June 3, 2025 • 35 mins
What happens when conventional medicine runs out of answers? For Martin Nielsen, founder of IAH Wellness, his own mysterious health collapse twenty years ago became the catalyst for developing revolutionary treatments for some of medicine's most perplexing conditions.
Martin's journey from severely ill patient to pioneering healthcare provider unfolds as he shares how he built a cutting-edge treatment protocol for Lyme disease and autoimmune disorders after being dismissed by conventional doctors. With remarkable candour, he describes how personal experimentation with probiotics, herbal therapies, and immune system rebuilding ultimately restored his health when traditional approaches failed.
The heart of IAH Wellness' approach is their proprietary LACI (Lyme and Co-infection) protocol, featuring Insulin Potentiated Therapy - a fascinating "Trojan horse" method that uses insulin to make cells permeable, allowing antibiotics to target pathogens hiding inside cells. What sets the clinic apart isn't just their innovative medical techniques, but their intensely personalised approach to patient care.
Most patients arrive after seven years of illness, medical dismissal, and failed treatments. Martin explains how their year-long healing journey includes pre-treatment immune modulation, six weeks of intensive clinic-based therapies, and 9-12 months of at-home protocols with regular monitoring. The results? Wheelchair-bound patients who've been sick for over a decade returning to 10-kilometre daily walks and normal life.
The conversation takes an emotional turn when Martin reveals how many patients break down during initial consultations simply because someone finally listens to and validates their suffering. With a background in hospitality, he's created more than a medical facility - it's a healing destination where every aspect of the patient journey is carefully considered.
Despite impressive outcomes, Martin shares the significant challenges facing his work: the financial barriers preventing many from accessing treatment and the persistent lack of awareness about Lyme disease among medical professionals. His vision for the future includes establishing a foundation to help finance treatment for those who can't afford it and doubling the clinic's capacity while maintaining their high-touch approach.
What would you do if conventional medicine abandoned you? Martin Nielsen's inspiring story shows there might be another way forward.
Guest: Martin Nielsen
Title: Founder
Company: IAH Wellness
Email: martin@iahwellness.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinnielsen1/
Clinic Location: Andorra (Operations also based in Málaga, Spain)
Website: iahwellness.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Andrew Greenland (00:00):
from down here in Southern Europe.
Okay, so welcome back to Voicesin Health and Wellness.
This is the show where wespotlight the innovators,
operators and bold thinkersreshaping how healthcare is
delivered and experienced.
I'm your host, Andrew Greenland, and today's guest is someone
truly inspiring in the world ofpreventative health and wellness
.
Joining us today is MartinNielsen, founder of IAH Wellness
(00:21):
, a cutting-edge health andwellness center based in Malaga,
Spain.
Martin brings a powerful blendof clinical insight, operational
vision and a deep commitment topersonalized wellness.
At IAH Wellness, he's buildingmore than just a clinic.
He's creating a destination forhealing and preventative care
that integrates advancedtherapies with holistic health
principles.
So, Martin, thank you very muchfor hopping on the call today.
(00:42):
Hopefully, everything I've saidis correct.
Before we move on, A smalldetail.
Okay, we have the office inMalaga, but the clinic is based
in Andorra, in the personalityof Andorra.
So it's a small but littleimportant detail.
No, absolutely.
Thank you for that correction,and where are you actually
calling from today?
So now I'm sitting in Malaga.
You're in Malaga, you and Itravel between malaga and
(01:04):
andorra on a semi-weekly basisokay, great.
So maybe we can kick off if youstart at the top and just tell
us a little bit about ihwellness and your role in it.
That'd be really helpful forpeople to kind of understand
what you do definitely.
Um well, I ate.
Wellness we have.
It's a program or a projectthat we started about four years
(01:26):
and a half ago with the idea oftrying to make offer a better
solution to people with Lymeinfection, autoimmune disorders
and pathogenic infections thatthey were not getting any kind
of treat, adequate treatment, inthe medical health care.
Um and we opened the clinic twoyears ago and we've been ever
(01:52):
since then modifying a treatmentprotocol to try to find the
best solution to be able to umto treat lyme patients, not only
for their infection but torebuild their immune system.
So our our focus is more put onregaining and re-establishing
the immune system than actuallycuring a disease okay that's
(02:19):
interesting.
I mean, lyme is a huge problemover here as well, so I'll
perhaps delve into that a littlebit later.
What about?
How was this all inspired?
I mean, does this come about asa particular thing, a
particular experience, or I'mjust trying to get some sense of
how this came about.
Martin Nielsen (02:37):
Well, many times things happen because you're in
the right place or the wrongplace, at the right time or the
wrong place.
I've had my own personal healthissues, like many people in
this business, 20 years ago, um,I still today don't know if it
was lyme, but it was some kindof infection that completely
(02:58):
shut down my immune system andmy gut biome.
Um, 20 years ago it wasdifficult to find any kind of
information on Google.
The World Wide Web was prettynew, facebook was just starting,
so I was a little bit left outthere to try to find a solution
and I went through the typicalhealthcare system, which is the
first thing you do you visityour medical care doctor.
(03:20):
He doesn't find anything wrongwith you because physically you
cannot see anything.
So I was bounced betweenclinics and hospital for a year
and, like many or the most ofLyme patients, I got worse and
worse and I lost almost 15 kilos, but still I was.
According to all the doctors, Iwas as healthy as you can get.
Eventually they wanted toprescribe me antidepressant
(03:43):
medicine.
At that point I said, no,there's got to be something
wrong, there's got to besomething that it didn't pop out
of thin air and I had beenliving for a year in thailand
and I was mosquito bitten everysingle day.
So I started scouting aroundthe web as much as I could at
that point.
Um, it was not easy, but I I Istarted to understand that if I
(04:05):
could heal myself from inside,if I could reset my gut biome,
if I could reset my intestinaltract, I would eventually
rebuild my immune system.
And I read all the informationfrom Dr Hulda Clark, which is a
well-known herbal treatmenttherapist from Hungary.
She deceased many years ago butbearing in mind the way she
(04:27):
looked at the human body, um, Ivisited a couple laboratories in
the uk and spain.
Um, I put together my owntreatment protocol, basically to
clean myself and to rebuild myimmune system, so that the
immune system could deal withanything that was wrong in my
body.
Because I didn't know what waswrong.
But the immune system wouldfind a solution if I could get
(04:48):
it back.
Um, and I did that protocol forabout two years and a half, um,
and gradually it was notovernight, but gradually I was
getting better and by year three, three and a half, I was
basically back to 100 of myphysical strength, my physical
endurance, my stamina, my skincolor.
(05:10):
Um, so I, at that point, Iunderstood that the immune
system is the key to everythingand ever since, I've always been
very connected to health andwellness.
Uh, it was never a business,but it was more like a hobby and
I have helped a lot of people,based on my own experience.
