My Doctor Says My Lab Tests are Normal,

but I feel Horrible!

Unfortunately, this is an all too common theme.  Patients, who have been struggling with health symptoms visit their doctors looking for answers, only to be left frustrated and still searching for help.

The Scenario…

A patient walks into the doctor’s office and waits 30-45 minutes, past their appointment time, to see the doctor.  Dr. “X” comes in and spends 5-10 minutes listening to the patients’ symptoms, barely making eye contact, AND proceeds to tell the patient “your lab tests look normal”.

Dr. X, hurriedly tells the patient, “try to get more rest, eat healthier and exercise…let’s see you again in 3-6 months”!

Does that sound familiar?

For some patients, they have gone through this hypothetical scenario one too many times, and now they are losing hope they can ever heal.

After helping thousands of patients over my 10+ years as an Integrative/Functional Medicine Doctor, I can tell you this story has been told me hundreds of times.  I can usually finish the patient’s sentence…which catches them off guard, but at the same time makes them feel comfortable knowing that I understand their situation.

Groundhog Day!

While I was not a fan of the movie, the Bill Murray hit rings true with many chronic health patients.  Patients that have struggled with a chronic health condition, like an autoimmune thyroid condition (since I specialize in thyroid gland disorders, I will use these patients as an example), are sick and tired of being, sick and tired!  All they want are answers and the proper guidance.

Laboratory Ranges Are Incorrect!

Stating that laboratory ranges are incorrect is rather a bold statement!  Hang tight, soon, you will be asking why no one has shared this information with you before.

Think for a moment about the patients who get their blood work drawn and tested.  Are they usually the healthiest of people?  Not usually!  Most of the time, these patients are getting blood work drawn because something is WRONG! 

Imagine you are back in school for a moment and the teacher is discussing ‘grading on a curve’!  Grading on a curve means the teacher is going to throw out the extreme best score and the extreme worse scores and come up with an average range of scores to grade on.

Lab tests work similar and this is where patients get caught in the middle, literally!

With all the data from the unhealthy patients’ lab results, a “range” is extrapolated and used to compare your results to.  If you fall within this range, things are “good”.  If you go outside the extremes (remember the grading on a curve analogy from earlier) the doctors will tell you, “Mrs/Mr. Smith your test result is higher/lower than it should be. 

This is only told to a patient IF their test result is outside the extremes.  If you are not outside of those parameters, you will be told “your blood tests look normal”!

Remember, your results are now being compared to the unhealthy population!  Do YOU want to be compared to unhealthy people or HEALTHY people? 

As soon as I ask that, most of you are probably thinking, “compare me to healthy people, not those dang sick people!”  I agree, and so do a lot of other doctors in the alternative health world.

Enter in the Functional Ranges!

I want my body FUNCTIONING at peak performance!  What about you?  You do as well?  Excellent!!!  So, we agree on that…let’s keep going.

If we take 1,000 healthy people’s blood results, we can then come up with a healthy or “functional” range! 

Now, do you want to compare your results to those unhealthy patients’ ranges or to the healthy patients’ ranges? If you are like most of my patients, you answered, “healthy patient ranges”!

Cool, we agree on that as well. 

As long as your lab results are within the functional ranges, your life is great!  But, let’s say you are in a tough occupation that makes you work swing shifts.  Your sleep patterns are constantly changing, and on top of those changes your marriage is a little rocky because you are not home enough with the family.  You have two stressors, one physical and one emotional, all affecting your body’s ability to function properly.

Let’s say this continues for 6-9 months. Now, your energy is dropping, you have put on some weight, divorce is lingering and your company is laying people off.  MORE STRESS!

Headaches begin to occur, you feel you can’t sleep enough hours in the day to help improve your energy, and to make matters worse your joints are now aching.

What do you do?  You visit your doctor, the doctor runs some tests, but your results come back NORMAL!  You and the doctor chalk your symptoms up to stress.  The doctor gives you a prescription for some NSAIDS and recommends to come back in 6 months.

6 months down the road…

The job hasn’t improved, your sleep is worse, along with the headaches and your relationship with your family is severely strained.

Now, you are having heartburn, bloating, and getting light-headed during the day.  You visit your doctor again, the doctor runs some blood work, and says “Mrs/Mr. Smith, look at your cholesterol!  Your blood pressure is elevated and your thyroid marker, TSH, is really high!  I am going to prescribe a statin to lower your cholesterol, high blood pressure medication for your elevated BP, an antacid for the heartburn and Synthroid for your thyroid.”

6 months ago, your labs were normal and the doctor told you stress was causing your symptoms.  Now, you are on 5 medications and feeling horrible.  Could this have been prevented? 

I guarantee if you were looking at your original blood test results with the functional, more optimal, range there would have been warning signs indicating that the body was NOT functioning properly and some lifestyle changes could have been made.

Now, because almost a year has gone by, you are on medications, but the medications have some unwanted side effects AND your original symptoms have not improved, only your blood pressure has gone down due to the medication.

Look at the picture below, this sums up the ranges we discussed.  In the green, you have the healthy ranges.  This is where you want to be!

If you start going outside of the green area, you are now functionally high/low.  This is where doctors like myself “operate” in!  Once you are here, you can have symptoms, but your doctors are not picking up on the issue because you are not in the red or yellow, the extremes!

However, if I can see that your results are functionally high/low, I can begin helping your body heal BEFORE you have MAJOR issues!  Keep in mind, traditional doctors are taught to prescribe medications or perform a surgery, extreme measure = extreme ranges!

Make sense? 

Now you are probably asking, how can you compare your blood results to the functional ranges!  Easy peasy…call me! 

That is right, pick up that phone, call (866) DrKing-1.  Tell my staff member, Ms. Norris, that you want to schedule a complimentary consultation for us to discuss your health condition. 

If I feel that we should begin digging into your health condition, I will recommend the next step for you!

Let’s save you some heartache, frustration, time and money…by figuring out your health issues, NOW!

I look forward to speaking with you soon!

P.S. – One of my favorite books titled, Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? When My Lab Tests Are Normal.

Do You Need Your Thyroid Gland Removed?

At least once a week, a patient contacts me asking, “Dr. King, should I have my thyroid gland removed?”  To which I answer, “that depends”.

