This podcast is another GREAT conversation with my friend Pejman (the other doctor K, haha) that we recorded recently. I also put this on our Youtube channel, but here is the audio. It's a long conversation, but we could have easily kept going!!

I think Dr. Pejman Katiraei is an amazing doctor, educator, and he has become my friend who I love having discussions with. He is a pediatrician, and when you listen to him talk you can immediately hear how much he cares for these poor children and families that he sees suffering from ADHD, OCD, PANS/PANDAS, autism, anxiety/depression, failure to thrive, early puberty, etc - he obviously has a big heart for these kids. He is a great question-asker, always asking the question - "WHY?" Why are these kids' brains inflamed? Why are their guts a wreck? Why are they folate or D3 deficient? Why are their mitochondria dysfunctional?

The question of WHY often leads an inquiring mind upstream to root causes like MOLD TOXICITY and MYCOTOXIN EXPOSURE. Mold toxicity is so prevalent today and yet so often overlooked in these kids - and in adults too, which is more my client population, but I work with kids as well. Both of us have come to this conclusion separately - by asking WHY it has led both of us to spend the last decade plus learning more about the science, evidence, mechanisms, and strategies to understand, detect, and correct mold-related illness, which we have both applied in practice with great success, even though we don't always use the same strategies. In this video we talk about a TON of stuff, including labs, supplements, gut health, LPS, heavy metals, parasites, and many other important topics, and I think this will be really helpful especially for a parent trying to solve their child's (or their own) health puzzle.

Let's face it - being in pain sucks. That's kind of part of it, right?? So obviously people with pain, especially chronic pain, want some relief. That's why pain is a leading cause of disability, and pain management is a multi-billion dollar-per-year industry. But WHY WOULD SOMEONE BE IN PAIN IN THE FIRST PLACE??? That's what a functional medicine approach looks at!

Pain has many mechanisms, and as a chiropractor I have seen and successfully treated a lot of pain. In fact, I probably saw more straight-up "pain" in my former practice doing more musculoskeletal work, and chiropractic care is great for pain relief and much more. Nowadays, I see pain from other causes like autoimmune diseases, and see great success by taking a functional medicine approach to pain.

Pain can have many forms - it can be from wear-and-tear and old age, injuries, autoimmune inflammation, it can be exacerbated by overuse, stress, food sensitivities, anything that can drive inflammation - or it may be "unexplained". It can be called shooting pain, burning pain, stabbing pain, growing pains, osteoarthritis, "bone-on-bone", numbness, tingling, neuropathy, bone pain, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, muscle pain, soreness, mixed-connective tissue disease, fibromyalgia.....you may be told you have "degeneration", or "inflammation", a "pinched nerve", or you may be told "everything looks normal". There are a lot of possibilities!

The point is that there are many mechanisms to pain, and a functional medicine approach considers all the possible root causes, then we look deeper to evaluate the mechanisms, then we develop strategies to control the root source of pain.

That's what this podcast is all about - - how you can determine a bit more about your "pain" by evaluating the mechanisms, looking at lab tests, looking for and eliminating triggers, decreasing you inflammation by following different dietary and supplement protocols to not only get you out of pain in the short-term, but also decrease your pain in the LONG-TERM by addressing the real root cause(s).

Genetic testing is fascinating, but I have a love-hate relationship with it as a practitioner. It is very trendy in the functional medicine/health world, and I think this makes sense - - so many people are trying to figure out WHY they feel a certain way or have certain symptoms, and testing can absolutely help answer some of the "why" questions.

BUT - - genetics doesn't always answer these questions, and in many cases can muddy the waters even more. I have seen TONS of people come to me with genetic reports who aren't any better off than before they tested their genetics, and are perhaps even more confused. One gene might say you NEED methyl B vitamins, while another gene might say AVOID methyl B vitamins. I have seen TONS of people who are taking certain supplements like methyl-folate for their MTHFR mutation, but they don't respond well to it and it's actually making them worse. I have seen TONS of people who spent a lot of money on genetic reports, or on "customized" supplements based on their genes, and still haven't found the good results that they were hoping for.

Does this mean it's worthless? Absolutely not, I have run TONS of genetic tests on myself and have found it very worth it, it's just not the whole story.

