ICIM Blog

With a budget of under $70,000 per year and a staff of 3 part timers, it seems like ICIM has a limited role to play. However, ICIM is no less than what we mean to each of you. We are an organization because we can do more good together than apart.

ICIM people are hungry for real science and cutting edge research.

If you find a study that you feel is significant to the field of integrative medicine, let us know! We want to spread the word about anything new and promising as soon as it comes out.

ICIM members are experts on a variety of topics.

We need volunteers to do the occasional Google search and Conventional Medicine Media scan. If you find a flawed report we can address with an expert, let us know! We’ll have a statement ready within a day. If you see something on Wikipedia or on a blog where we can give an alternative perspective, let us know! We’ll be there with a comment or addition.

ICIM is a circle of compassionate people who care about each other.

Are you willing to give a call, card or email of encouragement when our members face challenges in their lives or careers? Let me know and I’ll call on you when I hear of someone facing a crisis.

ICIM is personal.

We don’t rely on junk mail or spam. We keep our mailing lists small and high quality. Are you willing to call or email a few people personally to remind them of membership dues or invite them to a meeting? It would mean the world to us. Please let me know if you can do 5-10 calls or emails and I’ll send you information on how you can help.

ICIM honors our past

Do you have memories of the early days of ICIM? We want to gather those together and get them organized. Who was involved? How did it happen? What were successes and challenges throughout the year? Tell us your stories through writing or being interviewed and we’ll keep them for the future. We’ll send someone to you if you have a story tell.

With the help of volunteers ICIM can do more. ICIM has a hugely important role to play.
If you are willing to spend an hour or two volunteering for ICIM, we would like to say thank you by giving you free space on Jeff Sternberg’s focus pages, helping you come up where you want to be on search engines.

Workshop- September 23, 2010 AnnaLisa Pastore MD and Dr. Kenneth Y. Davis will present a revolutionary “triune model” of analysis that can be easily learned and incorporated by any Integrative Practitioner in assessing all patients, including those presenting with acute and chronic infections. Many patients present with similar symptomatology, but the underlying causes may not be the same. Pastore and Davis will show how a three-pronged model, The Triune of Well-being, is key if positive patient outcomes are to be achieved, including physical, mental, emotional and spiritual angles.

Learning objectives for the workshop include bio-energetic muscle response testing of reflexes, patient intake methods, visceral manipulative and bloodless surgery techniques, and nutritional and herbal therapies.

The workshop will be instructional to physicians and practitioners from all backgrounds who are interested in fighting infections with effective, non-invasive treatments. For speakers' CVs and a complete conference schedule, please see http://www.icimed.com/conferences.php

This pre-conference workshop is part of the International College of Integrative Medicine (ICIM) 53rd Congress: “Infections,” which will be held September 23-26, 2010 in Buffalo/Niagara, New York. To register, visit www.icimed.com/RegistrationFall2010.pdf.

The Importance of Glass IV Bottles; A Dialogue
(Does anyone know where to reach a good manufacturer directly? If you have info or are interested in joining a group order, contact Coleen at maulfair7@earthlink.net)

Coleen Maulfair: There is a problem I wonder whether anyone else is concerned about. We use glass bottles for IVs in the main. Bisphenol A is in the plastic and is proven to be a health problem. We have patients ask and we do not like using plastic but it seems we may be forced to use it. Can you find out if there is any expertise among our members and interest in finding out if we could be a buying pool for glass?

John Parks Trowbridge: Integrative medicine physicians who offer chelation therapy and other intravenous treatments are increasingly concerned that "plastic" bags and tubing systems expose their patients to avoidable chemical hazards. While no system can perfectly isolate or insulate patients from these toxins, glass IV bottles of yesteryear certainly reduced exposures to plasticizers, bis-phenol-A, and other identified and as-yet mysterious moieties. Since packaging in "plastic" bottles involves weeks, months, or even years of "fluid incubation," IV fluids available in glass could provide for a substantial reduction in toxic load. Accordingly, environmentally-aware physicians are looking for a reliable and affordable source for such bottles.

