In this episode of Functional Medicine – Back to Basics Dr. Rutherford discusses the good and bad of supplements and what to look for and what to avoid.
Aren’t familiar with it. We’ve, been going through. We’ve, been going through what classic functional medicine was intended to look like, and we’ve already been through taking histories and doing exams, and they’re, pertinence and so on and so forth.
We got a lot of good feedback last week on the gluten and the last two segments have been on diet and specifically on gluten, and so we have gotten a lot of good feedback on it. And so we will continue to do these as though, because they seem to be getting through and and and kind of fulfilling the purpose that that I wanted it to fulfill.
So now we’re gonna talk about vitamins and supplements. So I’m gonna try to keep this the less than four hours. Okay, because that’s about how long I could go on with this. But it’s. It’ll, be a lot less than four hours.
Hopefully it’ll, be a lot less than 40 minutes, because I get a patient in about 40 minutes. So, okay, so so supplements again and and many of these supplements you’ll, hear me draw from experience and say when I started this and I think in December first I’m, going to be starting my 40th year in practice.
So so we’ve had a little experience who had over 40,000 people come through these clinics. You know in that period of time and just to watch the difference in trends and and it went from Oh supplements and you’re.
A quack and and that type of stuff too, now supplements every where they’re. Actually in this town and I’m sure in your town, there are now doctors more frequently nurse practitioners, physician’s. Assistants that are now seem to be agreeing with, and even suggesting supplementation for things like high blood pressure and and high cholesterol and so on and so forth.
So that’s, quite a switch. That acceptance has been a two-edged sword because supplements are not regulated for the most part and and so creates kind of. Like you know, I mean here in Reno Nevada, which is like used to be the wild wild west.
Some degree it still is the wild wild west, but but but but not having the rules not having. The regulation allows for a lot of a lot of things to take place, a lot of creativity and and and a lot of profitability unsub limits that maybe aren’t.
The best supplements, so we’ll, probably be talking about that. In a number of other things, right now, my attention is on supplements. People using the right supplements. People using supplements are going to be effective.
I’m. I do a lot of work with people who are not in my city and and who travel to get here and, and sometimes they travel a long distance. Sometimes I mean I have patients from. I had to currently have a patient from Hong Kong.
Sometimes it’s hard to get our supplements to them, so they start saying, can I get mine? Can I get mine at the local Costco, or can I get mine at the local, Walmart or local tax? They have all these in China, apparently and and that – and that makes it that makes me a little bit.
I’m trying to help people to get well and the one thing about drugs. Is there’s, a fair consistency in drugs? I’m, not a I’m, not an anti-drug guy person. I’m, not a pro drug guy per se, but there is a consistency with with medications.
You know what you get you take it you feel better. You have terrible side effects, you’re, sloppy, you take another one. We don’t seem to have that agreement in the supplement world. Okay, I cannot tell you the scores and scores and hundreds and hundreds of coming here with bags and bags of supplements, and we’ll.
Talk about that and – and I’ll say: are they helping you and astonishingly, they’ll, say no. I don’t know if they’re. Helping me, I know, or I don’t know. If they’re helping, but they’re afraid not to be taking them because they’ve, read that they need them, because this one is for oxidation, and this one brings down inflammation and those types of things just like Drugs, you should know whether your supplements are helping you or not like when you’re using a pharmaceutical nutraceutical grade supplement you’re gonna know you’re, not gonna come in to me and go.
Oh. You gave me this and I don’t know if it helps with me or not. If a person comes in and they’re. Taking a high grade supplement that I’ve, given them and it’s. Not creating an effect it’s because it hasn’t been dosed up enough and then you would know to dose it up if a person comes in and I give them a supplement most of the time.
But the next time or two I see them, they’re gonna say I feel better. I feel worse either. I’m good, either way because it tells me something about their physiology. Okay, that’s. What you should be experiencing, if you’re taking like handfuls of summons you don’t know if they’re helping you they’re, not helping you there’s, not this magical, mystical thing And, and and or the other way that you should determine whether they’re helping, you is by testing, and there are a lot of testing facilities out there.
Now that online, that’ll. Tell you whether your supplement loads are high or low, and and from that supplemental perspective you would you would your money would be much better spent? Looking these testing facilities up online, one at once called an organics assets s.
