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OligoScan Assessment

Do you want to know for sure? Of course you do, so read on for a quick and simple solution to knowing if you do and which ones are excessive and which ones are deficient.

You take supplements and you hope you are getting enough of the essential minerals. But how do you know for sure? Or perhaps you’re one who feels that you are consuming a healthy diet and you really don’t need to add any supplements to your diet. But how do you know for sure?

Most individuals would like to know if they are fully benefiting from the food and supplements they consume. And you should want to know. Here is one good reason: “Alongside dermatology and psychological disorders, nutritional disorders are among the most common problems encountered by clinicians. It has been estimated that over 70% of patients are at high risk of having or developing a nutritional deficiency…contributing to their illness” (Kotsirilos V. et al, A Guide to Evidenced Based Integrative and Complimentary Medicine. Sydney: Churchill Livingstone; 2011 p.14).

Many patients ask me what supplements they should be taking and while it is easy to make some educated guesses, it would be much better to know exactly what minerals were deficient and need additional supplementing and which do not.

Now determining the answer to this nutritional concern has been not only difficult but expensive. You see, using serum levels in the blood is really not accurate. Testing red blood cells or white blood cells improves things a bit but with that comes extra cost. What is lacking is knowing one’s actual tissue level of our minerals – and at a reasonable price.

Now besides concerns for our essential minerals there is another concern, perhaps even bigger – toxic/heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, aluminum and lead. Exposure to these metals is more commonplace than most realize and far more dangerous than is appreciated. But are you getting rid of them, eliminating them out of your body? That is the question and a very important question because these toxic metals can be terribly disturbing and damaging to our organs and tissues leading to dysfunctional biochemistry, disordered metabolic functions and chronic disease.

In fact, most functional health practitioners believe that in nearly all chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, autoimmune illness and neurological diseases, not only are mineral deficiencies to be found but these toxic metals will be present as one of the underlying reasons for that disease. Knowing if this is true for you is of utmost importance if you desire to stay well or to enable you to overcome whatever health concerns you may have.

So, what is the answer to this nutritional conundrum? We need to know our mineral status, if we have sufficient levels or not. And we need to know if toxic metals are clogging our metabolic machinery and destroying our health. But then we also need answers that are not ridiculously expensive and give us information that is truly accurate, based on what is in our cells (tissues), not outside our cells!

I believe the answer is OligoScan. A European developed Instrument, recently available to practitioners in the U.S.

In my desire to always find the best way to access and improve patient’s health, I am delighted to be one of the few practitioners in the U.S. to offer the OligoScan, an in-office, non-invasive (no skin puncture) instrument that determines the intra-cellular levels of 20 essential minerals/trace elements, 14 toxic/heavy metals, one’s level of oxidative stress, 7 vitamins and 15 graphics providing insight into multiple health risks. The 3-page report also includes the zinc/copper ratio and the sodium/potassium ratio, crucial to neurological and cardiovascular health and energy production.

Developed in France, after decades of research, the OligoScan is a sophisticated test that is simple to administer. After getting specific essential information, such as height, weight, age, and blood type, readings are taken using a spectrophotometer device at four different locations on the person’s non-dominant hand. Your data is uploaded to the OligoScan servers where it is analyzed against a vast database. You will see the results immediately! How awesome is that! With this information about your current state of health, better treatment decisions can be made for you.

What is spectrophotometry?
Spectrophotometry is a quantitative analytical method of measuring the absorption or the optical density of a mineral or chemical. It is based on the principle of absorption, transmission or reflection of light by the chemical or metal compounds over a specific wavelength range.
Spectrophotometry is used in many areas: chemistry, pharmaceuticals, environment, food, biology, medical/clinical, industrial and others. In the medical field, spectrophotometry is used to examine blood or tissue.
And for those of you who just have to have a little more technical information: Spectrophotometry determines the optical density of a substance. Every substance emits and absorbs frequencies, and more light is absorbed with increasing density. This allows for a quantitative analysis for each of the different minerals and toxic metals. And interestingly enough, light reflects differently depending on blood type (O, A, B, AB), so that is why I need to know your blood type when performing this test. (No worries if you don’t know your blood type. I use a simple, inexpensive test kit to determine that.)
In simple terms the elements present and the amount of their presence effects the light entering the cells and that determines the intensity of the electromagnetic signals picked up by the OligoScan instrument.

How is the OligoScan different than tests such as blood, urine and hair analysis?
Most of these other tests measure either circulating levels of minerals or metals, such as with blood testing, or what the body is excreting, as is the case with urine and hair analysis. OligoScan is unique in that it measures the levels of minerals and metals inside your cells.

The primary difference: The OligoScan measures intracellularly.

Blood tests show metals which have circulated recently. Metals are dumped within a few days from the bloodstream into the tissues. Blood can therefore only be used in acute situations for toxic metals. The level of minerals and trace elements is kept fairly constant in blood. Many people with muscle cramps often have a normal magnesium level in serum; the OligoScan in this case will commonly show a magnesium deficiency.

Urinalysis shows to what extent the body can excrete metals. In a normal spontaneous urine sample, almost nothing is excreted. Only after the body is provoked will increased metal concentrations be found in the urine. This is done with a challenge test for toxic metals. This is a valuable test that shows what amount metals are present in the extracellular environment. Again, the OligoScan measures intracellularly. The challenge test and OligoScan complement each other completely in this aspect.

Hair analysis shows which metals were present during the last 2-3 months. But if a body cannot detoxify well, low amounts of metals will be found in hair. This is called false-negative results. Hair analysis is even more questionable depending upon what treatments the hair has undergone and what agents have been applied to the hair.

Consider an example. A urine test for heavy metals showed high levels of lead and slightly elevated mercury. A chelating agent, which binds to heavy metals, was used to obtain this result. Keep in mind that different chelating agents are more selective for one or another of the specific metals. In this case, the test results showed a higher lead in the urine because of the specific chelating agent used. The OligoScan in the test above showed both these metals high in the tissues with mercury levels more elevated than the lead levels but the cadmium level even higher. The OligoScan provided a more accurate picture of what was occurring in the tissues, indicating that both mercury and cadmium were more of a problem than the lead.
Another example is seen in someone with high calcium in their hair analysis. On the OligoScan, the same patient may show a deficiency of intracellular calcium as they are not utilizing their calcium.

What to expect with your test
The actual measurement with the OligoScan is very simple. After I enter your data, including height, weight and blood type, the instrument is gently pressed on four points on the palm of the non-dominate hand. And really, that’s all there is to the test itself. The sophisticated software takes over from there and determines the effect to which the light beam is affected by the presence or absence of minerals and metals. The result is a 3-page report that you receive immediately, allowing you to implement any necessary changes right away.

The report provides you with an unpresented level of detail of your cellular health – these include important details of why you may be experiencing a reduced level of health, why you can’t seem to improve or what nutritional and toxic factors may be predisposing you in the future unless changes are made.

Why do you need this testing?

Heavy metals are highly degenerative to the body.

Other healthcare practitioners currently using the OligoScan report 80% to 90% of their patients show excess heavy metals with aluminum being the highest. And I have found the same. The older the patient the greater the accumulation of toxic metals as, over time they build up when the rate of absorption is greater than the rate of removal.
Accumulation of these metals in the body reduces the effectiveness of medical treatments up to 60%. It is, therefore, less likely that anti-oxidants and mineral supplements will be effective if heavy metals are present.
We are exposed to these metals on a daily basis, so knowing how effective your body is at detoxifying them will allow you to improve that function if needed.

How often should I get an OligoScan?
OligoScans are very advantageous as not only can one tell what is going on in the body right at that time, but follow-up scans can show how one’s case is progressing. A follow-up scan may be performed anywhere from 4-6 months after the initial scan to make sure that the treatment protocol is working.

Can children be tested on the OligoScan?
Children who are two years and older can be tested using the OligoScan. It is an ideal way to obtain useful information, and your child will enjoy the fact that they will not be getting any needles!

If you’re feeling tired or run down, it could be due to mineral deficiencies or even heavy metal toxicity. But what do you do when you can’t face a battery of endless blood tests and visits to doctor’s waiting rooms? One answer is OligoScan. It gives me an unprecedented level of insight into your cellular health.
Having accurate and precise information on aspects such as anti-oxidants, heavy metal accumulation and mineral deficiencies is a real insight into what issues could be influencing your wellbeing.

Everyday symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia or build-up of stress can often be better understood in the light of this data. With a true understanding of your health on a cellular level, I am much better able to recommend a treatment program with dietary changes and supplements, in order to improve your wellbeing.

