Dr. Marina Stoilov, Vancouver Chiropractor
You were born
With goodness
And trust
You were born
With ideals
And dreams
You were born
With greatness
You were born
With wings
You are not meant
For crawling,
So don't.
You have wings
Learn to use them
And fly."
Dr. Marina Stoilov's passion in life to help people heal and achieve a greater state of
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.
She is an Honors graduate of the
As a child, Dr. Stoilov had a fascination with the concept of helping people heal, especially through the application of touch. Specifically, she wanted to practice in a holistic non-medical setting. One of the reasons for this was that at the age of 5, an antibiotic had destroyed her hearing and left her profoundly hard-of-hearing.
When in chiropractic school, Dr. Stoilov read a pamphlet on chiropractic defining the term ‘chiropractic’ as ‘practicing by hand’ and fell in love at first sight with the concept and the profession. That is when she knew this was going to be her life-long passion. To this day, she feels blessed to have the tools given to her by chiropractic to help others.
In 2006, Dr. Stoilov worked with Dr. Justine
Blainey-Broker in
In 2007, she worked with Dr. Roger
Sahoury in
In 2008, Dr. Stoilov served the communities in North Vancouver, practicing out of the Foundation for Integrated Health, alongside Dr. Linda Drake who has been a well-known and respected chiropractor for over 25 years.
She currently practices in Vancouver and Burnaby and enjoys providing holistic alternative wellness services to people and families of all ages.
Dr. Stoilov's Mission:
Dr. Marina Stoilov Blog
Jan 22, 2010 06:12PM
2009-10-07T20:06:56.848-07:00
Mesothelioma Pain Alleviated With Chiropractic Care
Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that most commonly affects the lining of the lungs, heart and abdomen. It is primarily caused by exposure to asbestos which occurs when fibers are inhaled or ingested into the body and become lodged in body cavities, causing inflammation or infection. The life expectancy for mesothelioma patients is normally less than one year following diagnosis as the cancer is typically not diagnosed until it is in later stages and is less treatable.
The American Chiropractic Association has stated that chiropractic doctors ?have a deep respect for the human body's ability to heal itself without the use of surgery or medication. These doctors devote careful attention to the biomechanics, structure and function of the spine, its effects on the musculoskeletal and neurological systems, and the role played by the proper function of these systems in the preservation and restoration of health. A doctor of chiropractic is one who is involved in the treatment and prevention of disease, as well as the promotion of public health, and a wellness approach to patient healthcare.?
Some mesothelioma patients have added chiropractic care to their course of treatment to help control pain and alleviate headaches, tension and stress. Two studies published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics examined the cases of two patients combating cancer. One of these cases involved a 54-year-old man that was diagnosed with lung cancer (a cancer often related to asbestos exposure) and began seeing a chiropractor after he experienced little pain relief one year after he underwent surgery. The man experienced pain relief immediately after beginning chiropractic care and discontinued use of all pain medications after two visits to his chiropractor.
Mesothelioma patients interested in alternative treatment, who strongly believe in the body?s ability to heal itself, may find chiropractic care particularly appealing. Alleviating severe headaches and movement pains during cancer treatment may make the treatment process more comfortable for cancer patients.
Richard Moyle
National Awareness Coordinator
Mesothelioma Center
Asbestos.com
2009-07-04T15:49:38.664-07:00
Obama's Plan to Change U.S. Health Care System Will Cost Nearly Two TRILLION Dollars
Obama's Plan to Change U.S. Health Care System Will Cost Nearly Two TRILLION Dollars
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2010-01-22T17:12:07.351-08:00
I began to suffer from debilitating headaches when I was ten. No one knew what was causing them and that made them seem even more ominous to both me and my family.
X-rays were taken of my head and I was told I had sinusitis. I was taken to the hospital every week for a long period of special treatments to heat my sinuses and had to undergo daily applications of heated sea salt compresses at home. Yet, I continued to suffer.