I think it’s, Genova that puts it out. I get no money from Genova. Okay, I’m, just used to test and, and it will tell you and it’s, not a cheap test, but it will tell you where your, where your nutrient deficits are, what supplements you should be taken, and I will tell you You will come away from there with a lot of supplements, but that’s.
The person who is just looking to take supplements they’re, not changing their diet to change the fact that they probably don’t need some of those supplements. They’re, not finding out that day. We talked about these.
In previous, what I’m about to talk about for some of you, viewers who haven’t seen the previous ones. I’m, referring to things we ‘ Ve already talked about. You know they don’t know if they don’t if they have a lack of hydrochloric acid and and so they’re taking probiotics and they’re, taking things for their SIBO and they’re taking things for intestines and all they need is one.
Maybe one supplement with hydrochloric acid dates: Beth pain, hydrochloric, acid and a wipeout. The need for those other three you won’t know any of that, but you will know where your deficits are. If you, if you use some of the tools that are out there to tell you where they are one of the one of the things that so so okay, so this all comes from, I’m.
Putting these things together to if you will go back all the way to my original functional medicine presentation, I you know I’m concerned there’s, a lot of stuff going on out there. People are coming in to me.
I’ve, been this. They’re telling me. I’ve, been the six functional medicine doctors and it’s, not helping there’s. Just so many reasons, and we’re covering them in this series. This is one of them, and this is a big one.
A lot of people come in to me and they bring all their supplements. And again I mentioned the three bags, sometimes that three bags comes from another functional medicine practitioner, that’s, not functional medicine.
Okay, functional medicine is designed to help your physiology to work as much as possible, so that you can, you know, do it with. As few interventions as possible, I think everybody agrees that the the least amount of drugs that you take, the better, if you know if you can find another way to get things done, because drugs alter physiology drastically to do what they do, they increase physiology.
They dampen physiology, they destroy physiology, they kill neurons, they do all kinds of things, but the trade-off might be. Ok. If you don’t know any better supplements. We don’t seem to supplements so so those types of interventions into your system, if you can avoid them long-term.
Obviously it’s better, even even the nurses that I treat Sara, I mean it’s like yeah. Of course, it’s better. If, if, if you’re, not taking any drugs, we don’t seem to have that same thing with supplements, because the promotion has been.
You got to take the supplements because we’re deficient in everything and and and that argument is it necessarily true, but it could be true in you and various patients and and that’s for another day to decide who that is, Who that is correct for it, who it’s, not correct for but my goal when I have a patient who’s going through our protocols is by the end, to actually have them on as few supplements as possible.
Usually the last phase of care is the patient’s, feeling pretty good. They’re on a number of supplements that have been targeted based on testing based on histories based on lab tests. They’ve created their effect, and now we’re, going to start withdrawing those supplements to determine.
Has that part of that person’s? Physiology started functioning on its own and, if so, do they even need to take that supplementing or the whole goal? Functional medicine is to get your physiology functioning again because we have no regulation.
It has been bastardized to me. I’m gonna get you functioning again by giving you this for that function, and this for that function, that’s, not what it was meant to me. Okay, so this so the supplement thing is a big part of it because we use we use, supplements and diet.
Along with in our in our office. We also do functional neurology, so we use brain rehab exercises and we use things to calm down, stress responses and and but the supplement thing is huge: it’s, it’s, a significant part of what we do so so it’s important that the person has the right supplement it’s, important that they don’t.
Take the wrong supplement. It’s, important to me that they don’t, take a supplement. They just flat. Don’t need because the more supplements a person has to take the lower compliance. If you’re, taking like 30 supplements a day, you’re gonna have less compliance, and if you’re, taking five supplements a day for two reasons: it’s hard to swallow 30 pills three times A day and it’s, expensive and a lot of people are taking manure doing that are not following their program, so they’re, not getting the benefit from the five they need, even though they’re taking 30 and Then they stop taking it, they don’t just stop taking one, they stop taking the whole thing so, and I don’t think, and I think this is pertinent.
I think this is like something where I’m, just kind of blabbing on for nothing, because I see this all the time and my goal in our patients is once they’re done to have them to be able to take care Of themselves, what they’re, taking 37, that’s a day that ain’t gonna last, for very long and and frankly, it’s almost never necessary.
