If you go to the hospital you may lose your mind!

If you go to the hospital you may lose your mind!

If you go to the hospital you may lose your mind!

Have you ever seen anyone you love lose his or her mind within a matter of hours? Even if they recover from the dark side you don’t ever want to see it happen again. And, that dark side can reappear at any time. Trust me.

I just learned about hospital delirium. When a patient is in the hospital they can develop a cluster of serious psychiatric symptoms that represent acute brain failure. It happened to my mother this week. The hospital is very aware of it, although they actually do little to prevent it.

An estimated 7 million Americans experience delirium at the hospital every year. It is estimated that a weeklong stay at the hospital can cause hospital delirium in 30% of patents. Over 70 years of age it can be up to 60 -80% of patients.

The chance of a patient’s death 30 days after the hospital stay doubles if this occurs. Acute brain failure!   Your chance of developing full blown Alzheimer’s disease over the next 5 years goes up as well. Until recently, hospital-acquired delirium was chalked up to old age and not considered a condition to be prevented or treated.

Delirium also is one of the most costly complications of a trip to the hospital. It leads to longer stays — up to 10 days longer. This can cost each elderly patient an extra $60,000 to $64,000 per hospital stay.

My mother thought she was losing her mind. She couldn’t understand why she was having the thoughts she was having. It was so debilitating, she just wanted to die.

The doctors told me this was probably happening but they never said what to do. Then I changed what little I had control over. I brought in pictures of her life and plastered the walls with it. I brought in the books she had written and her favorite movies. Unfortunately, the constant change in personnel, lack of pain control, dehydration and over monitoring trumps everything.

The patient can become paranoid, confused, depressed, lose their memory, become highly resistant, have hallucinations, be disoriented, decide they will not get better, or decide to die.

While this can be brought on by infections, dehydration, and medication, environmental and treatment routines are the main stressors.

Major contributors:
Sensory deprivation: A patient being put in a room that often has no windows, and is away from family, friends, and all that is familiar and comforting.

Sleep disturbance and deprivation: The constant disturbance and noise with the hospital staff coming at all hours to check vital signs, give medications, taking blood, and turning the patient every two hours. The constant change in nursing or medical staff can be disorienting.

Continuous light levels: Continuous disruption of the normal biorhythms with lights on continually (no reference to day or night).

Stress: Patients feel total loss of control over their life. Many times the medical personnel do not ask permission and get angry when the patient is not agreeable. In teaching hospitals in particular, medical tests can be excessive and unnecessary.

Lack of orientation: A patient’s loss of time and date.

Pain: When pain is not controlled, people physically heal slower and can cause great mental anxiety.

What you can do:

  • Get the patient moving at least three times a day. Sit up, and then walk to the bathroom or down the hall.
  • Bring what the patient needs to see, hear, eat and stay oriented: glasses, hearing aids, dentures and favorite foods from home, movies, books, and photos. Remind patients of who they are in normal times, bring along familiar objects from home.
  • Stay close by, and take notes, to be able to explain to the patient in simple terms what’s going on. Hospitals are confusing places.
  • Engage in cognitive training: Brain-stimulating activities, like video games, Scrabble, cards or crosswords, for 60 minutes a day improve the ability to handle everyday tasks, like balancing a checkbook or organizing a family reunion.

I am learning the hard way. You need to be informed before stepping into a hospital or you may be unhappily surprised what comes out.

Dr. Lori Todd

Relationship Feedback Technique Larry Burk

Relationship Feedback Technique Larry Burk

Relationship Feedback Technique Larry Burk

The major teaching tool of our evolution has been the continuing experience of challenging relationships to which we have been drawn in spite of repeated failures in the past. The most important seven words in that process are not, “I love you,” “I love you, too,” but, “May I give you some feedback?” “Yes.” I learned the Relationship Feedback Technique during The WorldLegacy Leadership Program described in the November 2014 Let Magic Happen newsletter. The approach is demonstrated in a video on his site.

Relationship Feedback Technique

The steps are as follows:
1) Always ask permission to give feedback
2) Speak authentically from the heart
3) Share what wasn’t working
4) Acknowledge any breakdowns
5) Look for potential breakthroughs
6) Share what was working
7) Set intentions together for the future

See Larry Burk, Let Magic Happen Newsletter

Larry Burk Relationship Feedback WorldLegacy

Healing PTSD after Car Accidents Larry Burk

Healing PTSD after Car Accidents Larry Burk

Healing PTSD after Car Accidents Larry Burk

Do you have stress-related symptoms after a car accident or does anyone you know?

