Osteopathic treatment benefits babies too

Being born is not a job for the faint of heart. Infants are squeezed and turned, twisted and pulled on their journey from the nice, warm womb to the outside world. And while their tiny bodies are very flexible, all that compression and torque can take a toll.

Osteopathic manipulation is a gentle, non-invasive way to help an infant who may have some residual strains and tension from the birth process. These residual issues can lead to a host of isues, including:

• Irritability & difficulty settling
• Excessive crying
• Colic and other digestive issues
• Problems latching on and nursing
• Disturbed sleep patterns
• Head shape changes/asymmetries
• Difficulties in movement​

Check out this video for a good look at how osteopathic treatment for infants works.

Cold or allergies?

Your head is a giant cottonball. Your brain is fuzzy, you leave a trail of Kleenex wherever you go, and you generally feel like a human sludge pile. Is it a cold? Allergies?

Might not seem like it matters much when you’re in the throes of it, but figuring out what’s ailing you is important to determining how to treat it.

Do you have general aches and pains? A cough? Sore throat and mild fever?

You probably have a cold, and although it will probably take a week to 10 days for it to run its course, there are things you can do to help move it along:

• Get plenty of rest. Let your body use its energy for healing.
• Sip lots of clear, warm fluids.
• Gargle with salt water.
• Take Tylenol or Motrin to relieve pain, and an over-the-counter decongestant if you need to, but avoid antihistamines, which will dry up the mucus and keep your body from expelling the germs it’s working so hard to get rid of.
• Sleep with a humidifier or vaporizer in your room. Keeping the air moist helps your body clear out mucous.
• Avoid dairy products, which stimulate mucous production.

Do not take an antibiotic. Colds are caused by viruses, which antibiotics do not treat. Treat the symptoms, and give your body a chance to recuperate. You’ll feel better in a few days.

If these strategies aren’t giving you relief, call Dr. Braun at (631) 377-3629 for an appointment. Osteopathic manipulation can relieve sinus pain, promote drainage and ramp up your lymphatic system to fight infection.

Fight pollen allergies with a Neti pot

Saline irrigation – flushing the nasal passages with salt water – is a popular, proven method of preventing and treating the symptoms of seasonal allergies.

The Neti pot is one of the most common methods of saline irrigation, and is available at most drug stores and health food stores. In use for hundreds of years, the Neti pot looks like a small teapot. Made of ceramic or plastic, the Neti pot is easy to use:

• Mix one pint of lukewarm water (distilled or previously boiled) with a teaspoon of salt.
• Fill the Neti pot with the mixture.
• Tilt your head over the sink at about a 45-degree angle.
• Place the spout into your top nostril and gently pour the liquid into that nostril.
• The fluid will flow through your nasal cavity and out the other nostril. Some may run into your throat also. If that happens, just spit it out.
• Repeat the process on the other side.
• Blow your nose to expel any remaining liquid.
• Rinse the Neti pot after each use and let it air dry.

Don’t inhale the solution up your nose. Not only is this unnecessary, it will likely irritate your sinuses. Simply flushing the nasal passages with saline solution should provide relief and help get your clogged sinuses draining.

If you’re still not getting any relief, call Dr. Braun at (631) 377-3629 for an appointment. Osteopathic manipulation can relieve sinus pain, promote drainage and ramp up the lymphatic system to fight infection.

Spring sneezing

We’re deep into spring allergy season, and if you find that you get a “cold” every year around this time, there’s a good chance that you’re allergic to the clouds of pollen wafting through the air as the flowers and trees celebrate the change of seasons.

Do you have itchy eyes? Runny and/or stuffy nose? Feel worse after getting some fresh air?

Probably allergies. You might not be able to keep spring from coming, but there are things you can do to keep seasonal allergies from taking over your life. Antihistamines can help with the symptoms, but you’re better off avoiding the causes when you can.

• Stay indoors on dry, windy days when pollen is likely to be blowing around.
• Delegate yard work to those without allergies, or where a pollen mask if you have to work outside.
• Remove clothing you’ve worn outside and shower to rinse pollen from your skin and hair.
• Keep doors and windows closed when pollen counts are high.
• Use a portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in your bedroom.
• Vacuum frequently with a HEPA filter in the vacuum.
• Keep yourself hydrated. Your nose is running because your body is trying to eliminate the irritants that make you feel awful.

If these strategies aren’t giving you relief, call Dr. Braun at (631) 377-3629 for an appointment. Osteopathic manipulation can relieve sinus pain, promote drainage and ramp up your lymphatic system to fight infection.

