Medication Management and More

Were building up to a big month in May with the release of the latest Gastrointestinal Masterclass. Here's what's new...

Medication Management and De-escalation with Lara Zakaria

Enhance your skills in managing your patient's medications and rationalising their drug regime. We are witnessing a surge in complex clinical cases, coupled with patients relying on a multitude of medications. This poses significant challenges as we strive to provide the best possible care. However, the good news is that you can stay ahead of the curve with the latest strategies and techniques.

During this compelling webinar, Lara Zakaria unravels the realities of modern patient care and sheds light on the escalating complexities surrounding medication use. With a growing chronic disease burden and patients juggling extensive medication lists, it's crucial to address potential issues head-on. Lara's expertise will empower you to identify and rectify medication misuse, thereby mitigating adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, falls, cognitive impairment, and hospitalisations.

When used responsibly, medication can have a tremendous and often life-saving impact on disease management. However, with polypharmacy comes increased risk of drug interactions, medication errors, and adverse drug reactions. Furthermore, are the significantly increased economic costs and burden on health systems. We have to also consider patients who express dissatisfaction with their medication, either due to inadequate response, side effects, or costs which drives them to seek alternatives.

As a result, there’s a demand for a more holistic approach to medication management (e.g. diet, nutraceutical-drug interactions, DIND, etc.) as well as safe de-prescribing guidelines especially within the context of a Functional Medicing framework.

During this session we weigh the various considerations for safe and effective, evidence-informed, deprescribing in clinical practice. Gain practical insights that will set you apart in providing exceptional patient care. Whether you work directly with prescriptions or not, as a healthcare provider, monitoring your patients' medications is a crucial aspect of your role.

• Acquire actionable strategies to navigate the challenges of multiple medication usage.
• Learn to identify potential problems and proactively address them for improved patient outcomes.
• Understand the impact of medication misuse and how it affects patient safety.
• Gain confidence in your ability to optimise medication regimens, even without prescribing.
• Identify opportunities to improve medication outcomes and reduce side effects through drug-induced nutrient depletion and nutraceutical-drug interactions.
• Use lifestyle modification in disease state management to reduce medication need in dyslipidemia, GERD, and depression.
• Use case-based learning to apply principles of de-escalation and deprescribing.

The Adaptive Reproductive System in Women

There is emerging and compelling evidence regarding a new concept of menstrual cycle dysfunction in women. This dysfunction involves hypothalamic suppression, leading to amenorrhea and oligomenorrhea, and ovulatory dysfunction, leading to anovulation and short luteal phases. These four common presentations seem to have a common underlying defect.

In this presentation, Professor Jerilynn Prior discusses how women's reproductive systems have evolved to adapt to environmental requirements, and how they are suppressed or even shut down in the presence of threats or stressors. Due to this adaptive response, it is crucial to identify upstream contributors that are challenging the reproductive hormonal systems of many women.

The most common of these four hypothalamic reproductive suppression entities is known as "subclinical ovulatory disturbances". These occur within normal-length cycles and are thus virtually invisible, yet involve changes related to ovulation and progesterone.

These four frequent conditions need to be understood as a continuum that is actually protective of the individual, adaptive, and potentially reversible. Understanding these conditions can help improve women's health and wellbeing. Join Professor Prior as she shares her insights and expertise on this topic.

• Learn how amenorrhoea, oligomenorrhoea, anovulation and short luteal phases are all closely related
• Discover the Iceberg concept of hypothalamic gonadotropin suppression
•  your skills in
• Have new approaches for many of your female patient's common but often tricky presentations
• Understand the mechanism of a single fundamental reproductive suppression process 

The Super Sperm Series

This series of three webinars dives into the topic of male fertility. We will examine the global rise of male infertility rates, the current contribution of the male partner to infertility cases and the looming crisis of falling population numbers due to declining sperm quality.

New, novel approaches to investigating and managing male infertility will be presented, in particular the relationship of male microbiomes to sperm quality and correcting dysbiosis for better fertility outcomes.

Finally, we will explore the spectrum of holistic management solutions at our disposal as natural health practitioners which can help you resolve some of the challenges facing many of our male patients wanting to conceive. 

• Learn about the clinical disorders contributing to male sexual dysfunction and infertility
• Explore the systemic and environmental drivers and stressors impacting male hormonal imbalance, impaired sexual function and poor sperm quality
• Understand the relationship of inflammation and oxidative stress to sperm damage and adverse conception outcomes
• Update your skills in clinical diagnosis: investigation of the infertile man, identification of causative factors and interpretation of semen analyses
• Discuss the IVF solution and its challenges
• The Leaky Testis plus how it occurs and how to fix it
• Understand the genitourinary and gastrointestinal microbiomes and their relationship to sperm quality
• Explore the Functional Medicine approach to improving male fertility
• Update your knowledge of Western, Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine approaches to treating male infertility 

The Origin of Hot Flushes with Jerilynn Prior

The presentation of hot flushes in a patient intrigue the majority of practitioners. The general understanding is that hot flushes and night sweats are caused by low oestrogen. This is why they are associated with menopause, which begins a year after the final menstrual flow. However, vasomotor symptoms - the collective term for sudden feelings of heat followed by sweating - are experienced by the majority of midlife Western women, although only about 10% of them find them problematic and disruptive.

Vasomotor symptoms can also occur in perimenopausal women who are still menstruating and, therefore, may not have low oestrogen levels. Although oestrogen treatment is effective, there is often a spike in vasomotor symptoms when a woman stops oestrogen therapy. Placebo responses are significant, and stress is also a crucial factor in vasomotor symptoms. During this presentation, we will also explore the efficacy of progesterone in vasomotor symptom therapy. Join us to learn more about this important topic.

• Brain-hormone relationships with vasomotor symptoms
• The life cycle patterns of vasomotor symptoms
• Complex relationships with stress hormones
• The effectiveness of placebo for vasomotor symptoms
• Treatment choices
• Adverse effects and withdrawal of E2 & P4

------

Reminder: Download our App! Available on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. This allows you to leave off on one device and catch up at the same spot on another. Download your videos individually or in bulk and watch them offline!