I remember wondering as a child: ?What am I doing wrong to have to suffer in this way?? I believed that the cause was in me. Even at this young age, I intuitively knew that I am responsible for my health.
When I was 17, I moved to Canada with my family. That?s when I first heard about migraine headaches. No one had ever spoken about migraines or childhood migraines before that. I continued to suffer monthly, sometimes weekly headaches that prevented me from living my life normally. I was constantly in fear that one day my headaches would get so severe that I would have to go to the ER for help and that there would be no time for me to get there quickly enough to stop the pain.
It was a time when I could not imagine my future and was always afraid I may not pass my next exam because of headache attacks or that I might never have a real job one day because I would be fired for being bedridden so often. I even had to cancel my dates and sometimes had to leave in the middle of a date with a headache attack! I could not imagine myself having my own family one day because I would not be able to support it.
It wasn?t until I was in chiropractic school that I was diagnosed with migraines and began to get adjusted 3 times a week and eventually 2 times a week for a year at the school clinic. When the first school year was over, I was amazed to look back and realize I had not had a single migraine attack for a year! In the second year of school, I got so used to being pain-free that I stopped getting adjusted regularly and my migraines came back a year later and I resumed regular care.
I used to believe that nothing could help me and I would have to live in pain and constant uncertainty and fear for the rest of my life. Yet, I am now migraine-free except for rare times of stress and at such times, more frequent neck adjustments quickly get me back on track.
I know that if chiropractic could help me, it can also help you live your life to the fullest. Please, share this story and eventually your own success story with everyone you meet. Chiropractic helps one person and one family at a time and no one should ever be left out.
2010-01-22T17:12:31.089-08:00
I remember being seven when I was told I had to wear a hearing aid. My family had never noticed that I was hard-of-hearing prior to that, because at home I could function normally as all situations and people were familiar and everyone spoke louder to me without consciously realizing they were doing it.
It was my first grade teacher who noticed that I did not respond right away when she called my name. Hearing tests followed and the diagnosis was confirmed. The cause was uncertain although the most likely possibility was that the hearing cells in my ears had been destroyed in an immune reaction to an antibiotic.
Throughout the entire ordeal I was clueless as to what was happening except that I was a happy 7-year old one moment, and in the next moment, I was given the label ?hard-of-hearing? even though I felt just ?fine?. It was all unreal and sad and I seemed to have no say in what was happening to me. It seemed to have been thrust upon me. Next, I was fitted with a hearing aid and my whole life changed.
I gradually understood how come even though I was likeable and popular with my friends and could be the 'life of the party', at times, I felt lonely and misunderstood; it was because I couldn't hear them!
Like all anxious first-time parents, my parents were ready to do anything to ensure I was safe and they had faith that they were following the best advice when medical doctors gave them antibiotic prescriptions for my fever and illnesses.
They could not get the advice of a chiropractic doctor when it came to my or their own health and well-being because there were no chiropractic doctors in my native country. They didn?t have the option of choosing chiropractic or another drug-free alternative. But you do, and after reading my story, you have the option and the responsibility to choose what is best for you and your family.
2009-01-03T15:55:43.833-08:00
Good posture is so incredibly important in our lives that it is a wonder how little we know about it and how little emphasis our society puts on it. Posture is important for so many reasons: it creates a first impression of who we are as a person and how confident we are, it is important from an aesthetic point of view, and most of all, and this is the reason most people know the least about ? it affects our health.
There have been societies in the history of our world that have placed significant emphasis on proper posture. The well-bred across the world and in all ages have always been taught proper posture starting from how to sit, walk, or stand properly with grace and poise, to how to pick up things, how to eat properly, and even what movements and gestures to perform or not to perform. For example, the Japanese culture has always included a very elaborate system of how to perform all of these.
