Issue 193     July 18, 2016

Serotonin - Good or Bad?

There is a lot of controversy on Serotonin and whether to use drugs to "correct" perceived problems or not.  Today I would like to use a great article on this subject by David Christopher, M.H., director of The School of Natural Healing.

Serotonin is an essential neurotransmitter that is good but can be bad. It responds to stress, both physical and emotional. Ninety percent of serotonin response occurs in the gastro-intestinal tract (i.e., food poisoning, toxins and biotics). If we break down the word we find that sero = blood and tonin = tightening. Basically, this neurotransmitter stimulates your body into vigilant response through temporary hypertension. This important temporary response is achieved through the pathway of re-uptake. Serotonin (5HT) is used and reabsorbed into the tissue as 5HIAA serotonin, basically as precursor storage. This is a delicate cyclic system that should not be manipulated.

Research has consistently shown that when these 5HT serotonin levels are elevated we see increases in psychosis, mania, depression, anxiety, mental retardation, autism and Alzheimer’s. When the used and stored serotonin (5HIAA) levels are low research constantly finds higher incidences of suicide, arson, violent crime, insomnia, depression, alcohol abuse, impulsive acts with no concern for punishment, reckless driving and exhibitionism. The first drug to manipulate this delicate neurotransmitter system was LSD which stimulated imagination while bringing the user to the brink of panic. While some people had “mind blowing” thus exciting experiences with LSD others were not so fortunate and ended up jumping out windows or other extreme forms of suicide. Thank goodness LSD is no longer available by prescription. 

Serotonin is manufactured by the body from the essential amino acid precursor Tryptophan.  Everyone knows about the high tryptophan content of turkey and other animal products; however, soy sprouts, black beans, spirulina, nutritional yeast and endive have very high levels of tryptophan. Additionally, nuts, seeds, avocados and baked potatoes are also very reliable sources of this essential amino acid.

The same company that developed LSD developed SSRI (specific serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) drugs. They work by interfering with the body’s ability to re-uptake serotonin and thus deny a reserve of convertible serotonin. The danger occurs when serotonin levels get high and the reserves get low, which is exactly what is happening frequently with these drugs. 

By blocking the re-uptake of serotonin a permanent bridge is formed giving the nerves constant stimulation.  In fact it creates a perfect mental storm and we see the most bizarre scenarios imaginable. We see users driving a plane full of people into a mountain, hacking their spouses or children to death, driving into lakes, shooting up schools, theaters and now the night club in Orlando.
This latest shooter, Mateen, was normal then wasn’t normal, at times wasn’t violent then was violent, wanted to be a cop, wanted to be a terrorist, hated gays yet was frequenting gay bars for years, sickened by two men kissing, was not religious, was advocating doctrine, and warned police that he was pledging allegiance to ISIS.  This man was clearly Bi-Polar. This condition is usually treated with SSRI’s, thus assuring another perfect storm.

What was really needed was to get him to a beach, let him soak in the rays of the sun which stimulate the production of serotonin, allowing the body to use this neurotransmitter naturally and safely. Eating vitamin rich foods and consuming tryptophan rich nuts, seeds and legumes instead of taking an LSD type drug (SSRI) that blocks the re-uptake of serotonin and depletes the serotonin reserve creating a bad “trip” for all of us


I trust you enjoyed this article.  At Herbs4You we have a great tea and tincture that contain a mixture of herbs that are known to be high in serotonin.  We call it our Serotonin Tea and Tincture.   Taking it in this way helps the body utilize what it needs to function properly.

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Herbs that help Serotonin levels:
  • St. John Wort
  • Spearmint
  • Ginseng
  • kava
  • Eleuthero root

Foods that help Serotonin levels:
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  • Eggs
  • cheese
  • broccoli, cauliflower, green leafy vegis, potatoes, soy products
  • Legumes & beans
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Schedule your appointment with Dr. Eversage now!

NeuroCranial Restructuring (NCR)

"Medicine and natural healing treat the body as if it were HEADLESS. Unfortunately,your skull shape controls your mental abilities, personality, and many of your diseases."
–Dr. Ben Eversage
Wednesday, August 10 - Saturday, August 13
NCR consists of 4 procedures done 4 days in a row.
Cost: Adults - $600; Children - $350

Dr. Ben Eversage has performed over 50,000 NCR treatments on patients over the last 10 years.  He has travelled to eleven states and driven over 600,000 miles during that time.  What is NCR and why do patients continue to come to him for treatment?  

Why Is NCR Different From Other Techniques?  
There are four things that distinguish NCR from other body work techniques.  NCR is done in two phases - MRT (Meningeal Release Technique) and ERT (Endonasal Release Technique).

1st, In NCR, We Do Not Adjust Anteriorities.  The big mistake that chiropractors make is adjusting, or pushing, vertebrae forward.  This forward direction of a vertebrae is in the anterior direction; therefore, we call it an anteriority.  When a chiropractor lays you facedown, prone, on a table and drives all of your vertebrae forward he is doing you great harm.  Why?  Because he is pushing your vertebrae in a direction that the body cannot self correct.  

When a vertebrae goes out of alignment there are muscles in the body that can pull it up, down, sideways, forward, or in rotation.  But, there are no muscles in the body that can pull a vertebrae backwards once it has gone forward.  Think about it.  There are no muscles in the back of your spine that have the leverage to pull a vertebrae backwards.  Therefore, your chiropractor is creating problems that weren’t there before.  

