I'm pretty sure Hawkeye never severed a corpus callosum on M.A.S.H., so I'm sure finding someone who has was on his bucket list when the show ended. When a corpus callosum is cut, the two halves of the brain can't communicate and operate totally separately. The video outlines some experiments that have been done with a guy who's had his cut. It's given us interesting insight into the differences in function between the left and right.
It turns out that our left brains are more concerned with analysis of cause, effect, interpretation, and explaining things. Logic and reason are the strength of the left brain. It seeks to break things down into their individual components and figure out mechanisms of how or why things work. Modern medicine operates almost exclusively in this hemisphere. This is reinforced at the end of the video where the Dr. Mike is clearly bias toward the left brain, which is not surprising given his vocation as a researcher. Math and science are realms that lend themselves to the left brain.
The right brain recognizes patterns. It's not concerned about the details, what happened in the past, or what may or may not happen tomorrow. It just perceives in the present. This is where our perceptive, creative, and intuitive brainpower comes from. This is the hemisphere where many of the alternative healing arts operate. The arts are experienced in the right hemisphere.
So why am I writing about it? Well, this division of labour has consequences on our health, and learning how to navigate between the two can be tremendously helpful for many of us - both patients and physicians.
Take anxiety or insomnia as an example. If you've ever found yourself lying in bed awake, and your mind is racing over the details of what happened yesterday, what may happen tomorrow, and what you need to the next day, that's your left brain in a death spiral. You can't talk or reason your way out of that spiral. That's like pouring water into a pool to help someone who's drowning. What you need to do is get into your right brain. This is done by brining your awareness to what your body is feeling in the present. There are many ways to do this. Deep breathing, guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, integrated body psychotherapy, biofeeback, meditation.. the list goes on. It's helpful to consult with a professional at first to help guide you through the process, but you'll find that over time, you'll be able to snap yourself out of it quite easily. I use a combination of some of the above, particularly breathing and progressive muscle relaxation.
In my opinion we were given both hemispheres for a reason. Why limit yourself to half a brain? We have been given a tremendous ability to reason, interpret, and analyze. We've also been given highly sensitive and accurate perceptions, intuitive abilities, and artistic expression. You'll likely resonate a bit more with one or the other (I've always been a bit more of a lefty), but I encourage you to open your mind and give your other half a chance. You may be surprised at how much richer life can be.
On Monday night we successfully installed 12 virtual gastric band's in my office. 12 participants have now embarked on a trial program that will see them eat less, drop weight, and live healthier lives without the need for drastic diets or surgery. We also explored food addiction, why it is we feel compelled to eat tubby foods, and why we eat to soothe.
Of particular interest was one gentleman who had originally signed up for gastric bypass surgery, but was convinced otherwise after meeting with people who had "successfully" undergone the procedure. In his opinion although many of them had lost weight, they were less healthy, in his opinion, than if they'd not had the surgery.
Most people were optimistic about the endeavour, and we're all certainly excited to see how it turns out.
For Christmas this year I got a new pant.. size. I'm pretty sure what Mr. Claus has on his back there is a bag full of regret. I, however, enjoyed my holiday binge and am looking forward to getting back into shape.
If any of you feel the same, you may be interested in a new approach to the age old weight loss conundrum. A colleague Julia Andersen (a clinical hypnotherapist) and I have put together a FREE program for 12 people that incorporates a "virtual gastric band" and a naturopathic approach to safe and effective weight loss. We'll explore why we tend to overeat, use food for comfort, and provide a blueprint for getting you to the shape you want. We'll meet on Monday evenings for 8 sessions between January 9th and March 12th.
For more information and to sign up, check out the Living Healthy Victoria website. Perhaps you'll be one of the lucky few who get to partake!
I love December. I had my first egg-nog in October (only legit Naturopaths drink egg-nog). December is the month of giving and for many of you there's a little gift waiting for you that you may not even know about. It's from your extended health plan.
Most extended health plans have a yearly allotment for Naturopathic medicine. At the end of each calendar year, the unused benefits expire. If you've ever considered consulting a Naturopath, why not use what you've already paid for? This is the perfect time to do it. If you book in this month, you'll essentially have 2 years worth of benefits to use in the next 12 calendar months.
