Informative Interview With Hormonal Health Expert, Dr Maria Kraszynska... 

We are very privileged to be speaking today with hormonal health and anti-aging expert Dr Maria Kraszynska.  

Dr Kraszynska is a highly respected and trusted physician who operates out of Chicago's North Shore district. She is an expert in the fields of alternative medicine, bioidentical hormone replacement, chronic disease treatment and anti-aging medicine. Dr Kraszynska began her career and worked as a family practitioner for 14 years until 1996 when she began to practice integrative medicine with tremendous success. She runs a very successful and personalised practice that focuses on good old fashioned one-on-one service. Each patient is subjected to full and extensive testing before any treatments or remedies are advised or administered. There's just not many practices like these around any more folks. Today, it seems to be more about the  "getting you in, getting you out" type of approach so Dr Kraszynska's method makes a nice and welcome change.

Dr Kraszynska was also part of a very select group of physicians honoured with the prestigious "Patients Choice Award" for 2012. She commented after the award... "I'm so honoured to receive an award that's based on how my patients view the quality of care I provide. I strive each day to exceed my patients' expectations, and I'm grateful that they've recognized my efforts." It was very well deserved Dr Kraszynska and congratulations.

For more information on Dr Maria Kraszynska and her protocols we recommend you click on this link mybioidenticalhormones.com-Chicago-Hormone-Doctor. It's definitely worth the read!

So now, lets hear from Dr Kraszynska in this fascinating and informative interview...

1. Hi Maria. Thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate your time and sharing with us the incredible wealth of experience and knowledge that you have in conventional and alternative therapies. I would like to start by inviting you to tell our readers about your healthbydrk website and the tremendous range of health products you offer…

Thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts on several health related topics.

I always encourage all my patients to seek natural ways to preserve their health and if faced with illness, do research on all possible therapies. The field of medicine is always evolving and new therapies are constantly being developed. We need to learn to make educated choices and have the courage to ask the needed questions.

Healthbydrk offers many health supplements that contain high quality raw materials combined in synergistic and therapeutic doses for maximum effectiveness.

The products sold are natural, do not contain artificial ingredients and are GMO-free. Products are divided into categories specific to various health conditions and the body systems they are designed to support. Healthbydrk provides detailed descriptions of each product including scientific research and the health benefits that they provide. Almost everyone can find a unique product that can be of benefit to their health.

2. Now, you specialize in something called bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (www.mybioidenticalhormones.com). Can you share with us exactly what this is and what it involves?

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy or (BHRT for short) is a method of hormone replacement which utilizes hormones that have a chemical and molecular structure identical to human hormones. Therefore, bioidentical hormones have exactly the same biological action in the body as human hormones. There is a lot of scientific evidence supporting the idea that keeping hormones at youthful levels has many health benefits such as safeguarding major body systems including the cardiovascular system, supporting mental/emotional health, protecting musculoskeletal integrity, etc.

BHRT involves assessment of a patient’s hormone related symptoms, measuring hormone levels and prescribing bioidentical hormones. Patients on BHRT need to have regular monitoring to ensure effectiveness of this therapy.

Bioidentical hormones are usually compounded, that means specifically made for each individual patient according to their unique needs and based upon their test results.

3. We hear a lot these days about female menopause but virtually nothing about male menopause (andropause). Most men aren’t even aware that there is such a thing! The main problem I see for many males is even if they know about male menopause, or think they may be going through it, would they actually go to someone and get help for it. I mean, us blokes aren’t very good at this sort of thing. We would prefer to just keep quiet and “suck it up”… being men and all (not all of us of course). So do you actually get many males coming to you for advice and treatment options for menopause?

Male menopause, also known as andropause, is gaining wider recognition as treatment options are now more readily available. There are plenty of media adds recommending therapies for “low T” and that raises awareness. I have many male patients who seek help with hormonal imbalances, not only as a result of andropause but often younger men who are experiencing hormonal problems related to environmental influences. Due to the fact that there are many environmental pollutants (xenoestrogens such as pesticides, synthetic growth hormones present in meat and dairy products, BPAs from plastics, etc) affecting human hormonal balance, I frequently observe hormone related health conditions in both men and women of pre-menopausal and pre-andropausal age.