Over 2 million serious accidents happen in the
United States each year with up to one half resulting in
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Survivors of crashes may suffer for many months with debilitating symptoms such as anxiety, flashbacks, insomnia and fear of driving which can be successfully treated with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and other mind-body spirit approaches.

My first clinical use of EFT was with a Duke student in my stress management class who had acute stress disorder and hives after
surviving a serious car accident. That first opportunity to test EFT came in 2002 just after downloading a free manual from the Internet,
so if it worked for me that easily, you can learn it just as quickly. The full story is published in the attached article from the May 2010
Energy Psychology Journal.
Let magic happen,
Larry Burk

Bio
Dr. Burk’s academic career in radiology focused on MRI of the knee and shoulder from 1987 to 2004 including faculty positions at Jefferson Medical College, Eastern Virginia Medical School and Duke University School of Medicine.  He took his first course in hypnosis in 1990 and completed the UCLA Acupuncture Course for Physicians in 1998. That same year, he co-founded the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine and acted as Education Director until his departure from Duke in 2004 to set up his consulting business, Healing Imager, Inc.

Dr. Burk learned EFT in 2002 and had multiple breakthroughs in 2003 at The WorldLegacy during his NC59 Leadership program.
He has experienced many magical synchronicities in his career and life that have guided him along his journey.

“The sooner you decide that it is alright to believe the opposite of what the masses do, and that it is alright to trust the universe, and you choose to be happy rather than be right, the sooner you will be happy.” ― Malti Bhojwani

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Children and Autism

Children and Autism

Children and Autism

In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network reported that approximately 1 in 110 children in the United States has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. This represents an increase in the prevalence of autism disorders compared to earlier in the decade when prevalence was cited as 1 in 166 and 1 in 250. In the nineties, prevalence was 1 in 2500. It is difficult to compare autism rates over the last three decades, as the diagnostic criteria for autism have changed over the years, No matter what, this has become a problem we get to deal with in powerful and effective ways.

Stephanie Ray, a WorldLegacy  graduate, NC129 Leadership, has written an article about autism and parents.

What parents should expect from school professionals

As you are reading this, another woman is giving birth to a child with autism. He won’t be diagnosed for a few years, but when he is, his mother will probably search frantically for treatment options; options that range from shock therapy to alternative schooling to intensive home programs. Most parents don’t even question the scientific validity of treatments. The majority of parents, especially new ones, tend to take ideas heard on television talk shows, printed in magazines, or blogged on the internet as fact and scientifically relevant when there is NO evidence to attest to the treatment’s validity. While it is excusable, to an extent, for parents to get caught in the whirlwind of autism treatments presented in pop psychology today, it is NOT acceptable for school professionals to do the same. What should parents of children with autism expect from their school administration and professionals?

Schools have nothing to learn from pseudoscientific treatments, but they have plenty to learn from marketing strategies. Responsible professionals find these treatments hard to accept and consider it unprofessional to let their students and parents cling to unrealistic hopes. However, while school professionals need not nurture false hopes, neither should they ignore the power of hope and the parents’ emotional needs. Parents need to feel positive about their children’s educational environment and the ability of that environment to meet their child’s needs. This applies to the parental population as a whole, but especially for parents of children with special needs. Parents need to feel useful; they need to feel like they can make things better for their child and it’s the school’s job to nurture that feeling.

How should school professionals respond when parents request for services a district is unable—or unwilling—to provide? It is the responsibility of the professional to investigate it. Families should be encouraged to discuss what they’ve heard. To understand the concept, professionals should watch the program or read the article that inspired the parents. They should search for value in the teachings, for they want to appear as credible as talk show hosts, right? If they feel the information presented in the program or article about a “miracle” treatment is not valid, they should explain why and what would make it more valuable. School professionals are dealing with a fragile entity, parental hope. They want to direct the parent’s energy away from an unreasonable program and toward something constructive they can do for the child—together.

The best defense against an unreasonable demand is a good assessment. This can reassure parents that someone understands their child as well as, or better than, the family. However, it is important that school professionals don’t try to bluff the parents. It’s better to go into IEP meetings with questions that with pat answers. If school staff have incomplete information, they need to be honest about it. Most parents will respect professionals who say they need more time to evaluate the child or want the parents’ opinions on issues as well as solutions.

