A Practice, Made Perfect

Given the pace of modern-day life, it’s a hard thing to avoid. Financial stress, work stress, loss of job, relationship break-ups, divorces, chronic illness, death…all take their toll. Yet all are accepted as everyday realities of daily life. Ignored, until stress creeps up to worrying levels.

We are amazingly resilient. We’ll keep going until yet another trying event occurs and triggers stronger symptoms. Then we come to a grinding halt – and finally seek help. It’s a matter of survival. Often, medical solutions offer only antidepressants or anxiolytics. Short-term cures, at best. Certainly not long-term. Some may seek counselling or other psychological therapies. However, a key point often missed is that chronic stress expresses itself in many guises: depression, anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), panic attacks (acute feelings of anxiety) and a general lack of motivation – all of which can be attributed to ‘gut’ health. By addressing gut dysbiosis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, parasites or fungal overgrowth, problems such as depression, anxiety and other mood disorders can be effectively managed. And thus, offer long-term solutions to regain health and well-being.

Antidepressants and anxiety medications act by regulating neurotransmitters in the brain. The key one is serotonin, which is linked to feelings like happiness, calmness, sleeping better and overall maintaining a sense of good mood. Surprisingly, the gut has 400 times more serotonin than the brain – hence the gut being labelled ‘the second brain’. This understanding helps us appreciate the gut-brain connection, and how gut-health issues contribute to seemingly unfathomable mood disorders, anxiety, depression and cognitive issues.

Inflammation can also contribute to depression. Either in the gut, or in general. It can suppress brain function, especially the frontal cortex, resulting in depression-like symptoms. Recent data highlights the link between gut health and neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s – no longer associated with just depression or mood disorders.

Our bodies have a sophisticated mechanism to deal with acute stress – allowing us to run from danger (flight) – but we’re not designed to handle long-term continued stress. This leads to chronic stress and inflammation. Sometimes stress has no obvious trigger – we just feel unable to cope. It’s common with modern lifestyles. Whatever the cause, stress will aggravate and typically cause inflammation – something we must avoid in our bodies when seeking health and well-being.

Deficiencies in certain nutrients such as B12, Zinc, Vitamin D and Omega 3 can exacerbate the symptoms of stress, anxiety or depression. At The Murthy Clinic, we investigate all gut-health issues and stress levels to understand what is contributing to your condition.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.

If so, you’re only human. Glucose is the main energy source used in human cells, but the type and amount of sugar consumed on a daily basis is a key – and controllable – factor in determining overall health. Although, if you constantly crave sweets, sugar, pastry, bread and chocolates, these urges may be beyond will power, and edging towards addiction.

In human evolution, the preference for the ‘sweet’ taste evolved to help choose non-toxic foods from nature. Naturally, our brain learnt to associate sweet foods as being safe. The limited supplies of these resources in nature (summer fruits, berries, honey) meant it didn’t adversely affect our health. Nowadays, sweet foods are available all year round. Combine this with a brain hard-wired to seek out sweet things, and this modern-day problem is a huge challenge. It wouldn’t be exaggerating to say continuous excess sugar slowly rots the body’s cells, which accelerates the ageing process and can result in chronic ill-health conditions.

The facts are startling: research shows the addictive tendency towards sugar is greater than for recreational drugs, because the dopamine-stimulating and ‘opioid effect’ provide a greater reward than cocaine. Stopping consumption can result in withdrawal symptoms like depression, which pushes you to eat yet more sugar. A downward cycle that is anything but sweet. These sugars cause imbalances in the gut microbiome leading to inflammation and irritation. Another complication is that a constant sugar-surge – that needs to be managed by insulin – will over time result in insulin resistance. Dependence on sugar (including refined carbohydrates like bread, biscuits or cakes) can contribute to a range of gut, hormonal and energy-related problems, reduced immunity and heightening emotional problems. These need to be assessed to prevent ongoing negative impacts on long-term health.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.

Don’t stay silent – give us a shout. Infections, inflammation, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), Crohn’s disease, leaky gut, microbial imbalance, fungal overload or even parasites can all cause gut health issues. If you suffer from bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, acid reflux or food intolerances these are probably already altering how efficiently your gut and digestion are working. And leading to nutritional deficiencies, inflammation, poor immunity and even the development of chronic disease conditions.

When not addressed, gut health problems can lead to hormonal issues, autoimmune conditions, joint pain, skin problems, headaches and contribute to depression or anxiety. It’s of vital importance to investigate digestive functions, absorption, inflammation and the gut microbiome to determine root causes and correct underlying problems.
Research shows how the gut microbiome – so large it could be considered an organ by itself – can contribute to poor health. The gut is a vital defence system and is interconnected with every other bodily system. A healthy gut should encourage a diverse population of healthy microbes – a foundation for good health. At The Murthy Clinic, we consider gut health function from an Ayurvedic and Functional medicine perspective, investigating the underlying causes of gut dysfunction to offer targeted treatment approaches. These include specific diets, nutritional supplements, Ayurvedic detoxification regimes, phytonutrients and nutritional supplements.

