Ozone for the Sinuses

Ozone introduced via the nose also known as nasal insufflation provides benefits to both the nasal passageways, sinuses, and the entire body. Breathe in microscopic organic olive oil (made in a glass jar to be Healing Arts approved because it can’t be in plastic or aluminum) treated with the extra oxygen from the ozone.  Inhaling ozone this way helps to reduce allergy symptoms, sinus pain, headaches and inflammation throughout the body.

Studies have mixed reviews on directly breathing in ozone through the lungs and yet the extra oxygen that ozone gives can be so beneficial for the body. Dr. Armitstead loves putting ozone in the air having been asthmatic in her childhood.  It cleans the air, kills germs and makes it easier for her to breathe.  Knowing these benefits she loved brining the ozone sauna into the office. To be able to absorb the ozone in through the skin has done wonders for our patients.  We have seen wonderful changes in the reduction of pain, eczema, and psoriasis, less toxins, and better sleep.  Did you know that the ozone sauna can also help with fertility? It really is amazing!  Knowing how amazing it is to absorb ozone through the skin made us want to also offer it through the nose and sinuses.  

Using nasal insufflation is another safe and easy way to bring extra oxygen into the body.  We first have the ozone react with olive oil and then have the client breathe it in. Ozone reacts with the oil to form ozonides and terpenes.  It does not contain any active ozone gas so it will not cause irritation.  This chemical reaction keeps the lungs safe while still having the health benefits.  Health benefits include reduction in sinus pressure and irritation, decrease inflammation in the nasal passages, provides relief from both acute and chronic sinusitis, kills bacteria and viruses, helps with asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections, reduces brain fog, and promotes overall health and wellness.  I will personally do a 20 min treatment once a week to stay healthy.  Depending on what you need it for, recommendations vary.  For an acute sinus infection you may need it 3 times a week until the infection is gone.  Whereas for a chronic infection with no pressure you want once a week for at least four weeks. 

$40 for 20 min. 

$50 for 30 min. 

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Patient Spotlight

 Patient Spotlight

It was generous to have one of my patients take the time to write out her healing journey with us.  I found it so inspirational that I wanted to share it!

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Before: 213 pounds - Age 55                       After-148 pounds - Age 58

My 3 Year Transformational Story with Healing Arts & Nutrition Response Testing

Dr. Armitstead and Nutrition Response Testing has completely transformed and restored my health and my body. After years of energetic, spiritual, emotional healing, I knew it was time to heal the body that had housed so much trauma, pain, fear and grief in its cellular memory manifesting as disease and an aged body. Healing Arts has been my passage back to physical renewal and the embodiment of health - where I am finally balanced in mind, spirit and now body. 

I have been a dedicated client to this healing work for almost 3 years, abiding every appointment, every supplement, every nutritional dictate from my body’s own wisdom brought through the intuitive and skillful knowledge of Dr. Armitstead and Nova and Nutrition Response Testing. In these past three years I/we have healed (unspecified) Autoimmune Disease, Crohn's Disease, Chronic Inflammation, Chronic Migraines, Thyroid Nodules/Disease, Nervous System Disorders, Spinal Disease, Digestive Disorders, Chronic Constipation, Joint Pain, Obesity, Menopausal/Post-menopausal symptoms such as vagina dryness and thinning vaginal walls, thinning hair and sexual apathy, painful intercourse and pelvic floor dysfunction.

I have gained a body, organs, blood, heart, hormonal system, nervous system, joints, muscles, sexual organs, hair and skin that radiates the internal well being I have spent years manifesting. I have gained balance and wholeness and a belief in the wisdom of my own body’s genius. I have gained clarity, confidence, energy, wisdom, agelessness, renewed sexuality, and a love of and connection with my body that I had been dissociated with, ashamed of, and felt disdain for. I have gained a dedicated yoga practice and a love of exercising, strength training and recovery methods to care for my body because I love it, not because ‘I have to..’

When I began working with Healing Arts, It was my last hope, I had all but given up - almost buying into the belief that ‘this is just the way it is at age 50+ In post menopause...’. I had all of this light and beauty within me that I feared may be trapped forever beneath a body that had stored so much life: pain, grief, sorrow, limited beliefs, and society’s dictates of what it is to be a woman of a certain age, crying urgently to be healed. Despite having the skills to heal myself energetically/emotionally/spiritually, I didn’t know how to heal my body on my own, and the medical community only offered toxic medications and risky surgeries. I knew I needed help, and Healing Arts was the answer to my soul's calling.  