The OligoScan measures mineral deficiencies due to diet and food choices, the accumulation of heavy metals in the body and levels of antioxidants in the body – all at cellular levels. This means the test gives the most direct and immediate information possible on your health. It is significantly faster and more accurate than assessing urine or blood samples. The human body keeps the blood levels balanced for much longer than our tissues; therefore, the deficiency is first seen in the cells rather than in the blood itself. That’s why OligoScan can highlight issues that a normal blood test cannot.
And remember, the OligoScan requires no injections or blood taking; it is pain-free providing instant results which are more precise than a standard blood test.

Okay, What about Cost?

The OligoScan is a $130 test but when the test is completed with the initial or previous visit the price is reduced $30. It is a very popular test as individuals really want answers about their nutritional status and what metal toxins they are harboring. The company that developed the OligoScan sells me the equipment but for each test I send for analysis, I am charged an analysis fee – but that is well worth it as you will see when you take this test and have an OligoScan assessment. Don’t be in the dark get the assessment and be certain. Make the changes and be healthy.

Some scientific references:

The mineral intake

Toxic metals

Oxidative stress

Lyme Disease – The Great Masquerader

The Great Masquerader – Lyme Disease

It was after her second son was born that Olivia (not her real name) started to notice changes in her mood, and even her family and friends noticed it as well. It was very definite “up and down emotions,” often accompanied with a low sex drive, that continued for at least 7 years before it cascaded into a series of extreme mood changes that also resulted in serious fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, and a nervous breakdown.

During the next several years she visited a series of physicians and began to receive treatment for hormone dysfunction and allergies. For a short time, this seemed to be helpful, but eventually the moodiness and fatigue returned.

Lacking any progress, another practitioner put her on thyroid meds. Through all these years she also had sleep issues, chronic back, joint and muscle pain, and a hoarseness in her voice for 10 years. She could barely go to work at the business that she and her husband had started years ago. At age 40 she was a wreck physically and emotionally and was sadly looking at a lifetime of pain and misery

It was at this point, about 17 years into this misery, that I saw her and suggested we look for chronic infections as an underlying cause of her symptoms. It was good that we did as there were several pathogenic microbes that came back positive. But the real kicker was a positive test for Lyme. When I showed her that report and when she saw the symptoms of Lyme, tears flowed down her cheeks and she said, “Finally I have a reason for why I have felt so bad for so long”.

Sadly, for Olivia, it took way too long to receive this crucial report of why she had been struggling for so long. But it is understandable for several reasons:

Conventional medicine generally does not believe in chronic Lyme, only acute Lyme due to a recent tick bite.
When testing is done the conventional tests are not robust enough to adequately evaluate chronic Lyme
Lyme mimics so many diseases that unless one did have a recent bite of a tick, the practitioner will be looking for the diseases that mimic Lyme and not Lyme itself. Lyme will masquerade as a variety of disease entities including,

Neurological diseases – Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, ALS and more
Anxiety, depression, memory loss and brain fog
Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome
Most autoimmune diseases – arthritis, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis and many others
Chronic headaches
Food allergies/sensitivities
A weakened immune system that leads to one feeling sick and unwell far too often

Not just ticks, but any biting insect is now considered a possible source of Lyme transmission. Further many children have been born with Lyme – transmitted from mother to offspring.

Now, notice these common symptoms in individuals with chronic Lyme disease in the list below. Is it any wonder that most doctors might be confused and begin to label the patient as perhaps having an autoimmune disease at best or worse, a hypochondriac?

Common symptoms of Lyme-Borrelia

Gradual onset of symptoms
Joint stiffness/swelling
lightheadedness
migratory/shooting pains
Afternoon fevers/letdowns
Chills
GI upset
pelvic pain
interstitial cystitis
prostatitis menstrual disorders
blurring vision
light sensitivity
Kidney problems
painful urination
Muscle twitches or pain
fibromyalgia
depression
bouts of anger
word finding problems
cycles of illness
immune weakness
reflux/heartburn
unexplained breast pain
tinnitus
Facial paralysis/ (Bell’s palsy)
paresthesia/numbness
seizures
tremors
ataxia
Loss of libido
heart palpitations or arrhythmias
difficulty swallowing
chronic fatigue
unexplained weight gain or loss
facial pain
headache
multiple chemical sensitivity
Vertigo
disoriented -brain fog
difficulty concentrating or thinking
Short-term memory loss

It should be understood that not every person with Lyme will have all of the above symptoms or even most of them. And this is not even a complete list. One patient with Lyme had rage as a primary symptom – just ready to “fly off the handle” at the “drop of a hat”. But nearly every Lyme patient that I have seen has 3 primary symptoms. Which are:

Debilitating chronic Fatigue
Significant Joint pain or stiffness that moves around
Cognitive dysfunction that often includes brain fog, anxiety or depression, and memory impairment

Notice the difference between symptoms of those with Lyme and those without Lyme here

So, as you can see it would be easy for a Lyme diagnosis to be missed, causing the individual suffer for many months or years before they finally receive the correct diagnosis. Unfortunately, some will suffer with an autoimmune diagnosis or be diagnosed with some type of neurological disease without ever discovering their true undiagnosed cause.

And Lyme is not a rare disease at all. The CDC estimates that 3-400,000 new cases of Lyme are contracted per year, with some data suggesting that a more likely number is 1,000,000 cases per year. And it is not found in specific regions of the country. Every state in the US has Lyme and it is now a new epidemic! It may likely be the most common vector-borne disease in the US…more common now than breast cancer.

Notice how rapidly Lyme spread in just 13 years. And now this map is already 10 years out of date

Another problem related to testing has to do with the number of Borrelia species known to exist – at least 100 in the US and more than 300 worldwide. But many labs only test for what is considered the most common species – Borrelia burgdorferi, hardly adequate with so many other species around.

In addition, the Lyme organism, Borrelia, is nearly always accompanied with other co-infections which, again, are commonly missed because they are not being tested. But some of the co-infections can cause symptoms at least as debilitating as Borrelia.

Three Forms of the Lyme Organism

There are actually 3 different forms of Lyme bacteria/spirochete. And it is a result of these three forms that this organism becomes a “persister” bug in the human body mimicking many other diseases and being very difficult to eradicate. These three forms are the Spirochete or spiral form (great for burrowing into tissues), the cell wall deficient form (or L form) and the cyst form. The bacteria, when stressed with antibiotics or by the immune system, will form cysts as a protective form.

However, the cell wall deficient form is much more difficult to treat because it will actually turn off the immune activity operating inside the cell and then go into the cell and hide as long as necessary. The more of the co-infections and viruses one is harboring, the more ill one will generally be.

When the Lyme Borrelia and the co-infectious organisms along with other viruses enter the mitochondria of the cell, they damage the machinery that produces cellular energy. The net effect is serious fatigue both in the body and brain.

Chronic or persistent Lyme disease is becoming increasingly common and problematic. Among the small number of pathogens capable of persisting despite sophisticated host immune responses, the Borrelia spirochete gets special recognition because researchers still have not been able to elucidate the mechanisms that sustain its long-term survival. What we do know is that the spirochete has several remarkable abilities to adapt, which include:

The ability to hide within cells of certain tissues during or between stages of disease

The ability of Borrelia to change its morphology in response to varying environmental conditions including many antibiotics

Formation of a biofilm that enables Borrelia to be more resilient to stress and our immune system challenges

Suppression of host immune response

So, what does this mean? It means that when antibiotics are used to treat persistent infections like the Lyme organisms, we likely end up with highly persistent mutants. This is a separate phenomenon from antibiotic resistance, and it has become increasingly clear that traditional antibiotic treatments for chronic Lyme are not enough to eliminate these menacing microbes.

But let me stress one very important point. The best treatment for Lyme or coinfections when you have an acute disease with a recent insect bite and the symptoms are present, testing is likely to be positive and the best treatment is antibiotics. If, however, the bite was weeks, months or years ago (or you never remember there being a tick or insect bite of any kind), the traditional use of antibiotics will likely NOT be successful. The organisms will have already set up brilliant ways of evading the immune system and any antibiotics used.

For many practitioners when the classic symptoms are present, they are ready to jump in and attack these terrifying bugs. But it is so unwise to go and start an attack on the bugs regardless of whether done conventionally or with alternative approaches. The whole-body terrain must ideally be considered prior to dealing with the Lyme spirochete and the co-infections. The body terrain along with the intestinal tract and its microbiome, the type of foods consumed, toxic chemicals entering the body and the organs of detoxification (liver, gall bladder, lymph, kidney).

So, should you recognize in you or a family member the typical symptoms of Lyme with which you or they might be encumbered, find a practitioner to assist you in your healing journey. True, it is not a quick treatment. It can take several months at best, but without treatment the pain and cognitive symptoms along with the terrible fatigue will not go away. Having had many patients suffering with this awful disease, I know this is true.

Please call me if you have any questions. I am more than happy to be of whatever help I can.