Eat Your Way Out of Acid Reflux

Hippocrates said, “All diseases begin in the gut.” He wasn’t far off. A healthy digestive system is crucial for good health. It enables you to pull vital nutrients out of the food you eat and excrete what you don’t need as waste. Researchers are also finding that healthy gut bacteria is a pillar of the body’s immune system, killing and flushing dangerous microorganisms before they can make you sick.

For at least one in 10 Americans that healthy gut behavior is thwarted at least once a week by the pain, nausea, bloating and gas of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or heartburn. In children, who are affected by GERD in similar numbers, manifestations include excessive spitting up in infants, respiratory problems and lack of growth in older kids.

When we eat, a ring of muscles called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) prevents food from backing up into the esophagus. When that mechanism fails, stomach acid irritates the esophageal lining, leading to GERD.

In most cases, GERD can be relieved by managing what and how much you eat, and when you eat it:

• Avoid eating 2-3 hours before going to bed
• Eat smaller and more frequent meals
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Write a food diary to help eliminate the foods that increase the reflux
• Avoid smoking and limit use of alcohol

While you’re working to change your dietary habits, osteopathic treatment can also relieve GERD symptoms by strengthening the LES so it’s better able to keep food where it belongs — in the stomach.

Untreated, GERD can lead to more serious health problems. If you suffer from heartburn regularly, don’t risk the damage that can come from ignoring it. Give our office a call at (631) 377-3629 to make an appointment.

New Research Upends Assumptions About Acid Reflux

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Dallas VA Medical Center have released a report that challenges 80-year assumptions about the mechanisms involved in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Turns out damage to the esophagus in GERD sufferers comes not from stomach acid backing up into the esophagus, but rather from inflammation triggered as a response to the backed up stomach acid.

If you’re one of the millions of Americans plagued by chronic acid reflux, or heartburn, the distinction may seem pointless: it doesn’t change the discomfort, so who cares what causes it?

In fact, the distinction matters. More and more, we’re finding that inflammation is the common thread in many of the things that plague us humans, from arthritis to cancer. Inflammation is the body’s response to being out of balance in some way. You get stung by a mosquito, you will get a small red inflamed bump as your immune system counteracts the mosquito’s venom.

GERD is more than just uncomfortable. Untreated, it can lead to bleeding ulcers and even esophageal cancer. Old-school treatments for heartburn, like Tums or Mylanta, act by neutralizing stomach acid. New treatments, most notably proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), work by shutting down the production of hydrochloric acid.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that shutting down this natural digestive process leads to additional problems. Stomach acid is necessary to effective digestion, and acidity in the stomach acts as a natural barrier to infection.

But when you’re suffering from chronic pain, the long-term drawbacks may seem secondary.

You don’t have to choose. Osteopathic treatment for gastric reflux employs a diaphragm-stretching technique to obtain functional equilibrium of the muscles. Training the diaphragm and related muscles in this way can increase lower esophageal sphincter pressure, enabling the body to keep stomach juices in the stomach where they belong.

If you suffer more than once or twice a week from acid reflux, don’t risk the damage that can come from ignoring it. Give our office a call at (631) 377-3629 to make an appointment.

This is Not the Time to Pop a Pill

As Americans, we seem to feel it’s our God-given duty to take a pill to relieve any discomfort. And there are times when medication is necessary. But if you suffer regularly from heartburn, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), ongoing treatment with medication is not without risks.

There are three categories of medications commonly used to treat GERD:

• Over-the-counter medicines like Tums and Mylanta provide temporary relief of heartburn by neutralizing stomach acid.
• H2 antagonists like Pepcid, Zantac and Tagamet, and
• Proton Pump Inhibitors reduce the stomach’s production of acid.

With nearly $14 billion in annual sales, they rank as the third highest-selling category of drugs in the U.S., but in most cases, these drugs are probably unnecessary, and can cause more problems than they cure.

In children, particularly, chronic treatment with drugs can be problematic. The long-term effect of many GERD medications on young children is unknown, so lifestyle changes should be the focus of pediatric treatment.

Stomach acid is there for a reason. It helps to break food down so it can be digested and its nutrients used throughout the body. It also helps to keep gut bacteria balanced, serving an important role in the immune system.

In addition, drugs like PPIs sometimes have side effects ranging from constipation and hair loss to depression and osteoporosis. One study found that people taking PPIs for one year or longer showed a significant increase in their risk for hip fractures.

But foregoing the drugs to live with GERD isn’t a good option either. Aside from the discomfort, acid reflux can cause chronic inflammation of the esophagus, leading to bleeding ulcers and even esophageal cancer.