Healing Arts and Nutrition Response Testing is a journey, not a quick fix - it takes dedication, faith, consistency and an unwavering ethic to what your body is asking of you. It demands an interactive approach with self and with the practitioner to take part in and responsibility for your healing. It is so worth the investment (which may at times seem ‘expensive’ but has saved me literally thousands of dollars in medical bills and medications). It is so worth the time, the supplements and the difficult releasing of some of the most addictive foods and substances we ingest in our bodies. It’s a way of life that is so worthy. It is the best gift I have ever given myself - I have lost 65 pounds, lost a dependence on medical doctors, lost a dependence on unhealthy foods and substances, lost low self-esteem and inhibitions and a fear of death and disease and gained so much joy, well-being, fearlessness, hope and possibility, healthy sexual functioning and a love of healthy and nutritious foods and cooking, and most importantly such gratitude and love for my body, it’s wisdom and my health. 

I am so grateful for Healing Arts and Dr. Armitstead for helping lead me back to my body and it’s wholeness. 

Thank you. 

Poison and the Blood Brain Barrier

The Blood-Brain Barrier, or BBB, is a single-layered lattice of cells joined together by tight junctions that keep most substances out and allow few substances into the brain.Toxic substances typically kept out include heavy metals, pesticides, germs, plastics as well as damaging proteins while substances allowed in are oxygen, hormones, and nutrients.  Your bbb has tight junctions that become loose or broken with a protein called zonulin. Zonulin also breaks down the protective layer of your intestinal wall creating leaky gut.  Zonulin is increased in the body due to glyphosate (an herbicide found in our food from Roundup made by Monsanto).  To find out what foods contain glyphosate go to Detox Project website. Zonulin is also made in response to eating wheat.  With too much zonulin the bbb leaks letting toxins come into the brain causing damage and inflammation on the brain.  In other words, a Leaky Brain is an Inflamed Brain.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of a Leaky Brain?

Leaky Brain manifests as multiple signs and symptoms, so pay attention to these as opposed to ignoring them:

ADD/ADHD/Autism spectrum disorders

Brain fog or difficulty concentrating

Chronic fatigue that does not improve with rest or sleep

Headaches or migraines that come on suddenly, become worse with standing, and grow more severe as the day progresses

Memory loss or another cognitive decline which may lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

Mood disorders, particularly anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia

Peripheral neuropathy 

Seizures

It is important not to ignore these signs and symptoms because those living with Leaky Brain are at an increased risk of developing neurological or psychiatric conditions. 

What Causes Leaky Brain?

The profound connection between the brain and the gut cannot be underestimated as research repeatedly confirms that microbes living in the gut affect the brain both positively and negatively.

In fact, the stomach and small intestine contain a lining similar to the blood-brain barrier which also keeps harmful substances from entering the gut.

Therefore, many of the same factors that cause a leaky gut—poor gut health, unhealthy diet, food intolerances, food sensitivities, toxins and infections—can also create a leaky brain. For more information on Leaky gut listen to my podcast #13 Digestion Leaky Gut and Lectins.

Studies from Harvard show that wheat creates leaky gut because it contains  a protein called gliadin, which increases the zonulin.  Again it’s this Zonulin that weakens the tight junctions of the gut lining and BBB thereby contributing to leaky gut and leaky brain.

Five causes of Leaky Brain:

1.Gut Dysbiosis (infections)

2.Leaky Gut

3.Autoimmune Disease

4.Mental Health Conditions

5.Stress & Vagus Nerve Dysfunction

All five of these categories have inflammation as a basis for the problem, yet they become even more problematic in the following disease states:

Bacterial infections deteriorate the BBB allowing bacteria into the brain where they do not belong.

Mold toxins trigger inflammation, promote oxidative damage in the brain, and disrupt the BBB.

Excess glutamate overstimulates nerves causing the BBB to breakdown increasing permeability to potentially harmful agents.

High blood sugar and diabetes represent dramatic changes in blood sugar which produce oxidative stress and inflammation

Elevated homocysteine, seen in individuals living with heart disease, autoimmune disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease or those who survive a stroke, changes tight junction function and prevents the BBB from functioning properly.

Obesity increase oxidative damage and deprive the brain of oxygen.

Low quality sleep interrupts the sleep-wake cycle interrupting the uptake of nutrients and offload of toxins while increasing inflammation.

While it is more obvious that leaky brain causes inflammation which then drives mental health conditions, it is less known that mental health conditions can also drive inflammation and leaky brain.  The contributing factors could be:

The Brain-Gut Axis: The Vagus Nerve Connection

The brainstem connects to the vagus nerve, which in turn connects to all the digestive organs. The brain sends signals through the vagus nerve to the organs. The organs also send signals through the vagus nerve to the brain.