Nowadays, however, most people are clueless when it comes to posture and proper body movements. Even when as a child I didn?t know anything about proper posture or chiropractic, I was naturally aware of what would be a ?safe? or a ?good? way to pick up things, to vacuum, to get up or sit down, to run and so on. Looking back with the knowledge I now have, I intuitively knew what proper body movements and posture were, even at such an early age. I cringed every time I saw my mother or my grandmother stoop down to pick up something or to vacuum, twisting their backs and keeping their knees straight.
This doesn?t mean I didn?t have bad posture habits as a teen; I am sure you all remember your mother telling you to stop slouching. We all have slouched in an effort to hide our changing body or to hide how tall we had suddenly become, or because we were shy. I won?t ever forget how embarrassed I felt every time my mother told me to stop standing or walking the way I did, and even demonstrated how I did, especially because I knew she was right.
To get to the gold, posture affects our health by affecting our central nervous system (CNS, the brain and the spinal cord). This is profound because the CNS controls everything in our body ? every function, organ and gland. You could live without air for several minutes, without a heart for several seconds, but without a particular part of the spinal cords, the medulla, not even for a second. To give you an example of how posture affects the spinal cord, research has shown that with poor head forward position, the spinal cord can stretch up to 6 to 8 centimeters; imagine the effect this has on how the nerves function.
What would happen if you take a water hose and you stretch it? It would get thinner and narrower, less water would flow through it and eventually it would tear. The same kind of damage happens with poor posture to the nerves and the spinal cord in the neck area and at every level. Different levels of the spinal cord lead to different effects, for example, irritation/damage at the neck level affect heart rate, blood pressure and breathing. At upper back and mid-back level, irritations/damage could contribute to increased stress levels, hormone imbalance and poor digestion. The low back level affects the reproductive organs, bowel movement and the legs.
You can begin to get an idea of how poor posture and body movement can actually affect your health and even lead to increased stress by irritating/damaging the CNS. The opposite is also true; increased stress in your life or poor ability to handle stress can directly affect your body and your nervous system?s health and can lead to poor posture thereby creating a vicious cycle. What do we all do when we are stressed out? Our breathing is shallow or we even stop breathing, we tense up all muscles, clench our jaw, become more rigid and stay in one position for too long, especially if sitting at a desk, and that in turn, leads to even more stress and poorer posture and vice versa.
In my office, I will assess your posture, gait, work habits, breathing pattern and more, in detail, and teach you how to adopt healthy habits as well as how to handle stress more effectively. Other services may also be recommended in order to take your health to a higher level, because you would be assessed as a unique individual, with unique needs and life circumstances.
2010-01-22T17:08:16.095-08:00
- The first simple way to reduce stress is to counter the effects of inadequate sunlight. Lack of adequate sunlight can happen even in the summer, and is known to lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This can be avoided by taking a good quality fish oil, which supplies your body with vitamin D, essential for proper functioning of the immune system and a potent anti-carcinogenic agent.
- In addition, a health professional may recommend a stress formula called DSF, which is a natural combination of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals and glandular extracts that support the energy-producing systems of the body.
- Another factor to consider is breathing. Most stressed individuals breathe by accessing their upper back/neck area (apical breathing) and don?t use their whole lung volume to exchange their air. Lower belly, or diaphragmatic breathing uses the whole lung volume to change your air. Learning to breathe properly is a simple way to ensure that your body can neutralize free radicals (cancer causing atoms) that are byproducts of your cells? metabolism.
- The third simple way to less stressful life is to spend time alone. Even 5 minutes of doing a relaxation exercise, deep breathing, writing in a journal, and emptying your mind of all daily concerns can have a profound effect on your well being.
- Developing meaningful bonds with others is the fourth way to deal with stress. You need people in your life that accept you unconditionally and if you are in stressful relationships, you may need to find the strength to set new boundaries for yourself or consider moving on. A powerful tool to deal with your emotions is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). EFT is an emotional version of acupuncture, except needles aren't necessary. Instead, you stimulate energy meridian points on your body by tapping on them with your fingertips.