And back in 2021 um, no, 2020,um.
(05:32):
I met my partner and we startedto think about what about if we
could, because he hadexperience with lyme because of
family members and I have almost20 years experience of
supplementation and herbaltherapy for infectious pathogens
and how to use the probioticsto rebuild your gut biome.
(05:53):
So that's, I would say, thatpoint is when the IAH wellness
project started, and then ittook us a couple of years to
find out a good place, becausethe IPT treatment, which is our
main treatment, you cannot do iteverywhere.
There's still limitations in EUcountries.
So Andorra came up as apossibility.
(06:16):
We're outside EU.
It's a small principality.
We have the possibilities ofdoing performing treatments that
they're not illegal in EU, butthey're not legal, so they're in
the gray zone In Andorra.
We're in the white zone.
Dr Andrew Greenland (06:31):
Got it.
And for those that maybe don'tknow.
Could you tell us what the IPTtreatments are?
Martin Nielsen (06:36):
Yeah, ipt is one of the four parts of our LACI
protocol, which stands for Lymeand co-infection protocol.
It's IPT stands for Lyme andCo-infection Protocol.
Its IPT stands for insulinpotentiated therapy.
What we do is that it comesfrom cancer therapy.
Really, what the IPT does isthat it induces insulin in the
(06:58):
cells and make the cellspermeable, meaning that the
cells will gradually open up,allowing us to induce the
antibiotics inside the cellswhere almost all the infectious
pathogens are located, and verysafely away from normal oral
antibiotics and even IVantibiotics.
So it's kind of a Trojan horse.
(07:19):
We trick the cell to open upbecause it's getting nutrient.
What we're doing is we'resending a small package with the
nutrients, packed withantibiotics.
Dr Andrew Greenland (07:30):
Got it so obviously you started with your
own personal health journey, andit probably took you a lot of
experimentation to kind of findout your own healing journey.
How has that morphed into whata typical journey might look
like for your patients thatyou're seeing today?
Martin Nielsen (07:47):
It's very, very linked.
I don't know how many otherLyme doctors work.
I'm not a doctor, but there'sno supplementation or herbal
treatment or probiotic treatmentthat we give the patients that
I haven't used myself and thatis due to all the years that I
had to experiment on myself tobe able to find the solution.
(08:09):
So it's very well morphed intothe treatment.
Both did probiotic protocolsfrom human origin.
I've used it on myself.
I've tried on family members tomake sure that, mainly to
(08:29):
understand the work when, whenyou get symptoms, why are there?
What's going to happen?
If you get bloating, will itdisappear?
So I'm able to speak with thepatients, especially in video
calls that we do both pretreatment and post treatment,
and explain to them what you'refeeling is normal, it will go
away, it's, it's a normalsymptom.
You will should expect thesekind of symptoms on your healing
journey.
So it's very valuable havingbeing able to experience this,
(08:55):
this path, myself all right, um,so what does a typical day look
for for you?
Dr Andrew Greenland (09:01):
um, at the clinic at the moment.
Are you more on the operationsside, or direct care, or the
innovation side, or a mixture ofall of the above?
How does a typical day looklike for you?
Martin Nielsen (09:14):
I'm not that I would say more than the daily
routine of the clinic is from apatient interest comes in, we
reach out to the patient, um, weset up a video call with the
patient because the majority ofthe patients are in the us, um.
So the best way to understand apatient, to be able to ask
(09:37):
questions, answer questions,build up a certain trust, which
is very important by having aface-to-face.
Having a face-to-face meetingphysically is impossible due to
distance.
So we offer always a firstvideo call consultation free of
charge.
Those video calls normallytakes between an hour and a half
and two hours because once youstart talking to a patient,
(10:00):
questions starts arising out ofnowhere, which is normal, and
the majority of the Lyme andco-infection patients they need
someone to speak to, becauseit's a very common factor that
no one has ever listened to themor even taken them for serious.
So and I've had that so manytimes because I take the video
calls, I take the introductorycalls and many patients break
(10:25):
down because they've never hadsomeone even listening to them.
So it's um.
So I usually set aside at leasttwo hours for those calls, if
necessary, and then once apatient decides to to come to
andorra.
We set them up for apre-treatment protocol.
The pre-treatment protocol is30 days before arrival.
It's based on probioticprotocol and supplementation and
(10:51):
this allows us to gentlymodulate the immune system
response and suddenly rebuildthe gut biome, which normally is
non existing.
That way, when they arrive tothe clinic and start the IPT
treatment, which is rather harsh, the body is a little bit
(11:13):
better prepared.
So once they arrive to theclinic, it's a six week
treatment, normally three tofour hours a day.
It's the mixture between IPTwith antibiotics, iv-boosting
supplementation, intravenousphysical therapy, mindfulness,
(11:35):
because a lot of Lyme patientshave cognitive problems and it's
very functional to have them acouple of sessions a week on
mindfulness and help them.
So that's the normal day.
Normally treatment starts in themorning and then once the
patient finishes the six weeksthey go back home and they still
(11:56):
continue between nine to 12months on a oral supplementation
, herbal therapy and probioticprotocol that we set up for them
.
We personalize it and then wehave a weekly follow-up with a
daily log that the patient fillsin so that we we can monitor
the symptoms, the ups and downs,the progress, and then every
(12:17):
two weeks we have a video calluntil the patient says I don't
need anymore, and that normallyhappens after about 20 weeks.
Okay, so we don't leave thepatient out once they finish at
the clinic.
This is I normally tell thepatient.
This is we're going to betogether for a year.
It is a long journey, but ittook a long journey to get you
(12:38):
sick.
Now it's going to take time toget you well and it's not going
to happen overnight.
Dr Andrew Greenland (12:46):
And how many patients are kind of
complete everything they need todo in a year, and they're
better in inverted commas,particularly for Lyme, because I
know how difficult it is totreat because I've been involved
myself.
Martin Nielsen (12:56):
It is very difficult, especially because
where the spirulina are locatedthey're all intracellular.
Many patients haveco-infections, which makes it
even more difficult.
They have activated virusesEpstein-Barr is very typical
Herpes, simplus viruses.
So it's a complete breakdown ofimmune system.
(13:18):
But the treatment works.
It takes time.
Normally there is a there's achange in in physical condition
attitude about week four at theclinic.
Uh, the first couple of weeksthe patient don't get worse, but
they do have her tryingreactions.
We try to modulate them as muchas we can because it's not a
(13:42):
bad thing.
But and it tells us thatsomething is happening in the
body.
But normally before gettingbetter you get worse.
It's it's a very common phrase.
So normally about four weeks inpatients are not, are starting
to feel now something ishappening and it's happening in
a positive way.
Um, and the six by six weeks,we've come a large step in the
(14:06):
treatment journey.
But now it's really importantthat we continue.
