Pasadena, California is a Haven of Alternative Health

Pasadena is known as Rose City, but when your rose begins to wilt, you can find rejuvenation, refreshment and recuperation at Eaton Canyon Natural Medicine Center.

According to the immunologist, Dr. Jesse Stoff, five key causes that damage the body's autoimmune system are: poor eating habits/nutrition, man-made toxins in the environment, organisms that cause disease, trauma to the immune system, and stress. Dr. Stoff received his B.A. Degree in Biology and graduated cum laude with honors from Adelphi University, Garden City, New York, as well as co-authored the book entitled, "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Hidden Epidemic".

The good news is that you can help your body get back to health naturally by supplementing food with holistic vitamins and minerals; drinking enough clean water; getting daily exercise; and by finding physical healing therapies that will enable you to detoxify and reduce the effects of daily stress.

These therapies may include acupuncture, chiropractic and therapeutic massage, which you can find at Eaton Canyon Natural Medicine Center, located at 1355 N. Altadena Drive in Pasadena (626-398-5419).

The first thing you will notice as you enter the clean, quiet foyer of the Center is a huge fish tank that dominates one wall, filled with colorful African electric blues and yellows swimming next to albino peacocks. The sound of their gentle water play is soothing to the senses.

The small waiting area is decorated with succulents, called Mother's-in-Law Tongue, and green variegated potted plants, creating an environment of peaceful relaxation. While being soothing, the Center is also efficient, as the health care practitioners: Dr. Karen Raub, the acupuncturist; Dr. Arbi Derian, the chiropractor, and Sylvia Guerrero, the masseuse, keep the three exam rooms in constant use. Each room is supplied with comfortable treatment tables, a variety of therapy equipment, quiet music and soft lighting.

Acupuncture

Dr. Karen Raub's practice offers acupuncture, natural medicine, holistic supplements and nutritional consultation, all performed with gentle, strong hands. With well over 10 years of practice in the Pasadena area alone, Dr. Raub graduated from Emperor's College of Traditional Oriental Medicine with honors in 1986.

In her twenty years in the treatment of women's health, internal medicine, immune/auto-immune disorders, orthopedics and substance abuse recovery, she has accumulated additional skills and experience in the study of natural medicine at Clayton College of Natural Medicine and The International Foundation for Nutritional Health.

She surrounds her patients in an atmosphere of quiet relaxation, dimming the lights as soft instrumental music plays in the background. Her initial consultation involves asking questions about your health, and while listening to the answers, adding each bit of information (along with information from your medical records) to her diagnosis.

Acupuncture has been used for centuries in the treatment of infertility, anxiety, stress, depression, infections, fevers, arthritis, sciatica, bursitis, asthma, colitis and other internal organ disorders.

Her passion is to help the body heal with its own natural rhythms; she doesn't push the process unnecessarily. She has worked in acupuncture long enough to make a living doing what resonates with her, which is to heal people, by helping the body to naturally heal itself.

Contact Information: Dr. Karen L. Raub, L.Ac., Eaton Canyon Natural Medicine Center, Acupuncturist, Natural Medicine Practitioner, (drraub@earthlink.net), (626-398-5419).

Chiropractic

Regular chiropractic treatments (which are called adjustments) can be utilized for treating gym and sports injuries; relieving headache; detecting muscle firing patterns and imbalances; increasing range of motion and flexibility; relieving back and neck pain; and for general health maintenance.

Dr. Arbi Derian, who prefers that his patients call him Arbi, is an athletic, easy-going, knowledgeable chiropractor whose specialties include treating gym and sports related injuries, low back pain, and neck and shoulder injuries. After attending U.S.C., Arbi went on to graduate from Cleveland Chiropractic College.

"My inspiration to become a health-care professional came from watching my father (who is a surgeon general) help people. I wanted to do the same, but in a less invasive way. Seeing my patients get well gives me immense satisfaction," Arbi said in a phone interview in April.

Along with all the other benefits of a chiropractor, Arbi also offers personal training and sports injury rehabilitation at Phoenix Fitness Center, which he co-owns.
Contact Information: Dr. Arbi Derian, D.C., B.S., (626-398-5438), Chiropractor, Exercise Physiologist, (spinedoc@tmo.blackberry.net).

Therapeutic Massage

According to the preliminary results of a study conducted at the University of South Carolina, women who had experienced depression after the recent death of a child felt less depressed after therapeutic massage. Researchers at the University of Miami's School of Medicine found that massage helped decrease blood pressure in people with hypertension.

Massage has also been known to reduce pain in migraine sufferers, and people with back/muscle pain.

Therapeutic massage is available at Eaton Canyon Natural Medicine Center by appointment only. Call Sylvia Guerrero at 626-353-7347 for more information or to schedule your massage.

With a huge percentage of the population in our country suffering from "untreatable" autoimmune diseases, and Western medicine giving them little other than a handful of pain pills, it is high time to look toward new answers to these serious health problems.

Alternative health centers like the Eaton Canyon Natural Medicine Center and the Phoenix Fitness Center just may offer those answers.