The Integrated Pharmacist

***Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to be used as legal or medical advice.  It is written as my person perspective on how medical professionals could blend western medicine with other modalities*** Today on The Integrated Pharmacist Podcast, we're talking about Craniosacral Therapy.  This is a branch of medicine closely associated with Osteopathy.  It involves the gentle manipulation of the skull and spine to induce self-healing.  Dr. William Garner Sutherland developed this modality as an extension of osteopathy.  He studied the human skull as his life's work.  Although he had been taught that the bones of the skull were fused, his experience lead him to develop his theory of the Primary Respiratory Mechanism.  This theory describes the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid, the slight movements of the skull and the involuntary movement of the sacrum.  This mechanism is called primary because of its central role in the body and its ability to hea...

***Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to be used as legal or medical advice.  It is written as my person perspective on how medical professionals could blend western medicine with other modalities*** Gut health is a growing topic in the medical community.  With emerging evidence about the gut microbiome, scientists and doctors are reevaluating how we treat the gut.  Today on The Integrated Pharmacist Podcast, I'm going to discuss colonic therapy.  Historically, pharmacy walls were lined with elixirs, formulas, and herbs meant to treat diarrhea and constipation.  Even today, we have medication that help use evacuate our bowels such as Magnesium Citrate and MiraLax.  Intuitively, we recognize the danger of not being able to defecate.  If constipation is left untreated, it can lead to bowel impaction which is where the stool becomes so big or hard that the bowels are unable to pass it on their own.  If impaction is not treated, it can lead to s...

***Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to be used as legal or medical advice. It is written as my person perspective on how medical professionals could blend western medicine with other modalities*** How many of you have ever stretched your back or neck and had those spinal joints crack and pop?  Have you noticed how you feel afterward?  Today on The Integrated Pharmacist Podcast, we're talking about chiropractic therapy.  Literally translated "Done by Hand", this includes the physical manipulation of the body to promote health.  It focuses primarily on the spine as a key element to total-body health.  The main belief is that by realigning the vertebrae, the nerves are better able to function.  When nerves operate optimally, the body can better heal itself.  The communication channels for self healing are open.  When the vertebrae are misaligned, those nerves get pinched and become poor signal transmitters.  These misalignments...

***Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to be used as legal or medical advice.  It is written as my person perspective on how medical professionals could blend western medicine with other modalities*** Welcome to another exciting episode of The Integrated Pharmacist Podcast!  Today's topic is chelation therapy.  Chelation is the process of binding heavy metals in order to flush them out of a system.  This was originally performed in pipes.  This is the traditional method of water softening created in 1930.  During World War II, the University of Oxford used the chemical ethylene-di-amine-tetra-acetic acid (or EDTA) to combat lewisite - a chemical weapon that uses arsenic.  Since then, the same chemical has been used to treat lead and mercury poisoning.  In the 1950's, it was used on a large group of battery factory workers, again for lead poisoning.  However, the doctor discovered that patients who had previously experienced angina no longer...