How Biotherapy Alternative Medicine Clinic can help with stroke recovery
Let’s start with the following story from Peter Melamed, Lic.Ac, RN, Ph.D., MD (USSR)
“After 15 years in the intensive care unit, I have treated many of my patients with paralysis, including acute stroke. Even in this situation 40 years ago, I used electroacupuncture and saw a relatively rapid improvement in neurological symptoms. After emigrating to the United States and passing all the exams, I started running an Alternative Biotherapy Clinic in San Francisco.
15 years ago, my cousin, about 50 years old, suffering from low thyroid and high blood pressure, had an acute ischemic stroke. When I visited her at Seton Medical Center, I was shocked. The left side of her body was completely paralyzed. She was discharged a few weeks later with left arm and leg paralysis. We decided to help her despite her serious situation. After six months, she went to work, drove, and could do her usual household chores. Was it a miracle? No, it was hard work. Several times a week, we did electroacupuncture with electrical muscle stimulation (myostimulation), massage, she also received physical therapy at home. She was taking our nutritional supplements that promote nerve and muscle regeneration.”
Let’s explain why there can be a good outcome after ischemic stroke.
(The term “ischemia” means insufficient blood flow to a body part.)
This type of stroke usually occurs when the middle cerebral artery (MCA) suddenly has spasms or is blocked by blood clots. Consequently, a part of the brain without oxygen is destroyed and ceases to function. This leads to paralysis of the motor zone, which sends constant impulses to the muscles to keep them in working order. Like everything in our body, the brain begins to repair itself and recover from damage. Fortunately, many brain functions overlap, but this takes time, several months. During this time, the muscles of a person without nerve impulses freeze and lose contraction. So, if you saw a person after a stroke with a twisted arm and a paralyzed leg, then this has already happened.
If we maintain the mobility of the muscles by the time, they can receive brain signals. What can happen? You’re right—faster and more complete recovery. The muscle revives when it contracts. How to make paralyzed muscles contract if they do not receive natural impulses.
It turns out there is a way to make the muscles contract. This is an electrical impulse directed at the particular area of the paralyzed muscle. The medical term for these techniques is called myostimulation.
At the Biotherapy Clinic, we use a particular rehabilitation program after ischemic stroke.* The best result is achieved in people aged 50-70. This rehabilitation program includes:
- Healing diet
- Electro acupuncture
- Electro myostimulation
- Herbal remedies
- Nutritional supplements
- Healing exercises
- Restoration of beneficial intestinal bacteria
- Whole-body vibration
- Relaxation, medical hypnosis
Some of these methods need decryption.
Acupuncture. In recent decades, there have been several clinical studies, mainly from Asia, that have shown the beneficial effects of acupuncture in combination with traditional treatment of patients after hemiplegic stroke (one-sided paralysis). This includes improving motor function, sensory ability, static balance, joint function, bowel and bladder control, mood stabilization, and more. The patients’ ability to eat, walk, dress, climb stairs, bathe, and restore normal functioning have definitely improved. Excellent results are often achieved if treatment is started three weeks after the stroke. After this period, results are often achieved more slowly. Many researchers in this field have come to the conclusion, in particular, about the effectiveness of electroacupuncture.
Electromyostimulation. Paralysis or the inability of a muscle to move is one of the most common disabilities resulting from stroke. There are broken nervous conductivity and muscles atrophy-muscles waste away. The brain controls the movement of the body by sending electrical signals through the nerves to the muscles. These signals tell the muscles to contract and cause movement. If the brain or nerves are damaged, the electrical signals do not reach the muscles, so the muscles do not contract when we want them to. When a muscle doesn’t contract at all, when we want it, we call it paralysis. When muscles contract on their own when we don’t want to, we call it muscle spasm or spasticity. Paralysis and spasticity are caused by the loss of electrical signals that tell the muscles when to contract. We can replace these lost nerve signals with electrical stimulation. It is called electromyostimulation. In the Biotherapy Clinic, we use a special device that can simultaneously perform electroacupuncture and electromyostimulation.
