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autoimmune disease

Episode 156 Parasites

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parasites as a root cause

Parasites

Creepy crawling parasites – only about 100% of people have them, but not everyone has symptoms. And those that do often don’t realize they are connected to parasites. Wild right?

Parasites are organisms that live on or in a host organism and get their food from or at the expense of their host. What is even wilder is that they don’t just live in your gut.

Today we are talking about parasites, what are they, where do you get them, and can you test for them?

Let’s dig in.

Welcome! If this is your first time listening – I’m Audrey Christie – I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner who helps women heal from chronic illness and autoimmune disease. Helping you stop chasing symptoms, find your root causes, and recover your body from autoimmune and chronic illness.

Okay, be honest…are you super grossed out right now? It’s okay. Most people are at the thought of having a parasite or 2. You likely have more than that. We all do. And while you can’t get them to go away, you CAN work on aspects of your health to keep them in check so that you have fewer to almost none and so that they don’t cause symptoms.

What are Parasites?

As I mentioned, these pesky little critters officially are “an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.” That is the official definition.

There are three main categories of parasites, protozoa, which are tiny, one-celled organisms that typically live in the intestines, blood, or tissue; helminths, which are parasitic worms such as tapeworms, roundworms, and thorny-headed worms; and ectoparasites, which are ticks, fleas, lice, and mites that attach or burrow into the skin.

Do I have them?

The short answer here is yes. Research shows us that 99.9% of Americans have parasites. That breaks down to about 1 billion people with roundworms, 1 billion people have protozoa (like amoebas – perfect for that summertime dip in the lake), ½ billion people have arthropod infections, about 300 million have tapeworms, and 300 million or so have liver flukes (those look like tomato skins in your bowel movements).

Parasitic infections are not isolated to 3rd world countries.

They tend to go unnoticed unless there is an obvious issue (like a tapeworm poking out of your bum or severe itching in the bum region) because, much like any other problem in the body, the signs and symptoms of being infected with a parasite really mimic other illnesses or health issues. Parasites mimic IBS, blood sugar dysregulation, SIBO, candida, adrenal fatigue, thyroid disorders, autoimmunity, etc.

Are you ready for a real kicker? Autopsies have proven that parasites can invade every signal tissue in your body. Nice right? I have personally had people in my practice have parasites come out of their noses during a detox. Fun, huh? They can live in all the tissues in the body.

How to Test for Parasites?

Pulse Test

There is a running joke in my industry – where a person comes into the practice and says, “Hey, can you test me for parasites?” The response is, “sure! Give me your arm!” And the practitioner places their two fingers over the inside of the wrist and begins to feel for a pulse…
You might be thinking, “oooh, Audrey is about to tell me some cool Chinese Medicine trick for checking for parasites with pulses!” Sorry to disappoint, but the punch line is “if you have a pulse, you have parasites.”

Stool Test for Parasites

In reality, there are some lab tests directed specifically at parasites. There is a stool test; it tends to be cost-prohibitive and comes with some major limitations. The main problem is that it is only conditionally successful. It requires three separate stool samples that must be sent to the lab for the pathologist to view under a microscope. In order for it to be identified as a parasite, the parasite must remain alive as the sample ships to the lab.

This test can be used for some, but it cannot identify dormant parasites or parasites living in tissues outside of the digestive tract. This test gives off a high number of false negatives.

Blood Test for Parasites

You can look for some key markers in a standard blood test. You are primarily going to look at the Complete Blood Count and Complete Metabolic Profile. These are two tests that I recommend having run 1 per year at a minimum and having them checked functionally, not just conventionally.

Remember that functional values are different. They aren’t what you see on your sheet from the labs. Functional values tell us what we are heading for, trends, and blips in the radar that point to root causes of issues we are having or will have soon, and conventional lab values tell us whether or not something is acutely wrong in our body.

For parasites, you are looking at the Eosinophils and the Basophils. Eosinophils is a white blood cell that is primarily involved in fighting allergies and parasites. Numbers in the functionally high range indicate an allergy or parasite causing illness.

The second number to look at on that CBC is Basophils. Basophils are white blood cells that can be seen in certain parasitic infections.
Other labs to look at in correlation because parasites can cause nutrient deficiencies to include Iron, Zinc, Magnesium, Copper, B12, and vitamin A.

What symptoms do parasites cause?

As I mentioned earlier, parasites can look like several diseases. Think of all of the disease processes caused by just the labs and nutritional deficiencies mentioned? There’s a ton! Here are a few more parasite infection symptoms:

  • Digestive problems, including unexplained constipation, diarrhea, or persistent gas
  • Skin issues, including unexplained rashes, eczema, hives, and itching
  • Muscle and joint pain
  • Fatigue, even when you get enough sleep
  • Never feeling full, even after eating a big meal
  • Constant hunger, even when you are eating enough
  • Iron deficiency anemia (lab tests show abnormally low iron level)
  • Grinding your teeth during sleep
  • Unexplained feelings of anxiety
  • Recurrent yeast infections
  • Itching of the anus or vagina

How did I get parasites?

Parasites are in the soil, you can get them from swimming, they can enter through your skin or, more commonly, through your mouth, eyes, nose, and ears. You can get them from your drinking water. You can get them if you live on a farm, and especially if you have animals that are indoor animals, get up on furniture, lick you, or sleep in your bed.

How do I get rid of parasites?

There are a couple of options. There are anti-parasitic medications that your conventional doctor can give you, BUT I have seen time after time in my practice that they aren’t successful in ridding the patient of all the symptoms causing parasites, AND they have so many uncomfortable consequences.