I’ll, say it’s, never necessary. I don’t know anybody who needs to be thanking 30, something that’s a day, some more, some more specifics on soso. So for me, when, when a person comes in here, I’m, really really trying to target as specifically as possible what their needs are.
We do the history, we do the exam, we do all the stuff we talked about previously and then we do testing some of the testing. We do is specific to specific supplements that we see are kind of foundational to a person getting better.
We talked about the foundation of functional medicine. What that is, and some of the foundation is vitamin D and some of the foundation is vitamin A and some of the foundation is essential fatty acids.
Some of the foundation could be coq10 there’s. Some foundational supplements relative to what we do, which is which is general physiology and brain function. We do a couple of tests and we’ll find out what is that person’s, essential fatty acids? People go out there, they start taking fish sauce fish oils, the big thing today, a lot of people are coming in here and they’re, taking fish oils, but their skins still flaking.
They’re still dry. They start their blood sugar stuff. All these things that the fish oil should be helping are still there when they get here. They’re, never taking enough, never will always will always evaluate them and and and they’re frequently taking for them for them.
We have a test that will show how much you’re supposed to eat. They’re, frequently taking if they’re taking it. They’re, frequently taking 25 % on average of what they need for their specific physiology, vitamin D historically low and everybody’s in here on D.
Now there’s, DS all over the place. You should take it. You shouldn’t, take it, you should take it if your vitamin D is low, you should take it problem with vitamin D problem with vitamin D. First of all, most people read an article.
They need vitamin D and somebody tells them they should take a thousand in a day in an article in the magazine, so they take it. It’s, not doing anything. If you have a vitamin D problem, you usually need be at like 5,000 units a day now, don’t, go running out and start five thousand years a day, and unless you go get a vitamin D test.
Okay, because on the there there are nuances to vitami that you might store vitamin D so 5,000, they might be too much for you. There’s, not that many people that 5,000 a day might be too much for, but it would be just my luck that you would be the one that it was too much for okay, so you need to go test it.
You need to go test it and find out if you actually, you may store vitamin D and you may, and if you store it too much, then even a little bit of D can be too much, but the vast majority of people come in.
They’re, taking a thousand two thousand units. Now I’m, not gonna get into my specific protocols for vitamin D, but I’m, going to tell you that we we do vitamin D and everybody comes in here and with very very few exceptions.
People’s, people’s, ranges are much lower than the norm and this is an interesting thing. That applies to other supplements, but I’m using vitamin D. As an example, I’m not going to walk through every supplement here.
The range for vitamin D in most labs in the United States of America is 30 to 100. Most people come in here. The people come in here, sick people coming here have autoimmune problems. People come in here on PTSD people come in here, have leaky gut its food sensitivities, see both, I mean it.
Some have all of it. Okay, they’re. Vitamin D is usually going to be below the norm. It’s just because vitamin D is trying to help to dampen a lot of the immune responses and inflammation that’s, causing a lot of other problems.
So it’s just being sucked up at it, but so they’re taking, so they’re taking D cuz. Now their doctor told him to take their so it’s. Again. It’s. Popular now it’s correctly popular now, okay, so it’s, so it’s popular, but we’re, not dosing enough.
Now I’m just going to tell you I’m. Just gonna tell you what I tell my patients: okay in we treat people, we treat people from a lot of different countries and in other countries the ranges are for vitamin D are like 100 to 300.
So if you go back to what I said just a few minutes ago, the American range is 30 to 100. You’re several countries in Europe. It’s. Like a hundred to three hundred the lady from Hong Kong. Their range is 95 to 233, so basically, we’re, not taking enough vitamin D.
Okay. Now I’m just gonna leave it at that. The point is this: dosing is important, so you go to store your vitamin D. A lot of people go to Costco. Now I’m, not having I’m, not putting a bang on Costco stuff.
There are things in there. There are things in some of their supplements or more than some of their supplements that my patient shouldn’t be taking because there’s things in there. That could create allergic responses.
Most of my patients have autoimmunity. They have leaky gut dance, they have seasonal allergies, they have they have food sensitivities. These folks do not do well with supplements that are not cure, but, but I think Costco’s.
