Tag Archives: adrenal

The Truth Behind the “Everyone Is Different” Mantra

If you’ve hung around the internet-based support groups and forums (either general or for a specific disorder) long enough, you might get lucky and see a practitioner pop up every once in a while with a gem….followed by the disclaimer: “Everyone is different.”  Many patients in my office ask me how long it might take them to get better; someone next to me in the grocery store might ask me what they can take for their Candida, Mercury toxicity, or a general detox plan.  Or a colleague calls me to ask what they can do for a patient with a mysterious symptom.  To which I reply with my own: “Everyone is different.”

What’s with that?  Is “Everyone is Different” a simple cop-out?  An office ploy to obtain more patients or clients?

Maybe it is for some practitioners, but I can only speak for myself and how I practice.  When it comes out of my mouth, “everyone is different” really means just that.

The skeptics out there scoff and say, “well, that’s just a ploy.  There can’t be that much variation between human beings.  After all, we share 96% of our DNA with cats, which is only a 4% variability; how can humans vary so much?”

The easy answer is…three factors.  1) Predisposing Factors, 2) Triggering Factors, and 3) Perpetuating factors.

1.  Predisposing Factors

That starts with genetics.  You’ve probably heard the term “genetic predisposition”, usually in reference to a disease or condition.  Our genes vary a lot!  For example, 30% of the population has a genetically-predisposed reactivity to gluten.  About 40-50% of the population has a methylation (detox pathway) defect.  Do you have estrogen dominance symptoms, or are you one of the estimated 50-80% of the women out there with uterine fibroids?  Then you may be among the 50% of the population that metabolizes estrogen differently in the liver, turning it into a very powerful, too-active form of the hormone.  When I order a genetic screening of someone’s detoxification ability, about 25% of the markers are abnormal, indicating mutated genes…in every.  Single.  Person.

It’s not just genes, either.  We vary in our physical structure as well.  Ten percent of the population is missing the retinaculum, a strip of tissue that goes across the inside of the wrist.  An estimated 40% were born *without* a psoas (pronounced “so-azz” major muscle.  Wow!

Let’s consider development, the first factor being prenatal care.  Parents whose children were planned are much more likely to have sought prenatal care, including prenatal vitamins with extra folate and other nutrients vital for proper fetal growth.  At the very least, they have (hopefully) stopped smoking or drinking.   A mother who doesn’t realize she’s pregnant (and may not until the third or even fifth month!) may not have taken any of these precautions.

2. Triggering Factors

Triggering Factors (or “triggers”) involve events or physical/chemical/emotional assaults that set something in motion, usually the development of a chronic disorder.  These usually occur after birth (although they can indeed begin in the womb), and can happen at any time of life, even in the elderly.

The birth process itself can change things.  A traumatic or emergency delivery, or a situation in which the baby was deprived of (or otherwise low on) oxygen can present lasting problems.  If the baby was born vaginally, this bodes much better for the development of the “good”/helpful bacteria that live in the GI tract; in fact, it’s an important point of establishment.  Those born by Cesarean section by-pass that opportunity.  The same goes for breastfeeding versus a soy or cow’s milk formula; the first three days of breast milk production isn’t the milk protein at all, but rather, colostrum, which is absolutely vital to a healthy immune system and (once again) the establishment of good intestinal bacteria.

Immediately after birth, a baby is born with 287 different toxic chemicals and metabolites in the blood. The urinary studies are even worse: of over 3,000 metabolites found in the urine, 2,200 were toxic and unnatural.  According to current research, it’s estimated that a lady sheds 60% of the stored toxins from her adipose tissue (fat cells) during pregnancy.  These do indeed cross into the umbilical cord.  If this lady lives on a rural ranch, her toxic exposures will be different than for someone who lives in a city, across from the cement plant (which releases ambient Mercury into the air).