The second aspect of anti-parasitic medications is also a problem when well-meaning practitioners sell you a “parasite cleanse,” and that is the drainage pathways aren’t open, the body’s energy centers (mitochondria) aren’t open, and therefore you end up stagnant, sick and in more trouble physically than you were when you started. Your metabolism is in the dumps.

The strategy to get rid of parasites isn’t to eradicate them. That always backfires. You must strengthen the host (YOUR BODY) and make the environment inhospitable to the little buggers, and THEN you can do the work to eradicate anything that is hanging on.

Steps to Get Rid of Parasites

  1. Open your drainage pathways.
    If your drainage pathways are not functioning properly or, worse, are blocked, then all of those parasites you just worked so hard to detox and paid a lot to detox too don’t have anywhere to go, so they are recirculated and resorbed. And that makes you feel so much worse. You have to support and open the drainage pathways FIRST because stagnation breeds sickness.
  2. Strengthen the body’s energy powerhouses, your mitochondria.
    This allows your body to fight off parasites naturally, upregulate your detoxification, perform apoptosis of damaged cells, repair DNA, and many more functions.
  3. THEN and only then do you go after parasites with a plethora of herbal remedies. Otherwise, you end up even sicker.

Since I have been sharing more about these healing steps, I have had many of you reach out to me and ask about a class on this – so I have scheduled a class on Drainage and Energy, the first phase of healing. (just like the class on getting off of heartburn medications). It is free to attend, and the replay is less than a copay. Just click here to register – if you have missed the live class, the replay will be there for you.

This class is on energy and drainage, the first phase of any healing journey. You will learn what it is, why it matters, and what you can do via lifestyle and nutrition to ensure that you are thriving in these areas and not allowing stagnation to cause sickness in your body. You will also get the Supplement When Needed handout with a specific healing supplement protocol. Once you get those drainage pathways moving, you will be all set to start working towards getting rid of parasites.

You might be thinking, “but Audrey, I have SIBO or candida or Lyme or heavy metal toxicity…” and it’s true you might, but in order to return your body back to wellness, in order to heal the root cause, you have to follow the order of operations.

Think back to elementary school PEMDAS right, Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract? If you don’t follow those steps in solving a math problem, then you won’t get the right answer.

It is the same with healing your body. If you don’t follow the order of operations, then you don’t release dis-ease from the body. You end up further wrecking it and constantly starting over. You have to tackle Drainage, Energy, Parasites, AND THEN move on to the other stuff like SIBO, Candida, Metals, Lyme, etc. because these little buggers hold on to and hide these in your body. If you skip a step, you have to circle back and start over.

More questions about parasites?

If you have more questions about parasites and healing from the root cause of what you are going through I would love to have join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Root Cause Revolution Podcast and even some free office hours on Fridays to get your private questions answered – friends chronic disease is a preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise you deserve to feel good!) You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up – parasites, yuck right? But we all have them, I hope I haven’t totally grossed you out here and instead inspired you to get your drainage inline, get your energetic health on point, and then go after these buggers so you can finally heal.

Remember that I am always rooting for you, friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

PS: I would love for you to attend this class live with me. Here’s the class to link Drainage and Energy. See you there!

Episode 154: Mitochondria and Your Health

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mitochondria and your health

Mitochondria and Your Health

Have you ever heard of mitochondria? What about mitochondrial health? Think real hard, maybe back to middle school science (coulda been highschool the first time I heard about them).

If you were able to vaguely scratch from your memory that they are the powerhouse of your cells - you are correct. Our cells are made up of “parts” called organelles. Think of them as tiny organs inside each cell that have specialized functions (kind of like a smaller version of you).

There are approximately 10 million billion (yeah that is a number) in the human body and they cycle through life and death fairly rapidly. Mitochondria are like tiny factories that take what we eat and the oxygen we breathe and turn it into energy that powers our organs.

Today we are talking about these little powerhouses of the cells, these mitochondria, and what impact they have on your health. With this little glimpse into what mitochondria do - you can bet they are important for your health. In fact, mitochondrial health is one of the first things that must be addressed BEFORE jumping into any healing protocol. I like to address it right alongside drainage. Let’s dig in.

Have you ever been talked to about your Mitochondrial Health?

Has anyone in your entire medical history talked to you about those little mitochondria? We know that mitochondria have a huge role in things that have an effect on your daily life - like aging, disease, immunity, cancer, and fatigue. They are part of your stress signaling pathway, mitochondria are part of your energy production and metabolism too.

It has been determined that mitochondria play a huge role in tumor suppression and oncogenes with studies indicating that altered cellular metabolism via mitochondria is both contributory and causative in cancer.

Mitochondria also play a role in viral immunity - the condition, formation, and function of these billions of cells are both critical to maintaining your health.

And lastly, in 2011, studies confirmed that a defect in mitochondrial function in one single tissue in the body has consequences for the whole body. This study was done in mice and confirmed in humans. So rather than thinking of them as powerhouses for the cell - think of them as powerhouses for your entire body, that not only produce energy but also help to detoxify, fight infections, regulate immunity, repair DNA, store calcium, and generate heat! Usually, when I spill all of this info - people want to know - why haven’t I heard about this before?!

So what does all this mean for you? Mitochondria power nearly everything we do, I have only mentioned a few things here so far - this would be far to long to list them all. And mitochondrial health is critical - absolutely critical for your expression of wellness. And it is one of the first things (alongside your drainage pathways - to work on to balance your health).

Mini-Case Study

Recently I had a client, early 40s, previously super active, had some immune system insults in the form of a virus (ya know THE virus), and even though they had officially been recovered for months - they just didn’t have the oomph to start working out again, in fact, they didn’t have the endurance for much of anything.

