1. Dr. Vasquez is relocating to Fort Worth, Texas to pursue additional graduate studies in medicine and will see patients in Fort Worth until the end of June 2006.

2. Dr. Vasquez will be available for phone and email consultations.

3. Patients in Houston can consult with Dr Vasquez by phone or email and can schedule office visits in Houston with either Dr. Manso or Dr. Diaz for acute problems and/or for prescription refills; call the office at 713.840.9355

4. For patients needing nutritional supplements, these can be obtained by following the links below.

5. Office visits in Houston can be scheduled with either Dr. Manso or Dr. Diaz for acute problems and/or for prescription refills; call the office at 713.840.9355

Dr Vasquez's NaturalSelfCareNews May 2006

http://dralexvasquez.com/  http://naturalselfcare.net/  http://optimalhealthresearch.com/

Dear Friends and Patients,

As most of you know, I relocated to my hometown of Houston several years ago to help my mother during her cancer treatments.  At the time, my step-father also had advanced cancer, and my grandmother’s health was progressively declining.  My step-father passed away in late 2002, and my grandmother passed in December 2005.  Thankfully my mother has continued to do well.

With these crises over, I have decided to relocate to Fort Worth, Texas for the next few years so that I can complete another medical degree.  While more and more states are (re)licensing naturopathic medical doctors after the AMA nearly crushed all other healthcare professions from the years 1950-1988 ( http://optimalhealthresearch.com/archives/wilk ), Texas has not yet done so and therefore in order for me to practice with my full scope of abilities I need to get another degree for the sake of staying in this state.  Perhaps naturopathic doctors will be licensed in Texas by the time I graduate and get licensed!  Regardless, this is the path I’ve chosen.

Another piece of the move for me was that I felt that I needed to “walk my own talk” with regard to being in integrity with myself.  Truth is that I love being outdoors and being active and Fort Worth has very few opportunities for this, and as a result (along with the endless traffic) I often felt frustrated and unfulfilled.  Just like I have to advise my patients to leave bad jobs and abusive relationships, I needed to “put my money where my mouth is” and give myself permission to live in an environment that feels more nurturing to me.  I will continue to see patients in Fort Worth until the end of June, and thereafter I will do phone/email consultations until I establish a new office in the Ft. Worth area.

By the time you factor in travel time, traffic, and gas prices, you’ll see that email/phone consultations are remarkably less expensive than office visits: http://dralexvasquez.com/consultations/index.html

Nutritional Supplements

Obviously, given the tremendous research on nutrition these days, essentially all of my patients are on nutritional and dietary programs.  Except for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, Dr Cordain’s PALEO DIET is the most rational eating program, which I have discussed and updated on my website: http://naturalselfcare.net/diet.html and http://naturalselfcare.net/reprints/vasquez-nutritional-wellness-5-part-protocol-2005-sept.pdf

The supplements that we use in the office are specifically prescribed based on the patient’s condition, disease, and other treatments/medications.  For example, while most people need additional vitamin D, corrective supplementation may not be appropriate for patients with the disease sarcoidosis or those taking the drug hydrochlorothiazide ( http://naturalselfcare.net/supplements/vitamin-d.html ).  Relatedly, vitamin K should not be used by patients taking the drug coumadin/warfarin.  Therefore, I encourage you to continue your current plan as prescribed until we make new recommendations based on your improvements or new status.

You can refill your supplements by any of the following 4 means:

1.       Check NaturalSelfCare.Net for vitamins, fatty acids, vitamin D, antioxidant teas, and you can also get a copy of THE PALEO DIET for free!

2.       Click to Emerson Ecologics and establish your own account.  Emerson Ecologics is a nutritional pharmacy that sells only to doctors, and it is the source of 90% of the products that we use in the office (except those from Biotics Research and Thorne Research).  Thus, you can order directly from the same pharmacy that we order from simply by establishing your own account.  You will find more details at the following pages http://dralexvasquez.com/pharmacy.htm and http://naturalselfcare.net/consultations/transition

3.       Order directly from Biotics Research: If your supplements come from Biotics and are therefore not available from Emerson Ecologics, again you can order directly from the source by contacting them directly 1-800-231-5777 and establishing a personal account.  Again, since they only sell to licensed health professionals, you’ll need to tell them that you’re “a patient of Dr Alex Vasquez” so they will know that your order is authorized.

4.       Special order from our Fort Worth office: You can continue to order from the office at 713.840.9355 and your supplements will be mailed to you.