As a newborn, if a baby was separated from his or her mother (mom was in the military or otherwise absent), this can actually intensify the brain-adrenal stress response, creating changes that last through life.  If the baby is vaccinated immediately, the immune system fails to develop properly (it is not developed well enough to know how to handle a vaccine properly until at least six months of age; vaccinating beforehand simply confuses the immune system, not to mention the doses of Mercury, propylene glycol/antifreeze, and formaldehyde that have been reported in vaccines).  Again, the same goes for breastfeeding – six months is the minimum for a healthy immune system; 12 months is ideal; I’m happy with anywhere in between.

Then, one must ask, what is this person’s early life like?  Do the parents fight?  Did the family move a lot?  Is the house clean and sanitary?  (Is it *too* clean and sanitary?)  Did the neighbors treat their lawn with chemicals or commercial fertilizers?  Is there an unknown growth of black mold in the vents?  Is there an unknown termite infestation releasing naphthalene (a toxic chemical) into the air?  What about diet?  Some brands of commercial baby food contain MSG!  That does not promote a healthy gut; in fact, it causes a Leaky Gut.  And what about baby clothes?  Many of today’s baby products (such as clothes, blankets, etc) have been treated with flame-retardant chemicals, which sounds good in theory, but in reality are quite toxic.  These chemicals release fumes into the air and through the skin that end up in the baby’s blood, threatening vulnerable developing tissues (like the brain and reproductive system, especially).

When the child gets sick, is he or she automatically given antibiotics?  During a seasonal cold or flu, it’s good to know that dairy and sugar create additional mucus and prolong the illness.  Eliminating these foods from the diet, at least during that time (and regardless of allergy) will help ease the symptoms and duration of a cold or flu.  Antibiotics, however, will not.  What they *will* do is kill off healthy bacteria.  There’s a place for antibiotics–to take care of an immediate problem before it becomes worse, while then taking the time to figure out why it happened.  A healthy immune system only gets a seasonal cold once or twice per year and in some people, every two years.

In light of the above, consider all of the “forks in the road” that each of us has faced.  We’ve had incredibly different combinations of predisposing and triggering factors influencing us from before birth!

You get the idea.  Most of my sickest patients had been subjected to long-standing family dysfunction or other emotional traumas growing up.  Many others were just fine until they got caught up in a bad relationship or moved to a particular house in which, undisclosed to them, was a black mold or cockroach infestation.  For others, it was a job change, in which the new job was extremely stressful, with a steep learning curve.  And for still others, all was well until a college spring break trip abroad, during which they contracted a stomach bug that ended up being an ulcer-causing bacteria; this created a hole between their intestinal tube and their bloodstream, and from there they went on to form severe reactions to several major foods.  Which brings us to…

3. Perpetuating Factors

These are factors that, once a condition or dysfunction has been set in motion, play a major part in keeping it going/making it worse.  These factors provide additional–often daily–assaults to the system, progressing the condition.  Prime examples include unrealized food intolerance, a dysfunctional marriage, fibromyalgia, harsh medication, environmental chemical exposures, processed foods, MSG intake, genetic abnormalities (such as the estrogen metabolism example mentioned early on), a manipulative sibling, an aging parent, chronic injuries from a car accident, migraines, birth control pills, a chronic unknown intestinal or dental infection, a special needs family member, death of a loved one, an old sports injury, *additional* food allergies (that develop long after the first few), and so much more.

Alcohol intake or prescription medications will change one’s nutrient status, and with that, one’s entire function.  The same holds true for one who is under chronic stress or chronic pain from an old injury.  Someone who harbors emotional traumas that have not been resolved through quality counseling may do “everything right” in terms of their care plan, and their symptoms may not budge.  Thus, it’s crucial that your doctor asks a lot of probing questions, scrutinizes every inch of a detailed health and personal history, gathers information about medications you’re taking, and recommends a comprehensive diagnostic lab workup.  (Hint: A blood cell count and an adrenal stress test are *not* a comprehensive workup!  At least not when you have a long list of mysterious symptoms and nothing you’ve tried has provided lasting relief.)