One of the first things we looked at was their energy and drainage - are all the drainage pathways functioning as they should AND let's look at these spectacular little powerhouses!

We found through routine bloodwork (a CBC and CMP) that her mitochondria were not healthy - specifically because the virus had likely wiped them out. This is a typical post-viral syndrome that is occurring with THIS virus.

Once we started nursing those cells back to health and ensure that the drainage pathways were functioning again we were able to get her from zapped to moving again in about 6 weeks!

Why healthy mitochondria?

Having healthy mitochondrial function helps your body to:

  • Produce and metabolize oxygen and energy
  • Prevent disease
  • Regulate immunity
  • Detoxify properly (including EBV, heavy metals, lyme, mold, HPV, parasites just to name a few)

These things damage our mitochondria:

  • Oxidative stress
  • Mental/Emotional Stress
  • EMF Stress
  • Chemical/toxin stress
  • Prescription and over-the-counter medications and illicit drugs such as acetaminophen, antibiotics, aspirin, NSAIDs, Statins, Cocaine, Methamphetamine (including ADHD meds), and many other commonly used medications.

This shows up in our human suits as fatigue, sleeplessness, catching many viruses, infertility, hormones out of whack, inability to lose weight, premature hair graying, overactive appetite, lack of motivation, exercise intolerance just to name a few.

7 Steps to Healing Your Mitochondria

  1. Sunshine. You are solar powered by the sun. Just like the plants. You need sunshine every day and when you can’t get sunshine every day - you must supplement with sunshine in a bottle (Vitamin D3 - make sure it has k2).
  2. Magnesium. Your mitochondria need magnesium. Did you try magnesium and it didn’t help with your other symptoms? Doesn’t matter because you need it for your mitochondria.
  3. Sleep is critical. You can find my 2 sleep episodes: sleep hygiene here and when you need extra sleep help here. Restorative sleep allows the brain to clear the waste and maintain healthy mitochondria.
  4. Avoid toxins. Easier said than done - but you must do what you can, there are simple changes that go a LONG way such as swapping out those toxic household cleaners, detergents, and cosmetics and avoiding plastics as much as possible.
  5. Grounding or Earthing. This can be combined with getting your sunshine! Grounding or earthing is the practice of applying bare skin to the Earth. This allows the body to draw in electrons to neutralize free radicals and enhance positive physiological responses. Sounds crazy but there is reliable scientific data behind this practice. Aside from all of the benefits for your body and there are a ton - grounding impacts the health of your mitochondria by allowing them to do less work to get rid of accumulated waste.
  6. Work on your polarity. When the polarity is off in your body - just like when you put the battery in the remote upside-down - things just don’t work right. I will be sharing in the Wellness Circle this week about some simple energy tricks to fix your body’s polarity in a flash!
  7. Get Help. Sometimes you need more than just the above to recover from a mitochondrial deficit. Don’t suffer, ask for help with your mitochondria and energy levels.

More questions?

If you have more questions about mitochondrial health and how this might be affecting your ability to heal from chronic illness and heal from the root causes of your troubles, I would love to have join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Root Cause Revolution Podcast and even some free office hours on Fridays to get your private questions answered - friends chronic disease is a preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise you deserve to feel good!) You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up - your mitochondrial health is one of the keys to your health and vitality (and maintaining your natural hair color). I encourage you to tune in and notice if your mitochondria need support - might this be your missing link?

Remember that I am always rooting for you, friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

Episode 148: Autoimmune Disease Root Causes

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autoimmune disease root causes

Autoimmune Disease Root Causes

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED Episode 148: 

Join the private group Wellness Circle to learn more about Autoimmune Disease Root Causes: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

Autoimmune Revolution 

Wellness Circle

Complimentary Case Review

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

________________________________

Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a free case review here.

Autoimmune Disease Root Causes: It's not what you think

Rough Transcript (listening is best + has more information)

Hey friends, Today we are digging a little deeper into the root causes of autoimmune disease. Last week we talked about what some of the symptoms are and my unpopular opinion on diagnoses.

So often I hear, "I am inflamed. That is my root cause." I’m sorry to tell you - inflammation is not the root cause. And so anything you are doing to reduce inflammation that isn’t treating the autoimmune disease root cause IS making your condition worse. And that goes for all chronic illnesses and symptoms that just aren’t getting better

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.

We are currently enrolling the Waitlist for the Autoimmune Revolution - Are you in? If you are interested in DIY’ing your own revolution with my help and the support of a small community- this is your chance to get in or get in on the list for next time at audreychristie.com/autoimmunerevolution.

What that means is you get my help and support, my secret steps, formulas, tailored protocols to heal your body from its root (whether you are just not feeling your best or have multiple diagnoses) it’s a lot like working 1:1 with me but you get the support of the group.

Okay...let's dig in.

Autoimmune Disease Root Cause is NOT Inflammation

In episode 147, we talked about autoimmune disease symptoms, more specifically at what point you should begin to suspect an autoimmune disease. I dropped some unpopular opinions about diagnosis there - so you may want to give a listen for the full thing but the gist is that - a diagnosis - well, is NOT important.

Since that went over so well, I thought I would add to this unpopular opinion roll and let you know that along with a diagnosis NOT being relevant to your healing at all - here’s another one for you…. Inflammation isn’t the root cause of your autoimmune condition, pain, chronic illness, symptoms that won’t go away. AND this one is the cake topper here, not to be the bearer of bad news but reducing your inflammation with stuff like NSAIDS or steroids or even natural stuff like curcumin and sometimes even nutrition is making it worse.

So if inflammation isn’t the root cause - and taking things to “reduce inflammation” is making it worse - what the heck do you do?

