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WELCOME TO PMCM!

Established in 1984 and located in San Rafael, California, Preventive Medical Center of Marin ("PMCM") provides a unique blend of modern medicine with integrative and preventive healthcare.

Since our founding, our Mission remains: "To provide the best quality health care to all of our patients".

PMCM is one of few integrative health centers that accepts a wide range of insurance plans for many services.

In addition to offering a spectrum of care to its patients, PMCM is a center for learning, where both patients and practitioners explore ways to continually improve their level of wellness and vitality. The result is an ongoing collaboration of transformative health.

Our integrated approach at PMCM brings together three key aspects:

Individualized Medical Care utilizing both Western and Natural approaches Healing Therapies Addressing the Underlying Basis for Illness and Disease, and Patient Education to Improve Nutrition, Enhance Lifestyle, and Support Long-term Health A Key Goal of PMCM is to educate patients as well as to support them in making healthy changes through wiser choices. The Center strives to empower its patients by teaching them to listen to their bodies and to take more responsibility for their own health. We believe that this improves healthcare delivery.

We invite you to visit our website: www.pmcmarin.com and our companion site: www.elsonhaas.com. Please also feel free to contact us by phone at 415-472-2343 to arrange an introductory appointment or to request answers to specific questions.

Stay Healthy!

Elson M. Haas, MD, Founder & Medical Director, PMCM

ABOUT OUR CLINIC

PMCM's Practitioners, Associate Practitioners & Support Staff PMCM's team provides a wide spectrum of health-oriented services in a family practice setting. These services include complete medical evaluations, lab testing (both conventional nd innovative/integrative), structural body care, and a therapeutic approach that combines Western Medical Care with Nutritional and Herbal Supplement Programs, along with Chinese Medical Acupuncture and Herbs.

Joining Founder and Medical Director Elson M. Haas, MD, Integrated Medicine Practitioner, author of many popular books, and leader in the fields of Nutrition and Lifestyle Education, are:

• Judy Lane, NP, MS, Women's Health Director and Natural Hormone Therapy, and
• Elaine Hannah, MSN, NP, Nurse Practitioner, Integrative & Complementary Healing, Children's Health, Homeopathy

Associates with their Practices at PMCM's facility include:

• Michael E. Rosenbaum, MD, Nutritional Medicine, Allergies & Chronic Fatigue, Healthy Aging, Integrative Diagnostics
• Richard Shames, MD, Thyroid & Hormone Specialist
• Thomas Reece, DO, ND, Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Naturopathy
• Georjana Shames, L.Ac, Dipl.OM, CMT, Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine/Herbs, Specializing in Thyroid, Menopause, Stress and Child/Teens
• Carol Butterfield, OMD, Health Counselor & Medical Intuitive
• Janara Iman-Thomas, CN, Certified Nutritionist, Herbalist, Detox Specialist
• Ernie Hubbard, BSc, Biochemist, Geneticist, Vitality Testing (Ernie also serves as PMCM's Health Services Coordinator)

Administrative Support Staff include:

• Julie Dietz, Administrative Manager and Patient Health Coordinator
• Janessa Gapinski, Medical Assistant
• Roberta Rossetti, Business Manager
• Roma Eaglin, Front Desk Coordinator
• Robert Bergman, Dispensary Manager
• Bianka Cortez, Reception
• Tish Herman, Insurance Specialist
• Leslie Robinett, Billing

Evaluations generally include:

• Assessments of your medical state and lifestyle through a review of an extensive health history questionnaire
• Biochemical testing for health status and disease screening
• Allergy testing and Desensitization
• Testing for digestive function and abnormal microbes (bacteria, yeast, and parasites)
• Hormonal balance through blood and/or saliva testing
• Nutritional status through diet review, mineral testing for both essential and toxic elements, and vitamin review. Amino acid balance can also be looked at as well as antioxidant status.

This individualized and specialized testing and treatment approach allows us, along with you, to use use lifestyle approaches and natural therapies whenever possible to improve body function and lessen the need for drug therapy.

What's good about Preventive Medical Center of Marin?

• Friendly, caring Staff (most working together for many years)
• Knowledgeable, committed, and experienced Practitioners
• Many services in one location with a variety of healthcare options
• Blood drawing and numerous lab tests available in office
• A Spectrum of Services and Practitioners, plus an extensive Referrals List
• Many Insurance accepted with electronic insurance billing
• Easy access by 101 (map on website or we can fax one to you)

See our Practioners for more about us!