Ideally, a starting point would be established by parents and school staff as a team. Once this is done, setting appropriate goals can be a difficult task for both professionals and parents alike. A main reason for this could be that our society hasn’t done a satisfactory job of articulating goals of regular education, let alone special education. Parents generally have a fuzzy recollection of their own school experience—recalling nine months a year divided between academics and recreation. Perhaps they think the only educational objective was graduation and preparation for college.

Parents assume special education will be different from regular education, but they don’t really know what to expect. They may ask “What exactly will my child be learning?”, “How will I know if they are making progress?”, “How will the teacher reach all the children when they all have different disabilities?” and possibly most importantly “What is the ultimate goal of my child being in a special education classroom?” The uncertainty can add to their uneasiness. They already have a child who can’t fully understand; now they have to deal with an educational system that hasn’t been clearly defined!  Some parents hope special education will help their child catch up with other students. They may hope for a total recovery by graduation. However, most parents recognize that their child’s disability won’t fade with age. Rather, the child with a disability will become an adult with a disability. Eventually, even the most hopeful parents face their compromise with destiny.

As a school professional, it is our job to join forces with parents in service to the child. This may mean being open to new ideas, facing being questioned about our own beliefs, and willing to make sacrifices for the success of the child. Parents rely on school professionals to provide top notch services to their child with autism and expect nothing less than our very best. It is the job of the school professional to create an educational environment that is both nurturing for the student and satisfying for the parents.

Stephanie Ray
Stephanie has worked for the past four and a half years as a behavior tutor for children with autism. Her passion lies with adolescents with autism and transitioning into adulthood. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in developmental psychology with a specialization in autism.  She is currently working on an effective treatment for individuals with autism.
Stephanie is also a graduate of NC129  Leadership Program.

Oriental Medicine

Oriental Medicine

Oriental Medicine

Dagmar Ehling, Mac, Lac, DOM(NM)

Evolution is a progression that continues to evolve through cycles of heating and cooling, moistening and drying, contraction and expansion. These processes enable bacteria and other microorganisms to grow. Nature evolves in harmony with these cycles and always forces of the skies and earth, heat and cold, dryness and wetness, daytime and nighttime, inhaling and exhaling, motion and rest, yin and yang. When we move beyond duality, we experience the Tao – complete oneness.

In studying nature, we can comprehend the mechanisms of human bodily functions. While Western medicine aims to reduce disease or functional mechanisms to isolated, single-most active functions or ingredients, Oriental medial theory thrives on correlate thinking: bodily and emotional functions closely interrelate to manifestation of the macrocosm around us, meteorological changes, diet, visual and auditory impressions, our ever-changing emotions and experiences, and our social environment all have significant influences on our body, mind and spirit. When we are in balance with all theses influences and, most notably, within ourselves, we are healthy. We are constantly regenerating and degenerating, waxing and waning hence the Chinese developed a comprehensive system to help us achieve balance within this process. Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicinals, acupressure, diet, Taiqi Chuan and Qi Gong (2 forms of gentle exercises and breathing), and gentle massage, known as Tui Na1 all assist in achieving homeostasis or balance which translates to being healthy.

At about 2700 BCE, one of the first ancient texts, the Huang Di Nei Jing – The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic discusses Chinese philosophy2 . The Nei Jing includes thoughts on Taoism, religion, and observations pertaining to the functioning of nature and the universe, and their application to the functioning of the human body. Evolving descriptions of the relationships of yin and yang were recording in the Nei Jing.

YIN/YANG THEORY

The core of Oriental philosophy is represented by the well-known yin/yang symbol which shows the natural process of continual change created by opposing forces. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The small circles of opposing colors within the larger wave-like patterns illustrate that there is yin within yang and yang within yin. The dynamic curve that separates them shows that yin and yang are in constant motion and that they create, control, and transform each other. The whole world is seen in a dualistic interplay of opposites.

Chinese mythology goes back about 5,000 years and it is said that peasants experimented with certain exercises after a hard day’s of work. They noticed energy vibrating through their bodies, moving up and down and into their extremities. These movements were precursors to Taoist meditation practices, Taiji Quan and Qi Gong. Qi Gong means ‘qi exercise’; some refer to it as ‘longevity method’ or ‘breathing exercise’. By refining these techniques they noted an increase in vitality and mental clarity; these practices continued to evolve and the ancient masters began to observe a sense of well-being and relaxation while exercising. Emanating through their entire bodies they called this vibrating energy qi.