Dr. Trubey

Depression? – There is Reason to be Hopeful

Anyone who has suffered with chronic depression knows all too well how terribly painful an experience it is. A few find answers, most don’t. Those who don’t, understand the maxim, “the death of hope leads to the hope for death.”

But is there any reason to be very hopeful?

For more than 3 ½ decades, with the approval of Prozac, chronic depression has unquestionably been linked to inadequate levels of neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine etc.), due to damaged neuron bundles in the brain that regulate and prevent depression. But unfortunately, there are over 1100 known neurotoxins, whose damage to these neurons is cumulative over a lifetime.

Perhaps this is why standard drug therapy for depression, including reuptake inhibitors like Prozac™, Zoloft™, etc. is not found in seniors to be any more effective than a placebo. But hardly any more impressive is that several studies of adults have revealed a startling fact. Reuptake inhibitors as a class of drugs provided relief of depression not much better than a placebo. The Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the benefit of antidepressant medication compared to a placebo, in mild to moderate depression, may be on average, minimal to nonexistent. Newsweek magazine concluded that scientists are beginning to see these drugs as expensive Tic Tacs.

Here is the painful truth:

Doctors write more than 250 million prescriptions for SSRIs like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil every year.
When researchers looked at 38 clinical trials covering 3,000 depressed patients on these drugs, they found that 75% of mood improvement came from the drugs’ placebo effect. ( Kirsch I. “Antidepressants and the placebo effect.” Z Psychol. 2014; 222(3): 128–134.)

In a systematic review published in Molecular Psychiatry July 20, 2022:4

“The serotonin hypothesis of depression is still influential. We aimed to synthesize and evaluate evidence on whether depression is associated with lowered serotonin concentration or activity in a systematic umbrella review of the principal relevant areas of research …

17 studies were included: 12 systematic reviews and meta-analyses, 1 collaborative meta-analysis, 1 meta-analysis of large cohort studies, 1 systematic review and narrative synthesis, 1 genetic association study and 1 umbrella review …

Two meta-analyses of overlapping studies examining the serotonin metabolite, 5-HIAA, showed no association with depression … One meta-analysis of cohort studies of plasma serotonin showed no relationship with depression… Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London

Dr. Moncrieff is the lead author of the serotonin paper. ‘This idea that they work by targeting the underlying biological mechanisms that produce the symptoms of mental disorders is actually not supported by evidence for any type of mental disorder, whether that’s depression or schizophrenia or whatever,’ she told Newsweek.

Instead, she argues, the drugs change ‘normal brain states’ and ‘normal mental states and processes’ in ways not that much different than recreational drugs like alcohol.” The paper’s co-authors … call for a fundamental reassessment of how mental illness is treated. ‘We have a mistaken view of what psychiatric drugs are doing,’

Dr. Moncrieff concludes, “I think we can safely say that after a vast amount of research conducted over several decades, there is no convincing evidence that depression is caused by serotonin abnormalities, particularly by lower levels or reduced activity of serotonin”

So, if we are to be hopeful at all, it will not come from drugs which never increase the number of neurotransmitters, but from a more comprehensive understanding of what is actually taking place in the brain of those having to suffer the effects of this illness.

It is now well known that for nearly all doctors practicing functional medicine the underlying cause of depression is inflammation. And this is also true for anxiety, brain fog, and all the more serious cognitive disorders, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease among the more common disorders.

The brain is having to cope with a variety of very pro-inflammatory compounds – IL6, TH17, IL1, and individuals with depression are loaded with these and other pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, IL-18 and CRP. When these are running wild in the brain, damaging brain cells, it is not possible to be cognitively well.

When these damaging cytokines interfere with neurotransmitter synthesis and metabolism and interrupt neuroendocrine function, the problem is not the neurotransmitters but the inflammation that disrupts their proper function, which is likely why the standard antidepressant drugs have such little benefit.

So, the hope in depression is to discover the source of the inflammation. There are a number of culprits that would be considered underlying factors leading to depression. Here are a number of them, but not necessarily all of them that should be considered.

Hypothyroid disease
Oral contraceptives and hormone dysfunction
Blood sugar dysregulation and obesity
DNA/Genetic mutations
Chronic infections
A damaged and leaky gut
Emotional trauma
Autoimmune disease
Sleep deprivation and sedentary lifestyle
Environmental factors, including – indoor mold exposure, toxic chemicals, EMF sensitivity, toxic metals
Multiple nutrient deficiencies from the Standard American Diet (SAD diet)

On that last bullet point Functional Psychiatrist, Dr. Jame Greenblatt has this to say:

Over the last decade, scientific research has clearly established a relationship between malnutrition and brain function across every major psychiatric illness, from depression, ADHD, and schizophrenia, to eating disorders, anxiety, and dementia. Evidence confirms clear associations between nutritional imbalances in the body, and the prevalence and severity of mental illness and symptoms. Traditional psychiatry treatment for mental illness, however, fails to recognize and address nutritional imbalances as factors in mental illness.

Of course, there is likely a number of others that could be added to the list above, but the important need is to discover the primary factors and then to correct them. In working with patients, I go into the above in more detail as we unravel the ones most likely affecting the patient I am seeing.

And there are usually one or more assessments that I find helpful to give me a much clearer indication of the factors that are provoking inflammation in those who are dealing with this very troubling illness. These objective measurements provide valid, scientific reasons for inflammation and cognitive dysfunction that have been woefully neglected in past approaches. By recognizing and treating each person’s unique internal imbalances and biochemistry, outcomes can be dramatically improved.

If you would like to discover the specific areas of concern that are the root drivers of your inflammation, give me a call and make an appointment so we, together, can find the path of healing that you seek so that you can really enjoy life again.

There is hope for depression; it does not have to be a lifetime of agony.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” -Jer. 29:11

VedaPulse

Heart Rate Variability, HRV, is the variation in the time interval between one heartbeat and the next. People will say their heart rate is 75 or 64 or 82 beats per minute. But in fact there is, or at least should be some variation in the rhythm of the beating heart, so that when you inhale, your heart rate actually speeds up and when you exhale it slows down. You are likely not able to sense or feel the difference but it does take place.

While one would think that a steady, unvarying heart rhythm would be something we would want to have, it is just not the case. The heart continually oscillates between acceleration and deceleration in a tug-of-war within the autonomic nervous system, controlled by two “pacemakers” in the heart that creates the heart’s rhythms. So there should be no fixed heart rate. In fact, it has been repeatedly shown that the more rigid and unchanging the heart rate, the more stress of some type is in our system and one is at greater risk for health problems of any type.

What Causes the Variableness of our Heart Rate?

Our thoughts, emotions, and experiences of the external world are tightly connected to the functioning of our nervous system, heart rhythm and breathing. When in a stressful moment our heart speeds up. When our body is under the stress of an infection it will again be at a faster rate but not necessarily have a better variability and more often than not it will have less variability. Think of what your heart was doing on your first date, prom night, at your wedding or when going into a meeting with the IRS. It was naturally responding to a stress. A healthy heart responds to the demands of the organism; it doesn’t follow preordained intervals and the more flexible we are, the more capable we are of dealing with life’s inevitable stressors and the better our HRV. This flexibility, or lack of it, is tightly correlated to our autonomic nervous system which is in turn reflected in our heart rhythm and then visualized with the test.

The Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system is the “automatic” nervous system: that part of the nervous system that is not under conscious control. It controls the organs and systems of the body that are rhythmic, regular and automatic such as breathing, digestion, infection fighting and heart rate. There are two branches of the autonomic nervous system: sympathetic and parasympathetic. These two branches work to keep the organs they control in perfect balance.

The Sympathetic Nervous System is that part of the ANS that produces our “fight or flight” response. In a word it is responsible for our survival. In so doing it shuts down digestion and funnels blood and energy to our large muscles to prepare us for attack or escape – i.e. survival and self-preservation. Chronic over-stimulation of our sympathetic nervous system will eventually lead to multiple health problems and low variability of the heart rate.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System is often referred to as the “rest and digest” part of the ANS. This part of the ANS decreases the heart rate, improves digestive function and generally allows for repair of our tissues and organs. When the sympathetic system dominates, repair is difficult and our organs and systems go into disrepair at a much faster rate.

Thus we can see that a greater variability (or good HRV) correlates with better health, a healthy autonomic nervous system, an inherent self-regulatory capacity, along with adaptability and resilience. And in particular we have a healthy balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. A decreased HRV is an early, accurate indicator that the autonomic nervous system is out of balance. The lower the HRV (the lower the variability), the greater the imbalance in autonomic control and the greater the likelihood of poor health, both now and in the future. Therein lays the beauty of HRV: It offers a glimpse into the autonomic system, an aspect of our physiology normally shrouded in mystery.

And yes, it is possible to have too much variability or an excessively high HRV. That is really instability and we would call that arrhythmia, which is chaotic and very detrimental to normal physiological functioning and energy utilization.