Let me preface all of this by saying that there is absolutely a time and place where inflammation may need to be reduced by holistic or conventional methods...temporarily. In acute conditions OR in a chronic condition that may lend itself to needing something urgent.
What is categorically WRONG is the long-term use of these methods and meds to squash inflammation long-term.

Let me introduce you to "Emily"...

I want to tell you about a client of mine, let’s call her Emily. (No, Emily isn’t her name.) Emily’s primary autoimmune condition is celiacs disease.

Interestingly - that was her primary autoimmune condition BUT do you know what came before that - about 10 years of chronic antacid and proton pump inhibitor use. Did you know that treatment of acid issues in the stomach commonly called acid reflex, with PPIs and antacids, can trigger autoimmunity?  It can! I talk about it in episode 083, tune in here.

If you are taking PPIs or regularly using antacids, then definitely take a moment to take my class here, on getting off your heartburn meds for good.

Back to Emily, her celiacs disease was treated with corticosteroids and a gluten-free diet. For years and years, she took steroids and even took a turn or two on biologics. Guess what happened next?

She developed a secondary autoimmune condition, rheumatoid arthritis. Yep - the number one best predictor of a second autoimmune disease - is a primary autoimmune disease with masked symptoms. And then by the time she got to me - she was well on her way to autoimmune thyroid.

So here we were sitting in my office, piecing together what went wrong and all Emily wanted to do was discuss how we could naturally stop her inflammation.

So I told Emily what I am telling you today, inflammation isn’t the cause of her issues - it's because she was diagnosed and treated instead of searching out the root cause and rebalancing aka healing her body.

I am happy to report that Emily is off her meds and well on her way to rebalancing her body now.

If inflammation isn't the root cause...what is?

Autoimmune disease is a tree with many roots. Even if you haven’t been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and you just have a symptom or a few symptoms or maybe you are suffering from a chronic diagnosis - like high blood pressure. There is no one cause of that happening in your human suit.

Energetic Disturbances

Dis-ease in the body starts way out in your energy field long before it manifests in the 3-D, in your human suit. Some of the most common energy disturbances include stress, EMF sensitivity, and other disturbances. Sometimes a trigger can be feeling responsible for the world’s problems (this can be on a large or small scale), carrying the world on your shoulders, overwhelmed by life, and conditional love (in childhood or later in life.)

Gut Issues

It’s now widely accepted that the immune system and your gut work very closely together. The majority of our immune system lives in our digestive system. So when the digestive system is impaired by anything, it has a direct impact on the immune system. This could be from nutrient deficiencies, consuming a diet based on ultra-processed foods, consuming foods that you are allergic to or sensitive to, alcohol abuse, or long-term medication dependence (over-the-counter or prescription).

Infections

These could be infections that you had officially, like strep or a cold virus. It could be something you didn’t know you had, as is often the case with Epstein Bar Virus or Lyme disease and its many co-infections.

Just take multiple sclerosis for example - there are over 24 viruses that the onset of multiple sclerosis has been linked to.

Rheumatoid has been linked to Lyme disease.

So if you don’t address those root causes - do you get better? Nope. You can mask the symptoms but unless you address it - you can’t get better - in fact, like Emily, you will get worse.

Parasites

I know - you are thinking WHAT? And many conventional practices would have you think that you don’t have any parasites, that it’s not common especially in modernized countries. I hate to break it to you - it is. Once my clients get to Phase 2 in their recovery where we start working on this stuff, I can’t tell you how many client portal messages I get - "OMG you will never believe what came out of me."

These parasites come from dirt and food.

Toxins

Toxins are everywhere in our environment. The majority of women apply and absorb about 80 toxins before they even leave the house in the morning. And no - you are not safe if you don’t wear makeup. There are toxins in your water, your furniture, your laundry, your clothes, the air, it is just very difficult to manage to stay away from them all. The most common ones are heavy metals, BPA, mercury, and mold. That is one reason I harp on drainage pathways so much you have to allow your body to get rid of that stuff like it is supposed to.

Dietary Triggers

This really ties back to digestive health because consuming foods that you are allergic to, intolerant of, or sensitive to creates damage and confusion for your immune system. The primary triggers for people are gluten, dairy, and eggs. This can be 1 or all 3. There are many other things you can be sensitive or allergic to, but these are the ones we see most often.

If you want to know what your specific triggers are - there is a simple at-home test for that!

Genetic Triggers

You have heard in previous episodes that autoimmune conditions are 1 part genetic, and I still stand by that, I don’t feel the evidence for that has changed. But the genetic trigger isn’t always what you think.

Just because your grandma had psoriasis or your mom or aunt doesn’t mean that you will. It could mean that given the right ingredients (some of which - like a diet - or exposures can run in families) you could end up with one, but empowered with the knowledge you can also prevent it.

More questions about autoimmune disease root causes?

If you have more questions about autoimmune disease root causes. I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast and even some free office hours on Fridays to get your private questions answered - friends chronic disease is preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise you deserve to feel good!) You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

When you join the free Wellness circle you will also get my free guide to Kickstart your Autoimmune Revolution - it has 5 steps to get you started on your very own Autoimmune Revolution and is newly updated to contain a safe approach to the first phase of healing I use with many of my clients working on energy and drainage. 

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up - inflammation is not the root cause of autoimmune disease and finding your root cause is the first step to healing your body. If you are interested in taking that step head to the show notes page at audreychristie.com/148 to grab a free mini-consult in my virtual practice.

Know your autoimmune disease symptoms is so much more important than a diagnosis.

