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  Fundamental MedicineTeresa Gryder, ND

Heading into the Wilds again

6/2/2020

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The return from my last excursion was rough.  We were in a great wilderness for 4 days and 3 nights.  The day after I returned a dear one in my family died.  He died of being hospitalized.  He was urgent to escape but was unable to.  He was sedated to death. 

Then a white eye cop with hands in his pockets murdered a beautiful black man.  The living rage of so many black lives mattering roared in spite of generations of hateful treatment.  Then the agendas of all the whites interfered with the clarity of their message, damaged their communities. And always this horrendous potus tweeting his ego, tweeting his malfeasance plain as day.  These times are beyond "interesting".  They are fucked.

I would like to help with all of it but at this moment I feel the need to save myself.  I save myself by turning it off.  Meditation, yoga and walking help, but getting out of the city and away from the roads is my medicine.  Getting to where there is no phone to ring, no media to read or watch, no news, is the very best medicine.

For all of you who are sad, angry and overwhelmed, you are normal.  To feel crazy in crazy times is normal.  Perhaps the best thing you can do for yourself is to take a time out.  Go sit in the sun.  Take deep breaths.  Walk in the rain.  Feel the raindrops.  Watch the birds and hear them sing, or float down a river if that suits you. 

When you are quiet inside you can see more clearly.  When you are centered and strong you are a better ally.   Do not let the constant news cycle rule you.  Get out, and I will see you on the other side.
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I am an ALLY

8/27/2015

 
I just completed a training at NCNM and what I learned is that there ARE other people in the community who are impassioned about social justice. Sometimes, when I'm walking down the street, and the people around me are completely closed off from each other, I wonder. I feel good every time that I am the one to stop and ask if someone is OK, offer a hand with something, or otherwise step up to be part of the kinder gentler world that civilization is supposed to bring.

I feel our common humanity more deeply than I fear our external differences. I do not care what color you are, or what you think is sexy, or which religion you think is the right one.  What I care about is joy.

So presume only that I will take you as another human, doing the best you can. I hope you will see that I am no different.
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Cannabis Contemplations

12/6/2012

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My patients often ask if I think medical marijuana might be helpful.  We’ve had some widely ranging conversations about the risks and benefits of this drug.  As a naturopathic physician I may not prescribe cannabis even though it is legal for medical use here in Oregon; it is not in the ND formulary.  The fact that I cannot prescribe it does not prevent me from discussing it.  The issue will not go away, regardless of the laws and the war on drugs.  Cannabis is ubiquitous, even though it is federally illegal with varying levels of state permissiveness.

Just last month Colorado and Washington were the first states in America to approve the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.  Those who fear it as a gateway drug, and those who advocate its medical use or broader legalization, are all making noise about it.  The politics often plays more loudly than the facts.  Marijuana is the #1 drug brought our way by Mexican drug cartels, and Mexican weed is likely to contain pesticides and other toxins.  Synthetic cannabinoids are being imported from Asia labelled as bath soaps and sold in convenience stores.  The war on drugs highlights our incarceration problem and the ugly politics of race.  Reasonable medical questions remain unanswered.

Our own government propagated a lot of disinformation back in the 1930’s when the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created and cannabis was classified as a narcotic (against the advice of the American Medical Association).  The original Greek meaning of “narcotic” was any psychoactive substance that induces sleep, but in more recent times it has come to mean opiates and any drug derived from them.  Opiates are addictive and are carefully regulated by the DEA.  Cannabis is pharmacologically a world apart from opiates, and is no longer thought of as a narcotic, but it is still plagued by the negative reputation engendered by federal prohibition and propaganda, and the War on Drugs.  Cannabis was federally prohibited in 1933, the same year that the prohibition on alcohol was rescinded.