Scientifically Based

HRV was first used clinically in 1965 when researchers concluded that fetal distress was accompanied by changes in beat to beat variation in the fetal heart, well before they could see detectable changes in the heart rate. The scientific data base is rather voluminous at this point with nearly 12,000 scientific articles published in the English language alone. Even the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded many studies on HRV in evaluating it as a biomarker for evaluating health and one’s disease potential.

Even the American Heart Association in a study they published in 2000 found that decreased heart rate variability was associated with a higher risk of death in patients with heart disease and in the elderly and an increased risk of coronary heart disease in the general population. But other studies have shown that the risk is not limited to just the heart. There is increased risk for a number of other disease states just as our ANS affects every system and organ of the body. But the opposite is also true among the elderly; a high HRV is strongly associated with “healthy longevity”.

What Causes a Decreased HRV?

Not-so-optimal heart rate variability may due to multiple factors. It can be from general factors like age, gender or weight, but it can also be from stress at home or work environments or disease states. Even for some, environmental factors, like mold exposure, the weather, Wi-Fi, or electromagnetic storms can play an unsuspecting role. And one does not have to be stuck with a lousy HRV; it can be changed.

Besides changing or adapting better to those environmental and stress factors, improvement can also come from treating those disease conditions along with using biofeedback, meditation, learning proper breathing and just learning to relax.

More than just HRV

It is important to fully understand that while HRV is a wonderfully valuable tool in and of itself, the VedaPulse is more than just HRV. The developer, Dr. Oleg V. Sorokin along with his team, took the HRV one step further and married the device to the ancient science of Pulse Analysis. Pulse analysis has been a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the Ayurvedic system of medicine, from India, for hundreds of years.

Pulse Analysis is performed by a well-trained TCM doctor or doctor of Ayurvedic Medicine. His or her fingers are placed on the wrist(s) of the patient where they feel for the subtle signals from the patient’s pulse. From pulse analysis, an experienced doctor can determine not only whether the patient is well or ill, but also determine the patient’s relative health situation from the perfectly-good-health to critically-ill-health spectrum, as well as the part(s) of the body and the bodily organ(s) that may be experiencing abnormalities. This is the reason that the first thing that doctors of these traditions do in examining a patient is to perform a pulse analysis. It is likely that the first analysis developed by humans was Pulse Analysis.

In the Eastern approach to health assessment, unlike Western Medicine, there is no diagnosis made. The individual’s constitutional type is assessed and then the underlying syndrome, connected to the distress in specific systems or organs is determined. The VedaPulse assessment is able to define the constitutional type and from that it further determines the organs that are weak and need of support as well as organs that are mildly to highly stressed. From that determination, specific recommendations for herbs and essential oils are made, along with specific foods to use and foods to avoid.

To make this possible, Dr. Sorokin and his team found a way to described complex concepts of pulse analysis in mathematical language. In so doing, the VedaPulse can estimate the energy level of the 12 systems below. Red color will indicate tension (excess stress in the organ), those organs in yellow will indicate debilitation of energy (syndrome of weakness); orange colored organs reveal light tension. Light green in the organs suggest slight debilitation and green color indicates a normal functioning organ. The 12 organs/systems evaluated by the VedaPulse include:

With few exceptions the VedaPulse is performed on every new patient that I see and provides some extremely valuable insights on where the stresses are in the system and where we find weakness as well.

The 12 organs Evaluated by

The VedaPulse:

Lungs
Colon
Stomach
Spleen
Heart
Small intestine
Urinary bladder
Kidney
Pericardium
Triple heater
Gall bladder
Liver

In this example #3, the stomach is highly stressed while #4, the spleen and #10, the Triple Heater (endocrine organs) are very weak

We also will see a measure of the level of health, the level of our stress and our ability to adapt to the stressors in our life. But we also like to know how fast we are aging in dealing with our life stresses. The VedaPulse provides this information to us as well.

Dangerous Mycotoxins – what you need to know

During the last couple of decades, practitioners in the field of Natural or Functional medicine are seeing more and more patients with a complex set of symptoms that never seem to lead to a good diagnosis of anything specific – just a random set of possibilities. Conventional doctors, equally puzzled, just continue to prescribe one drug after another for symptomatic relief, but never of course, getting to any of the underlying causes.

And for many patients those underlying factors could well be from several potential sources. I find it rather common to see, chronic, low-level, “flying under the radar” viral and bacterial pathogens, chemical toxins, food sensitivities, gastrointestinal dysfunctions and nearly always genetic abnormalities with specific variants or mutations in critical genes and gene pathways. Conventional medicine rarely looks for these primal or root dysfunctions and then dismisses many a patient as a hypochondriac.

Some individuals feel they are having an optimal lifestyle – eating organic, healthy foods, exercising, managing stress, and getting their 8 hours of sleep, yet they still have a lot of nagging symptoms and their doctor visits are not producing any answers or improvement. The fatigue remains along with those recurring headaches and nasal issues. There are others but with the memory problems they can’t remember them all.

But there is another intrinsic cause, often overlooked even by practitioners in Functional Medicine – that being patients dealing with mold/mycotoxin illness. And it is true… it can be difficult to recognize as it will masquerade as many other illnesses, with lots of vague symptoms and nothing specific. Mold and mycotoxin illness can range from flu-like feelings that do not go away to serious illness and a nightmare type of fatigue with brain fog that makes everyday tasks nearly impossible. It is even more challenging when you consider that conventional medicine doesn’t really believe that mold exposure is a problem at all. But first, what are molds and mycotoxins anyway?

Nasty Mold – Hazardous Mycotoxins

Molds are multiple types of fungi that grow in filaments and reproduce by forming tiny spores that sprout and fly away but are invisible to the naked eye. Mold grows in damp, warm, and humid locations, inside and outside. But obviously can grow in your refrigerator as well.

mold

We have all seen mold on bread or an orange that took too long for us to consume. But that is not what is most concerning. The real problem is mold that we cannot see. And some individuals can be exposed to serious levels of mold without realizing it. It can be hiding inside walls, around water pipes that have leaked, around bathtubs that overflowed or in our air conditioning systems.

I once had a patient who came to see me with a variety of strange symptoms that to me was suspicious of mold/mycotoxin illness. Because it began shortly after moving into an older home, I suggested she have it checked for a source of mold.

She indicated it was thoroughly investigated by a home inspector as a part of the sale. I strongly encouraged her to have it re-examined. She did and the inspector almost missed it. But when he opened the duct directly above her bed it looked something like this:

She had lived there for two years, breathing toxic mold for 8 hours/night. But here’s the problem. While we may either remove ourselves from the mold or remove the mold contamination from our homes, the mycotoxins produced by the mold remain in us indefinitely until we have them cleared from our body. Unfortunately, that is not done by just taking a nice little supplement because it is a more complex task, often taking several months. But, when this is the problem they are dealing with, removal of mycotoxins in our body is critical if one is to ever get well,.

And here is something else that few individuals realize. It has been estimated that 25% of the world crops are contaminated from mold and fungal growth. From orange juice to most coffee to peanuts and legumes and very, very commonly in nearly all grains and cereals. Fungal and mold contamination is the most commonly occurring natural contaminate in our foods. And yes, even many organic foods.

Dr. Amy Myers, a very experienced mold/mycotoxin practitioner, describes mycotoxins this way: “Mycotoxins are very toxic compounds given off by certain types of mold. Molds are all around us and the vast majority of them are not dangerous. However, there are some molds that produce gas-like substances called mycotoxins. These are very similar to a volatile organic compound (VOC).”

Some individuals are more sensitive to mold and mycotoxin exposure than others. It has to do with their genetic predisposition. Individuals with variants or mutations to the HLA-DR gene, and other genes that control inflammation are not able to successfully rid their body of these mycotoxins. It may be as high as ¼ of the population that are at risk due to these gene variants. It is not a problem for them if exposure does not take place, but if it does, they can be seriously affected.

And yes, it is also true that one could be affected even without those variants in the HLA-DR gene. Just having a good deal of inflammation in one’s body with a genetically compromised ability to counteract that inflammation and poor detoxification in our intestine, liver and kidneys can set us up for trouble as well.

Symptoms of Mycotoxin illness

The most common symptom of mycotoxin illness is fatigue, but secondarily, headache. However, individuals will have other symptoms specific to their genetics and biochemical makeup. Here is what to look for:

Immune Symptoms

Fatigue or Chronic fatigue syndrome
Autoimmune disease
Fibromyalgia/Joint pain
Fever

Respiratory Symptoms

Nasal symptoms/sinusitis
Chronic cough/ throat irritation
Weak voice or wheezing
Asthma/allergies
Air hunger/chest discomfort

Neurological Symptoms

Memory problems
Headaches
Slurring of speech
Insomnia
Lightheaded
Brain fog/spaciness
Depression/anxiety
Difficulty concentrating
Focus issues/ADD-ADHD
Symptoms of Lyme disease

Skin Symptoms

Rash
Heat or cold intolerance
Numbness
Skin slushing
Eczema

Digestive Symptoms

Bloating
Food sensitivities
Leaky gut
Recurrent yeast infections

Eye Symptoms

Watery eyes
Visual changes

Musculoskeletal Symptoms

Spasms
Joint pain
Coordination problems
Weakness

Seeing this list of symptoms might give you an understanding of why mycotoxin illness is considered the great masquerader and look terribly similar to Lyme, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Autoimmune diseases.