The first question I ask is, “why did you doctor say you need to have your thyroid gland removed?”  Some common responses are the following:

• I don’t know. They just said I should have it taken out since the doctor can’t get my health condition under control
• I have cancer
• I have nodule(s) and they are concerned it/they could be cancerous
• I have difficulty swallowing/breathing
• I have Hashimoto’s Disease

I am sure, if you have been told to surgically remove your thyroid, you may have heard one of those comments, or something similar.

The Doctor Can’t Get My Condition Under Control

I am not joking with that statement.  Last week, a patient reached out to me and said, “my doctor can’t get my health condition under control, so they want to remove my thyroid”!

Are you freaking kidding me?  A doctor, who can’t manage a thyroid condition properly, wants to take the organ out!  Why?  The thyroid gland serves a purpose, and with it gone, getting your body working optimally will be quite difficult, especially, in the medical model.

So, the doctor, who has failed to manage this patient properly, simply resorts to removing the organ.  Oh my, my! 

I encouraged this patient to ask more questions and get more tests ran. 

A big piece of the puzzle for thyroid patients and the traditional medical model is 90% of hypothyroid patients have an autoimmune condition.  It doesn’t matter what medications the doctors give the patient, their health condition will never be under control and managed properly. 

Why?  Because thyroid hormones prescribed from the doctor will NOT control the autoimmune condition.  Remember, a pill will not heal the body!

I Have Cancer!

Ok, this is the one reason, I believe, for removing the thyroid gland.  If a patient knows they have thyroid cancer (more than likely, their doctor did a biopsy and discovered a malignant form of cancer), I recommend having the cancer removed (thyroid gland).

What about natural cancer treatments, Dr. King?  Sure, I support those who seek to heal their cancer, naturally.  As long as they have a great doctor that knows what they are doing.  Treating cancer naturally, is quite difficult, as there are numerous steps a patient should be taking to help their body fight the cancer. 

What happens after the thyroid gland is gone?  It is quite simply, really.  The patient would need to be on some type of thyroid hormone, forever!

With that being said, my father does NOT have his thyroid gland anymore.  About 10+ years ago, he was diagnosed with 4^th stage throat cancer.  During the radiation, his doctors destroyed his thyroid, “accidentally”. 

Since we discovered this (which his doctors didn’t even tell him), he has been on natural thyroid support (not medication), and has been doing great.  He is one of the pilots that fights all the big forest fires you see on TV.  Plus, when he is not working, he averages about 150-200 miles, per week, cycling!  Needless to say, he feels pretty dang good.

However, if the patient had an autoimmune condition to begin with, they body will now start attacking other regions of the body.  The thyroid is gone, the immune system can’t attack it anymore, so it will go “looking” for other tissue to target.

Nodules!!!

Many patients are told they have nodules, which should be biopsied.  Do I agree with the biopsy every time?  Not every time.  Why?  Due to the fact that a majority of thyroid patients have Hashimoto’s Disease, the leading cause of nodules.  If the thyroid antibodies are positive, and there are not any red flags for cancer, I don’t encourage a biopsy.  The Hashimoto’s Disease is the culprit in this case!

Let’s discuss what nodules are, and then you can decide if you should have the nodule(s) biopsied. 

Many times, thyroid nodules begin growing as a protective mechanism by the body to prevent the thyroid gland from being destroyed!  Yep, you read that correctly.  Nodules, a majority of the time (there are instances where they are cancerous, more about that in a minute) are your body’s response to an ATTACK!

Your body is trying to preserve its thyroid, and it does so by growing shields on the tissue to prevent destruction from infections and autoimmune attacks.  Does this mean, if your infection gets eradicated or your autoimmune condition gets under control, nodules will stop growing?  In a lot of instances, yes. 

(My mother’s doctor discovered nodules on her thyroid during a full body scan, the kind that can “find disease”, and the doctor told her she had cancer and needed to see an oncologist.  Needless to say, my mother was distraught when she phoned me.  After helping to calm her down, I ordered some blood work, AND…she was perfectly fine.  The nodules were from an old infection, not cancer!  Thanks doctors for freaking my family out!)

I tell patients that a “win” in my book is if the nodule does not grow any larger in size.  This means, the body sees no reason to keep growing a larger shield, because the attacks have halted.  Hooray!!! 

I have seen nodules shrink, and even, completely, disappear!  This doesn’t happen with every patient, and I never tell a patient I am going to shrink their nodule.

I use a liposomal glutathione/super oxide dismutase cream to help accomplish the goal of shrinking the nodule.  Again, this doesn’t happen on every patient, but I have seen a few hundred patients respond remarkably well with this product.

I Have Difficulty Swallowing/Breathing

Now, we need to consider what is really happening in a patient like this.  If we know the patient has Hashimoto’s Disease, I always recommend getting it under control, first.

If there are any infections, then those need to be eradicated, as well. 

I will do everything I can to get inflammation down within the first 2-weeks of working with a patient that is having difficulties swallowing/breathing.  If there are not any positive changes within 2-weeks, I refer this patient to their endocrinologist for surgical intervention.

Sometimes, surgery is needed!

Why did I not refer them out, right away?  If we can save this type of patient from having an unneeded surgery, that is the goal.  Surgery, should always be the last resort, in my eyes (I have had 35 major broken bones and 11 surgeries…I understand the pros and cons of surgery, well).

I Have Hashimoto’s Disease!

No, no, no, no, no!!!  I do NOT recommend having your thyroid gland removed because you have Hashimoto’s Disease.  You should understand the mechanism of nodules now (read above if you are still unclear).  If you understand what causes them, you can focus on how to get them to stop growing, or even decrease in size.

I am a firm believer that you figure out what is driving the autoimmune condition, and then the side effects of the condition will go shrink, go away, or not grow in the first place. 

Take Action!

If this information resonates with you, make sure to schedule your complimentary phone consultation by calling my staff (866) 375-4641.  You may also email me any questions: drking@askdrking.com

FREE DOWNLOAD BELOW: GREAT RECIPES FOR THOSE WITH THYROID DISEASE

Stress Can Kill You!

Did you know that stress can kill us, literally?  Well, maybe I am taking that a bit far, but stress causes inflammation to increase inside of the body, and that inflammation affects the gut lining, brain tissue, arteries, the heart, muscles and joints.

