By Integrative Medicine Hub
The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.
There has been a steady rise in autoimmune disease throughout industrialised societies over the last 30 years. Almost 4.5% of the world’s population is affected by one of more than 80 different autoimmune diseases.
To add to these already alarming statistics, recent studies have revealed that the incidence of autoimmune diseases worldwide is increasing at a rate of 19% per year.
While we know that numerous predisposing genetic risk factors have been identified, these only account for a fraction of the overall incidence of autoimmune diseases.
There are studies pointing to a strong influence of environmental and lifestyle factors, but translating this into a meaningful therapeutic model is a challenge, especially under the current, prevailing medical paradigm.
Nevertheless, there are those who have pioneered this field of research and, through their personal and professional endeavours, have made it all but impossible to ignore how profound an impact diet, lifestyle and mindset can have when faced with seemingly intractable conditions.
Dr Terry Wahls is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa. In 2000, she was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis and from that point, began to steadily decline. Because of her academic medical training, Terry began a research journey that eventually led her to investigate these under-explored factors and from this she developed a treatment plan that would help restore her health.
Today, Dr Terry Wahls is a teacher and mentor to millions of people around the world who are seeking more effective ways to treat multiple sclerosis and other progressive health problems.
Her story is truly inspirational and we are so fortunate to have Terry share this on the IMH Patient Journeys podcast.
References:
It’s been 60 years since Rachel Carson wrote her seminal book, Silent Spring, in which she sounded the warning that, through the wholesale use of man-made chemicals, we were destroying the biosphere and ourselves along with it.
Fast forward to 2022 and, not only have we failed to heed her sobering message, we have in fact severely exacerbated the problem with exponential growth in novel chemicals.
According to the European Chemicals Agency, there are more than 144,000 man-made chemicals in existence. The US Department of Health estimates that 2,000 new chemicals are being released every year.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 12 million people, that’s one in 4, die every year from diseases caused by 'air water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change and ultraviolet radiation, all of which result from human activity.
While it is now impossible to completely avoid these toxicants, we can take steps to limit our exposure while also ensuring our capacity to metabolise and detoxify them is optimised.
To provide us with a deeper understanding of this urgent issue and what we can do about it we invited Dr Joe Pizzorno to the podcast. Many of the listeners will know Dr Pizzorno as a pioneer and living legend in the world of naturopathic and functional medicine. Dr Pizzorno was the founding president of Bastyr University and is an author, researcher, expert spokesman, and editor-in-chief of PubMed-indexed Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal.
He was appointed by Presidents Clinton and Bush to 2 prestigious government commissions to advise Congress on how to integrate natural medicine into healthcare. Dr Pizzorno is also the chair of IFM’s Board of Directors.
In recent years, Dr Pizzorno has focused his attention on the research on toxins and toxicants and their effect on human health.
References:
While there have been scientific advances in the understanding of the neurophysiology of pain, we need to recognise that this has largely been based on a biomedical concept that struggles with the subjective and psychosocial nature of chronic pain.
The scientific forces that have driven our understanding of pain since the early 19th Century have largely viewed pain as an expression of an identifiable disease process resulting from tissue injury, nerve injury or a sensitised nervous system.
The biomedical model of pain has given rise to a massive global pain management drug market which includes non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, corticosteroids, acetaminophen and opioids. The global opioids market size alone was valued at $4.4 billion in 2020 and, with a current surge in demand, is projected to reach $6.1 billion by 2030.
A recent US study from May 2021 found that the prevalence of chronic pain is increasing for all demographics of adults, but especially for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The research also found associations between people’s mental and physical health and a higher prevalence of chronic pain.
This finding supports the biopsychosocial model of pain which recognises physical symptoms as the outcome of a dynamic relationship, not only between mind and body, but among mind, body, and society.
Most research supports the effectiveness of a biopsychosocial approach and frequently finds that multi-disciplinary, multi-modal treatments give good outcomes in the treatment of chronic pain. And, while its effectiveness is becoming more widely accepted, its incorporation into clinical practice is still limited.
