I read an excerpt from your web page on adrenal insufficiency. I am a senior year biochem student and I would like to do research in the area of endocrinology. I wanted to know your thoughts on how to best restore proper adrenal function - especially when excess androgens are produced due to alternate pathway. Do you think that it is best to utilize pregnenolone solely or would you use this in conjunction with progesterone and natural hydrocortisone. DHEA would be less preferable since symptoms of hyperandrogenism are often present ( hirsutism, scalp hair loss, acne, etc..). I have noticed in women that this is often the symptom presentation associated with adrenal insufficiency. I appreciate any thoughts that you might have.

The best way to restore proper adrenal function is to give it the raw materials for it to decide on its own how much to assimilate into the various hormones ( each of which have a negative feedback system). What are these items ? They include glandulars, lysine, proline, vitamin C, vitamin B5, all in quite a high dose. If you expect to get well with nutrients, you have to understand that nutrients are nontoxic and not very strong, so more is needed for health challenges. External introduction of DHEA, pregnenolone, progesterone, and natural cortisol will help short term, and can be used effectively to adjunct the adrenal recovery program ( which normally will take 6-12 months). It takes a long time to deplete the adrenal glands, and it will take some time to recoup, so to say. Women do react differently to the hormonals compare to man, esp the DHEA as you have noticed. Adrenal recovery therefore requires 3 major factors to be done concurrently:

a. basic nutrients as mentioned above properly dosed
b. relieve of stressor(s)
c. time ( together with diet and lifestyle changes)

Most people focus on one of these, and don't give it enough time. As a result, most people fail. I work with many who are "end stage" adrenal fatigue and repeatly I have found that if they follow my protocol closely with give it about 3-6 months, they become happy campers. The problem is that they don't have a lot of patience, and during the recovery process, one is likely (though not all the time) get worse before they get better.

Just buying supplements and loading up will not help, for each person have to be titrated. One person's nutrient is another's poison. The dosage depends on each's specific metabolic type.

You have asked a very good question, and I am taking more time to answer you for the solution is not as simple as most people thing, otherwise, there is no need for people like us to study all our lives and gain the thorough insight into this most troublesome syndrome.

Furthermore, you should note that adrenal fatigue in women is seldom stand alone. In 90% of the cases there is accompanying clinical or subclincal thyroid and estrogen imbalance. Keep an eye out as you are doing your research. I call this the OAT syndrome ( ovarian/adrenal/thyroid imbalance )

Best to you, and if you have a specific situation that needs recovery program, you can email me with more detail on the age, height , weight, meds, etc .

With ref to gum disease which can be related to bad breath. A dentist recommended Ii use a mouth wash which contained 'Thymol' as the first active ingredient. Listerine and some of the drug co. knock offs seem to have it under their house label. i have concluded it does make a significant difference over the alcohol and flavor types. Also, Ii have always read that COe,q10 at a high mg dosage (i use 100 mg) is effective in preventing gum disease and personally I have always found those 'little round between the teeth brushes' to be helpful in the on going battle. yes, it's an issue for me that I continually work on as I am now 71. And have been told that it seems to go with the terrain. Of course the pay off is no dentures. I'm healthy and happy. But I do spend most of my waking hours on body and mind maintance. And no one seems to mention that aspect of getting old.

There is no question dental health is the number cause of infection in our body. If you keep your mouth clean, the chances of your getting heart attack (yes, studies are showing that now) is much decreased. Especially critical is the removal of root canals and mercury almagams which serves as pockets of infection and reduce immunity respectively. These are all scientifically proven .

The best mouth wash is actually diluted hydrogen peroxide, and yes, coQ is excellent for gum health. I also recommend you take some activated carbon and swish it around your mouth with some water and that will absorb all the toxin in the mouth. When you then swallow it, it will help to chelate the metals from the gi track.

All 3 things above cost pennies a day and works fantastic. Give it a try. Keeping healthy need not be expansive if you know how.

How safe is melotonin to use?

Melatonin is perhaps one of the safest nutrient. Your body makes it too so it is not foreign to your internal system. You cannot kill someone with high dose melatonin. Its been tried. The normal over the counter dose is 1-3 mg. I routinely use upwards of 50mg for many of my cancer patients. Melatonin is much more than a sleeping pill. There are different forms, and depending on what you use it for, you should choose the right form, and also make sure that that it is pure. Impurities can cause problems in high dose.

As I am sure you are aware , there are a lot of very popular diets around at the moment that promote burning fat as a fuel source as apposed to glucose . I understand that of of the aims in your web pages advice control of blood sugar. Especially if glucose tolerance or sugar addictions are an issue. I would very much appreciate your opinion, concerning this type of diet as a "alternative cure" for blood sugar problems and whether or not you recommend it.