The key is to rein in acid reflux naturally, with changes in dietary habits, and natural treatments where applicable:

• Add a good probiotic to your morning routine
• Take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water after meals
• Soothe gastric and esophageal irritation with herbs like marshmallow root, slippery elm, plantain and deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL). Ask for these at the health food store, where they should be available in tea or capsules.
• Other herbs noted to relieve heartburn include:
  • Angelica
  • Caraway
  • Clown’s mustard plant
  • German chamomile
  • Greater celandine
  • Lemon balm
  • Licorice
  • Milk thistle
  • Peppermint

Osteopathic treatment also offers very effective treatment to relieve GERD, especially when used in conjunction with natural remedies and behavioral changes. To learn more about relieving your chronic heartburn or to make an appointment for treatment, give our office a call at (631) 377-3629 to make an appointment.

Pneumonia’s been in the news, but what is it?

Pneumonia is a lung infection caused by either a virus or bacteria. It occurs when the lungs’ air sacs (alveoli) become inflamed and fill up with fluid. It can affect one or both lungs.

With the lungs compromised by infection, oxygen may have trouble reaching your blood. If there is too little oxygen in your blood, your body cells can’t work properly. Because of this and the risk of the infection spreading through the body, pneumonia can cause death.

You may be more susceptible while you’re recovering from a cold or flu, both of which can weaken lungs and make it harder to fight off secondary infections.

Both viral and bacterial pneumonia can be contagious. To prevent infection, wash hands frequently, avoid being around sick people if possible, and maintain a strong immune system by eating a healthy diet rich in an array of colorful fruits and vegetables. If you’re the one sick, do yourself and your community a favor and stay home and rest—nobody wants your germs!

While pneumonia results in more than 1 million hospitalizations and 50,000 deaths each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, most cases are mild — so mild in some cases that patients may not even know they have pneumonia, mistaking the symptoms for a bad cold. These mild cases are often called “walking pneumonia” because patients feel well enough to carry on everyday activities.

Pneumonia can be very dangerous, however, and some people are more susceptible to severe cases, including very young children and the elderly, smokers, and people with chronic disease like asthma, heart disease, cancer or diabetes—all conditions that weaken the immune system overall.

Common symptoms of pneumonia include:

• Cough. You will likely cough up mucus (sputum) from your lungs. Mucus may be rusty or green or tinged with blood.
• Fever.
• Fast breathing and feeling short of breath.
• Shaking and “teeth-chattering” chills.
• Chest pain that often feels worse when you cough or breathe in.
• Fast heartbeat.
• Feeling very tired or very weak.
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea

You doctor will make an initial pneumonia diagnosis by listening to your lungs with a stethoscope. If you have pneumonia, your lungs may make crackling or bubbling sounds when you inhale. A chest X-ray and sputum test will confirm the diagnosis and let the doctor know if your pneumonia is bacterial or viral. Bacterial pneumonia should be treated with antibiotics, but doctors may prescribe antibiotics even in cases of viral pneumonia as a precaution against secondary infection.

For any case of pneumonia, you should:

• Drink plenty of fluids
• Get lots of rest
• Do not take cough medicines. Coughing helps your body clear the infection from your lungs
• Keep a humidifier or vaporizer running to moisten the air and make it easier to clear your lungs
• Take ibuprofen or acetaminophen as needed for discomfort

If you have been fighting a cold and cough for more than 10 days and it doesn’t seem to be clearing up, give our office a call at (631) 377-3629 to make an appointment. It’s important to get pneumonia diagnosed and treated before it causes serious health problems.

Diagnosed with pneumonia? Test for Lyme disease too.

Sometimes it seems that every illness on the East End comes back to Lyme disease and other tick-borne maladies.

As we move into the winter months, we may let our guard down about those nasty little insects, since our exposure to them usually declines once we start spending more of our time indoors than out. But don’t get complacent—ticks are very active in the fall, and in addition to Lyme disease, they can spread a whole host of nasty infections, including two often-overlooked infections called mycoplasma and chlamydophila, both of which can cause pneumonia.

Experts estimate that approximately 2 million cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae occur in the U.S. every year, most often in the fall. Mycoplasma is the tiniest type of organism that can live independently, and more than a dozen species are found in humans. The most common of these, mycoplasma pneumoniae causes respiratory infections like pneumonia and bronchitis. But it can also cause non-respiratory diseases affecting the nervous system, blood, joints, skin, liver, heart and pancreas.

Chlamydophila pneumoniae is a parasitic organism and a known co-infection of Lyme disease. In addition to pneumonia, it can also cause a wide range of other illnesses ranging from arthritis and asthma to myocarditis and fibromyalgia.