4. Maria, you have 7 very specific and tailor made programs available to your patients… your “Wellness and Disease Prevention”, “Total Body Rejuvenation”, “Hormone Balance Restoration for Women”, “Hormone Restoration Balance for Men”, “Child Behavioral Problems, Including ADHD”, “Chronic Medical Conditions Treatment” and “Weight Management” programs. But the two that really grabbed my attention, and I would imagine would be very popular, were the “Child Behavioral Problems” and the “Weight Management” programs. So can you tell us a bit about these programs and what they actually involve?  

All my health programs are custom designed for the unique needs of each patient and I will be glad to discuss these two in particular:

Child Behavioral Program

Child behavioral problems are related to neurotransmitter imbalances. The major causative factors are nutritional deficiencies, environmental pollutants and emotional trauma. There are growing numbers of children affected by neurological, mental and behavioral problems. The developing nervous system of a young child is very sensitive to environmental influences.

The child behavioral program begins with a multifactorial evaluation of a child’s living situation, including diet and eating habits. It also assesses nutritional and neurotransmitter status via comprehensive laboratory testing and outlines individually established goals (the goals the parents and child are aiming for). This program provides therapy through dietary changes, nutritional supplements, stress reduction and emotional support needed for normal development and proper function of the brain.

Weight Management Program

I developed the weight management program after years of research and clinical trials dealing with obesity. Properly balanced weight depends on many components that interact with each other in a very intricate way. The factor most people are familiar with is caloric intake and expenditure; eating a certain number of calories and the movement involved to burn them. However, weight is controlled by additional factors such as metabolism, health of the intestinal tract, food sensitivities, hormones, neurotransmitter function, mental and emotional character of a person as well as genetics.

Accurate diagnosis of all factors affecting one’s weight allows us to design an individually customized weight management program that addresses and modifies these specific factors.

This program restructures habits and provides guidelines for a life-long healthy lifestyle that naturally leads to desirable weight and is simple to implement.

5. Now, you also specialize in anti-aging treatments. This is a huge trillion dollar industry because just about everyone wants to look younger and turn back the clock. So in your expert opinion, what are some of the things we can all do to stop the aging process (or at least slow it down)? Can supplements help and is there really such a thing as a “facelift in a bottle”?

Certain supplements can definitely slow down the aging process. Even basic multivitamin/mineral formula can assist the body’s cellular function and metabolic pathways. One of the most important aspects to focus on when choosing anti-aging products is the quality and concentration of their ingredients. A product containing higher-quality ingredients and a more concentrated formulation will certainly be more effective at slowing the aging process. Very valuable anti-aging supplements are anti-oxidants such as vitamin C, E, beta carotene, resveratrol as well as fruits and vegetable extracts commonly referred to as “greens”.

Of great importance for halting the aging process is a strong healthy immune system, therefore supplements that support and strengthen immune function such as astragalus, oleuropein (olive leaf extract) and medicinal mushrooms can be very beneficial for regenerating damaged tissue.

There is a “facelift in a bottle” in a sense that a well-nourished body has skin that is better supplied with nutrients and therefore looks younger. In a state of deficiency, the body prioritizes and the most important organs such as the heart, brain, liver, kidneys will get the needed nutrients, while the skin, nails and hair will receive their portion of nutrients only if there is abundance.

Also, a surgical facelift can be assisted by nutritional supplements necessary for the health of the skin; on the other hand, malnourished skin can be only partially supported by a surgical facelift.

6. What I like about your approach to people’s health problems is you recognize that every person, and every illness and disease is different. No two are the same. This is obviously why you carry out such rigorous testing beforehand in your diagnostic laboratory. So can you share with our readers why it’s important for them to get the correct tests done first rather than trying to self-diagnose any health conditions?

An individual approach helps each patient obtain the best results from any therapy. We all have unique genetic makeup as well as variances in absorption, metabolization and utilization of nutrients and medications. Each body responds differently to therapy.

Attempting to self-diagnose any health condition and treat it based on advice from family or friends may not always work, can be time consuming and misleading. An approach where a patient’s health condition is evaluated by an experienced medical doctor with assistance of well selected laboratory testing is usually most effective and actually money saving. Unfortunately, this approach is ignored by health insurance companies that support the “wait for a disease” attitude.

7. Maria, you’re a qualified and experienced medical doctor but you’ve actually moved away from practicing conventional medicine, choosing now to focus more on alternative therapies. So why did you make the change? Was there a specific event that caused this to happen or was it something that just occurred slowly over time?

