General Practitioner,  Dr Marcellina Martins has recently joined Coolalinga Doctors and Health Centre. She has a deep interest in Women’s and Children’s health and is also providing a weight loss service.

What Do General Practitioners Know About Providing a Weight Loss Service?

That’s a reasonable question to ask. Particularly when it wasn’t too long ago that a doctor’s answer to weight loss was to provide a calorie controlled generic diet and a bottle of appetite suppressants. However, times have changed and there are doctors coming to the fore now who are passionate about addressing obesity and are wanting to provide the best support possible.   Dr Marcellina Martins is one of those doctors.
So what kind of support can Dr Martins offer?

Personal Support:
Doctor Martins has a deep interest in helping people regain their health through providing  personalized weight management support. This will include medical health monitoring.

Motivation:
Dr Martins uses a holistic motivational approach which encourages a healthy self-interest in accomplishing small comfortable weight loss goals.

Clarity:
Many people, who have had ongoing difficulty managing their weight, have come to believe that achieving their desired weight is a complex riddle that they will never solve. They may have had a tendency to jump from one diet to another and ended up weighing more than they did in the initial instance. It’s a pretty common occurrence.

It’s because of past failures and confusion about weight management, that it becomes increasingly difficult to see the forest for the trees. Most people wanting to lose weight benefit greatly from consistent personal guidance and support – particularly when there’s a long history of weight loss failure. Dr Martin’s support  will help you to put your old fears into perspective.

Diet Progam:
Dr Martins can provide you with  an individualized eating plan with easily prepared meals that the whole family will benefit from – you’ll have access to this both online and offline.

The Cost:
There is no out of pocket cost to you.   Right now, Dr Martins is just starting her clinic at Coolalinga Doctors and Health Centre and so all visits will be bulk billed.

About Dr Martins:
Dr Marcellina Martins is a family GP Besides her special interest in providing a weight loss support to people in Coolalinga and the surrounding districts of Humpty Doo,  Palmerton and Darwin, she has a keen interest in women’s and children’s health. You can read more about her services here….

Coolalinga Doctors and Health Centre –
GP – Dr Marcellina Martins About Your Weight

Could your  Thyroid Hormones  be  keeping you Overweight?

Is it possible that your thyroid hormones are causing you to gain excess weight? According to Dr Michael Elstein, a general practitioner,  who writes an anti-aging column in the magazine Well Being, Australia is having a low thyroid epidemic. A low thyroid condition can have the appearance of depression,  but by adding up all the symptoms, it can be easy to spot.

What kind of  symptoms could you expect to have with low thyroid function?

You can be constipated and notice that your thought processes are slowing down; your circulation also slows down as does your metabolism – which become sluggish.  This leads to cold hands and feet – you may find yourself needing to wear socks in bed. You can feel depressed with little or no energy. You will feel so tired you won’t want to do anything especially exercise – which results in weight gain. Unfortunately, if the correct thyroid tests aren’t taken this behaviour can be misdiagnosed and treated with an anti-depressants.

The Common Thyroid Test that doesn’t provide the necessary answers:

What doctors do is measure a brain hormone called thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which is made in the pituitary, a gland situated just behind the middle of the forehead. As its name suggests, TSH steps in when thyroid hormones falter. TSH levels go up when the thyroid fails us, so, in theory, when doctors want to find out if your thyroid hormones are serving you,  they usually just  measure TSH – believing that a  normal TSH  indicates that thyroid hormones are fully operational.

This approach can be flawed:

Unfortunately, this approach is severely flawed because thyroid hormones have a complex relationship with all the cells in our bodies. Brain chemical like TSH try to gauge whether they are doing their job but a lot of time what TSH senses won’t be an accurate assessment of thyroid hormone activity.  Using TSH levels as a sole indicator of thyroid function is a very inadequate means of determining if any thyroid hormone treatment is necessary.  It is not uncommon to have a royal flush of symptoms suggesting under-active thyroid hormones married with a TSH that is entirely normal.

What you really need is to have all your thyroid hormones measured, including thyroxine (T4)), triiodothyronine (T3) and reverse T3. T3 is the major player in thyroid hormone function while T4 is the source from which T3 is manufactured. T3 is the accelerator that energizes us and stimulates fat burning. Reverse T3 is the brake pedal that significantly slows your metabolism, aborting T3’s drive. When you are stressed or reduce your food intake, reverse T3 is activated.

The Nutrients You Need For Optimum Thyroid Function

To make T4 you need iodine, a nutrient found in oysters, seaweed, salmon and bread made with iodised salt. Iodine then has to go through a series of chemical processes facilitated by B vitamins, calcium, zinc, magnesium and iron, to name some of the key nutrients that help to give birth to T4.  Soy, gluten and bisphenol A, found in plastic containers,  and tinned foods, together with excessive consumption of kale and broccoli, can compromise this operation.

If you think you  think that your thyroid hormones are keeping you tired and overweight you need to find a general practitioner , such as Dr Martins, at our family medical centre in Coolalinga, who will be able to determine if this is the case.  Dr Martins provides  a doctors weight loss service at the Coolalinga Doctors and Health Centre in Coolalinga.

The Doctors Surgery of the Past

Medical Centre Coolalinga

When I was growing up in Australia, the Doctors Surgery was the name we gave to the doctors premises as well as the medical procedures he carried out. The doctors surgery then was usually run and owned by the general practitioner. His rooms commonly consisted of a waiting room, and a nurse who also did reception; and of course there was the doctors consulting room.

And back then our family doctor did everything – he burned off warts, stitched up excisions, and in my case, pierced my ears when I was fifteen, because I asked him to. The fact that he put the hole in a different position in each ear didn’t matter to me and still doesn’t. He made it possible for me to wear stud earrings, just like my friends, and I was elated. I can never forget his kindness because I’m reminded every time I check out my lopsided earrings in the mirror.

Our Coolalinga Doctors Surgery

Our Coolalinga Doctors Surgery provides the same personalized attention as did our doctors surgeries in the past. Our family GP’s are the first point of contact when patients become ill or have an injury. Our doctors will diagnose the problem and either treat the patient or refer them on to a specialist. Our Doctors Surgery in Coolalinga is less about surgical procedures and more about ensuring that the patient receives the necessary medical expertise. Dr Hague and Dr Martins have both worked in Darwin and the surrounding areas for many years – together they own and run our traditionally based Doctors Surgery in Coolalinga NT.