Tag Archive for: neuroinflammation

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Dr. Gary Kaplan on Dirobi Health Show

Dr. Gary Kaplan on Dirobi Health Show – Living healthy in a toxic world.

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Dr. Kaplan was a guest on Dave Sherwin’s Dirobi Health Show about how to live healthy in a toxic world.

Highlights –

Inflammation Nation

The list of autoimmune diseases is long: Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Lupus, Celiac…and these are only a few of the crippling disorders that affect the entire body. The immune system breaks down, and inflammation attacks both the brain and the gut, joints, muscles, and nervous system. (2:30)

Post Covid “Cytokines”

Many who have previously suffered from Covid may have noticed problems with their sense of smell and other lingering issues. Dr. Kaplan attributes these chronic problems to white cells that are spewing out lots of inflammatory particles called cytokines. (9:00)

Brain Care

Regular, aerobic exercise is one of the best anti-inflammatory remedies for the brain. (10:45)

The “Roll” of Nutrition

An inflamed gut will result in brain inflammation. (23:00)

The Hypoallergenic Diet

A hypoallergenic diet has the least number of allergens (26:00)

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea can reduce lifespan. Warning signs include fatigue during the daytime, snoring at night and lapses in breathing during sleep. (36:55)

 

We are here for you, and we want to help.

Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2

 

Foundation for Total Recovery

A message from Dr. Gary – Provide the gift of hope and healing to others with your tax-deductible donation

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Dear Kaplan Center Community,

As I reflect on the past year, I am particularly grateful for our connection through the Foundation for Total Recovery. Indeed, you are the very reason we exist. Whether you are a current or prior patient, a friend or family member of one, or simply a curious soul who reads our newsletter, our entire reason for doing what we do comes down to one thing: you.

Your health. Your wellness. Your total recovery.

In the United States alone, 20 million people suffer from chronic illness but don’t have the knowledge you have now (or are learning). Unfortunately, the medical community, at large, remains largely unaware of the connection between a dysregulated immune system and neuroinflammation—a brain on fire—so people just like you continue to get misdiagnosed or dismissed every day.

As I write this, we are preparing for something big next year—and I am asking for your help and generous support to make it a success.

On February 9-11, 2022, Georgetown University and the Foundation for Total Recovery are partnering to host a virtual medical conference titled Autoimmune Encephalopathy Secondary to Infectious Disease: A New Perspective on the Pathogenetic Interaction of the Immune System, Infection, Stress and Chronic Disease. A panel of world-class physicians will address how we can completely reimagine the way we view, diagnose, and treat chronic illness.

This is where your generosity can make a big impact. It is imperative we educate both the medical community and the public on this new perspective. It will be a beacon of hope in the shadow of looming sickness, especially during the holiday season when problems intensify for many who are suffering. You can give them something they long for but don’t even know exists for them: hope.

YES! MAKE MY DONATION NOW.


Your generous gift of any amount is fully tax-deductible. Even more important, you can help us reach the millions of people who are plagued by these illnesses but see no way out.

Without you, this foundation would not exist. We are eternally grateful for your support and for trusting us on your path to optimal health. Thank you for helping people like you find the answers they so desperately seek, and for giving us a platform from which to share such life-changing information.

Want to learn more about the conference the Foundation is co-hosting?

The mission of this conference is to help address the experiences all too many of you have had. That of going to doctor after doctor earnestly describing your symptoms and seeking answers, only to be dismissed, given yet another pill, or worse, told “It’s all in your head.”

This conference will bring hope and healing through knowledge to the masses and the medical community alike. Even the media will be present to ensure this message has the most visibility possible.

Some of the best doctors in the world—top specialists in their field hailing from institutions such as Oxford, Duke, and Columbia—will be sharing new research and expertise with doctors, patients, and the general public about new ways of viewing, diagnosing and treating chronic conditions like:

“The way it’s always been done” has failed us. It’s time to radically rethink our entire approach so all who suffer can finally find relief and experience total recovery once and for all.