(The Unwritten #4: The Gameplan)

Each of us is a fingerprint–we look the same, but no two of us are exactly alike.  I see this variation very plainly when I receive lab test results on my patients.  I must carry three or four different versions of, for example, an intestinal healing formula, because a patient with a sulfur-loving bacteria growing in their intestine wouldn’t respond to the version that contains MSM, a sulfur-derived natural compound.  Others have an aloe allergy, so they wouldn’t handle the one with aloe very well.  Some need a more basic formula, while others need one with more anti-inflammatory ingredients.  Some peoples’ immune systems need turning up, while others’ systems need calming down.

Another good example involves thyroid disorders.  There are about 22 different patterns of thyroid dysfunction.  Healthy levels of specific brain chemicals are needed in order to stimulate TSH, the thyroid-stimulating hormone.  The thyroid gland must be open to receiving that TSH signal.  Then it must have enough raw nutrients (minerals and proteins) to make thyroid hormones.  The catch is, most of the thyroid hormone that the thyroid gland makes is inactive.  This hormone must be activated elsewhere.  If you suffer hidden, sneaky, chronic inflammation, you won’t activate thyroid hormones properly.  Thus, your thyroid tests can be “normal” and you still feel like a textbook hypothyroid case.

Some people need Iodine to improve their thyroid function, while for others, that can be an unpleasant–and risky–idea.  Some people need immune boosting (or calming) support in order for their thyroid symptoms to improve.  And still others need to tone down their adrenal stress before they’ll feel normal in thyroid terms again.  Sex hormone dominance can also mimic low thyroid function.  There’s no one magic bullet for “hypothyroid”.  For some people it might be a stomach cell-rejuvenating formula so that they can break down protein again in order to make their thyroid hormone backbone.  For others, it might be an adrenal modulating formula so that excess stress hormones stop interfering with thyroid hormones.  And so on…

The good news is, the technology is out there–and it’s now reliable, widely-available, and cost-effective!  It is now possible to sniff out these underlying causes, and rule some out while ruling others in.  This allows us to very specifically hone in on what the underlying cause of *your* particular problem is.  This also allows us to say, “well, it isn’t that, so we don’t even have to go down that road; let’s focus our efforts over here instead.”  The diagnostic approach becomes smarter.  The treatment or care approach becomes more targeted.  People heal more completely.  They even heal faster…

….even if:     “Everyone Is Different”


Functional Medicine Lab Testing

Believe it or not, most doctors don’t order nearly enough testing.  The human body is extremely complex, consisting of many different systems that interact in an intricate web, with every system influencing all of the others.  All of the different major physiological functions have special relationships with each other and all affect each other.  This is all well and good, as long as your body is humming along pleasantly, with everything working the way it should.

I might boldly venture to say that there is not a single person on this planet who fits that description.  Instead, stress, environmental toxins, food and environmental allergies, lack of proper nutrition, lack of exercise, dysbiosis, hormone fluctuations, infections, and even genetics, all throw a monkey wrench into this smooth interaction between all of your body systems.

And that’s where the domino effect starts.  Before you know it, a problem in one area becomes a problem in multiple areas; pretty soon everything seems to have gone haywire.

This is why comprehensive testing is important.  Since this level of testing is unfamiliar to most people, I thought it might be helpful to outline some of the lab testing most commonly run by a good Functional Medicine practitioner.  (Notice I said “a good Functional Medicine practitioner”!  Not all are created equal.)

Conventional blood testing – this usually includes a blood cell count, a metabolic panel, a lipid panel, a basic thyroid panel, and a few other miscellaneous tests, such as iron and/or B12 and others.

Adrenal stress testing – this often includes several readings of cortisol (the adrenal stress hormone) and DHEA (another important adrenal hormone).  There are several variations of this panel; depending on which type I order, it may also include screening for anti-gliadin antibodies, progesterone, or other male/female hormones.

Digestive analysis – this assesses your digestion and absorption, and often includes screenings for harmful microbes such as yeasts, parasites, and opportunistic bacteria that can interfere with intestinal function.  There are many varieties of this test available as well; some may include pancreatic function while others include stomach acid levels.  Some tests only screen for antibodies to a known pathogen such as candida or giardia, whereas others analyze the DNA of the microbes and compare it against a comprehensive database of microbes known to cause problems in humans.

