Mel Hopper Koppelman - Synthesis Health Lab (Page 2)

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Mel Hopper Koppelman

Is ADHD Primarily a Sleep Disorder?

Is ADHD Primarily a Sleep Disorder?

ADHD, while a bit of a mixed bag, is primarily (for about 80% of people with the diagnosis) a sleep disorder characterized by circadian disruption. Melatonin release is delayed by a couple of hours and sleep onset takes longer for these folks than healthy controls, showing low melatonin sensitivity. Most

Clinical Training as a Form of Dissociation

Clinical Training as a Form of Dissociation

In the Integrative and Chinese medicine fields, it's incredibly common that the original drive to train and practice this type medicine came from the practitioner's own experience of illness and receiving help from these approaches where industrial medicine was limited. This was certainly true for me.

Information Pace Layers & Glyphosate

Information Pace Layers & Glyphosate

I recently came across the interesting and useful idea of pace layers. It's a way of understanding how complex systems change at different speeds. An easy way to think about it is to look at an analog clock, with the second hand moving more quickly than the minute

Probiotics and Systems Behavior

complex systems

Probiotics and Systems Behavior

If you want to understand what the purpose of a given system is, then you need to look at its behavior. Recently, I read about the long-standing, wide-spread use of probiotics and prebiotics in the poultry industry. Chicken is the number one source of animal protein in the US and

All Research is Storytelling

All Research is Storytelling

There's an adage about writing well: you need to know the rules to break the rules. And the most impactful writing breaks the rules, often. When it comes to understanding how to find, read, understand and summarize medical research, the same principle applies. You need to know the

According to the evidence, of course doctors should recommend acupuncture for pain

According to the evidence, of course doctors should recommend acupuncture for pain

Last week, the BMJ published an invited head to head debate as to whether doctors should recommend acupuncture for the treatment of pain. Below is my rapid response: What’s most interesting about this discussion of whether or not doctors should recommend acupuncture for pain is a total lack of

How to Summarise the Evidence Base

How to Summarise the Evidence Base

Earlier this week, a survey of the content of local acupuncturists websites performed by Daniel Ryan, a computer developer, was published in the New Zealand Medical Journal. The article was full of inaccuracies of all shapes and sizes and its successful journey through the peer-review process left many scratching their

What is the ‘Science-based’ treatment for the prevention of migraine?

What is the ‘Science-based’ treatment for the prevention of migraine?

Dear Science Based Medicine, Over the years, I’ve followed your work with great interest in an effort to better understand ‘real’ medicine and how it is that treatments can consistently do well in trials and yet, according to ‘Science,’ not really work at all. It’s been very informative

“Prevention of Migraine”: Acupuncture is Conspicuous by its Unexplained Absence

“Prevention of Migraine”: Acupuncture is Conspicuous by its Unexplained Absence

Last month, JAMA published a clinical summary of treatments for the prevention of migraine, a reprint from a publication called the Medical Letter. What’s amazing about this summary is that it manages to include a mind-bogglingly diverse collection of treatments – everything from drugs to supplements to experimental head gadgets,

Is ‘The Butcher of New England’ Harming Patients with Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest?

Is ‘The Butcher of New England’ Harming Patients with Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest?

Migraine is a common, debilitating condition that is notoriously difficult to treat1. While conventional treatments offer a poor effectiveness versus safety profile, acupuncture has been demonstrated to be at least as effective if not more effective than medication with far fewer side-effects2. For this reason, acupuncture is recommended in official

Wikipedia, We have a problem

Wikipedia, We have a problem

In a nutshell: Acupuncture has been increasingly embraced by conventional care as an efficacious treatment for a variety of conditions. Evidence of this support comes from recommendations for acupuncture in numerous medical guidelines, Cochrane systematic reviews demonstrating clinical effectiveness, and an explosion of research interest into acupuncture’s effectiveness and

The Trouble with your analysis, Dr Labos. Point by point.

The Trouble with your analysis, Dr Labos. Point by point.