Now, let me re-word what I said.  Stress can be the trigger for what causes our bodies to begin breaking down, prematurely.  What does that mean?  Eventually, the body can have a heart attack, develop a chronic health condition (autoimmune disease), or develop cancer.

That Dang Stress

One thing almost all patients tell me is this, “Dr. King, I have had a very stressful life!” It doesn’t matter if you have Hashimoto’s Disease, Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, or just feel worn out…stress will make these health conditions worse.

We can’t avoid stress, that would be impossible.  So, what do we do?

You need to eliminate any physiological stressors that could be causing your stress glands, the adrenals, to overwork. 

Like what, Dr. King?

Here is a short list of what triggers I look for that drive the adrenal glands to kick out more inflammatory hormones:

• Blood sugar fluctuations
• Infections
• Lack of sleep
• Dehydration
• Food sensitivities
• Autoimmune conditions

If those are occurring, the body will not heal, AND…your body will be under more stress causing more inflammatory hormones to be released. 

How Do You Know How Well the Adrenals Are Working?

There can be a few ways of knowing if the adrenals are not working properly:

• Adrenal Stress Index test – this test measures your cortisol levels and maps them out throughout the day
• Basic blood tests
• Simple questions on intake forms

Also, if you can’t stay asleep, it is a good bet that the adrenal glands are not working properly throughout the day. 

Check this out…

Have you, or someone you known, complained of getting up in the middle of the night to urinate? 

Do you think that is normal?  Not at all (unless you have a majorly inflamed prostate gland).  So, why does this happen and what does urinating have to do with the adrenal glands?

During the day, if the adrenal glands are always pumping out cortisol, then at night the “proper levels” of cortisol can’t be secreted.  This makes the body revert to the backup hormones, with adrenaline being one of those hormones.

Now, imagine you are on a safari, in Africa (pretty cool, eh).  And you are lounging around your tent and all of a sudden, a HUGE, ferocious lion approaches you.

What does your body do?  The heart starts to pump more blood to help the muscles get ready to run away, you get that “feeling” in the pit of your stomach (adrenaline), and you may have the urge to urinate.  Why urinate?  Because your body will do anything it can to get you the heck out there, and it doesn’t need the urine in your bladder to run.  So, it will want to get rid of it.

Adrenaline at Night

If you get a spike of adrenaline at night, similar physiological functions kick in:

• Nervous system gets activated (like when the lion approached) – you wake up
• Your heart can be racing – patients tell me that sometimes they feel as if their heart is pounding and that is why they are waking up
• You will need to urinate

Long way to prove a point, but…hopefully, you now know that if you wake up to urinate at night, the adrenal glands need to be looked at.

Gaining Weight

A lot of people know that if the adrenal glands are not working well, they gain weight. 

Cortisol = Weight Gain

This can be an accumulation of adipose tissue (fat) or water weight.  Either way, when people are under more stress, you typically see weight gain (I assuming that over-eating is not a problem).

80% of the Immune System

Ok, what does urinating at night and gaining weight have to do with breaking down the body?

I am glad you asked!!!

High amounts of cortisol will eat away at the gastrointestinal lining, causing Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS). A healthy GI system is EXTREMELY important for a healthy immune system (the GI tract makes up for 80% of the immune system).

If your GI lining is breaking down, then the immune system becomes weaker and weaker.

On top of that, now the LGS is causing major inflammation in the blood, and the heart has to pump this “bad” blood (breaking the heart tissue down, along with the arteries).

Not the Brain!

We, also, know cortisol in excessive amounts will pass your blood brain barrier. You have a barrier that surrounds the brain protecting it from large foreign particles. Alcohol, medications, and hormones are some of the chemicals that will pass the blood brain barrier.

You know what happens when alcohol passes the barrier! When cortisol passes the barrier, it destroys neurons! Specifically, it targets the hippocampus, which when destroyed will cause dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease (I watched my grandfather struggle with this the last five years of his life due in part to Type II Diabetes).

Now, you have the heart, arteries, gut lining, and brain, all breaking down!  On top of that, you may be gaining weight, have horrible GI symptoms, brain fog, and your hormones are thrown off.

All because of stress and your body’s ability to handle it (or, not handle it).

If you are having some of those symptoms, reach out to me, and let’s get you healthy!  You can click this LINK, to schedule a complimentary, 15-minute phone conversation.

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If, Dr. Axe, Says Healing Leaky Gut Syndrome Is True, It Must Be True!

(Laughing hysterically)

Just last week, a spoke to a future patient that told me, “Dr. King, I listened to Dr. Axe talking about healing Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS) for Hashimoto’s Disease, and I never believed you about the gut needing healing until I listened to him!”

I am not sure how long Dr. Axe has been around, but recently his marketing has taken him to another level (which is great, as more people are going to get helped), but I have been preaching to patients for almost 10-years about healing the gut.

Your Gut = Your Immune System

80% of your immune system is dependent upon a healthy functioning gut.  Once the gut lining breaks down, all HECK can break lose, and most of the time this leads to an autoimmune condition, such as Hashimoto’s Disease, turning on.  Think about this for a moment, if you have an autoimmune condition, your gut lining has been compromised.  Don’t you think it would be important to heal the Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Why would Leaky Gut Syndrome Begin?

1. Food allergens: this is one of the most common reasons why people’s gut lining breaks down, causing Leaky Gut Syndrome/Intestinal Permeability. Gluten, Dairy and Soy, are all inflammatory foods that begin to destroy the gut lining.  Do you think you can handle some eye-popping food information?  Watch What the Health! and What’s With Wheat!
2. Excess cortisol: many people have heard of cortisol before because it stores belly fat. Did you know that too much cortisol causes inflammation, affecting your gut lining, along with causing BRAIN FOG!  That is right, your brain fog could be caused by too much cortisol, that has caused Leaky Gut Syndrome.
   
3. Medications: yes, antibiotics will destroy the good gut flora.  I recently received an email from a potential patient that had been on multiple rounds of antibiotics, for a straight 10-months!
4. Pregnancy: did you know that during your third trimester, your immune system switches dominance (TH1 to Th2 and vice versa)? What this means to you is that sometimes you will develop an autoimmune disease due to pregnancy.
5. Adrenal gland stress: the adrenal glands release cortisol, normally, to help stabilize your glucose levels throughout the day/night. Your adrenal glands are also your STRESS GLANDS!  Emotional stress, such as moving, changing/losing your job, divorce/death in the family are some of the biggest emotional stressors we will ever experience.