If you want to learn more about me, about how to implement these things into your life to feel better in simple practical, and sustainable ways - head over to AudreyChristie.com there’s free downloads, online courses, programs, and tons of resources to help you create your own health and wellness revolution.

Remember that I am always rooting for you friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

Episode 147: Autoimmune Disease Symptoms

By

autoimmune disease symptoms

Autoimmune Disease Symptoms

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED Episode 147: 

Join the private group Wellness Circle to learn more about Autoimmune Disease Symptoms: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

Autoimmune Revolution Waitlist

Wellness Circle

Complimentary Case Review

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

________________________________

Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a free case review here.

Autoimmune Disease Symptoms: When to suspect an autoimmune disease

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

Hey friends, Today we are talking autoimmune disease symptoms. 

More specifically, at what point, should you suspect an autoimmune disease? Is it the same thing as a chronic illness? Does it even matter? We are covering all of that today.

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


autoimmune disease symptoms

Before we dive in, I have had to shift everything back a week thanks to good old Texas weather so this episode is officially your last chance to jump on the Autoimmune Revolution waitlist - I will be opening up a second registration round and the waitlist gets first dibs on limited slots AND lots of other perks. If you are interested in DIY’ing your own revolution with my help and the support of a small community- this is your chance - get on the list at audreychristie.com/autoimmunerevolution.

What that means is you get my help and support, my secret steps, formulas, tailored protocols to heal your body from its root (whether you are just not feeling your best or have multiple diagnoses) it’s a lot like working 1:1 with me but you get the support of the group.

Okay...let's dig in.

Autoimmune Disease Symptom Secret...shhhhhhh

I have to let you in on a secret…I don’t care what your symptoms are I don’t think a diagnosis is important. I can count on 1 hand the number of times a diagnosis is important. There are millions of autoimmune disease symptoms (although we will talk about some of them later in the episode) and over 100 at last count official autoimmune disease names including one that means basically it's autoimmune but we don’t know what the heck it is.

A diagnosis isn’t important, I don’t give them, I don’t believe in them. Not getting one, having one, and certainly not waiting around on one while you suffer. Why? You may be wondering...because they don’t matter if you want to heal your body.

I know I know - unpopular opinion alert - but the only thing a diagnosis is good for is a bandaid. A diagnosis gets you treatment while finding the root cause and healing that gets you a cure.

You need a diagnosis for steroids or low dose chemo or NSAIDS, those things that turn off your body’s fire alarm without putting out the fire.  Another way I have described it is that it is like unplugging your check engine light instead of finding out why it’s on in the first place.

Psoriasis for example...

Let’s take psoriasis for example - psoriasis is a label for diseased skin - but did you know that psoriasis at its root is NOT a disease of the skin? I know I know - crazy right?!? The skin is a symptom of something going on under the surface.

Let’s look at another analogy that most everyone is familiar with - think of your autoimmune disease as a tree.

Where the trunk is the label and the branches represent the symptoms. So with our psoriasis example, the trunk is the label psoriasis but could just as easily be a skin issue. The branches represent the troubles in the body, fatigue, joint pain, skin rash, nutrition. Then underground, the roots that is what causes the tree that you see above the ground. And just like there are many roots under the surface that create and feed the tree you see above the ground, so is psoriasis.

Where it gets tricky, is that just like trees in a forest, everyone’s roots are a little different. That pesky feature in humans is called bio-individuality - what that means is that each person is unique, from your roots in the expression of your genetic code to the tip of your head. That’s why you may have tried all the different fads, protocols, and recommendations to “fix” your autoimmunity and not found anything that lasts.

When your Symptoms could mean Autoimmune

So instead of wondering when to suspect an autoimmune disease or what autoimmune disease symptoms mean that you have an autoimmune diagnosis - look for the ROOT causes of autoimmune disease.

This could be mold toxicity, Lyme disease, viral coinfections, SIBO, mitochondrial health, candida overgrowth, stress, energetic health, environmental toxins, heavy metal toxicity, nutrition deficiencies, Epstein bar, radiation, c-diff, e coli, parasites, liver trouble, EMF sensitivity just to name a few common ones and just as a tree has many roots it is going to likely be a combination of these things that ends up being the roots of your trouble.

Common Autoimmune Disease Symptoms

What are some of the common autoimmune disease symptoms those roots cause?

The most common ones include:

  • Any level of fatigue, afternoon energy drops, sleeplessness, loss of energy
  • anxiety/depression
  • Muscle aches
  • Swelling and redness in the body without injury
  • Low grade fevers
  • Brain fog
  • Hair loss (men too!)
  • Skin rashes (from eczema to acne to psoriasis)
  • Extreme thirst
  • Inability to lose weight
  • Irregular stools
  • Joint pain
  • Inability to focus (ADHD type symptoms)

I could go into many more for an individual disease but remember - a diagnosis is nothing but a label for the dis-ease in your body - so if you have symptoms don’t wait to heal your body now.

More questions about autoimmune disease symptoms?

If you have more questions about autoimmune disease symptoms. I would love to have join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast and even some free office hours on Fridays to get your private questions answered - friends chronic disease is preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise you deserve to feel good!) You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

When you join the free Wellness circle you will also get my free guide to Kickstart your Autoimmune Revolution - it has 5 steps to get you started on your very own Autoimmune Revolution and is newly updated to contain a safe approach to the first phase of healing I use with many of my clients working on energy and drainage. 

Also, I want to extend one last invite to jump on the Autoimmune Revolution waitlist - I will be opening up a second registration round and the waitlist gets first dibs on limited slots AND lots of other perks. if you are interested in DIY’ing your own revolution with my help and the support of a small community! This is your chance - get on the list at audreychristie.com/autoimmunerevolution  Plus the super sweet bonus to get you started - what to do with your autoimmune flares. if you are interested in DIY’ing your own revolution with my help and the support of a small community! 