That's why this post-protocolof nine to twelve months is so
fundamental, because that'sgoing to keep on driving the
herbal treatment gradually intothe cells, breaking down the
biofilm.
The probiotic protocol isgradually recolonizing the, the
(14:28):
gut biome, strengthening theimmune system, because that's
where we want to go.
We want to strengthen, we wantto give the immune system the
way back to operate the way itdid before the person got sick.
(14:50):
So the the success rate is rightnow every single patient has
gotten better, a lot better.
We never say cured, becauseonce you have lime in your body
it's always going to be there,like the herpes simple virus,
but it's not a problem as longas the immune system can handle
it.
So every single patient is nowback to normal life.
You can have some aches hereand there, still have a little
bit of headache once in a while,but they've gone from
(15:13):
wheelchair to back to activelife, which which is a huge gain
, to back to active life, whichis a huge gain.
And then we give them therecommendation to.
Once you finish the protocol,there are certain
supplementation you should be onfor life to maintain your
immune system as active and aspowerful as possible, and those
(15:36):
are just maintaining adequatevitamin D, three levels, k two,
calcium, magnesium, nac, maybecysteine as well.
So normal supplementation for aperson that is active,
maintaining a active life andkeeping immune system fit for
(15:58):
basically anything.
Dr Andrew Greenland (16:02):
Amazing.
So we're seeing wellness andpreventative care move from the
fringes to the center ofhealthcare conversations,
particularly in Europe, and whatbig shifts are you noticing
from your vantage point in thework that you do?
Martin Nielsen (16:16):
Well, we have to bear in mind that there's still
a huge amount of countries inin europe that are lime free.
Lime free, um, they have ticks,they have mosquitoes, they have
flies, they have lice, butthere's no, there's no lime.
So it's it's still difficult.
I mean, well, I'm I better saylike this the approach to a
(16:36):
patient after seven years ofneglected disease.
It's a big hurdle when you'retelling them that we have a
treatment protocol which isdifferent.
It's a long protocol, but itworks.
It makes you sound like a carsalesman, sound like a car
(17:02):
salesman.
So it's a very it's a difficulttrust leap to take, both for
them and for us, to be able tofind an understanding that you
might have been to severaltreatments, you might have been
run around, but you should giveus a chance to treat you.
And that is based on themedical healthcare where there's
no knowledge and, I would say,not very much interest either
(17:27):
all right.
Dr Andrew Greenland (17:28):
What about patient expectations?
Have you noticed any changes inthe way patients expect um the
way they're going to be treatedby you?
Your clinic has anythingchanged?
Or I mean, obviously these arequite complex patients.
I guess they've always beenquite demanding in a way.
I don't know how has it beenfrom an expectations point of?
Martin Nielsen (17:48):
view yeah, you said a very curious word there
and demanding.
Let's compare with a cancerpatient.
A cancer cancer patient.
I would say I don't know ifthey have any expectations.
I don't know if they have anydemands.
They go to the medical doctorthey're probably remiss.
To the hospital.
(18:08):
They start treatment, theydon't Google, and that's it.
A Lyme patient has our patientshave been sick for an average of
seven years.
That's seven years of Google.
That's seven years of trying tounderstand the majority.
What's happening with me, forbetter or for worse?
(18:28):
The majority have a huge amountof information.
Not all of the information iscorrect, though, but they have
information.
So when they come to us, um,their expectations are many
times zero because they've beenon treatments, they have been to
clinics.
Um, every time they've had atreatment, they've gone worse.
(18:52):
So it that's the first hugestep we have to try to get
around, to make them understandthat Please try to forget the
past.
Let's try to look forwards,don't look backwards.
Backwards will be importantonce we're doing treatment, but
right now we need a clear mind.
So it's a big hurdle in thebeginning, because their
(19:16):
expectations are basically downto zero.
I'm not going to get wellbecause they've told me that I
should accept my disease.
So, yeah, it's uh, it's ademanding patient and many times
uh, a patient that expectsbasically nothing and a patient
(19:41):
that expects basically nothingand psychologically very, very
broken down, and that's one ofthe reasons why we spend time
with them.
We only take seven patients amonth.
Our ratio medical, doctor,nurse, patient is very high.
They're never, ever, alone.
(20:04):
They never share the treatmentroom with a second patient.
They're always undersupervision.
So they we try to make themfeel being taken care of, and
we're seeing that that is reallyimportant.
You could optimize this as abusiness and put 50 patients in
(20:25):
a big room, but our philosophyis different.
We are human beings and we'retreating with human beings that
are broken down and we need togive them attention and care.
Dr Andrew Greenland (20:39):
What's working particularly well for
you at IH Wellness at the moment?
What are you sort of most proudof in your approach?
Martin Nielsen (20:49):
I would say that having a patient coming in a
wheelchair, not being able tostand up and walk for more than
15 meters, seeing them goingback home after six weeks
without a wheelchair and gettingnotifications after 20 to 25
weeks that they're out walking10 kilometers a day and back
into normal life when they'vebeen sick for 14 years, I would
(21:14):
say that's what makes me themost happy and that's our
biggest achievement.
You can't buy that for money.
Giving the life back to apatient.
Dr Andrew Greenland (21:27):
Amazing Must be very satisfying seeing
that kind of remarkabletransformation, especially yes
it is.
Martin Nielsen (21:33):
It takes time, it is a struggle.
You have to build up the trust.
You have to get them themajority overseas to come over.
They come normally from othermedical doctors, uh.
But for me the most importantthing is that, with what we are
telling them is true, we neversay we're going to cure them,
(21:53):
but we promise we're going tomake you better If you stick on
the protocol and you do what wetell you to do, which is really
important.
And we have to stick to it fora long time.
We cannot give up.
Giving up is not an option.
So, patients that are really,they stick to the line.
Even if they don't see thelight in the beginning, they
(22:15):
eventually do.
And when that transition comesand you get feedback that I, I'm
, I'm noticing differences, I'mnoticing changes.
My, my, uh, my daughter Ihaven't seen for a couple of
months or a year.
She said, dad, you really lookmuch better.
Those are the small things thatthat that makes it worse.
(22:37):
Keeping going.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:42):
Amazing and , on the flip side, what's most
frustrating recently.
Is there anything that you wishwould just work better or
anything that kind of challengesyou and your team in terms of
what you do?
Martin Nielsen (22:55):
I would say it's the financial issue.
It is because these treatmentsare not covered by any insurance
, so people have to pay themthemselves and, besides being an
expensive treatment, themajority of the patients have
already spent almost all themoney on other treatments.
(23:18):
Patients have already spentalmost all the money on other
treatments.
So one one of our main tasksright now is we need to be able
to get a little bit further upin the line of treatments.
When a patient gets sick, don'tfind us after seven, ten years.
Find us before, before youmight lose your job, before you
might lose your, your family,which you might lose your, your
family, which even happens.
