Stanwood Integrative Medicine

12/21/2025

As we enter into the final days before Christmas, I hope that everyone is doing well and is safe from the significant weather that we have been experiencing the past 2 weeks. I wanted to take a minute to provide you all with an admin update for the schedule the these next 2 weeks. The clinic will be open on 23 December and 30 December. We are taking some time to spend with our families and hope that you have the opportunity to do that as well. We will be open regular hours on these 2 days but do keep in mind that we will be close the remainder of each week. For any medical urgency/emergency, please go directly to the urgent care clinic or ER. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season and I will see you all in the new year.

12/15/2025

I hope everyone is safe after last week's experience with the atmospheric river events that passed through and my prayers go out to those families who experienced flooding from these weather events. Today, I wanted to share a couple of interesting articles that I came across. The first one is on the GLP-1 medications. Now many of you know I support the sustainable use of these medications for weight loss as long as the patient is still doing their part as well (prioritizing proteins, getting sufficient exercise and getting good sleep) however there has been a lot of talk about these medications potentially curing all sorts of diseases or at least putting them at bay. Many of us were awaiting the results of the Evoke trial to see if there was a benefit for treating patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer Dementia (AD). The trial, performed by Novo Nordisk (a pharmaceutical manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy) failed to show that these medications were helpful in stopping the progression of AD. The hope was that this medication would cross the blood brain barrier to reduce the neuro-inflammation associated with AD.
In a separate article, researchers as looking at the use of artificial sweeteners and the impact on brain health. In a recent study published in the journal, Neurology, the researchers reported a link between artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame, Saccharin, acesulame-K, erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol were linked to declines in memory as well as overall thinking skill that was "equivalent to approximately 1.6 years of brain aging."
So the story here is that don't rely on a medication to save your brain, eat real food and if you are going to indulge in a sweet, the artificial sweeteners are not your friend.


https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/can-glp-1s-actually-help-treat-alzheimers-latest-trial-data -1-agonists-and-Alzheimer-s-The-Evoke-trials

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/artificial-sweeteners-and-brain-aging-what-we-know-so-far #1

In this In Conversation podcast episode, MNT discusses a study from Brazil which found links between seven artificial sweeteners and accelerated brain aging, and other possible long-term effects.

12/10/2025

Feel like an aquatic animal yet??? We are in round 2 of the atmospheric river moving through our area for this week and I hope that everyone is staying as dry as they can and that if you are living near the river that there is minimal flooding for you. I wanted to make a quick post about weight loss. I have posted before that for some individuals it isn’t as easy as calories in-calories out and there still are a number of biased opinions but that’s a different rant for a different day. Now when a person is desperate to lose weight they will try just about anything. Many people have done very well on the 2 major GLP medications that are available (Semaglutide and Tirzepatide). There is a lot of excitement about the newest drug that seems to be FDA approved but doesn’t seem to be commercially available yet. This is retatrutide. This is a triple receptor agonist medication based on the same principle as the other 2 medications with an additional mechanism of action to allow for the body to burn more fat and result in greater weight loss. Pharmaceutical versions of this medication are NOT readily available yet. It appears that the peptide community (of which I generally love) has a version available but the sources that I have seen thus far are research grade versions. What this means to you as the consumer is that these research grade peptides are not screened as thoroughly as pharmaceutical grade medications and can contain contaminants that can make an individual sick. You can certainly receive a COA (certificate of analysis) on the product but this only shows you that the vial contains what it says it contains and doesn’t tell you the purity of the product. PLEASE DO NOT obtain research grade peptides.

11/30/2025

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for that I feel it would take an entire post. I do want to make sure that each you that are part of SIM family and follow this fb page know that you are part of this group. I have always wanted to provide quality medicine since I was a child and I am honored that each of you have chosen me to be a part of your health journey. The holiday seasons can get lost in the commercial aspect of it all but it is a commercial which triggers today post. Recently, I saw an advertisement for Chevy. They partnered with the Alzheimer's Association to make amazing advertisements centered around family and in one dementia. When many people hear about a friend or family member who has developed a neurological condition, there is typically a "culprit involved." For Alzheimer's Dementia, there are 2 usual suspects: Tau particles and amyloid beta particles. These are actually normal proteins that are circulating in the brain. The amyloid beta particles are important in helping to generate memories where as the Tau particles take part in stablizing the nerve cell itself (neuron). It is when we get an abundance of these particles that abnormal pathology (disease) sets in. Most medications to date only slow the process down. There are providers who are actively looking to the regenerative medicine field to help reduce neuroinflammation and stop the overabundance of these particles to keep the brain healthy. Most inflammation starts with poor lifestyle habits (bad sleep, poor diets, limited meaningful social interaction and no exercise). Don't wait for the new year to start to make positive improvements in your health. Pick one aspect and make a change today.

11/24/2025

I wanted to share another interesting talk that I had the opportunity to attend while at the Age Management Medical Group (AMMG) conference. The opening lecture for this conference was Dr. Eugene Shippen. This gentleman is still practicing (limited hours) well into his 80s. He gave an amazing lecture on the use of high dose Vitamin D for treatment of many autoimmune conditions as well as chronic Lyme's disease. His work is a variation of the Coimbra protocol. Dr Coimbra is a neurologist out of Sao Paulo Brazil and has been using high dose Vitamin D to treat MS and keep it remission. The premise behind this is there are individual doses of vitamin D that are supportive for the body. Now some will argue that high doses of vitamin D will contribute to calcification of the arteries (hardening of the arteries). In fact, the science behind this shows that low vitamin D levels, increase concentrations of parathyroid hormone (master regulator of calcium) which creates increases in calcium within the blood circulation. Higher serum 1,25-vitamin D levels were associated with lower amounts of vascular calcification. This is particularly startling to me as I see more facilities reporting "normal vitamin D levels" as being in a 30-60 range. Are we keeping ourselves sicker by not optimizing our vitamin D? Before you undertake increasing your vitamin D, please work with a knowledgeable provider to monitor your parathyroid hormone levels.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.CIR.96.6.1755
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33897704/

Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is a secosteroid and prohormone which is metabolized in various tissues to the biologically most active vitamin D hormone 1,25(OH)2D3 (calcitriol). 1,25(OH)2D3 has multiple pleiotropic effects, particularly within th...