It is also sadly true that many a breast implant, when removed, has serious mold contamination growing on those implants inside women’s bodies, contaminating them with these dangerous mycotoxins. The truly tragic factor – it rarely ever discovered until one undergoes explant surgery. But by then the damage has been done. And because either mold growth or chemical contamination takes years to develop, most women and their doctors fail to link present-day symptoms with a many year’s earlier implant surgery

Other symptoms are also possible. As many will experience flu-like illness or a general ill feeling with things just not being right in the brain. Long-term exposure, these dangerous mycotoxins can damage the immune system, the liver, kidney, hormonal balance, skin, and brain. As you can see, they can have a serious and powerful effect on human health

Dr. Daniel Amen, a Psychiatrist, has this to say about the effect of mycotoxins on the brain: “…it damages people’s brain and if damages their brain, they look like they have ADD. The look depressed. They’re having trouble of getting along, being successful.”

Indeed, the effect on the brain can be serious. Notice what another highly qualified mold/mycotoxin physician, Dr. Jill Carnahan, has to say of the effect of mycotoxins on the brain.

T-2 toxin – Known for inducing neuronal cell death in both fetal and adult brains.
Macrocyclic trichothecenes – Causes neuronal cell death and inflammation in the olfactory system.

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) – Causes neuronal degeneration in the cerebral cortex and disrupts ceramide synthesis (and important lipid in the brain).
Ochratochin A (OTA) – Induces acute depletion of striatal dopamine, which has shown to cause cell death in the hippocampus, substantia nigra, and striatum (different parts of the brain).

I suspect that for some individuals, long-term exposure to mycotoxins may be a major factor in their dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – although, clearly not excluding a number of other factors. But mycotoxins love the brain as a place to call home

You see, mycotoxins have a serious impact on your mitochondria, our cells engine, that create the energy for the cell to function, including brain cells. Because mitochondria are in nearly every cell of your body, mycotoxin damage to those powerplants will affect the function of nearly every organ and system of our body – fatigue being the obvious one. But the damage will produce free radicals that act like cellular rust producing inflammation everywhere, eventually leading toward autoimmune-type diseases.

Now for some good news

The good news is that it is entirely possible to clear your body and your environment of mycotoxins and to prevent toxic mold from growing out of control in your home and mycotoxins in your body. But the first step is to see if you have been exposed to mold and are experiencing mycotoxin illness.

I have had patients tell me that they do not recall any mold exposure previously. But when test results come back and it shows elevated antibodies to specific mycotoxins, they are surprised to see that. When I review possible sources of exposure with them, invariably we will discover the likely source.

For one patient it was working in a musty gymnasium that had a leaky roof. For another it was a house she rented that was also not adequately sealed from rainwater. But there are a myriad of other sources and the first and foremost treatment is to either remove oneself from the source or remove the source, and completely clear up all damaged and contaminated material – usually destroying and replacing it, and having it done professionally.

But for many individuals they may have long ago removed themselves from a mold contaminated building, but their health issues remain because they didn’t know that they took their mycotoxins with them, and no one has helped them to clean up their internal damage along with those persistent mycotoxins.

Testing

Testing for mycotoxins can be done via blood or urine. Because our food supply, such as nuts, cereals, and rice are contaminated by mold, but even meat, fruits, nuts, wine, beer, coffee as well, for that reason, mycotoxins can be found in the urine in parts per billion in healthy people. So, the preferred method of testing is blood IgG and IgE as this gives me the indication of what your body perceives as threats

Blood tests for mycotoxins have been used for the last 20 years and are highly accurate. The specificity and sensitivity of blood serum testing for the presence of antibodies to mycotoxins in the blood are extremely high. The test I use is for IgG and IgE antibodies for 12 mycotoxins for a total of 24 test results. These include Mycotoxins from:

Penicillium (mycophenolic acid)
Alternaria
Aspergillus (gliotoxin)
Stachybotrys
Cladosporium
Aspergillus auto-toxin
Aspergillus/Penicillium neurotoxic mycotoxin
Ochratoxin
Satratoxin
T-2 Toxin
Vomitoxin
Verrucarin and verrucarol

So, if you find your symptom picture matching several the symptoms above and you have not found a solution, give some thought to mycotoxin illness as something you should consider and then get tested.

And as usual, these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The products mentioned in this article are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information in this article is not intended to replace any recommendations or relationship with your physician.

Dr. Trubey’s patients with digestive conditions routinely obtain relief from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Chronic gastritis, and chronic diarrhea. Call for an appointment – 501-538-4944.

Those Amazing Peptides – Are they the missing component to improve your Health?

What are Peptides?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids. Amino Acids are the natural building blocks of proteins. Our bodies use these peptides as signaling molecules for biological pathways to initiate activity in those pathways. The use of peptides as a supplement will help stimulate these same functions and in the same way that naturally occurring peptides will have in those target areas

Our body is completely familiar with peptides as it uses them for many biological functions. Their effects are specific and generally without side-effects as they are naturally found throughout our body and their metabolic pathways are already in place.

Supplemental peptides are bio-identical, having the exact structure of peptides already created by our own body, but sometimes due to diet indiscretions or genetics, they are in inadequate amounts for necessary optimal function. Supplementation bridges this gap, promoting optimal function.

The body uses a vast array of highly specific signaling peptides to regulate different functions of tissues throughout the body. Thus, peptide therapy offers the potential to achieve specific responses of select tissues rather than less precise and broad effects of hormone therapy or trying to achieve a desired effect by altering physiologic processes with medications.

In addition, many commonly used peptides have been found to have no side effects even when given at doses 1000 times the usual dose, which is unheard of with any medication.

Peptides control and modulate most systems in your body, including hormone production, immune function, the sleep cycle, the production of inflammatory mediators, DNA replication, cell division and renewal, cancer cell destruction and apoptosis, libido and sexual arousal, weight loss, lean muscle gain, mitochondrial function, cognitive function, mood, energy and other metabolic activities, tissue healing and specific biological functioning of the brain, skin, eyes, urinary and reproductive systems, aging and longevity, and many more.

Peptides regulate most every known process and system in the body
Peptide therapies generally have tissue-specific effects while hormones have less precise with broad effects
Shown to be extremely safe
Most peptides are the same as naturally produced in the body but a few are synthetically produced

The categories of Peptides and where they work

Immune & thymic modulating peptides
Brain peptides
Sleep supporting peptides
Growth hormone secretagogue peptides
Antimicrobial peptides
Rejuvenation & pain reducing peptides
Mitochondrial & energy enhancing peptides
Melanotropic (melanin/tanning) peptides

Thymic peptides

Our thymus gland is intimately involved in immune activation. The function of the thymus cannot be overstated. Yet its function begins to slowly decrease throughout our 20s and 30s and reaches its lowest level of activity in our early 40s – about the time we start to see the onset of chronic degenerative diseases in many individuals. Thymic function stays at

About 10% of our peak production (early in life) for the remainder of our lives. This results in some unfortunate consequences for us, including:

Increased susceptibility to infections
Inadequate immune response to vaccinations
Increased cancer risk
Increased cardiovascular disease
Increased autoimmune and degenerative diseases

Using thymic peptides practitioners have found that these marvelous peptides will:

Modulate the immune response to produce a balanced immune system, particularly reducing any inflammatory proinflammatory cytokines or enhancing them as needed individually
Providing significant repair, restoring, and healing activity
Improving the function of the mitochondria with increased ATP or energy production
They directly support cellular function and induce normal gene function
Stimulation of wound healing, and proper stem cell function and proliferation
Stimulation of white blood cell activity and the removal of toxins and waste material from the cell
They work to support and maintain a healthy GI mucosa and blood brain barrier. This works to protect against a leaky gut and a leaky brain – keeping unwanted toxic material out of the blood and the brain
Calms excessive inflammation in the brain from overactive microglial cells and binding or blocking neurotoxins, endotoxins and electromagnetic toxins
They improve Natural Killer cell production – critical to our immune system

One of those Thymic peptides being used by clinicians, Thymosin Beta 4 Fragment, is composed of only 4 amino acids; yet that little peptide fights excess clotting (often seen in chronic disease), is anti-inflammatory, supports cellular healing and stimulates the production of blood vessels. But it’s wide-ranging activity is also known to do the following:

Lowers inflammation
Gut repair
Induces autophagy
Calms muscle spasm/ cardiac injury
Improved muscle tone
Increased exchange of substances between cells
Encourages tissue repair
Stretches connective tissue
Helps maintain flexibility
Reduced inflammation of tissue in joints
Encourages the growth of new blood cells
Increased endurance and strength
Promotes hair growth

Protects and supports liver
Antiviral/ kills Lyme cysts – herpes
Skin repair/healing
Balances immune-regulatory system
Prevents the formation of adhesions and fibrous bands in muscles, tendons, and ligaments
promotes cardiomyocyte migration, survival, and repair, and the pathway it regulates may be a new therapeutic target in the setting of acute myocardial damage.