(23:39):
Um, because they spend a lot ofmoney on treatments during the
years that eventually didn'treally work out for them, were
too short, adequate, notholistically, um set up enough.
So the funding is a huge issue.
I always say if we could set upa fund that could actually like
(24:08):
in cancer foundations, thatwould actually finance Lyme and
co-infection patients, thatwould be the major breakthrough.
So that the money was not aproblem, because unfortunately,
there's a lot of patients we wecan't treat because they can't
afford it.
It it's, it's horrible, ithurts, because you know you can
(24:28):
make a difference, but there'sno financing feasible for them.
Dr Andrew Greenland (24:36):
I mean.
Martin Nielsen (24:37):
I would say that's a.
That's a big hurdle.
Dr Andrew Greenland (24:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, typically, what's thekind of a typical um bill for a
patient for the 12 months?
I mean, obviously everybody'sgoing to be different and there
are variations, but just give ussome sense of perspective on on
what the kind of bill is for apatient.
Martin Nielsen (24:52):
The reason why we've done it this way is that a
patient a patient needs, weneed antibiotic treatment.
There's no way around it.
We need to kill the infectiouspathogens.
Um, in a perfect world, thepatient would stay three to four
months at the clinic, butthat's physically not really
(25:14):
feasible, financially.
Financially not so we've puttogether a treatment protocol
where we reduce the time at theclinic to make it more
economically viable and thenwe've expanded the whole
treatment time, doing it at home.
So I would say that every monthat home between supplementation
(25:38):
, herbal therapy and probiotictherapy is around 300 euros a
month, which is more or lessfeasible for the majority.
And then the treatment at theclinic is where the major cost
goes.
It's 11 euros a day is wherethe major cost goes.
(26:00):
It's 11 euros a day for between30 to 45 treatment days because
and the world and the ivantibiotics is expensive, ipt is
very expensive and then theimmune system iv is expensive.
So there's no way and we'vetried to make it as economically
reduced as possible.
Dr Andrew Greenland (26:18):
So if they can manage the treatment at the
clinic, the home treatmentprotocols are more or less
acceptable at around 300 euros amonth, and apart from obviously
that's the financial thing froma patient perspective and your
ability to treat more people,but is there anything sort of
(26:39):
operationally which is achallenge in running this kind
of service?
Martin Nielsen (26:43):
funding aside, because I get, I completely get
that yeah, yeah, um, one time wemight be able to crack that.
Not as well.
Um, well, one, one, one maybe.
One of the the different partsis that we have to put needles
during 30 to 45 days on a person, and that's not always easy.
(27:06):
That's why we have aprofessional anesthesiologist at
the clinic to be able to managethat part, because day one is
not a problem, but once you'vehad a IV put in you for one week
, two weeks, not always a goodvasodilation, not always a well
(27:28):
working material system, so thatthat's challenge hmm, and the
only way we saw a way of gettingaround that is to having not
only a nurse but having ananesthesiologist that can handle
those issues.
If we have to use the legs, thefoot, the hand, if we need to
(27:49):
put in a port, we can put a portas well.
So maybe those are the majorstruggles and then you have the
famous her time of reactions.
But they've never been aproblem because we, we work, we
start low and we and we go up.
So you don't, we don't getthose tremendous effects from
(28:10):
day one.
So I think the main, the mainstruggle could be or challenge,
is the way of being able toadminister the iv for between 30
to 45 days, especially onchildren yeah, are there any um
specific metrics or outcomesthat you focus on in your
(28:32):
business or that you're workingon to improve?
Dr Andrew Greenland (28:34):
I just wonder, when you're running this
kind of operation, the thingsthat you particularly look out
for, to kind of give you somesense of how things are going.
Martin Nielsen (28:43):
Well, right now we are working a lot with
marketing, because to be able totreat more people, we need to
be seen.
There's no way around it.
It takes time, um, and the limeworld, or lyman co-infection
world, is a very, very closedcommunity, I think because
(29:04):
they've been bullied around somuch.
So all these line groupfacebook groups, instagram
groups are extremely her medicalclosed.
They don't let anybody in there.
Groups are extremely hermedical closed.
They don't let anybody in there, and that's a challenge, uh,
because those are the patients.
So the marketing issue is it's,uh, it's it's a challenge that
we're working on.
(29:24):
um, we're also trying to find away of and this is a project,
that's it goes in in parallel,but being able to set up a
foundation that can help andfinance blind patients, that
would be the uh, thebreakthrough.
It's difficult and we stillneed a lot of more proof on
(29:46):
everything, but being able tohave a possibility of, of
co-financing a patient'streatment would be, I think, a
breakthrough in this area.
Dr Andrew Greenland (30:00):
And thinking to the next sort of six
or 12 months.
Where would you like the clinicto be going forward?
Martin Nielsen (30:07):
Well, right now we are working on six patients a
month.
I would like it to be within 12months at 11 to 12 patients a
month.
I would like it to be within 12months at 11 to 12 patients a
month.
That means we have to doublethe clinic and we have to double
the staff, but we have thepossibility to do so.
(30:28):
So that's what's in thepipeline for HOTA.
Dr Andrew Greenland (30:39):
Amazing If you could reach out to that
number of patients.
It'd be amazing Because I knowthere's a huge number who need
treatment across the world.
Martin Nielsen (30:46):
I mean, I'm just doubling into this world myself
, so I do understand, yeah, andthere are still a lot of not
that many clinics in theoccident, in Europe and the US,
that actually work with IV.
Ipt is almost non-existing.
Many of the clinics that works,they use big rooms with
(31:09):
multiple patients sitting withIV drops.
It's a very differentphilosophy.
I have a background in hotelbusiness as well, so my approach
to this project was to bringknowledge from the hospitality
side to put into the clinic sothat the patient feels that from
(31:29):
the moment they arrive inBarcelona, the way we pick them
up in the transfer if they needto lie down, we send a big car
where they can lie down.
If they want to sit up, we senda bigger car to sit up.
The way we drive them to thehotel, drop them off at the
hotel.
The way they take care of thepatients, because they know
about lying patients.
The way we pick them up in themorning and drive them down to
(31:50):
the clinic, we do a nutritionalmeeting with them, we do a
physiological meeting with them.
So it's more than just apatient coming for treatment.
Dr Andrew Greenland (32:07):
It's a health journey.
It sounds like a destinationfrom what you're saying.
Martin Nielsen (32:11):
We're trying to make it that way.
If you're coming from far away,it doesn't have to be a
necessary evil.
Um, andorra is a magical place,it's.
It's very difficult not to sellit as as a destination, as a
tourist destination.
Uh, it's.
It's a small country, extremelyclean, there's no crime rate,
(32:31):
there's no unemployment.
It's very controlled, highaltitude, green, fresh air,
fresh water.
So it's the perfect place forthis kind of treatment to take
place and being able to takecare of the patient as if they
were on an ordinary wellnesstreatment.
