Dr. Sherie Viencek, founder of the Sage Center

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Your brain is one of your most important organs of the body and serves as a command center for your nervous system. The neuron in your brain perceives stimuli, activate responses, communicate to the gut via a corridor of the gut- brain axis and send signals at tremendous speed across your entire body to keep you safe and healthy. Your brain is also the place where learning and cognition take place and your memories are stored. 

Optimizing brain function and preserving its integrity is one of the most important aspects of maintaining your vitality and quality of life!

Immune and Cognitive Health

Your brain has dedicated immune cells called Microglial, and other cell like astrocytes and neuron that talk to the immune system. It is known that both inflammation and autoimmunity can alter immune signals in your brain and increase mood disorders like depression and even alter behavior.

Beside inflammation, vascular flow, hormones, diet, gut health, toxins and trauma all can negatively impact your brain health and contribute to cognitive decline.

It is now known that cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease starts in your 40’s. It has been found with advanced imaging that the brain changes associated with cognitive decline in dementia show up in people who do not  have any clear symptoms. These symptoms can be simple forgetfulness, losing items or even just tiring more easing from brain tasks.

However the good news is when you first recognize that your brain has some decline .. you have a window of opportunity to make changes. This is because the brain has a property called neuroplasticity. Your brain can regenerate and repair itself by generating new growth through Neural Growth Factors (NGF) with exercise in just about 10 minutes! In addition there are specific supplements that can help increase BDNF.

When exercising think- lots of movement with twists and turns and burst activity to really engage your brain. For instance, running on a twisting a trail, dancing, or a team sport that requires quick thinking strategy.

In Perspective 

Your whole life is spent working, learning, and building rich relationships for connection to family, friends, and a larger social community. You owe it to yourself to enjoy the fruits of your labor and have quality of life by taking care of your brain health and immune system to help prevent cognitive decline.

At the Sage Center we can help you with your brain.! Whether it is a tune up, prevention or wanting to reverse cognitive decline, we have tools and strategies to help you. With a comprehensive history and examination and specialty testing we can help formulate a personalized treatment plan for your concerns!  

Go to Brain Health

The hormone secreted by your body are dynamic, and powerful. They help create life and sustain life. They can alter the expression of your genes, create sexual drive, impact your biological clock, gut microbiome and maintain brain function and much more!

In your brain, hormones act a chemicals called neurotransmitters; and this relationship between the hormones and neurotransmitters is the key to long lasting healthy cognition and vitality.

Throughout your life span there are different stage of hormone needs and depending on your health, these transitions can be smooth, or they can be rather difficult. So many factors are at play such as; diet, nutrition, lifestyle, microbiome, stress, genetics etc. These factors can have a powerful impact on how you feel day to day. Even the way in which your body reacts and interprets stress in regulated by your hormones.

Hormone imbalances, if left not regularly checked and treated can lead to various health conditions for women’s health such as PCOS, PMS Estrogen Dominance, Infertility, Chronic fatigue, Weight gain, Depression. 

When men have Hormone imbalance it is often reflected as Weight gain, Depression and Metabolic Syndrome. For example, the indiscriminate use of Testosterone replacement without checking for harmful metabolites and healthy detoxification pathway is potentially harmful. For women excess estrogen without balancing progesterone or checking the Estrobiome pathways is equally potentially harmful. For both sexes,  the long-term benefits of hormones are protective against Cognitive Decline, Neurovascular and Neurodegenerative conditions.

Hormone replacement can either be by taking bioidentical hormones or nutraceutical glandular, supplements and homeopathic support.

At Sage Center your hormones are taken seriously and checked regularly!  HORMONES can be tested by either Blood, Saliva or Urine testing. Each of these tests are specific and specialized in their own way, and the results dictate the direction of your hormone replacement.

If you think you are having signs of a hormonal imbalance please consider a consultation so that your health and well-being can be optimized!!

Go to Hormone Balance

A healthy gut is the core of a healthy body!!

