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Dear friend
My best wishes to you.
I enjoy hearing from you. Write to me with your comments and questions.
- Please log into your account to communicate with me. I can no longer respond to letters to drz@drz.org. Hundreds of unsolicited junk mails.
I make every attempt to answer your e-mails as soon as my busy schedule allows. At times this may take a few days. Please understand and be patient.
Content:
Quotes for Your Life
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
Woodrow Wilson
You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now."
Joan Baez
"You can't have everything...where would you put it?"
Stephen Wright
"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. " Marcus Aurelius
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
Tolstoy
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Patti's letter - Your Ears? You Brain? Your Medications?
My Experience with Dr. Z
I learned about Dr. Z while researching Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT)treatment for my hyperacusis.
I found his name on a Swedish Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) website. I was lucky in that Dr. Z lives in driving distance from me.
When I went for my initial evaluation, I thought he would just consider if I was a good candidate for the Low Level Laser Therapy. However, to my surprise, he looked at me as a "whole person".
He determined that I needed to clean up some systemic problems. It was true, in addition to hyperacusis, I have had
- migraines for 22 years
- problems with my digestion
- food allergies
- tinnitus
- depression
- a bad back since 2000
- and knee problems.
I was taking prescription medication, Topamax for the last 5 years for the migraines and Klonopin - started 2 months ago - for my hyperacusis. I was also on Valium and Vicodin for pain.
Dr. Z put me on a high protein and low carbohydrate diet and supplements so that when I arrived for two weeks of laser treatment (ten treatments) I was strong enough to handle the energy input from the laser to my ear. I wasn't even sure I would get Low Level Laser Therapy at that point.
He made it very clear that he was educating me, not healing me, and that I was the one who had to make all my choices about healing. I learned that I was sensitive to many things, foods, but also materials, usually man made such as polyester, that touched me. Also electrical gadgets and many other things affected me, making me hypersensitive and depressing my normal brain function, which I would need in order to heal.
He did not look at the hyperacusis as an isolated problem. He also pointed out that much of my hyperacusis might originate in my brain and not be ear-related and treatable by laser therapy.
Dr. Z stressed that my brain needed stimulation, proper nutrition, and optimum oxygenation in order to function at the highest level. And he did what he could do help balance my brain, considering all areas of my body.
After several chiropractic adjustments, custom made orthotics to balance out my feet, and my own decision to withdraw from my medications, I already felt much better. The serious depression lifted. I hardly got any migraines (proving the medication hadn't been helping anyway… in fact, hyperacusis is listed as a side effect of Topamax!).
By the time I left, I felt really good and cleared of my food allergies.
I learned simple ways to balance my brain to overcome left-eye dominance and other structural issues.
Overall, the ten low level laser laser therapy treatments take one to three months to demonstrate whether they are going to work for me. But by seeing Dr. Z, I am much more confident that I will be cured. Why? Because hyperacusis is in part a brain and nervous system problem for me.
I purchased Dr. Z's Personal Portable Oxygen Bar. I use it daily.
I do brain balancing exercises several times a day.
I now have stable feet, adjusted jaw, and a positive attitude among many other things Dr. Z. helped me with.
My diet is much better and I do not get as scared at noises.
I believe I can feel the effects of the Low Level Laser Therapy treatments already in that I am able to hear high tones better and withstand sudden noises much better.
But this is only the beginning of the period. In addition, I have a new awareness about life: what I have done on all levels of my being predisposed me to my hyperacusis, most likely… and that what I do on all levels of my being… in addition to the laser and what it wants to contribute….are what are going to heal me as well.
I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Z. for his wisdom, professional skills, compassion, integrity, and genuine caring.
I returned home a different person.
I have turned a corner in my life.
I have a future that I haven't seen clouded by ailments in many years.
I am starting to introduce more foods and not react, and overall, my positive attitude is helping me in a positive cycle to cure my hyperacusis so it never comes back.