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up -

Know your autoimmune disease symptoms is so much more important than a diagnosis.

If you want to learn more about me, about how to implement these things into your life to feel better in simple practical, and sustainable ways - head over to AudreyChristie.com there’s free downloads, online courses, programs, and tons of resources to help you create your own health and wellness revolution.

Remember that I am always rooting for you friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

Plant Based Foods that Fight Inflammation

By

foods that fight inflammation

Plant-Based Foods that Fight Inflammation

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED Episode 145: 

Join the private group Wellness Circle to learn more about Inflammation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

Autoimmune Revolution Waitlist

Wellness Circle

Complimentary Case Review

Study Links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30813369
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31058853
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21358121
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25672622
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27833054
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31867989
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30813369
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31329250
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28194262
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30186809
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26215012
http://www.jdrr.org/article.asp?issn=2348-2915;year=2015;volume=2;issue=2;spage=70;epage=72;aulast=Rajpurohit

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

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Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a free case review here.

Foods that Fight Inflammation

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

Hey friends, inflammation is a beast, right? That’s why I am gonna give you 4 plant-based foods that fight inflammation in today’s episode, but that's not all we are talking about. I also want to talk to you about inflammation because a lot has changed since the last time we talked about this topic (over 100 episodes ago - including some of the ways we look at how, why, and when we should be fighting inflammation and the depth of information that I want to share with you about it here. Even in terms of acute injuries, conventional medicine has also changed its stance on what to do about inflammation.

So in today’s episode, we are talking about a whole host of information that will help you learn how, when, why to fight inflammation and when you might oughta leave it be. We are talking:

  • When inflammation is good
  • When inflammation is bad and contributes to long term health problems
  • What some of the root causes of inflammation are and what you can do about it
  • The inflammation benefits of my favorite 8 plant foods that fight inflammation

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


Before we dive in, Another quick invite I have for you is to jump on the Autoimmune Revolution waitlist if you are interested in DIY’ing your own revolution with my help and the support of a small community! We will be opening registration again very soon - get on the list at audreychristie.com/autoimmunerevolution

The Truth About Fighting Inflammation

I’m just gonna come out and say it - if you keep masking inflammation you get more inflammation and eventually you get really sick. That about sums it up. Doesn’t matter if you are doing it with conventional methods or natural methods, medicine from the doctor, or supplements, eventually, that inflammation bucket fills up and overflows AND depending on your genetic makeup and what genes have been turned on or off depends on what that overflow does in your body.

For some people it is an autoimmune condition, for some people, it is allergies, for others heart disease, depression, memory loss, anxiety, fatigue, cancer, weight gain, and for some it is a stair-step through all of these things.

Is Inflammation a problem for you...

One way to tell if you have been squelching inflammation and the cause of that inflammation is still happening is when you get relief from a remedy and then it comes back with a vengeance. For example, I see frequently with my clients - when we start on a protocol and we start looking at pushing pause or stopping altogether the supplements they have been taking for some time. Often they really want to keep taking certain ones like turmeric, omega 3, and I started taking high doses of omega 3 and was doing so good and then the benefits started drifting down or they went away completely. But often these clients remember how they felt for sometimes even a brief window and attribute that to the supplement or change and don’t want to let go of that supplement or stop avoiding that food. If that is you, then listen up - that is a sign that you are squelching inflammation that is trying to give you clues to what your root cause is, or at least wave a flag saying help! Warning!

Your Permission Slip

So the first thing I want to do is give you full permission to investigate, to take steps to heal, you only get one shot at this life so why spend your time and energy fighting to feel good enough when you could be waking up every day feeling good?

The Two-Faced Nature of Inflammation

Inflammation is a process in your body where your immune system is alerted to something needing repair. Your immune system releases chemical messengers and it leads to redness, swelling, and/or pain. Sometimes this is perceivable from the outside of the body and sometimes it is just perceivable internally.

Inflammation is important, protective even, to heal damaged tissues and even prevent infection. The problem comes in when there is a constant alert like toxins, chronic infections, stress, any number of things that can trigger ongoing inflammation, that’s where you lead to troubles that last and last.

The goal is to keep inflammation as your body’s fire alarm, only pulling the alarm when you really need it.

What are some of the root causes of inflammation?

Toxins, parasites, food allergies and sensitivities, stress, Lyme, molds, pesticides, air pollution, chronic co-infections, heavy metals, candida, SIBO, hormone imbalance, poor drainage pathways - the list is long and exhaustive and can be difficult to get to on your own. Inflammation, like everything, is often a tree with many roots, but the good news about doing the work to find the roots is that you can heal.

I can get you started on your journey with my newly updated Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart - you can download it on the show notes page or at audreychrisite.com/autoimmune

Plant-Based Foods that Fight Inflammation

Sprouts particularly Broccoli Sprouts Fight Inflammation

Have you heard of sprouting? I talk about it a lot on my Instagram - so easy - so delish and as a sidebar a great project for kids!

Sprouts are rich in a phytochemical compound called sulforaphane. Broccoli sprouts in particular have about 100 times the amount of sulforaphane in them as other sprouts.

Sulforaphane supports something in your body called the Nrf2 pathway - it is like the self-defense system for your cells. It can turn genes on and off, including those that utilize antioxidants, this is critical if you are suffering from inflammation and if you have an autoimmune disease or other chronic health issues - you for sure do.

Sulforaphane also helps your body to better use glutathione that helps to protect your body from free radical damage caused by environmental toxins - things like pesticides, air pollution, and mold. Sounds like some of the things I mentioned in the root causes, huh?