         Most of the time, we get hit by multiple stressors at once, and we have seen after these stressors, an autoimmune condition turns on.

         This is exactly what happened to my better-half, Natasha, recently.  Her mother has Hashimoto’s Disease, along with her sister, but for the last 6-years Natasha’s                antibodies have been negative.

         Well, along with us moving to Texas, the black mold in our home in California, and a number of other “speed bumps” we have encountered since our move,                          Natasha’s antibodies turned positive = Hashimoto’s Disease.

How Do You Heal Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Many people and gurus are now creating their own LGS healing products.  I am sure they are great, but my favorite Leaky Gut healing product is from Apex Energetics, called Repairvite.  Why?  Research!  I have seen the research behind all of their formulations and know the quality control those products go through, and even the formulators of the products.

Now, no two patients are the same, and there are different variations of gut dysfunction and gut repairing products.

If you have ever been diagnosed with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) then taking “regular” Repairvite would make you worse!  There are certain properties in Repairvite that can cause more irritation and inflammation.  This is why working with a doctor that understands the ends and outs of Leaky Gut healing is beneficial. 

Yes, some people will be helped by the products they are buying online, but the patients who have been suffering for years, bouncing back and forth between doctor after doctor, needs someone who can walk them through the steps of healing the GI-lining, without causing more aggravation. 

90-120 Days!

Normally, healing the GI-lining takes 90-120 days!  That is ONLY 3-4 months!  It took me almost 2-years to do the same thing.  Why?  When I discovered I had Leaky Gut Syndrome/Intestinal Permeability (LGS/IP), not many people knew about it or understood how to heal it. 

I made it my mission to figure out how to heal my gut!  I did, but…it took right at 2-years to do.  Now, I have it down to roughly 90-120 days.  Pretty cool, huh?

Infections

Yes, infections can cause Leaky Gut Syndrome.  I like to call them, “critters”!  If you have critters, they will eat away at your gut lining, creating inflammation, causing LGS/IP.  The critters must go!

Quick story, a patient emailed me last week and told me “I have TAPEWORMS”!!!  Needless to say, she was freaking out a little bit.  I sent her some of my favorite critter killers and today she emailed me saying “there is a massacre” going on inside of her body!  LOL  

She was being a little funny and animated, but what she was trying to explain was the critter killers doing their job = killing off the bad guys (not the good guys, which is important to know).

Lots of times, parasitic infections are a big deal.  Parasites like to feed on yeast.  So, adopting a low sugar diet, along with killing off the food for the critters is essential.

OMG…I don’t Want Critters!

How can you know if you have them or not?  Through specialized testing, which I run on every single patient.  Easy Peasy!

If they are there, we will kill them off, re-check the labs and make sure they are gone, and keep healing the GI-lining. 

Let’s Recap

In summary, to begin healing the gut lining, you want to look at stressors:

• blood sugar
• emotional/chemical/physical stressors
• past history of lifestyle
• infections
• food allergens

Then, you want to focus on staying away from any triggers that create this inflammation.

Next, you want to begin patching up the gut lining!  Make sure you are getting products from someone that knows specifics about YOUR health condition.  Guessing about which products to use based an online video can be dangerous and delay your healing. 

To get help with all of this, call me: (866) Drking-1.  Let’s get you back to being, YOU!

We manage our patients both neurologically and metabolically. Let’s think about the car analogy of your blood being you oil, and your brain being your motor…if your oil is bad long enough, your motor will start to break down!

All chronic health conditions will ultimately affect how our brain functions. What do I mean by this? All of us have some amount of neurological degeneration, some of us have more, and some of us are progressively developing more and more degeneration over a shorter amount of time.

Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease are three conditions we can think of right off of the bat that involve brain degeneration. You can read more about why I began working with patients with chronic health conditions by…

Why I started Working With Chronic Health Conditions…

We use functional neurology and nutrition to help restore the body’s natural functions.Neuroplasticity is the term used for stimulating the brain to improve the efficiency of the brain’s neurons. Dictionary.com defines neuroplascticity as the following: the brain’s natural ability to form new connections in order to compensate for injury or changes in one’s environment; also called brain plasticity.

If the brain is starting to break down neurologically, neurons are starting to die off; you can stimulate the area of the brain with damage and improve the efficiency!

We use the following therapies to improve the brain’s efficiency:

Balance therapy
Spin therapy
Vibration therapy
Auditory stimulation (sound therapy)
Visual stimulation (eye movements)
Olfactory stimulation (smell therapy)
The Rebuilder®
Calorics
Eyelights Therapy
Interactive Metronome® (great for children with dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, and autism spectrum disorders)
Oxygen Therapy
Sensory Deprivation Tanks (AKA – float tanks): www.floatspot.com. ‘Floating’ is an excellent passive therapy to help your body heal quicker. What is floating? You are in a sealed tank, floating in 10″ of heated water (heated to body temperature) that contains 600-800 pounds of dissolved Epsom and Sea Salt. Floating allows your brain to ‘relax’ in theta state, which is a healing state for the brain and body. While floating is a type of trans-meditation, one hour floating is the equivalent to 4-5 hours of sleep = allows the adrenal glands to heal. Plus, your body is in a weightless state, allowing your muscles and joints to relax.

We use oxygen therapy to help our patients’ bodies heal quicker. The body needs two things to improve brain function: fuel and activation.

Fuel comes in the form of glucose (foods we eat) and oxygen.

Activation comes in the form of brain stimulation.

Now onto our oil, or our blood!

Remember, all chronic health conditions affect our brains neurologically!

If we have any organs malfunctioning or any chronic diseases, we must correct the issue. Let us take thyroid gland disorders. In order to accurately determine what type of thyroid gland disorder one has, you must run all of the right testing. This is where the medical model is “dropping the ball”. If they are not running all of the right tests (ordering the right markers), or if their blood panels are not complete (which almost 90% of the time, they are not, according to what we see in our clinic), you will not be diagnosed properly.