That's the philosophy behind it.
Dr Andrew Greenland (32:56):
And if there was one, sorry, carry on.
Martin Nielsen (32:58):
No, and that's one of the reasons why we engage
with the patients through videocalls in the beginning.
We're making them understandthat this is more than just a
treatment.
You have to trust us with this,in the way you fly in and the
way we take care of you.
It's not just a clinic whereyou send a paycheck and and you
will come on day one.
Dr Andrew Greenland (33:19):
It's, it's supposed to be built up as, like
you say, it's a wellnessjourney, especially because
we're going to be together forone year yeah, it's a, it's a
marathon, not a, a sprint, as Isay, and if there was one major
roadblock you could remove rightnow, what would that be?
I know, probably the fundingthing is a big one, but is there
(33:41):
anything else that you wouldlike to be able to wave a magic
wand and solve.
Martin Nielsen (33:46):
I would probably say awareness and
acknowledgement to the Lymepatients, to the Lyme patients
that the medical society wouldacknowledge that Lyme exists
it's not in their heads andraise the awareness that this is
(34:12):
an epidemic and it's rising.
Not only because it's rising,it's because we've had it for so
long that it's been covered asmany other diseases or symptoms
or syndromes.
The climate has changed, theway we live close to animals has
changed, the way we move intoforests have changed, so the
(34:34):
awareness is fundamental.
If there could be moreawareness, more knowledge, it
would be easier for us as aclinic to work as well,
especially the acknowledgementto the line patients.
They exist and they are sick.
It's not in their head, andthat I can hear from every
(34:54):
single patient I speak with, andsome patients even believe it,
because once you've been toldsomething so many times by
professionals, it gets to apoint where you even start
believing it yourself.
Dr Andrew Greenland (35:13):
Martin, thank you so much for your time
this afternoon.
Really good conversation,really rich conversation.
Thank you for sharing yourjourney, your story and what you
do for these patients.
It sounds quite remarkable.
I hope you can solve the um,the funding issue, because I
completely get it, because thatis basically going to open up
the gateway to be able to treatmore patients.
I'm not sure it's an easy fix,but I hope you find a solution
for it.
Martin Nielsen (35:34):
But really giving up is not an option
exactly, exactly thank you somuch for your time.
Really appreciate it mypleasure, thank you.
from down here in Southern Europe.
Okay, so welcome back to Voicesin Health and Wellness.
This is the show where wespotlight the innovators,
operators and bold thinkersreshaping how healthcare is
delivered and experienced.
I'm your host, Andrew Greenland, and today's guest is someone
truly inspiring in the world ofpreventative health and wellness
.
Joining us today is MartinNielsen, founder of IAH Wellness
(00:21):
, a cutting-edge health andwellness center based in Malaga,
Spain.
Martin brings a powerful blendof clinical insight, operational
vision and a deep commitment topersonalized wellness.
At IAH Wellness, he's buildingmore than just a clinic.
He's creating a destination forhealing and preventative care
that integrates advancedtherapies with holistic health
principles.
So, Martin, thank you very muchfor hopping on the call today.
(00:42):
Hopefully, everything I've saidis correct.
Before we move on, A smalldetail.
Okay, we have the office inMalaga, but the clinic is based
in Andorra, in the personalityof Andorra.
So it's a small but littleimportant detail.
No, absolutely.
Thank you for that correction,and where are you actually
calling from today?
So now I'm sitting in Malaga.
You're in Malaga, you and Itravel between malaga and
(01:04):
andorra on a semi-weekly basisokay, great.
So maybe we can kick off if youstart at the top and just tell
us a little bit about ihwellness and your role in it.
That'd be really helpful forpeople to kind of understand
what you do definitely.
Um well, I ate.
Wellness we have.
It's a program or a projectthat we started about four years
(01:26):
and a half ago with the idea oftrying to make offer a better
solution to people with Lymeinfection, autoimmune disorders
and pathogenic infections thatthey were not getting any kind
of treat, adequate treatment, inthe medical health care.
Um and we opened the clinic twoyears ago and we've been ever
(01:52):
since then modifying a treatmentprotocol to try to find the
best solution to be able to umto treat lyme patients, not only
for their infection but torebuild their immune system.
So our our focus is more put onregaining and re-establishing
the immune system than actuallycuring a disease okay that's
(02:19):
interesting.
I mean, lyme is a huge problemover here as well, so I'll
perhaps delve into that a littlebit later.
What about?
How was this all inspired?
I mean, does this come about asa particular thing, a
particular experience, or I'mjust trying to get some sense of
how this came about.
Martin Nielsen (02:37):
Well, many times things happen because you're in
the right place or the wrongplace, at the right time or the
wrong place.
I've had my own personal healthissues, like many people in
this business, 20 years ago, um,I still today don't know if it
was lyme, but it was some kindof infection that completely
(02:58):
shut down my immune system andmy gut biome.
Um, 20 years ago it wasdifficult to find any kind of
information on Google.
The World Wide Web was prettynew, facebook was just starting,
so I was a little bit left outthere to try to find a solution
and I went through the typicalhealthcare system, which is the
first thing you do you visityour medical care doctor.
(03:20):
He doesn't find anything wrongwith you because physically you
cannot see anything.
So I was bounced betweenclinics and hospital for a year
and, like many or the most ofLyme patients, I got worse and
worse and I lost almost 15 kilos, but still I was.
According to all the doctors, Iwas as healthy as you can get.
Eventually they wanted toprescribe me antidepressant
(03:43):
medicine.
At that point I said, no,there's got to be something
wrong, there's got to besomething that it didn't pop out
of thin air and I had beenliving for a year in thailand
and I was mosquito bitten everysingle day.
So I started scouting aroundthe web as much as I could at
that point.
Um, it was not easy, but I I Istarted to understand that if I
(04:05):
could heal myself from inside,if I could reset my gut biome,
if I could reset my intestinaltract, I would eventually
rebuild my immune system.
And I read all the informationfrom Dr Hulda Clark, which is a
well-known herbal treatmenttherapist from Hungary.
She deceased many years ago butbearing in mind the way she
(04:27):
looked at the human body, um, Ivisited a couple laboratories in
the uk and spain.
Um, I put together my owntreatment protocol, basically to
clean myself and to rebuild myimmune system, so that the
immune system could deal withanything that was wrong in my
body.
Because I didn't know what waswrong.
But the immune system wouldfind a solution if I could get
(04:48):
it back.
Um, and I did that protocol forabout two years and a half, um,
and gradually it was notovernight, but gradually I was
getting better and by year three, three and a half, I was
basically back to 100 of myphysical strength, my physical
endurance, my stamina, my skincolor.
(05:10):
Um, so I, at that point, Iunderstood that the immune
system is the key to everythingand ever since, I've always been
very connected to health andwellness.
