Dear Dr. Kate: I have tried to pay attention to health for my daughter since she was born. However, she is a very poor sleeper and wakes up crying and rubbing her legs and hands together. She's very distressed and so am I, with no sleep for both of us.    Kathryn C.

Dear patient, there are several reasons that come to mind for this. I have seen this kind of problem due to rough handling during cesarean birth. One child awoke screaming with fear and pain and virtually scrubbing her ankles together where large tough hands had grabbed so hard to pull her out that there were bruises after the birth. Energy work and clearing that experience also cleared the problem. In another case, the child had contracted a protozoa which lodged in the heart tissue, which is not unusual, and caused disruption of circulation, which the child felt as "pins and needles" when her body slowed down during rest. This needed to cleared by expelling the protozoa out of the cells and flushing it from the body. These are just two examples of why your child may have such a problem. Each case is individual and must be looked at in this way to discover the real underlying reasons for the symptoms that present themselves.

Dear Dr. Kate, recently my family wants to send me to the funny farm! My moods are out of control, sleep is nearly impossible and when I do finally sleep, I awake from bad dreams sweating and confused. In fact even during the day my memory and thinking seem cloudy….is it just aging …I really need help!       Mrs. M.

Dear patient, I doubt that you need the funny farm! You did not state your age, but even if you are not yet ready to experience menopause the same symptoms can occur even in the teen years where one is under-nourished in the specific areas needed for reproductive health . Generally speaking, getting the estrogens, progesterone, testosterone etc. evened out , clearing the liver of the toxic residue of these imbalances, and building the whole health can go a long way toward alleviating the symptoms you are experiencing. Each person has individual needs and circumstances, but what you have told me fits for so many in puberty, with PMS, during and after childbirth, as well as during the menopausal years. (A special note here: in the western world countries, the diet is so limited and unhealthy that even boys and men are having a lot of the same symptoms.) Getting the right mix of essential fatty acids, endocrine support and rehabilitation, working with your specific metabolic type for general overall health will most likely put you back on the right track and your family can recall the reservation for the funny farm!

Dear Doc, Help! I married a year ago and already I have no desire for intimacy! Believe me…this was never the case up to now! What's wrong with me?
Gregg W.

Dear patient, Don't panic, most probably nothing is so wrong that it can't be corrected. Assuming that all was reasonably healthy and strong (which may not have been so, even if you were not aware of lower vitality) with your libido and physical function prior to recently, we have to look to problems that occur on a subtle level. Of course, your health status may have gone down hill since the union. Eating out, take out food, over eating, stressing about working longer and harder to provide may be working against your health. Decline of minerals is often a culprit, as well, circulation, most especially in the lymph system, may become compromised under such duress. Sometimes there are issues about living arrangements, family ties, even the partner's needs, habits, or the way you both have of relating that could be stirring old memories and "belief systems" and impeding well being. Sometimes, after the newness of the honeymoon period is over, the reality of the deficiencies in knowing how to relate on a true and deep level start to show. In this modern world where the ability to have healthy relations of any kind are compromised, we all can learn more about how to be truly open, loving and trusting. That said, very often, there are physical reasons for such a change but all avenues should be looked at because ultimately you want to uncover the root causes and get balanced and back to, or better than, what was normal.

Dear Doctor Kate, if I eat fairly well and exercise, why do I need vitamins? Isn't that over doing it and a waste of money?

Dear patient, In an ideal world, food is our medicine. However we have a dilemma these days. Commercially grown food is grown on depleted soil or water. Chemical fertilizers and altered seed varieties produce bigger and better looking crops that are however, very deficient in nutritive value, filled with toxic residue, and due to the methods of growing and early harvest for false ripening on the transport vehicle, are also very acidic.

Organically produced food does not have the hazards of hormone based chemicals or genetically altered seed and is fertilized with organic matter that adds nutritive value. Locally grown, organic food that is not processed, heated, conditioned or altered in any way is the best hope for something close to what our forefathers had for food.

Of course, air and water pollution, toxic buildings, lack of community, and the rat race of modern living give us a lot more to contend with that also affects our health at all levels. Those who live in rural areas, work at what they have a passion for, have pure water and air (as much as is possible today anywhere on the planet) have loving, trusting relationships, and are at one with their true inner selves and all other elements of the universe probably don't need supplements. Then rest of us poor souls need a little help!

I actually grew up in such an area, and though life is never perfect and without it's lessons in the form of tests and difficulties, most people were quite strong and healthy, mature and compassionate in their views, and tried to be trustworthy, "good examples" to themselves and others. Still, we supplemented with nutrients known to be deficient in our area and accepted that life can be a bit tough and wherever we can help ourselves we should, at least until that area of our physical or mental health is strong again.

Yes, supplements can be expensive these days…all I can say is, adding the nutrients that you are missing allows the body to keep making healthy DNA that goes into each new cell as it is created and that means we become and stay better able to withstand the forces around us that compromise our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well being. For now, I recommend supplements.

Dear Dr. Kate, I have chronic fatigue and have given up on all help. My family doctor has no idea what is wrong with me and alternative practitioners help but still I'm caught in a never ending downward spiral that is very depressing. Is there anything out there for me or is this all I can hope for?    Judith L.

Dear patient, All forms of chronic degeneration have one similar theme no matter how they manifest in the body. Whether the nervous, circulatory, immune, alimentary or several systems of the body become involved, the health of each cell is where the problem lies. When the function and regeneration of the cell is degraded by lack of proper nutrient then the next generation of cells that we are ever producing are compromised in function and vitality and the DNA can become mutated and confused in it's function. When this happens on regular and long term basis, the integrity of an area, organ, or system is degraded in vitality and function and we begin to notice symptoms of ill health. As the problem evolves we begin to have dis-ease. At the core of every problem there is a missing element (usually more than one in dis-ease that has manifested so severely) and toxicity due to the failure of the system to carry out it's functions properly. The restructuring and regenerating of the system calls for your full attention! Can it be put back to rights? Where there is a will, there is a way! The problem is that when one is so depleted and weary it is hard to summon the will and put the energy into the healing process. If the will is there, then the primary and secondary factors involved in the condition can be determined in non - intrusive ways and a plan outlined for recovery. Time and effort are called for so that recuperation is as speedy as possible. Determined people reap some very impressive rewards.