This holds true for all of our chronic health conditions. Doctors must be running adequate tests in order to truly diagnose the health conditions correctly. Why are the medical doctors not doing this? It will not change the course of their treatments, which is either medications or surgery.

Our Natural Programs Are Based on Specific Lab Panels:

By using specific blood tests such as:

#1: A thyroid panel (with TBG and TPO-ab antibodies)
#2: A complete metabolic panel (CMP)
#3: A lipid panel
#4: A CBC (complete blood chemistry with differential)

We can assess your thyroid, adrenal, blood, and gut function. All can be affected with chronic health conditions. By addressing any problems with your thyroid, adrenal glands, blood chemistry, or gut function, we can help you to heal faster. The CMP allows us to check your blood glucose levels since glucose and oxygen are needed by the brain to function properly.

Adrenal Stress Index (ASI):

We can further test your adrenal glands with a test called an Adrenal Stress Index. Your adrenal glands are your “stress” organs meaning that they react to stress. If you have been or are currently under stress, this test is a must! IF YOU SUFFER FROM INSOMNIA, THIS TEST WILL MEASURE YOUR CORTISOL LEVELS. When your body’s cortisol levels are abnormal, you will suffer from insomnia. Cortisol levels can be corrected via specific nutritional protocols thereby curing your insomnia.

We may test to see if you have an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is where your immune system attacks a particular area of the body so we test for specific antibodies to determine if you suffer from an autoimmune condition.

TISSUE ANTIBODIES (aka. Autoimmune Disorders)

If you suffer from an autoimmune disorder your immune system is attacking other systems of your body (ie. Thyroid, cerebellum, etc.)

If you have an autoimmune attack, it is like a raging forest fire. Your body is destroying tissue as the attack occurs, damaging critical organs.

You must find out what the gasoline is that is being poured onto your fire, or you will keep destroying tissue.

This is what makes us unique: no stone is left unturned to determine the true cause of your health condition.

There can be many different forms of “gasoline”, so you must run the correct tests.

We can check for gluten antibodies, tissue antibodies such as myelin (fatty sheath around the nerves) antibodies, and cerebellar (back part of the brain controlling balance, coordinated movement, and spinal muscles) antibodies.

For Example: Many HhYpatients that I have managed have tested positive for thyroid antibodies and they were actually mis-diagnosed by their medical doctor for years. If your thyroid tissue anti-bodies (TPO &TBG) are high, you are suffering from Hashimoto’s disease and NOT hypothyroid. The only way to find out is to test for thyroid tissue antibodies via blood work.

Your immune system could be attacking your nervous system, which would cause pain and numbness (this is called multiple sclerosis and peripheral neuropathy). The ONLY way to know is to run the right tests.

If you suffer from tissue antibodies, further blood work will be needed to determine which part of your immune system is not functioning. Specifically…

#1: Lymphocyte Subpopulation
#2: TH1/TH2 Cytokine Panels
#3: Natural Killer Cell Activity

H. Pylori/Parasites:

We run tests for H. Pylori bacteria to determine any problems related to gut function (H. Pylori is the most common bacteria to affect the stomach and gut). We are also looking for parasites, mold, yeast and fungi, which is what a majority of patients with gastro-intestinal dysfunction suffer from.

Genetic Food Sensitivity Testing:

Genetic samples can be used to determine sensitivity to foods that might be making your health condition worse. If you are eating certain foods that your body is sensitive to, you are destroying more and more tissue.

Intestinal Permeability:

We use this test to determine if a patient is suffering from leaky gut syndrome (LGS). We see a lot of patients with gastro-intestinal issues, and a majority of them are suffering from LGS.

LGS describes a condition of altered or damaged bowel lining, caused by antibiotics, toxins, poor diet, parasites, or infection can lead to increased permeability of the gut wall to toxins, microbes, undigested food, waste or larger than normal macromolecules. It has been proposed that these substances affect the body directly, while others postulate an immune reaction to these substances.

Neurotransmitters:

We assess for decreased brain neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are vital for proper brain function and can cause increased pain, memory loss, and neurological movement disorders.

Hormone Panels:

We can check hormone panels to determine if the patient suffers from low testosterone in males or low estrogen/progesterone levels in females. Symptoms related to decreased hormone levels may include depression, fatigue, mental fogginess, mood swings, hot flashes, sweating attacks, weight gain, and decreased physical stamina.

Inflammation:

Finally, we may need to test for inflammation in your system by testing homocysteine levels, fibrinogen and C-Reactive Protein (C-RP). Many patients suffering from chronic health conditions suffer from inflammatory processes. Just about every diabetic, thyroid, dizziness/vertigo, and autoimmune patient that I have managed suffers from some form of chronic inflammatory process.

Once we have run the necessary tests to determine your specific condition, we can successfully manage you using our proper neurological and all natural nutritional protocols.

One thing you MUST realize…your doctors have been managing your condition from a reactive approach. Meaning, they wait until something is wrong, or destroyed, to then give you a medication or treatment. We work from a pro-active approach! If you have one severe condition, there is a good chance other bodily systems are suffering as well. One organ does not stop working on its own; our body works as ONE BIG organ!!!

If you have one auto-immune condition, time and lifestyle are the determining factors for developing more auto-immune conditions.

If you have high cholesterol, it is only a matter of time until you have atherosclerosis of the arteries, high blood pressure, tissue destruction, peripheral neuropathy, heart attacks or a stroke!

The big question is this…How do you want to live out the remaining years you have left?

If you would like to talk more about your health condition, give my staff a call (866) 375-4641 to schedule your complimentary phone consultation.

At Dr King’s office, our mission is to improve the quality of our patients’ lives. We operate by a simple motto, ‘We want success stories’! Our goal is take you from the condition that you are in and take you to where you want to be. You have goals for your life; whether they are financial, personal, or spiritual goals. Our job is to improve upon your “health goals”. We believe that everyone should be living a healthy, vibrant, and energetic life, without the needless suffering of chronic, debilitating health symptoms.

Functional neurology and functional medicine is the new wave of health care. People are realizing why the medical model is failing them. Our medical model is using ‘acute care’ for ‘chronic conditions’ and patients are starting to see that those two conflicting models are not allowing them to reach their health goals = be happy, vibrant, and thriving individuals.