Uh, it was never a business,but it was more like a hobby and
I have helped a lot of people,based on my own experience.
And back in 2021 um, no, 2020,um.
(05:32):
I met my partner and we startedto think about what about if we
could, because he hadexperience with lyme because of
family members and I have almost20 years experience of
supplementation and herbaltherapy for infectious pathogens
and how to use the probioticsto rebuild your gut biome.
(05:53):
So that's, I would say, thatpoint is when the IAH wellness
project started, and then ittook us a couple of years to
find out a good place, becausethe IPT treatment, which is our
main treatment, you cannot do iteverywhere.
There's still limitations in EUcountries.
So Andorra came up as apossibility.
(06:16):
We're outside EU.
It's a small principality.
We have the possibilities ofdoing performing treatments that
they're not illegal in EU, butthey're not legal, so they're in
the gray zone In Andorra.
We're in the white zone.
Dr Andrew Greenland (06:31):
Got it.
And for those that maybe don'tknow.
Could you tell us what the IPTtreatments are?
Martin Nielsen (06:36):
Yeah, ipt is one of the four parts of our LACI
protocol, which stands for Lymeand co-infection protocol.
It's IPT stands for Lyme andCo-infection Protocol.
Its IPT stands for insulinpotentiated therapy.
What we do is that it comesfrom cancer therapy.
Really, what the IPT does isthat it induces insulin in the
(06:58):
cells and make the cellspermeable, meaning that the
cells will gradually open up,allowing us to induce the
antibiotics inside the cellswhere almost all the infectious
pathogens are located, and verysafely away from normal oral
antibiotics and even IVantibiotics.
So it's kind of a Trojan horse.
(07:19):
We trick the cell to open upbecause it's getting nutrient.
What we're doing is we'resending a small package with the
nutrients, packed withantibiotics.
Dr Andrew Greenland (07:30):
Got it so obviously you started with your
own personal health journey, andit probably took you a lot of
experimentation to kind of findout your own healing journey.
How has that morphed into whata typical journey might look
like for your patients thatyou're seeing today?
Martin Nielsen (07:47):
It's very, very linked.
I don't know how many otherLyme doctors work.
I'm not a doctor, but there'sno supplementation or herbal
treatment or probiotic treatmentthat we give the patients that
I haven't used myself and thatis due to all the years that I
had to experiment on myself tobe able to find the solution.
(08:09):
So it's very well morphed intothe treatment.
Both did probiotic protocolsfrom human origin.
I've used it on myself.
I've tried on family members tomake sure that, mainly to
(08:29):
understand the work when, whenyou get symptoms, why are there?
What's going to happen?
If you get bloating, will itdisappear?
So I'm able to speak with thepatients, especially in video
calls that we do both pretreatment and post treatment,
and explain to them what you'refeeling is normal, it will go
away, it's, it's a normalsymptom.
You will should expect thesekind of symptoms on your healing
journey.
So it's very valuable havingbeing able to experience this,
(08:55):
this path, myself all right, um,so what does a typical day look
for for you?
Dr Andrew Greenland (09:01):
um, at the clinic at the moment.
Are you more on the operationsside, or direct care, or the
innovation side, or a mixture ofall of the above?
How does a typical day looklike for you?
Martin Nielsen (09:14):
I'm not that I would say more than the daily
routine of the clinic is from apatient interest comes in, we
reach out to the patient, um, weset up a video call with the
patient because the majority ofthe patients are in the us, um.
So the best way to understand apatient, to be able to ask
(09:37):
questions, answer questions,build up a certain trust, which
is very important by having aface-to-face.
Having a face-to-face meetingphysically is impossible due to
distance.
So we offer always a firstvideo call consultation free of
charge.
Those video calls normallytakes between an hour and a half
and two hours because once youstart talking to a patient,
(10:00):
questions starts arising out ofnowhere, which is normal, and
the majority of the Lyme andco-infection patients they need
someone to speak to, becauseit's a very common factor that
no one has ever listened to themor even taken them for serious.
So and I've had that so manytimes because I take the video
calls, I take the introductorycalls and many patients break
(10:25):
down because they've never hadsomeone even listening to them.
So it's um.
So I usually set aside at leasttwo hours for those calls, if
necessary, and then once apatient decides to to come to
andorra.
We set them up for apre-treatment protocol.
The pre-treatment protocol is30 days before arrival.
It's based on probioticprotocol and supplementation and
(10:51):
this allows us to gentlymodulate the immune system
response and suddenly rebuildthe gut biome, which normally is
non existing.
That way, when they arrive tothe clinic and start the IPT
treatment, which is rather harsh, the body is a little bit
(11:13):
better prepared.
So once they arrive to theclinic, it's a six week
treatment, normally three tofour hours a day.
It's the mixture between IPTwith antibiotics, iv-boosting
supplementation, intravenousphysical therapy, mindfulness,
(11:35):
because a lot of Lyme patientshave cognitive problems and it's
very functional to have them acouple of sessions a week on
mindfulness and help them.
So that's the normal day.
Normally treatment starts in themorning and then once the
patient finishes the six weeksthey go back home and they still
(11:56):
continue between nine to 12months on a oral supplementation
, herbal therapy and probioticprotocol that we set up for them
.
We personalize it and then wehave a weekly follow-up with a
daily log that the patient fillsin so that we we can monitor
the symptoms, the ups and downs,the progress, and then every
(12:17):
two weeks we have a video calluntil the patient says I don't
need anymore, and that normallyhappens after about 20 weeks.
Okay, so we don't leave thepatient out once they finish at
the clinic.
This is I normally tell thepatient.
This is we're going to betogether for a year.
It is a long journey, but ittook a long journey to get you
(12:38):
sick.
Now it's going to take time toget you well and it's not going
to happen overnight.
Dr Andrew Greenland (12:46):
And how many patients are kind of
complete everything they need todo in a year, and they're
better in inverted commas,particularly for Lyme, because I
know how difficult it is totreat because I've been involved
myself.
Martin Nielsen (12:56):
It is very difficult, especially because
where the spirulina are locatedthey're all intracellular.
Many patients haveco-infections, which makes it
even more difficult.
They have activated virusesEpstein-Barr is very typical
Herpes, simplus viruses.
So it's a complete breakdown ofimmune system.
(13:18):
But the treatment works.
It takes time.
Normally there is a there's achange in in physical condition
attitude about week four at theclinic.
Uh, the first couple of weeksthe patient don't get worse, but
they do have her tryingreactions.
We try to modulate them as muchas we can because it's not a
(13:42):
bad thing.
But and it tells us thatsomething is happening in the
body.
But normally before gettingbetter you get worse.
It's it's a very common phrase.
So normally about four weeks inpatients are not, are starting
to feel now something ishappening and it's happening in
a positive way.
Um, and the six by six weeks,we've come a large step in the
(14:06):
treatment journey.
But now it's really importantthat we continue.