It can also help your brain and nerve-related disorders like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and even depression and anxiety...although it has mostly been studied in animal research, the results are promising. 

What I love about it is that it tastes great, and if you always have a batch in progress - you can sprinkle it everywhere - smoothies, salads, potatoes, sandwiches, soups - really it goes anywhere and is very easy to incorporate.

Wild Blueberries Fight Inflammation

You already know that blueberries are super good for you, they are considered a super fruit because they are high in powerful antioxidants (specifically anthocyanins).

These anthocyanins also support the Nrf2 pathway, they help with detox, inflammation, and aid in your digestive health. Anyone dealing with a complex chronic illness, autoimmune disease, or a collection of symptoms - add blueberries to your day!

Wild blueberries also help protect your liver, immune function, reduce heart disease, support healthy blood sugar regulation, protect your eyes, enhance your lung tissue, increase your physical endurance, and support bone health too.

Wheatgrass (whole) helps to Fight Inflammation

Wheatgrass is full of minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, and all kinds of beautiful healing plant compounds. It’s particularly protective for the liver and with heavy metal toxicity. And is protective for the mouth, gums, and teeth. It helps to protect it from harmful bacteria.

Lab tests every show that it can deter the growth of cancer cells, so be sure and put it in your smoothie!

It's another easy/fun one to grow right on your window ledge.

But wait, what about gluten? Wheatgrass does not contain gluten.

Pineapple to Fight Inflammation

The bromelain in pineapple helps to combat inflammation and support immune function including getting rid of parasites, reducing airway asthma, helping with joint pain and stiffness, reducing bruising, improving heart health, and reducing blood clots. Here’s a fun benefit, you may know that cancer cells are cancerous because they don’t die when they should, they reproduce and proliferate and don’t die off, bromelain in pineapple helps to encourage cancer cells to go through cell apoptosis (cell death) of cancer cells.

If you have more questions about inflammation and are looking for more actionable steps in this episode, I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast.

Friends chronic disease is 99% preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission with lifestyle, energetic, and nutrition practices. You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up -

Inflammation is a warning and repair system in our body. When you just can’t shake something - look to find the root cause, rather than continuing to squash that inflammatory response. Incorporating these foods I mentioned will help to relieve the inflammation and have a side benefit of working on some of the root cause issues that might be an issue for you.

I am always rooting for you friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,

Do Detoxes Work

By

do detoxes work

Do Detoxes Work

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED Episode 144: 

Join the private group Wellness Circle to learn more about Do Detoxes Work: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Audreychristie/

Download Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart https://audreychristie.com/autoimmune 

Autoimmune Revolution Waitlist

5 Day Rest and Reset

________________________________

Say HI and join the conversation on social:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/audrey_christie

Facebook: https://facebook.com/audreychristiemsn

________________________________

Wondering if Functional and Integrative Help is right for you and your condition? Schedule a free case review here.

Do Detoxes Work

Rough Transcript (listening is best)

Hey friends, today we are tackling a tough topic, do detoxes work. This time of year I am normally running my annual nourishing detox, this year we are running them exclusively in the Autoimmune Revolution membership, but the question still comes up - do detoxes work?

This is a tough topic because the answer is a little complicated. Detoxing your body DOES work, but not in the way you are probably thinking! Therein lies the tough part. Many conventional medicine practitioners would have you think you don’t need to detox - because your liver and kidney’s and skin already do that) and while that's true there is so much more to it than that!

So in today’s episode, we are talking about do detoxes work, should you be doing them, what kind and how long, and what are the actual benefits vs dangers?

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.


Are you wondering if detoxes work?

If you haven’t heard of detoxing then you may not have social media, maybe even not the radio or tv. Like at all. I know Artificial Intelligence targets you by your interests so what we see on social is all different, but I only have to start thinking about when I am holding my seasonal detoxes and the detox and cleanses ads go crazy.

The problem with these, whether they are free or paid, juice or supplement, new or old, is that often they make claims that aren’t true, they cause troubles in your body, or they are just plain dangerous.

A story about a detox gone wrong...

I had a client that came to me after a 3-day juice cleanse. She had done the cleanse, wasn’t given too many instructions to go with it, so she continued working out regularly, keeping up her busy pace in life, and really didn’t change anything other than no solid food for 3 days. She had started on a highly processed inflammatory diet went right to the juice cleanse (of conventional produce) and then right back off of juice and back on to her Standard American Diet.

Do you think she saw any benefits? Nope. In fact, she saw worsening of her symptoms, GI upset, skin rashes, lasting fatigue, and had sleep issues during the cleanse and for weeks after.

So based on this anecdotal information, you might think that I am going to tell you that the answer to “do detoxes work” is a hard no. Guess again!

You see it is not that detoxes don’t work, it's just that they aren’t magic bullets for wellness, and often, if they aren’t done the right way, or with the right ingredients, or the right length of time then they can actually make things worse. There are many cases of people cleansing or detoxing, feeling better for a week or two and then their symptoms come back with vengeance.

There is also a big difference between a detox where we are getting rid of parasites, bugs, biofilms, and coinfections AND a nutritional detox that sort of resets the system. Like a big difference, they are often used together but they have very different results, benefits, and risks. In upcoming episodes, I will be talking more about that for sure.

