Episodes
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Ok so, I knew Dr. K was awesome, but I didn't know he was THIS AWESOME.....
This is an interview with pediatrician Dr. Pejman Katiraei, DO from Santa Barbara, California. In this interview, Dr. K talks about how common it is to see mold involved in mental health issues for all ages, but especially in kids. We discuss how he evolved to where he is now regarding diagnosis and treatment and how mold and mycotoxins initially came onto his radar for these kiddos suffering from mental health issues - ADHD, OCD, anxiety, hyperactivity, etc - which I think is always interesting to hear how someone in the conventional medical field learned through experience and research how critical these mold (and other) airborne toxins can be to kids health.
This interview is seriously FILLED WITH GEMS. Most of this entire conversation we are talking about the connections between mold and mental health - mycotoxins are known to disrupt dopamine, they inhibit glutamate clearance, they are neurotoxic, they activate innate immunity and neuroinflammation, they drive histamine responses, and ALL OF THIS leads to neurotransmitter, mood, and behavioral changes....so the whole time we are talking basically about the problem(s) and the solution(s), which are both varied and complex, but our conversation includes topics like:
- Diagnosis or "suspicion" of mold in kids - in what kinds of cases are we (maybe) thinking mold?
- How do you KNOW if you have mold in the home?
- How do you KNOW if you (or your child) have mold in the body?
- What are (both of our) favorite tests and treatments or supportive supplements?
- How can we clean the air? HEPA filters, air purifiers, ionizers...
I think my favorite part about Dr. K is that his integrity shines through in our conversation, he clearly wants what is best for the patient's outcome, he considers realistic options and cost, and he is open minded and not trying just to defend his biases. I'd like to think we are really similar in those regards, I hope so, but I just know I had a GREAT time talking with him and have a lot of respect for him, and I think a lot of people will enjoy this episode!
Check out his website https://wholistickids.com/
Follow him on Facebook under Wholistic Kids
and on Instagram @wholistickids where he puts out GREAT CONTENT!!!!!
And - send this to 3 friends with kids, and leave a rating and review if you enjoyed it! -
I see a lot of neurological cases that experience symptoms like dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, inability to tolerate motion, flashing lights, sounds, etc. Many of these people are not local to my area, and they are all wondering "What else can I do to help myself get better?" so I am always looking for new ways to help them.
While I focus primarily on looking deeper into underlying mechanisms, root causes, neurotoxins, pathogens, gut health, autoimmunity, etc, one thing that anyone who is experiencing these symptoms can do is VESTIBULAR REHABILITATION, so we have recommended VizStim kits to many of our clients.
My guest on today's episode is Dr. Ashley Contreras, the creator and founder of VizStim. She is a physical therapist who specializes in vestibular issues and vestibular rehab, and throughout her 15-year career has developed this amazing kit of exercises to help people retrain their vestibular system. It's an inexpensive, easy-to-use, at-home kit with a wide variety of different exercises, journals, and levels of difficulty designed to walk through your progress as you are retraining your vestibular system. I've used it with my kids, it's super easy to use, easy to teach, and as long as you are willing to do the exercises and put in a few minutes of rehab each day, it is AWESOME.
The vestibular system is a complex system in the brain that detects how your head and body are existing in relation to their surroundings - are your eyes level with gravity, are you moving, what position are you in, etc. When those signals get disrupted, from concussions, infections, neurotoxins, spinal subluxations and other injuries, etc, even the slightest miscue in signaling can make your body feel uneasy, unstable, nauseous, like the room is moving, or can fire to the amygdala and create a lot of anxiety or fear. When this system is disrupted, it can be retrained and rewired. I discuss the vestibular system quite a bit more in podcast number 47 (Brain Regions), and we discuss this much more in this podcast episode, so listen to the episode to learn more, and check out VizStim , and follow VizStim Recovery on social media for some great tips and tricks! -
Missing episodes?
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So many people in the functional medicine world, whether it be from their past adverse events, the pandemic, from Lyme disease, mold toxicity, from being gaslighted by doctors, or trying failed therapies, etc - - SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE SOME DEGREE OF PTSD, LIMBIC SYSTEM DYSFUNCTION, and now experience an IMBALANCED STRESS RESPONSE, DYSAUTONOMIA, and other debilitating symptoms.
Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve to decrease sympathetic dominanceTENS DeviceGargling/Gagging/HummingCoffee EnemaChallenge Your AUTONOMIC INPUTSBreath workTemperature - cold plunges, contrast showersHR - HeartMath or other HRV trainingChallenge Your Visual and Sensory InputsVestibular exercises like VizStim (next podcast episode!)ChiropracticChallenge Your Psychological InputsLimbic System Retraining ProgramsNeurolinguistic programming - Gratitude/Affirmations
So, we all know about stress. There is the mental stress that we all know about, but also physical stress (too much water is a stressor, too little water is a stressor, leaky gut, injuries, etc) as well as toxic stress (mold, mercury, pesticides, etc) - - and your body responds to stress as potential DANGER - you prepare to "fight-or-flight".