You can view the conference agenda here and read in-depth about it here.

From all of us at the Foundation for Total Recovery, we wish you the happiest holiday season and a truly wonderful, prosperous, and healthy 2022.

With warmth,

 

Dr. Gary Kaplan, DO, DABFM, DABPM
Program Chair
Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Washington, DC 20057

P.S. The conference is open to the public and we’d love to see you there! If you are interested in joining us you can learn more here and sign-up to join us here.

The Foundation for Total Recovery, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization whose goal is to help find a cure for and to help better understand, diagnose, treat, and ultimately prevent the progression of neuroinflammatory disease. In addition, the foundation offers important resources to help educate and support patients suffering from chronic pain, as well as their caregivers and doctors, and those involved in researching chronic pain. All U.S. donations to the Foundation for Total Recovery are tax-deductible.

Anxiety Symptoms

Anxiety: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment Options

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Anxiety is loosely defined as an emotion that is characterized by feelings of tension and worried thoughts. Family, finances, health or relationships are all things that we experience anxiety over. This is normal. However, anxiety that starts to overwhelm an individual or affects how they live their day to day life can be harmful.

At the Kaplan Center, we think about anxiety a little bit differently. A growing body of research suggests that it might not be a mental disorder in and of itself, but rather a symptom of physical inflammation stemming from the brain. Celiac disease, an unhealthy diet or thyroid disease are just a few conditions that may be related to anxiety. By recognizing these connections, we are able to take a broader approach to diagnosing and treating anxiety.

Symptoms of anxiety

It is important to separate the normal anxiety that we all experience from a more serious anxiety disorder. Some of the following are things to look for:

  • Worry and fear that are constant and overwhelming.
  • Responding to certain events or situations with extreme fear or dread. This may be accompanied by physical signs of anxiety such as a pounding heart, trembling and sweating.
  • Anxiety that interferes with your day-to-day activities or stops you from carrying out routine tasks.
  • Edginess and restlessness.
  • Difficulty falling or staying asleep.

Diagnosis of anxiety

The diagnosis of anxiety is one that should be made by a healthcare professional. At the Kaplan Center, we recognize that the causes of anxiety revolve around an individual’s thoughts, emotions, and feelings. In almost all instances, diagnosing anxiety does not require any invasive medical tests.

Our doctors take the time to speak to patients about these issues and allow them to discuss their anxiety as they experience it. To help diagnose anxiety we’ll ask you a few questions about:

  • Past medical history
  • Family history
  • Medication history
  • Social history

Treating anxiety

The under-recognition and under-treatment of anxiety is a widespread problem. Because anxiety can have physical symptoms, it makes the treatment somewhat challenging for traditional medicine to deal with.

At the Kaplan Center, after diagnosing anxiety our goal is to offer treatments that help address the root causes of the condition. Therefore, we offer a wide range of treatment options tailored to each individual. This may include:

We work with patients to create a personalized treatment plan that’s suited to their needs.

In many cases, anxiety is not a single-treatment condition. A holistic approach, such as the one we favor at the Kaplan Center allows us to look at the whole patient. We may suggest one or more of the treatments listed above or include other elements that fit your lifestyle.

We are here for you, and we want to help.

Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2

References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610617/
https://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/

 

 

Low-Dose Naltrexone: A Little Known, But Effective Treatment For Chronic Pain

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Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) is often confused with naltrexone, which is a pharmaceutical medication used in doses of 50 mg or more to treat alcohol and narcotic pain pill addiction or other opiate abuse. Low-dose naltrexone is a specially compounded capsule of 1.5 to 4.5 mg of naltrexone to help the body combat chronic illness states. It must be specially made by a reliable compounding pharmacist.

LDN acts by reducing inflammation in the brain caused by over-active microglia.

Microglia are a type of glial cell of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and an important line of defense. When there is an assault on the CNS, the microglia are activated and release inflammatory substances to destroy the foreign invaders. When the assault is over, the microglia go back to their normal resting state. However, when they react too often – from repeated injury, infection, toxins, traumas, or emotional blows – they can sometimes remain hyper-active keeping the brain in a chronic state of inflammation. Research on LDN suggests that it’s able to suppress the inflammatory response of the microglia.