Did you know that your gut lining is both a barrier and a gateway between your Gastrointestinal System (GI) and your Brain. Once this barrier is breeched, it can lead to increased Gut Permeability also known as “Leaky Gut.” This allows toxins in the intestinal track that are on their way out of the body to re-enter the blood stream and be reabsorbed back into circulation. This recirculation can cause inflammatory symptoms such as swollen joints, fibromyalgia like pain, brain fog, fatigue, intestinal discomfort and can be a trigger for autoimmune diseases!!

Your Gut can communicate to your brain via a nerve called the Vagal Nerve which acts as a corridor between the Gut and Brain. This corridor allows substances such as toxins, bacteria, and viruses to travel up and down the corridor and for neurotransmitters to communicate to each. This is called the Gut- Brain axis.

In fact, many of our neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine are actually made in the gut. Because of this, the Gut is often called the “Second Brain” This is why Gut imbalances correlate with mood, anxiety, depression and other neuro-psychological conditions.

Your Gut Microbiome is an ecosystem of trillions of bacteria! It is this rich matrix of pre-biotics and probiotic bacteria that lays the groundwork for a healthy gastrointestinal system. An imbalance of bacteria can create unwanted symptoms like IBS, heartburn bloating and pain. Your microbiome has a significant impact on hormones, immune system metabolism, cognition and mental health.

AT SAGE CENTER we look at the gastrointestinal system from a North to South approach, starting with the chewing of your food on through the whole digestive system to the end products of digestion.

What We Do

We begin with a very thorough history of your symptoms, physical and psychological, past and present experiences, objective findings, dietary patterns, medications and nutraceuticals. We then look at all systems for proper enzymatic function of the stomach and pancreas, bile secretion, peristalsis and underlying microbiome balance.

Often Advanced Functional G.I. stool testing is utilized to get a clearer picture of possible inflammation, infection and dysbiosis, Food allergy panels maybe used to discern if there are food antigens that should be avoided. We also help address your dietary sensitivities such as Lectins, Histamine, Nightshades, Gluten, Grains Dairy, Soy etc. 

With the information gathered from the history, examination, muscle testing and Advance Functional Gastrointestinal Testing, Dr Viencek will formulate a personalized treatment plan that includes diet, nutrients, botanicals, homeopathy, and exercises to address your needs

See links to some of some our favorite GI products!

Go to GI Health

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY

The environmental impact on your genes is enormous! It is what pulls the trigger. We are all born with genetic tendencies for disease processes but whether these processes express themselves or not, has to do with many factors especially environmental triggers.

Did you know that there are 7 billion pounds of environmental toxins dumped into the water, soil and air each year and the long-term effect of 80% of them is unknown!

This is a combination of Heavy Metals, Chemicals Herbicides, Pesticides and Mycotoxins all of which are entering your body and stockpiling in your brain, heart, bone and liver. With this enormous burden our bodies can accumulate and hold these toxins for decades. 

All these toxins have been linked to different disease processes and disrupt the normal functioning of many bodily systems.

Heavy metals from our environment such as mercury, lead, aluminum, arsenic, and cadmium are all detrimental to bones, brain, liver and kidneys.

Chemicals such as glyphosate, which are present in almost all Agricultural products are known endocrine disruptors and cancer causing and especially dangerous for children

Environmental toxins are known causative contributors to neurodegenerative conditions.

Pesticides: Trichloroethylene, Paraquat and DDT are primary culprits for Parkinson's disease. 

There is a growing epidemic of early onset Parkinson's disease in this country and all over the world. While there may be a genetic factor, Parkinson's is thought to be highly related to chemical/pesticide toxicity. There are many cluster of Parkinson disease where there is agriculture, fruit orchards and government super fund sites. Three large contributors are Paraquat, Trichloroethylene an DDT. ( reference book - A Prescription for Action Ending Parkinson’s disease By Ray Dorsey, Todd Sherer PhD, Michael Okun MD, and Bastiaan Bloem MD, PhD).

Go to Environmental Medicine

Dr. Viencek has been offering Integrated Chiropractic care for over 30 years in a relaxed and healing environment.

Her focus as a Functional Chiropractor is the interface of the body's structure and function. 

Structural work includes:

• low force manual manipulation
• joint and soft tissue mobilization
• craniosacral and visceral-somatic work 
• physical rehabilitation
• targeted exercises
• 
  

This work restores the structural component by enhancing joint function, mobilization, range of motion, circulation, and nerve function.

