CHIROPRACTIC CARE Q

HOW CAN CHIROPRACTIC CARE HELP YOU WITH HEADACHES AND OTHER CONDITIONS?

Chiropractic benefits everybody because it focuses on the central nervous system. The spine protects the spinal cord. When bones in your spine are not moving properly, it causes disruption in nerve flow. Nerve interference can lead to problems such as indigestion, constipation, and asthma. In addition, when nerves are pinched, pain can radiate down a person’s leg or arm, depending which part of the spine the nerve or nerves are being impinged. As a chiropractor, I help restore proper bone movement and thus eliminate the disruption in nerve flow.

Chiropractic is also very beneficial in eliminating chronic headaches. I’ve treated patients who have had chronic headaches for as long as six years. I conduct a motion study anal- ysis where I’m taking x-ray images of patients from the side, as well as bending forward and backward. This helps me determine which bones in the cervical spine are moving and which ones are not. Nerves near the bones not moving are being pinched, resulting in chronic headaches. In fact, 85 percent of headaches result from problems with the cervical spine. Many patients take Ibuprofen, which only masks the underlying problem instead of fixing it. I perform a series of treatments for these patients, and afterward I show them before and after images of their x-rays so they can understand why they were feeling pain to begin with.

Of course, I also treat problems unrelated to the spine, such as tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, and rotator cuff injuries. One tool that is very beneficial is LiteCure Laser Therapy, which energizes damaged cells and increases circulation to a painful area. The laser has been extremely helpful with treating neuropathy and restoring function to the nerves. Many people with neuropathy cannot feel their feet and often fall as a result. Some end up falling and breaking a hip and end up in nursing homes. I want these patients to be safe and independent for as long as possible.

WHEN IS A GOOD TIME TO SEE A FINANCIAL ADVISOR?

QAnytime you are making a decision that has financial implications, you should consult with an expert to discuss the risks and rewards involved with that decision, says financial advisor Meg Black with Edward Jones, 8483 Mulberry Lane in The Villages.

“A great time to see an advisor is when you are determining how much to save for retirement or if you have another major life change, for instance, if you’re getting divorced, buying or selling a home, or changing jobs,” Meg says. “If you start a new position, instead of rolling over a previous 401(k) into your new company’s plan, you may save a substantial amount of money and realize an improved return by using a financial advisor who offers you more investment options by rolling into a new IRA.” When you are thinking about when to retire and trying to determine if you are ready, an advisor can help you determine what the your income stream is going to look life for life, which really sheds light on whether working a few more years provides the financial benefit you want.”

Edward Jones is a full service financial firm, handling savings plans for retirement and education, CDs, annuities, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and life and long term care insurance. The well established firm has offices nationwide and over 14,000 advisors. Their advisors use an established process to create a customized plan for each client to help them reach their financial goals”

“At Edward Jones, we have a team behind each advisor that helps them be an expert in whatever area their client needs,” Meg says. The firm does a lot of retirement planning in The Villages, a 55 plus community. But Meg emphasizes Edward Jones also works with small business owners who want to provide benefits to their employees, parents who are saving for college, and higher income earners who want to reduce taxes.

When looking around for a financial advisor and firm, consumers should be look for an advisor who is upfront about their costs and fees and make sure they are reasonable. “I always perform a complimentary financial review and a written retirement income plan when I meet with a prospective client,” Meg says, “so even if you only want a second opinion or just want to ask some questions, I’m happy to sit down with you at no cost. My favorite client is one who I provide information and education to and then we partner together to make decisions to reach their goals.”

Consumers should also look for two important attributes when choosing an advisor. “The most critical quality is that you are comfortable with your advisor and feel like you can be honest with them about your concerns, and that they are being honest with you,” Meg says. “Second of all, the firm that your advisor is with is important- it must be a trusted firm with support behind your advisor so they can be extremely knowledgeable about your specific situation.”

HEALTH

JEFF BELL, A.D.R. ASK

DO I NEED REPRESENTATION FOR MY SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIM?