This is the way that chiropractors have been taught for the last 100 years and it is plain wrong!  In the MRT phase of NCR we only adjust vertebrae backwards, or posterior.  By doing so we are correcting the primary biomechanical pathology (PBP) and this allows the spine to start to unwind, heal old injuries, and reverse damage.  No other technique does this. 

 2nd, In NCR, We Do Not Adjust Compensations. In NCR, we only adjust  things that the body cannot self-correct.  When we have an injury and it results in a PBP, Primary Biomechanical Pathology, the body will attempt to maintain homeostasis, or balance.  Often, the body cannot fully correct this malposition of the vertebrae or body part by itself and needs  outside help to do so.  When the body cannot fully correct an injury by itself, it will create a compensation.  A compensation is the body’s attempt to improve a defect by the excessive development or action or malposition of another structure or organ of the same structure. In other words, when a vertebrae goes out of alignment, the body will attempt to maintain balance by misaligning another vertebrae to counterbalance the original injury or defect.

Imagine you have a horse.  Your horse throws a shoe or wears it out unevenly.  You don’t notice it at first.  But you do notice that the horse starts to limp on one side.  You don’t do anything and the horse starts to drag that foot and eventually the horse is too lame to walk.  The horse’s body compensated for the bad shoe by altering the foot, leg and back structure.  You wouldn’t adjust the horse’s foot or leg or back, you’d correct the bad shoe. Then the horse’s body will take care of everything else and correct the compensations.  

Likewise, in NCR, we don’t address compensations, we only adjust the main problem, the PBP, and the body will take care of the compensations itself.  When a chiropractor adjusts everything he finds, he takes out the body’s compensations and doesn’t adjust the primary biopathologies.  Now, the body has to either create new compensations or put back the old ones that the chiropractor took out.  The same is true for massage therapy or Atlasprofilax or any technique that doesn’t address the causal problem but only assuages the symptom or compensation.  When you don’t go to cause but only deal on the level of the effect, then the body does not heal but remains stuck on the level of the problem.  It cannot transcend the problem as long as you keep addressing only the effect.

Often I am asked, “Am I holding my adjustments?”  This is a question that one would ask a regular chiropractor who is adjusting compensations.  That chiropractor would want everything to “hold” or have the spine stay in place where he put it, because that is where he “thinks” it should be.  

In NCR, we don’t think that way.  We do not have a preconceived  idea of where your spine should be or what it should look like. We don’t care if you “held” your adjustment or not.  We want you to fully unwind. The cranium and spine are dynamic organs that take input from the NCR treatment and use that input to heal old injuries.  When it has unwound as much as it can from a single treatment then it is ready for the next input.

The “hold your adjustment” chiropractor is trying to “cure” you, whereas we are trying to “heal” you.  You can only heal if you work with the body and not against it.  The body wants to unwind. It doesn’t want to just “stay in place”.  Only the innate intelligence of the body knows where it should be; not some preconceived notion of an old paradigm thinking chiropractor.  A better question to ask is “How is my unwinding going?”

3rd, In NCR, We Adjust The Bones of The Head To Unlock The Cranium.  When I went through chiropractic school, we were repeatedly told that chiropractors are the “nerve doctors” and that, in effect, we were functional neurologists.  To me, that didn’t make complete sense because 80% of the nervous system is in the head, and only 20% of the nervous system is in the spine.  Since chiropractors only adjust from C-1, or the atlas, down, then they are really only dealing with 20% of the nervous system.  I always wondered “if we are the nerve doctors then why aren’t we adjusting the head?”.

Luckily, I found NCR and further improved on it.  In the ERT phase of NCR, we use endonasal balloons inserted into the nasal conchae to indirectly adjust the sphenoid bone.  The sphenoid bone is really the first atlas.  It determines how the atlas beneath it will sit and move in space.  All of the 22 bones of the cranium, except one, the mandible, touch and interface with the sphenoid.  So, the sphenoid is the keystone to the arch of the head.  As the sphenoid goes, so goes the rest of the cranial bones.  That is why we focus on the sphenoid bone in the ERT phase of NCR.  Over time, the endonasal balloons incrementally move the cranial bones and gradually correct a mis-happen head.

4th, In NCR, We Do Not Believe That Just Adjusting The Atlas Will Take Care Of Everything.  Just adjusting the atlas and believing that everything below it and above it will self correct and align is ludicrous from an NCR point of view.  The head is heavy.  It is like a ten pound bowling ball sitting on top of a flexible cue stick.  If the cranium is distorted, out of alignment, off balance and off center and generally locked up; how is the atlas, which it is sitting on, going to stay in place?  Atlas doctors and those who do Atlasprofilax like to say that they are putting the atlas in the “correct” position.  Well, if the occiput, which is sitting on top of the atlas, is not in the correct position and is generally distorted, then how is the  atlas going to stay put?  It is like having a foundation for a house not directly under the house.  If the house is hanging off of the foundation then how is the foundation not going to be affected?  As above, so below.  When you get the cranium corrected through NCR then everything below it starts to unwind, heal and go into proper position.  In this context, the atlas is in compensation to the cranium.  The atlas is not the primary problem, it is a compensation.  
Want to read more about about NeuroCranial Restructuring?
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Break the coffee habit with this healthy and nutritious drink made with Chicory Root, Burdock Root, Dandelion Root, Pau d'arco, Yerba Mate. My son, Joshua (who works at Starbucks) and I worked together, to test and taste different herb combinations to get it just right.  The result is a great drink even avid coffee drinkers love! If you like, you can add cream and honey.
The Healing Herbs, by Michael Castleman, pp. 144-146.
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