The Functional aspect incorporates:

• addressing somatic visceral reflexes
• muscle testing for the weak links in the body’s matrix
• addressing biochemistry and nutritional deficiencies
• energetic blockages that interfere with full body potential
  

This combination brings the whole body and being into the diagnostic and healing picture.

As a result, Full Functional care addresses the whole body in motion - gait, balance, posture, movement patterns and ergonomics.

In office support techniques include:

• FSM -frequency specific microcurrent
• photo modulation- light therapy
• visceral massage techniques that help eliminate inflammation, break up scarring and adhesions,
  reduce pain and, specifically, neural pain.

Dr Viencek specializes in the health care needs of women, teens and children, but her patients see her as a healer in many areas.

Go to Functional Chiropractic

What people are saying about Dr. Viencek:
" Dr. V helped me with my chronic neck pain, related to chronic Lyme infection. Her testing on the table provided me with insights and the correct products needed to shift my health. As a person with a past history of trauma at the hands of a chiropractor many years ago, I was hesitant to begin. I am glad I did. She is so easy to work with and it is comforting being in her healing space!" - JH Functional Nutritionist

Your immune system is like having your own personal 24/7 wellness warrior that is traveling through your body looking for any type of foreign invader be it a bacteria, virus, parasite, or a foreign substance. You have both in an Innate immune system which is activated at birth and an Adaptive immune system that adapts to what is presented to your body throughout its whole lifetime.

But where is your immune system? The answer is the immune system is everywhere throughout your body and you need to have a whole-body systems approach to balancing your immune system. If the pandemic taught us anything it is that we cannot afford to be left off guard, we have to pay attention, be proactive, and strengthen our immune system.

In your Gut, you have a very robust and diverse microbiome ( 39 trillion microbial cells ) that compromise the human genome. You have a system called Gut associated Lymphoid Tissue. This system is part of the immune system which protects the body from invasion from antigens and pathogens while allowing and tolerating the normal bacteria and dietary proteins and without an immune attack. This is a whole-body defense system. The health of your Gut and microbial diversity and the level of inflammation all play a major role in your Gut immune integrity.

In your Brain, your brain has dedicated immune cells called microglia which are trolling the brain looking for foreign invaders. Also, astrocytes and neurons have been shown to be in communication with the immune system and can actually create immune related signals. Your brain also has an entire lymphatic network called the Glymphatic which cleanses the brain from debris and proteins that contribute to making plaque. In fact, the amyloid beta plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease is actually part of the innate immune system‘s response to inflammation. Our brains are changing constantly from immune system input be it the environment, trauma, food allergens, inflammation, or a whole host of potential activators.

What does inflammation due to the Immune System?

It is known that high inflammation reduces something called Neuroplasticity, which is the brains ability to rewire and heal itself. High inflammatory states have also been associated as drivers of psychiatric disorders, like depression, OCD and anxiety. Many Neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s, cognitive impairment, and Parkinson’s are also affected negatively by inflammatory states. Inflammation in the Gut can present with symptoms like diarrhea, bloating, constipation, In the Thyroid gland inflammation is a destructive part of the process of Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease. Inflammation collectively affects all body systems, so taming inflammation is one of the most important strategies to strengthen your immune system.

AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS

There are times when your immune system is no longer able to be the bodyguard for all systems. This can lead to a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease; in which your own body’s immune system is attacking some tissue in your body. Unfortunately, there are over 24 million Americans that have an Autoimmune Disease such as Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid Arthritis. Many patients with an Autoimmune disease have a leaky gut so looking at the Gut and microbiome becomes a very important piece of addressing Autoimmunity. 

Strengthening the immune system starts with searching for the driving factors of inflammation and putting out the source of the fire.

At Sage Center we can help you strengthen your immune system by looking at the root causes and factors leading up to a weekend immune system, autoimmune disease or just a flare-up. Together we will create a comprehensive overall assessment of your antecedents, triggers, diet, nutrition, lifestyle, and self-care. We will review all your labs, order specialty functional medicine tests and labs if necessary and will address the concerns regarding your health.