Our approach is simple, but comprehensive:

We look at how the body is functioning neurologically and metabolically. The brain is a magnificent organ! It contains billions of neurons that are firing constantly to keep us thinking, moving, and living. If neurons are compromised, so will our bodily functions. Our blood is the ‘oil of the car’, if you will. It contains all of the nutrients and oxygen needed for our brain to function. Without the proper nutrients and oxygen, we die!

Using neurological testing, we can specifically test the functioning and non-functioning aspects of the brain. Once we find the region that is not “firing”, or working, appropriately we can stimulate that region to improve its functioning ability. It is much like going into the gym. If you have a weak biceps muscle, what are you going to do? You will work it out, do some strength training! You would not work out your leg if your arm is weak, would you? No! This is the same principle with neurology. You can stimulate or strengthen the regions of the brain that are weak. Once you do that, you will improve the functioning of that area’s neurons and your body works and performs as it is supposed to.

This stimulation is based off of the term, neuroplasticity. Scientists once thought that a brain older than three years old was a rigid structure. If it was damaged in any way, it was damaged. However, through scientific studies and research, plus clinical applications, we know that the brain continually reorganizes itself. This regorganization is called neuroplasticity. It means that you create your brain from the input you give it.

Functional medicine is based off the idea that the body functions best within certain parameters, or ranges. In order to be within those ranges, the body needs a few things:

Nutrients Oxygen
If our organs have the proper fuel, everything will be in balance. However, due to life (stress, diet, environmental toxins, genes, trauma, etc) our body will become ‘out of balance’ and we might need helping getting back into those functional ranges. Quite simply, our body starts to shut down and we can bring it back into a more normalized state using natural supplementation, which is guided by scientific laboratory testing. If you run the appropriate laboratory testing to figure out why the body is not working within a functional, or optimal, range, you can then use ‘functional medicine’ to bring it back into range.

Neurological therapies are based off the specific neurological tests that are performed. Some of therapies that are used are the following:

Oxygen Therapy: The brain uses more oxygen than any other organ in the body. So, we use oxygen therapy in order to allow your body and brain to heal quicker.

Vibration Therapy: Vibration fires to the back part of the brain called the cerebellum, which is the foundation. One of the functions of the cerebellum is control of the spinal muscle and by stimulating these muscles we can fire-off muscle spindle cells to activate the cerebellum, thus increasing its efficiency in functioning.

Auditory Therapy: Auditory stimulation fires to the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is responsible hearing, memory, recall and verbalization of thoughts. By activating this region, we can improve its function.

Visual Therapy: Visual stimulation is picked up by the cerebellum. Since the cerebellum controls eye movements, we can stimulate the cerebellum via visual therapy. To learn more visit www.eyelights.com

Auriculo-therapy: Using a hand-held muscle stimulation machine, we can strengthen the brainstem, which controls many of your automatic processes of your body…breathing, sleep, digestion, and pain.

Caloric Therapy: By using a warm water caloric, we can stimulate the cerebellum as well. This works wonders for dizziness and vertigo patients.

Interactive Metronome: By using science based software, we are able to measure your brain’s ability to time sequences to assess how efficient your cerebral cortex is working. We can also use therapeutic modalities with the Interactive Metronome to improve the efficiency of the brain. To learn more visit www.interactivemetronome.com

Balance Therapy: The cerebellum controls balance, and is the foundation of the brain. If the cerebellum is not firing properly (sending the right neurological impulses to the rest of the brain) the rest of the brain’s efficiency will be compromised. Using balance therapy we can improve the efficiency of how the brain is functioning.

Rebuilder®: Using this machine we are able to regenerate the nerves that have been destroyed due to peripheral neuropathy in diabetics. To learn more visit www.rebuildermedical.com

If you are looking for a complete systems approach to your health condition, you have found the best clinic to do so. There will be ‘no stone left unturned’ when it comes to diagnosing your condition and managing your condition.

If you would like to talk more about your health condition, give my staff a call (866) 375-4641 to schedule your complimentary phone consultation.

Most cases of chronic disease can be linked to stress, even if that stress is more physical than psychological. About two-thirds of doctor’s visits are for stress-related complaints.

How does stress causes disease? The body responds to stress by making adrenal hormones (such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol that cause the “fight or flight” response. This response raises blood pressure, increases the heart rate, and sends blood to the limbs in preparation for action. The sweaty palms, quickened breathing, and jitters before a job interview, first date, or big test? That’s from stress hormones.

A healthy body quickly returns to normal after a stressful situation. The problem with life today is stress is ongoing and many people never return to “normal.” Chronic financial worries, a stressful job, or a bad relationship keep us locked in fight-or-flight.

Stress doesn’t have to be only related to lifestyle. In fact, stressors to the body are more insidious and can be more damaging. These include a diet high in sugar and starchy foods, not eating enough or eating too much, gut problems, food intolerances, high or low blood sugar, diabetes, anemia, autoimmune disease, chronic pain, and environmental toxins.

How stress damages your body

Unrelenting stress causes continual production of cortisol Cortisol is known as the aging hormone because it breaks us down more quickly. Chronic high cortisol is linked to:

depression
insomnia
increased belly fat
diabetes
insulin resistance
high blood pressure
low energy
suppressed immunity
reduced libido
bone loss
heart problems
Symptoms of chronic stress

You might think this is a no-brainer — a symptom of chronic stress is feeling stressed out.

This is true in many, but not all cases. Other lesser-known symptoms that indicate stress is robbing you of health include: constant fatigue, energy crashes, difficulty recovering from stressful events, headaches, trouble falling and staying asleep, trouble waking up, emotional mood swings, sugar and caffeine cravings, irritability, lightheadedness between meals, eating to relieve fatigue, dizziness upon standing, and gastric ulcers.

How to buffer damages of stress

The most important first step in addressing stress to better manage chronic disease is obvious: remove the stressors. This can mean a diet and lifestyle overhaul.

It also means adding in activities that lower stress and release chemicals and hormones that lower inflammation and improve overall health of the body and brain.

These include plenty of sleep, meditation, daily physical activity, hobbies, socializing, laughter, a healthy whole foods diet, avoiding junk foods, and more.

Herbal adaptogens help the body cope with stress

Daily stress is a way of life for the average American. Just the toxic chemicals we encounter in our environment are considerably stressful. Urban life, traffic, raising children, and existing illnesses are examples of potent stressors you can’t simply jettison.