That's why this post-protocolof nine to twelve months is so
fundamental, because that'sgoing to keep on driving the
herbal treatment gradually intothe cells, breaking down the
biofilm.
The probiotic protocol isgradually recolonizing the, the
(14:28):
gut biome, strengthening theimmune system, because that's
where we want to go.
We want to strengthen, we wantto give the immune system the
way back to operate the way itdid before the person got sick.
(14:50):
So the the success rate is rightnow every single patient has
gotten better, a lot better.
We never say cured, becauseonce you have lime in your body
it's always going to be there,like the herpes simple virus,
but it's not a problem as longas the immune system can handle
it.
So every single patient is nowback to normal life.
You can have some aches hereand there, still have a little
bit of headache once in a while,but they've gone from
(15:13):
wheelchair to back to activelife, which which is a huge gain
, to back to active life, whichis a huge gain.
And then we give them therecommendation to.
Once you finish the protocol,there are certain
supplementation you should be onfor life to maintain your
immune system as active and aspowerful as possible, and those
(15:36):
are just maintaining adequatevitamin D, three levels, k two,
calcium, magnesium, nac, maybecysteine as well.
So normal supplementation for aperson that is active,
maintaining a active life andkeeping immune system fit for
(15:58):
basically anything.
Dr Andrew Greenland (16:02):
Amazing.
So we're seeing wellness andpreventative care move from the
fringes to the center ofhealthcare conversations,
particularly in Europe, and whatbig shifts are you noticing
from your vantage point in thework that you do?
Martin Nielsen (16:16):
Well, we have to bear in mind that there's still
a huge amount of countries inin europe that are lime free.
Lime free, um, they have ticks,they have mosquitoes, they have
flies, they have lice, butthere's no, there's no lime.
So it's it's still difficult.
I mean, well, I'm I better saylike this the approach to a
(16:36):
patient after seven years ofneglected disease.
It's a big hurdle when you'retelling them that we have a
treatment protocol which isdifferent.
It's a long protocol, but itworks.
It makes you sound like a carsalesman, sound like a car
(17:02):
salesman.
So it's a very it's a difficulttrust leap to take, both for
them and for us, to be able tofind an understanding that you
might have been to severaltreatments, you might have been
run around, but you should giveus a chance to treat you.
And that is based on themedical healthcare where there's
no knowledge and, I would say,not very much interest either
(17:27):
all right.
Dr Andrew Greenland (17:28):
What about patient expectations?
Have you noticed any changes inthe way patients expect um the
way they're going to be treatedby you?
Your clinic has anythingchanged?
Or I mean, obviously these arequite complex patients.
I guess they've always beenquite demanding in a way.
I don't know how has it beenfrom an expectations point of?
Martin Nielsen (17:48):
view yeah, you said a very curious word there
and demanding.
Let's compare with a cancerpatient.
A cancer cancer patient.
I would say I don't know ifthey have any expectations.
I don't know if they have anydemands.
They go to the medical doctorthey're probably remiss.
To the hospital.
(18:08):
They start treatment, theydon't Google, and that's it.
A Lyme patient has our patientshave been sick for an average of
seven years.
That's seven years of Google.
That's seven years of trying tounderstand the majority.
What's happening with me, forbetter or for worse?
(18:28):
The majority have a huge amountof information.
Not all of the information iscorrect, though, but they have
information.
So when they come to us, um,their expectations are many
times zero because they've beenon treatments, they have been to
clinics.
Um, every time they've had atreatment, they've gone worse.
(18:52):
So it that's the first hugestep we have to try to get
around, to make them understandthat Please try to forget the
past.
Let's try to look forwards,don't look backwards.
Backwards will be importantonce we're doing treatment, but
right now we need a clear mind.
So it's a big hurdle in thebeginning, because their
(19:16):
expectations are basically downto zero.
I'm not going to get wellbecause they've told me that I
should accept my disease.
So, yeah, it's uh, it's ademanding patient and many times
uh, a patient that expectsbasically nothing and a patient
(19:41):
that expects basically nothingand psychologically very, very
broken down, and that's one ofthe reasons why we spend time
with them.
We only take seven patients amonth.
Our ratio medical, doctor,nurse, patient is very high.
They're never, ever, alone.
(20:04):
They never share the treatmentroom with a second patient.
They're always undersupervision.
So they we try to make themfeel being taken care of, and
we're seeing that that is reallyimportant.
You could optimize this as abusiness and put 50 patients in
(20:25):
a big room, but our philosophyis different.
We are human beings and we'retreating with human beings that
are broken down and we need togive them attention and care.
Dr Andrew Greenland (20:39):
What's working particularly well for
you at IH Wellness at the moment?
What are you sort of most proudof in your approach?
Martin Nielsen (20:49):
I would say that having a patient coming in a
wheelchair, not being able tostand up and walk for more than
15 meters, seeing them goingback home after six weeks
without a wheelchair and gettingnotifications after 20 to 25
weeks that they're out walking10 kilometers a day and back
into normal life when they'vebeen sick for 14 years, I would
(21:14):
say that's what makes me themost happy and that's our
biggest achievement.
You can't buy that for money.
Giving the life back to apatient.
Dr Andrew Greenland (21:27):
Amazing Must be very satisfying seeing
that kind of remarkabletransformation, especially yes
it is.
Martin Nielsen (21:33):
It takes time, it is a struggle.
You have to build up the trust.
You have to get them themajority overseas to come over.
They come normally from othermedical doctors, uh.
But for me the most importantthing is that, with what we are
telling them is true, we neversay we're going to cure them,
(21:53):
but we promise we're going tomake you better If you stick on
the protocol and you do what wetell you to do, which is really
important.
And we have to stick to it fora long time.
We cannot give up.
Giving up is not an option.
So, patients that are really,they stick to the line.
Even if they don't see thelight in the beginning, they
(22:15):
eventually do.
And when that transition comesand you get feedback that I, I'm
, I'm noticing differences, I'mnoticing changes.
My, my, uh, my daughter Ihaven't seen for a couple of
months or a year.
She said, dad, you really lookmuch better.
Those are the small things thatthat that makes it worse.
(22:37):
Keeping going.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:42):
Amazing and , on the flip side, what's most
frustrating recently.
Is there anything that you wishwould just work better or
anything that kind of challengesyou and your team in terms of
what you do?
Martin Nielsen (22:55):
I would say it's the financial issue.
It is because these treatmentsare not covered by any insurance
, so people have to pay themthemselves and, besides being an
expensive treatment, themajority of the patients have
already spent almost all themoney on other treatments.
(23:18):
Patients have already spentalmost all the money on other
treatments.
So one one of our main tasksright now is we need to be able
to get a little bit further upin the line of treatments.
When a patient gets sick, don'tfind us after seven, ten years.
Find us before, before youmight lose your job, before you
might lose your, your family,which you might lose your, your
family, which even happens.
