B.S., C.N.C.

Welcome to my holistic health website. This website is dedicated to describing in detail my complimentary/alternative health consulting practice. Please navigate by clicking on the words in the graphic above.

Education will take you to a listing of the degrees and certifications that I have received over the years. Keep in mind that my education never stops...I study constantly and belong to professional organizations that keep abreast of cutting edge research and studies in the complimentary/alternative health field.

Contact will tell you how to get in touch with me, and also give information on how I conduct my consultations.

Modalities provides brief descriptions of the many methods that have been used to help clients with various complaints and what you may expect from them. It also gives outlines of some of the research I have done for many disorders in addition to exceptional research references. AT PRESENT THIS PHASE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION - PLEASE BE PATIENT

Links gives a listing of websites that can provide more details about some of the various modalities used and sources for some of the suggestions.

The main focus of my practice is to teach and instruct. I can't, in all good conscience, tell you to just "take this" and let it go at that. I will educate you on what, how, when and why you might consider specific recommendations. I will give you several options to choose from in order that you may take part in the formation of current and future decisions since I am of the belief that one should never stay on the same health protocol longterm. In the best interest of health and immunity, it has always been found that the cycling of nutritional supplements and herbs is most effective. It is not my goal to have you rely on me indefinitely..... Should that be the case, then I am not doing my job of educating you and empowering you to take control of your own health. We will discuss your long-term goals, then I will guide you in how best to achieve those goals. I will not attempt to treat any symptoms you have - rather, my suggestions will be aimed at rebalancing and correcting nutritional deficiencies and incorporating positive lifestyle changes in order to promote health. As a "holistic" (whole body) practitioner, I will be discussing your medical history with you. It is also very helpful to know as much about your parents' and siblings' medical history as you care to tell me. I use this information to attempt to get to the very core of your problem. Once we find this core issue, we can together devise a holistic protocol involving the whole body. This is the only effective way to address a problem, and to maintain health. All systems of the body work together in harmony. To single out and focus on only one puts the others further out of balance.

TINY TIDBIT This tiny tidbit may not be so tiny for some people. I would like to relate to you my and my family's experience with the pulling of all natural thyroid hormone replacements off the market. Hopefully, our experience will help some of you who may be going through the same problems we had.

For many years we each relied on Naturethroid to supply what we didn't have. It had kept our numbers relatively well and most our symptoms were kept at bay. Not wanting to put "synthetic" anything in our bodies, we were all comfortable using what we thought was the best alternative replacement. When word got out that Naturethroid (and all other natural thyroid) would be taken off the market, I started hoarding what we had. I ever so slightly decreased our dosage to try and make it last longer. Obscure symptoms started creeping back and, eventually, I had to ask my doctor to prescribe the "dreaded" synthetic thyroid hormone replacements for all of us. Since most insurance companies refuse to cover brand name thyroid hormone replacement, I initially requested both levothyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3). Because we had taken natural desiccated thyroid hormone replacement for so long, I knew we would need to take both synthetic thyroid hormone replacements (T4 and T3). Upon researching, I learned that 1 grain of natural desiccated thyroid is equal to 38mcg. of levothyroxine and 9 mcg. of liothyronine. My husband's dosage for Naturethroid was 1 grain in the morning, and 1 grain in the afternoon. Upon making the conversion to synthetic, my husband's new equivalent dosage would be 75 mcg. levothyroxine taken once a day in the morning, and 20mcg. of liothyronine taken in divided doses of 10mcg.in the morning and again in the afternoon. Of course, the pharmaceutical industry doesn't make doses for individuals, just "one size fits all". They don't offer a 10mcg. tablet, only a 5mcg. tablet. So, my husband needed to take two 5mcg. tablets of liothyronine in the morning and two in the afternoon. It's a little more complicated than taking natural thyroid, but it was what he needed to do to avoid any problems after switching. My dosage of Naturethroid was 2 grains in the morning, and 1 grain in the afternoon. With the same conversion, I needed to take 114mcg. of levothyroxine once a day in the morning. However, that dosage was not available. The closest I could get was 112mcg. I also needed to take 30mcg. of liothyronine in divided doses in the morning and again in the afternoon. A 15mcg. tablet was not available, so the only solution I had was to take three 5mcg. tablets in the morning and three 5mcg. tablets in the afternoon. Our doctor prescribed the generic replacements for us and we began taking them. Initially, I was not comfortable at all taking synthetic drugs. That is something that neither I nor my family had never done. I continued to research the synthetic replacements, and generics, in particular. Within 3 weeks, both my husband and I had a return of most of our hypo symptoms. We were very upset and a little nervous since Naturethroid hadn't returned to the market yet. As I researched synthetic generics, I found (with much cross-referencing) that generic liothyronine met with particularly bad results and was not recommended in most cases. I continued researching the brand Cytomel, and found much better results. Research on generic levothyroxine found comparatively good results. I called my doctor to request prescriptions for Cytomel to replace the generic prescriptions. I also called my insurance company and found that they would cover Cytomel only if the doctor called and requested "brand specific". He called them, and our prescriptions for Cytomel were covered, but at a higher than normal price. The higher price was very acceptable, though, since my husband's and my prescription were each originally priced at $600 per 3 months. We replaced the generic liothyronine with Cytomel and by the third month, all hypo symptoms were gone. As an aside -- Naturethroid returned to the market after we had been on synthetic replacement for about 2 months. I asked my doctor if we could resume taking it since I still had a negative mindset concerning synthetic drugs. He allowed us to, with the admonition that we pay close attention to any possible recurrence of symptoms. He told us to be very "body conscious". We were, and unfortunately, after a month, we each had recurrences of terrible symptoms. Some of these were symptoms we had never had while taking Naturethroid previously. I was very confused and, again, started researching. Eventually, I found on the manufacturers website that the formula had been changed; not the source of thyroid, but, some of the other ingredients and the tablet. Well, that closed it for us. We felt so much better on levothyroxine and Cytomel; even better than we had for the last 7 years on Naturethroid. Naturethroid had changed after 7 years, and we will no longer be taking natural thyroid hormone replacement. I am NOW finally very comfortable taking a synthetic drug. Not that this will set a precedent. We still don't take drugs, but, in this instance, it's the best for us.

One thing we haven't done yet is to have all of our blood tests repeated. We will be having this done within the next few months. I thought it was important to give the new replacement regimen plenty of time to stabilize each of us. I will certainly let you know once we have this done. Of particular concern to me, personally, is my lipid panel. Before diagnosis as hypo, my total cholesterol was well over 300, despite the fact that I eat perfectly. The values went down considerably once we titrated up to the correct replacement dosage. However, it still hovered around 240, or so. I wasn't concerned because my HDL was well over 100. I am a very healthy person. Now, however, I need to make sure that neither my nor my family's values go below 200, since that is the ideal value for total cholesterol. Hope all this information has helped in some way. TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH !!

Please email me if you have any questions.
I do not claim to diagnose or treat any illness. All information on this website is for educational purposes only.

All images on this website are copyright 2003 to J.M.Bondzeleske of Berzerk Image, and are protected under federal law. Please direct any questions or problems involving the site design to ebondrake [at] hotmail [dot] com.