In 2009 the AMA did a review of the scientific literature on cannabis and found a few legitimate clinical trials with a grand total of less than 300 study participants.  The DEA has refused to grant permission to universities or pharmaceutical companies to research it.   The drug is approved by 18 states for medical use, but we have very little scientific information on which to base clinical applications.  Anecdotal information about the indications of various strains guide the choices of medical users.  The federal ban is still in effect, and current federal enforcement efforts are focused on importers and distributors and not on small scale possession (like they were under Reagan).  Employers are within their legal rights to require drug testing.  Law enforcement budgets rely on asset forfeitures (police can seize any cash or items likely to be related to drug trade without proof of guilt) which is incentive for police forces to continue to pursue small scale dealers.  Medical cannabis programs provide a front for a new domestic black market.  That the issue is contentious is an understatement; it is explosive.  And we still don’t know what it is good for.

A future email newsletter will focus on known and theoretical risks and benefits of cannabis use.  Sign up for the monthly missive here. 

 

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Gray Areas

10/31/2012

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This link goes to a Ted Talk by Jon Ronson, journalist from London, speaking about the research he did for a book on psychopathy.  He pegs the relevant issue which is the fact that all of us display some characteristics of various mental disorders, including psychopathy.  All of us, you say?  Yes, all of us.  Madness is inherent in the human condition.  We have the capacity for rationality, but we also all have moments of unconsciousness.  We have moments in which we are not as kind as we could be.  We have moments of every description, but these moments do not condemn us.  We can still be decent people.  

In the Bible, Matthew 7:5 reminds us that we are not perfect.  "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Before we accuse anyone else of madness, it is in our best interests to recognize that we are human too, with requisite portions of inexplicable wildness.

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I'm Moved

6/12/2012

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Well folks I've relocated my kit and caboodle from SE to SW Portland.  I remember reading somewhere, years ago, that moving incurs stress equivalent to a death in the family.  I hope that's not true because I've moved so many times it would be like having lost my whole family more than once.  I think that would be worse.  Still, it's stressful.  Even now I am looking for my slippers, my clippers, my this and that.  Nothing is normal for a while after a move.  But it's getting better.
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Happy Samhain

11/1/2011

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Tis the turning of the seasons, for those of us up here in the northern hemisphere.  Suddenly it is dark at 6:30pm.  The train whistle blows eerily in the distance.  The candle is lit in the pumpkin.  I enjoy this time of the year.  I love the crisp air and the bright rich colors of the maples.  I love to nest, to make my homespace warm and lovely, to invite friends over to enjoy early evenings.  I like to get extra sleep when the nights are long.

I have a theory about humans and winter.  In our culture there is this diagnosis called Seasonal Affective Disorder.  This disorder is said to affect people in the winter, when they get SAD because they aren't getting enough daylight.  I think that a certain amount of hibernation is normal in humans.  When the nights are long, our bodies know what we need.  We want to eat more potatoes and less greens.  We want to go to bed earlier, or lay cuddled on the couch with a blankie.  I think that winter makes us SAD when we do not allow ourselves to retreat inward, to relish our warm homespace.  I think that SAD occurs due to a modern idea that the show must go on, we still must go to work for the same number of hours, and do the same amount of extracurricular activities, even if we don't feel like it.

But what would happen if we let our bodies and our instincts guide us?  What if instead of making ourselves go to another event that happens after sundown, we stayed home?  Got comfy?  Lit a candle?  Spent a little extra time with a loved one?  Would we still be so SAD if we just let it be winter?   What if we let winter be a time to hibernate, a time to enjoy warm furs and firelight and quiet times with our closest intimates?  I think we might find that the retreat into winter provides us with the restoration that we need to continue living life to its fullest, with great joy.
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On Waiting vs Taking Action

7/29/2011

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They aways say time 
changes things 
but actually you have to 
change them yourself.
--Andy Warhol

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Testosterone acutely increases more in wrestling winners

1/29/2011

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/fitness/Winners-have-higher-testosterone-levels/articleshow/7366420.cms


Sounds like winners of a coin toss may get the same effect.  Hmmmm.  Cortisol and epinephrine are unaffected by winning or losing.
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    Author: Teresa Gryder

    Integrative Physician and Student of Life, Medicine, and the River.

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