(For many people, they "cure" hyperacusis but it returns unexpectedly.) I feel really good that I have addressed the underlying issues so that my healing will be permanent.
I am patient… I just want to be on the right track in life. I am truly, deeply grateful for the counseling and other services I received.
Patti, Sausalito, California
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Patti's Husband's Comments
Dear Dr. Zeischegg,
I'm writing to express appreciation for the quality and effectiveness of your recent work with my wife, and to comment as a physician researcher on what I learned about paradigms of diagnosis and treatment.
My wife acquired-seemingly mysteriously-an unusual form of tinnitus in late 2006, following a flu-like illness. Her case was unusual in that she exhibited right-sided tinnitus only without apparent ear or head injury or with signs or symptoms of acoustic neuroma (the usual causes for one-sided tinnitus); and that her symptoms were almost entirely reactive-in nearly immediate response to a wide variety of foods and spices, and changes in weather patterns. This occurred against a background of 20 years of often-puzzling neurologic and orthopedic symptoms which were not very responsive to treatment. Her life was becoming increasingly restricted-fewer foods, less intensity and variety of physical activity.
Then in January 2008 she developed hyperacusis-extreme sensitivity to sound-especially in the right side. This new symptom developed following a fairly moderate sound injury, but it dramatically changed her life. Because of sound sensitivity and "reactive" tinnitus and ear pain from sounds and an increasing variety of foods, she was immediately plunged into an extremely restricted life-could no longer enjoy social events, shopping, going to a restaurant, or taking a walk where there might be even a little traffic. Understandably she became depressed.
She visited specialists and audiologists and experimented with some of few treatments said to be effective for at least some people with hyperacusis-sound therapy, devices, neurolo-suppressive medications. These treatments were either not helpful or made her symptoms worse.
On the Internet, she found intriguing discussions of Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) given to patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis, primarily in Europe.
We found two renowned practitioners of LLLT-a clinic in Sweden and the developer of LLLT for tinnitus, Dr. Lutz Wilden in Germany. Though there was some published evidence for LLLT's effectiveness in tinnitus there was almost nothing for hyperacusis. Nevertheless we'd read personal anecdotes of excellent results, and at worst the treatment appeared to be harmless. However, the prospect of a noisy flight to Europe seemed to put LLLT out of reach. Then we were referred from the Swedish clinic to you-within a day's drive.
As a physician (and researcher) I was skeptical, though as a scientist I knew how to keep an open mind. I recognized immediately that you regarded LLLT as one tool capable of promoting healing, but would determine its appropriateness as part of a much larger diagnostic and healing program-one that had to be individualized in ways that go far beyond conventional medical paradigms.
For example, your intake assessment (written pre-visit and initial visit) were very thorough and focused on a wide range of her experience of her health (in addition to the sorts of historical questions any Western physician might inquire about). You were very interested in her nutritional status and her "psycho-biological" details. I recognize from this standpoint that you were seeking patterns, relationships, consistent biological "stories" in these patterns.
Your physical assessment included both components that were very familiar from my training (such as details of the neurological or orthopedic examination), and others completely removed from my training and experience (such as her kinesiologic (neurologically-facilitated muscle tone) response to fabrics, foods, supplements, medications, and odors).
You also said at the initial interview that you didn't know yet whether-or when-it would be appropriate to do LLLT, which, after all, was only one therapeutic tool; but that at that point she was not in a nutritional state adequate for LLLT. This level of integrity impressed both of us. She was given detailed dietary (including supplement) instructions and told to return in a week.
At the second visit, some of her supplements were changed and some neurologic exercises prescribed; and you suggested she might (working with her family physician) explore tapering off medications she was taking that are known neuro-depressants.
She returned a week later. By that point I noticed that while still depressed, she seemed to be "returning to living in her body."
