Understanding from Science
Treatment with Nature

A number of tools are used in the clinic to given an 'in-depth' understanding of your current health status.

History
Richard will want to know a detailed history of your general health, particularly things that may have led up to your current concerns. What has happened in the past can give us much insight into what is happening now. For most of us, our biography becomes our biology.

If you have detailed information to convey you are welcome to make some notes to bring to your appointment. Likewise if you have available past medical reports or significant lab tests you are welcome to bring these along as well.

Pulse and Tongue diagnosis
All doctors of the past were herbalists. And any good doctor had to know how to diagnose their patients without access to any kind of lab tests! The art of tongue and pulse diagnosis has developed in the forefront of every tradition of medicine strectching way back into ancient Greek, Chinese, Indian and Arabian medicine.

Richard has carefully learned and practiced some of the elements from these systems for over 20 years. He still considers it a practice in progress but is able to get much useful information by simply looking at the tongue and feeling the pulse. Its simple, painless and often very helpful.

On the spot tests
There are a number of other simple procedures that can fill in the picture when required. None of these tests occur any charges and we elect to use them depending on your case. This category includes such tests as blood pressure, temperature, blood sugar tests, blood oxygen levels, hydrogen testing from the breath (useful for assessing bacterial overgrowth in the gut) and physical examination of the spine and abdomen.

The following tests are also used when required and likewise may or may not be needed depending on each individual case. They do incur small charges which are described in the list of fees on the 'about the clinic page'

Live Blood Analysis

After swabbing with isopropyl alcohol to remove any surface debris, small samples of blood are quite painlessly taken from the finger using a sterile, disposable device. The sample is applied to glass slides as gently as possible to minimise damage to the cells.

Special, clear oil is then dropped onto the blood; this enables 'immersion microscopy' with extremely high magnifications of more than 1000x. Findings of clinical significance are recorded into the computer through digital video cameras built into the microscopes.

This 'window' into the body can be especially useful as a 'before-and-after' test, to ensure that the correct changes are taking place from the early stages of treatment. Richard uses two different kinds of microscopes to obtain as much information as possible, including vital facts such as the state of the immune system, liver health, toxicity levels, inflammation and many markers of nutritional status.

Cellular Health Analysis

Are You Aging Prematurely? How Would You Even Know?

Highly accurate and non-invasive, the cellular health analysis (CHA) measures 3 of the top 4 Bio-Markers of Aging to calculate your Cellular Age along with other highly useful information. The CHA test measures:

• Fat mass
• Muscle mass
• Biological age (the actual age at which your body is performing)
• Cellular toxicity
• Cellular fluid levels
• Cellular vitality

The procedure is completely painless and safe for everyone, including pregnant women and people with pacemakers. As with the blood analysis, comparative testing of later results is a scientific method of checking the effectiveness of our treatment programs.

Cholesterol Testing

If needed, we can elect to measure your cholesterol levels. The state of the art LDX system used in the clinic has been given the highest possible accuracy standards by the NZQA. It measures total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, Trigylcerides and Glucose.

The test takes 5 minutes, comes with a printed result, and can be done with the same finger prick used to take a sample for the live blood analysis. When he works in this area please be aware that as a herbalist Richard is less concerned with getting bad cholesterol down than he is about getting good cholesterol up.

Cholesterol is a complex issue. The cholesterol test is sometimes used to ensure we are working within safe boundaries, similar to when working with blood pressure problems when Richard freely loans out machines during the treatment period for people to check themselves at home.

The more we can understand and address the cause of health problems, the more confident we can be of successful treatment outcomes.