In this podcast, I dive deeper into these opinions of mine, which aren't necessarily PRO or CON, they are just the PROS and the CONS from what I have seen working with chronic and complex clients over the past 10+ years. I talk about the books I've read, people I've followed online, the tests I've run, I talk about the most famous genes (MTHFR and gang), the most important genes for autoimmunity, mold toxicity, etc, and I talk about definitions of genomics, alleles, SNPs, and a little bit of everything "genetic", which hopefully can help YOU make some better sense of genetic testing and how you can use this tool while solving YOUR health puzzle!

We have A LOT of pregnant clients in our office right now, it's honestly crazy. Many of these women have diagnosed autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto's or Rheumatoid Arthritis. Some of them have "undiagnosed autoimmunity", like positive ANA tests, but they have no "diagnosis" - - yet. Some don't have any autoimmune diagnoses, but they have Lyme disease or mold toxicity.....and yet others with no diagnoses who just came in for management of specific symptoms like migraines, bloating, or anxiety.

There is no special "formula" for pregnant women with autoimmunity - - we want to make sure you aren't deficient on any vitamins, minerals, or nutrients, we want to avoid toxins, we want to eat anti-inflammatory, we want to exercise, we want to minimize stress.......good advice for any pregnant woman.

The concern is that autoimmunity is known to flare around pregnancy., often presenting as an increase in inflammatory symptoms postpartum. We don't want that!!

This episode is filled with my knowledge and opinions around pregnancy that I have developed over the years of working with pregnant patients as well as my own experiences as a parent. In this episode, I talk about my wife and I's experience(s) with miscarriages, with hospital births vs. home births, with twins vs. singletons, with V or no-V, and our personal decisions and how we made those decisions. I also talk about all the important stuff like prenatal vitamins, genetics, methylation, and more.

As always I don't claim to have all the answers, but I hope my expertise, my opinions, and my thought processes help someone as they are trying to make these decisions for themselves, or I hope they help someone have a happier, healthier pregnancy!

Whether it's allergies, asthma, autism, ADHD, or autoimmunity - kids have a lot more health concerns these days - and those are just the A's!

I see a lot of kids (parents) from all over the world asking me to help them with their health problems. Sometimes they are easy and see great progress from the right nutrients, killing yeast, or supporting detoxification. Sometimes they are really tricky cases.

Many of the common childhood concerns of today have an immune component - recurrent infections, skin issues, allergies, autoimmune conditions, inflammation.

Many of the childhood concerns have a neurologic component to them - inability to focus, hyperactivity, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, depression, anxiety, rage, inability to regulate.

Why have we seen such a rise in the incidence of childhood symptoms, diseases, and developmental issues? While there are many theories regarding the exact causes, the overload of environmental toxins, immune imbalances, infections, and gut dysbiosis are ALWAYS at the top of the suspected mechanisms, which are basically my specialties and the focus of my entire podcast channel - the drivers of autoimmune disease progression. Autoimmunity is often involved as a mechanism in children's health issues, but often isn't necessarily a diagnosed autoimmune "disease".

Throughout the years I have developed certain thought processes, opinions, and I have my favorite labs, supplements, and teaching tools - this podcast is basically an overview of all of it. I talk about everything from raising twins (mine are almost 10) and nature vs. nurture, Winnie the Pooh characters and neurotransmitters, I talk about some of my favorite supplements and their targeted mechanisms, and I talk about how each kid is just different and needs to be parented differently. I also talk about how I'm DEFINITELY not a perfect parent, and we all just try to raise the best kids we can!

SO - the title of this podcast pretty well summarizes what this episode is about - how I'm doing since suddenly losing my dad.

3 months ago, my dad died. He had been fine 4 weeks earlier. He had just turned 68, he was still working, he was an 8 handicap golfer, and he was perfectly fine. On December 19th he was told he had cancer, and he died exactly 3 weeks later.

In this episode, I tell the whole story of what went down, but I also talk about my experience afterward handling this grief and heartbreak. It's still new, and I'm not an expert, and I think the highlight that I want people to take away is that "there is no right way", but I hope my experience and perspective is helpful and valuable to someone. This episode is just me rambling about my personal story, and then I'll be getting back to educational content :)

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!