Liver detoxification – unfortunately, the liver enzymes commonly tested for in a routine blood test don’t tell the whole story.  In fact, your liver can be in pretty rough shape and those tests will still be well within the normal range.  They don’t even start to show a problem until a liver issue is very advanced.  The good news is, there are much more efficient tests that assess liver function.  They do this by measuring levels of end-products of liver metabolism.  This gives a much more accurate picture of how the liver is functioning now, rather than waiting until advanced stages of damage and dysfunction have set in.

Heavy metal and nutrient mineral screenings – surprisingly, hair analysis is NOT the most accurate method of checking for the presence of heavy metals.  This is because hair analysis depends on proper excretion of heavy metals and some people tend to retain heavy metals inside their bodies instead of excreting them.  Luckily, there are several other methods of testing.  Some versions of this test only check for heavy metals, while other versions also evaluate the more beneficial nutrient minerals such as molybdenum and zinc to assess mineral levels.  These tests are much more accurate and reliable than blood-test versions of these minerals because the body will actually sacrifice tissue levels of nutrients to keep the blood levels constant.

Immune system panels – we can use several different tests to check various functions of your immune system.  One such test gives us clues regarding whether your immune system is fighting a foreign invader, or your own body.  Another test tells us whether your immune system is balanced (which is extremely important!) or whether one side has gotten a little overzealous and out of hand.

Thyroid test panels – to test TSH alone is never enough.  That’s like being blindfolded and trying to get an idea of what an entire elephant looks like by simply touching its trunk.  The trunk is what it is, but it does not tell you very much about the rest of the body.  I view the TSH test the same way; it is important, but it does not give the whole picture and testing TSH alone falls very short of good testing.  Thyroid test panels vary, but they can include the thyroid hormones themselves, how much of those hormones are being taken up by your body, the level of thyroid hormone transport protein lives in your blood, or even whether or not your body has started to attack your thyroid gland (i.e. the presence of thyroid antibodies).

Nutrients (Vitamins and Minerals) – there is a huge variety of different nutrient test panels available.  Some assess fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D, and K), while others check water-soluble vitamin (B-complex, Vitamin C) levels.  Some evaluate minerals, like we talked about above.  Some measure other nutrients such as CoQ10 and/or glutathione.

Food allergy/sensitivity testing – here again, there is a variety of testing available.  In fact, there are several different types of reactions to problem foods.  One type is an immediate reaction involving histamine; another type is a delayed reaction that does more damage in the long run, but it is less obvious at first.  Several different companies test for several different types of reactions, and may include a wide variety of different panels or groups of foods.  In fact, some tests also include environmental irritants such as pollens, molds, and others.

Male/Female hormone panels – these tests look at the levels of various forms of estrogen and testosterone.  Some even include progesterone.  Most tests involve a “snapshot” of the present levels, while another test measures a female’s monthly cycle over the entire duration of the cycle!

Note 1: This list is by no means complete!  Functional Medicine doctors literally have thousands of individual tests at our disposal, which means we can explore lots of possible avenues and get to the root of the problem.

Note 2: truth be told, I order testing based on what I believe the patient needs.  Some people may need more testing, while others need less.  Some may need a particular test, while others may not.  I don’t order every one of these lab tests for every patient, but I do order every test I feel is necessary for that particular person so that I have all of the information I need to help them heal.

Natural Weight Loss Alternatives: Part 1

One of the most common questions people ask is, “how do I lose weight?”  Indeed, most of us are carrying around a few extra pounds.  If you are, you’re not alone; two-thirds of the population is now officially overweight.

There is good news and bad news.  The good news is, the problem can usually be solved.  The bad news is, it’s not a simple answer.  If it were, we wouldn’t all be struggling like we do!

Weight gain is a symptom of an underlying problem, and as with any healthcare dilemma, it’s extremely important to get to the bottom of what’s causing the extra weight to accumulate.  There are lots of causes of extra weight gain, too many to explore completely in one article, but I will touch on the most common causes and perhaps write a continuation in the future.