So, STRESS is your body's response to potential danger.....
DANGER is either real or perceived - you can tell someone they should be scared and they will be, or tell them they should NOT be scared and they will NOT be......but abuse is a danger, toxins are a danger, viruses are a danger.....
Your limbic system of your brain connects memories with experiences, and will "remember" these instances of danger and the stress response, and the limbic system includes regions like the amygdala (fear sensing), the hippocampus (memory), and the hypothalamus/pituitary (stress response).
Repeated exposure to (or perception of) DANGER leads to limbic system dysfunction, PTSD, and an imbalanced stress response.....your body begins to treat EVERYTHING as a danger.
All of this stress, true danger, and the perception of danger/stress triggers something called The Cell Danger Response, which is fascinating, I have a Youtube Video about it linked below, but your cells, your nervous system, your stress response system begins to respond to EVERYTHING AS A DANGER.
HOW CAN YOU REWIRE THIS RESPONSE???
This is gaining popularity in the healthcare world as an important piece to healing. It's increasingly being talked about at seminars and in practitioner circles as well as with patient stories, but there are a lot of different options, recommendations, programs, etc to choose from. In this podcast I go through 4 major "categories" you can work on for rewiring your nervous system, and within each of these categories I talk about many potential strategies, including:All that, and more, are discussed in detail in the episode. Give it a listen, give a 5-star review, and subscribe for more content, including my next podcast interview with Dr. Ashley Contreras talking about dizziness and rewiring the vestibular syste
Here are some of things worth linking to.....
VizStim
Gupta Program
How to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve with a TENS Device
How to Use Binaural Beats to Shift Gears in your Brain
Why You Become Hypersensitive - Cell Danger Response and Limbic System Dysfunction -
Alright it's been WAY TOO LONG since I released a podcast, so I am starting to do some interviews to keep having good content come out on my channel :)
This "interview" is a discussion with my friend and colleague Dr. Mark Su MD.
Dr. Su is well-known in many practitioner forums because he chimes in often with really insightful and helpful replies to fellow practitioners' queries, questions, and concerns when trying to help complex health cases, which is why I thought he would be a great person to chat with. In clinical practice, Dr. Su blends together traditional primary care medicine with "functional", or root-cause medicine, and he has developed a broad knowledge base with expertise in traditional pharmacology, but also in nutraceuticals, lab testing, resonance/muscle testing, Lyme and tick-borne illnesses, mold toxicity and environmentally acquired illness - - all the things I love to talk about on this podcast!
There really isn't a "topic" or "theme" to this interview, but I have a lot of respect for Dr. Su when it comes to dealing with chronic and complex diseases, I share a lot of his viewpoints, and really just wanted to get him on here and pick his brain about some things, and this is what came from our conversation :)
ENJOY! -
Sinus problems are rampant. Americans spend over $1 Billion annually to treat sinus problems with over-the-counter medications, which is crazy. It's not just common in the chronic illness world and in the autoimmune world, and ESPECIALLY in the mold world, it's common in everyone.
Sinus inflammation is interesting. I have had really great success healing my own sinuses. I'm not recommending that everyone (or anyone) do what I did, but what I REALLY DID was I spent several years intensely studying deep immunology and the Ear, Nose, and Throat and Allergy literature, read 100s of studies, and used things like high dose supplements and essential oils to have really good success with nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis. I haven't had sinus issues for over 3 years. Here is a video of what I did to get rid of nasal polyps, it's crazy.
When I talk about sinuses, I'm also talking about ENT areas - ear infections, tonsils, sore throats, pharyngitis, which includes things like Strep and PANDAS, but most of my success was with the nose. The whole ENT region is a hotbed of infections and pathogens, and is right across the wall from the brain, and things like antibodies, histamine, chemical toxins, inflammatory cytokines, and mycotoxins from mold can ride the "olfactory elevator" (as Dr. Jill Crista calls it) right up to the brain - right to deep, midline areas like the frontal cortex (brain fog, etc), pituitary (hormones), amygdala (anxiety, fear, etc), hypothalamus (temp, dysautonomia, etc), neurological dysfunctions and more.
Sinus inflammation drives many immune mechanisms, including Th2 and eosinophilic inflammation, mast cell activation and histamine, and Th17 inflammation, which is tissue-damaging autoimmune inflammation and will drive autoimmune progression. THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF THE PUZZLE! One thing that can drive this immune activation are chronic biofilms including Strep, Staph (MARCoNS), and Mold/Yeast that are incredibly persistent and antibiotic resistant. Biofilm colonies, like in the gut, grow on sinuses, adenoids, tonsils (that's why they remove them!) and ENT surfaces - and when they adhere to a surface they are over 1000x harder to kill, and they are highly persistent and antibiotic resistant. THIS IS THE OTHER MOST IMPORTANT PIECE!
