Ask Why Medicine

In this episode, the team follows the journey of Ask Why team member Dr. Witt Wilkerson as he shares what steps he’s taking to improve his health.

Even though he lives a healthy lifestyle and feels healthy, when Witt saw the results of his exhaustive blood panel, he was shocked at his results. However, under the care of Dr. Gina he’s been able to implement a “precision strategy” so he can move forward in his health journey. Witt shares the lifestyle changes that he’s made, including exercise, improving his sleep and airway, boosting his nitric oxide levels, improving his oral health, and working on inflammatory numbers through dietary supplements and probiotics.

Stay tuned for another installment, where we will continue to keep up with Witt's journey.

“Precision medicine means we’re not just arbitrarily taking thousands of milligrams of this and that, but we’re actually measuring the vitamin levels, we're looking at these inflammatory markers, and we're deciding how we are going to attack these issues in a specifically targeted way.” Dr. Witt Wilkerson, DMD

References:

Perio Restore Tray

Stella Life

ProBiora Pro oral probiotic

One tablet of D3per day

B12 vitamins

Niacin

Vitamin B3

Test for LPa

Omega3

1. EPA
2. DPA
3. DHA
4. Vascepa

Magnesium

Turmeric

Baby aspirin

Statins - Rosuvastatin

In this episode of the Ask Why podcast, Lora Hooper, RDH, Dr. Gina Pritchard, and Dr. Witt Wilkerson discuss the importance of practitioners testing not only their patients but themselves.

Witt Wilkerson describes his own experience with having chronically high cholesterol, and how implementing an anti-inflammatory lifestyle helped keep him healthy. The team discusses the different changes that everyone has experienced since the COVID pandemic started, including a more stagnant lifestyle and poorer mental health, which have potentially had negative effects on their overall health.

The team details the tests that they recommend asking for as a patient. They talk about the importance of breathing through the nose in order to make enough nitric oxide for your body, and how one should breathe through their nose all night. 

“With the inflammatory panel, we’re trying to determine if the body’s immune system is doing its job correctly and if we’re helping it.” —Dr. Gina Pritchard

References:

Tests to ask your doctor for:

1. Myeloperoxidase
2. LPPLA2
3. CRP test
4. ADMA test

In this episode, Ask Why team members Dr. Gina Pritchard and Lora Hooper discuss food’s impact on our daily lives.

 Lora opens with the life-changing story of her son’s recent diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, and how that shifted her perspective on what is normally considered to be “healthy” food. The two discuss the fact that food may have a different effect on each individual, and that it’s important to figure out how food affects your own body. Lora and Dr. Gina additionally encourage listeners to wear a continuous glucose monitor, and what to look for when reading the data. 

“Relying on the hemoglobin A1C as an adult to tell us if we’re in danger or not- that is killing us. It truly is killing people, because they’re ignoring what they’re eating and saying, ‘I’m okay, my hemoglobin A1C looked okay,’ when truly each year you could be coming closer and closer to becoming diabetic.” - Gina Pritchard, DNP, RN, ACNP

References:
Hemoglobin A1C
Continuous glucose monitor

In this episode, Ask Why hosts Lora Hooper and Dr. Gina Pritchard discuss stigma surrounding food. They talk about the “drama” surrounding one’s relationship with food, considering social, emotional, mental, and cultural factors.

Lora and Dr. Gina discuss the fact that one diet does not fit everyone, and the importance of genetic testing as a means of understanding what an individual should be eating for optimal health. The two explain the difficulties that everyone faces when they’ve been told that they can no longer eat foods that they’d previously thought to be harmless. They also talk about the self-love that is involved in choosing what to eat, and understanding that it’s okay to sometimes choose to eat outside of your recommended diet.

*“You can get a customized approach that is the most ideal of the individual if you know the genetic makeup” - Gina Pritchard, DNP, RN, ACNP*

References:
APOE2 Test

In this episode of the Ask Why podcast, Dr. Gina and Patti Dematties are joined by Todd Eldredge, PhD, MBA, MPH. Dr. Eldredge is one of the leading experts on the disease of atherosclerosis, the Founder and CEO of CardioRisk Laboratories, and the co-founder of Wellness VIP.