In addition, doctors have found it helpful as a restorative and regenerative therapy for neurological injury and degenerative diseases. That would include a great number of these health problems

Of further interest is that in animal studies, the use of thymic and pineal gland peptides was found to increase the maximum lifespan in those animals when compared to control animals. In addition, they were found to have stronger immune systems with reduced rates of cancer

Sleep peptides

One lifestyle habit of so many in the western world is not giving themselves adequate time to sleep – cutting the time of sleep sometimes on both ends. For others it is just a problem with insomnia – they would like to sleep but can’t. And yet one of the most important needs for our health is adequate sleep, 7-9 hours daily. So, it may not be surprising then that a couple of the sleep peptides are having a profound impact on the individuals using them. The benefits improve the levels of neurotransmitters as well as melatonin and the benefits that naturally come with improved deep sleep. These include:

Increase in pineal gland synthesis of serotonin and melatonin
Increases in telomere length (increase in telomere length equates to longer life)
Reduced ageing of the reproductive system and increases fertility in older female rats
Improves T4 to T3 conversion of thyroid hormones (inactive to active)
Improves glucose tolerance and decreases insulin resistance
Slows aging and increases longevity
Protects against senescent cells (cells that are no longer dividing) and cancer
Activates gene expression and protein synthesis in specific tissues

One physician suggested that these may be “one of the best anti-aging substances we know of”, and here is why.

These two peptides were investigated over a 6–8 year period in 266 elderly patients and were only treated in the first two to three years of the study. The results showed convincingly of their ability to normalize basic functions of the human organism. The effects seemed to be protracted long after their use was discontinued, resulting in a 2-2.4 fold decrease in acute respiratory disease incidence, reduced incidence of clinical manifestations of ischemic heart disease, hypertension, deforming osteoarthritis and osteoporosis as compared to controls.

A separate group of patients was treated with peptides annually for the entire 6 years and their mortality rate was ¼ that of the control group

The Delta Sleep Inducing Peptide (DSIP) is a neuropeptide discovered by the Swiss during the 1970’s. DSIP has been found in various areas throughout the body such as the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands.

This is a really interesting compound which mainly aids in helping sleep disorders. However, it’s still being studied nearly 40 years after its initial discovery. The most common use for DSIP is as a sleep aid which allows for deeper sleep. However, this isn’t some over the counter supplement like melatonin or some herbal tea. This peptide is on a whole other level.

Most users report having a massive improvement in memory function throughout the day. This is likely because the 3rd and 4th stages of sleep is where our brain begins to do the most repair work. This is also the critical time when the brain sifts through our experiences through the day and ‘cleans out the hard drive’ to decide what to keep and discard from our memories of that day. DSIP is often paired with another peptide to gain the maximum sleep effect

Having the proper quality of sleep allows for proper healing and repair for our brain. This peptide has been shown to allow those suffering from poor sleep to perform cognitive tasks much better.

Also, keep in mind that much of our growth hormone is released by the pituitary gland during sleep. So, one could theorize an increase in GH output and healing due to these deeper sleep patterns.

Remember, while the growth hormone is essential for the growth of children. In adults it is involved in the repair functions of the body. In addition, it is during our deep sleep that the cleansing of brain toxins take place.

So, with the use of these peptides and improved sleep, one might expect to see:

Deceases cortisol levels
Stimulates the release of luteinizing hormone (LH)
Increases the release of Grow Hormone
Releasing Hormone (GHRH)
Normalizes blood pressure
Studies in mice have suggested that it could have antioxidant effects
Shown to have anti-carcinogenic properties by reducing tumor sizes in mice
People with major depressive disorders were shown to have significantly lower levels of DSIP.
This suggest that DSIP could help with depression.
Experiments suggest that DSIP could be helpful in treating alcohol and opiate dependency.
Research is being carried out to use DSIP as a treatment for sleeping disorders such as narcolepsy and insomnia.

Not everyone will benefit from this peptide and studies have found this to be true. Thus, it may be that when combined with other modalities a more positive experience may be realized. So, some practitioners combine DISP with Epitalon or another peptide, CJC, an analogue of growth hormone.

Body Protection Compound peptide

One of the most commonly used peptides used by Functional doctors is the Body Protection Compound. This jewel of a peptide, of only 15 amino acids, seems to make every other natural healing modality just work better.

It was originally discovered and isolated from human gastric juice and strangely, is resistant to breaking apart even in the gastric juice. It is known to have a wide range of healing modalities, including supporting the production of nitric oxide modulating neurotransmitter levels, and having positive effects toward the intestinal microbiome, the gut-brain axis and protecting against leaky gut. However, the benefits may extend to include, gastritis/GERD, gastric ulcers, SIBO and food intolerances.

In addition, this BPC peptide improves cardiovascular function and is protective against the toxic effects of EMFs. The medical literature indicates it having benefits in:

Heart failure
Hypotension or hypertension
Post heart attack cardiac damage
Arrhythmias and vascular repair

In the nervous system practitioners and researchers have found it beneficial in the treatment of central and peripheral nervous system pathologies, including:

Traumatic brain injury
Alzheimer’s disease
Parkinson’s disease
Peripheral nerve damage

Mood disorders including anxiety and depression

The Body Protection Compound assists the body in the repair of tendons, muscles, intestines, and bones – all of the areas where so many individuals are dealing with chronic symptoms and not seeming to improve. If you have a hard time with wound healing, we can certainly call on this peptide for assistance and expect to be helped.

Brain peptides

Many practitioners are finding that our brain is benefited with nutritional supplements called Neuotrophins or nootropics. Nootropics are compounds or supplements that enhance cognitive performance. Some docs use this term for so-called smart drugs.

The identification of new compounds with neurotrophic properties is becoming a new strategy for the prevention and/or treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. One of these peptides, Cerebrolysin, is currently approved for use in 44 countries as a treatment for dementia and stroke. Research studies and its use in medical practice has revealed:

It is indeed a neurotropic with repair properties
Penetrates the blood brain barrier and is neuroprotective
Stimulates both the central and peripheral nerve growth factors
Has been found to be very helpful in autism and Asperger’s syndrome at very low doses
It has been found beneficial for traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s, and stroke patients

Other nootropic peptides have also been found to have similar activities, but will also

Shield neurons from neurotoxins, inflammation and injury
Protect against stress effects and depression
Seems to benefit learning and memory function
Interact with and support a balanced neurotransmitter function
Works to regenerate neurological damage in Parkinson’s, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and toxin induced brain dysfunction

Many functional health practitioners are seen an increasing number of patients having symptoms of mast cell activation.

Mast cell activation is an immunological condition in which mast cells, a type of white blood cell, inappropriately and excessively release chemical mediators, resulting in a wide range of chronic symptoms, which can be as severe as anaphylaxis or near-anaphylaxis attacks, but more likely include flushing, itching, diarrhea, shortness of breath, brain fog, skin lesions, joint swelling hives and many others.

Primary organ system involved include cardiovascular, dermatological, gastrointestinal, neurological and respiratory systems. Because of their nature it can cause a lot of anxiety and panic in individuals affected.

Several of the peptides have immune modulating activity and will calm down excessive stimulation of these cells. Even one of the Melanocortins, KPV, and one of the rejuvenating/pain peptides are potent immune modulators, reducing inflammation and inhibiting this mast cell activation, while promoting a healing response.

Beyond the mast cell activity reduction, they tend to stimulate weight loss, reduce insulin and leptin resistance. But they go even deeper in their activity, enhancing restful sleep and gut health, lowering depression, while lessening risk of elevated blood sugar

More on KPV

This relatively newer tripeptide is an alpha melanocyte-stimulating hormone. New research on hormones in this class have shown immunomodulating and anti-inflammatory effects of these peptides. KPV has a multitude of uses on the auto-immune side as well as the anti-inflammatory side

KPV works very well as a topical cream for things such as acne, eczema and psoriasis. In an oral form, it can help with ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and Crohn’s disease, but also for:

Cystic acne
Acne in general
Crohn’s disease
Ulcerative colitis
Irritable bowel syndrome
Eczema
Psoriasis
Mold
Lyme
Potential help with multiple sclerosis
inflammatory skin and eye conditions
allergic asthma
arthritis
decreases Mast cell activation

Peptides for sexual health

One area of health that some are reluctant to discuss but is a problem in a huge percentage of adults of both sexes, is that of dysfunctional sexual health. It can be a problem not just in the geriatric population but is now being seen in young adults as well.