David Nebbeling: 1. Manufacturers don't sell direct -- they sell through their approved distributors. 2. Prices are high for glass bottles and because glass weighs a lot and must first be shipped to the distributor in a district and then shipped to the users in that locality. It costs my Lansing office less to receive glass bottles than it does an office in another state, due to shipping. 3. I still believe the distributor Torrence will give us a better price than any other distributor and aren't in conflict w/ our ethics concerning mercury and other deadly pharmaceuticals.

Trowbridge: roughly $100 (incl shipping) for 12 glass bottles, 250 ml sterile water -- a little more than half that, would cover 24 plastic "bottles" same size --depends of course on local suppliers and such, locations for shipping ...Mark Torrence says he can't guarantee delivery
without glass breaking .... also he says that shipping glass bottles leads to small shards of
glass falling off into the fluid ..... (do you drink Cokes in bottles? fruit juice? tonic water?)

Maulfair: The idea should be to bypass the middle man- charges will be high and we could go directly to the manufacturer. We have a huge group who could benefit really. We use 400 250 cc bottles each month and perhaps 120 500 cc bottles, so we need to find out who would buy and what quantities they need. Then we can go directly and save more money.
For example:
I received quotes from the following suppliers
McGuff 250ml 12/cs $64.60/cs
McKesson 250ml 12/cs $58.20/cs
The reason this is so high there is only one supplier of Dextrose 250ml in glass and that is Hospira, per McGuff. B Braun produced it in the past but discontinued it. This price is what they contract for from Hospira, very expensive. Henry Schein’s sales rep spoke with Hospira and they will be switching over to all plastic in the next year.
Current cost of Dextrose 250ml in bags 24/cs @ 22.00/cs, average usage 480 bags @ .91/= $436.80 per month
McGuff 250ml in glass 12/cs @ 64.60/cs – 480@ 5.38ea= 2,582.40 per month
McKesson 250ml in glass 12/cs @ 58.20/cs – 480@ 4.85ea=2,328.00 per month

Conclusion: Does anyone know where to reach a manufacturer directly? If you are interested in joining a group order, contact Coleen at maulfair7@earthlink.net.

Submitted by ICIM member John Parks Trowbridge MD:
No wonder more folks are dying from cancer than ever before. We wonder where this stuff comes from, but here is an example that explains a lot of the cancer-causing incidents.
Many people are in their cars first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, seven days a week. As I read this, it makes me feel guilty and ill.

Please do NOT turn on A/C as soon as you enter the car. Open the windows after you enter your car and turn ON the AC after a couple of minutes.

Here's why:
According to research, the car dashboard, sofa and air freshener emit Benzene, a cancer-causing toxin (carcinogen).

Take time to observe the smell of heated plastic in your car. In addition to causing cancer, Benzene poisons your bones, causes anaemia and reduces white blood cells.

Prolonged exposure will cause leukaemia, increasing the risk of cancer. It can also cause miscarriage. Acceptable Benzene level indoors is 50 mg per sq ft.

A car parked indoors with windows closed will contain 400-800 mg of benzene. If parked outdoors under the sun at a temperature above 60 degrees F, the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level.

People who get into the car keeping windows closed will inevitably inhale, in quick succession, excessive amounts of the toxin.

Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidney and liver. What's worse, it is extremely difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff.

So friends, please open the windows and door of your car - give time for the interior air to dispel the deadly stuff - before you enter.

snopes.com: Benzene in Automobiles

Registration is now open for the ICIM Members-Only Retreat in Costa Rica January 4-8, 2011. We check in Tuesday evening January 4 and leave by noon on Saturday January 8. Please inquire if you want to reserve extra nights before or after these dates to extend your stay.

Pura Vida Retreat and Spa is a gorgeous resort which we hope will refresh your spirit and further build our friendships as a group.
http://www.rrresorts.com/f.html#/pura_vida_spa/
Prices are all-inclusive, including four nights of lodging, food, yoga classes, taxes and shuttle from the airport.

ICIM will not be offering a CME program, though we will gather each day for a few hours of Pearls and Nuggets and stimulating conversation.
Rooms will be reserved on a first come, first serve basis.
To register call Pura Vida at 888-767-7375.

Delux Vista or Delux A-Frame $555 per person in the room or $845 for a single person

Super Delux Tri-Level or Super Delux Kiva $645 per person in the room or $1045 for a single person