Stanwood Integrative Medicine

11/24/2025

I wanted to share another interesting talk that I had the opportunity to attend while at the Age Management Medical Group (AMMG) conference. The opening lecture for this conference was Dr. Eugene Shippen. This gentleman is still practicing (limited hours) well into his 80s. He gave an amazing lecture on the use of high dose Vitamin D for treatment of many autoimmune conditions as well as chronic Lyme's disease. His work is a variation of the Coimbra protocol. Dr Coimbra is a neurologist out of Sao Paulo Brazil and has been using high dose Vitamin D to treat MS and keep it remission. The premise behind this is there are individual doses of vitamin D that are supportive for the body. Now some will argue that high doses of vitamin D will contribute to calcification of the arteries (hardening of the arteries). In fact, the science behind this shows that low vitamin D levels, increase concentrations of parathyroid hormone (master regulator of calcium) which creates increases in calcium within the blood circulation. Higher serum 1,25-vitamin D levels were associated with lower amounts of vascular calcification. This is particularly startling to me as I see more facilities reporting "normal vitamin D levels" as being in a 30-60 range. Are we keeping ourselves sicker by not optimizing our vitamin D? Before you undertake increasing your vitamin D, please work with a knowledgeable provider to monitor your parathyroid hormone levels.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.CIR.96.6.1755
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33897704/

Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is a secosteroid and prohormone which is metabolized in various tissues to the biologically most active vitamin D hormone 1,25(OH)2D3 (calcitriol). 1,25(OH)2D3 has multiple pleiotropic effects, particularly within th...

11/23/2025

Happy Sunday! I hope that if anyone is starting their Thanksgiving travels today that you all travel safely to your destination and have an amazing time. I wanted to let you all know about the holiday hours for this coming week. We will only be in the office on Tuesday, 25 November, for regular clinic hours. We will be closed starting Wednesday 26 November for the long Thanksgiving weekend and will return on 02 December for normal clinic hours again. Should you need urgent/emergent care, please go directly to the ER or Urgent care clinic near you. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

11/19/2025

Just a few more tidbits from the Gender Bias lecture that I attended over the weekend that was presented at the AMMG by Dr Benjamin Gonzales. "Women under the age for 55y/o are 7 times more likely to be MISdiagnosed in mid-heart attack in the ER." Women do NOT present with the same symptoms as a man when they are having a cardiac event. The JUPITER "pro-statin" study in 2008 showed NO benefit for women in primary prevention of heart disease. Things that aren't considered for women when addressing their health include: reduce oxygen carrying capacity, decreased clearance time through the liver for medications (for example, methotrexate clears 13-17% slower in women than in men), and the ion channels that are important in the heart and kidneys react differently with respect to the use of medications for blood pressure and heart rhythm control.

11/18/2025

Is everyone getting their mind wrapped around the fact that Thanksgiving is next week? The year has just flown by and here we are preparing for the holiday season again. I was out of town last week at a conference that has become one of my favorites, the Age Management Medical Group. This conference group has had amazing lectures the past 2 years that have I attended. One of the many outstanding lectures this time was on Gender Bias in Medicine. There was a recent study that showed that 64% of common medical interventions were either disadvantageous, ineffective or inappropriate form women. There are over 21,000 medications that are FDA approved and only one has specific dosing for women. Up to 1/3 of these medications have pharmacokinetics (how we process/clear these medications once consumed) that differ between men and women. Also from 1997-2002, there were 8 out 10 new medications that were removed from the market completely due to harm to women. This just goes to further extend the concept that medicine isn’t one size fits all. We need to continue to find ways to personalize medicine to the individual that is sitting in front of us.

11/11/2025

Today is Veteran’s Day. These amazing individuals took a portion of their lives to serve our country and many are still suffering the consequences of this decision. Our service members often suffer higher rates of PTSD, depression, su***de, traumatic brain injuries, environmental exposures, substance use disorders, and chronic pain. Additionally, there are a higher number of our veterans that are homeless as they have had difficulties re-integrating into society. If you know a veteran in need of help, please lend a hand. These individuals may be helped by the Veteran’s Administration and often local communities and counties have their own veteran’s support. Thank you to all of our veterans for your service and your sacrifice as well as to their loved ones who faithly remained by their side to ensure there was a family to come home to.

https://snohomishcountywa.gov/598/Veterans-Assistance-Program
https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/HumanServices/vets.htm

The Veterans Assistance Program is operated by Skagit County Public Health, in partnership with Community Action’s Skagit Vets Connect Program. Veterans Assistance is provided to make sure that the residents of Skagit County, who have honorably served our country, are never forgotten. Upon determi...