BIO

Dagmar Ehling, founding member of Oriental Health Solutions, LLC, has been a licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine in New Mexico since 1989. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Acupuncture from Southwest Acupuncture College in Santa Fe, NM, is North Carolina State licensed, and is nationally certified in Oriental Medicine by the NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine). Dagmar is a graduate of WorldLegacy’s NC42 Leadership Program.

Kenneth Fielding Morehead Complexity

Kenneth Fielding Morehead Complexity

Kenneth Fielding Morehead Complexity

By Kenneth Fielding Morehead, MSOM, Lac, DOM (NM), DAONB

Complexity as a theory for how systems work and maintain stability is a popular topic today in many fields, including physics, chemistry and mathematics. These concepts have even entered the popular consciousness, with references to it in such films as Jurassic Park. The various theories about complexity also have validity in the area of diet and health. How can complexity theory clarify our understanding of food quality? And can complexity theory have practical application in the way we eat?

What has research found that points the way toward understanding how complexity is a component of what makes us tick? Let’s start with some general observations. At its best, food is a vastly complex and synergistic mix of various nutrients. Processed foods have fewer nutrients and lean heavily toward specific micronutrients. They also reduce micronutrients often found in whole foods. In addition, nutrients are altered in a ways not found in traditional food processing. As such, modern processed foods are simpler than the full-bodied complex foods of antiquity.

For the moment, let’s assume that complexity in food can be associated with higher quality and simplification in food with lower quality. Can the relative complexity of food be imparted into our tissues? This is important, because higher complexity in human tissues has been linked to vitality and health.

Here’s a simple analogy. If a table has one hundred legs (a very stable complex structure), and we shoot a bowling ball at 100 mph under the table, we might knock 50 legs out from under the table. But with 50 legs still intact, the table remains secure. However, if there are only three legs to the table and we knock out only one, the table falls over. Higher complexity yields higher stability in response to stress.

Complexity in Food

Processing strips our foods down to their simplest components – sucrose in white sugar, glucose in white flour, filtered vegetable oils, pasteurized reduced-fat mild products and artificial flavors. Theses processes also remove the vast array of nutrients that work together synergistically in whole foods. The food industry has long claimed that the removal of nutrients can be rectified through “fortification”, the addition of synthetic vitamins. For example, synthetic vitamin A is added to margarine to make it “nutritionally equivalent to the natural vitamin-A complex in butter. However, synthetic vitamins can cause imbalances and often have undesired effects. Synthetic vitamin A has been show to cause the type of birth defects that natural vitamin A prevents.

Lately, there is a huge push to get women to take supplementary folic acid to prevent neural tube defects during pregnancy. Folic acid by itself is a simple nutritional constituent. It’s only one nutrient in thousands that are part of whole, nutritionally complex foods. While it is claimed that supplying this nutrient in pill form may have a positive effect in reducing neural tube defects, why are women told that this is what they need rather than being given a choice between supplementation or a diet of whole foods that provides this nutrient in context? Is this ignorance or rationalization? Either way, it seems more respectful to fully inform the public rather than simplifying the truth and giving women an uninformed choice. Lack of whole foods is the root cause of folic acid deficiency, not a lack of pills.

BIO
Ken Morehead, founding member of Oriental Health Solutions, LLC, is a licensed acupuncturist in Durham, NC, licensed as a Doctor of Oriental Medicine in New Mexico, is nationally board certified as an Acupuncture Orthopedist and is a credentialed acupuncturist at Duke Integrative Medicine. He is the past secretary and chairman of the NC State Acupuncture Licensing Board and an advisory board member of the Weston Price Foundation in Washington, D.C.  Ken Morehead is a graduate of WorldLegacy’s NC45 Leadership Program.

