Sunburn & Hyperthermia

As August approaches, please consider these Summer warnings.

Sunburn. According to the American Skin Association, “There is no such thing as a healthy tan.” Dermatologists consider a tan as an injury. A tan is burned skin, with permanent damage to cells, which can lead to skin cancer. In addition to more serious problems, sunburn can cause pain, blistering and eventually dry, flaking skin.

Hyperthermia. Too much time in the sun, especially for the elderly who do not feel the heat buildup well, during high temperatures can lead to hyperthermia, or a body temperature which your system cannot regulate to keep you safe. Forms of hyperthermia include heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Cramps occur after sweating has drained the body of the water, sodium, potassium, electrolytes and minerals needed by muscles for contractions. Heat exhaustion results in fatigue, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, and a lack of coordination and mental acuity, and is caused by loss of water and salt. Heatstroke is the body’s inability to keep its temperature low enough to keep the body safe from overheating. It can lead to convulsions, delirium, coma and other central nervous system problems and eventually, death.

For Better Health,
Dr. Saracino

NerveFix Supplement Comments

A patient recently inquired about a product for nerve pain: NerveFix. I recommend none and here’s why.

My attraction to holistic health care methods was, initially, to nutrition. After studying it extensively by having to have to take a battery of courses from biochemistry to intermediary metabolism to clinical nutrition, then realizing that there are so many variations with the retail products …sold AND none are regulated other than those with a “Standard Processing” (for herbs, mostly) designation, it is hard to assess what ingredients products have let alone their effectiveness.

The formula below is mostly homeopathic with the balance a variety of herbs, food extracts and minerals. Each have little or no documented effectiveness on the nervous system other than Chamomile and choline which are the only ones I have prescribed. Chamomile, like valerian root, is a very mild central nervous system depressant and choline helps replenish acetyl choline (a nervous system neurotransmitter). I suggest Twins Labs’ Super Choline.

I suggested to this patient, after determining there should be no harm in taking the formula, that since it is mostly homeopathic and seemingly very mild it be taken for the first two weeks in a larger dosage than that which the manufacturer suggests, and always with meals.

Reduced range-of-motion in the shoulder with numbness in the arm, does not warrant the use of a formula that advertises reducing nerve pain! In fact, one would need a formula that stimulates, not suppress, nerve supply. In this particular case, diminished range-of-motion in the shoulder is mostly an orthopedic not neurologic condition and could benefit from a ‘joint compound-like’ supplement which has glucose amine and condroitin sulfate which is derived from shark cartilage. I suggest Twin Labs’ Joint Fuel.

Ingredients: Active Ingredients: Aconitum napellus 6X, 12X, 30X, Belladonna 3X, 6X, 12X, 30X, Cantharis vesicatoria 6X, 12X, 30X, Ferrum phosphoricum 6x, 12x, Hypericum perforatum 3X, 6X, Kali phosphoricum 6X, 12X, Magnesium phosphoricum 8X, 12X, Phosphorus 6X, 12X, 30X, Spigelia anthelmia 3X, 6X, 12X, 30X.

Other Ingredients: Alpha Lipoic Acid, Anise, Benfotiamine, Betaine HCL, Chamomile, Choline (bitartrate), Deer Antler Velvet, Evening Primrose Oil, Gelatin, Glycerin, Inositol, Magnesium Stearate, Methyl Cobalamin, N-acetyl cysteine, Passion Flower, Pyridoxine HCL, Silica, Titanium Dioxide (natural mineral capsule color).