In this episode I talk about 4 levels of supporting sinus inflammation naturally:
1 - Breathe Clean Air!!!! Allergies are obviously an issue....You can't be living in mold....I talk about air purifiers, mold candles, HVAC filters, and more.
2 - Fix your Gut and Balance your Immune System - I talk about using things like probiotics, herbal killers, SCFA, vitamins D and A, glutathione, perilla, quercetin, luteolin, etc to support barrier integrity, mast cell activation, Th2 dominance.
3 - Break Biofilms and Kill Infections - Nasal Spray, Neti Pot, Nebulizer, Gargle - I talk about using essential oils, iodine, hydrogen peroxide, silver, propolis, aqualaurin, biocidin, etc to break up biofilms and help kill pathogens.
4 - Maintain - I talk about the importance of breathing clean air, doing regular nasal rinses, and more to maintain.
This is not medical advice, but many people have seen their ENT with very little answer besides antihistamines, antibiotics, or steroids, so these are just some of the things that people are doing out there, and hopefully it can help you solve YOUR puzzle!
I also mention this, my favorite newsletter and started by an amazing ENT surgeon:
www.sinusitiswellness.com -
Not everyone gets well in functional medicine. There are a lot of people sick and suffering in the world, and not everyone even becomes aware of the direct connection between diet, lifestyle, toxins, environment, stress, and other exposome factors as drivers of disease, but still sometimes even someone who seemingly does everything right still doesn't get great results. What separates those who DO HEAL from those who DON'T HEAL?
One of, if not THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, is a HEALING MINDSET. There are many big picture things that I discuss in this podcast about a successful healing mindset, using some actual examples, and some personal rants, but talking about things such as:
- Do they understand the big picture - that toxins, foods, infections, stress, other exposome factors cause dysfunctional processes on a cellular level, that lead to disease processes expressing over time?
- Are they connecting these mechanistic dots - this leads to this leads to this? You don't need to be an expert, but understanding the mechanisms helps understand the solutions.....
- Do they have the discipline necessary to make dietary restrictions, lifestyle changes, and stay the course? It's not about perfection either, it's about progression.
- Are they a "dabbler" and have they bounced around different practitioners, tried dozens of supplements? This is a red flag!!
- Are they committed financially? Do they even care about their financial investment?
These questions are important for practitioners to ask when attracting the right clientele, but also important for patients to ask about themselves, their motivation, determination, discipline, and mindset.
HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART - - MINDSET CAN BE TRAINED!!!
It's so important to train this growth mindset with your health and constantly remind yourself of your goals, targets, intentions, motivations to stay the course. It's ALSO really important to retrain your cells and your Limbic System, and in this podcast I talk about ways to do this, including constantly filling your brain with thoughts and words of Safety, Gratitude, Epigrams, Affirmations, I talk about Limbic System retraining programs like DNRS and the Gupta Program, and this youtube video about Cell Danger Response and Limbic System Dysfunction. -
OK SO - -
I help people solve their health puzzles, and they are often complex puzzles. I love it, but it can be a little confusing to explain what I do, especially if you are just getting into the "chronic health problems" world.....but my expertise is in connecting the dots on symptoms, mechanisms, physical diagnosis and lab interpretation and using those clues to help people solve puzzles.
So we start with a very detailed health history (90 mins), then this guides us towards certain lab testing, then based on the history, symptoms, and lab testing I give recommendations consisting of diet, lifestyle, and supplement protocols. This is similar to many health practitioners, but what SETS ME APART is my clinical experience, knowledge, and ability to explain these mechanisms to people so they make sense, give them goals, keep them on track, and put their puzzle pieces in the right order. Hopefully if you have heard the podcast you have realized that they way I put puzzle pieces together is different than most, so we are able to solve puzzles that most can't solve. At least that's always my goal :)
Krystal was referred to my office, and initially she had A LOT OF SYMPTOMS - regular headaches, light sensitivity, vertigo, chemical sensitivities, hormone imbalances, she was taking 4 naps a day, she had a history of prednisone and other medication usage, she had to use her rescue inhaler all the time, she was sensitive to fragrances, foods, had gut inflammation with a severely restricted diet, you name it. I told her when she came in that she was one of my top 3 most sensitive patients, and that's a hard prize to win!! So then we ran labs, we took lots of supplements, we did parasite cleanses, coffee enemas, detox support, etc etc....and now she is doing great....