11/23/2025

Happy Sunday! I hope that if anyone is starting their Thanksgiving travels today that you all travel safely to your destination and have an amazing time. I wanted to let you all know about the holiday hours for this coming week. We will only be in the office on Tuesday, 25 November, for regular clinic hours. We will be closed starting Wednesday 26 November for the long Thanksgiving weekend and will return on 02 December for normal clinic hours again. Should you need urgent/emergent care, please go directly to the ER or Urgent care clinic near you. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

11/19/2025

Just a few more tidbits from the Gender Bias lecture that I attended over the weekend that was presented at the AMMG by Dr Benjamin Gonzales. "Women under the age for 55y/o are 7 times more likely to be MISdiagnosed in mid-heart attack in the ER." Women do NOT present with the same symptoms as a man when they are having a cardiac event. The JUPITER "pro-statin" study in 2008 showed NO benefit for women in primary prevention of heart disease. Things that aren't considered for women when addressing their health include: reduce oxygen carrying capacity, decreased clearance time through the liver for medications (for example, methotrexate clears 13-17% slower in women than in men), and the ion channels that are important in the heart and kidneys react differently with respect to the use of medications for blood pressure and heart rhythm control.

11/18/2025

Is everyone getting their mind wrapped around the fact that Thanksgiving is next week? The year has just flown by and here we are preparing for the holiday season again. I was out of town last week at a conference that has become one of my favorites, the Age Management Medical Group. This conference group has had amazing lectures the past 2 years that have I attended. One of the many outstanding lectures this time was on Gender Bias in Medicine. There was a recent study that showed that 64% of common medical interventions were either disadvantageous, ineffective or inappropriate form women. There are over 21,000 medications that are FDA approved and only one has specific dosing for women. Up to 1/3 of these medications have pharmacokinetics (how we process/clear these medications once consumed) that differ between men and women. Also from 1997-2002, there were 8 out 10 new medications that were removed from the market completely due to harm to women. This just goes to further extend the concept that medicine isn’t one size fits all. We need to continue to find ways to personalize medicine to the individual that is sitting in front of us.

11/11/2025

Today is Veteran’s Day. These amazing individuals took a portion of their lives to serve our country and many are still suffering the consequences of this decision. Our service members often suffer higher rates of PTSD, depression, su***de, traumatic brain injuries, environmental exposures, substance use disorders, and chronic pain. Additionally, there are a higher number of our veterans that are homeless as they have had difficulties re-integrating into society. If you know a veteran in need of help, please lend a hand. These individuals may be helped by the Veteran’s Administration and often local communities and counties have their own veteran’s support. Thank you to all of our veterans for your service and your sacrifice as well as to their loved ones who faithly remained by their side to ensure there was a family to come home to.

https://snohomishcountywa.gov/598/Veterans-Assistance-Program
https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/HumanServices/vets.htm

The Veterans Assistance Program is operated by Skagit County Public Health, in partnership with Community Action’s Skagit Vets Connect Program. Veterans Assistance is provided to make sure that the residents of Skagit County, who have honorably served our country, are never forgotten. Upon determi...

10/27/2025

I will keep this one fairly brief but hopefully informative. As many know, one of medical passions is regenerative medicine. There are so many amazing applications that are being developed it seems almost daily and newer research is coming out about the use of this form of medicine to help individuals achieve a new state of wellness and recovery. Today, I want to focus on inflammation and particularly joint inflammation (such as osteoarthritis). The conventional medicine treatments include: over the counter NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories), then prescriptive NSAIDs of not enough control and finally steroid shots into the injection. Well, this typically then results in a joint replacement when these modalities fail. So the question is why do they fail....the short answer is our natural biology. When we are in a state of osteoarthritis, our chondrocytes (the cells that make up are cartilage) are in a catabolic state (think about your cat that wants to tear things up...break things down). When we add in medications such as NSAIDs (aspirin, Aleve, ibuprofen, Diclofenac, Celebrex, meloxicam) these are also catabolic and leads to further joint degeneration. Then many people get steroid shots (often more than one) and there is research supporting that corticosteroids also contribute to further joint degradation even though they may provide temporary relief. There are other options for supporting joint health with a strong potential to help stimulate regeneration.

10/27/2025

Quick Admin note with a 2nd post to follow...well here we are at the end of October already. This Friday, 31 Oct 2025, the clinic will be closed. We will re-open on Tuesday 04 November 2025. If you experience any medical emergency or urgent medical need, please go to the ER or Urgent care. I hope you all have a safe Halloween.

10/23/2025

This is for the ladies and it would be nice if the guys listened as well but at least you will all be a bit more informed. This is an excellent podcast with some leading women in the healthcare and exercise science setting. They discuss all phases of reproductive health for females and discuss some interesting concerns about birth control that haven't been discussed before. Now, we want to make sure that women aren't getting pregnant if it isn't desired at the time but the wanton use of birth control for things like acne may have a down side. Please ladies take a listen and if you have teenage girls that are also athlete's please take a listen. This is from the Diary of a CEO. It is long but EXCELLENT!

The 4 leading powerhouses in women’s health break down urgent topics facing women today: irregular periods, PCOS, endometriosis, perimenopause, and the best ...