Something was probably having them what they said. We’re gonna talk about that in a second here, but but people go, I took this bottle and it’s, so much cheaper than yours and stuff like that except their body.
You have to pay like ten of their capsules to get one of what’s in this bottle. Just something small like that, like not looking at the the milligrams and and and the dosages. So so they really weren’t saving a whole lot of money getting that big bottle of fish oil over there, although their fish oils, actually okay.
But there is a little bit of stuff in there that that that, for my patients, not for everybody but for my patients, I’m a little uncomfortable with we’re ongoing with this, as I’m talking to you, Because I’m trying to get people better here and and and our supplements are not cheap – our supplements are are probably among the most expensive supplements that are out there.
They are only sold to doctors, they are pharmaceutical nutraceuticals, they are powerful. You do not take them and say I I don’t know I don’t know if it’s, helping me or not, you’ll. Come back to me and say you know.
I took those dog and I feel like crap, I’m dizzy or you’ll, come back, go it’s, a miracle. I love that stuff so because we use the right supplements and we eventually understand how to get the person to the right dosages.
We do the testing to find out what supplements the person really potentially needs and doesn’t need, and so you can be very targeted on this and I go back to saying it’s. The wild wild west out there.
So so, because I’m a small business, if you will, I can only order so many of these supplements at a time. I order them from companies that are pristine. Several of my companies that I use are from California and and and it’s popular to California today, and I have been known to do that.
Occasionally we’re like ten miles from California, where I’m sitting right here, so we have a lot of interaction with Californians that we tease each other, but but California has a strict district district.
This rules on the planet for making supplements – I mean they’re. They that was thing called prop. 63. I think it is. I’d like to be able to pass that. I mean your supplements have to have what they say.
They can’t have any binders in them. They got to be pristine. You got to be able to eat off this floors of these labs when you’re walking through a lot of these shopping stores and and out there in grocery stores and stuff.
Not all of those supplements meet that level and there might be some okay, but there’s, not a lot. I have an article in front of me here. I have a page, so I so so I’m trying to get patients better. I I’d, like to have consistency and understanding what’s going on them.
If I gave them a clonazepam – and they told me this made me do this – or this maybe do that – which I’m, not a medical doctor, I don’t. Do that, then you would know. If you took my supplements, they’re, not my supplements.
Okay, if you took the supplements that we get from these companies same thing, but when I start getting people taking compliment because they went out to find the cheapest ones, they could find. I’m, not sure if that person’s, not getting better because it’s me or if that person’s, not gonna get better because it’s.
Those supplements III keep. Now. I keep referring to slate in Hong Kong so that’s, not to impress you it’s just that it’s, just really amazing, to see how different it is here and there. So she goes and we’re, giving her something called DHEA based on testing based on the need for it.
Now because she read some article and said I think DHEA is gonna give me a lot of energy and I think it’s really good. Now you take tha when you don’t need it. It is not a good thing to take okay when you need it.
It’s, a very good thing to take, but it’d, be nice. If, when you got the bottle and had DHEA in it, so our DHEA that we use it is rare that I will get up to something called 7 milligrams on a patient ever that this stuff is powerful.
It works it’s, drops it’s, it’s like if you need it, you start taking it. You get up to 10 drops you’re gonna go. Whoa 10 drops is like two point: five milligrams. Now I don’t expect you all to be math geniuses or milligram geniuses, but here’s.
The point this patient was taking 150 milligrams. I just said I must never get up to seven. She was taking a hundred 50 milligrams because I told her your test said you need this, so she didn’t order it for me, so she went and and and and she got these supplements from – I won’t say which store Because it’s, American store there and 150 milligrams, nothing! No change.
I said there’s. Nothing in there. As I’m telling you there’s, nothing in that capsule. They says it may say DHA. There’s, nothing in there they was. It was a little bit of a hard sell, but we did send her.
The drops and literally within ten drops she’s. Her hot flashes started to go away. That’s. Another thing they sell DHA for is for hot flashes, so in her hot flashes were like horrendous okay. So I’m, so I’m trying to school you on supplements.
This is like trying to teach you to read a label to find out what’s in it, so that you’re, not eating gluten or you’re, not eating other things like that. So so to that, let’s, bring that back to America.