Have health problems associated with your gut? Don’t wait for things to improve – they rarely do unaided – and can lead to other conditions. Be proactive with your body and wellness, contact The Murthy Clinic to transform your health and vitality.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.

If so, you should rethink your situation. If diagnosed with a condition, it’s important to look beyond simply symptom management. For example, if diagnosed with diabetes or hypothyroidism, the main aim of conventional management is to regulate sugar levels in diabetes, and prescribe thyroxine in hypothyroidism. Similarly, if presenting with depression or anxiety, antidepressants or anxiety medication are often prescribed. These meds can help, but do not address the root cause – or causes – of the condition, and are thus rarely long-term solutions.

People prescribed long-term medications may turn to natural alternatives to reduce adverse effects, or even look for safer options. For instance, replacing a long-term sleeping pill prescription for insomnia with a natural-herb alternative. Both treatment protocols though, are still ‘symptom management’ whether for conventional or alternative medicine.

At The Murthy Clinic, however, a combined Ayurvedic and Functional medicine approach investigates the reasons why your body or mind is expressing certain conditions. These might be diabetes, hyperthyroidism, anxiety, insomnia or other chronic disease conditions. Note that, even before a disease can be diagnosed, your body has suffered a long process of disturbances in its physiological functions. In an ideal world, one would correct these imbalances and prevent the manifestation of a chronic disease in the first place. This is not possible, but be reassured, even if a disease has been diagnosed, addressing the areas of dysfunction related to the condition will offer the best chance to reduce medications and sometimes actually reverse modifiable factors. Suppressing the symptoms alone, will not optimise the programme for long-term health care.

Studies show that diabetics who are prescribed antidiabetic medication – yet do not change nutrition or lifestyle, even though sugar levels are controlled – actually had worse health outcomes like heart disease or early death. In comparison, those diabetics who addressed their condition through nutrition and lifestyle, without medicine – despite acceptable fluctuations in sugar levels – lived healthier, longer lives.

It is not uncommon for peri-menopausal women on hormone replacement, after a short interval of feeling better, to continue experiencing fatigue, insomnia and anxiety despite hormone therapy. This could be linked to excess stress hormones produced by the adrenal glands (cortisol) contributing to the symptoms of fatigue, insomnia and anxiety. If the excess cortisol is addressed and corrected, it may be unnecessary for hormone replacement. This shows that symptom management alone is not always a guarantee of good health.

At The Murthy Clinic, we create a targeted health evaluation to complement conventional care, addressing the causes that led to the condition, identifying modifiable factors and working to reverse them.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.

Many of us do. Pain is a symptom we’ve all experienced: backache, headache, neck pain, period pain, muscle ache, joint pain, the list is endless. And, for some, so is the pain – or that’s what it can feel like. For serious conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, taking painkillers for relief can become an everyday reality. However, as they are readily available over the counter, their unnecessary use, or unknown abuse, can impact your health. If you take painkillers such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or even prescription drugs regularly, you could consider a different approach to pain management. Why? Because long term use of pain medications will alter the brain’s ability to respond to signals. And you may even develop resistance to painkillers.

Addiction to pain medication is increasingly common, causing alarm within the medical community. Addiction can also be exacerbated, for instance, if there is family history of addiction, or a personal history of drug or alcohol abuse. Frequent use of painkillers, or long-term use of pain medication, results in symptoms like constipation, drowsiness, mood swings, depression, memory issues, lethargy, increased headaches and muscle ache.

Painkillers like aspirin can cause gastric upset and bleeding. NSAIDs can cause kidney damage or liver problems. Be aware, painkillers can mask the symptom of pain but are not always the solution to the root cause. Pain is a complex phenomenon, often both real and psychological. Regular exercise, movement, yoga, stretching, physical therapies, proper nutrition, nutritional supplements and herbs can all help in dealing with pain to improve function.

If you do take painkillers on a regular basis, The Murthy Clinic can help you to address the causes, as well as managing the pain itself using a holistic approach.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.

If you’re thinking the answer is no, read on. Because people often buy cosmetics, detergents, cleaning products, shampoos, food, furniture and many other products without considering if they contain environmental toxins. Why? Because most of us are completely unaware of toxic chemicals and the harm they could be causing us.