For Christmas this year, you're health insurance is offering you a jump-start on your new year's health goals. Let's face it we're all going to be hitting the food hard and repeatedly over the next 4 weeks, I promise I won't stand in the way. I will, however, be here to help put you back together when all is said and done.
See you soon, Bryn Vital Victoria Naturopathic Clinic (250) 386-3534
In honour of Men's health awareness month, I've embarked on a journey of growing facial hair that my growth pattern doesn't support. In response to the feedback I've received on multiple occasions I've deemed it the Cary Elwes (known best for his role as Wesley in the Princess Bride).
Movember is a movement born out of a need to get men to see doctors. Here's an exerpt from the Movember website:
Changing the face of men's health begins with starting a simple conversation Let’s face it - men are known to be a little more indifferent towards their health, especially when compared to the efforts of women, who proactively and publicly address their health issues in a way you don’t typically see with men. As a result the levels of awareness, understanding, funding and support of male health issues, like prostate cancer, lag significantly behind causes such as breast cancer.
The reasons for the poor state of men’s health in the Canada and around the world are numerous and complex and this is primarily due to a lack of awareness of the health issues men face. This can largely be attributed to the reluctance of men to openly discuss the subject, the old ‘it’ll be alright’ attitude. Men are less likely to schedule doctors’ appointments when they feel ill or to go for an annual physical, thereby denying them the chance of early detection and effective treatment of common diseases.
For more information on the movement, click here: Movember Website. For a discussion on why men don't see doctors, and why it may be a good idea to reverse the trend, tune in to my "why men don't see doctors" series.
This is how they do testicular exams in Japan. Fortunately for those of us in North America we use a much gentler technique. Despite this fact, many of us are afraid that someone will spring a testicular exam on us. When I was 19 I went to a walk in clinic for an infection on my foot. While they focused primarily on the foot, before I knew it the doctor was playing game-boy with my nards. While it was a prudent thing to do, this sort of thing happens to be another obstacle that keeps us guys, particularly the younger ones, from seeing a doctor.
What you may not know is that testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men between the age of 15-35. There have been some high profile cases in the past decade or so including the NHL's current leading scorer Phil Kessel, comedian Tom Green (who televised his testicular removal), and most famously Lance Armstrong.
Testicular cancer also happens to have one of (if not the highest) cure rate of all the cancers you could end up with. With early detection, cure rates approach 100% and in more advanced cases cure rate is still in the 90% range. Lance Armstrong's story illustrates this well. When he was found to have testicular cancer, they had found it had spread to his lungs and brain. In pretty much any other type of cancer, metastases to the brain and lungs tend to have grim prognoses. After successful surgery and chemo (which works really well for testicular cancer), Lance went on to win another 6 Tours de France.
Testicular cancer typically presents as a painless mass in the testicle. It can also cause symptoms like a dull ache or heaviness in the lower stomach, scrotum, or groin area. Unless you're having complaints related to that region on your body, you won't likely be asked to drop trou. If you're in the 15-35 age range though, 30 seconds of testicular game boy could save your life.
Us gents are pretty good at many things, but it turns out going to the doctor isn't one of them. There are a few reasons for this, so in the spirit of Movember - a month dedicated to men's health, I think it's time we explored the question. In no particular order, here's what I've found.
Reason #1. You're afraid you're going to get a finger in the butt. While this will almost certainly happen if you've got a problem with your bowels or blood in your stool, it also may be the case for many gent's in the 40+ age range as a screen for prostate and colon cancer.
While this type of screening (along with a PSA test via the blood) has been done for years, there are new and controversial recommendations calling into question their usefulness. US Preventive Services Task Force is a government citing evidence that prostate exams and PSA testing in "healthy men" with no symptoms have no net benefit in helping save lives. Read more here. While I understand what they're getting at (tens of thousands of men experience serious untoward effects, including death from treatment of less aggressive cancers that may not have ever killed them), I think most of us would still rather know if we had cancer. It also can come across in a way that can mislead men into thinking that they shouldn't ever be checked, which is not the intent of the recommendation.
The other thing that bothers me a bit about this "task force" is that they call themselves preventive. Early detection isn't the same thing as prevention. Early detection is great, but if you do your job right on the prevention side, ideally there would be nothing to detect.
So how can one prevent prostate cancer? That's a great question, and one we'll explore soon enough.
