):

• Fatigue with sleeplessness

• Chest heaviness

• Low stamina/ endurance

• Blood pressure instability

• Brain Fog

• Body Pain

• Muscle Cramping

• Experiencing increased perception of stressors

Where to start?

You need to do labs:
CBC, CMP, CRP, ESR, Full panel for Thyroid including reverse T3, B12, Folate, Iron, Ferritin with TIBC, random iodine, AM cortisol, and of course and a full sex hormone evaluation.

I am happy to run these for you if you are cash pay (I have discounted rates) or have a PPO and we can bill insurance. Otherwise good luck with getting your HMO or Kaiser doc to run these!

Begin the SHINE protocol

Check out the Post COVID Recovery Protocol I created for you in Fullscript. It's got all the essential supplements needed to recover your body. Take advantage of this resource! If you have question about which nutrient(s) would work best, reach out to me!

It’s important to activate the SHINE protocol if these symptoms sound familiar to you! It’s a comprehensive way to restore the body once again. Often times treating only one area will improve symptoms, but will regress over time.

• Sleep- get sleeping again. Restore hypothalamic signaling aka adrenals!

• Hormonal imbalance- restore cortisol and thyroid function to optimal

• Infection- Test & eliminate low grade yeast/candida, bacteria, HHV, EBV, CMV, persistent viral symptoms

• Nutritional- Restore the base nutrients levels consumed in viral infections, feed mitochondrial systems, polypeptides

• Exercise- Strike a balance. Not HIIT! Walking, improve stamina and muscle conditioning is key. 5-10K steps/day

Perhaps one or all of these areas haven't quite recovered. Ask yourself if you are 100% feeling better and if not...now is the time to begin that recovery process.

Although you may not feel yourself immediately after an infection like this, know that you always have me in your corner if you need a more thorough workup then your primary will provide.

Reach out to me if your have questions about your symptoms or if you need support

Book your 30 min free consult here…

Sending healing energy to you!

Dr. Vera

Ramadan: What Iftar can teach you about your digestion.

The most important lesson you should know besides what to eat, is…"How to listen to your body and eat according to its needs."

Fasting is a great time to learn about what your body likes and doesn't like.

 The most common problem many of my patients notice is with their digestion and energy with Iftar and even after Ramadan is over.

• If you feel tired and drained after eating alot of carbs and breads or fall asleep after eating, then you likely have issues with blood sugar management.

• If you feel bloated, full and find that your stomach doesn't get flat, you probably have a bacterial/yeast balance problem in your gut

• If your energy is low, even after you eat again, then you are not balancing enough macronutrients ( protein/carbs/fats)

 Here’s an case study of a patient I treated last year…

M. K. was a woman in her late 40's.  She was always tired, had trouble with her memory and her energy was low before Ramadan began. The fasting period helped, however, as the months went on she began to feel worse.

She had extreme pain in her stomach, heartburn, gas and to even touch her belly- it was very hard and painful. She went from constipation to diarrhea within one week. It was just too much to handle. It was affecting her life at home and she felt sick all the time.

Before we met, she asked her Gastroenterologist to run tests for her. But, all the tests came back negative and she still didn’t feel better even after they gave her an acid blocker.

When I met her, I ran this test for her immediately. All of the bacteria in the red section was causing her problems + she has Candida.

This is a classic test result of someone that experiences her symptoms.

If your digestive system is functioning optimally, you should notice:

• Stomach & belly should be pain-free, and free from gas and bloating,

• Nutrients should be well-absorbed

• Bowel movements should be regular and easy to pass everyday

• Skin should be clear and free from acne and pimples

• Your tongue is slightly pink, thin and doesn't have a yellow, or thick white coating on it

After working together for 8 months in my Digestion & Gut program, her test results looked like this:

A huge difference! We were able to get rid of the bad bacteria & yeast and now focus on restoring her good flora back to normal.

She was able to change her diet significantly and I treated her infections naturally, with herbs! No prescription medication was needed.

I checked in with her earlier this month and she is doing much better overall and even with Iftar, she doesn’t notice the pain and bloating anymore even though she is having bread, or dates/honey.

What you can do next?

If you are having digestion trouble and this story sounds familiar to you, please don’t suffer. I can help you get back to feeling normal again.

Reach out to me and let’s talk about what can be done. The Quick Start or the more comprehensive Digestion & Gut Program can help you too.

CoVID-19: Protect yourself using natural medicine

COVID-19: Is it hype or an emerging pandemic?

The news headlines has us on the edge of our seats.
Creating Worry or Nervousness...
Maybe creating false urgency?