To provide us with a better understanding we asked Ananda Mahony to join us on the podcast.
Ananda is a naturopath with post-graduate qualifications in Nutrition and a Masters in Pain Management. She is experienced in all areas of general naturopathic practice however, over the last 6 years Ananda has been working extensively with clients experiencing persistent pain. Her interest in pain management stemmed from the observation that patients were not getting good results using standard naturopathic and medical approaches, as well as an innate curiosity about what underpinned their pain and how to work more effectively with it. Ananda incorporates aspects of pain education, nutrition, naturopathy, lifestyle and self-care, working in with patients’ existing persistent pain health care team.
References:
Ashar YK, Gordon A, Schubiner H, et al. Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2022;79(1):13–23. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2669
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/17/17276452/chronic-pain-treatment-psychology-cbt-mindfulness-evidence
The Lancet. Rethinking chronic pain. Lancet. 2021;397(10289):2023. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01194-6
I think we can all agree that our medical system is in crisis. And, while there may be countless ways proposed for how we might address this issue, if we dig down to the core and really examine what is happening, we can only come to the conclusion that the theoretical foundation on which modern medicine is built is deeply flawed.
In her book, The Philosophical Foundations of Modern Medicine, Keekok Lee contends that: "No intellectual activity, whether it pertains to politics, economics, law or science is innocent of Philosophy, whatever its rhetorical proclamations may say. Hence to understand modern science as well as modern medicine…, one must understand their philosophical foundations”.
One philosophical theory that is foundational to modern medicine, and one that is rarely questioned, is Cartesian dualism. This is the view championed by the 17th-century philosopher, Rene Descartes, in which mind and body are entirely separate entities.
Disease, therefore, was seen to be caused by some identifiable physical or chemical event. Mind was an unconnected concern and only served to cloud the unbiased and unsympathetic observations and measurements upon which medicine was based.
And, while the crisis in our medical system persists, as does mind/body dualism, we are also witnessing a groundswell of changing thought - a paradigm shift. More and more, we are recognising the integrated, multidimensional nature of human beings and health. In this new paradigm, the mind and body aren’t connected, they are one and the same. Everything that affects the mind affects the body and everything that affects the body affects the mind.
This mind-body experience opens us up to a new world of possibilities, not just in the fields of medicine and science, but in the choices we make as human beings regarding every aspect of our lives and our relationship with planet Earth.
To illustrate the profound implications of this philosophical shift, we invited Sally Stower to the podcast. Sally is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who provides a psychobiological integrative approach to working with trauma, primarily through the body.
Initially from a corporate background in HR and Business Management, Sally’s passion now is to help people live a more embodied, richer, fuller life and live their true nature. By holding a genuine space for her clients, Sally offers a grounded, safe and supportive environment to navigate unresolved trauma, remove barriers, relieve discomfort and disease and make better choices in their life.
You might recognise Sally’s voice, as she was also one of our featured guest experts on our last Patient Journeys podcast. Sally has so much practical insight in this area and has witnessed countless examples of what can happen when we become more deeply connected within ourselves, others and the environment.
Additional Resources:
Traumatic Experiencing International: https://traumahealing.org/
There is an expanding body of scientific research about the dynamic relationship between our experiences as children and our physical and mental health later on as adults.
Our growing understanding is that when a child witnesses or experiences overwhelming negative events the nervous system becomes so inundated that the brain is unable to process what is happening.
In response to a perceived threat, there is a rising energy and arousal level and this energy is understood to get trapped in the body’s nervous system resulting in the inability to restore equilibrium. Because this energy is not released, it can cause a number of physical and emotional symptoms.
This understanding of trauma may seem a little esoteric but, based on accumulating evidence, we know that trauma involves specific physiological processes that can last throughout a lifetime contributing to a range of chronic diseases.
We also know that these adverse childhood experiences are a lot more common than we might have previously realised. Given that trauma is the result of a perceived threat, rather than an actual event, there are, in fact, countless circumstances in which this may occur.
You only need to put yourself in the shoes of a young child under the age of 6 or 7 and think about the number of possible experiences that might be perceived as threatening or dangerous.