Here I have a couple of fairly recent articles here and in, and you need to understand this one article, so I’m talking about how, when you go into a doctor’s office, two things. If you go into a doctor’s office, and they have it personally and they have a personal, they have their personal name on there, its private labeled, okay, it’s, dr.
Rutherford’s DHEA and, and it’s, like you, think, doctor Rutherford made the formula it’s like that’s, not that’s, not true. Okay, it’s like it’s like normal DHEA or not DHEA. It’s, it’s. No, usually, those will have they’ll have the stuff in it, but it might be like like official, it might just be a normal fish oil and then and then they and then the doctor writes up a big thing on there.
It’s, got their name on it, it looks like they did it, they did there’s. Several doctors online, who are doing this by the way, who are selling their products for fibromyalgia and this and that and they’re not and their products are okay, but they’re, not particularly a products that we’re.
Talking about and and I’m – not going to get into that specifically because I don’t want to get in a in a pissing war with these people, but but but i, but they’re, pretty well known, and So when you start seeing the doctors, the doctors name on it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s, a good like another.
What’s? What I’m saying is that’s. Usually, a supplement you could probably get at one of those stores is what I’m, saying: okay, there there are III, there was one I was reading the other day and I researched and the doctor actually had put this formula together.
He had a patent on it and so and so forth. So I don’t know if you were gonna go to that length to see if Susie supplements are are actually hurts, but just for the just across the line. These doctors did not put these formulas here unless they have a patent okay, but the more important thing is is, for example, the the supplements I use.
You cannot get online, so I was dealing with one patient and and and and she wasn’t doing very well, and I said that’s. I said I really can’t make it a decision on this, because you’re, not taking my supplements, you’re, not ordering anything.
I see you’re, not taking anything from here yeah I’m. Not I’m, not here to sell supplements. Frankly, I’m here to get you out of here with as few as possible, but that’s because I use real supplements.
No, I’m. Taking all your supplements and one of the wonder that wanted to I’ll, tell you one of the supplement lines I use is called eight energetics. I have no financial fiduciary thing there, okay, just for the record, but these guys have been great.
The products are good, they’re. They’re ahead of the curve. They’re, a great company, but you can’t get them online. You can only get them at medical doctors or chiropractors or functional medicine. Doctors offices, but this idea claims she was getting them online.
Apex will tell you when you go to their summers. If you get them online, they are counterfeits and people are like shocked. How could that be a counterfeit? Well, here you go. This is not from very long ago, natural news exclusive from natural news: exclusive Amazon sells fake supplements.
Now, Amazon, isn’t like perpetuating this okay, so don’t get me in trouble with Amazon all right, but the, but the the natural news investigation has confirmed that amazon.com is functioning as a retail front for a rapidly expanding list of Dietary supplement counterfeiters, they’re, not doing it on purpose.
Okay, who profit by exploiting amazon.com trust factor to sell fake products to unsuspecting Amazon customers. Some of the things that that natural news learn counterfeit dietary supplement companies are very easily able to repeatedly and successfully sell multitude of counterfeit nutritional products through amazon.
com. I am Telling You that patient thought she was taking my supplements and she wasn’t and when we did start getting her to take some of them, we started to see change. Okay, amazon.com is unable to adequately police.
These sellers amazon.com actually lends counterfeit products a higher trust factor by assigning high star ratings to products which are wholly counterfeited. There’s, a whole process to that by the counterfeiters, and one of the interesting things in here was one of the counterfeiters was able to get Amazon to take the actual, the actual supplement manufacturer like off of their site and and replace them with Them that’s kind of a like a general characterization, what happened, but it was pretty mind-blowing it’s in this article.
The other thing is, and and and and again I I’m – a big fan of Walgreens. I Walgreens when I need things because it’s right around the corner from my house. My wife loves target, but FDA finds majority of herbs supplements at GNC, Walmart, Walgreens and Target don’t contain what they claim.
Indeed, cheap fillers like wheat and soy powder, so I’m. Not one of these radical guys. There’s like trying to go out there and do this. I’m, trying to tell you that when I when, when, when your doctor wants you to take their supplements and if they’re, not Susie, doctor supplements and and and they’re, they come from really really good.
Companies like like, like like apex like biotics, like integrated health systems like there’s, just a number of them that we use, but but but really really quality companies that that meet the standards.