Burning fat as a fuel source is always better than burning glucose. Most of us through the years have trained our body to burn glucose, and thus the body breakdown with resulting diabetes, lipid abnormalities, just to name a few. Sugar addiction takes 2-3 years to overcome for most, and I encourage sugar balancing to help in this respect. Aside from controlling sugar balance, changing the body's fuel source from sugar to fat should be the ultimate aim (good fat, mind you) provided that the body of the person is metabolically typed to accept fat as the source. Many people do well on complex carbo as primary source of fuel and will do poorly on fat as well, especially those of Type B blood and relaxed personality (type B personality). This is in contrast to Type O blood type and Type A personality who do well on high good fat (monounsaturated fat such as olive oil for non-high heat use, and coconut oil (saturated fat) for high heat use.

What foods have the following effects on my PT level:

Make it higher:
Make it lower:
Lower being thicker?

Above are based on a level 0f 2.5.

When you are on blood thinner, be careful not to take supplements such as Gingko, Vitamin E, Garlic that act as blood thinner also.

The following food helps to prevent or inhibits abnormal blood clotting: Red Wine, Bilberry , Grapes (purple Grapes), Pineapple, Chinese Black Tree Fungus, Cat’s Claw, Chili, Ginger, Green Tea, Turmeric, Skullcap, Sanchi Ginseng, Yarrow, Fish Oils (3.6 grams per day), Flaxseed Oil, Olive Oil help to prevent abnormal Blood Clotting

Blood Thickener: High fat and high protein diet can cause the blood to be thicker. St Johns Wort is for Cleansing Putrified tissue and stopping bleeding. It is a blood thickener.

I have been told that with a Thyroid problem that eating cruciferous veggies that it will slow down the thyroids production of hormones. Is this true I have always liked veggies. I have been dieting and it is very slow going and have never had trouble and was told it could be this I was somewhat shocked as I was in the belief that veggies were very good for you.

Goitrogens are naturally-occurring substances that can interfere with function of the thyroid gland. If the thyroid gland is having difficulty making thyroid hormone, it may enlarge as a way of trying to compensate for this inadequate hormone production. “Goitrogens,” like circumstances that cause goiter, cause difficulty for the thyroid in making its hormone.

Cruciferous vegetables including:
Broccoli
Brussel sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mustard
Rutabaga
Turnips
Millet
Peaches
Peanuts
Radishes
Soybean and soy products, including tofu
Spinach
Strawberries

Other than olive oil, what are foods that are high in omega-9 fatty acids?

Here is a list for your reading:

omega-9 Oleic acid canola, olive, and peanut oils, animal products, avocado

omega-6 Linoleic acid corn, safflower, soybean, cottonseed, and sunflower oils

Arachadonic acid animal products

omega-3 Alpha-linolenic acid canola and soybean oils, some nuts, flaxseed
Eicosapentaenoic acid- fish ; Docosahexainoic acid - fish

Diagnosed with sebhorreic Keratosis. Afflicted for the last seven years on both arms, legs and skull. Consulted with several dermatologists in Trinidad and Tobago. Currently taking shark 1000 mg of shark liver oil with 30 % AKL.

You are on the right track, but need to be fine tuned. First you are taking a dose that is far too low to have anti-inflammatory effect. Second, if you take high dose, liver oil is not indicated due to excessive vitamin D unless you monitor your vitamin D blood level or live in a place with min sunshine. I suggest you take 10,000 grams per day of pharmaceutical grade fish oil with less than 1 ppb of toxic metal, yielding 5.4 grams of EPA /DHA. Take one tsp two times a day to get this amount.That is an average dose, some people need more . Do not take fish oil capsules or regular grade fish oil at this high dosage, but unfortunately, low dosage as what you are doing seldom works.

For a healthy almost 57 year old woman with low blood pressure, weighing 106 lbs., what is the maximum allowable dosage for the purpose of trying to recapture memory. My short term memory isn't bad. However, I find that I entirely lose events that occurred from a few months to 6 or more years ago. Even if reminded, I simply cannot recall anything about the events. It is as though they never happened. I take good notes because I am a professional and my line of work requires a memory. I think that my short term memory has improved since taking Vitamin E daily, 1000 IU.

Any other ideas? What nature of physician or professional should I consult?

If you are in good health and not taking blood thinners and other meds, you can increase your vit E to 2000 IU. Studies are underway now for up to 3000 IU in severe Alzeiheimer's Disease cases. Even better is membrane stabilization with high potency pharmaceutical grade liquid (low mercury) fish oil in large doses of 10-15 grams a day active ingredient EPA/DHA.