Turning to the PDES inhibitor drugs like Viagra or Cialis is helpful only for some men but not for women. The most common complaints are of erectile dysfunction and loss of libido. In fact, in the older pool of premenopausal women, approximately 6 million suffer from hypoactive sexual desire. But if I were making a guess on this, my bet would be that that figure is much, much higher. And for that group of women the melanocortin peptide PT-141, should be given a try.

With close to 20 million males affected by ED, this peptide is well worth a trial run. Many men report a dramatic improvement to their ED.

The PT-141 peptide has been helpful to both men and women and works by activating your dopamine hormone to enhance sexual performance and motivation. Unlike Cialis or Viagra, which works on the nitric oxide level in the vascular system, this peptide acts on the nervous system, via activation of the neurons in the hypothalamus to increase sexual desire, with a rather high rate of success in both males and females, providing users the following:

Increase in libido levels
Elevated degrees of sexual gratification
Enhanced vigor and sexual desire
Strengthened penile erections
Skin tanning
Mood enhancement
Possible improvement in neuropathy

While side effects of peptides are rare, this peptide can have the effect of causing mild headaches or nausea in about 5-10% of users. Sometimes flushing can occur as well. Of course tanning of the skin may be preferred by some but not others

More on Nootropics

Selank and Semax are both nootropics (cognitive enhancer) that were developed in Russia. In some cases, they can be used for similar purposes. Selank is an anxiolytic peptide that minimizes the harsh effects of stress and it is known to have fewer side effects when compared to Semax.

Selank and Semax are both potentially amazing cognitive enhancers. Semax is more potent in enhancing cognition and depression. Selank, on the other hand, shows better results when used for anti-anxiety purposes.

Selank is an anxiolytic peptide, which helps combat stress and anxiety. A study with a randomized controlled trial of 62 patients found out that those who took Selank had fewer symptoms of anxiety. One promising caveat observed in the same study is the greater decrease in those participants with pre-existing anxiety disorders.

This similar effect was observed in another randomized controlled trial with 60 anxiety and phobia patients.

May Improve Learning Ability

One study in mice showed Selank’s capability to improve learning ability within three days. The subjects treated with the peptide learned quicker on an electrical test.

May Help with Brain Damage Recovery

Researchers found Selank to restore the brain activity of mice with toxin-induced brain damage to normal levels.

May Help with Blood Pressure Management and Increase Brain Blood Flow

Selank decreased the blood pressure of sedated cat subjects by about 30% for 3 minutes in one study. It also increased the cats’ brain blood flow by about 24% for up to 10 minutes.

May Help with Weight Loss

Researchers found that when treated with Selank, high-fat-fed mice gained 35% less weight.

Helps Reduce Stress

Stress can be caused by a lot of different things, and the body reacts to it in various ways, as well. For instance, some bodies respond to stress by increasing the production of liver enzymes. One study conducted on rats showed that Selank reduced liver enzyme production.

May Help with Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by muscular rigidity, slow and imprecise movement, and tremors. Clinical trials found significant results, such as:

Improved mood
Decreased tremors
Better sleep quality
Decreased tearfulness
Lively reflexes

Although it contains a stabilizing protein sequence, Selank’s half-life is only two minutes—after 10 minutes, it becomes completely untraceable in the bloodstream. This opens the question of whether the peptide can really have long-lasting effects. However, doctors using it still find it to benefit patients using it.

Semax has undergone extensive study in Russia and is on the Russian List of Vital & Essential Drugs approved by the Russian Federation government on December 7, 2011. Medical uses for Semax include treatment of stroke, transient ischemic attack, memory and cognitive disorders, peptic ulcers, optic nerve disease, and to boost the immune system.

Increased brain BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor) levels and memory

one small-scale Russian study in healthy male users, Semax was reported to increase memory and attention during “extreme” or “highly-demanding” tasks. However, the details of this study are not available in English, and so the size and overall significance of these reported effects remain unknown
The memory effect may in part be due to mechanisms such as improved brain circulation and increased resistance to oxidative stress.
Some research also suggests that BDNF levels can influence mood, and that low levels of BDNF in the brain may be involved in the development of psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Neuroprotective/cardioprotective activity

it may help partially protect the brain from various types of stress and damage, such as from oxidative stress, inflammation, or possibly even adverse cardiovascular events, such as strokes.
In rats, Semax has been reported to protect the heart from damage after a stroke or heart attack. This study also reported that the drug may have prevented the excessive growth (hypertrophy) of the heart caused by elevated blood pressure (hypertension), which the authors propose may suggest a protective effect on the risk of additional future cardiovascular events

Reduced breakdown of enkephalins

Enkephalins are compounds which are believed to be involved in reducing pain (e.g. by stimulating the brain’s opioid system). Early finding has led some researchers to suggest that Semax may have some potential as a pain reliever by inhibiting the breakdown of enkephalins, although much more research would be needed

Protecting the nervous system and body organs from oxidative damage
ADHD

Semax has been reported to have a number of effects that may potentially be helpful in the treatment of ADHD, such as increasing attention and memory, as well as increasing the levels of a variety of neurotransmitters that are often reported to be lower in patients with ADHD (such as dopamine) .
Based on these early findings, some researchers have proposed evaluating Semax as a treatment for ADHD. In fact, some anecdotal evidence suggests that Semax is already occasionally used in Russia for this purpose (even though this medical application has not been officially approved)

Affecting the expression of certain genes related to the immune and vascular systems

Cerebrolysin – CerebroPep is by far one of the most well-studied peptides for treating neurodegenerative diseases, let alone as a medical treatment option. With cognitive decline on the rise, while manifesting in many different types of diseases, it is more imperative than ever to fully optimize our brain health.

A mixture of free L-amino acids and neuropeptides, CerebroPep also contains nerve growth factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The low-weight neuropeptides are no larger than 10,000 Daltons, which explains why Cerebrolysin can effectively penetrate the blood-brain barrier and directly exert its effects on the brain

Cerebrolysin contains natural neuropeptides that stimulate protein synthesis and neuron growth, support their functions, and help them to communicate with each other.

The peptide restores damaged neurons and slows down neuron damage while protecting them from the onset of unwanted symptoms, which explains Cerebrolysin’s ability to simultaneously tackle multiple domains of neurodegeneration

Effective for Cognitive Recovery From Strokes
Help speed Up Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Improves Measures of Cognitive Function in Dementia Patients
Can give adjunctive support in Alzheimer’s Disease
Might Be a Worthwhile Therapeutic Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)
May Be Effective in Treating ADD / ADHD
Shows Potential For helping Parkinson’s Disease patients improve function
May Address Disease complications of Diabetes (cardiovascular disease, organ damage (eyes, kidney, etc.), diabetic neuropathy and impaired mental health.
Could Improve Mental Functioning in Autistic Children
Demonstrates Cognition-Enhancing Properties

Practitioners in the functional medicine community are using quite a variety of peptides in their practice. I have only presented a few in this article… but you get the picture that they are immensely helpful. Some report that it has been so helpful that they did not know how they practiced without them previously and that they would never want to not have them available for patient care.

Please Note:

It should be understood that not everyone will experience the benefits associated with the peptides above. Generally, side-effects are mild and not common, even rare. So, most individuals will likely have no side-effects at all.

In addition, these peptides are not to be a substitute for sound medical advice and treatment from your PCP. They are not a treatment for disease but will support the efforts of your body to heal itself. Your body does all the healing. Any supportive supplement or peptide will help the body in its efforts but in the end, it is your immune and other systems, given the nutrients that it needs, that actually heals.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The products mentioned in this article are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information in this article is not intended to replace any recommendations or relationship with your physician.

Dr. Trubey’s patients with digestive conditions routinely obtain relief from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Chronic gastritis, and chronic diarrhea. Call for an appointment – 501-538-4944.

Advanced Intestinal Barrier Assessment

Advanced Intestinal Barrier Assessment

You have heard of leaky gut. Have you wondered if you have a leaky gut? The Advanced Intestinal Barrier Assessment will tell you precisely if you have a gut that is damaged and leaky. And if you do, did you know it can also be an underlying factor not only in in gas and bloating, but also in depression, joint pain and cardiovascular diseases. And those are just a few of the many, many symptoms and pathologies that are related to excessive gut permeability. The gut is said to be the gateway to health. It’s where nearly 80% of your immune system lives. But it may also be the gateway to terrible health problems as well, when it is imbalanced, damaged and leaky.