TRANSFORMATION AT PMCM - SOME RENOVATIONS

For those of you who have not been in the office, and for those of you who have as well, PMCM has been in the same location for more than 25 years. With that consistent presence to serve you, we have recently made a number of upgrades in the quality of our facility. We have replaced much of our old flooring with new Bamboo. We have had our entire air duct system completely inspected and cleaned. We have upgraded our bathroom facilities. We have added educational and nformational videos to our Reception area with a large wall-mounted monitor.

BOOK UPDATES

Dr. Elson Haas and his book team are working on a new book in the Staying Healthy series, and this one is about the healthcare system, medical practice, and an integrated medicine approach to treating many common health problems that Western Medicine does not deal with very successfully.

Dr. Elson's recent publication of More Vegetables, Please! with associate chef and nutritionist Patty James (see www.
pattyjames.com) is a very useful and fun family cookbook for bringing our healthiest vegetables foods into our everyday meals.

Dr. Haas wishes to acknowledge his long time book associate, Bethany Argisle of Argisle Enterprises, Inc. for her diligence, inspiration, and support. These two have re-activated their work for children and have a new production company called Seasons Studios Partners dedicated to multi-media edu-tainment. They have three new product prototypes done: The Anatomix Comix CD and Songbook (fun and educational for kids of all ages), Count Broccula a story about kids eating their vegetables, and Bethany's first book called Blimps and Whales, a love story that suggests that we protect the whales and the great oceans. See more at www.seasonstudios.com .

Dr. Elson also has the updated 2006 edition of his major tome, Staying Healthy with the Nutrition, which was originally
published in 1992 (now available as a soft cover edition at $39.95, and special hardcover at $80), and continues to be used for nutrition schools and as a family health resource guide. Other useful books include his popular work in the field of detoxification with the original edition of The Detox Diet being expanded and fully renewed book entitled in 2004 as The NEW Detox Diet: The Complete Guide for Lifelong Vitality. Also, Dr. Haas' classic book from 1981, Staying Healthy with the Seasons, has an updated 21st Century Edition produced in 2003, as well as Vitamins for Dummies and his popular book on healing food reactions and allergic/inflammatory conditions, entitled The False Fat Diet. See more about these books on www.elsonhaas.com.

Drs. Karilee & Richard Shames are working on their third book, about the psychological implications of thyroid disorders to follow their popular Feeling Fat, Fuzzy, and Frazzled and Thyroid Power: Ten Steps to Total Health, both available at local stores, on Amazon, and at our office. Feeling FFF offers an integrative hormone-balancing program with proven successful interventions for combining thyroid, adrenal, and sex hormones utilizing natural therapies. This book helps you understand your condition, combines simple home evaluation methods with standard medical testing for a more accurate diagnosis, and creates a plan that will enable you to improve your health. Their progressive programs are presented in an easily followed stepwise fashion at website www.feelingfff.com .

AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE: Cleansing Programs

"Every year I need to cleanse because I love to eat." - Dr. Elson

Dr. Haas' Cleansing and Detox programs are extremely popular. Most everyone experiences benefits, and many have remarkable results. It clearly helps people make change more easily and see what works and doesn't work in their diet and lifestyle. The group support seems to work magic at getting people through this challenging period of giving up their habits to substances and foods. Weights are reduced, high blood pressures and cholesterol levels come down, medications are reduced, and many symptoms are alleviated. People feel healthier and more energetic, inspired with the motivation to continue their more lifeenhancing diet and vitalizing exercise programs.

The following quote came form a couple who participated in last year's New Year Program:

"The Master Cleanse under Dr. Haas' direction was a surprisingly wonderful experience. We didn't think it was possible to go for 10 days without food and yet feel great. We experienced a sense of vitality, clarity, and wellbeing along with a significant weightloss. Now we think more carefully about what we eat. We plan to do it twice a year."
- Jan and Jeff R, San Francisco

INTERDERMAL ALLERGY TESTING IN OUR OFFICE
by Michael E. Rosenbaum, MD

The word "allergy" was created about 100 years ago to describe strange and unusual reactions to substances that we eat and inhale. The estimate is that 15 to 20 % of people have these strange responses to airborne particles, which can be roughly divided into pollens and non-pollens. Pollens are more seasonal yet in California the season may be quite lengthy and extend from early January until late October. The non-pollens include house dust, molds and animal danders/hair. Non-pollens affect us throughout the year but tend to be worse in cold weather when doors and windows are shut. Food sensitivities/reactions (allergies and others) are much more common than airborne allergies, affecting well over half the American population.

