Lifestyle & functional medicine approach to health

Dr. Sepideh Moayed is a board-certified musculoskeletal radiologist who leads Preventative Medicine, Inc., in Silicon Valley, where she emphasizes whole patient care. Her areas of focus include evidence-based methods that enable behavioral change through life style modification tools and techniques. Although she performs ultrasound guided diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as knee, shoulder and small joint injections, she believes these modalities merely “manage” but don’t prevent or effectively treat the underlying contributors: inflammation, degeneration and damage caused by excessive oxidative stress. In order to effectively treat and more importantly prevent disease, she believes life style modifications and personalized functional medicine approach to health are ultimately more effective solutions. Chronic systemic inflammation is linked to a myriad of disease processes including type II diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoarthritis, other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, dementia, etc. Commonly prescribed medications, joint injections and surgeries may help pain relief for one joint but they don’t prevent disease progression or coexisting systemic inflammation. Case in point, as the disease progresses and attacks various other organs, the individual may temporarily be free of the particular joint pain (due to the injection or prescribed pain medication), but typically they get more and more “ill” physically, emotionally and mentally. Lifestyle medicine involves helping an individual achieve ideal health by eating a diet that is appropriate for their genotype and genetics, the right kind of exercises that support their bodies to thrive while detoxifying from environmental insults and learnable stress reduction techniques that can help cortisol management. Cortisol excess can rob the body of needed restoration, calm and the ability to repair itself. It is the underlying trigger of many chronic diseases and results in insulin resistance, cancer, sugar lability, mood disorders, mental, psychical and emotional distress-all of which further cause unhealthy lifestyle choices and cause the vicious cycle that is hard to undo. By treating the whole person holistically, Dr. Moayed follows a functional medicine model of health preservation where the patient is empowered to change habits and behaviors and thereby dampen certain non helpful genetics and augment genetic expressions that can support health. Awareness, acceptance and action are on a continuum and when utilized collectively, they provide more than temporary relief of an acute exacerbation; they help prevent disease in the first place. 

What to Know about Osteoarthritis of the Knees

What to Know about Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Leveraging nearly 20 years of experience, Dr. Sepideh Moayed treats patients suffering from chronic illnesses at her company, Preventative Medicine, Inc. near Los Gatos and Saratoga, CA. Dr. Sepideh Moayed is an expert in musculoskeletal radiology which includes her diagnostic and interventional procedures when it comes to joints, soft tissues and osseous structures of the body. Both inflammatory and osteo arthritis have been on the rise significantly these past few years and it is believed to be due to increased incidence of our SAD (Standard American Diet) diet, increased environmental toxins and worsening sedentary lives. For many years, osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthropathies were believed to be caused by different pathways. Although the underlying etiologies and involved joints differ, there are many areas of cross over when it comes to joint tissue damage. As someone who utilizes functional medicine, Dr. Sepideh Moayed says that we used to believe osteoarthritis, is caused by old age, the wear and tear or weight load on a specific joint that caused the damage. Today however, evidence based studies show that increased visceral fat cells in the abdominal cavity (not just the subcutaneous fat) or inflammation inducing diets release inflammatory markers known as adipokines. These inflammatory agents (often triggered in the gut or areas away from the joint), cause systemic inflammation. They cause joint specific cartilage destruction from remote areas of the body. These cascades of events cause joint destruction and are often exacerbated by diets that lead to a high load of inflammasomes.


Estimates vary, but it is believed that as many as 32 million Americans have osteoarthritis-previously believed to be due to old age or previous traumatic events. Symptoms include swelling, a creaking sound when the knees flex, and activity-related pain that eases up during rest. Knee osteoarthritis may also show up as stiffness in the morning or after prolonged sitting. Women are more prone than men to osteoarthritis, especially if they are over 50. Also known as wear-and-tear arthritis, osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage that protects joints erodes, causing the bones to rub together, often producing spurs. It is common to get osteoarthritis as one ages, but that doesn’t have to be. What is very concerning is seeing osteoarthritis in young adults. Recent research has identified lifestyle behaviors such as sedentary lives behind our devices, poor inflammatory diets full of processed foods / sugar and leaky gut (due to gluten, grain or other food sensitivities) that lead to overall systemic inflammation and are now the culprit for osteoarthritis in young people. Lifestyle modifications including healthier diets high in phytonutrients, increased physical activity, better sleep, decreased overall stress and correcting conditions such as leaky gut / dysbiosis, can significantly help when it comes to reversing osteoarthritis or slowing it down.

ACR Backs Effort to Expand Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations

 

Dr. Sepideh Moayed is a California-based radiologist who has been in practice for more than 20 years. In addition to her role as a radiologist at Los Gatos Medical Center, Dr. Sepideh Moayed is longtime fellow of the American College of Radiology (ACR) and is adept at utilizing screening protocols for myriad diseases set forth by the ACR including lymphoma, lung, colon, hepatic, breast, prostate, ovarian, testicular cancers to name a few. The ACR recently endorsed a proposed change to lung screening recommendations put forth by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The change would make screening opportunities available to a larger number of Americans. Research has shown that high-risk individuals who undergo yearly screenings using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) are at a significantly reduced risk of mortality from lung cancer compared to those who are not screened. This screening method is particularly effective at identifying cancer at very early stages, which it’s more responsive to treatment. The USPSTF recommends that the minimum age for screening be reduced to 50 years of age from 55 years old, and down from 30 pack-years to only 20-pack years. A “pack year” consists of a year in which a person smoked at least 20 cigarettes per day for that year. The ACR supports these recommendations, while also stressing the importance of familiarizing providers with screening criteria and encouraging them to proactively encourage high risk patients to obtain these screenings.

Dr. Moayed keeps abreast of all evidence based medical research and knows that though screening is colossally important, unless there is behavioral change implementation, cancer progression and oncogenesis cannot be stopped by screening alone. Dr. Moayed has helped her patients successfully implement change and stay quit when it comes to cigarette smoking. She has found the COVID-19 pandemic to be a catalyst for quitting smoking. By spending quality time reviewing the (LDHR) chest CT images with her patients, she educates them about the irreversible long-term damage of cigarette smoking which include: COPD/emphysema, influenza, COVID-19, pneumonias, as well as small cell, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell lung carcinomas. She uses a multifaceted approach including lifestyle modification via glucose stabilization, meditation, exercise and CBT to help with mood and emotional support. Behavioral modification and pharmaceutical/receptor antagonists help with withdrawal symptoms and elapse prevention. She utilizes integrative supplements to help tissue oxygenation, while combating inflammation and free radical mitigation at a cellular level. She helps her patient heal physically, mentally and emotionally. She educates her patients about the intricacies of the mind-body-endocrine-metabolic-emotional-behavioral axis and helps them find a solution when it comes to tobacco addiction. “Imaging and diagnosis are what I’ve done for decades as a radiologist. Today, with the advent of patient centered medicine aimed at health optimization, I am grateful I can help my patients truly benefit from prevention and treatment when it comes to one of the greatest preventable chronic diseases of our times-cigarette smoking and nicotine addiction.”