Cause #1: Low Thyroid Function – your thyroid gland makes thyroid hormone, which is a biochemical gas pedal for your cells.  It tells your cells how fast their metabolism should be.  It keeps you going, but also eases back on the throttle when necessary so that you don’t burn out. If your cells aren’t getting enough thyroid hormone, their metabolic activity slows down.  When this happens, your cells don’t burn fuel (blood sugar, oxygen, etc) like they should and the extra fuel gets stored in the fat cells.

Now, consider this: there are literally 22 different causes that fit into 7 different categories of thyroid dysfunction.  And it may not even be an actual problem with the thyroid gland at all!  The real culprit may be coming from any one of several other body systems, and the thyroid gland could be the victim, not the suspect.  This is why it’s extremely important to have a *complete* thyroid function panel done, and to have it interpreted correctly.  There are two problems that most people encounter; one is, most conventionally-trained doctors will only run TSH and maybe T4 or if you’re lucky, they’ll add T3 Uptake. The second problem is, the lab results aren’t interpreted in a way that evaluate for proper function, so many conventional doctors miss an underlying thyroid problem.

Cause #2:  Overactive Adrenal glands – your adrenal glands are small triangular-shaped glands that sit on top of your kidneys.  Their main function is to help us deal with stress.  They produce and release cortisol, our “stress hormone” whose job it is to raise blood sugar and heart rate so that we have more energy to handle the stress we face.

The catch is this: we’re only designed to handle immediate stressors that quickly pass.  If we’re under too much stress for too long, our bodies pay the price.  If cortisol levels are consistently too high, they will promote weight gain, especially around the lower abdomen and hips.  If the problem worsens, a person’s face can become rounder and slightly more pale.  It is important to have your cortisol hormone levels checked.  The best test for this is actually not a blood test; it’s a saliva test.  The cortisol found in saliva is the amount of active hormone readily available for your body to use, so it’s a more relevant test.

Cause #3: Liver Congestion – the liver is a large organ under the right side of your rib cage that basically acts as a garbage disposal or water treatment plant.  It has more than 500 jobs, and detoxification is at the top of the list.  Every toxic chemical we breathe, eat, or drink (air pollution, food additives), and every metabolic waste product from all your cells passes through the liver to be cleansed and converted to a less- or non-toxic substance.  The result is that the wastes go to the kidneys and the circulating blood is clean.

If your liver gets bogged down with too many toxins (poor diet, polluted area, or excess hormones), then it creates a traffic jam and all the toxins waiting in line to be detoxified start to back up.  As a defense mechanism, your body will try to pick the safest spot to store the excess toxins, where they will do the least amount of damage.  That would be (drumroll, please): the fat cells.  There are excellent tests that evaluate true liver detoxification function that go much further beyond the basic blood tests your conventional doctor is familiar with.  The functional tests are usually part of a much larger panel designed to evaluate a wide variety of body functions.

Please see Part 2 for more!

Testing, testing: Lab testing and Functional Medicine

A Revolution in Advanced Clinical Nutrition…

A segment of Clinical Nutrition began to evolve considerably–quietly–about 30 years ago.  Now, it has bloomed into a full-fledged, legitimate medical subspecialty.  We now know much more about the mechanisms behind chronic disorders than we did even 10 years ago.  We also now realize that pharmaceutical medications, while necessary at times, don’t usually offer much in terms of resolution or long-term relief/improvement for these conditions.  Irregular blood sugar, autoimmune disorders, nutrient malabsorption, gastrointestinal microbes, inefficient liver detoxification, and adrenal fatigue don’t necessarily respond all that well to medications.

Since many of these disorders mimic each other (sometimes very closely), it can be difficult to determine exactly what’s going on using symptoms alone.  This can pose a problem, because if there is any hope in making progress or getting relief, the right treatment approach must be followed.