Electrical impulses activate intact nerves, which then cause the muscles to contract. Because electrical stimulation can cause muscles to contract when we want to, it can help people with paralysis use their muscles for movement again.
The benefits of Biotherapy treatment include:
- Maintain the healthy function of paralyzed muscles until the activity of the brain motor centers is restored.
- Prevention of muscle wasting.
- Soothing muscle spasms
- Increased local microcirculation
- Keeping range of motion
Is it painful? The best way to find out is to try it. We usually give our patients devices to regulate their impulses, so they are not afraid of overstimulation. Therefore, they can do an excellent job.
Restoration of beneficial intestinal bacteria. At the very beginning of the 20th century, Eli Mechnikov, a Nobel laureate and pioneer in immunology, proposed that bacteria in the colon are responsible for many diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging. Professor Mechnikov believed that some bacteria are bad and others are good, and that life expectancy can be increased by using beneficial bacteria. Aging could be delayed by consuming good bacteria (now known as probiotics), daily exercise, mental stimulation, and avoiding alcohol. His ideas have now come full circle with the recent discoveries that gut bacteria and gut health have severe implications for diseases affecting the entire body. Recent literature has shown the interaction of bacteria in the gut and host health, emphasizing recovery from stroke.
Scientists refer to the gut and brain connection as the gut-brain axis. An unhealthy gut can send wrong signals to the brain, just as a problematic brain can send signals to the gut. Therefore, a person’s intestinal discomfort may be a result or cause of stress, anxiety, or depression. The brain and gastrointestinal (GI) tract have a close relationship.
At the moment, it is known that beneficial intestinal bacteria (microbiota) are responsible for proper digestion, immunity, metabolism, hormonal balance and control the growth of opportunistic and harmful bacteria, Candida yeast, and parasites. A diet with processed foods, taking antibiotics, and other medications such as stomach acid suppressants, steroids, BCPs, alcohol consumption, stress, age will reduce beneficial bacteria. It has a medical term – dysbiosis.
Restoration of beneficial intestinal bacteria is a complex process that cannot be reach only by drinking yogurt and taking low-quality of probiotics. The Biotherapy Anti Candida Whole Body Cleansing program may help. Numerous of our clients stated improved digestion, constipation, and mood, fewer colds, increased energy, and more. In keeping with the new perspective on the development and progression of stroke and post-stroke, it would be very beneficial to focus on friendly gut bacteria.
It is vital to have adequate immunity. Given that 70% of immunity cells rely on good gut bacteria, restoring good gut bacteria and reducing Candida-yeast makes sense. This is very important for stroke survivors because they usually suffer from dysbiosis when Candida-yeast and harmful bacteria take over the digestive tract.
Nutritional supplements. In Biotherapy Clinic, we use variety of nutritional supplements, which have a solid scientific backup of using in the neurological disorders.
Biotherapy Cellular Magnesium-Potassium is a combination of the magnesium and potassium salts of organic acids, which are naturally exist in the human organism. They transport these vital minerals exactly where they supposed to be, inside the cells.
Our bodies need magnesium and potassium for proper fluid composition, blood, bone formation, digestion of food, maintaining healthy nerve function, and regulating muscle tone, including the cardiovascular system. Every second of every day, our bodies depend on magnesium and potassium to generate billions of tiny electrical impulses throughout the nervous system. Our hearts would stop, our muscles would freeze, our brains would shut down, and we would not get energy from our food if these minerals were not available in the right amount and form.
Biotherapy Sunshine D Plus. A large body of evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency could be linked to many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. The deficiency of vitamin D in the U.S. is common, especially among African Americans and Hispanics. The overall prevalence rate of vitamin D deficiency was 41.6% that was defined as a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations ≤20 ng/mL. Published in 2019 in medical magazine Stroke article “Vitamin D Status and Risk of Stroke” suggested that “severe vitamin D deficiency was associated with incident stroke.”