10/27/2025

I will keep this one fairly brief but hopefully informative. As many know, one of medical passions is regenerative medicine. There are so many amazing applications that are being developed it seems almost daily and newer research is coming out about the use of this form of medicine to help individuals achieve a new state of wellness and recovery. Today, I want to focus on inflammation and particularly joint inflammation (such as osteoarthritis). The conventional medicine treatments include: over the counter NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories), then prescriptive NSAIDs of not enough control and finally steroid shots into the injection. Well, this typically then results in a joint replacement when these modalities fail. So the question is why do they fail....the short answer is our natural biology. When we are in a state of osteoarthritis, our chondrocytes (the cells that make up are cartilage) are in a catabolic state (think about your cat that wants to tear things up...break things down). When we add in medications such as NSAIDs (aspirin, Aleve, ibuprofen, Diclofenac, Celebrex, meloxicam) these are also catabolic and leads to further joint degeneration. Then many people get steroid shots (often more than one) and there is research supporting that corticosteroids also contribute to further joint degradation even though they may provide temporary relief. There are other options for supporting joint health with a strong potential to help stimulate regeneration.

10/27/2025

Quick Admin note with a 2nd post to follow...well here we are at the end of October already. This Friday, 31 Oct 2025, the clinic will be closed. We will re-open on Tuesday 04 November 2025. If you experience any medical emergency or urgent medical need, please go to the ER or Urgent care. I hope you all have a safe Halloween.

10/23/2025

This is for the ladies and it would be nice if the guys listened as well but at least you will all be a bit more informed. This is an excellent podcast with some leading women in the healthcare and exercise science setting. They discuss all phases of reproductive health for females and discuss some interesting concerns about birth control that haven't been discussed before. Now, we want to make sure that women aren't getting pregnant if it isn't desired at the time but the wanton use of birth control for things like acne may have a down side. Please ladies take a listen and if you have teenage girls that are also athlete's please take a listen. This is from the Diary of a CEO. It is long but EXCELLENT!

The 4 leading powerhouses in women’s health break down urgent topics facing women today: irregular periods, PCOS, endometriosis, perimenopause, and the best ...

10/17/2025

I have been wrestling in my mind for the past few days on what to post first for you all. There have been 2 very interesting podcast I think are worth listening to. The first one that I am going to share is from Dr Peter Attia's podcast, the Drive. He did an interesting podcast on the "association" of tylenol with autism. We have to remain vigilant about what is being reported on as they take key highlights without providing the details behind this. If there is an association with tylenol use and autism it is very loose.

“Science is not about being right or wrong in an absolute sense. It's really about constantly updating our priors, understanding the probability of something as new evidence becomes emergent.” —Peter Attia

10/09/2025

Administrative note. I have 2 important administrative isssues to post today. First, Dr Ashley Scharbach, will be moving on to her own practice starting 01 Jan 2026. For those patients that want to follow on with her, we will make sure you have her contact information once it is available. We have appreciated the time that Dr Scharbach has been with us and wish her the best of luck in her new adventure. Second, it is with tremendous consideration that we have decided to no longer take insurance at Stanwood Integrative Medicine. The insurance companies become increasingly difficult to deal with and there are sadly financial considerations as well in that reimbursements are getting smaller. We will continue to provide you all the current services at the clinic but starting in Jan 2026, patients will be paying cash to receive care. A super bill will be provided so that you may be reimbursed directly. As of 01 Jan 2026, Premera and Molina will not be accepted at the clinic and as of 31 December 2026, the Regence based insurances will no longer be accepted. We will continue to support you, our amazing patients, through this transition. For those who decide to change providers, I want to thank you for allowing me to be a part of your health care. For those who are electing to stay, I am equally honored that you continue to trust us with your care.

09/25/2025

Happy Thursday All! So brief admin message. Today, 25 Sept 2025, we have having problems with the phones in that we are NOT currently receiving any incoming calls and are having difficulties calling out to patients. Apologies for any inconvenience.

09/17/2025

Happy Wednesday! You are halfway through the week and hopefully you all have wonderful plans for the weekend. Today is a little bonus post. Some of you know that we do offer some regenerative aesthetics procedures in office and I wanted to share a few items that I have learned myself as I continue my own education. There are biostimulants that can help regenerate the face in general. Many reach for their tried and seemingly true product of filler. The problem with cross-linked hyaluronic acid based fillers is that they can actually spread creating almost a cement like structure within the tissues that can't always be dissolved. Additionally, used in the lips it can cause vaso-occlusion (compression of the vessels) in the lip area that can cause this tissue to die. Additionally, the typical fillers used don't stimulate collagen or elastin formation in the face and lips and don't stimulate new vascular growth in areas that need it. For example, as we age, our lips start to lose their height, volume and color. This can add to the "aging of the face." If you are interested in a more regenerative application, give us a call.