Doc Meek

Posts Tagged ‘memory problems’

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), or 100% oxygen supplied under varying pressures in a tightly-sealed compression chamber, has proven to be an astounding help for a host of brain problems. Side effects are minimal to non-existent. You would think the mainstream medical community would quickly make it a solid adjunct to whatever else they are doing for the healing of toxin-damaged or older brains. In reality, other countries are far ahead of North America in this regard.

Horizontal lie-down HBOT one-person compression chamber; photo from www.adventisthealthnw.com/HM-HBOT.asp

Sit-up HBOT one-person compression chambers at Canadian Hyperbarics, at the General Hospital, in Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA; Link to Canadian Hyperbarics website:  http://www.canadianhyperbarics.com

Photo by Director Gordon Ward, Director, Canadian Hyperbarics, http://www.canadianhyperbarics.com

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Despite the wide array of problems for which HBOT is effective, our Canadian and US society has managed to keep this valuable and life-saving therapy in an ongoing controversial turmoil for decades. This may be because it appears to be expensive, and governments are fearful of incurring very large costs if large numbers of people realized how useful and effective it is.

In reality, the costs of HBOT pale in comparison with the huge costs associated with the ongoing and very expensive conventional treatments for heart disease, stroke, neurological problems, diabetes, MS, etc.

Part of the problem may simply be that the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society (who devised the hodgepodge and limited list of conditions which government and insurance-approved facilities generally use to prevent access to this priceless therapy) is an ultra-conservative organization not prone to real leadership in HBOT.

Thank heaven for the private freestanding clinics that know that hyperbarics will heal a host of brain problems and other problems, and that provide genuine and much-needed leadership in HBOT.

One such is Canadian Hyperbarics at the General Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA. They will help anyone who is up against the barriers of the highly-limited treatment provided by government or insurance-funded HBOT.

The Director of Canadian Hyperbarics is Gordon Ward, a personable and internationally-known expert in the HBOT field. Humorous and self-effacing, Mr. Ward has unfortunately often been obliged by forced circumstances to reluctantly demonstrate greater knowledge and expertise than many government or insurance-funded facilities staffed with hyperbaric physicians. More about Canadian Hyperbarics in future posts.

For more information about Canadian Hyperbarics and HBOT, please copy and paste the following URL into your computer’s browser line, the line you use when you want to get to a specific website on the internet:

http://canadianhyperbarics.com/index.html

Mitigation of  neurological problems, including memory problems

There are more than 75 million “baby boomers” in the United States, and millions more in Canada, who could use HBOT to ward off memory problems as they age, and this would require a huge outlay of public funds if HBOT were approved for this purpose:

WIKIPEDIA – The Free Encyclopedia, graphed the “baby boomer” cohort:

United States birth rate (births per 1000 population). The blue segment is the postwar baby boom.

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I am familiar with the mitigating effects of HBOT on neurodegenerative problems, Cerebral Palsy, LD (Learning Disabilities), ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), Autism, and a host of other brain problems and potential brain problems.

Governments typically only recognize the effectiveness of HBOT for a short list of ailments, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, gas gangrene, necrotizing tissue (“flesh-eating disease”), near drowning, decompression sickness (“the bends” to divers), crush injury, burns, exceptional blood loss (severe anemia), advanced wound care including diabetic wound care, and so on. It is a very narrow and short list of 13 conditions created by UHMS (Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society) and adopted by governments and insurance companies for treatments for reimbursement purposes. This protects governments and insurance companies from the large costs that would be incurred if all of the ailments that can be treated effectively were appropriately approved for coverage.

It must be said here that many countries in other parts of the world are far ahead of the United States and Canada when it comes to proper utilization of HBOT for a wide variety of conditions. For one thing, they have far more HBOT compression chambers than is the case in the US and Canada. Some countries even have mobile HBOT chambers for emergency use.

The prevailing philosophy in many countries worldwide  is to increase immediate access to a HBOT chamber in the case of heart attack and brain attack (stroke), as it has been proven beyond all reasonable doubt that immediate HBOT treatment makes a huge difference to outcomes for the victims of these common problems. HBOT is, literally, life-saving. More, it vastly increases the future quality of life of those it saves. And those it prevents from having serious brain problems.

To your brain health!

Doc Meek, May 8, 2010, at Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

P.S.  If you wish to pursue this topic of HBOT further, Kathy Summers has written a top-notch article.

Thank you, Kathy! LINK: http://www.healthwriting.com/health/hbot/

Books image from: http://tsaum.com/drupal-5.6/

I love reading. I love acquiring new knowledge.

A friend of mine recently encouraged me to read two important books, so I wrote her this note:

Paula, I am very grateful that you alerted me to:

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink (2005, 2006), and

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School by John Medina (2008).

– Blessings, Doc

Who is John Medina?

Here’s his website with humorous videos:  http://www.brainrules.net/

Plus this photo and bio immediately below:

Dr. John Medina is a developmental molecular biologist and research consultant. He is an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University.

