Spring Newsletter
Masks Optional
Covid 19 is still a dangerous virus for those over the age of 65. However, we do feel that it’s reasonable to have a less restrictive mask policy.
Masking is now optional at Helios for most patient visits. We thank you for being respectful to those who still wish to use them.
For those who have had respiratory symptoms for OVER a week, you may be seen in person. We ask that you wait in your car or in the building entrance and that you wear a mask in the office.
If you have a known recent exposure, but NO respiratory symptoms, and want to be seen, we ask that you wear a mask.
For those symptomatic with cough, sneezing, and congestion for instance. and have had less than 7 days of symptoms, we can schedule you for a phone or video appointment right away or an in-patient visit after 7 days since the onset of your respiratory symptoms.
Helios is still not seeing patients with respiratory symptoms for in-person visits within the first week of the onset of symptoms.
What You Need To Know About Hormone Replacement Therapy
-By Deborah Breakell MSN, FNP-BC
More than 1 million women in the United States experience menopause each year. Yet we are still in the dark about what to do about the troublesome symptoms that embrace this phase of life. Those symptoms can vary for each woman but primarily consist of intrusive hot flashes and night sweats with many hours of lost sleep. Low energy and mood changes that can disrupt work and relationships. Brain fog and difficulty grasping words which cause anxiety around the question of whether you are entering the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Then there’s the weight gain (especially in the mid-section) along with hair loss, dry skin, dry nails, and eyes. The worst part is the fact that these symptoms begin 6 months to 12 years leading up to a woman’s last period, known as peri-menopause. This starts when women reach their late 40s due to hormonal spikes and dips of estrogen and progesterone as the last eggs of the ovaries start to plummet in number. Irregular menstrual bleeding can also accompany these other symptoms making this time in a woman’s life unpredictable. This presents confusion about where to turn for answers and options to get their lives back. Here is what you need to know about hormone replacement therapy (HRT)….
Continual Glucose Monitoring and Acupuncture
After years of doing acupuncture, I am still amazed and enthralled by its various effects, even unintentional ones. Dr. Brunschwig and Deborah Breakell NP have been implementing a technology called “Continuous Glucose Monitors” or CGM’s with many Helios patients. CGM’s are a very useful tool in understanding how the body responds to certain foods and the corresponding glucose levels in your bloodstream on a 24-hour basis.
Glucose affects arguably all parts of our health but can especially be a big player in cardiac health, brain function, and sleep. Many of my patients have been wearing these devices and finding that even though we weren’t directly treating their issues with glucose, that acupuncture is having an incredibly positive and measurable effect on stabilizing their blood glucose!
I dove into the research around this phenomenon and there are many studies that confirm what we have been experiencing. There is more than one physiological mechanism involved in why acupuncture works for glucose stabilization. One randomized control study showed that 10 treatments of acupuncture reduced previously high A1C levels to within the normal range. A review of human and animal studies found that acupuncture is effective in increasing insulin sensitivity, insulin resistance, and related neuropathy. I am excited to share these findings as so many people suffer from glucose-related issues.
Yours,
Margaret Hampton DACM
RASA Coffee Alternative is now available at the Apothecary. We are proud to offer RASA, a delicious, adaptogen-packed herbal coffee alternative. RASA is a local to Boulder, woman-owned, super sustainable company. We carry several, rotating flavor options for calm energy and stress resilience. We have chosen to carry RASA over other options for adaptogens due to RASA’s strong focus on sustainability, fair pricing, purity, potency, quality, and social responsibility.
Adaptogens are amazing plants and mushrooms that help our bodies cope with stress, anxiety, and fatigue by giving our bodies what they need in the moment. They work with our nervous and endocrine systems to help us cope better.
We also carry Magnificent Mushrooms from RASA, our favorite, highly potent blend of functional mushrooms. See below for a little more information directly from RASA’s website about Magnificent Mushrooms.
“Mushrooms are so powerful and yet they are under-celebrated, so we decided to give them a party of their own. Meet Magnificent Mushrooms: our super-functional adaptogen mushroom powder, your daily mushroom party—err, well-being boost. Here at Rasa, we source the best mushrooms around for our line of adaptogenic coffee alternatives, so we realized that it was time to give them an extra-potent product to call their own. Add Magnificent Mushrooms to your Rasa, smoothies, broths, and fine... you can add it to your coffee, too, if that’s what floats your boat (we’ll still love you, promise).
Our daily boost mushroom extract powder is standardized to >25% beta-glucans (complex compounds found in mushrooms that provide immune support). For those who don’t speak mushroom, this means that Magnificent Mushrooms is the most potent mushroom blend on the market (yeah, we said it, and we stand by it!).
Magnificent Mushrooms is formulated for enhanced immunity, beauty, and balance—all the daily mushroom goodness you’re looking for. Meticulously crafted for potency and quality, our Chief Herbalist Ben included 6 highly functional, powerful, and (dare we say) freakin’ rad mushrooms to enliven your cup.” -RASA
Stop by the Apothecary to check out our selection of RASA or visit their website Wearerasa.com for more information and to check out all the wonderful options available! .
We would like to congratulate Val Szarek , a friend of Helios, who recently published her newest book!
Valerie A. Szarek is an award-winning performance Poet and Native American Flute
player. Her poems are healing, present, political, and Shamanic, and cross between the
seen and unseen worlds effortlessly. Her words, music and workshops are featured at
festivals and events around Colorado, including the International Young Leadership
Conference, The Mercury Cafe, The Telluride Literary festival, and Ziggie’s Poetry
Festivals. She was named “Poet of the Year” Blissfest, 2018. Other awards: Colorado
Author’s League best poem 2020, 2021 and 2022 plus The National Poetry Federation
Winner’s Circle Award 2016. Valerie offers “Writing as Ceremony” workshops monthly.
She has been a leather artisan for 50 years and owns Breezy Mountain Leather as well
as a Shamanic Practitioner and energy healer with a private practice.
Bibliography: SOAR READY: MEDICINE POEMS FOR A CHANGING WORLD (2020)
SIGNS OF LIFE (2015)
13 MOONS ON TURTLES BACK (2005)
Mid-Winter Days
Made of fire, my ancestors dine on stars
at Orion’s table - Sirius chases a comet's tail
Seven Sisters stir cauldrons -
deep mysteries to ladder into our DNA
Remember, they chant,
you are the light that returns,
that is born, and dies,
and is reborn each year
Remember,You are the walker,
one who carries stories
who sings words into the ether
for all of us who came before
Yet there is no before
there is no not here
we are the living stars,
the light that returns, shines
from within each of us
Remember, Daughter of Fireyou are the gift
the dream, the birth
of the sun each day
Choose these winter nights to dreamthe world the way you would weave it,
Fabrics of love its horizontal weftand those who walk beside
as warp, vertical tears,
laughter, gratitude, creation
Remember, Daughter of fire
of light and dark,
walk for us as we tend the hearths.
-Valerie A Szarek