The Federal government has spent billions of dollars on combating the opioid epidemic. In 2022, 1.5 billion dollars was allocated to enforcement and treatment. Yet the death toll climbed 85,000 deaths a year in 2022 to 110,000 in 2023. The estimated cost to the US economy was over 1.5 trillion … Read More
Being trapped by relentless untreated anxiety is the core driver of destructive human behaviour. Anxiety is the sensation generated by your body’s stress chemicals in response to a mental or physical threat. It is not primarily a psychological issue. It is a gift in that it is the mechanism that … Read More
There is a deadly diagnosis that has evolved and become increasingly embedded in chronic pain terminology – Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS). (1) It means that you are suffering with symptoms, but we physicians don’t know the cause. Therefore, the solution is unclear, and you are going to have to do … Read More
Objectives: Honor your suffering. You are trapped by physical and mental sensations without an apparent way out. You feel extremely isolated but many people in this hole (The Abyss) are also suffering badly. You are not alone. Your rightful frustration (rage) fires up your symptoms even more. Systematically learning and … Read More
Ringing in your ears, regardless of its intensity, is annoying. Actually, it is more than annoying; it is relentless and wears you down. It is a relatively common problem(1), numerous resources have been directed towards trying to definitively solve it, but there are few viable alternatives. Some approaches that decrease … Read More
I often encounter a perplexing situation: A patient experiencing severe chronic pain on my spine intake questionnaire rates him or herself as a zero on a 10-point scale with regards to anxiety, depression, and anger. They may have even undergone multiple failed spine surgeries. Yet upon further, almost intrusive, questioning … Read More
Marsha was a 36 year-old businesswoman with two young children. She was referred to me by another patient and came to see me from the east coast. She had a spontaneous onset of back pain about eight years ago. Everything possible had been tried, but she continued to spiral downward … Read More
My mission falls into two broad categories. Connect mainstream medicine with existing science – most symptoms, illness and disease are created by the body’s physiology (how it functions), and not structures. Establish the necessity of a trusting dynamic relationship with your clinician. Feeling heard and safe is not a luxury. … Read More
Objectives Avoiding danger is what keeps us alive. Humans call this signal anxiety. Avoiding this sensation drives much of dysfunctional human behaviour. We know how to stay alive but not necessary thrive. Anxiety is a physiological reaction that is about a million times stronger than the conscious brain. It cannot … Read More
Objectives There are many different physical and mental symptoms that are possible when you are in sustained flight or fight physiology. At my lowest point, I was experiencing 17 of them. No one could tell me what was happening despite seeing many physicians. I suffered for over 15 years. The … Read More