Airborne allergies are associated with stuffy runny noses, sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and skin rashes, but are also a major cause of fatigue. True food allergies may result (rarely) in serious life threatening reactions, as in anaphylaxis and death. The offending foods are usually a type of shellfish, nut or peanut. Food sensitivities may also contribute to fatigue, aches and pains, fluid retention, excess body fat and a variety of abdominal complaints, from gas and bloating to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

Allergies have fascinated me for more than thirty years, mainly because they are much more common and menacing than is widely perceived. I have skin tested my patients for allergies in the office since 1979. I am pleased to have Clyde Thom as my allergy tester for the past fifteen years. Clyde has thirty years of allergy testing experience and a deep dedication to his craft. We have helped thousands of patients with their allergies over the years with a method that is generally very well tolerated.

Blood tests for food allergies can measure antibody levels to each food. This method only tests for one possible cause of food reactions. The skin tests mobilize much more of the totality of the immune attack against the food. Blood test results for food allergies or antibody reactions may differ from lab to lab using the same blood sample. I order the blood test when a patient cannot be skin tested due to serious asthma, eczema or the use of drugs that would interfere with the skin test results. Dr. Haas uses these tests more commonly, as well as our skin testing.

I favor intradermal testing, injecting test substances just beneath the superficial layer of skin to raise small bubbles on the skin surface. Different dilutions of the allergen are used until a specific growth of the skin swelling is observed which renders it a positive reaction. This process allows us to determine what allergens are reactive as well as the degree of the reaction. Food test results are provided to each patient in a convenient and easy to read color chart that also provides diet recommendations based on the test results.

This process also helps us to determine the dose of the allergen to use in Immunotherapy to help with symptom and allergy relief. Treatment is usually provided in bottles of liquid, which are squirted under the tongue usually two to four times a day based on response. This method, called "sublingual immunotherapy" or SLIT has been used successfully in Europe for decades and has recently become popular in the United States. An article about SLIT was published in Scientific American a few years ago called Drink Your Shots. I favor this method because it both helps our patients with symptom relief and has never caused any serious adverse reactions in my long experience.

Retesting is recommended once a year for items that score significantly positive, and to adjust the strength of each antigen to help reprogram the immune system to not react to the allergens. This process may take from two to five years on average; symptom relief, however may be experienced in degrees shortly after the start of therapy. Sublingual treatment may be used with or without accompanying allergy medications, herbs and vitamins. Of course, I am happy to consult with you if you feel that you may be helped by allergy testing and treatment.

BODY COMPOSITION: VITALITY AND HEALTH
by Ernie Hubbard

The composition of our bodies is an excellent indicator of our overall health and vitality. At PMCM, our Body Composition and Vitality Programs are designed to help you measure and better understand the overall composition of your body, including the amount and distribution of water, fat, and lean muscle mass. By gaining a better understanding of your body composition, we work with you to make healthful, measurable, and sustainable changes in your diet and lifestyle to improve your body's overall composition and health. This includes much more than weight loss or fat reduction; it involves the replenishment of your vital cells, membranes, tissues and organs.

At PMCM, our Vitality Testing and Analysis includes assessment of:

• Overall Vitality
• Nutrition and Lifestyle
• Membranes and Body Composition
• BioElectronics and Energetics
• Cardiological Health and Performance
• Full Body Scanning
• Acupuncture Meridian Scanning

For more information about PMCM's Body Composition and Vitality Programs, please contact us at 415-472-2343.

HOW DOES ACUPUNCTURE WORK?
by Georjana Shames, LAc, Dipl.OM

Two millennia have passed since the fundamental text of Traditional Chinese Medicine (called The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic) was painstakingly etched into bamboo parchment, yet the principles of diagnosis and treatment explicated in our ancient texts hold the same clinical significance today as they did thousands of years ago.