For example, let’s say Betty has fatigue.  The first remedy that come to mind might be caffeine pills.  It sounds logical; if she’s tired, the idea of a stimulant probably appeals to her.  If she doesn’t like the concept of chemical stimulants, she might opt for a more natural route; a naturopath or herbalist may suggest Ginseng or something similar.  Functional Medicine, on the other hand, asks why she is tired, and considers all the possibilities.  Fatigue is a common symptom, with many causes – maybe her adrenal glands aren’t producing enough cortisol.  Maybe her thyroid gland isn’t producing enough T4, or maybe she has a sluggish liver or gastrointestinal tract and can’t convert inactive thyroid hormone (T4) to active thyroid hormone her body can use (T3).  Maybe she’s got a lingering virus.  Maybe her energy is being diverted toward immune system activity because she has seasonal allergies.  Maybe her blood cells aren’t carrying enough oxygen.  Maybe she’s got candidiasis (overgrowth of candida albicans, a problematic yeast); maybe she’s fighting a bacterial infection.  Maybe she she has a food intolerance (these can make people profoundly drowsy).  Or maybe she has low blood sugar.

Each of these possibilities is a completely different problem.  Ten people with fatigue may all share the same symptom, but have completely different reasons for feeling the fatigue.  If the underlying reason isn’t investigated, and the person assumes they have adrenal fatigue when really they have a low thyroid, and they begin taking herbs that boost adrenal function, then they’ve missed the thyroid issue and they fail to correct the problem…and the problem remains.  This begins to illuminate the reason why lab testing is crucial.

As I mentioned before, when most doctors order lab testing, they tend to stick only with what insurance covers.  What you may not realize is that the testing insurance will cover is bare-bones, hardly scratching the surface of what’s actually going on.  Essentially, it’s a screening tool for basic disease and that’s really about it.  The limited tests that are ordered and the way in which the results are interpreted does not do much of anything to accurately assess someone’s actual baseline health.

This is not to “bash” the medical profession at all or paint some kind of “us versus them” polarized picture that illustrates that Functional Medicine is everything while conventional medicine has no place.  Indeed, some of those basic disease screenings can be highly appropriate and unquestionably warranted.  However, those basic screenings are sorely limited in their ability to comprehensively assess someone’s genuine health, wellbeing, and quality of life.  And that is where Functional Medicine has a chance to shine…

Functional Medicine doctors will order comprehensive testing that evaluates multiple areas of body chemistry and multiple important functions that are hardly ever touched on in hospitals or regular clinics.  When we order testing a patient has never had, we find things other doctors have never found.  A good Functional Medicine practitioner will evaluate (at minimum) several areas during routine testing:

  • Nutrient metabolism
  • Cellular energy production
  • Oxygen delivery
  • Inflammation markers
  • Organ and gland functions
  • Infection screening
  • Status of certain nutrients
  • Blood sugar consistency, long and short-term
  • Intestinal microbes, beneficial and hazardous
  • Adrenal stress
  • Central Nervous System state

Another important tenet of Functional Medicine pertains to how the lab testing is interpreted.  Most doctors simply scan the lab test results, looking for anything that the lab has “flagged” as abnormal.  In order for a result to show up as abnormal, it must fall outside of the “normal” or “reference” range.  These ranges are set based on statistics.  They vary by lab and even by region.  Look around you; you’re being compared to your neighbors, your friends, family, and co-workers.  How healthy are they?  I don’t know about you, but being “normal” compared to everyone else isn’t exactly reassuring.

What Functional Medicine doctors do is look closer at the lab test results.  They are familiar with what healthy ranges look like and where a person’s body chemistry should be.  These doctors will find literally a dozen or so dysfunctional/abnormal results that labs and conventionally-practicing doctors will flat-out miss.

Many Functional Medicine doctors take yet one more step further, to analyze patterns between these abnormal results, to attempt to find a common denominator, because often, various dysfunctions are related.  It is indeed entirely possible that a person may have multiple dysfunctional processes happening at once, and it’s also possible that multiple symptoms may stem from one underlying disorder.  Functional Medicine practitioners spend a tremendous amount of time behind the scenes pouring over lab test results and conducting any necessary research.

In short, the rabbit hole that is human physiology can go far deeper than expected; Functional Medicine is the only discipline to ever rise to the challenge.

What is Functional Medicine?






  • An emerging medical subspecialty that combines conventional testing and natural therapies

That last one is my favorite (couldn’t you tell?)