Then you, then, you’re, definitely risking the chance of throwing your money away and taking a bunch of supplements that you don’t need, and what was really astonishing was like like they did us. They did a review here and like products by Walmart Spring Valley brand.
Sorry, I mean, like I’m, not trying to get you know, but they bought. This are being handled by the way. Okay, their echinacea know echinacea or plant materials found in the supplement saw palmetto a garlic and rice were found in the product.
Some samples contain small amounts of salts small mouths. I’ve sold plum out of some samples ginseng no ginseng detected, ginkgo biloba. No ginkgo biloba detected Saint John’s, wort no st. John’s. Wort detected, so I think they just picked one two, three four or five: they just picked six okay and they went through them.
Garlic. One sample showed small amounts of garlic, the product included rice, pine palm jessenia, and we I mean none of my patients could take that they would all react negatively to that and but most of them astonishing he had little to no of the sub of the supplement.
In here now again, I’m, not one of these whistleblowers or anything, but we’re trying to get people better. We go to we spent years and years putting our pharmacy together with quality supplements, and I’m running into this a lot more lately, simply because there’s more of it line the this article.
If I really went into it, it is staggering the-the-the, the millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars of counterfeit supplements that are that are that are sold online. So you have to be really careful and – and you have to do your investigation and you can even you you can only go so far, but but at least, if you’re aware of this, maybe you could ask questions.
Maybe you could find out a little bit more if you see somebody online or you go into your doctor’s office and they’re selling you their their brand. Maybe you you know, maybe you look into it and see if they have a patent on that brand and and and and if they’re selling you that brand and it’s your doctor, then maybe you can’t.
Go to the store, get one that’s as good or not as good. There’s a lot of marketing out there. On this other things I’ve seen I I deal with tons of people are gluten sensitive because I deal with a ton of people or autoimmune.
I saw something come out about two or three years ago, maybe more from one of the most famous doctors out there who has their newsletter. I won’t mention his name, but I should to give it credibility, but oh heck, it was dr.
winter. Christmas, like what am I going to say, the guy’s like he’s got the newsletter and he does all this stuff, but the the supplement was legitimate. Okay, so let me put that out there, but the, but the promo was.
Was over the top and the promo was all you, people who are being told you can’t eat gluten because you have celiac and because you have gluten sensitivity, you don ‘ T have to worry about it anymore.
Just take this supplement and you take this something before you eat and you will you can eat gluten. This, has this mushroom enzyme in it and you can eat gluten and and and and and you’ll – be fine. Well, that was a big mistake, because I actually know the company that made that very first supplement and that company says don’t tell people that what they said is give it to people who are gluten sensitive when they know they’Re gonna get stuck in a corner so that they can take a lot of it before and after during the eight and after they eat and and then that will cut down their response to a degree.
But it’s. Never going to take this, the replace of that there’s only, and that was a big flaw. I went out all across the country I’m sure they made a couple of million bucks off of it, but I never saw that flyer again and there’s, a reason for that.
Okay, it’s, probably because of what I just got done saying. So beware of the magic miracle supplement that is going to that’s going to be the supplement. I mean just imagine on that one flyer how much might have been sold on that.
So you know the money was made. It was fine, you go on with it. It didn’t, kill anybody to do through what they said, and so, okay, let’s, see patients using their own supplements. Supplements supplements vary from case to case.
The whole idea is, if you come into a functional medicine practitioner, to bring it back the functional medicine. If you have like, if you have, if you have let’s, say you have let’s say you have a bad intestines, which is very common and you have acid and ingestion and you end up loading it.
You got guests and your stools are coming out wrong and you eat vegetables and you blow up, and you have all these things which could be hydrochloric acid. That could be a decrease in parietal cell anybody and for ourselves making her hydrochloric acid.
It could be Candida. It could be small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, it could be dysbiosis, it could be all these things. Okay, you read some online, you take you take you take all the supplements and you feel better for a while, and then it comes back.
This is this has to do with supplements being advertised online and these things online. Do this. Do this specific diet? We’ve already talked about that. Take these supplement, maybe some ones don’t work at all.
