You Think You Have It Bad!?

With all the options to struggle in this world, I think this might be one of the most miserable.  Imagine an allergy to happiness.  You have a wonderful day, and the result is something like the flu.  You receive an award from work and your body feels sick.  I wish this were just a joke, but there is such a condition!

 

Your body’s immune system can make antibodies to serotonin, which most people have heard of from drugs like Prozac.  Serotonin is like an internal birthday party.  It is the feel good, happy chemical in our brain. 

If your body mounts an attack against serotonin, every happy moment is followed by inflammation.  What a kick in the pants that is!!

Researchers have found a “high prevalence of Serotonin antibodies” in patients with fibromyalgia. 

Think about this for yourself.  Do you feel awful when trying to accomplish something?  That could be serotonin antibodies.  If you have a good day…are you consistently punished with a bad day?  That could be serotonin antibodies.

I have a patient you have heard about…she shared something very interesting with us in this POST!

Yes, she is doing much better, but she is still on a very restricted diet to maintain her improvement.  And I mean strict…she can eat any protein, about 3 veggies, and most nuts and seeds.  Any fruit and she starts losing hair…any bread and the hair falls out…anything off this crazy diet, and she gets a kick in the pants.

 

If you look at the diet, you might assume she is sugar sensitive.  And she gets a serious butt whoopin’ if she were crazy enough to actually eat sugar.  But many things happen when we eat carbs…in fact, the reason for sugar addictions and some cravings is the surge of serotonin from sweets.  Most people love the feelings they get with sweet treats.  Serotonin feels incredible (the birthday party feeling!)… unless your immune system attacks your happiness like a bad virus!  

This is actually a new revelation for me.  I just put this piece of the puzzle together recently.  And in doing so, we are responding to the reaction by soothing her immune system. (which can only be done with natural medicine.)  As wonderful as the hair staying in her head has been (along with better energy, mood, etc.), she has since reported that she was able to eat half an apple without a reaction!  

I have a new appreciation for the struggle this person has endured.  Allergic to happy!?!  Trying to explain her extreme diet to friends and family!  She felt the reactions…and nobody understood.  Now, she has validated her experience even more…she’s not crazy, and she can tell you why!  

What a wonderful and interesting passion I have chosen!  

Yours in Health,

Dr. Todd Stone

PS.  We are extending our special invitation to experience our process through March…at 45 for the initial exam (normally 195), and 85 for our full system lab testing (normally 170)!  Learn why you feel lousy, and create a plan to feel incredible again…using safe, natural methods, and scientific lab testing to guide the process.  Call right away to reserve your slot!  

PSS.  For the science minded folks…and for those who just wonder “how the heck can your body become allergic to happy?” …Autoimmune conditions have increased 500% in the past 20 years (and this is diagnosed, so the number is probably much higher).  There are growing numbers of stressors to our immune system, including stress, but more so our overuse of antibiotics resulting in damaged immune systems and super-bugs, chemical manufacturing and genetic modification of our foods…plastics…chemicals for pests of many sorts (herbicides, pesticides), chemicals in our water supply, added purposely and incidentally, chemicals in our hair and skin products…you get the idea. 

In our “allergic to happy” patient, she had lived with an intestinal infection for who knows how long.  She thought she had figured out her troubles when she realized she had yeast problems.  By the time she saw me, she had resolved the yeast problem (no yeast on testing but significantly high antibodies to yeast, so she was right, and successful, but the damage had been done).  Throw all that into the mix of a toxic environment which we are all challenged with…and you have the recipe for allergic to happy…or allergic to energy (thyroid antibodies)…or all the other allergic to myself diseases…MS, Fibromyalgia, Crohns/Ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, pernicious and hemolytic anemia, Parkinsons, type 1 diabetes, ITP, etc., etc. 

There are a growing number of names of suffering labeled as autoimmune, but not a single advancement in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.  Chemicals (pharmaceuticals) simply cannot treat this kind of condition as they are part of the problem.  But rest assured, we do have answers…there is research validation…there are case studies, including many of my own patients…of overcoming this destructive and frustrating process!  

I'll Give You Something to Cry About!!

This classic parenting comment is called invalidation.  “Your sadness or upset is not appropriate,” it says to the little one.  Meanwhile, the child feels certain their upset is very real, and very important!  

What does this have to do with you and your health?  I see it every day.  Grown adults being told their symptoms are not real...that there is “nothing wrong.”  

Your doctor is “Dad.”  You are the child…Dad reports that your upsets (symptoms) are not valid.  “Look at this test… I can prove your symptoms are not real.  You are supposed to be feeling just fine.”  

It has the same authoritarian feel too!  Does it feel like two adults talking about solving a problem?  No!  There is one “superior being” invalidating another person’s experience.  Meanwhile, you are certain your symptoms are very real, and very important!  

Here’s the good news…you are an adult.  You can choose a different “Dad.”  Maybe you choose someone who is not a dad at all, but an equal human who will get involved in solving a problem with you and for you. 