I was very impressed that none of the mostly Thorne Research supplements you recommended upset her digestion or caused tinnitus or migraine-very unusual, since supplements often had in the past.
You surmised she was ready to begin LLLT a few days into the third visit and we stayed for two weeks to complete a ten-treatment course. During this time you carefully re-examined her, seeking (this is my interpretation) shifting patterns, enhanced neuroplasticity, and responses to treatment-so-far.
She had weaned off her migraine medication by the end of the 2 weeks (all this with her family physician's approval and guidance) and was about a third of the way to stopping another neuro-suppressive medication (which her physician advised tapering over several weeks).
By the end of the fourth week (at the close of the ten day LLLT sequence), she was considerably less depressed and her appetite had increased dramatically. A few days prior to leaving Nevada City, she noticed that she was less sensitive to the sound of automobile engines when on walks.
It was in the next two weeks that I noticed a real "tipping point."
Her depression mostly lifted, and she said she could hear high-frequency tones that she had apparently lost the ability to hear. Her reactive tinnitus has reduced, and when she does get it (usually in response to a loud or high-pitched sound) she recovers more quickly. It is now four weeks after the start of the LLLT sequence (note I'm referring to it that way, but recognize that LLLT was but one of many treatment components-including changing to wearing more "friendly" fabrics, taking certain supplements, the neurologic exercises, lighting glasses, and oxygen exposure).
Her diet has liberalized considerably, though she continues (appropriately I think) to introduce new foods carefully and observantly. She has gained four pounds (another several to go) and this weight is spread elegantly, telling me that food is now nourishing her-rather than being her adversary.
She still has a distance to go-and that seems appropriate. She is reversing a very long adverse trend, and of great importance, she is acquiring a new way of feeding her body and psyche.
Your approach is in a different paradigm from that of treating the patient (Latin for 'passive')-to one that combines and integrates diagnosis and treatment with teaching and living with health as a question- a lifelong journey. We are looking forward to her first follow-up visit in two weeks.
I. J., MD, Northern California
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Dr. Z's comments - No comments required
Wonderful letters! These letters speak for themselves. They do not require my comments.
This is what makes our work so rewarding. Every new client is like a closed book.
- How to open the book?
- How to find the table of contents?
- How to start reading the pages?
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How to Begin
Always start with your SELF
- Your lack of health is NOT due to medication deficiency
- Always start with the basics
- What do you eat and drink and snack?
- What kind of air do you breathe?
- Do you breathe deeply enough?
- How is your digestion?
- What is your history with antibiotics?
- Best still... Complete Dr. Z's Self Evaluation
The Solution
- The Solution: Change what you eat/drink
- The solution: how you digest what you eat/drink
- The solution: increase your oxygen supply
- The solution: your insight and intelligence
- The solution: your compassion with your self
- The solution: your willingness to make changes
The solution: you take full responsibility
Your First Step towards a Healthier Life
Nothing can replace a face to face evaluation.
- If you happen to live relatively close to our office, I strongly suggest that you call call 530-265-0224 and make an appointment with my lovely wife Victoria.
- We are located in Nevada City, California. This is approximately 1.5 hours by car from Sacramento, California towards Reno/Lake Tahoe in the beautiful foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
If you cannot come personally - Dr. Z's Self Evaluation- - -
Our on-line Self Evaluation is geared towards giving you a basic starting point in order to make some intelligent changes in diet and improve some basic human functions such as digestion, blood sugar control.
If you have ever taken antibiotics, yesterday or 30 years ago - the chances are high that you may suffer the consequences of bowel flora imbalance and candida overgrowth.
- It is my clinical experience that this approach is always useful.
- This does not mean that it will or can solve all your problems.
However, the majority of my local and on-line clients experience dramatic improvements in their health, when they address
DDHC - Diet, Digestion, Hypoglycemia/Blood Sugar, Candida
Dr. Z's Self Evaluation
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What some of Dr. Z's clients say .
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