And, while the effects of trauma can be severe, science also tells us they can be reversed.
The implications of this cannot be overstated. When we take trauma into account we start to look at chronic disease through a whole new lens and the possibilities for healing, disease prevention and wellbeing widen significantly.
Dr Veronique Mead joined us on the podcast to help us better understand this critical phenomenon. She was an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Obstetrics before changing careers and retraining as a Somatic Trauma Therapist. For the past 20 years, she has been integrating existing research on trauma into a new model for making sense of chronic illness.
This is the full recording of the interview conducted for our Patient Journeys podcast titled Overcoming Chronic Pain.
Additional resources:
Dr Veronique Mead's website:
Trauma case studies:
Cell Danger Response:
Polyvagal Theory:
Freeze Response:
Chronic disease is a complex and multifaceted manifestation of a struggling system and it requires a comprehensive understanding of the whole person to identify underlying causes.
A systems-oriented approach, such as that seen in functional medicine and naturopathy, recognise that all biological systems possess emergent properties that are only expressed by the system as a whole and not by any isolated part of the system.
We are networks of structure and function and health is determined by the dynamic relationships between these factors.
Nothing demonstrates this fact better than the story featured in this episode.
Nathalie Paul lived a very successful life by most people’s standards, but this came at a price. She was stressed, disconnected from the messages her body was sending her and lacked awareness of her emotional needs. Down the track, she was faced with intense physical pain and chronic illness which led to some deep discoveries about herself and how to regain her health.
Nathalie is a testament to the innate wisdom of our bodies and how we have disengaged from this fundamental aspect of life. This episode explores the profound importance of listening to the messages our bodies are trying to tell us and learning to trust ourselves as human beings.
Our featured guests include:
Full bios of our guests, as well as all references for this episode, are available on the IMH website: https://imh.education/
COVID-19 has been primarily characterised by respiratory symptoms. But, for some, the infection may also be accompanied by a cytokine storm. This causes the migration and activation of white blood cells and inflammatory proteins known as cytokines and can result in the destruction of lung tissue and surrounding blood vessels. Excessive and impaired blood clotting, known as coagulopathy, is another common complication and is related to poorer outcomes and mortality.
What causes one person to be at risk of these outcomes and others not is still uncertain, but some interesting studies warrant our consideration to minimise these risks.
One such study from July 2021 assessed the proposal that high homocysteine, associated with an MTHFR gene mutation might be a predictive biomarker for the severity of COVID-19 infection.
We’ve heard a lot about MTHFR in recent years. We know that relatively common variations in the gene are associated with a range of health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, migraines, and autoimmune diseases.
We’re not so familiar with the potential impacts MTHFR gene variations might have on someone with a COVID-19 infection.
To help us better understand this study and the role MTHFR and homocysteine may be playing relative to the COVID-19 pandemic, we invited Dr Denise Furness to the podcast.
Dr Furness is a functional geneticist and nutritionist. She is a pioneer in the field of nutrigenomics and personalised health with over 15 years of experience in the area. She began her career as a research scientist focusing on folate metabolism, methylation and DNA damage in relation to pregnancy health. Over the years her research expanded covering vitamin D, immune markers, and oxidative stress.
Additional Info:
In this episode, I make reference to two papers. The first is the focus of our discussion:
Ponti, G., Pastorino, L., Manfredini, M., Ozben, T., Oliva, G., Kaleci, S., Iannella, R. and Tomasi, A. (2021), COVID-19 spreading across world correlates with C677T allele of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene prevalence. J Clin Lab Anal, 35: e23798. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcla.23798
The second paper is mentioned at the end of the podcast:
Raul H. Morales-Borges and Michael J. Gonzalez (2020) Covid-19 Pandemic and Possible Links with MTHFR Mutations, Homocysteinemia, and Metabolic Disturbances: Short Review. Journal of Diabetes and Endocrinology Research, Vol. 2/Issue 3
https://unisciencepub.com/articles/covid-19-pandemic-and-possible-links-with-mthfr-mutations-homocysteinemia-and-metabolic-disturbances-short-review/
Connect with Dr Denise Furness:
Website | https://drdenisefurness.com.au/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/drdenisefurness/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=dr%20denise%20furness%20phd
You Tube | https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Dr+Denise+Furness
Connect with Danny Urbinder
Email: https://imh.education/contact/
Website: https://imh.education/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/integrativemedicinehub?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/integrativemedicinehub
When we look at our understanding of eating disorders it soon becomes apparent that we are facing something that is multifaceted in nature and involves a complex set of causes and behaviours.