That's the long story short. The details are in the podcast, but we talk about the MINDSET required for healing, we talk about her journey, we talk about how we EXPECTED roadblocks and setbacks, but we figured them out and we worked through them.
This is a great podcast, but my favorite part is hearing Krystal's mindset and the way she thought about healing. My recommendations and protocols are NOT what separates who gets well and who doesn't get well, mindset does. This is YOUR health journey, not mine. It's YOUR responsibility. Krystal is a Life Coach, and we talk extensively about how her skills in that area helped her have the healing mindset necessary to get good results, and how she has helped other people change the way they THINK about their symptoms, illness, or healing journey.
If you are in need a great life coach, look her up!!
@krystal.stegmaier on Instagram
Kystal Stegmaier - Life Coach on Facebook
and her website:
krystalstegmaierlifecoach.com
If you are interested in working with me, you can schedule a New Client Consultation with me here, or check out my Instagram, Youtube, check out our website www.autoimmunedocpodcast.com or listen to more podcast episodes to learn more about my approach to complex illnesses. -
Autoimmune Doc Supplement Store
Limbic System and Cell Danger Response Video
Binaural Beats Video
Here is the final episode in my 4-part series on the brain - Brain Solutions. This episode ties together the previous 3 episodes: you have to understand some of the general targets you are aiming at - neuroinflammation, methylation, oxygenation, low omega 3s - that is episode one, Brain Overview. Next you have to understand the neurotransmitters - dopamine, serotonin, GABA, acetylcholine - this is episode two. Last, you have to understand the brain regions - the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, cerebellum - this is episode three, Brain Regions.
NOW, you can choose your tools from the solutions tool box, and that is what this episode is all about.
In this episode I focus on the tools that I personally use, which are typically inexpensive and non-invasive, but I also give my opinion on several other options that are out there available for people who can access them, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy and neurofeedback. Many of these solutions are the specific supplements that I suggest to support neuroinflammation or neurotransmitters, when I might recommend using them, and how I would use them, but I also discuss other tools for vagus nerve stimulation, vestibular rehabilitation, and more. There are a lot of options out there and a lot of opinions, I hope this helps you choose the right tools for you. Purchase TENS Devices, supplements, and more at our online supplement store!
Schedule a New Client Consultation with me HERE. -
Here is episode #3 in my series on brain health.....let's recap.
The brain is complex. There are important mechanisms (neuroinflammation), functions (neuronal signaling), neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, GABA), and regions that are helpful to understand for those out there trying to support their brain or support a certain symptom such as brain fog or heightened anxiety.
The first episode was about general brain health, the second was about neurotransmitters and their functions, and this episode is about specific brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the cerebellum.
For example, the amygdala is part of the brain's Limbic System. The amygdala is the "fear center" and increased amygdala activity is associated with heightened anxiety....but the neurotransmitters involved may be epinephrine and GABA, and the mechanism may be microglial neuroinflammation, which may be triggered by mast cell activation, and the underlying cause(s) could be gut inflammation, it could be a traumatic childhood, or it could be mold toxins, or gluten, or it could be a combination, and it's always a combination of factors that need to be addressed.
Understanding these brain regions and their functions can give you options (that aren't just supplements...) for training or rehabilitating a specific area, such as specific exercises you can easily do at home, or avoiding gluten and dairy to avoid cerebellar cross-reactivity.
My next episode will tie all of these brain puzzle pieces together. It's all about brain solutions (which I give a lot of in this episode as well...), including all the supplements, brain exercise programs, and dietary strategies that I employ when trying to help someone support their brain health and function, and all of the options available and when or why you might consider using them.
Enjoy! Leave a rating and review, and share this with a friend or family member with a brain! -
One of the most important things a healthy brain needs is appropriate neurotransmitter activity. Neurotransmitters regulate our brain function, our energy, our focus, our mood, and our lives. Imbalances in neurotransmitters can come from many things, including past trauma, unhealthy relationships, bad habits, chronic stress, poor gut health, crappy diet, toxins, autoimmunity, neuroinflammation....the list goes on and on, but it can be helpful to know which neurotranmitters are imbalanced in the hopes of supporting your specific brain functions and symptoms. The most important neurotransmitters, which I discuss in this podcast, are:
Serotonin - regulates some aspects of mood, appetite, happiness, enjoyment of activities, appreciation of art.
Acetylcholine - regulates working memory, computation, muscle contractions, and parasympathetic nervous system (vagus nerve) activity to the gut.
Dopamine - important for motivation, pleasure, focus, mood, addiction, thrill-seeking.
Epinephrine/Norepinephrine - aka "adrenaline", stimulates "fight or flight" stress response centrally in the brain and also peripherally from the adrenal glands.
GABA - the primary "calming" neurotransmitter, GABA is inhibitory and is often inadequate in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and neuroexcitation.