Vitamin B12 deficiency is one of the little-known risk factors for stroke. It turns out that a lack of vitamin B12 can contribute to stroke in people of all ages. Preventing vitamin B12 deficiency has also been shown to reduce the risk of stroke effectively. As we age, we cannot fully absorb vitamin B 12 from food. To make matters worse, the use of drugs that reduce the amount of stomach acid completely stops the digestion of this vital vitamin. Not many people realize that vitamin B 12 and folic acid work together, so too much folate can cause this vitamin to be deficient. They need to be taken together.
Biotherapy B 12 Active is the most beneficial methyl form of vitamin B 12 and folic acid. Biotherapy B 12 Active can reduce pain and inflammation, improve mood, memory, and energy, and promote stroke recovery. The active ingredients of Biotherapy B 12 are readily absorbed from the mouth.
There is another herbal supplement that is currently approved for use as a medication in 47 countries. It Is Vinpocetine that has been used to maintain and improve brain health and cognition function since the 70s with different names (Сavinton, Vincapan.) The evidence for its use is most convincing in the treatment of chronic cerebral ischemia. However, there is growing evidence that it may be useful in the treatment or prevention of acute ischemic strokes, post-stroke, and various forms of dementia. Vinpocetine affects the brain’s blood vessels, blood flow in the brain, and the brain cells themselves. Thus, it may have implications for improving the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain and possibly preventing damage when nutrient and oxygen delivery is impaired. Some research suggests that vinpocetine may also help avoid neurotoxic effects associated with Alzheimer’s. It is also helpful for mild depression that usually accompanies a post-stroke.
Post-stroke depression (PSD). There is no question that a relatively healthy person, after brain damage and suddenly loss motility, thus work, money, self-care, and has asocial isolation, low quality of life has huge psychological stress. If we consider that there is no quick fix and long-term physical disability, no wonder that many post-stroke survivors have mood problems such as anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, etc.
Poststroke depression (PSD) is common, affecting approximately one-third of stroke survivors at any one time after stroke. Individuals with PSD are at a higher risk for suboptimal recovery, recurrent stroke, low quality of life, and higher mortality after stroke.
In Biotherapy Clinic, we use our unique, non-drug approach to help those persons. It is vital to speed the recovery, involve the patients in self-healing, prevent the negative outcome and mortality. Many of these non-medication methods can aid in brain chemistry and improve the balance of the brain neurotransmitters’, such as serotonin, dopamine, GABA, melatonin, etc. They also decrease inflammation, promote brain, nervous, and muscle recovery. Some of them have widely used all over the globe. We do not believe in panacea or quick fix forever. Biotherapy post-stroke depression healing program customizes the various methods, which can be combined with any medical treatments. Some of these methods are:
- Healing diet
- Acupuncture
- Ear lode and scalp acupuncture
- Herbs and nutrition supplements
- Magnet therapy
- Vibration platform
- Relaxation, medical hypnosis
- Restoration of beneficial intestinal bacteria
Whole-body vibration. Have you ever heard of how vibrating platform exercises can be beneficial in stroke rehabilitation? Many scientific studies from Japan, Hungary, Australia support this idea. Some of the most common physical problems following a stroke include difficulties with movement and balance caused by muscle weakness or paralysis, pain, discomfort, or fatigue. Since routine rehabilitation exercises can be challenging for those who have just had a stroke, it is recommended that alternative treatments, such as whole-body vibration, be considered to speed up physical recovery and relieve some of the symptoms.
Exercise on a vibration platform is a low-impact activity that does not require too much effort from the patient. Vibration therapy can increase voluntary muscle strength and restore balance and daily activity in stroke survivors. This is a very safe type of therapy and can be used while sitting or standing. At the Biotherapy Clinic, we use a combination of scalp acupuncture and whole-body vibration to achieve even better results.
The Biotherapy Clinic has many scientific and clinically proven methods of helping people who have had a stroke, regardless of the time it came. This can significantly improve the quality of life. We can help.
To take advantage of the personalized after-stroke patient program at the Biotherapy Clinic, you can choose from the following options:
- Telephone consultation (415) 409-3939or
- Office consultation