Besides being carried by ticks, these organisms are also spread from person to person by tiny droplets released into the air when an ill person sneezes or coughs. So it is certainly possible to acquire mycoplasma pneumoniae without being bitten by a tick. But given the prevalence of ticks and tick-borne disease in our area, it’s not a bad idea to be tested for Lyme disease if you do come down with pneumonia.

If you have been fighting a cold and cough for more than 10 days and it doesn’t seem to be clearing up, give our office a call at (631) 377-3629 to make an appointment. It’s important to get pneumonia diagnosed and treated before it causes serious health problems.

Is the pneumonia vaccine right for you?

If you’re over 65, a routine visit to your doctor is likely to come with a recommendation that you get the pneumonia vaccine. As with any medical treatment, this should be a decision you make, not something you agree to automatically.

If you have a compromised immune system or have been prone to pneumonia or bronchitis in the past, your best bet is probably to get the vaccine. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the vaccine prevents protects nearly half of adults from getting pneumonia at all, and about 75% of adults who receive it from acquiring a possibly life-threatening invasive pneumococcal infection, such as meningitis or bacteremia, a blood infection.

While the vaccine is generally safe, some people do suffer side effects, including fever, nausea, joint tenderness and swelling at the injection site. Serious side effects are uncommon, but they do happen and should be taken into account when deciding whether or not to get the vaccine.

Whether you do or don’t choose to get the vaccine, it’s important to keep a couple of things in mind:

The vaccine protects against 23 common strains of bacteria that cause pneumonia. It does not protect against ALL bacterial pneumonia, or against pneumonia caused by viruses.

The pneumonia vaccine may have an expiration date. People are often advised to get a second dose five or 10 years after the first, but there’s some evidence that those secondary doses may not provide as much immunity. Since the danger of complications from pneumonia increases with the age, it might make sense to hold off on the first vaccine until later in life, depending, again, on your overall health.

For most people in reasonably good health, maintaining a nutritious diet and healthy lifestyle are the best offense in the war against pneumonia and other contagious diseases. Unless you manage to sequester yourself away and douse any visitors with Lysol, you are going to be subjected to the germs that run rampant this time of year. Ward them off with lots of fruit and vegetables!

If you have additional questions about whether the pneumonia vaccine is right for you, give us a call. If you have been fighting a cold and cough for more than 10 days and it doesn’t seem to be clearing up, give our office a call at (631) 377-3629 to make an appointment. It’s important to get pneumonia diagnosed and treated before it causes serious health problems.

Stay active – stay safe

Head injuries, particularly in youth sports, are a major concern for parents and healthcare professionals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers “A ‘Heads Up’ on Managing Return to Play” for young athletes who’ve suffered concussion. ​

The dreaded tick

Ticks are an unfortunate fact of life on the East End of Long Island, and they carry a number of dangerous diseases. Some tips to keep tick bites to a minimum:

• Avoid wooded and bushy areas with high grass and leaf litter during warm weather when the little pests are at their worst
• Wear long, light-colored pants and socks so you can see crawling ticks on your clothing before they attach themselves to your skin
• Treat clothing and other gear with products containing 0.5% permethrin
• Bathe or shower after coming inside to find and wash off crawling ticks
• Examine gear and pets for crawling ticks that might attach to a person later

If you find a tick attached to your skin:

• Use a pair of fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible
• Pull upward with steady, even pressure
• Dispose of the tick by dropping it in alcohol, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet. NEVER crush a tick with your fingers!

If you develop a rash or fever within several weeks of removing a tick, call our office and let us know so you can be tested for tick-borne diseases and treated promptly.

For more information, check out this page from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Eat for health

Eating a healthy diet is one of the best ways to achieve and maintain optimal health, and avoiding foods that cause inflammation is a great way to start.

• Use this food pyramid as a guide to healthy food choices.
• Keep this nutrient density flyer handy to help you make better dietary choices. As a bonus, also includes a guide to the “dirty dozen” produce items that tend to have the highest pesticide levels. If you’re deciding which produce is worth buying organic​
• You may be surprised to learn that many seemingly unrelated symptoms can be caused by food allergies or sensitivity to certain foods. Your doctor may recommend the elimination diet as a way to relieve inflammation in various parts of the body and to pinpoint those foods that keep you from achieving optimal health.

Learn more about osteopathy

Here’s a comprehensive list of conditions that are commonly treated with osteopathy.

Learn more about osteopathic manipulation from the American Osteopathic Association and the American Academy of Osteopathy.

For more information on board certification in neuromusculoskeletal medicine/osteopathic manipulative medicine (NMM/OMM), visit the American Osteopathic Board of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine.