BEST. BLOG. EVER!

 Many of you may know that my wife, Sonia, was pregnant with our first child.  For those that didn’t, now you do.  Due date was 3/21/15 with the gender TBD on arrival.  Sonia’s pregnancy was largely and fortunately uneventful.  Then she started labor on Friday, March 13^th, in the late afternoon (ironically the exact time she finished her last day of work).  After 11 weeks of 2.5 hour birthing classes, we expected and felt well prepped for a natural birth with a midwife in the hospital.  What a humbling experience…  After 27 hours of natural medication-free labor then an additional 9 hours of epidural induced relief (what a great invention!), we welcomed…

The best part is that both Sonia and Kalaya are healthy.  What a humbling experience – every part of it.  So thankful for my wife, great birthing teachers, an amazing birthing team, and of course my daughter!

THREE Times More Effective Than Flu Shot

What if there were a nutrient that was 3 times more effective than the flu vaccine?  

Turns out there is.  Colostrum.  Colostrum is the first substance to come out of the nipple after a baby is born.  It comes out in very small volumes but is packed with all the right nutrients to protect the brand new baby from potentially harmful germs.  Over the first few days, the colostrum turns to milk but the newest colostrum doesn’t actually contain milk.  Colostrum supercharges the baby’s immune system and is much much better than the flu shot at protecting against the flu.  This was demonstrated in a recent study.  You can read the well done study for yourself, but without getting into all the details, there were 4 groups. 1^st group didn’t receive any treatment (placebo), 2^nd group took colostrum, 3^rd group took flu shot, 4^th group took both colostrum + flu shot.  Treatments lasted 2 months then all 4 groups were monitored for an additional 3 months to see who got the flu.  Here are the results of how many cases of the flu occurred in each group:

1^st group (placebo): 57

2^nd group (colostrum): 13

3^rd group (vaccination): 41

4^th group (colostrum + vaccination): 14

Good news in this study is that the flu vaccine was actually a little helpful.  The exciting news is that colostrum demostrates a 4-fold improvement over placebo and shows a 3-fold improvement of colostrum over the vaccination!!!

The second part of the study did it in high-risk heart disease patients who are typically far more likely to die from the flu than healthier counterparts.  Similar results were obtained. 

The researchers concluded that “Colostrum, both in healthy subjects and high-risk cardiovascular patients, is at least three times more effective than vaccination to prevent flu and is very cost-effective.”  That’s powerful stuff!  

Good news, you can actually buy colostrum as a supplement!

Guess what my new kid is gonna get this March… COLOSTRUM.  And guess what I’ll probably give my kid next flu season too?!

Medical Disclaimer: Information provided in this email is for informational purposes only. The information is a result of years of practice and experience by Yoshi Rahm, DO. However, this information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. 

Do not use the information provided in this email for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.


Information provided in this email and the use of any products or services related to this email by you DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and Yoshi Rahm, DO. or any other physician featured in this email. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Placebo & Nocebo

Did you know that the placebo effect also occurs in dogs?

Since the placebo effect was first noted in the 1700’s the placebo effect has become more powerful over time.

Where you live & your culture changes the effectiveness of placebos.

Placebos work even if you know you’re being given a placebo.

Size, shape and color of a placebo pill changes the placebo’s effectiveness.  Yellow placebo pills are most effective at treating depression.  Red pills cause more alertness.  Green pills best help ease anxiety.  White pills sooth stomach issues best.

Obviously the body holds innate healing mechanisms.  Part of this healing power is in the simple belief we have in our healing abilities or rather the belief we have in external forces healing us.  The more tangible the placebo is, the more effective. 

There’s also something called the “nocebo” effect where the expectations of undesirable side effects actually occur.  That’s a crappy deal.

Check out this YouTube video entitled “Is there scientific proof we can heal ourselves?  Lissa Rankin, MD at TEDxAmericanRiviera”.  In Dr. Rankin’s Ted Talk, you’ll learn about placebo and nocebo along with what you can do to live longer…. by a lot. 

Cure loneliness. 

Spirituality matters. 

Professional life and stress matter.

Attitude.

We have minds that have an explosive and healing power!  Believe it!

Medical Disclaimer: Information provided in this email is for informational purposes only. The information is a result of years of practice and experience by Yoshi Rahm, DO. However, this information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. 

Do not use the information provided in this email for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.


Information provided in this email and the use of any products or services related to this email by you DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and Yoshi Rahm, DO. or any other physician featured in this email. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Double Dipping Doctors & A Hilarious Video

Marketing to doctors.

We all know that the pharmaceutical industry is a financial behemoth.  One can barely watch a set of commercials without watching a commercial for a drug that might cause a myriad of side effects.

John Oliver’s show does a 17 minute segment on Marketing to Doctors. Check out his segment here.

I encourage you to watch at least the last 2 minutes of the clip starting at 15:20.  I thought it was hilarious because I can relate.  That’s because I remember being a medical student and then a resident and being encouraged to attend many drug sponsored dinner talks at some rather luxurious restaurants.  The featured physician speakers, who were my mentors at the time, later shared that they usually received somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000 for each 40 minute talk.  All to push some drug.  The drug reps were quite eager to have a budding young doctor (me back then) learn to push whatever drug sales through the roof too.

Quite biased and quite sad.  While John Oliver’s clip certainly exaggerates the situation, the video still rings quite true for many physicians out there.

Now to be fair and ridicule the natural supplement industry, John Oliver also did a clip on Dr Oz and natural weight loss supplements.  While not nearly as bad as the pharmaceutical industry, the natural supplement industry is pretty fraudulent in my opinion also. Here’s the clip on Dr. Oz and Nutritional Supplements.

A couple other interesting facts:

Did you know that some doctors are paid to advise and promote the drugs that they research?  A ProPublica analysis shows that more than 1,300 practitioners nationwide received more than $90 million in research grants while at the same time receiving nearly $13 million for speaking engagements and another $4 million for consulting.

Major conflict of interest!


Medical Disclaimer: Information provided in this email is for informational purposes only. The information is a result of years of practice and experience by Yoshi Rahm, DO. However, this information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. 

Do not use the information provided in this email for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.


Information provided in this email and the use of any products or services related to this email by you DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and Yoshi Rahm, DO. or any other physician featured in this email. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.