This past Sunday, the Montreal Gazette published an opinion piece by a local doctor, Christopher Labos. The main thrust was a rehash of arguments made by a small group of self-proclaimed skeptics who are intent on explaining away the evidence of acupuncture’s effectiveness, such as the Cochrane Systematic Reviews

Professor Ernst, a few questions about the new NICE guidelines

Professor Ernst, a few questions about the new NICE guidelines

Dear Professor Ernst, I appreciate you’re busy, but I was wondering if you could explain a few things to me. As the only professor of complementary medicine on the planet, you have unique insight and perspective on the new updates to the NICE Guidelines for low back pain. I

The NICE Low Back Pain Guidelines: A Big Misunderstanding

The NICE Low Back Pain Guidelines: A Big Misunderstanding

On 24 March, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), a UK based organisation tasked with providing evidence-based clinical guidelines for the National Health Service, released a draft of its updated guidelines on the management and treatment of low back pain with and without sciatica. The biggest news

The UK’s Top Migraine Charity is about to reveal an effective, drug-free treatment for Migraine . . .

Did you know that there are 190,000 migraine attacks everyday in the UK? Or that an estimated 25 million days are lost from work or school every year because of migraine? 1 How about that preventative treatments for migraines include antidepressants, antihistamines, anticonvulsants and, for the 5% of migraineurs

Hello, my name is Normal

Biochemical Labs

The Problem With Being Normal

Many of us remember the desperate desire to fit into the crowd during our formative years, perhaps even to the point of doing things that in retrospect were not such a clever idea (I’m lookin’ at you, Barbed Wire Tattoo). And then, as we get a bit older and

Acupuncture, Science based medicine, and UFOs

Acupuncture, Science based medicine, and UFOs

Dear Dr Crislip, Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I know you are a very busy man with many responsibilities and I really appreciate you taking the time to read and respond to my questions, as silly as they might seem to someone as accomplished and prestigious as

Dear Science Based Medicine, Just a Few Questions About Acupuncture

Dear Science Based Medicine, Just a Few Questions About Acupuncture

The folks at the Society for Science Based Medicine have some strongly negative views about acupuncture. I’m fairly sure that none of them have actually tried it, but acupuncture sounds pretty unscientific, doesn’t it? Anyways, I’m sure they’re right about everything (groups with ‘Science’ in the

Migraines, Acupuncture and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Migraines, Acupuncture and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Glamorous History of Botox for Migraines Like many important discoveries, this one happened quite by accident . . . In the early 1990s, most people agreed that electively having a toxic nerve agent injected into your face was probably a pretty bad idea on the whole, even if it did smooth out

How to Win an Argument with an Acupuncture Hater

How to Win an Argument with an Acupuncture Hater

““How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.” ― Benjamin Disraeli Disclaimer: I am an acupuncturist and this article has a pro-acupuncture leaning. Phew, now that we got that out of the way . . . Over the last few decades, acupuncture has gone mainstream in the West. With a

Confused about vaccines? Important Lessons from a ‘Scientist’

Confused about vaccines? Important Lessons from a ‘Scientist’

The other day, the most disturbing thing happened to me. I found out that I was being lied to. And not just about something trivial, but about an issue of the utmost importance to my family’s and community’s health, not to mention my own. I had been lied

5 Useful Things I learned from Having My Genome Tested

5 Useful Things I learned from Having My Genome Tested

What if someone could look inside of you and tell you exactly what you should be eating? You could ignore the fad diets, forget about this year’s “low-carb”, “low-protein”, “low-whatever” hysteria. You could graciously step off the “egg” merry-go-round and ignore the persistent rally cries of the “fat in

6 Reasons You Have IBS

6 Reasons You Have IBS

6 Reasons You Have IBS “We couldn’t find anything wrong. All of your tests are normal. You have IBS.” Unfortunately, these unhelpful words are uttered to millions of people across the globe. There’s little more disheartening than being told that no cause could be found for your painful

How Your Thoughts Affect Your Digestion

How Your Thoughts Affect Your Digestion

Highlights * Digestion begins in your brain when you think about food, before you even start eating * Stomach acid secretion, release of digestive enzymes, and proper movement of food through the digestive tract all rely on this system to work properly * This first phase of digestion, called the cephalic phase, only