Not to make light of the pain of your experience, but I find it hilarious that people come to me after “experts” find nothing wrong with them…and I easily find sooo many things wrong with them.  So many things that are easily measured and evaluated.  But not measured if you are evaluating “by the book.”  (What insurance protocols allow)  

Maybe ridiculous is a better word than hilarious!  

How about an actual example…I had a patient recently suffering with IBS symptoms, chronic headaches, and severe fatigue.  Full medical work up (15 years worth!) revealed nothing wrong.  Let’s look at the list of measurable and verifiable “wrongs” we came up with…

Thyroid problems…they never checked because she was an “IBS” patient and not a thyroid patient.  And it was the basic thyroid problem that they would have picked up on, but GI specialists don’t check for endocrine problems.  It would take another 3 month wait to another specialist to check that box on a lab test.  

Intestinal parasites.  Yes, the GI specialist missed checking for intestinal parasites in a GI patient.  Hmmm?

Very low cortisol production from the adrenal glands.  Cortisol is one of the stress hormones, but it functions in healthy people to balance blood sugar (chronic fatigue and headaches??), and has a powerful effect on regulating Intestinal motility (yes, that’s moving the bowels).  

High adrenaline.  Think about the adrenaline rush of a close call or “almost” accident.  If you had to go to the bathroom prior to the close call, it either goes away altogether (constipation) or you soil yourself right there in the car (urgency).  That is IBS by definition!!  

Those were the biggies.  And there were several more imbalances we noted.  I got a kick out of her reaction to the parasites…she was relieved, almost excited, almost happy!!  Was she thrilled to have a parasite?  No…she was thrilled to finally, after 15 years (next stop was the psychiatrist…seriously), BE VALIDATED!  It was real…it was important.  She could PROVE it!  

If you have a symptom…and I mean ONE little symptom…that is your body trying to tell you something…something important!  DO NOT let anybody tell you it is nonsense.  If someone tells you there is nothing wrong, and you CLEARLY feel something wrong…there IS something wrong, and you need someone who will listen to that message(symptom)…listen to you…be willing to dig deeper and ask MORE questions and test MORE systems and organs!

IF you ever want to feel validated!  And…if you ever want to put this health problem behind you!

LAB TESTING: GIFX

 Intestinal Ecology: GIFX

GIFX, is short for GastroIntestinal Effects. 

GIFX is a lab that actually tests the complete ecology or environment of the GI tube. 

The GI tube, from mouth to anus, is really an external structure.  It is a semi-permeable tube that allows absorption of nutrients and elimination of waste.

It contains approximately half of your immune cells and function.  So, if you have allergies, asthma, frequent colds, ear infections, or sinus infections, the GI tube could be the problem. 

In fact it contains the same mucosal tissues as the sinuses, so what affects this tube, also affects the sinuses. 

The GIFX is a microbial analysis.  I describe it as a population analysis of this very important neighborhood.  A census of sort. 

The GIFX uses a complex DNA analysis for microbial contents, so the days of “purging” are over.  (In the past, for GI analysis, we would give a med that purges the contents for collection.)

WHAT YOU GET

A full census of who is there and who is not. 

As you may know, there are millions of healthy bacterial inhabitants that function as digestive and immune enhancers.  You may have seen the commercials, “Eat this yogurt and wave goodbye to your digestive distress.”

If the mafia has moved in to the neighborhood, however, the healthy families of bacteria will not stick around. 

We also want to know if there are any illegal immigrants, mafia or whatever we might call them.  These are the yeast and candida species, bacterial pathogens (bad guys), and worms, protozoan, or fungal parasites. 

In almost every instance where I have struggled helping someone improve their health, when we ran the GIFX we found a parasite.  I don’t know why the parasites are so confounding, but I have learned from this experience, and now suggest the lab sooner rather than later!

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

The saying goes…you are what you eat.  Or you can take it a bit further and say: you are what you absorb…or you are what you don’t eliminate. 

If your GI tube ecology is off, the lining will become inflamed, which in itself could cause back pain, kidney pain, liver problems…plus the digestion and absorption process will be compromised, so that great diet and supplements are ineffective. (sound familiar?)

And, the immune effects are also compromised.  You don’t have a significant line of defense; in fact, your immune system may be preoccupied with battling the yeast or parasite immigrants.  (no offense to immigrants!)

This constant immune defense is stressful.  It activates the adrenal physiology and whacks out your hormone cycles and blood sugar regulation.  It burdens the liver from all the immune chemicals and clean up required.  Now you have a full blown health problem, not localized to the GI tract. 

On the other hand, we can run this test, get a full census of who is there and who is not there, move out the uninvited guests and replace the desired inhabitants.  And in a couple months time, you drastically reduce your stress load, immune burden, and improve your digestive capacity.  This all feels really GOOD!  More energy, less toxic, clear mind.

In fact, I would suggest this test as a wellness profile rather than just a test for the chronically ill.  You never know what you might find until you look!