OFFICE VISIT By the time I walked into her room, my assistant had noted that the patient was upset and her blood pressure was elevated: 156/100. She had a history of mild episodic elevation of her blood pressure, but it had never been this high. "How are you doing today Debbie?" I asked gently. Her blond
hair was frazzled and her eyeliner smudged. Not typical for this professional woman.
"I feel like I am falling apart," she teared up. "Everything was going so well for a while and now it seems as though the bottom has fallen out." She then detailed all the events of the past three months and how it was affecting her life. "You do have a lot on your plate," I empathized. “You’re not sleeping well and you're more irritable. Are you craving more chocolate? Are you more constipated? More headaches or leg cramps? Are you taking your magnesium?" "I ran out of the magnesium that you recommended and I bought some at the drugstore because it was on sale, I brought it with me,” as she dug in her bag and handed it to me. “I don't think I'm sleeping as well as I was when I was on your magne- sium. And I'm not having constipation, but ‘Yes’ to everything else."
I looked at her bottle of magnesium and raised my eyebrow,
"No wonder you're not constipated, this is magnesium oxide. It is very poorly absorbed and it is
wonderful....for constipation. I'm surprised that you don't have diarrhea. There are different kinds of magnesium and each of them is useful in different situ- ations. Unfortunately when one experiences chronic stress, el- evated cortisol stimulates your kidneys to eliminate magnesium. You're losing magnesium faster than you used to because of the stress. And you're not taking a quality magnesium supplement that is easily absorbed. So that's part of the problem and part of the answer. Go back on magnesium glycinate 200 to 400 mg each night, and you should start sleeping better. Your chocolate craving should be better in a week and you should feel calmer." "It's all due to the low magnesium?" asked Debbie. "No, your insomnia, chocolate cravings and elevated blood
pressure are partly due to low magnesium," I replied. "And you're putting on weight around your waist and you mentioned that you have other kinds of food cravings."
"I hate this weight gain. Especially around my waist. I can't
fit into any of my clothes," complained Debbie. “I find myself eating anything and everything. All the bad stuff. I don't have time to shop and prepare the healthy foods, and honestly, I want the junk food. It’s the only reward I get in my day. I'm tired all the time. David's upset because I'm not interested in sex, but how can I be interested when I look this way?" I realized Debbie was extremely upset and the more ques- tions that I asked the more complaints would tumble from her lips. I knew the feeling. There had been more than one time in my life when I had been caught in a rut. I slipped into seeing the glass half empty, complained about everything, and experienced no joy or happiness. I had been very angry during those times and wanted to blame everybody else for how I felt. Those were very lonely times. Fortunately, I had two girlfriends that let me whine as much as I needed to. I compensated exactly the same way Debbie did. I put on a good face, ate more chocolate, and stopped exercising. "Isn't it frustrating?" I asked. "The good news and the bad
Natural Triad Magazine
Elizabeth Vaughan, MD
news is that most of this is probably being caused by stress. I'm con- cerned about your blood pressure. We need to evaluate that further. We also need to evaluate why you're gaining weight around your waist. Increased abdominal fat increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease and probably cancer. With your elevated cholesterol, which is probably worse now, we need to find a better way for you to manage your stress. How stressed do you feel right now?" "Not great. I've got all these problems and now you tell me
my blood pressure is up and I'm going to die of a heart attack," Debbie rolled her eyes. "Not exactly, Debbie. Do this for me: put your hand on your
belly,” I waited until she had her hand on her abdomen. “Now, take a deep breath to the count of five and hold your breath for one second, then exhale slowly to a count of five. Hold out for one second. Again, as you breathe in… expand your abdominal wall muscles and let your belly stick out, pause, then as you breathe out… slowly exhale contracting your abdominal wall and let your belly button sink towards your spine and pause before breathing in again." I had her do this five times with me. "Now I want you to take
your right hand and make clockwise circles on your abdomen," I demonstrated.
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JUNE 2011 9
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