It’s easy to miss the link between chronic health conditions and possible exposure to environmental toxins. We think of known toxins, such as cigarette smoke and pesticides or exposure caused by certain occupations such as industrial working. More common, though, is daily exposure to hidden toxins in food, water, personal care products (including make-up), household cleaning products and carpets. Others examples include exposure to inorganic arsenic found in rice, mercury in fish, cadmium in cereals, nuts, pulses, vegetables, potatoes, as well as meat with links to conditions like leaky gut, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, skin conditions, behavioural problems, autism, hormonal imbalances, autoimmune conditions and chronic fatigue.

The body’s efficiency in dealing with these can be further compromised for those following extreme diets. A long-term high-protein diet may result in the body accumulating toxins from the protein source, whereas following a more varied diet lets the body adapt more easily. On extreme diets, there is no space to remove toxins before the next onslaught. The body’s ability to adapt is compromised and toxins that are not removed daily are stored. For some, after years on a restrictive diet – initiated for a purely health reason – they can begin to feel unwell or even develop chronic conditions. Identifying environmental toxins is as important in changing the course of your health as any other action you can take.

The Murthy Clinic, as well as identifying genetic and nutritional factors as underlying causes of your health condition, look at exposure to the environmental toxins which impact health. Toxic elements are detected through blood, urine or hair-sample analysis. Following which appropriate nutritional and detoxification measures allow your health and well-being to improve from the inside out.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.

It would be surprising if you hadn’t. These days, many of us do. But if you’ve taken antibiotics recently, or repeatedly, over the last five years this may have affected your gut health. When antibiotics fight infections, they can also damage human cells. Indiscriminate antibiotic use not only results in antibiotic resistance, but can disturb the gut microbiome leading to an impaired gut. It’s the underlying cause for several chronic illnesses as well as exacerbating existing health conditions.

Long-term use of antibiotics will significantly alter the gastrointestinal microenvironment, wiping out useful good bacterial colonies and increasing the colonies of bacteria that are not as helpful. Antibiotic use, especially over a long period of time, or repeatedly, can result in frequent bowel movements, nutritional deficiencies, malabsorption, colitis and can also be the underlying cause for anaemia, skin rashes, fungal infections, loss of appetite and stomach upsets. Chronic antibiotic use is also associated with the likelihood of developing inflammatory bowel disease, and can increase the susceptibility to other chronic health problems including cardiovascular diseases.

Of course, antibiotics are sometimes the only viable, effective option. But even then, the gut microbiome needs to be addressed quickly after use to re-establish healthy gut microbial flora. The Murthy Clinic, through a comprehensive stool analysis, will establish the current health of the gut and the microbiome to work towards future good gut health.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.

Yes? Then your body’s trying to tell you something. And it’s time you listened. Tiring quickly? Often craving a nap? Feeling a lack of energy throughout the day? A sense of exhaustion? All signals that there is an energy conversion problem within the cells. Even after a good night’s sleep, does it still take time to get going next morning? After an inspiring meeting do you still feel lacklustre? Need breaks even between non-demanding tasks? These are all indicators that your body is under stress.

There is a difference between perceived stress on a psychological level, and how stress manifests on the body. Many believe they’re not stressed as they enjoy a good work-life balance, are goal-focused and happy with their productivity levels. But lifestyles and work commitments also effect stress on a physiological level. Often, highly productive individuals start to experience tiredness, loss of focus, low energy levels and feel a sense of laziness or lack of motivation. The real, and often underlying issue, may well be chronic stress on the body. This may have upset hormonal functions, metabolic functions or caused an energy conversion imbalance. Acute stress is reasonably easy to overcome with the appropriate amount of rest, nourishment and a break from the causative event. Chronic stress, however, needs a thorough evaluation to reset the body’s correct energy functions. It cannot be ignored.

Chronic stress alters the hypothalamic, pituitary and adrenal axis, resulting in vague symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain, insomnia, depression, anxiety, gastrointestinal issues and even chronic pain. Adrenal glands produce Cortisol and DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone). Cortisol is the main hormone involved in responding to stress. Abnormally high or low levels of Cortisol upon waking, during the day and towards the evening can cause a negative stress response on the immune system. DHEA is mainly produced by the adrenal glands and is the highest circulating hormone in the body, which is converted into testosterone and estradiol. Adrenal dysfunction is linked to many health conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, chronic fatigue, neurodegenerative diseases, cognitive decline and ageing.

At The Murthy Clinic, we conduct a thorough evaluation and recommend The Adrenal Stress Profile (ASP) saliva test, which uses carefully timed saliva samples to measure Cortisol and DHEA. Adrenal Stress Profile testing can also reveal Hypothalamic Pituitary and Adrenal axis imbalances and provide direction for clinical intervention with targeted therapeutic treatments, such as nutrient support and/or adaptogens, stress management, and lifestyle interventions.

What Can I Do?

• Consider a full health evaluation with The Murthy Clinic.
• Consider testing to understand your true underlying root causes.
• Stop wasting time in illness, start working towards Health.
• Book an appointment with The Murthy Clinic.