Blog - Integrative Medicine

Navigating the risks of polypharmacy

While the world witnesses a constant evolution in style, governance, and personal aesthetics, a contrasting trend emerges in the realm of healthcare. A significant number of patients find themselves in a cycle where their medical prescriptions remain unchanged over time, with the only variation being an increase in the quantity of medications they must manage. Polypharmacy, the concurrent use of multiple medications by a patient, particularly afflicts the elderly and those with multiple chronic conditions. While it can be a…

The ABCs of CBD Products

Articles

The TNHA were the organisation which successfully motivated the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) to lower CBD from schedule 4 under to Schedule 0 complementary medicine within certain exemption criteria in 2019. This lead to CBD containing products becoming a popular non-prescription choice for health-conscious consumers. Demystifying CBD Extracts for Everyday Understanding Cannabidiol, or CBD, has become a household name, promising relief from various ailments. CBD products come in different forms: ‘full spectrum’, ‘broad spectrum’, and ‘isolate.’ Full…

Eight Myths Of Bioidentical Hormones

Public education

It’s becoming progressively more accepted that premature aging is due to a decline in hormone levels, and that restoring these levels helps avoid many diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia, osteoporosis and arthritis. Other consequences of deficiency include visual and hearing loss, fractures, frailty, incontinence, obesity and reduced libido. Additionally, low testosterone or rising estrone levels in men are associated with prostate cancer, while low progesterone or raised estrogen levels in women may result in breast cancer. Synthetic hormones…

Taking the piss: why uric acid is no laughing matter

Public education

For many practitioners, elevated uric acid is not typically a marker that sets off alarm bells. Most write it off as an indication of over-indulgence, and send their patients home with a minor prescription and some sober advice about their lifestyle. Gout, the most well-known consequence of elevated uric acid, is painful but easily treatable and usually benign. Uric acid kidney stones are more serious, but most pass without requiring surgery or intensive intervention. Recent research suggests, however, that these…

Certification in Integrative Medicine

Training

Learn from some of the top practitioners in the field of integrative medicine. Our certification program is an online, state of the art learning environment, complete with basic to advanced materials and case studies. Create The Integrative Medicine Clinic of Your Dreams Achieve Clinical Excellence Improve Your Patient Outcomes Increase Your Income Active, Collaborative Faculty Directed Modules World-Renowned Faculty 100% On-Line Training Refresh & Grow Your Knowledge and Skills as an Integrative Medicine Practitioner by Earning a Certificate in Integrative…

Meditation for stress and hypertension

Articles

Mindfulness meditation has become increasingly popular in the last decade with an explosion in interest and research; in 2018 alone, 842 articles were published in academic journals. This has moved the practice of mindfulness from the domain of alternative and unscientific, into mainstream practices in medicine, psychology, education and business. The shadow of this has been the potential to water down the practice, with apps on phones and practices promising instant peace and calm. Although there are studies which support…

Pushing the edges to a new frontier of medicine

Articles

The medical world and patients alike are searching for new solutions to chronic diseases that will not only mask symptoms but lead to full recovery. The place to find these answers is at the second SA Congress of Integrative Medicine from 17 – 18 November at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. “At this stage of Integrative medicine (IM), each one of us is still a pioneer. We all have one thing in common… we are inventing this wheel…

Integrative medicine clarified

Articles

There have been some remarks made on Twitter in the past few days by some journalists and others about the lack of credentials of several medical doctors [myself included]. These tweets have called these doctors “quacks” and the Pan African Conference on Integrative Medicine [PACIM] taking place at Spier, a “quackery conference”. These tweets are uninformed opinions and could be construed as hate speech. We feel that this is an opportune time to set the record straight. Integrative medicine: supports…