These neurotransmitters can all be modulated with lifestyle strategies and targeted nutraceuticals, whether it be providing the building blocks for the neurotransmitters itself (tyrosine for dopamine for example), or impacting the receptor sensitivity (L-theanine for GABA), or using nutrients to support certain pathways like the Kynurenine Pathway, Dopamine Beta Hydroxylase, or other genetic pathways (COMT, MTHFR, MAO) of neurotransmitter metabolism. Supporting neurotransmitter metabolism can be a game changer when supporting brain function, and my goal is to teach people how to solve their own puzzles, so I hope this is helpful, next episode is part 3/4, brain regions! -
Anxiety, Mast Cell Activation, and LPS (video)
Neurotransmitter Activity - serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, epinephrine/norepinephrine, GABAAdequate Oxygen - good blood flow, no anemiaSteady Fuel - no hypoglycemia, and no insulin resistanceProper Lipid Morphology - omega 3s, DHA, phosphatidylcholineHealthy Stimulation - learning, fun, skills, memory, coordination, visual complexity, connecting with other humansHormone Balance - estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, cortisol (steroid hormones), thyroid Gut-Brain Connection - good micro biome, bacterial diversity and abundance, no infections/overgrowths, good vagus nerve activityHealthy Circadian Rhythms - good light exposure, good sleep....
Cell Danger Response and Limbic System Dysfunction (video)
Anxiety, Neuroinflammation, and Autoimmunity (podcast)
Your brain is the most complex organ in an incredibly complex body, and it's running the show. I continue to see a massive uptick in brain-based symptoms coming into my clinic (and everyone else's), such as depression, anxiety, depersonalization, derealization, dizziness, vertigo, fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, panic attacks, bipolar episodes, nausea, pain syndromes, and so much more.
I have a lot of brain-related content available, and I linked some at the top of the show notes for this episode. My goal with this series is to help people understand how all these puzzle pieces fit together - neurotransmitters, brain regions, how to use all of the different tools available. Today's episode is an overview of some of the more important concepts in the brain, and reviewing what a healthy brain needs:I also briefly talk through a patient's case history and some of her symptoms, lab findings, and how we have kept her brain healthy and kept her symptoms under control over the past several years. The next several episodes will be more of this, teaching you how to solve your own puzzle!
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Long Haulers UPDATED (video)
Long Haulers Mechanisms (video)
SARS-CoV-2 and the gut-brain-lung axis (video review of a research paper)
From the onset of the pandemic through the last (almost) 3 years, we have continued to find out new things about how people respond after coronavirus infection. Not surprisingly, there is more and more research coming out indicating that an increased autoimmune response may be responsible for many of the lingering symptoms.
Early on in the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 was nicknamed "The Autoimmune Virus" because it appeared to be triggering more of an autoimmune response than other viral infections. As science has continued to evolve our understanding, it turns out that COVID infection is absolutely associated with increased autoimmunity - both exacerbation of existing autoimmunity as well as new autoimmunity.
Autoimmunity is the process in which the body "loses self tolerance" for tissues of the body and begins to initiate an immune "attack" against self-tissue (thyroid, joints, brain, gut, etc) as if they were a foreign invader - which leads to chronic inflammation, tissue damage, and a gradual loss of function, and can eventually become a diagnosed autoimmune "disease" like Type 1 Diabetes or Rheumatoid Arthritis.
One of the ways that viruses can trigger autoimmunity is by means of "molecular mimicry", or what can be described as a case of "mistaken identity". In this podcast I describe it like this - I have a blue F150 pickup truck, extended cab, long bed. There are many blue F150s on the road, so what if the police were looking for a blue F150 and they accidentally pull ME over instead of the bad guy they are looking for? That's a case of mistaken identity. Well COVID antibodies can also misdirect their immune attack, and they can accidentally attack many tissues, and in this episode I go through dozens of different autoantibodies that have now been associated with COVID - - thyroid autoantibodies, neurological autoantibodies, mitochondrial autoantibodies, and more.
We now know that COVID infection can lead to a myriad of symptoms, and they can all be described as the "long-haul", but the mechanisms can be all quite different, so they are NOT all the same thing, and it's not fair to group everyone together as "long-haulers". You could have POTS, dysautonomia, clotting/coagulation, neurological (depression, brain fog, and TONS of anxiety...), digestive changes, fatigue, or you could develop post-COVID diabetes or arthritis.....as science continues to learn more are we going to find that it's ALL autoimmune in nature?? Only time will tell, but I believe that treating any condition as if it were an autoimmune case is never a bad approach - decrease inflammation, balance the immune system, and look for (and remove) any root cause triggers! -
Your liver is seriously pretty amazing. I'm a 'mechanisms' kind of guy, and the liver is the king of mechanisms, including:
- The liver is crucial for metabolism, regulating blood sugar, lipid, and protein metabolism.
