Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Heart Rate Variability Analysis: Rationale is to correct parasympathetic failure and verify the choice of the best remedies.

Every so often new ways of interpreting existing data come forward in the Medical World that revolutionizes the practice of medicine.  The interpretation of the Variable Rhythm of our Heart Beats or HRV is just such a breakthrough as it relates to Healthcare in General and Integrative Medicine specifically.  WE NOW HAVE AN OBJECTIVE MEASURING SYSTEM TO DETERMINE THAT THE CORRECT REMEDY PLAN HAS BEEN SELECTED THAT WILL ENALE US TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN HEALING ACTIONS AND THE NEED TO CHANGE DIRECTION OF THERAPY.  In order to properly understand the beauty of HRV measurement we need to understand the two main parts of our nervous system; CENTRAL and AUTONOMIC.

The CENTRAL nervous system starts in our Brain and becomes our spinal cord which exits at the various levels of our spine and has sensory fibers that supplies sensory information back to the rain which then sends motor fiber back out to the periphery of our body which ultimately control all of our WILLFUL activities.  For example we touch something and sense that it is hot and WILL our arm muscles to withdraw our hand to keep from getting burned.  We see a piece of fruit on the table and we WILL our hand to pick it up and put it in our mouth to chew and eat it.Heart

Our AUTONOMC Nervous system is a step more autonomous from our willful mind and controls all of the  AUTOMATIC functions of our body such as breathing, digestion, heart beating, urine production, glandular function and all of the other functions of our bodies that happen awake or asleep whether we think about them or not.

This “other” Autonomic nervous system starts off in the deeper parts of the brain and send its nerve fibers to each and every cell of our body with pathways that lie outside of the spinal cord (which is why spinal injury patients continue essential bodily functions if the cord is severed by an accident).

There are two parts to this system: PARASYMPATHETIC fibers that slow thing down and SYMPATHETIC fibers that speed things up.  Each and every cell and location receives a fiber from both branches of the system, which is like having a gas pedal and a brake pedal for each function.

This is what we know for sure about the Autonomic System:

   1. There is no question that the rate that our Heart Beats is a function of Sympathetic Activity that speeds
       it up and Parasympathetic Activity that slows it down.
   2. There is also no question that the more variable our heart rhythm (from a fast rate to slow rate) the
       longer that we will live and the less likely that we ate to die. IE: IT IS A MEASURE OF HEALTH

In other words during a minute that our heart beats with an overall rate of 80 beats, part of that minute our heart may be beating at a rate of 90-100 and part of that minute it may be beating at a rate of 60-70 with the average rate being 80.  A person that has a variableness of a low of 60 to a high of 100 with the average being 80 is considered HEALTHIER than the person whose rate only varies between 75 and 85 with the average being 80.

What is even more interesting to us as Integrative Practitoners is that we know that homeopathy, Homotoxicology, Neural Therapy, IV and nutritional therapies, Metals Detox, and all of the myriad of other procedures performed all affect the Autonomic Nervous system FOR THE GOOD when performed correctly.

With HRV monitoring we now have a real objective measurement device that can tell us if “we’ve done it right” because the Autonomic effect on the Heart is the same as the Autonomic effect on our entire system and that EKG monitoring of Heart Rhythm is a s objective as one can get in the basic world of medicine.

The thing that is unique with our new Nerve Express system is that it can do its measurement in 7 minutes rather than the 24 hours needed to perform the test otherwise and according to the leading Cardiologist of Columbia Medical School in New York correlates in an “excellent” manner to the more expensive Hospital based units.
 
Computerized Regulation Thermography (CRT)

Computerized Regulation Thermography, or CRT, is an FDA approved, objective and non-invasive way of evaluating your body's functions. It is the EKG of the natural physician. CRT represents one of several objective diagnostic evaluations in integrative medicine. It is a medical imaging method that supplies information as meaningful as MRI and X-ray, and is safe and non-invasive. Over 1500 physicians in Europe use CRT. Thermography has over 12,000 citations and studies held within current medical journals.

This particular device evaluates your body functions by a direct temperature measurement probe instead of measuring thermal radiation. The result is a scanning method that is much more precise than any other thermographic system. It maps out the complete autonomic nervous system as it projects to and from each organ or tissue. With this form of thermography, we can finally see what the body is doing long before it becomes dysfunctional enough to create an irreversible problem. This is not diagnosing disease, but rather identifying the patterns that lead to disease, so that these patterns can be successfully treated. Timely interpretations by certified clinicians will decrease the added stress of waiting long periods for diagnostic results.

Why is Thermography helpful?

In chronic disease, there are often factors that block successful treatment. These include:
· Infections in the teeth
· Low-grade chronic viral and fungal infection
· Heavy metal toxicity
· Chronic psychological imbalances
· Intestinal toxins and dysfunction
· Immune system weaknesses
· Lymphatic obstructions
· Food allergies

Thermography allows you to see if and where these imbalances are in your body. Remember that no illness occurs in isolation, by itself. There are always patterns of dysfunction. These eventually lead to symptoms of illness, often after years of dysfunction. It is these patterns of dysfunction that the holistic practitioner attempts to define to provide guidance in a successful treatment program.

True healing requires a change in lifestyle. Many of the imbalances in function that are seen on a thermo gram are due to lifestyle imbalances over many years. With thermography, we can identify the patterns of illness that these lifestyle imbalances have impressed upon the system. Then, treatment can be better guided towards a successful direction.

Mammography versus Thermography: A major asset of regulation thermography is in the area of early detection and confirmation of breast cancers. In a German study, 54% of breast cancer patients were correctly diagnosed by history and physical examination. The number rose to 76% when mammography was added. However, when computerized regulation thermography was used, the accuracy of diagnosis rose to 92%. Many women today are concerned about the effects of accumulated radiation that is associated with routine mammograms. That concern is addressed with thermography, and ultrasound when necessary. Mammography can still be a good diagnostic tool, but with thermography, we do not have to rely nearly as much on mammography.
 
Electrocardiogram

An electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) is a test that checks for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. An EKG translates the heart's electrical activity into line tracings on paper. The spikes and dips in the line tracings are called waves.

The heart is a muscular pump made up  of four chambers. The two upper chambers are called atria, and the two lower chambers are called ventricles. A natural electrical system causes the heart muscle to contract and pump blood through the heart to the lungs and the rest of the body.

An electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) is done to:

    * Check the heart's electrical activity         
    * Find the cause of unexplained chest pain, which could be caused by a heart attack,  inflammation of
       the sac surrounding the heart (pericarditis), or angina.
    * Find the cause of symptoms of the heart disease, such as shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting,
       or rapid, irregular heartbeats (palpitations).
    * Find out if the walls of the heart chambers are too thick (hypertrophied).
    * Check how well medicines are working and whether they are causing side effects that affect the heart.
    * Check how well mechanical devices that are implanted in the heart, such as pacemakers, are working
       to control a normal heartbeat.
    * Check the health of the heart when other diseases or conditions are present, such as blood  
       pressure,high cholesterol, cigarette smoking, diabetes, or a family history of heart disease.