Adaptogens are herbs that help tame inflammation, sustain energy, boost brain function, and regulate sleep patterns. They include panax ginseng, Siberian ginseng (eleuthero), astragalus, rhodiola, ashwagandha, licorice root, holy basil (tulsi) and schizandra.

Phosphatidylserine is a nutritional compound that helps normalize cortisol levels and protect the brain from the damages of stress.

Aging can cause us to feel invisible and unwanted in a society that worships youth. However, the key to staying youthful into your latter years doesn’t lay in the hands of your hair stylist or medical spa, but instead in your attitude.

Research shows internalizing negative stereotypes about aging harms your health, which speeds up aging. However, having a positive attitude toward aging can boost immune function, promote healthy behaviors, and help you feel in control of your life.

Embrace aging for the following benefits

Here are some benefits researchers have found to a positive perception of aging, such as feeling useful and happy with yourself:

Positive perception of aging has been shown to be more important than cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and even exercise when it comes to improving longevity.
One study found positive self-perception around aging lowered the risk of aging-associated disability and preserved daily function and ability.
Positive aging improves preventive behaviors such as sticking to a good diet, exercising, and following through with check-ups.
Expecting to lose your memory has been shown to increase cognitive decline by up to 30 percent compared to thinking positively about your brain function.
And of course, a negative perception of aging has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease. A startling find, however, was that developing a positive aging attitude can reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 80 percent.
How to positively embrace aging

Although you might not be able to embrace aging overnight, it can be done, even in this culture. The first step is to survey your attitude about aging and what you believe old age holds in store for you: Senility and disability? Or wisdom and vitality?

Beyond that, turn your attention away from a cultural philosophy that values people based on their work productivity and instead toward one that values aging as socially valuable and even a time of renaissance.

Some nuts and bolts of healthy aging

A positive attitude has been shown to be vital to good health. However, it’s important to pay attention the nuts and bolts of good health, too.

Regular exercise is regarded as somewhat of a magic bullet by researchers. People who exercise regularly throughout their lives age better and enjoy better brain function throughout their lives.

Along with that that comes a diet low in sugars and processed carbs — chronically high blood sugar is behind many chronic diseases and brain degeneration. In fact, some researchers call Alzheimer’s disease type 3 diabetes because of the links between high blood sugar and brain degeneration.

Avoiding other inflammatory foods (besides sugar, gluten and dairy are the most common inflammatory foods) while loading up on fresh veggies is another preventive dietary approach.

Lastly, healthy aging depends on a healthy, nutrient-dense diet that is rich in fresh vegetable as well as healthy fats.

Ask my office for more advice on how to age in a healthy, positive way you can embrace.

Although we’ve all read the stories about marriage being good for your health, a bad marriage is bad your health. In fact, bad marriages are far worse for you than healthy marriages are good for you. In other words, if your marriage is a constant stressor, you’ll lower your risk of chronic disease either going it alone or doing the work to make the marriage a good one. What’s more, the risks are higher for women.

Contemporary studies show marriage lowers your risk of many modern ailments, including heart disease, cancer, and even dementia. Why? Research into adult attachment shows humans are hardwired to depend on a significant other as a matter of survival. Though we may think it’s about love and romance, to the human brain, a long-term relationship is the difference between life and death.

However, these benefits don’t extend to troubled relationships. It’s the human body’s life-or-death approach to relationships that also makes a bad marriage a health risk. One study went so far as to show a bad marriage entails the same risks as smoking, and another showed being single is healthier than having married and divorced, prompting researchers to encourage people to try and make a bad marriage good again.

Stress negatively impacts the immune system

When researchers analyzed blood samples of unhappy couples immediately after a big fight, they saw a significant decline in immune function, with the biggest drops happening in those whose fights were the most hostile. Fighting couples also showed slower wound healing.

Fighting and hostility in a relationship both depress immune function and promote inflammation, particularly for women, raising disease risk.

Constant fighting and bickering with your spouse can trigger inflammation and exacerbate symptoms if you have Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism.

Men and women respond differently to arguing

Researchers measured how different styles of arguing affected couples’ health. The results showed surprising differences in how men and women react physiologically to arguing.

For women, the biggest predictor of health risk is lack of warmth and openness from her partner. For instance, small cues during an argument (a term of endearment or a squeeze of the hand) gives a woman the reassurance she and her partner are still connected.

Men, on the other hand, are triggered by battles for control and use of controlling language.

Either way, hostile fighting turns out to be as predictive of heart disease in women and men as a history of smoking. The key isn’t to stop the inevitable arguments, but rather to learn how to fight in a more thoughtful manner that doesn’t trigger the subconscious, immune-sabotaging threat to survival.

Why health depends on a healthy relationship

Healthy relationships are good for us because they give the survival-wired brain back-up during times of stress. Affection from a caring partner during a stressful time helps you regulate negative emotions, relieving the brain of the need to do it all alone, and thus buffering the body from the detrimental impacts of stress.

Even the best of marriages will have conflict. The key is to use those times to repair and strengthen the relationship rather than damage it.

You’ve probably heard that depression and other mental health issues are based on a lack of brain chemicals such as serotonin and GABA. Conventional treatment is to give medications that trick the brain into thinking it has enough chemicals. But new research shows in many cases mental health issues are related to chronic inflammation, not necessarily a lack of chemicals, and unstable blood sugar is often at the root of inflammation.

How does inflammation cause mood issues?

When the body is chronically inflamed, it sends chemical messengers to the brain, where they activate the brain’s immune cells, called glial cells. Chronic inflammation permanently activates the glial cells, setting off a cascade of destruction:

Reduced production of brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine and GABA.
Brain cells can’t produce vital energy to thrive.
Cells degrade and die, releasing toxins into the brain, causing even more damage.
The result? Depression, anxiety, and even Alzheimer’s.
How does blood sugar factor in?

The fix for these issues is managing the destructive inflammatory cascade At the core of systemic inflammation for many people is blood sugar balance. When we eat too many sugars or carbs, the body over-produces insulin, a hormone that helps escort glucose (sugar) into cells for energy. Too much insulin in the blood exhausts the cells, resulting in them becoming resistant to it (insulin resistance). This leads to excess glucose in the bloodstream, which is severely damaging to tissues in the blood vessels and brain. It is also a precursor to diabetes.