I have found him and his work to be worth knowing. From the book cover, here are some of John Medina’s 12 Brain Rules derived from rigorous research conducted by him and many others as well:

Some of John Medina’s Brain Rules

1. Exercise improves cognition.

2. Every brain is wired differently.

3. We are designed never to stop learning and exploring.

4. Memories are volatile and susceptible to errors.

5. Sleep is powerfully linked with the ability to learn.

6. Vision trumps all the other senses.

7. Stress changes the way we learn.

John Medina helps us understand how our brains really work, and how to get the best out of this invaluable resource we all have.

To your best brain!

Doc Meek, Monday, May 3, 2010, at Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA ………………………………………………………….

J. Collins Meek, Ph.D. (Doc Meek)
“What if you are smarter than you think?”
Learning Specialist https://docmeek.com

For brain health, ensure heart health (short video):
http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
More on heart health http://www.themeekteam.info
Ph (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax [801] 282-6026

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC.
1. CANADA: P.O. Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1
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Image from: spacesuityoga.wordpress.com/

I just spent an hour with a man who specializes in solving chronic “unsolvable” medical problems. He is an MD with a wall full of specialization certificates. More importantly, he is highly knowledgeable, reliable, honest, trustworthy, dedicated, relentless, and kind. He also has a wry understated sense of humor. A rare human being.

He is more like a “Sherlock Holmes” of mysterious illnesses and their causes, than a medical practitioner, although of course he is both. Some of these mysterious illnesses involve both the body and the brain, and the patients may suffer from various learning problems or psychological problems, in addition to physical issues.

Detection of toxicity in the body or brain not easy

Initial investigation of a mysterious chronic illness may involve the standard blood and urine laboratory tests with which most of us are familiar. If exposure to a toxic substance has been relatively recent, there may be good evidence of the toxin in the blood serum or urine.

However, if the exposure is from an earlier time in the patient’s life, the body has usually tried to protect the person by removing the toxin from immediate circulation and sequestering it in some organ or bone or muscle or fatty tissue, including the brain.

It takes specialized testing, in some cases highly specialized testing, to determine whether we have dangerous toxins sequestered in our body or our brain.

Why is it so important to know that poisons can “hide out” in our body and brain?

Because many a person has been deluded into thinking they have no serious toxic issues (based on lab results showing no toxins in the blood or urine), when in fact their body or brain could be loaded with mercury or lead, both highly toxic substances. And mercury or lead must be removed from the body and the brain, if the person is to recover normal health.

And urgently to the point, mercury and lead must be removed safely, or the toxic issues are worsened, not bettered.

Even MDs are sometimes misled when lab results show no toxicity in the blood or urine. They assure the patient that s/he has no tested-for toxins, and may show the patient the lab results as “proof.”

This is kind of like showing dry, caked/cracked  desert earth as “proof” of no rain, after the flash flood has wreaked great havoc and all drained away. 😮

Nutrient deficiencies are also a clue to brain dysfunction

The first order of business is to drench the body/mind system in the nutrients and micro-nutrients they need for optimum functioning. Obviously, any general or specific nutrient deficiencies would be addressed at an early stage of any investigation of human health issues.

Second, avoid further toxic exposures to all incoming toxicities humanly possible to avoid.

Then, slowly and safely, detoxify. Many people try to detoxify first, before strengthening the body and this is usually a mistake unless it is an emergency, a matter of life and death, or almost that. The reason is that detoxification taxes the body/mind’s resources and we want the body/mind system to have optimal power to handle the detox.

After the toxin has been slowly and safely removed, the patient must continue to feed the body and brain the essential micro-nutrients required for health (toxin or no toxin).

Prescribed drugs may be offered as well, to assist, and these need to be given very careful consideration, with great attention being paid to possible detrimental side effects (often ignored or glanced at cursorily).

I like to err on the side of caution and conservatism when it comes to drugs. In some cases, they are essential and life-saving, and hopefully temporary. In too many cases, however, side effects can be damaging to future welfare and drug dependency is engendered, even in cases where superior alternatives exist.

Obviously there is wisdom in getting a second opinion. And a third maybe, remembering always what my friend says:

“It’s best not to ask a barber (only) whether you need a haircut or not.” 😮

Recently, I was delighted to see in a book I was reading [Dr. Edward Howell (1995), Enzyme Nutrition: The Food Enzyme Concept] this healthy statement: “It is a sign of wisdom, not cowardice, to seek a second or third opinion.”

Learning strategies must be engaged

Beyond the healthy biological steps just mentioned, the person must take steps to teach his body and mind how to work properly again, much like a person would need to learn to walk again, after having a leg in a cast for a lengthy period of time.

And in some cases, where the person has never had good health, it is a case of learning for the first time how to manage the body and the brain properly, for good health and for good function. Such new learning strategies are essential, as a vital adjunct to good physical health for both body and mind.

Happy cognitive functioning!

Doc Meek

Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA; and South Jordan, Utah, USA

Hi Everybody, Doc Meek here.

Learning is not easy for some of us.

I have been helping children overcome learning challenges for many years now.

I was reminded of Mrs. Elmer (not her real name) the other day. This great Mom came to see me at THE LEARNING CLINIC more than thirty years ago now. She brought her son Bob (not his real name) with her and said gently: “He’s in grade four, doesn’t read well, hates school, and fights on the playground all the time.” Bob nodded in somber agreement.

It was not easy for the three of us to get to the top of the mountain together. I’ll tell you how we got there in a future post.

– Doc Meek