How to Tell if You Need to Detox

Here are some signs that you might need a nutritional detox:

  1. You feel like you need a reset button on life (yep there is an energetic component to this too)
  2. You’ve been feeling sluggish. Physically and internally, are you having 2-3 solid and smooth bowel movements a day?
  3. You are having digestive troubles at either end.
  4. You’ve been feeling bloated and gassy.
  5. Your skin is irritated and inflamed, like eczema to psoriasis.
  6. You're suffering from seasonal or environmental allergies
  7. Your menstrual cycles are irregular.
  8. You're moody. Feeling anything but balnaced from depression to anxiety to irritation.
  9. You're swelling.
  10. You have bags under your eyes. (this is not always a sleep/rest issue)
  11. You are mentally foggy.
  12. You feel fatigued.
  13. You are having low back pain

If you are suffering from more than 2 of those symptoms or if you are suffering from a collection of symptoms yet to be diagnosed, a chronic illness or infection, or an autoimmune condition...it's probably time for some deeper help. We will talk about that too.

When that happens or if it is happening now, you are likely thinking, “what is happening in my body!?” Often followed by “do I need to detox?” and “do detoxes work?”

It’s pretty simple, over long periods of time, months, and years, you are exposed repeatedly to toxins, parasites, molds, all sorts of things. They are in our air, water, food, and every product around you. Over long periods of time, These toxins accumulate and eventually start to impair our natural detoxifying pathways and cause dis-ease. Our natural detoxification pathways are digestion via bowel movements, kidneys via urine, the liver, and our skin is the last resort.

I think a bucket analogy explains this in really simple terms. Think of your body as a bucket. Over time your bucket gets filled with things like toxins and contaminants from all over the place. Our liver, kidneys, digestive system, and the rest of the body tries their best to keep up processing what is put in this bucket each day. If our total toxic load sometimes also called a body burden becomes too much for our liver and kidneys to deal with each day, if our body can't keep up, then our bucket overflows and the toxins spill out and overwhelm our body. This is where we can see disease processes from these toxins begin.

Sometimes people will say, "but Audrey I eat whatever I want I go out to eat all the time and I did a juice cleanse and I didn't have any detox effect at all. So your bucket analogy is wrong."

I wish it were, but generally what that means is that your toxin load is maxed out and you're likely headed for big trouble. The right answer here is not to continue to try to detox until you get a reaction or feel better, the right answer is to stop strengthen the body's detox Pathways and then go back and detox.

How to Detox

If you are suffering from more than 2 of those symptoms I listed or if you are suffering from a collection of symptoms yet to be diagnosed, a chronic illness or infection, or an autoimmune condition...it's probably time for some deeper help and you fall into the category of folks that need to stay away from the juice fads.

I can get you started on your journey with my newly updated Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart. You can download it here.

If you don’t really have any symptoms are just looking for a reset - then I would still encourage you to work with someone but here’s what to do if you are set on the DIY

  • Leave behind any detox offers that ask you to take a bunch of supplements or abstain from food for any amount of time
  • Stay away from anything less than 5 days
  • Look for detox opportunities that focus on something that is nourishing AND detoxing by the very nature of the type of fuel you are putting in your body
  • Look for whole foods
  • Avoid any detox packages that use whey protein shakes. Those are an inflammatory nightmare.
  • Avoid detox packages that involve working out in addition to your routine - anything more than gentle movement is not a good idea.

You can check out my 5-day Rest and Reset if you want an inexpensive whole foods detox style plan.

All that being said, there are so many ways to detox, and just like everything else you have to find the thing that is right for your bio-individual self. You have to find what works for what you can do, where you are in your Wellness Journey, what you may want to stick to, and it can be a little tricky to find methods that work best for your goals. Often is a combination of several of these methods in particular that will be the key to Wellness for any given individual.

A lot of times it's not what happens during the detox necessarily, but what happens after the detox. Ask yourself, which of these habits can you continue? Which would you want to add to your routine?

No matter what detox you choose the very first step is to get your detox pathways moving for you - so any toxins you release aren’t recirculated. lighten your incoming toxin load. And that's really simple friends all you have to do is get rid of alcohol, and get rid of coffee or swap it for an organic biologic coffee, get rid of tobacco, refined sugar, and those rancid fats. Those are all barriers to having a well-functioning detoxification system in your body. Those are all barriers to healing.

Once you lighten the toxin load coming in you have more options to choose from but again it depends on where you are in your Wellness Journey. There are fasting cleanses and juice cleanses but as I mentioned if you aren't careful you can end up in a world of trouble stirring up films and parasites and heavy metals that make your symptoms even worse.

If you're starting out from a conventional American diet full of processed foods, caffeine, wine, or other alcohol and all sorts of not goodness then it can be dangerous for you to jump into a big juice fast or fast only 3 days type of detox. Start by getting rid of alcohol, and get rid of coffee or swap it for an organic biologic coffee, get rid of tobacco, refined sugar, and those rancid fats.

If you’re starting from the conventional American diet, and you fall into the category I have warned against these things - then start with the protocol in the Autoimmune Revolution Kickstart free download here.

One last word about detoxes because I would remiss in excluding it - detoxes Shakes and powders all day, those aren't detoxes, generally those are adding toxins to your system with over-processed food-like products. It's best to save your money and avoid that entirely.

If you have more questions about how to navigate your wellness goals and are looking for more actionable steps in this episode, I would love to have you join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Autoimmune Revolution Podcast.

Friends chronic disease is 99% preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission with lifestyle, energetic, and nutrition practices. You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up -

Toxins are all around us so detoxing is something that is important to do for our human suits a few times a year in order for us to maintain our energy levels and our Wellness. It even offers particular magic when you align it with the seasons and for those in more intense programs even with the full moons.

Remember when choosing a detox method don't take on something too complex just because you think you should or your friends are doing it. Instead find a program that is safe, nourishing, non-restrictive, and available on your time frame. Remember to focus on a whole-food style detox.

I am always rooting for you friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,