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...

How to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve with a TENS Device UPDATED Vagus Nerve Stimulation Video with new Ear Clips Research Studies on Vagus Nerve and Brain (video) Vagus Nerve Stimulation "has been life-changing!" (video) BUY a TENS and EAR CLIPS: www.autoimmunedocpodcast.com The Vagus Nerve is the primary nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, and it has gained wild popularity lately in the scientific and biohacking, alternative wellness, and autoimmune disease communities. As the...

Anxiety was escalating at a rapid rate before 2020, and now it's just crazy. Long-haulers, mandates, lockdowns, wars, masks, headlines, our kids.....let's just say it isn't expected to  get any better anytime soon, hence counseling services are increasing, doctors visits and prescriptions are increasing, but so are people searching for information and trying to solve their anxiety puzzle without medications, on their own. There are tons of options for medications, supplements, and general...

Long Hauler Webinar How To Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve with a TENS Device Long Haul, long COVID, Post Acute COVID Syndrome (PACS)....call it what you will - the bottom line is that a lot of people are experiencing new, lingering symptoms such as: FatigueBrain FogAnxiety/DepressionInsomniaHeadachesHair LossHeart PalpitationsMenstrual Changesand more!People are suffering with these new symptoms and don't know where to turn, there is a lot of opinion on the internet but WHAT IS REALLY GOING...

This episode is the 3rd in our series on mitochondria, and they've all been leading up to this - - what can you do for your mitochondria? The good news is there is a lot you can do to support the different mitochondrial and metabolic processes, so that's what this whole episode is about. I discuss a wide variety of important strategies, some well-known and some becoming more popular, and I go over the mitochondrial mechanisms behind them, including: Exercise - nothing is better for your...

If you missed the last episode, go back and listen to it, but the takeaway was that your MITOCHONDRIA ARE REALLY, REALLY,  IMPORTANT for autoimmunity, or anything else. Like - the most important thing for your health. These little cellular batteries power your brain, your heart, your muscles, everything. When they become dysfunctional, it leads to symptoms like fatigue, weight gain/inability to lose weight, brain fog, malaise, and eventually disease processes like autoimmunity, dementia, and...

It's impossible to overstate the importance of your mitochondria, whether for managing autoimmunity, avoiding chronic degenerative disease, aging gracefully, or just functioning at your highest level everyday. Mitochondria turn your food into energy in the same way that your motor turns your gasoline into energy. This cellular energy powers everything you do - not just getting out of bed in the morning, but thinking, healing, detoxifying, and forming memories and pathways in your brain....

Mold exposure is a big deal, I've covered it the past several episodes. Prolonged mold exposure can lead to a myriad of health concerns in adults as well as children, I've heard a ton of "sick kids stories" lately involving mold. While it would be nice to completely eliminate all mold exposures, it's important to keep in mind that the goal of mold mitigation is to make (and keep!) your indoor air environment as clean as possible. The #1 mistake that I personally see is that people have...

I have a LOT of mold stories. I even thought of a few good ones that I forgot to tell as soon as I finished recording this episode. I don't think that mold causes everything, or that mold "caused" all these cases, each person is very multifactorial and complex, but listen to the podcast and you will hear about the stories I hear day-in and day-out and you will understand why I think mold is an important factor in so many health conditions, especially complex cases, like those with multiple...

Youtube Video: Mold Toxicity and Mycotoxin Illness Youtube Video: Research Review - Neural Antibodies in Patients with Symptoms and Histories of Mold/Chemical Exposures Youtube Video: Research Review - Mycotoxins Induce Neurotoxicity I say this all the time, but mold toxicity is crazy. Indoor molds such as Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Stachybotrys produce mycotoxins, which are also crazy. Mold and mycotoxins can both disrupt the immune system in a myriad of different ways, which is why...

So, I haven't done an episode for a while now, I'm glad to be back. I got really sick, and it brought some things to the surface with my health that I'm working through. I'm not going to type all the details out in the show notes here, you have to listen to the episode, but long story short my "mold bucket" had been slowly filling up, and I didn't realize it. Mold is crazy. It's ubiquitous, every human on earth breathes several hundred spores per day, but it can also devastate health, cause...

Forget pathogens, TOXINS are scary. They are increasingly everywhere, and they are associated with virtually every disease process known to man - cancer, Alzheimer's, infertility, diabetes, and certainly most autoimmune diseases. That's because TOXINS are not supposed to be in our body. They have no role. They have no place. They get in there and they wreak havoc, creating inflammation, immune disruption, cellular imbalances, and the downstream effects that we call "symptoms" and...

Mast cells are important! Mast cells are implicated in autoimmune diseases and many other inflammatory processes - because mast cells RELEASE and TRIGGER inflammation. Like.... A LOT OF INFLAMMATION. We're talking vicious cycles of inflammation that can be hard to stop! Mast cells respond to stimuli in the environment like allergens, foods, viruses, bacteria, parasites, LPS, COVID-19, our "big 3" pathogens EBV, Lyme, mold/fungi/Candida, toxins like mercury, aluminum, glyphosate - but they...