Fertility and Western and Chinese Medicine

Fertility and Western and Chinese Medicine

Fertility and Western and Chinese Medicine

GAUGING A WOMAN’S HEALTH BY HER FERTILITY SIGNALS: INTEGRATING WESTERN WITH TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS

By Dagmar Ehling, DOM, and Katie Singer, CFE

This article presents observations of traditional Chinese medical and Western concepts of a woman’s fertility signals. A woman of childbearing age cycles through processes of heating and cooling and moistening and drying to make her fertile. Her fertility signals—basal body temperature, cervical fluid, and cervix changes—can be observed and charted to gauge the woman’s gynecological health as well as to avoid or enhance her chances of achieving pregnancy. Introductory information about charting fertility signals, an introduction to traditional Chinese medicine theories, and various basal body temperature charts with analysis from traditional Chinese medicine and Western medical perspectives are included. Original paper published in Alternative Therapies.

The earth’s surface continues to develop through processes of heating and cooling, which in turn create moistening and drying, which in turn provide the environment for bacteria and other microorganisms to evolve.  Rocks, glaciers plants, and animals all evolve in concert with these processes.

And so do humans. Our reproductive systems cycle through cooling and heating and moistening and drying to make us fertile. While maturing ovum or sperm, humans prefer cooler temperatures. While preparing to gestate a fetus, females warm up. Females of childbearing age also produce slippery fluid in their cervixes that increases the chance of pregnancy every cycle. Until the woman ovulates, cervical fluid can nourish sperm in the cervix for up to 5 days. This fluid also filters out impaired sperm and functions as a sort of freeway on which sperm can travel toward the egg at ovulation.

Three primary signals can alert a woman about her gynecological health and fertility: changes in the basal body temperature (BBT), cervical fluid, and the cervix’s position, texture, and openness. These external fertility signals mirror hormonal changes and patterns. Meteorologists and geologists look for patterns in the earth’s surface to predict weather and geological changes. Similarly, a woman can observe her body’s signals to know her own health and the days she can and cannot conceive. Charting these signals can be referred to as Fertility Awareness, the Sympto-Thermal Method, or Natural Family Planning (note 1). Used properly, Fertility Awareness is virtually as effective as oral contraceptives and is an excellent aid for couples who want to conceive a child. It has no side effects.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has evolved over thousands of years from observations about the earth’s cycles of cooling and heating, dampening and drying, darkness and light. Using research that is not widely known in the West, Dr Xia Gui-sheng, director of the Gynecology Department of the Jiangsu Province Hospital for Chinese Medicine, has developed a method for incorporating the BBT into women’s healthcare. In China, the BBT is used for birth control and as a diagnostic tool.

This article presents an introduction to a woman’s fertility signals from Western and TCM perspectives. To make this information accessible to the largest possible readership, instruction about using fertility charts for birth control or as an aid to conceiving—as well as TCM theories—has been kept to a minimum. Following a brief introduction to TCM and TCM diagnosis, the article proceeds with a review of the roles of estrogen and progesterone, followed by an overview of women’s primary fertility signals (basal body temperature, cervical fluid, and cervix changes), a look at the Fertility Awareness method for avoiding or achieving conception, and 2 sections that detail the TCM perspective on BBT.

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

TCM has developed over thousands of years from observing the interplay between geological patterns and their effects on human health. All forms of Oriental medicine rely on correspondence thinking: life arises from the endless interplay of the polar forces of yin and yang, heaven and earth, active and passive, light and dark, heating and cooling, moistening and drying, contracting and relaxing. Everything is classified in terms of yin and yang; everything contains yin and yang in unique and constantly changing proportions. Yin includes yang and yang includes yin. Yin and yang attract and repel each other continuously. Their interplay creates all energy, matter, and the dynamic movement of life. Qi (pronounced chee), which translates as “ether,” “life force,” or “energy,” can be detected through Oriental methods of diagnosis. Disease is caused by imbalances between qi, yin, yang, and Blood, as well as organ pathologies, external pathogens, and emotional factors (note 4). Each disease is classified as a pattern of disharmony. (For example, Liver depression, qi stagnation with Blood stasis, Kidney yin vacuity, Spleen qi, and Blood vacuity might be a TCM diagnosis for painful menstruation.) Treatment aims to restore a harmonious pattern by controlling and regulating the flow and balance of energy. Just as nature is in a continuous state of flux, diagnostic patterns make continuous subtle shifts. TCM treatment mirrors these corrections..

BIO
Dagmar Ehling, founding member of Oriental Health Solutions, LLC, has been a licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine in New Mexico since 1989. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Acupuncture from Southwest Acupuncture College in Santa Fe, NM, is North Carolina State licensed, and is nationally certified in Oriental Medicine by the NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine). Dagmar is a graduate of NC42 Leadership Program.

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