I am a 67 year old woman who has osteoporosis and cannot figure out why. I have been on progesterone for 16 years---first the suppositories and some shots--and the last 5 years on the cream. I am extremely health conscious, eat a healthy diet, take the best supplements out there, walk every day, do yoga, some aerobics, and weight lifting. I am taking an excellent calcium/magnesium supplement. Presently, I am using Tri-Estrogen which my MD has me on--she is a no-drug doctor! Since it is a 80-10-10 estrogen balance, should I switch to more estradiol rather than 80% estriol, since that usually affects bone the most. I am not overweight, had a hysterectomy at age 31, ovaries removed at age 38, and feel that I need some estrogen. My MD put me on Zypan lately, and I have also been taking Biost along with 3-A Calcium. She said I could also take the calcium product from the health care company with which I am involved. It is a calcium/magnesium/zinc/Vit.D/protein/phosphorous/potassium product with fulvates to make it more bio available. Why is my body not absorbing it? What else can I do?

The key to stimulating osteoblast activities are :
a. natural progesterone
b. High dose magnesium relative to calcium
c. weight bearing exercise
d. elimination of acidic and mineral bleeching diet
e. avoidance of drugs that can be toxic to bone cells such as synthetic
progesterone.

It is hard over an email to fully understand your history, but perhaps you can take a step back and review your history over the years and try to make some sense out of it. The history usually paints a very good story and will lead you properly to the root cause. Changing to more estradiol is not recommended, as the increase risk in cancer is simply not worth it. Testosterone may help, and so can DHEA and some other supplementation. Your MD is not far off, but I wonder why you are not on natural progesterone cream at this time. You may not even need the Triest unless you are still symptomatic with menopausal symptoms. You may want to find out why and the overall strategy as the main objective. Your doctor should have the pieces of the puzzle figured ,and a logical sequence of things to do to reverse your osteoporosis. Its not hard if you know what you are doing, and the most important thing to know is the bone growth is a dynamic process. Give your bones what it needs and it will grow , as long as you also concurrently remove the insults.

I would like a list of foods (not commercial brands), such as grains, nuts, fruits, veggies, flax and psyllium and the % of soluble and insoluble fiber that they each contain. Do you know of one? What is the difference between psyllium husk and whole seed, as far as whether or not it is soluble or insoluble? After a seed is milled does that change?

Physillium husk is a bluk-forming laxative high in both fiber and mucilage. The physillium seeds contain around 10-30% musilage. The laxative properties of physillium are due to the swelling of the husk when it comes in contact with water, which forms a gelatinous mass, softens and adds bulk to stools for easier elimination

Flax seed contains both soluble and insoluble fiber. About one-third of the fiber in flax seed is soluble, which is mucilage. Two-thirds of the fiber in flax seed is insoluble.

I don't have a source that shows % soluble and insoluble fiber.

Does vitamin B-12 help prevent mosquito bites or, at least, reduce the affect of bites? If B-12 isn't the answer, what is?

There is some debate on this matter.

The use of B12 is mixed. You can try using B complex (50 to 100 mg a day), especially B1 (50 to 100 mg one to two times a day) and B12 (1,000 mcg a day) to prevent as well as a mosquito repellent. Vitamin C helps reduce histamine release, resulting in a milder reaction, and can be considered Bromelain (250 to 500 mg four times a day between meals) is a proteolytic enzyme that has anti-inflammatory effects. All three when taken together as a "cocktail" can be helpful, but it is not 100%.

According to Joseph Conlon, technical advisor at the American Mosquito Control Association, ingested vitamin B-12 alone has not been shown to have any repellent effect on mosquitoes in controlled studies. Garlic has also failed to pass muster in this regard. However, the Association offers excellent information on ways to repel mosquitoes:
http://www.mosquito.org/mosquito.html

My mum is a diabetic (over 35 years a diabetic) and is tablet controlled. She also has a high cholesterol (heart) condition. we regularly buy salmon which is high in omega-3 fats for her. Is this ok? Also she loves avocado and I keep reading conflicting info that this is not good for her cholesterol. Is this correct?

Salmon is good, but unfortunately nowadays, it is laced with mercury unless you get the virgin alaskan salmon. Mercury can lead to a host of other neurological problem when one gets older, including association with Alzeiheimer's Disease. In fact, fish is no longer recommended for those who are contemplating pregnancy to avoid passing onto the baby during pregnancy. I think moderation is ok for those over 45 years of age. 8 ounces a week is plenty. The smarter way is eat the fish in moderation, and supplement with pharmaceutical grade high potency fish oil that is high has less than 1 part per billion heavy metal. Take one tsp two times a day together with polycosinaol and gucculipid and cholesterol will normalise nicely. Read these two articles:
http://www.lammd.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/Cholesterol.cfm
http://www.lammd.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/Omega-3_Fatty_Acids.cfm

Avocado is ok but don't overdo it. The correlatin between diet cholesterol and blood cholesterol level is only about 15%. Most people are unaware of this. Its ok to take, but in moderation if she already have high cholesterol.