- The liver participates in immune surveillance and pathogen clearance, and is intimately connected with the gut.
- The liver performs "hepatic biotransformation", or transforming toxins into things that can be excreted, aka DETOXIFICATION.
The liver can be damaged by many things including lifestyle, alcohol, viruses, parasites, and especially toxins. As liver damage progresses, the liver becomes more congested, toxins begin to accumulate, and metabolic dysfunction can follow. Liver damage is generally a spectrum of worsening fibrosis, and often starts with "fatty liver" and then progresses toward cirrhosis, which is liver scarring. Liver damage can be detected by several labs, and I discuss these labs in detail.
In the liver there are many functions, but this podcast focuses mostly on hepatic biotransformation, or detoxification. This includes Phase 1 and Phase 2 of liver detox, cytochrome P450, and includes processes like methylation, sulfation, conjugation, and more. These processes require many cofactors such as B vitamins and amino acids, and I discuss these all in detail.
There are also many genetic mutations that can affect liver and detoxification, so I discuss these as well, along with the common and popular liver supplements and what their mechanisms are. All together this is a comprehensive overview of everything I know about the liver and how I use that information clinically in helping sick people get well!
Youtube video about Liver, Carnitine, and Depression.... -
Parasites are interesting. That word means different things to different people, some people are terrified of the idea of worms living inside their body, but at the same time parasite cleanses are super trendy on Instagram and social media, and yet some people think that parasite cleansing is the solution to all health problems....which one is it?
Parasites are paradoxical in the research world, many areas of the world that have endemic parasitic infections have virtually no autoimmunity, and helminth therapy is actually an incredibly promising treatment for certain autoimmune cases. The reason that parasites are so relevant in the population of people that I see is because of our junk food supply, the toxins everywhere, and the rampant metabolic and immune disruption - - but they aren't always the ONLY culprit, they show up more often with the presence of heavy metals, Candida, SIBO, mold and other toxins. When they are recognized as bad, they elicit a strong and specific immune response that I talk about in detail in the podcast, triggering a Th2 immune response via IL-4 and activating mast cells and histamine, and often keeping someone stuck there (sound familiar??) as they become allergic to more foods, chemicals, and more sensitive to their world. They can also drive inflammatory bowel processes, cause liver and gallbladder issues, disrupt neurotransmitters, infect the brain, and much more.
While I certainly do NOT believe that parasites are a piece of every person's health puzzle, I do think "parasite cleansing" can be incredibly helpful in the right situation. In this podcast I share my personal opinions and personal experiences that I have had with parasites (including when I passed one!) and many stories of helping people with them, and they are pretty drastic stories. I also talk about the testing available and what I personally look for, as well as the supplements and protocols I recommend for people and how those are given, and basically everything that I know and think about parasites!
Leave a rating, review, share this episode with a friend!! -
Ok so let's talk about gut health. Gut health and detox are pretty much the two most important topics, and toxins affect gut health....but good gut health is necessary for proper detoxification.....I think gut health wins. At least for this next podcast series :)
Diarrhea - I talk about IBS, IBD, low microbiome and good bacteria/probiotics, glutamine, mast cells, and hydrogen SIBO....Constipation - I talk dysbiosis/methane, and a LOT about vagal motor outflow and vagus nerve activity that controls motility as well as HCL, bile, enzymes....Bloating - When I hear bloating I think small intestine and fermentation. Dysbiosis is often at the root, which includes proper digestion (HCL and bile), and I touch on SIBO/SIFO, avoiding FODMAPs foods....Digestion - This is critical!! Chewing your food, being in parasympathetic mode, then proper stomach acid - it can be too high (mast cells) or too low (more common), pancreatic digestive enzymes, bile from the gallbladder (steatocrit), and of course VAGUS BABY!Dysbiosis - The 10 lbs of bacteria in your gut can become imbalanced. Low good bacteria, general microbiome imbalances…..and LPS!!!!!Leaky Gut - Everyone can have some intestinal permeability, is yours pathological, and if so what kind is it - paracellular or transcellular? Food Sensitivities - IgG testing, and how food sensitivities can drive autoimmune reactivity, general inflammatory tone, and initiate T cell mediated tissue damageSIBO - Bloating! Fermentation of fibers, starches, sugars, FODMAPs ...why you need HCL, bile, vagus outflow……Why I think SIBO testing is dumb….Candida - OMG….the single biggest thing I see. Antibiotics, sugar, stress, birth control, mold exposure, can drive a Th17 inflammatory response (autoimmune), can also drive Th2 (and both will decrease Th1)......and why I love urinary organic acids testing for fungal issues.Parasites - this I am going to do a whole episode on because it’s crazy, it’s quite frankly pretty controversial in the autoimmune world, is it better to have or to not have them??? The answer is IT DEPENDS. But I do talk about someone who was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and it actually seemed to be a parasitic infection, pretty interesting story :)
Gut health is foundational to health, inflammation, and aging. It's so crucial, but so few people seem to have it mastered IF they are still experiencing symptoms, and I mean ANY symptoms - joint pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression, bipolar, metabolic, certainly autoimmune flares, not just digestive symptoms. I'm going to go deeper into some specific topics in the next few episodes, but this one is an overview, and I made a list of the 10 most important things for gut health. The first 3 are symptoms, the next 4 are mechanisms, and the last 3 are infections, and understanding these 10 things will give you a pretty good grasp on understanding gut health and digestion overall!Share this with someone, subscribe, leave a rating and review, and follow me elsewhere!