You keep taking them because the supplement guy says you just need to keep taking them. It just takes time, okay or maybe – or maybe it’s – that you know you’re, taking the supplements and, and they’re, not making you feel worse, they said well, you’re gonna feel worse Before you get better, I’ve heard that what about it many times, okay but but the reality is, is maybe that’s, not even a problem.
Maybe your problem is: is that you’re chronically in fight/flight that you’re stressed when you ‘ Re stressed your your your stress mechanism actually is damaging. The inside of your intestines in your stomach stress, causes ulcers right long before it causes ulcers.
They causes stomach and intestinal problems, and you’re, taking all these supplements and then somebody walks up to you. The next thing goes, you know I’m, the same thing you have and I’m, not selling drugs here and and they’ll say because I’ve heard this a million times and doc.
I and I took his annex and all my stomach problems by the way. Well, they actually kind of got to the source of the problem and those other people were taking like 20 supplements three times a day and they weren’t getting to the problem because nobody evaluated them and so a substantial portion of you really don’t have the background to evaluate these types of things online.
I mean that’s, just the fact it’s not meant to be an insult, and if you’re insulted, then you’re. Probably won’t, be a good patient here. Yes, because this is complex stuff, and so so you have to really.
I mean you have to really evaluate. Look at your supplements. Are you really getting a benefit out of them? Are they helping? You? Are you just taking them, because some magazine tell you to take them or because somebody online are you buying from the person online that told you to take them and they’re? Not? And you’re, not getting any better or you’re, getting better four to four weeks at a time, and it keeps coming back because why? Because maybe the supplements don’t have anything in them.
Maybe you’re, not taking the right amount of something that’s. Maybe you’re, not taking the right dosage of supplements. Maybe you’re. Not maybe you don’t even need those supplements, or maybe there’s.
One supplement that would create what that would take care of the cascade of problems that you’re taking all of these other supplements. For so I think that really kind of covers yeah. I think that kind of covers is like there’s any and the other.
Like the last thing there’s, no one supplement for any given condition. I’d: sleep like jumps right out at okay. Everybody comes in here’s. Take him to a Latonia. Now I’m. Melatonin helps a lot of people and it’s.
Fine thing to take. If you’re taking it and it’s safe and so on, it’s over, but most people come in here are taking melatonin and they can’t go to sleep and they wake up, and they Can’t go to sleep anyway, but they’re still taking the melatonin, because I told them to take the amount of time I mean we use so many things for sleep.
Sleep actually is getting your stress response under control and get your blood sugar under control. First, if you can get those two things under control, usually you’re, going to be able to go to sleep and stay asleep.
If not, maybe you have sleep apnea. If you don’t have sleep apnea, then you start getting into melatonin 5-htp it’s. Interesting, it could be melatonin, it could be 5-htp. It could be st. John’s wort.
They could be ashwagandha, it could be holy basil, it could be rhodiola, it could be ginseng. I mean I can name 15 15 things that can cause you to go to sleep, but they didn’t. But but but you say, I’ve tried most of those well.
If you’ve tried most of those it’s because you haven’t fixed. This is the other thing I want to get if you, if you tried most of those and you’re, honest leave me it’s because nobody’s, fixing your stress response or your blood sugar is dropping in the Middle of the night, or you have a sleep apnea that you’re, not aware of, and and and and and and things of that nature, so that’s.
Just the last thing relative to supplementation that you need to be aware of it. If you’re using all of these, and sometimes one works and another isn’t working and honestly, I can’t. Tell you why I don’t think you’re.
A biochemist could tell you why so so. For that particular example for sleep, it’s, a matter of trial and error. Some people we used to use gaba. They’ve, now kind of seems like they’ve kind of outlawed that for for us in the in the alternative world, but there are gaba precursors that ‘
Ll help you to go to sleep there are. There are all the supplements i just got done talking about and and some will work for some people and some one I’ll, give some people 5htp and and in st. John’s wort and Sammy Effy.
It won’t, you bother, I get another person, I give them like. You know five HTTP and they’re like oh, my god. I like that’s too much for me. I’m, like I slept all the way through the night and I feel like I got my head in a bag, so everybody’s.
Physiology is different. I mean different just because you’re. Looking at the next person in line who’s about to buy that vitamin off the off of those off of the counter that doesn’t have anything in it or has a lot of fillers in or something they don &.