But what does a leaky gut really mean. In essence, undigested food particles, pathogenic microbes, toxins etc. are escaping out of the gut and getting directly into the blood where they can translocate to nearly any organ of the body including the brain, thyroid, heart, kidneys, joints, etc. In these locations they have the potential to ignite inflammation via pro-inflammatory molecules, and when this takes place long-term, they can induce autoimmune disease, or any of the diseases mentioned already

For years clinicians knew something was taking place at the gut level that had seriously strong relationships with tissue damage and organ dysfunction elsewhere, but there was no test to clearly define leaky gut.

Zonulin

Finally, it was the discovery of Zonulin by Dr. Alessio Fasano, Chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, that discovered the primary key in leaky gut – Zonulin.

Zonulin is the biomarker that is made in the gut and tells the gut lining to open. It binds to receptors in the gut and tells the tight junctions between cells to open and makes the gut leaky.

Now there is a purpose to some “leakiness”. We do want very small molecules like food nutrients to get through but not large molecules like bacteria, that will act as triggers of excessive immune response. So, when Zonulin is elevated on a blood test, we essentially know that we have created a pathway in the gut that goes from a small alleyway to a 6-lane highway. It is this factor that led Dr. Fasano to understand that elevated Zonulin was the key to seeing it as one of the primary environmental drivers of autoimmune disease. In fact, It was to him a near impossibility to have an autoimmune disease without a damaged and leaky gut.

You see we weren’t born with Lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, but when we develop a leaky gut, a deluge of toxins flood into the body and overwhelm it, which then stimulates strong inflammatory responses when these toxins get into specific body tissues.

Once we determine that Zonulin is elevated it can then be treated and the amount reduced to normal levels. This is a game changer as it will support any individuals return to normal gut function again and go a long way to lessen the autoantibodies involved in autoimmunity and one’s symptoms as well.

It provides us this great advantage to know when and where to start a therapeutic approach and when the treatment approach is complete. Then, it also allows us to potentially be able to return some foods back into the diet that have been previously removed

Knowing one of the major root causes for our inflammation and correcting it provides a significant step in the healing response for so many pathologies that patients are dealing with.

Any condition that has an element of inflammation has a good chance of being rooted in the gut. And Zonulin is the parameter we are looking at to give us that information. And when it is elevated, we have the condition necessary to create inflammation leading to reduced health and disease.

One thing that can be done to lower the level of Zonulin is to use immunoglobulins which can come from eggs, colostrum, or bovine serum. They are unique in that they look very similar to Zonulin. Look at it this way:

So as Zonulin comes back into the normal range we can then know when we can reduce or discontinue the treatment program with the gut barrier now intact. And this will now allow the chance to reintroduce many restricted foods back into the diet

Keep in mind that Zonulin is cited in the medical literature as related to the following:

In essence the Zonulin will tell us how leaky the gut really is and that is such a huge piece of information when I need to know how to guide a patient toward wellness

Diamine Oxidase – DAO

Zonulin gives us incredible insight into whether a gut lining is damaged or leaky, but another parameter, Diamine Oxidase greatly adds to this picture. DAO is the enzyme responsible for gobbling up and breaking down excess histamine found in the foods we eat. Histamine is found in many common foods like strawberries, tomatoes and “leftover” foods from a day or two before. In fact, through bacterial action, the longer we wait to consume these “leftover” foods, the more histamine is present. So perhaps it is histamine that is the reason for the same cantaloup producing symptoms today that was not seen when consumed fresh yesterday.

In situations like this, when we find a low level of diamine oxidase and correct it, it can be an awesome turning point for many individuals suffering with food reactions and other metabolic disturbances in the body.

DAO is made in the microvilli, the fingertips of the gut lining. As these microvilli get worn down with gut inflammation, they produce less and less DAO, resulting in higher and higher levels of histamine, leading to elevated levels of inflammation. And this lining can be broken down by any number of factors that damage the gut.

I have mentioned Zonulin already as a primary way we get a leaky gut, when it tells the tight junctions to open, allowing things to flood into the body. But there is another path to a leaky gut and that being erosion, as happens with the chronic, continual use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin. These can wear down the gut lining to the point of ulceration.

There are histamine receptors all over the body, eyes, nose gut, skin and even in the brain and any of these tissues will react with inflammation if the histamine is excessive in those tissues. And in the brain, elevated histamine can contribute to anxiety and depression and worse, ADHD and schizophrenia.

In the heart we have histamine receptors as well and when the DAO is low, it may result in increased levels of histamine, that contribute to something as uncomfortable as arrythmia. Treatment for that has been shown to protect against a heart going out of rhythm in some cases. I suspect the several million individuals with this condition might like to see if their condition would improve if they knew they had an underlying DAO problem.

Likewise, histamine may affect the joints, impairing their flexibility and increasing pain. Correcting DAO levels when low, may in fact result in less pain and freedom of movement. Patients may find that even a bountiful intake of beneficial anti-inflammatory supplements, attempting to target that inflammation, will not help when the DAO level is too low.

In addition to progesterone that drops off before a women’s period, DAO decreases as well. So, women with PMS symptoms, and headaches that are not responding to progesterone or other traditional support measures, their DAO level needs to be checked. And when low, correction will often resolve the migraines and other PMS symptoms. Inflammation may start in the gut, but it does not stay there – any tissue in the body can be a target.

To produce DAO, we need to be getting adequate amounts of Fish oils, Vitamin C, vitamin B6 and copper. These are the nutrients needed to produce DAO. When these are not adequate, and just as often because of a genetic variant in the genes designed to produce DAO, we will need to use the specific enzyme as well. And we know if it is necessary by the Advanced Intestinal Barrier Assessment providing us that information.

So, while we measure DAO in the Advanced Intestinal Barrier Assessment, histamine is also measured and what we want to determine is the relationship between the DAO level and the histamine level.

You see, one may have lower levels of DAO but if the histamine is also at the bottom of normal, it might then be concluded that their DAO is adequate for them.

Histamine Intolerance

Typical symptoms of histamine intolerance are:

headache,
diarrhea,
migraine,
general inflamed,
circles under the eyes
and runny nose.

Individuals with an inability to break down Histamine may seem to “react to everything,” or improve on antihistamines.

Histamine intolerance might be more obvious with specific food triggers leading to asthma and arrhythmia, hypotension, urticaria (hives), and dysmenorrhea. When DAO or histamine is imbalanced, the main focus of treatment is to increase DAO, reduce histamine, and heal the gut.

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS)

There is a third way for the gut to become leaky – elevated levels of, Lipopolysaccharides or LPS, which are bacterial endotoxins and found in the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria. And these are usually pathogenic bacteria.

First, Zonulin tells tight junctions to open up – like a garage door opener – that opens up a way for our gut lining to become leaky

Secondly, one can pound on the garage door and beat it till it breaks apart – that is due to a low DAO and the resulting aftereffects of excessive histamine that cause a leaky gut

Then this third way is to pick and pry at the door to get in – that is lipopolysaccharides, LPS. They can erode and wear down the tight junctions or even break through the cell itself to exit the gut and enter the blood stream

Elevated levels of either LPS IgA, LPS-IgG or LPS-IgE, will increase inflammation, damage the gut lining, and cause leaky gut. These are the three types of antibodies that we make toward lipopolysaccharides.

And when these antibodies are elevated, it tells us that our immune system is strongly reacting to these bacteria in your gut, as they see them as threats to the health of our body, and particularly prone to damaging the gut.

But there is also concern when the levels are very low. You see, we always have some bacteria in the gut that challenge the lining and the gut should have adequate immune readiness and sensitivity for a healthy response – just not an excessive response

Therefore, Low levels of these antibodies likely suggest that the body has been in a long-term fight and the immune system’s ability to mount any further response is severely compromised. These are often patients with Inflammatory bowel disease, chronic gut pain or chronic diarrhea.

So, when the LPS is elevated, the immune system is still in the fight and we support it with natural antibiotics like Berberine which helps to kills off the LPS, strengthens the tight junctions, but does not affect the microbiome.

But when these antibodies are at bottom normal or even low, there is a need to go after the infection but also there is a need to support the immune system or to evaluate where the immune imbalance is at using the Lymphocyte Map test. Using immunoglobulins and other supportive measures is critical when the immune response is faltering and needs nutritional support.

When we look at Zonulin, DAO, Histamine, and LPS we have a comprehensive evaluation of leaky gut, damaging factors to the gut lining, indications of pathogenic microbes and an underlying factor in intestinal issues and other metabolic disturbances from the brain to the joints. All these factors can be measured, tracked and treated by the Advanced Intestinal Barrier Assessment. These factors are often major players in promoting inflammation that are at the root of so many symptoms and complaints that patients have today

Ask for this test. I believe you will find it extremely helpful.

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