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Ok so the past several episodes have been about toxins, and this is the last and perhaps most important episode - how do you avoid toxins? Well, we don't sell plastic bubbles......
Toxins are everywhere, and detoxifying and removing them from your body is often a really important piece of healing from any inflammatory or autoimmune condition, but what if you have never experienced many symptoms or chronic disease? It's just as important!!
In this episode I drop a ton of recommendations and suggestions (as always) for areas of your life to focus on if your goal is a non-toxic lifestyle, including:
Clean Air - I think this is the most important/underlooked area in non-toxic living!! Indoor air quality matters more than outdoor air quality (where do you live? indoors.), but both matter. Particulate matter, dust, mold, mycotoxins, pollution, formaldehyde, VOCs, off-gassing - - I discuss all of these risks in this episode along with air purifiers, air scrubbers, special filters, formaldehyde meters, ozone, and more for CLEAN AIR!
Clean Water - this one is pretty easy to understand and something that many people address - - filter your water! Water could have metals, medications, hormones, pesticides and other toxins toxins toxins - - and sometimes well water is worse than municipal - - and I talk about all these risks. The solution is to filter your water, but what is the best??? My answer may surprise you.....(listen to the episode!)
Clean Food - another fairly well-understood and obvious one, but besides the problems with some "natural" foods (high sugar, vegetable oils, gluten, dairy, lectins), your food is TOXIC!!! Food has pesticides, aluminum, dyes, preservatives, and all sorts of toxins that need to be removed via your detoxification pathways. Eat organic, but I also talk about the value of knowing where your food comes from and some of the resources my family utilizes to get clean food.
Clean Skin - I admit this is not my specialty, I don't really use anything on my skin, but the point is that the stuff is TOXIC, and these toxins accumulate and affect things like hormones and fertility. Aluminum in deodorant, sodium laurel sulfate in shampoo, parabens in lotion, coal tar in lipstick, VOCs in nail polish - - don't put anything on your skin you wouldn't eat!!
Clean Brain - believe it or not, I'm not talking about neurotoxins in this section, I'm talking about what you put into your MIND - - is social media and video games or books and positive affirmations? Your brain can be neurotoxic with aluminum, pesticides, or mycotoxins, but a toxic MIND can sometimes be even worse.
I also touch on a few other things - - exercise, sauna, and probably more :) As always, let me know what you think, leave a rating or review, and follow my social channels!! -
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Bowel FunctionKidney FunctionLiver and Bile FlowLymph DrainageBINDERS!GlutathioneMethylationMitochondriaCell Membrane Support
Ok this series is a lot like the mitochondria series, it requires multiple episodes because order to understand the solutions you have to understand the mechanisms first. Last episode was all about the most important "big picture" concepts for detoxification such as understanding the old "toxic bucket" metaphor, my next episode will be about how to make sure you aren't filling the bucket....but this episode is all about how you empty the toxic bucket - aka how you DETOXIFY YOUR BODY.