The research on eating disorders is extensive and from this, several prevailing theories seek to address underlying causes.
One of the ways we can begin to understand eating disorders is through the lens of neurobiology.
In this episode, we explore this area with a psychiatrist who specialises in the neuroscience and treatment of eating disorders.
Dr Jeffrey DeSarbo is a physician and psychiatrist who completed his medical internship and training in psychiatry through the New York University residency program and he is a graduate of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr DeSarbo’s special interest in neurosciences has led him to a unique approach to assessing and treating eating disorders as well as other psychiatric conditions.
Additional Info:
At the 30:55 minute mark of the interview with Dr DeSarbo, I made reference to a paper that was published late last year looking at the bioaccumulation of pharmaceutical drugs by gut bacteria. This is a fascinating paper, published in September 2021 in Nature, and shows that bioaccumulation of pharmaceuticals by gut bacteria may be a common mechanism that alters drug availability and bacterial metabolism.
Here is the reference:
Klünemann M, Andrejev S, Blasche S, Mateus A, Phapale P, Devendran S, Vappiani J, Simon B, Scott TA, Kafkia E, Konstantinidis D, Zirngibl K, Mastrorilli E, Banzhaf M, Mackmull MT, Hövelmann F, Nesme L, Brochado AR, Maier L, Bock T, Periwal V, Kumar M, Kim Y, Tramontano M, Schultz C, Beck M, Hennig J, Zimmermann M, Sévin DC, Cabreiro F, Savitski MM, Bork P, Typas A, Patil KR. Bioaccumulation of therapeutic drugs by human gut bacteria. Nature. 2021 Sep;597(7877):533-538. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03891-8. Epub 2021 Sep 8. PMID: 34497420.
Around one in every twenty Australians has an eating disorder. These are serious mental illnesses characterised by obsessive thoughts about food and body weight and frequently co-occur with a wide range of psychiatric or physical symptoms.
Gastrointestinal (GI) problems are one of the most common consequences of an eating disorder. In fact, according to our guest, Marci Evans, the vast majority of people with an eating disorder experience difficult digestive symptoms or gut disorders.
Marci goes on to examine the features of eating disorders that lead to gastrointestinal disturbances. She describes the difficult and unique challenges health practitioners face when managing functional gut disorders in patients with eating disorders and explores the ways these can be best managed.
Marci identifies as a Food and Body Imager Healer® practising from a Health At Every Size and anti-oppression lens. She has dedicated her career to counselling, supervising, and teaching in the field of eating disorders. She is a Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian and Supervisor and certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor. In addition to her group private practice, Marci launched an online eating disorders training platform for clinicians in 2015 and co-directs a specialised eating disorder internship at Simmons University. In 2018 she received the Professional Integrity Award from The Behavioural Health Dietetics Practice Group of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She has spoken locally and nationally at numerous conferences and media outlets. She loves social media so be sure to connect on Instagram or Facebook or tweet her @marciRD and check out her blog at www.marciRD.com/blog.
Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that involve an unhealthy relationship with food, eating, exercise and body shape.
For those affected, the physical and emotional repercussions can be overwhelming, impacting many aspects of health as well as family and social wellbeing.
In this episode of Patient Journeys, we hear from Natalie Douglas, who suffered from multiple eating disorders from the ages of 13 to 22. As Natalie describes her many challenges, frustrations and lessons, you’ll also hear commentary from guest experts, including Dr Jeffrey DeSarbo, Gabe Covino and Marci Evans, to provide important and valuable insights.
The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.