How can I keep my blood sugar balanced?

By keeping blood sugar balanced, we can help reduce the inflammatory cascade that creates brain inflammation. Below are dietary and lifestyle habits that help keep blood sugar stable. By practicing them, you may notice positive shifts in your mood, energy level and mental focus:

Always eat a protein-strong breakfast within an hour of waking. Include healthy fats, and avoid sweets and fruit before lunch.
Eat every 3–4 hours to avoid low blood sugar.
Eat protein with every meal and snack; never eat just sweets.
When you crave sugar, choose protein or foods with healthy fats such as coconut or olive oil.
Eat a small high-protein snack before bed to keep blood sugar stable throughout the night.
Don’t use caffeine to boost low energy in that afternoon “crash;” it’s your brain telling you it needs real nutrients, not stimulants. Instead, eat a healthy snack with protein, fat and a few carbs, and hydrate with water.
Wake and go to bed at the same time every day. Get plenty of sleep and if you’re tired, let yourself nap. Exercise regularly to keep blood sugar stable. Also, a 5- to 7-minute burst of high intensity exercise helps reduce inflammatory factors in the brain.
In addition to the factors above, certain botanicals are highly effective in helping manage blood sugar and reduce brain inflammation. If you have questions about mood and blood sugar stability, please contact my office.

When patients suffering from Type 2 Diabetes come into my clinic, the first question I ask them is, “What diabetes medication does your doctor have you taking?” The most common responses I get are, Metformin (or glucophage – the generic version), insulin and a statin, such as Lipitor. Metformin helps the body take in more insulin by improving insulin receptor sites on cells. Statins are designed to lower high cholesterol usually associated with Diabetes. Many patients take the route of prescription diabetes mediation, yet are unaware of the serious side effects they can cause.

When taking insulin, patients must understand its effect on the body. Insulin is inflammatory to tissue in the body, and by giving the patient more insulin changes begin to occur in the extremities. Hands and feet begin to feel tingly and numb which often leads to burning sensations in the respected areas. Generally, these symptoms are the worst at night. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you are experiencing peripheral neuropathy. Clinically, I also see that a large number of patients on Metformin experience these symptoms as well.

Peripheral neuropathy is dangerous in diabetics because it often leads to amputation of extremities due to the lack of healing that occurs when a cut or sore begins to develop. The body has a very difficult time getting blood flow to the toes and fingers in conditions like diabetes, and blood is desperately needed in order to heal tissue.

Most diabetics experience high cholesterol and are subsequently put on statins by their doctor. A common statin used is Lipitor. Statins are prescriptions that lower cholesterol in the body. Unfortunately, use of these drugs can also lead to serious side effects, this time in the brain.

Statins will lower both good and bad cholesterol – they don’t pick and chose. Bad cholesterol (LDL) poses serious health effects to the body, such as clogged arteries. Lowering this cholesterol helps keep you healthy. Good cholesterol (HDL) helps comprise neurons in the brain and cells in the body. Lowering this cholesterol puts the body at risk for serious brain related health problems.

Over 60% of the brain is made up of good cholesterol. When HDL is suppressed in the body neurons in the brain cannot adequately survive and begin to die. Most tissue and cells can repair themselves. Neurons, however, do not regenerate. Once a neuron dies, it’s gone. When enough neurons in the brain degenerate from low cholesterol, conditions such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease become present. Alzheimer’s Disease is notably referred to as Type 3 Diabetes by medical researchers because of the strong correlation that it has with unmanaged Type 2 Diabetes.

Along with neurons, nerves and cell membranes are also made up of cholesterol. Decreasing HDL puts both of these bodily components at risk. Diabetes is an inflammatory condition which inflames and destroys cells. If cells lack proper amounts of HDL, they cannot rebuild and fight off inflammation. This process causes increased and prolonged symptoms among patients.

The answer to managing Type 2 Diabetes does not lie within prescription drugs. Many harmful side effects exist surrounding medications. In many cases the side effects can lead to worsened chronic health conditions and degeneration of the body.

If you are taking medication for Type 2 Diabetes and feel your condition is becoming unmanageable, call the Tustin Chronic Condition Center at 714-731-7680.

Remember, nothing in life will change until you do!

The term ‘gluten free’ is a very popular trend at the current moment. Although gluten free diets are good, many of us are being lead down the wrong path.

The purpose of being gluten free is to eliminate many of the inflammatory foods commonly seen in normal diets. Inflammatory foods are linked to an array of chronic health conditions, not to mention they cause damage to the body. Part of why the gluten free trend is so popular is because it advocates eating healthy. Let’s face it, almost anything in our society that advocates a healthier lifestyle is an instant hit.

Herein lies the problem. Many people decide to follow gluten free diets religious and automatically think the term ‘gluten free’ means healthy.

We are being lead down the wrong path (somewhat) with gluten free dieting. Foods such as corn, buckwheat, quinoa and a few others are so closely related to the wheat molecule that oftentimes your body cannot tell the difference. Basically, your body treats them as if they where gluten, which causes the same reaction in the body as if you actually ate gluten. If you have sensitivities to these foods, it’s relevant to know they can be counterproductive to your gluten free diet. Although some foods say ‘gluten free’ they’re not always healthy in every sense.

In addition, corn poses a major issue with being ‘gluten free’. Corn is genetically modified and is widely accepted into gluten free diets. Across the board, corn causes trouble for the body. It cannot be broken down into nutrients because in most cases the body doesn’t even recognize it as food – it views it as a foreign substance. Although it’s gluten free, it’s not healthy.

Two things you should do as a gluten free enthusiast, and ESPECIALLY if you have a chronic health condition that isn’t getting better are: First, understand that not EVERYTHING gluten free is good for you. Inflammatory foods are still present in these diets. Second, find out if you have sensitivities to gluten related foods by having a doctor run food sensitivity tests. Work to eliminate these foods.

If you’ve never had a food sensitivity test or you feel that even though you are gluten free your health conditions are not getting better, call my office for an evaluation: 714-731-7680

Our goal is to improve the overall quality of life for chronic health patients. Remember, nothing will change until you do!