In this episode I go over MANY MANY tools that I use regularly to support detoxification, including lifestyle strategies like sauna, coffee enema, rebounding, etc and I give my opinion on various supplement companies, individual ingredients (different important vitamins, herbs, amino acids, etc), and also all the specific products that I like and use regularly, and why I like them, including support for:
and lots, lots more. ENJOY! Please leave a rating and review, follow me on Instagram and Youtube, and share with a friend!! -
Detox Pathways and Protocols (Youtube)
Bucket Theory explains everything - keep this in mind if things are NOT getting better. SOMETHING is still filling the bucket from somewhere if you are actively trying to detoxify and leading a non-toxic life and you aren't improving. You have to empty the bucket faster than you are filling - you either aren't emptying it well, or you are still exposed somewhere.Breathing - There are only a few "exits" for things to get out of the body, breath is one of them. Think about a roadside alcohol test - you breathe out toxins to get rid of them.Peeing - this one is more obvious that you are "getting rid of waste", but the kidneys filter toxins and toxic metabolites, and you pee them out, so that system has to be working well too. Pooping - This one is the most obvious - - waste is bad so you want to get it out of you!! Your poop is how you get rid of MANY MANY toxins, and if your gut is not moving well, everything else backs up. Sweating - You are slightly limited on how much you can speed up your breathing, peeing, and pooping, but you can always open the other exit - sweat. Many toxins have been found excreted in the sweat - mycotoxins, BPA, parabens, metals, etc, so sweating is crucial for detoxification.Liver/Bile Flow - The liver filters toxins (through many processes - phase I and II, cytochrome P450 enzymes, glutathione, conjugation, glucuronidation, methylation, etc). These toxins are then put into bile, which is stored and released by the gallbladder. You have to have good liver function to filter the toxins, and then you have to have good gallbladder function and bile flow for the toxins to get into the gut, then you have to be pooping for them to get out.Lymph Drainage - The lymphatic system is one way that toxins and waste products are transported around the body to be excreted, and your lymphatic system has to be moving, it can't be stagnant. Cell Membranes - Toxins damage your cell membranes (including mitochondrial membrane), causing lipid peroxidation, stiffening, and poor membrane fluidity. Then toxins can also STORE in the cell membranes, so you need good healthy cell membrane support - this can be really important for detoxification.Mitochondria - THEY DO IT ALL!!!! Toxins store in the mitochondria, they damage the mitochondria, they affect fatty acid beta oxidation, Kreb's Cycle, Oxidative Phosphorylation, all the things - and mitochondria power detoxification in the liver, organs, cells, etc. It's all mitochondrial!Relevant Genes - There are a lot of relevant genes in detoxification, and it's super important. Many of them relate to "methylation", like MTHFR, COMT, PEMT, HNMT, but there are many others that regulate processes like glutathione recycling, cytochrome P450 activity, and many many more.
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So - yup, toxins are a big problem. We are exposed to tons of them, and if our bodies aren't detoxifying properly, they can accumulate or cause damage to our cells, organs, and systems and wreak havoc on our lives. So how do you make sure you aren't overflowing your bucket? Here are 10 Important Concepts: -
www.autoimmunedocpodcast.com
The thyroid is a REALLY, REALLY important gland.
Thyroid hormones regulate your metabolic rate and because of that, are important for basically every function in your body to work properly - all of your energy, healing, digestion, brain function, cellular functions, all of it. Every single cell in your body has receptors for thyroid hormones. It's also the target of the single most prevalent autoimmune disease in the U.S. - Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and millions of Americans have diagnosed thyroid conditions, while potentially 100s of millions have subclinical thyroid "problems".
The thyroid is very susceptible to damage from toxins, so in this podcast I talk about those toxins, what they are, where they come from, and why you should be scared of them. The toxins are, in no particular order:
- BPA - found in plastics, receipts, etc
- Mercury - found in fish, dental fillings, some vaccines
- Perchlorate - mostly found in fertilizers and drinking water
- Fluoride - mostly found in drinking water and dentist's offices
Toxins cause problems. Sometimes they bind to tissue and cause adducts and autoimmunity. Sometimes they block receptors, sometimes they just deplete glutathione and drive oxidative damage causing cellular inflammation. But no matter their mechanism, they can wreak havoc on your health (hence the obvious name....they are TOXIC, duh!), and it's very important to know about them and how to avoid them - if you want to avoid problems like thyroid problems!!
Youtube Video about BPA and Autoimmunity!
Listen back to the last episode (TOXINS TOXINS TOXINS!) and my previous episode on Toxins and Autoimmunity (episode 25), and my previous episodes on the Thyroid Puzzle - episodes 14, 15, and 16! -
www.autoimmunedocpodcast.com
OMG where do I begin with toxins?!?
This episode is just me talking about toxins and the problems associated with chronic toxin exposure. I share some opinions, I share some stories, I share some science, but the bottom line is that toxins are making us sicker quicker, and it's a TOTAL EXPOSURE thing, not simply this toxin or that toxin. It's your TOXIC BUCKET, and it fills drop by drop.
In this episode I give a shout out to Dr. Jill Carnahan MD and her personal story with toxins (cancer, Crohn's, Mold...), I talk about toxins from fertilizers, golf courses, drinking water, hair and nail salons, glass work, even just my office tested high for formaldehyde from the carpet. I also talk a little bit about carnitine, the liver, genetics, and some of my interesting patients - mothers and sons, daughters, sisters, the similarity in their testing results and the genetics that they likely share, along with the environment.
I don't think I talked about glutathione in this episode at all?!?! Don't worry, I will soon :)
This podcast is just me talking about toxins and toxicity and not as much of a "lecture", but I think it's interesting and valuable content and I hope you do too. I also often think that if you heard some of the stories that I hear day in and day out, you would take toxins pretty seriously too! - Show more