5.       Contact me: Send a brief list of your supplements and current status/medications and I will give you ONE free email consult in order to help coordinate your supplements if you cannot do so with the information and links above.  Please keep it as brief as possible since this message is going out to several hundred people and it will be impossible for me to reply if the messages are too long: consult@dralexvasquez.com

Prescription Refills and Office Visits

I will continue to see patients in the office until the end of next month, and thereafter I will be available by phone and email as detailed here: http://naturalselfcare.net/consultations/index.html

Of course, Dr Manso will still be available at the office:  http://drmanso.com/  He is a very good doctor, though there are differences in our approach and specialties, and his rates are somewhat higher than my own, which are unusually low.  Also, after next month, we will have a new doctor, Dr Andres Diaz, whose professional CV I have posted here at my website: http://naturalselfcare.net/consultations/Andres_CV_2005.pdf  As you can see, he is multilingual, trained as a Medical Doctor, has published research, and has some training in natural treatments.  He currently works at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Records

You already have copies of the records I have of our visits because I give everything to you at each new visit and/or mail your lab results to you following your visits.  Thus there is no need to request copies of your records, since you already have all the same information that I have.  For the few people who insist on copies of papers they have already received, details for how to obtain these are provided here: http://dralexvasquez.com/consultations/duplicate-copy-of-records.html      Regardless of whether you send a check for your request or pay on-line, you must send a signed and dated authorization letter with perfectly legible mailing address.  Again, since all patients have already received all records along the way, this $35 service should be largely unnecessary.

The Future

At the same time that the American “healthcare” system is on the verge of collapse, we see a blooming of research supporting the use of natural and nutritional treatments for a variety of diseases and for the prevention of future health problems, see http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/75/4/616 and http://physiolgenomics.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/16/2/166 for examples.  Exorbitant medical bills for drugs and surgery account for a very large portion of personal bankruptcies, and you can see more details in several of my recent articles:

http://www.nutritionalwellness.com/archives/2006/mar/03_vasquez.php

http://www.naturopathydigest.com/archives/2006/mar/idiopathic.php

Despite the drug commercials that continue to promise that diseases are not caused by diet and lifestyle and that drugs are the best solutions http://www.naturopathydigest.com/archives/2006/may/vasquez.php

 the vast majority of disease have a nutritional component (at the very least) and can be favorably influenced with the appropriate use of nutritional supplements.  Natural medicine involves more than simply “natural treatments” since it also involves a detailed search for the CAUSE OF THE DISEASE rather than simply the suppression of the manifestations of disease will drugs.  Perhaps the best example is the search for and elimination of chronic infections, particularly in patients with psoriasis, arthritis, intestinal diseases, and other chronic health problems as I have described here http://optimalhealthresearch.com/dysbiosis

It’s been an honor to help the people I have helped, and wish you all the best in your quest for optimal mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Sincerely,

Alex Vasquez, D.C., N.D.

Email: consult@dralexvasquez.com

Seminars, presentations, research: http://OptimalHealthResearch.com

Integrative Patient Care: http://DrAlexVasquez.com

Nutrition Information and Supplements: http://NaturalSelfCare.Net

Tell them that you are a patient of Dr Alex Vasquez and they will let you purchase any product from their line of products and will ship directly to you:

• Phone: 1-800-231-5777
• Local: 281-344-0909
• Fax: 281-344-0725

Office visits in Fort Worth can be made by calling the office at 713.840.9355 and scheduling with either Dr. Manso or Dr. Diaz.

• May 2001: Emerson Ecologics no longer carries products from Thorne Research.
• March 2006: If you need to order from Biotics Research, just call them directly (Phone: 1-800-231-5777 Local: 281-344-0909) and let them know you are a patient who has seen "Dr Vasquez" and they will ship directly to you.

 

Introduction:  You can think of Emerson Ecologics as a "nutritional pharmacy."  They provide nutritional and botanical products only to licensed healthcare providers and registered pharmacies.  They carry a large assortment of  products from many different pharmaceutical companies (listed and linked lower on this page), and they import many of the specialty items that I use from Europe, especially Murdock Madaus Schwabe from Germany.

I will continue to order selected products from Emerson Ecologics for my patients.  However, I realize that I am not always able to predict who will need which product(s) at a given time, and that your making a trip back to the office just to pick up products is not always convenient for you (especially for my patients living in Mexico, Florida, and New York).  I have therefore arranged with Emerson Ecologics to allow you to order directly from them when you need to refill the healthcare items that you use.  This is another way of providing you with additional empowerment and autonomy with regard to your health--allowing you direct access to the companies that make the products that produce results.  These are high-quality companies that produce the best products available; with only a few exceptions, these companies sell only via licensed physicians and registered pharmacies.

 

How this works:  You now have access to thousands of the highest quality health supplements available only to physicians.  By working together, we can help you have access to whatever you want, and the products are sent directly to you.  Orders received by 5:30 PM EST are sent out the same day, for delivery in one to three business days anywhere in the country.  You can also have products sent to arrive overnight.

 

Risks and benefits:  The benefits to this program are: 1) you now have access to just about any natural medicine product that you want, 2) you get to have the convenience of having products sent directly to you, 3) you can get refills and new products anytime you want, 4) you get all of this at less-than-retail prices because I arranged a 15% discount for all my patients.