I worked as a primary care doctor and in my practice I encountered many patients with chronic medical conditions that were not helped by allopathic medicine. I also had many patients, often younger individuals with normal laboratory test results and vague symptoms not recognized by the mainstream medical community. These types of patients were eventually labeled as hypochondriacs and sent to the psychiatrist.

Utilizing detailed functional medicine testing helped me to diagnose those patients correctly and implement appropriate therapy. I realized that I was able to successfully help many more patients including those so called “hypochondriacs”.

It was more of a transition, than a sudden shift.

8. I’m an avid follower of yours on Twitter and I used to enjoy your positive and enlightening tweets every day, but I’ve noticed you don’t use twitter all that much anymore. Is there a particular reason why? Are you choosing to focus your efforts on other avenues instead?

I am happy to know that my tweets had a positive effect on many people and I greatly miss communicating with my followers. I have not been very active on Twitter as of lately due to many reasons; I had to devout my attention to different pursuits, a major one that has been absorbing almost all of my time is the research of a health condition that afflicts many people throughout the world. It is an illness that burdens many of my patients and I believe the effective solution to ease their suffering will be available soon. I enjoy Twitter and love my followers. I am planning to be much more active in the near future.

9. I know you are strongly against the use of chemicals such as pesticides, mainly because of the damage they inflict on innocent children. The fact is allowing the out-of-control use of pesticides and herbicides has now caused one of the biggest health disasters in modern history… the disease and early death in humans and animals! But the problem is companies like Monsanto and Dow Chemical are extremely powerful and have huge lobbying power so they always seem to get what they want. So my question to you is… How do you think we can change this so-called “legal” form of chemical warfare? What do we need to do? I mean, our kids are inheriting a toxic world because of us and if we don’t do something soon there’s not going to be much left for them?

The problem is that the American justice system legalizes injustice.

People must realize that not everything that is legalized serves for the greater good.

The rules and laws are not the same for everyone. There is no free market that would naturally select the best and eliminate the outdated and ineffective. Monsanto enjoys many special privileges but the little farmer has no protection whatsoever. How can the two equally compete in the market place?

Also, people have to learn to make their own educated choices and stop blindly following the propaganda from the media.

The only effective way to make a change for the better is to fundamentally change the present justice system, eliminate lobbying (which is nothing more than the legal form of bribery) and make public officials accountable for their actions without any immunity that they presently enjoy.

Importantly, do not support companies that manufacture and sell pesticides. Stop buying Roundup. Who decided that dandelion is a weed; and why does the majority of people believe it? Dandelion is an herb, Mother Nature’s gift to humans to help detoxify the body and it is also effective against many forms of cancer.

You can in fact assess the health of a neighborhood by the number of dandelions growing there. The more dandelions, the healthier the lawn; people need to realize this.

10. Maria, I do have one final question left for you, but first I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you once again for speaking with us today. It’s been an absolute pleasure. I would also like to invite our readers to go and have a look at Maria’s website mybioidenticalhormones.com. If you think you may be suffering with any of the health problems that Dr. Kraszynska has talked about, or if you live in the Chicago area and want to schedule an appointment, her website has all the information you need. We would also advise you to check out healthbydrk.com and take a look at Dr. Kraszynska’s “Alternative Medicine Store”. She offers a huge range of quality endorsed supplements and health products. These aren’t cheap rubbish folks!

Now, for my last question Maria I would like to ask you about any future plans that you may have. Are there any plans to expand your practice or are you happy with things just the way they are?

My plans for the future are to devote more attention to and develop even better treatment options for the people affected by immune system disorders. The number of people suffering from immune disorders is rapidly growing due to over-stimulation of our immune system by a multitude of environmental substances.

A strong immune system protects us from invasions of microorganisms, contains inflammation at a normal level, protects against degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. I believe it is very important to have one’s immune system well balanced.

Investing in a healthy lifestyle with quality food, nutritional supplements, stress reduction, adequate physical activity and mental stimulation, etc., will pay us dividends of good health.

Instead of the above approach, most people invest their dollars into health insurance policies and allow the insurance companies to decide their health. Those people, prompted by insurance policies, wait until their health deteriorates and then try to mend failing body parts deteriorated by disease. They end up living with one or more diseases and being fed a multitude of drugs.

We cannot blindly count on others or the health care system to take care of us. We need to take charge of our own health.

Thank you Troy for inviting me to participate in this discussion. I would like to express my gratitude to your readers for taking the time to review this.

Best of Health,

Maria Kraszynska, M.D.

Your very welcome Dr Kraszynska. All the best!

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