Great benefits can be derived from the ancient wisdom of Acupuncture, a Chinese medical tradition that uses over 2,000 pressure points and energy meridians in your body to bring balance and better organ function, while reducing physical pain and emotional stress. Acupuncture uses disposable needles as thin as a strand of human hair, and inserts them just below the skin to stimulate energy points. Treatments are essentially painless but can occasionally cause tingling sensations where the needles are placed.

In Chinese Medicine the basis of life for all beings is Qi (pronounced "Chee"); Qi is the energy of our beating heart, the movement of our blood pulsing against arterial walls, our ability to breathe and stretch our legs and take off running. Qi is the catalyst of both form and function, and each person's Qi creates the basis for her/his health and longevity.

What Acupuncturists do when we employ needling techniques and herbal formulas, is instill a rebalancing of the patients' Qi from within. You benefit with restored equilibrium to the two interconnecting and mutually dependent forces of Yin and Yang. This guides the natural  intelligence of the human body to nourish the meridians and internal organ systems, resulting in natural revitalization and a recovery from disease.

Because Acupuncture awakens the body's original intelligence to heal itself, it benefits patients suffering from a vast spectrum of ailments - whether caused by bacteria in 200 BC or viruses in 2009 AD, or from internal factors such as a highly stressful lifestyle.

In our modern world, it seems that high stress and increasing pressures have become daily constants in almost everyone's life. We struggle to get out of bed, rush to drive in traffic, work long hours to prove our merit, become wired and tired from too much coffee and too little sleep, feel crushed under deadlines, scramble home to get dinner ready in time, eat less healthily than we would if we had more time and money, argue over how to pay off new bills and old debt, mediate family difficulties, then try to finish the dishes, pack lunches, fold laundry and answer e-mails.

In Chinese Medicine, a fast-paced life with too much overwork and pressures without enough rest and rejuvenation is a leading cause of disease, since living under stressful conditions day in and day out depletes the Qi and damages the Yin Yang balance.

Fortunately the human body is a remarkably resilient system with an unparalleled ability to regain equilibrium. The Qi, Yin, and Yang can often be completely restored if one receives Acupuncture and cultivates an approach to life that is focused on peace, happiness, moderation, and a healthy balance of work and relaxation.

This is why in addition to needles and herbs, most successful Acupuncturists also share Oriental Medicine philosophy with their patients and include in treatments some guidance for leading a balanced and sustainable life.

If what you have read today appeals to you in terms of your health, or curiosity about the medicine of Ancient China, you are welcome to come in for half off your fist treatment. I look forward to creating with you an integrative plan for your more energetic, balanced, and blissful lifestyle.

For appointments with Acupuncturist Georjana Shames in Cotati or San Rafael call Preventive Medical Center at (415) 388-0456. See my 15 specific tips to living longer & happier, plus Watch Acupuncture videos at www.ShamesHealth.com

THINK THYROID FOR MENTAL HEALTH
by Drs Richard & Karilee Shames
with Georjana Shames, LAc, Dipl.OM

Most people would be surprised to learn how closely related thyroid balance is to brain function. Our ability to manage our moods, worries, behavior, memory, sleep, and cravings is intimately tied to the amount and type of thyroid hormone available to our brain cells.

This connection has been known for over a hundred years, and has been repeatedly confirmed by medical research. Despite this scientific knowledge, practicing physicians generally treat thyroid as a physical condition only. Mental issues are treated symptomatically with sleeping medicines, tranquilizers, or antidepressants, rather than for their underlying cause, which in many cases is THYROID. When these symptom-relieving pills do not help adequately, the person is generally referred to a psychiatrist. Sadly, many psychiatrists also miss this crucial thyroid connection.

Many other mental health workers understand this connection, and use the maneuver called "augmentation", which involves combining thyroid hormone with antidepressant medicine, whether or not thyroid tests are abnormal. Often, this procedure alone helps people to feel much better. Augmentation is exceptionally effective in people for whom the antidepressants have not worked well.

In our medical opinion, every person facing anxiety, sleep disturbance, memory loss, depression, and especially bipolar depression, needs to be carefully evaluated for a treatable thyroid abnormality. This involves using simple testing either by blood draw at a lab, or by home test kits.

Millions of Americans could enjoy their lives more, and be more productive, following this simple advice: THINK THYROID for better mental health.