The risks include not being supervised with regard to what you are doing, and potentially running in to problems.  If you deviate from your treatment plan, then you put yourself at risk for complications and harm.  Examples:

Supplementation with vitamins and minerals is almost always safe when done correctly. However, there are a few considerations that everyone should be aware of when supplementing with vitamins and minerals.
 

1.  Iron is potentially harmful. Iron promotes the formation of "free radicals" and is thus implicated in several diseases, such as infections, cancer, liver disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. You should not consume iron supplements unless you have been diagnosed with iron deficiency (by measurement of a blood test called "serum ferritin." For additional information consult your healthcare provider and see my article at http://www.vix.com/menmag/alexiron.htm 
 

2.  Vitamin A is one of the only vitamins with the potential for serious toxicity. When taking vitamin supplements, you have to be careful that your vitamin A intake is not dangerously high. Your treatment plan may or may not include vitamin A, but it is important that you be aware of the potential toxicity of vitamin A since low doses can be toxic over long periods of time. Women who are pregnant or might become pregnant and who are planning to carry the baby to full term delivery should not ingest more than 10,000 IU of vitamin A per day. Vitamin A toxicity is seen with chronic ingestion of therapeutic doses (25,000 for 6 years or 100,000 IU for 2.5 years ) and manifests as: skin problems (dry skin, flaking skin, chapped or split lips, red skin rash, hair loss, joint pain, bone pain, headaches, anorexia (loss of appetite), edema (water retention, weight gain, swollen ankles, difficulty breathing), fatigue, and/or liver damage. Do not consume more than 25,000 IU of vitamin A per day for more than 2 months without express supervision by a healthcare provider. Vitamin A is present in some multivitamins, in cod liver oil, and in other supplements-read labels.
 

3.  Preexisting kidney problems (such as renal failure) greatly increase the risks associated with nutritional supplementation. Supplementation with vitamins and minerals does not cause kidney damage. However, if a patient already has kidney problems, then vitamin/mineral/protein supplementation may become hazardous. It is a good idea for all patients to be screened for kidney problems before beginning supplementation-this requires a blood test called a "metabolic panel" to measure kidney function by assessing three blood markers called "BUN, potassium, and creatinine." Conditions which cause kidney damage include: 
 

a. Use of medications that cause kidney failure-Tylenol, aspirin, and others.
b. Hypertension, high blood pressure
c. Diabetes
d. Use of recreational drugs, especially cocaine.
 

4. Some medications may adversely interact with vitamin/mineral supplements. Vitamins/minerals may reduce the effectiveness of some prescription medications. For example, taking the antibiotics doxycycline or tetracycline with calcium reduces absorption of the drug, therefore rendering the drug ineffective.  Kava mixed with benzodiazepine medications can result in coma.  Do not mix pharmaceutical medications with nutrients or botanical medicines without express permission of your healthcare provider. 

5. Pre-existing medical conditions may make supplementation unsafe. There are a few rare medical conditions that may cause supplementation to be unsafe. These can be assessed with the same "metabolic panel" of tests that are used to assess kidney function.

6.  Vitamins and minerals should generally be taken with food in order to eliminate the possibility of nausea.  Do not take vitamins and minerals on and empty stomach "between meals" unless you are specifically advised to do so or unless your experience has shown you that you can do this without getting an upset stomach.

 

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Additionally, some products are effective for a general class of conditions, yet they can mask serious conditions when used inappropriately in patients who have not been clinically assessed by a competent physician.  

For example, while glucosamine sulfate is an effective treatment for osteoarthritis, many people who assess themselves with osteoarthritis or who are diagnosed by a physician with osteoarthritis actually have a condition called hemochromatosis (a hereditary iron overload condition), which is a condition that can cause death if not diagnosed and treated early.  Thus, masking a serious condition by treating only the symptoms can actually contribute to a worse outcome than directly treating the underlying disease process.  Bottom line: it is important to be assessed completely and treated appropriately for the best outcome; masking the problem just by making the pain go away is not the right approach and can be dangerous.  (OK...I'll get off of my soapbox for now.)

Of course, there are many other potential risks and complications, so it is always best to have some supervision or assistance when using powerful interventions.  That is my job--getting you as healthy as possible while trying to make sure that no problems arise in the process.

Please be responsible (not "sophomoric") in the use of this convenient assess to products.  I encourage you to stay with your original treatment plan that we formulated in the office.  Making self-directed changes in your treatment plan may result in adverse effects.  If you want to add new products and treatments, please consult with me so that we can ensure that these treatments are appropriate for you.

 

Advanced Medical Nutrition, Inc.

 

Bio-Botanical Research, Inc.

 

MMS Pro

 

Gaia Herbs

 

NF Formulas, Inc.

 

Rx Vitamins

 

Proper Nutrition, Inc.