Some of the inflammatory conditions that have shown to benefit from LDN include fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, complex regional pain syndrome, and cancer.

You can read more about inflammation of the brain and central nervous system as a major component of pain and illness in Dr. Gary Kaplan’s book Total Recovery.

LDN also improves the body’s immune system by blocking opioid receptors.

This, in turn, boosts the body’s endogenous endorphins, our natural painkillers, and important regulators of cell growth.

You can read more about low-dose naltrexone for auto-immune disorders, and other illnesses at www.lowdosenaltrexone.org.

Because low-dose naltrexone interferes with opiates you cannot continue on narcotic pain medication.

Otherwise, it has virtually no side effects and is very well tolerated by most patients. Most people notice an increase in dreaming, and some people notice a bit of sleep disruption during the initial few days of treatment but this improves over time.

Questions? Give Us a Call!

703-532-4892 x2

Questions about LDN? Call and speak with a nurse today. Call 703-532-4892, ext. 2.

Patient Q&A on Low Dose Naltrexone:

Q: Does the Kaplan Center offer low-dose naltrexone treatment for fibromyalgia patients? I know of a number of patients with fibromyalgia, MS, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis who claim to have seen improvement with LDN.

A: Yes, Low-dose naltrexone is a prescribed therapy for a variety of conditions that we treat here at The Kaplan Center. If you would like to learn more about low-dose naltrexone, call the office and schedule an appointment to discuss the possible benefits for your health condition.

Q: I am allergic to NSAIDS, so would I be allergic to this?

A: Low-dose naltrexone is not an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory), therefore any allergy to such would not apply. The higher doses of naltrexone can rarely cause liver toxicity, depression, and somnolence, but the low dose naltrexone or LDN has fewer if any side effects in our experience.

Q: The standard dose appears to be 4.5 mg in almost all the information I can find. There are a few chronic pain MDs in the U.S. that seem to be using higher doses with success — a couple say to go up as high as 10 mg while another one is using it up to 4.5 mg 3xday with great success for those who do not respond to one dose of 4.5 mg. Do you have any thoughts on this? What I’ve read is that one should not give up on this medication if not getting benefits at 4.5 mg.

A: At a low dose, the side effects are minimal. Higher doses can cause sleep disturbances and may cause elevation of liver enzymes. Although I don’t usually go higher than 4.5 mg, most likely the doses you are talking about – 10-14 mg – are far from the 50 mg or higher dose that is used to block opioid overdose, and are therefore probably safe. I don’t see any research on the efficacy of using higher doses, however.

Q: I have read that Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) should not be taken by people who have had organ transplants. Does this include an artificial aortic heart valve? Also, does it affect INR levels? And should Warfarin dosage need to be readjusted?

A: The short answer is that low-dose naltrexone should not be taken by someone on immunosuppressant drugs because it boosts the immune system by stimulating the body’s own endorphins. There are no known interactions with Coumadin but it is always a good idea to check the INR more often when starting a new medication. Therefore if someone has a valve replacement, yet is not on an immunosuppressant, LDN should be safe.

We are here for you, and we want to help.

Our goal is to return you to optimal health as soon as possible. To schedule an appointment please call: 703-532-4892 x2

Break the Cycle of Chronic Pain

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Breaking the Cycle of Pain

by Paul Wynn, Pain-Free Living Magazine, September 2017

THE FOUNDER OF AN INTEGRATIVE-MEDICINE CLINIC EXPLAINS WHY CHRONIC PAIN SHOULD BE TREATED AS AN INFLAMMATORY DISEASE

Imagine talking to your doctor and finding out that chronic pain is actually an inflammatory disease. It’s an unconventional idea that sur­prises many people, but it’s slowly gaining traction thanks to the work of Gary Kaplan, D.O., a clinical associate professor at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. (Click here or on the image below to continue reading this article.)