FAMILY DYNAMICS AND HEALTHCARE
by Elaine Hannah, MSN, NP

Often when we are assessing and treating a person, we do not have a picture of what their day-to-day life is like, even though the flow of life energies around us can affect our health as much as anything can. Medical providers most often review the family medical history and look for genetic trends and familial risk factors so that we may identify and prevent disease. At PMCM we go several steps beyond and use an integrative model of medical care that relies on getting to know you on a deeper level. The real spirit of this approach leads us to look at the individual as part of the family circle and the extended units beyond so that we treat you within your "family." We look for opportunities to know you and your family so that we may work with you better.

When I have several family members coming to me for care, I am able to see and experience the sense of the energetic dynamics among them. It is a gift to work with parent(s) and child. I find in many cases an amazing duplication of symptoms and patterns between a newborn and mother. When I am able to address the issues and treat the mother and baby, both get better faster and more completely, than when I treat one alone. As the child grows older, I see some of these patterns balanced between both parents. In regard to brothers and sisters, having the sibling(s) present in the room allows me to have more insight about a child, and how they might respond best to treatment. I have several extended families in my practice, where I see the child and their siblings, the parents, and the grandparents. When I work with several generations, I do what feels to me as my most effective work, because I am allowed insight into physical and emotional patterns that are at the heart of our access to good health. It is a true gift to have a clinic that values and supports true Family Integrative Medicine!

BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONES
by Judy Lane, NP

When a gland secretes a substance it's called a hormone. Our sex glands, ovaries and testes, secrete our sex hormones, just like our adrenal and thyroid glands secrete adrenal and thyroid hormones.

For women, hormone imbalances can occur at different phases of our lives contributing to monthly and PMS complaints, and symptoms during the menopausal transition. Some women can have no symptoms during menopause, while others can have their lives totally disrupted, and all degrees in between.

If we choose to supplement hormones, I believe that we should do this only with what we call Bio-Identicals. That means that both the chemical structure and physiological function of these hormones are exactly what our bodies produce on their own. They are in theory indistinguishable.

When supplementing in the Menopausal Transition with Bio-HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy), there are three different estrogens (estriol, estradiol and estrone) to choose from, yet only one true progesterone and one testosterone.

Most HRT offered by conventional practices use synthetic hormones, like Premarin (from mare's urine) and Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate). Synthetic hormones do not have the same structure as your own hormones and the body doesn't receive them exactly the same way. In our experience they then have many more side effects.

Although research has shown deleterious effects from using synthetic hormones, there is a considerable body of evidence that bio-identicals may not carry the same risks and are more beneficial.

Each woman is completely unique with a personal set of symptoms, medical and family history, personal philosophy, beliefs and concerns, that it's not possible to say what is best overall. Thus, each woman's situation needs to be reviewed and discussed, and her choice a personal one.

WHAT IS MEDICAL INUITION?
by Carol Butterfield, Dip. Ac.

I am frequently asked what is meant by the term "Medical Intuitive." This is a logical question for many people unfamiliar with the practice, even though Medical Intuition has been practiced in one form or another by many cultures over thousands of years.

In the hands of a trained practitioner, Medical Intuition is the ability to identify in-depth insights into a person's overall state of health and wellness, looking at underlying emotional and psycho-spiritual experiences that affect our current state of health. I am happy to explore working with you, and I offer a complimentary 15-minute session to get to know one another.

WHAT IS CRAINAL OSTEOPATHY?
by Thomas Reece, DO

Cranial Osteopathy is a subspecialty of Osteopathic medicine. It is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and improving the functioning of the body. It recognizes the alternating expansion and contraction of the bones that make up the cranium (head). This motion acts as a pump to move the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) up and down the spinal column from brain to sacrum. The movement of the CSF created by this action is transmitted through the entire body, influencing all body functions. With other aspects of Osteopathy, my treatments also help improve and rebalance the body and its structure.

Cranial Osteopathy has the ability to treat problems related to the skull and brain, as well as many situations arising from disease or trauma in the body. In infants, alterations of the skull's natural configuration and movement can lead to such disorders as colic, frequent spitting up or delayed development. In adults, problems of the low back and neck, headaches/migraines, breathing and digestive disorders, sinusitis, arthritis, joint pains, menstrual disorders, irregular heartbeat, tendonitis, sciatica, nervous disorders, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and learning difficulties may all be helped with Cranial Osteopathy.