Let's cut through the hype!

Here are some facts that might help ease your mind...

How would you know if you have it?

It looks like a classic flu or respiratory illnesses for this season — fever, aches, a dry cough and shortness of breath. Honestly you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a regular cold/flu  and a COVID infection.

Check in with your PCP or advice nurse if you have symptoms and are concerned.

There are 2 significant phases  to this respiratory illness- the first is the "influenza like phase" and the second is the pneumonia phase.  COVID sets off a fast inflammatory reaction in the lungs that leads to a fluid buildup and our immune system damaging us unintentionally in the effort to kill the virus.

Note that people ARE recovering from the infection. Just because you've been exposed doesn't mean you are going to die.  There are layers of treatment options given to lower the immune reaction and return the body to health.


Is this going to keep spreading?
We're right at the tail end of cold/flu season in California so naturally the viruses and bacteria are more likely to die in transit through airborne transmission. This is because of lower humidity, increased temps and us being outside instead of indoors. But the key is to stay warm!

There more you get outside in nature and avoid being in close proximity to others for long periods of time, the better. Balance your time indoor and outdoors.

Do what makes sense! Cover your mouth, wash hands, open windows at home and allow airflow. Clean surfaces of your home and office with bleach/ alcohol.  This includes cell phones, door handles, phones at work and  items that are touched by multiple people.


Who is susceptible?

The vast majority of the epidemiology who have been most affected are either elderly and/or have underlying pre-existing conditions with weakened immunity.  The communities affected in Italy are older, unlike the 1918 Influenza pandemic which was much more virulent and impacted folks younger than 18. It's important to know the clinical characteristics from a recent study just released.  


If you are a smoker/vaping (even cannabis), your lung immunity is more highly compromised.  Consider cutting back on the number of cigarettes you smoke per day.

Lower your susceptibility! Just because you are exposed  to someone who is coughing doesn't mean you've been infected.

In my next post , I'll cover what specifically you can do naturally to lower your susceptibility... stay tuned!

What to do when depression meds stop working?

Are you depressed, stressed, peri-menopausal or all of the above?

If you’ve noticed an increase in depression symptoms while taking an anti-depressant, chances are something else is causing your mood slump. Here’s what you might be missing…

#1) Exhausted and burned out adrenals: THE MOST COMMON mistake people make is assuming they are depressed and it’s often low levels of cortisol/epinephrine/norepinephrine. Ignoring this part of the problem is leaving a huge component of your healing on the table.

#2) Depending on Serotonin reuptake meds is also assuming you are producing enough serotonin to begin with.

You may not be producing enough serotonin if you have:

• Gut/ stomach issues, think you have IBS or leaky gut

• Issues with methylation or conversion

• Carrying too much fat around your belly

Sound familiar? All these issues, including getting your body to produce more happy hormones can be done through natural methods and requires an integrated approach.

I use a combination of methods in my hormone program for folks that desire to get off anti-depressants which includes improving your body’s own ability to produce ALL of the happy hormones.

The functional tests I use measures these hormones (which most doctors typically don’t order), the health of your digestion and uncovering what key vitamins are missing that are essential for hormone production.

Your body receives comprehensive support and…

you get to feel like yourself again.

Set up a free consult with me to talk about how to get started.

XO

Dr. Vera

Waking up at 3 am in the winter months? Here's how to fix it

The cold winter months is a great time to catch up on sleep, but if finding quality sleep is troublesome for you, check-in with these sneaky disruptive habits

• Build your sleep hormones naturally. If you are taking an SSRI or anti-depressant, it may actually deplete your levels of melatonin- a main hormone that initiates sleep. The fact is many people have no idea how to build sleep hormones. Not to worry, I’ll share with you in my next blog post on how to do just that.

• Avoid exciting or stimulating activities before bed especially those involving bright screens or electronics. Too much exposure to light at night can disrupt the timing of the sleep cycle. Also eliminating reading and responding to emails close to bedtime lowers the possibility of reading something urgent, which might make it harder to fall asleep.

• Don’t have caffeine after lunch and avoid alcohol near bedtime as both can disrupt sleep and wreck havoc on your blood sugar levels throughout the night. No bueno!

• Practice rituals that help you relax before bed such as taking a warm bath with Epsom salts, drinking nervine teas or journaling about your day

In the meantime, if you’ve tried everything but still having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep, you likely need to build up sleep hormones. A huge ( but pesky) problem impacting good sleep quality. Curious about what this means? Book a free consult, let’s talk about it.

XO,

Dr. Vera