Dr. Eldredge discusses how standard care of medicine works, and delves into epidemiology. He explains how heart attacks happen, as well as the relationship between preeclampsia and risk of stroke. Dr. Eldredge describes the benefits of having a CIMT test and how it helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

“The benefit of imaging technology is that we can tell you ‘Hey, this is the path that you’re on,’ but more importantly, we can change that path, and we can literally prevent the event.” - Todd Eldredge, PhD, MBA, MPH*

References:
CardioRisk Laboratories
Wellness VIP

In this episode, Dr. Gina Pritchard and Patti DeMatties discuss some lifestyle changes that can have a large impact on one’s health.

Gina and Patti go through their acronym “BLESSED,” which helps practitioners and patients alike to start making healthy changes in their lives. The two discuss using genetic testing results as a helpful tool to guide one's lifestyle, as well as the fact that “one size does not fit all." Additionally, they describe different techniques to manage stress, including taking a conscious approach to allow your body to rest, digest, and heal.

“Genetic testing and actually knowing what a patient’s genes are telling us is a really good start for a guide for their lifestyle.” -Patti DeMatteis, ASDH, RDH

References:
APOE gene test
Haptoglobin gene tests

In this episode, the Ask Why team discusses ways to “hack” your body to improve your glucose and metabolism. They discuss peptides and how they can be used to improve glucose levels and metabolism, as well as help the body build muscle and lose fat when paired with diet and exercise.

The team discusses “The Glucose Goddess” Jessie Inchauspé, and some of her favorite hacks to “hack” one’s glucose. The team explains how dietary changes can impact glucose levels such as pairing starches with protein or eating some protein with fruit. They additionally discuss the benefits of intermittent fasting and the impact this dietary change can have on one’s glucose levels.

“Insulin resistance is one of the top root causes for heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, dementia, and a whole host of chronic diseases that could be in our future that we can totally avoid by looking at insulin and glucose communication using a continuous glucose monitor.” -Dr. Gina Pritchard

References:
Dr. Mark Hyman
“The Glucose Goddess,” Jessie Inchauspé
Book: “The Glucose Revolution”
Instagram: @glucosegoddess

In this episode, the Ask Why team discusses the benefits of testing one’s blood sugar with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). They discuss how to manage having a CGM, the ideal reading on your CGM, and using it to learn what foods work with your body.
The team also discusses common mistakes that may occur when a doctor is testing a patient’s glucose levels, as well as other lifestyle aspects that may affect one’s glucose levels such as sleep, exercise, and hydration.

“Stress, poor sleep, exercise, hydration, so many things impact blood sugar, it isn’t just what you put in your mouth!” -Gina Pritchard, DNP, RN, ACNP

This week, the Ask Why team is joined again by Leonard Pastrana, PHARMD. Dr. Pastrana is the co-founder of NuBioAge, and is on the faculty of Seed Scientific Research and Performance. NuBioAge defines itself as “Clinical Pharmacists Specializing in Human Optimization.”

The team discuss finding early signs of chronic disease, and different tests that can find these signs including Hemoglobin A1C, and fasting insulin level. Dr. Pastrana additionally explains the power that dentists and dental hygienists in particular have to discover subclinical diseases in their patients by testing for periodontal disease.

Pastrana illustrates some different peptides and their uses, including ability to improve gut health, quality of sleep, and even cognitive function. He also details a study on certain peptides’ abilities to reduce cardiovascular age and improve bone formation.

“What I’ve seen is two things that are happening once people start aging: people are really bad at processing sugar, and they’re bad at controlling what they eat. And we can tackle that with one peptide. We can tackle eating habits and the body’s ability to be smart and to create insulin right at the right time.” - Dr. Leonard Pastrana

References:
nubioage.com
ssrpinstitute.org

This week, the Ask Why team is joined by Leonard Pastrana, PHARMD. Dr. Pastrana is the co-founder of NuBioAge, and is on the faculty of Seed Scientific Research and Performance. NuBioAge defines itself as “Clinical Pharmacists Specializing in Human Optimization.”

Dr. Pastrana goes into his history as a pharmacist, and the feeling that he wasn’t reaching his full potential behind the counter. When he later moved on to working in the hospital, he saw “the consequences of what happens when you just hand out prescriptions all day.” He additionally explains what a peptide is, and describes the experience that led him to researching them as well as develop a profound interest in cellular medicine.

Dr. Pastrana explains intermittent fasting, and the importance modifying this treatment for individuals in order to meet them where they’re at. Key takeaways regarding improving health include fasting, quality of sleep, and exercising in the morning. 

“At the end of the day, all of this is about energy- Getting the cells the energy to do what they know they’re supposed to do.” - Dr. Leonard Pastrana

References:
nubioage.com
ssrpinstitute.org