Truthfully most individual are denied disability benefits when filing an application—around 70 percent, and that holds true at the first appeal level, which is around 80 percent. Though the process for filing a claim for the federal disability program is not meant to be adversarial, it can become just that. Incorrect information is the norm, which is not a surprise for a program that does not educate the people it is supposed to serve.

Most disability representatives walk through this process with you. Significant benefits can be lost with even a slight error on the initial application. Having someone who knows the process and can also hold the Social Security

Administration accountable to what it should do is comforting.

For a majority of individuals denied for SSDI or SSI, the way to win the disability benefits they deserve is to pursue their case to a social security hearing presided over by an administrative law judge (ALJ).

While the case is headed toward a hearing, the entire responsibility for proper preparation falls to the individual filing, or their disability representative, who may or may not be a disability lawyer.

ALJ disability hearings require preparation because from the time a case is denied at the first-appeal level (reconsideration) until the hearing is held (often as long as two years), the Social Security Administration does nothing to assist the claimant’s case.

Most important is gathering all the necessary supporting documentation. During the time between the reconsideration appeal and the hearing, a considerable amount of newer records must be obtained and forwarded to the hearing office.

However, proper preparation includes more than gathering records. To win a case, the claimant must be guided through testimony so they are aware of questions to be asked and everything that happened previously in the case must be analyzed. This mean studying all decisions made by disability examiners and ensuring there are no mistakes in judgment or errors in the application of certain rules.

The ALJ regularly calls on vocational experts to provide expert testimony. They often respond to hypothetical scenarios brought up by the judge. Understanding, interpreting, and, more importantly, countering the assertions of the experts is typically a task best done by an experienced disability representative.

Because the pain could indicate that you are suffering from peripheral artery disease (PAD) or venous disease. Both veins and arteries can become narrowed and occluded. The prevalence of these diseases is beyond our imagination, yet both of them are easily treatable when diagnosed in their early stages. A physician can also help you control risk factors, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels.

First, we’ll talk about arteries. Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart. Two-thirds of people who have blockages in the arteries of the leg also have blockages in the arteries of the heart. Therefore, treating arteries is of utmost importance because pa-

QWHY IS IT DANGEROUS TO IGNORE LEG PAIN?

tients could suffer a heart attack or stroke. Patients with blockages in the leg typically tell me they used to walk two miles and now can barely walk one-fourth of a mile. Their legs get tired. As the disease advances, they experience leg pain during rest. In the final stages, they typically get slow-healing ulcers that can become infected and spread throughout the body.

Veins, on the other hand, carry blood to the heart. Venous disease can also lead to leg pain, making them swollen, achy, tired, and heavy. With venous disease, ulcers typically form around the ankle. In some cases, bacteria gets in and enters the rest of the body. That is why it is so important to treat venous disease before ulcers occur. Skin discoloration, ankle swelling, and skin indentation are symptoms of venous disease.

My goal is to do everything I can to help patients avoid surgery. In most cases, occluded veins and arteries can be fixed with compression stockings, balloon angioplasty, stenting or atherectomy, a procedure where plaque is removed off the artery walls. FOR

Gleaned from an Interview with Dr. David Catalano, radiation oncologist and long-term diet/cancer proponent: Prevention is the best medicine, and many experts believe the diet/ cancer connection is very important. But it’s hard to prove certain foods promote cancer, because most diet research isn’t well funded, and the research we have is pretty scarce. It’s common sense that what may cause cancer is worth avoiding, particularly if you are at increased risk.

“We now know that smoking causes many cancers, including lung, throat, esophagus, bladder, and even breast cancer. We also know that patients who continue to smoke after they get lung or throat cancer have a much lower survival rate. Current data is beginning to imply that diet is the leading cause of three of our top four cancers: prostate, breast, and colorectal. For this reason, I advise my patients with these cancers in particular to do some homework, and try to adjust their diet and lifestyles accordingly” says Dr. Catalano.