Pathogens and  infections are related to autoimmune disease, we've established that over the past couple episodes. THESE 3 ARE THE MOST WELL-STUDIED AND CLINICALLY RELEVANT PATHOGENS - one virus, one bacteria, and one fungus.  Epstein-Barr Virus causes infectious mononucleosis, or mono. EBV a a virus that can lie dormant for the rest of your life in the B cells of your immune system. If it remains dormant - no big deal! If it re-activates, it can be like awakening a sleeping giant.  EBV...

Last episode I discussed the importance of pathogens, infections, and their relationship with autoimmunity, including the 10 Principles of Infection and Autoimmunity. Nearly every autoimmune process is associated with at least one pathogen, and it makes sense because we all know our immune system gets rocked when we get an infection. The highlight of last episode however was that it is rarely ONE INFECTION, but rather the BURDEN OF INFECTIONS from childhood that can lead to autoimmune disease...

Nearly every autoimmune disease has at least one pathogen or infection associated with it - Epstein-Barr Virus, Helicobacter pylori, Candida, SARS-CoV2, and many others are associated with autoimmunity. Does this mean that an infection "caused" your autoimmune disease or "contributed" to it?? MAYBE! In this episode I give an overview of pathogens, infections, and autoimmunity. Pathogens are well-known triggers of autoimmune disease, which makes sense because we KNOW that our immune system...

Gut health super important. Science (and the mainstream) now realize that it is an important part of any autoimmune process (it's an important piece of nearly any health process), but there is still a lot of confusion and a lot of misdirection when trying to navigate your own health journey. These days there are a lot of gut testing options, ranging from $79 on Facebook to at least 10x that much for a comprehensive functional panel. Which is the right test for YOU?!? Every lab company claims...

Celiac disease is a really big deal because of the mechanisms involved - gluten inflames the gut and opens up the tight junctions, creating a leaky gut, and eventually destroys the gut lining causing malabsorption, and this happens every. single. time. you eat it - which can and will lead to more autoimmunity down the road. NOT GOOD! What about those who have been tested for Celiac and told they don't have it? Are they fine to eat gluten? (go back and listen to episode 011!) Many people do...

If you are following this podcast, you likely know that gut health is important for all autoimmune diseases, not just intestinal autoimmunity! In this episode I talk about 4 different autoimmune gut conditions, 3 of which are diagnosed autoimmune "diseases": - Leaky Gut - Celiac Disease - Crohn's Disease - Ulcerative Colitis  I start by explaining the underlying mechanisms of leaky gut and intestinal permeability. I then expand into Celiac Disease and how gluten triggers "leaky gut" along...

T cells are a part of your immune system, which has many many important parts of course. T cells are particularly important in autoimmunity because the T CELLS ARE WHAT DO THE DAMAGE!!! In my last episode about Hashimoto's I talked about antibody levels and described how will antibodies "flag" something as bad so that immune cells can come destroy it, but antibodies have no destructive properties. The progression and destruction of autoimmune disease is determined by the level of T cell...

It's common in the alternative medicine world to hear people talk about "how high their antibody levels are/were". But in practice I see people with high antibodies who are doing fine, while someone with low antibodies might feel like they are dying. What's up with that?!? Do antibody levels matter?? The answer is that they do matter and they don't matter. Antibodies can be used to monitor progression, but high levels don't necessarily correlate to disease symptoms or progression.  In this...

Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroid Disease is the single-most prevalent autoimmune condition today, and it is estimated to be the root cause of 90% of hypothyroidism in America. One reason is that it's fairly easy to detect (there are 2 antibodies that are diagnostic), but it's also just really common in today's society filled with fast food, fast lives, and toxins. The immune system "attacks" the thyroid and gradually damages the gland until it eventually becomes truly "hypothyroid", but along...

Hypothyroidism has been rampant for decades,  and it's estimated that 90% of hypothyroidism in the United States is caused by Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroiditis. Hashimoto's is the single most common autoimmune disease. This podcast discusses everything about the thyroid - not just Hashimoto's. It's importance within the body, it's metabolism, the labs, the ranges, the patterns - a little bit about everything thyroid. Every cell in the body has receptors for thyroid hormone, so low thyroid...

I get to be involved with a lot of people's health journeys, and I think they are all super cool. I love puzzles and I love educating people on their puzzles, some of the missing pieces, or how some pieces might fit together differently than they had expected. Talking about these stories on this podcast helps you understand exactly what I do and how I help people trying to solve their own health puzzles. This month I saw people: - With diagnosed autoimmunity  - Hashimoto's, RA, MS, etc etc -...

This is a REALLY popular topic - because most people with autoimmunity notice a change in their symptoms with foods - but they don't know exactly what they should or should NOT be eating! I did forget to mention in this episode - this episode does skip the basics. You should avoid processed foods, hydrogenated oils, sugars, colorings, candy, fried foods, soda, gas station food, etc. - DUH. Sorry.  I think that PALEO is a good place for most autoimmune people to wind up remaining...