- The sixth piece of the puzzle is adequate sleep. If you think you simply do not have enough time in the day to accomplish your tasks, thus preventing you from getting adequate sleep, a wellness practitioner can teach you how to have healthy sleep habits.
- Another rule of thumb is to slow down. Take time to breathe, walk, eat and talk slowly. Do so by cutting your ?To Do? list in half. When you give yourself chance to slow down, you start to feel better and are able to accomplish more.
- The eighth piece of the puzzle is hydration and nutrition. Proper diet does not simply mean drinking enough water (half our body weight in ounces), eating ?organic? foods and 5-10 fruits and vegetables a day. A holistic practitioner can determine if you need any supplements, if you have any food intolerances, and can find out if you need a predominantly protein, carbohydrate or mixed type diet.
- Exercise is an excellent way to deal with stress. One of the best and easiest ways to get exercise is to walk outdoors, especially in nature. Even 15 minutes of walking daily can have a dramatic impact on your mental and physical health.
- Finally, detoxify to rejuvenate your body, mind and spirit. Toxins enter our bodies through our air, food and water supply, as well as a result of body metabolism and increased stress. Detoxification does not only apply to the digestive system, but to all systems in our body. Ultimately, a holistic approach to detoxification would be to address reducing toxin intake as much as possible, while increasing detoxification through a multi system approach ? digestive, liver and colon cleanse support, infra red sauna to increase circulation/lymphatic flow, and EB cellular cleanse footbath to draw heavy metals and other environmental toxins from your cells.
2010-01-22T17:07:46.587-08:00
Breathing - A Doorway to Health
Breathing is such an unconscious process that it is easy to ignore its importance. To breathe or not to breathe is not a difficult choice. After all, we don?t have to think about taking the next breath and thank goodness! But to breathe properly or not, that choice can be the difference between health and disease. Proper breathing is the best, most available, simplest way to detoxify, rejuvenate, de-stress, reset and heal the mind-body-spirit.
If the above statement sounds far-fetched, consider what happens with lack of oxygen. Almost all brain cells die after 4 minutes. Now visualize what happens in your daily life, when you are doing something or thinking about something and especially when you feel stressed. If you become aware of your breathing pattern at all, you probably frequently notice that you haven?t been breathing when the breathing center in your medulla finally triggers the next breath.
If survival is unlikely beyond 4 minutes, could brain cells also be affected after a few seconds or a minute without breathing? Since the central nervous system is the master controller of every organ and function in the body it seems plausible that your health could also suffer with the cumulative effect of improper breathing.
The body does not have a precise sensor of blood oxygen levels. It relies on the level of waste carbon dioxide in the blood to generate the next breathing stimulus. If you tend to have an irregular breathing pattern and go through cycles of hyperventilating and not breathing, the lack of carbon dioxide in your blood leads to further decrease in the stimulus for breathing. Thus, the impairing effect on the body can be even greater.
Developing the habit of breathing properly may not be easy but it is simple. Like any habit, it takes time to get entrenched, but once it does, you won?t have to think about it constantly. Simply put, breathe through your nostrils only, from your stomach first, then your diaphragm, and finally your chest, without elevating your shoulders or tensing your neck. Do this in one movement. The exhale is completed by relaxing the stomach, slowly releasing the air.
The most important aspect is that breathing should be rhythmic. When rhythmic, the process elevates to a whole new level, adding all the benefits of meditation. It has been shown that meditation can induce profound changes beyond relieving stress and reducing blood pressure to a state of deep relaxation called ?hypometabolic wakefulness,? accompanied by brain alpha waves, complete calmness, knowingness and oneness with existence. Studies have actually shown that each year of regular meditation can take off roughly one year of aging.
Breathing properly becomes even easier when you have proper posture and your diaphragm, accessory chest muscles, and back and abdominal muscles as well as the nerves that control them are free of tension. A chiropractor can assess and realign your neuromusculoskeletal systems and posture and help you develop correct breathing habits.