The vagus nerve initiates many important digestive functions such as stomach acid secretion, enzyme production, gallbladder function and intestinal motility.

If there is poor brain communication to the vagus nerve there can be many negative effects including:

Chronic inflammation

Poor digestion

Leaky gut

Inflamed brain

How to Reverse and Heal a Leaky Brain – Stop, Start, and Seek

Treating a leaky brain starts by healing a leaky gut. This involves eliminating all the causative factors of leaky gut and leaky brain and then adding dietary and lifestyle factors that support brain health.

Following these steps will lower inflammation in the body and brain, maximize the transport of oxygen, glucose, and other nutrients into the brain, facilitate better removal of toxins out of the brain, reduce oxidative stress, and help rebuild tight junctions to restore the integrity of the BBB.

STOP:

Consuming gluten and foods that you cannot tolerate including sugar and processed foods in meals

Ignoring stress

Allowing bacterial and viral infections to fester before getting treatment

Drinking alcohol in excess

Exposure to environmental toxins in air, water and food

Eating nonorganic food that contains glyphosate

START:

Detoxifying the body of pesticides,  and heavy metals

Taking in probiotic foods to keep the gut balanced

Eating essential fatty acids, which are vital for the brain, including avocado, coconut oil, flaxseed, hemp seed, oily fish, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts

Reducing inflammation through the diet  - Listen to our podcast on Chronic Inflammation

Making quality sleep a priority

Reducing psychological and emotional stress through exercise, meditation, journaling

SEEK:

Figure out what supplements you need to take to help repair the BBB including:

Acetyl L-Carnitine, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Alpha-GPC, Angelica (Dong Quai) Extracts, Astragalus, Astaxanthin, Apigenin, B12-B6-Folate Mix, Berberine, Bitter Melon, Butyrate, Catechins, Chlorogenic-Acid, Citicoline, Collagen, Curcumin, Vitamin D3, Fish Oil, Ginseng, Licorice, Luteolin, Lycopene, Myoinositol, Magnesium, Melatonin, Methylene Blue, Olive Leaf Extract, Oxaloacetate, Parthenolide (Feverfew), Progesterone, Pterostilbene, Resveratrol, Rosmarinic Acid, Shilajit, Selenium, Sulforaphane, Ursolic Acid

There's lots of different supplements for support so it's best to get muscle tested for your exact nutritional support. 

Formaldehyde Toxicity

A common chemical that I help patients detox in my office is formaldehyde. Now you may be asking yourself, "isn't that what they use to preserve dead bodies?" and the answer is yes! Formaldehyde has been classified as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and as a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Even with formaldehyde labeled as such it is used in new clothes, new cars, new carpets, new mattresses, new etc. It is that new clothes smell. Industries use formaldehyde as a fire deterrent. So if the warehouse catches on fire products are less likely to burn if they are sprayed with formaldehyde. Solution: wash all your new clothes once and when getting a new carpet or new couch air ventilation is key because it will eventually gas off.

Formaldehyde is also found in nail polish, wood pressed furniture, hair dye and straightener treatments, other treated lumber, and cigarette smoke. People who consume diet food will also need to detox formaldehyde for better health for aspartame (the artificial sweetener that is used instead of sugar) is a chemical that the body doesn't know how to breakdown so it turns it into formaldehyde where if enough aspartame is digested formaldehyde builds up in the body. Formaldehyde is also in vaccines as a preservative including flu vaccines. A great alternative to the flu vaccine is flu nosode which is a tincture we sell in the office that provides homeopathic aid in relief of flu symptoms. Formulated specifically for this year's flu strain it can also be taken as prevention against the flu or as an alternative to getting the flu shot.  If you already received the flu shot and are having symptoms of any sort let me know and we can help the body detox from it. 

Formaldehyde toxicity can cause headaches, migraines, skin rashes, allergies, asthma, and any type of ears, nose, throat symptoms. Best way to avoid it is to wash new clothes once and notice if you get symptoms while shopping too long in a store and make note if it's after 15 minutes of being in the store or 60 minutes, etc. and cut the time you shop so you are within your range to not get symptoms until you are healthier to handle exposure to formaldehyde at a later date. Also use natural hair dyes and nail polish and don't eat or drink anything with aspartame in it. Formaldehyde levels in homes can also be reduced by ensuring adequate ventilation, moderate temperatures, and reduced humidity levels through the use of dehumidifiers.