“The World Health Organization published data in October 2015 that said processed red meats, e.g. hot dogs, bacon, sausage, bologna, cause more cancer in the world than smoking does; they classified all processed red meat as a carcinogen, and all red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans” he says. The American Cancer Society (ACS) has long ad-

QIS THERE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE FOODS WE EAT AND CANCER?

vocated a diet low in red meat and the consumption of 5 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables daily. So when it comes to cancer prevention, Dr. Catalano recommends the ACS diet as a starting place.

Dr. Catalano believes there is additional risk from animal milk protein. “There is a less certain connection between milk consumption and both breast and prostate cancers. So, if a patient has one of these cancers, I believe it’s important to minimize milk products, including cheese and yogurt. And, if they have colon cancer, I think it’s very important to avoid red meat as well” he adds.

“One of the most fascinating papers to come out recently is from a friend of mine, Dr. Michael Orlich from California, in which various diets were studied in relation to colorectal cancers” Dr. Catalano said. “The gist of the paper is that the diet with the highest likelihood of developing colorectal cancer was the typical American red meat diet, followed by the semi-vegetarian, (who eats meat more than once a month); the vegan diet (no animal products of any kind) was less likely, and the lacto-ovo vegetarian (they eat eggs, cheese, milk products, but they don’t eat meat of any kind) was even less likely. But the lowest risk of all was in pesco-vegetarians—fish-eating vegetarians (and eating other meats once a month or less)—who had a 43% lower risk than the average American. This study showed the pesco-vegetarian diet was the best diet, of those studied, for the prevention of colorectal cancer; a previous paper suggested that a fish-eating vegetarian diet is also associated with the longest lifespan versus other diets.” Both papers were published in the Journal of The American Medical Association.

“A vegetarian diet with occasional fish is my favorite diet; the last time I ate red meat on a regular basis was in the 1970s, when I was inspired by others who were trying to eat healthy. Now, it is becoming clear this may be the ultimate anti-cancer diet” Dr. Catalano added.

QWHAT ARE THE MEDICAL USES OF MARIJUANA?

Amendment 2, approved by Florida voters in November, effectively legalized medical marijuana by expanding the list of conditions for which patients can qualify for the drug.

That has opened the door for facilities such as Medical Marijuana Treatment Clinics of Florida to treat a greater number of patients with a wider range of illnesses, says Dr. Joseph Dorn, who guides the clinics.

The clinics are located at Baylee Plaza, 16810 S. U.S. Highway 441, Suite 502, Summerfield, as well as Tallahassee, Ponte Vedra Beach, Seminole, and St. Petersburg, with two more offices planned in Miami.

The clinic near The Villages is the busiest office, Dorn says, because of the demographics of the age 55plus retirement community.

“There’s a common misconception that it’s mostly young people who want to use marijuana products,” he says. “We’re targeting the 50 and older group. People over age 50 tend to have more medical illnesses that qualify them for medical marijuana.”

The amendment allows the use of medical marijuana to treat cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis. Equally important, it includes language for “related or similar” debilitating conditions, meaning physicians can treat “countless” other illnesses, Dorn says. The original law limited use of low-THC marijuana to patients who were terminally ill with cancer, or had chronic seizures or severe muscle spasms.

“The whole goal of Amendment 2 was to increase access for people who can benefit from medical marijuana,” says Dorn, who spent the past 12 years working in hospice care, seeing firsthand patients in need of relief.

Dorn’s clinics are strictly for the dispensing of medical, not recreational, marijuana. And though the drug is being used in a medical setting, the clinics still battle negative perceptions about its use— from patients themselves, he says.

“A lot of the patients are older people who all their lives thought marijuana was bad,” Dorn says. “You may have a woman who’s 82 and never smoked a joint in her life.”

Now the clinics are helping patients move past their perceptions and realize the benefits of marijuana, and the amendment helped raised awareness, Dorn says. Patients may see if they qualify for medical marijuana by taking a survey at the clinics’ website, mmtcfl.com.

“Our philosophy is, with our pricing and our locations, we want it to be accessible and affordable for people who qualify for medical marijuana throughout the state of Florida,” he says.

MICAHEL SHAPIRO, M.D.