# 39 t particularly have the same physiology you haven’t. I guarantee you. They know the physics ain’t physiology as yo, because if they did, my life would be a lot easier. Okay, but they don’t, and so so you have to be aware of that aspect of it because it helped your neighbor doesn’t necessarily mean it’s.
Gon na help you – and so these are all these are. I think that’s, kind of like the pretty much the gist of of supplementation and – and I think I kind of hid all the parts I mean when I said I could go for hours.
I could go into each one of these areas very extensively. I don ‘ T, really think it’s necessary. I think it’s really necessary for you to understand that you need to be diligent about finding your proper source of supplements and they’re gonna be more expensive and they’re, not going to be more expensive Because they’re gonna work and they’re gonna work and have you start getting things better and then be able to withdraw it or they’re going to work? And you’re gonna get benefit out of it instead of buying supplements and supplements and supplements elements that aren’t working, but you’re just reading like, but I should be taking them because I’M probably deficient in them, and they’re necessary for this, and then the flyer said that so you should be looking at supplements that are our top shelf.
You should be looking at supplements that don’t have fillers in them. You should be try to be aware of someone if they, if they even have anything in them. I don ‘ T know how you can be aware of that.
You have to understand dosing. It’s, probably best. If you had some testing, especially if you’re, taking supplements for something specific, I’m. Taking for my blood pressure, I’m, taking it for whatever, but but but you should probably, if, if you can, if your finances are such that you can do that organics acid test there’s, any number of tests out there again.
I’m. Not promoting Genova just happens to be a test I use, but there any number of tests out there that will that will help you to understand. I use a test called brain span for for brain chemistry. It is awesome.
It’s, a hundred bucks and it’s, a blood spot test, and I don’t. Actually, don’t know if they just do it, the doctors or not, but but it will tell you about your essential fatty acids. If you have a lot of inflammation coq10, selenium it’ll tell you all that I use it.
I use it it’s in and it’s. It’s beautiful because because it might just be inflammation, the person’s, essential fatty acids might be fine, so testing, I think, is important. I think. Beware, look you get a flyer that tells you about it.
It’s, a miracle get rid of it. I’m, just telling you right now. I have never seen one that was not selling something that wasn’t. Maybe wasn’t particularly illegitimate, but maybe it was overstating dramatically the effect of the supplement.
Let’s see. I think that’s. It I think, and if you go in the doctor’s office and they say our functional medicine doctor and you end up walking out there with three son three shopping bags, full of supplements, you’ve, just well, you should.
You should rethink that you should you should rethink that that that doctor-patient encounter so so I think it’s. It I think I covered it. I think I think, usually afterwards, I’m, always going to remember something I wanted to say, but I think we covered it pretty well and if you can, if you can understand now what I’m saying here, I think it’ll make you a lot more effective as a consumer, and if you become my patient, it ‘
Ll. Make me a lot more successful as functional medicine practitioner. So, okay, so next week it’ll, be fun, because now we’ve laid the foundation. I think I’ve gone through all of the general aspects of what I, what it really takes to have all of the pieces.
Together, all the data that you need to execute a case have the proper tools to have the you know. They have the proper labs to use the proper supplementation all of those things. So so, starting next weeks for those of you who want to be armchair functional medicine practitioners, I’m gonna start walking through kind of how walking through the systems.
I keep talking about functional medicine, being a systems based discipline. I’m gonna start walking through the symptoms. It’s going to take a while, because we’re gonna go to large intestines. We’re gonna go through leaky gut.
We’re gonna go what we’re, really going to go through it in a very practical way in a rubber meets the road type away. In other words, this is the data that I need to know to be able to help people to get well, and I’m gonna put it in a total perspective, it’s, just not going to be leaky gut.
It’s, gonna be how leaky gut attaches to this and how this affects that and it’s. Gon na be brain leaky gut and it’s. Gon na, be it’s. Gon na be like that, so this is something really interested in the leak you guys, probably not gonna, be the next one.
Next one’s, probably gonna be intestines gastrointestinal tract. So so I hope you enjoyed that. I enjoy all of your comments. Thank you. It’s really nice to hear from all of you any suggestions now from here on out that you want to give to me, I’m, always looking for topics that are interesting to you.
Please do so and I will now wrap up until I see you again next time take care. You
