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By Erin, November 8, 2009 7:47 PM

You know when your using the bathroom at your friend’s house-warming party and it is just so tempting to peek in one of her/his drawers, or slide open the medicine cabinet, just to see what’s there – not because you are “snooping” per say, but just…curious? Well, there is no need to hold your breath with curiosity anymore because I am bringing my favorite medicine cabinet “secrets” into the open. Having spent the last ten years of my life traveling and studying herbal medicine, I have collected quite the arsenal of natural remedies. The medicine cabinet in my Manhattan apartment may be quite different from most Americans: filled with all sorts of herbal pills, tablets, syrups & powders.

The leaves have turned color in New York City, the clocks turned back and the slight chill of winter lurks around the corner.  As our internal thermostats adjust to accommodate the external environmental changes during the fall, we often find ourselves fighting colds or catching the flu (beyond the hullabaloo of H1N1, there are many strains of simple colds out there – remember those?).  Much to my loving outdoor-hockey-playing boyfriend’s approval, these “natural alternatives” deliver potent relief when the time is right.  Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly a fan of the occasional Advil or Tylenol PM (also harbored in my medicine cabinet), but sometimes these other things get the job done better.  Yup, that’s right, better.

Chinese medicine offers great remedies to knock out that bug that hasn’t quite become full-blown illness, or strengthen the system to prevent an attack.  Acupuncture works to detoxify the body, and tonify the immune system.  Herbal medicine can do the same and work at a very deep level to re-balance during seasonal shifts and either treat or prevent common ailments. The following are some remedies you can try at home to stay healthy and out of the doctor’s office as winter gingerly approaches.

Continue reading 'From My Medicine Cabinet to Yours'»

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By Erin, November 2, 2009 9:15 AM

Last week, after a wonderful Jivamikti yoga class at one of my favorite studios in New York, my friend Susan and I decided to join an informational Webinar on Ovarian Reserve Assessment testing available for infertile couples.  Not only was the whole format of the webinar totally awesome (simultaneous video/audio of the presenter, power-point and live chat-feed from the participants – it’s amazing where education and technology are going), but the information discussed was enlightening.  Here is a recap of some of the developments in fertility testing and a little insight as to how acupuncture and herbs can help.

If you have ever had difficulty trying to conceive and involved the aid of a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE), then most likely one of the first tests they ran was a hormone panel on Day 3 of your menstrual cycle.  Specifically looking at:  Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), LutenizingHormone (LH), Estrodial (E2), and Prolactin.  The levels of the aforementioned hormones (among others) and their ratio to each other can give insight into the general quantity of eggs a woman has left to ovulate.  However, hormones are finicky creatures, and can change drastically month-to-month due to other illness (like thyroid disease or poly cystic ovarian syndrome, for example) or just from plain old-fashioned stress.

Continue reading 'New Fertility Testing & How TCM Can Help'»