(23:39):
Um, because they spend a lot ofmoney on treatments during the
years that eventually didn'treally work out for them, were
too short, adequate, notholistically, um set up enough.
So the funding is a huge issue.
I always say if we could set upa fund that could actually like
(24:08):
in cancer foundations, thatwould actually finance Lyme and
co-infection patients, thatwould be the major breakthrough.
So that the money was not aproblem, because unfortunately,
there's a lot of patients we wecan't treat because they can't
afford it.
It it's, it's horrible, ithurts, because you know you can
(24:28):
make a difference, but there'sno financing feasible for them.
Dr Andrew Greenland (24:36):
I mean.
Martin Nielsen (24:37):
I would say that's a.
That's a big hurdle.
Dr Andrew Greenland (24:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, typically, what's thekind of a typical um bill for a
patient for the 12 months?
I mean, obviously everybody'sgoing to be different and there
are variations, but just give ussome sense of perspective on on
what the kind of bill is for apatient.
Martin Nielsen (24:52):
The reason why we've done it this way is that a
patient a patient needs, weneed antibiotic treatment.
There's no way around it.
We need to kill the infectiouspathogens.
Um, in a perfect world, thepatient would stay three to four
months at the clinic, butthat's physically not really
(25:14):
feasible, financially.
Financially not so we've puttogether a treatment protocol
where we reduce the time at theclinic to make it more
economically viable and thenwe've expanded the whole
treatment time, doing it at home.
So I would say that every monthat home between supplementation
(25:38):
, herbal therapy and probiotictherapy is around 300 euros a
month, which is more or lessfeasible for the majority.
And then the treatment at theclinic is where the major cost
goes.
It's 11 euros a day is wherethe major cost goes.
(26:00):
It's 11 euros a day for between30 to 45 treatment days because
and the world and the ivantibiotics is expensive, ipt is
very expensive and then theimmune system iv is expensive.
So there's no way and we'vetried to make it as economically
reduced as possible.
Dr Andrew Greenland (26:18):
So if they can manage the treatment at the
clinic, the home treatmentprotocols are more or less
acceptable at around 300 euros amonth, and apart from obviously
that's the financial thing froma patient perspective and your
ability to treat more people,but is there anything sort of
(26:39):
operationally which is achallenge in running this kind
of service?
Martin Nielsen (26:43):
funding aside, because I get, I completely get
that yeah, yeah, um, one time wemight be able to crack that.
Not as well.
Um, well, one, one, one maybe.
One of the the different partsis that we have to put needles
during 30 to 45 days on a person, and that's not always easy.
(27:06):
That's why we have aprofessional anesthesiologist at
the clinic to be able to managethat part, because day one is
not a problem, but once you'vehad a IV put in you for one week
, two weeks, not always a goodvasodilation, not always a well
(27:28):
working material system, so thatthat's challenge hmm, and the
only way we saw a way of gettingaround that is to having not
only a nurse but having ananesthesiologist that can handle
those issues.
If we have to use the legs, thefoot, the hand, if we need to
(27:49):
put in a port, we can put a portas well.
So maybe those are the majorstruggles and then you have the
famous her time of reactions.
But they've never been aproblem because we, we work, we
start low and we and we go up.
So you don't, we don't getthose tremendous effects from
(28:10):
day one.
So I think the main, the mainstruggle could be or challenge,
is the way of being able toadminister the iv for between 30
to 45 days, especially onchildren yeah, are there any um
specific metrics or outcomesthat you focus on in your
(28:32):
business or that you're workingon to improve?
Dr Andrew Greenland (28:34):
I just wonder, when you're running this
kind of operation, the thingsthat you particularly look out
for, to kind of give you somesense of how things are going.
Martin Nielsen (28:43):
Well, right now we are working a lot with
marketing, because to be able totreat more people, we need to
be seen.
There's no way around it.
It takes time, um, and the limeworld, or lyman co-infection
world, is a very, very closedcommunity, I think because
(29:04):
they've been bullied around somuch.
So all these line groupfacebook groups, instagram
groups are extremely her medicalclosed.
They don't let anybody in there.
Groups are extremely hermedical closed.
They don't let anybody in there, and that's a challenge, uh,
because those are the patients.
So the marketing issue is it's,uh, it's it's a challenge that
we're working on.
(29:24):
um, we're also trying to find away of and this is a project,
that's it goes in in parallel,but being able to set up a
foundation that can help andfinance blind patients, that
would be the uh, thebreakthrough.
It's difficult and we stillneed a lot of more proof on
(29:46):
everything, but being able tohave a possibility of, of
co-financing a patient'streatment would be, I think, a
breakthrough in this area.
Dr Andrew Greenland (30:00):
And thinking to the next sort of six
or 12 months.
Where would you like the clinicto be going forward?
Martin Nielsen (30:07):
Well, right now we are working on six patients a
month.
I would like it to be within 12months at 11 to 12 patients a
month.
I would like it to be within 12months at 11 to 12 patients a
month.
That means we have to doublethe clinic and we have to double
the staff, but we have thepossibility to do so.
(30:28):
So that's what's in thepipeline for HOTA.
Dr Andrew Greenland (30:39):
Amazing If you could reach out to that
number of patients.
It'd be amazing Because I knowthere's a huge number who need
treatment across the world.
Martin Nielsen (30:46):
I mean, I'm just doubling into this world myself
, so I do understand, yeah, andthere are still a lot of not
that many clinics in theoccident, in Europe and the US,
that actually work with IV.
Ipt is almost non-existing.
Many of the clinics that works,they use big rooms with
(31:09):
multiple patients sitting withIV drops.
It's a very differentphilosophy.
I have a background in hotelbusiness as well, so my approach
to this project was to bringknowledge from the hospitality
side to put into the clinic sothat the patient feels that from
(31:29):
the moment they arrive inBarcelona, the way we pick them
up in the transfer if they needto lie down, we send a big car
where they can lie down.
If they want to sit up, we senda bigger car to sit up.
The way we drive them to thehotel, drop them off at the
hotel.
The way they take care of thepatients, because they know
about lying patients.
The way we pick them up in themorning and drive them down to
(31:50):
the clinic, we do a nutritionalmeeting with them, we do a
physiological meeting with them.
So it's more than just apatient coming for treatment.
Dr Andrew Greenland (32:07):
It's a health journey.
It sounds like a destinationfrom what you're saying.
Martin Nielsen (32:11):
We're trying to make it that way.
If you're coming from far away,it doesn't have to be a
necessary evil.
Um, andorra is a magical place,it's.
It's very difficult not to sellit as as a destination, as a
tourist destination.
Uh, it's.
It's a small country, extremelyclean, there's no crime rate,
(32:31):
there's no unemployment.
It's very controlled, highaltitude, green, fresh air,
fresh water.
So it's the perfect place forthis kind of treatment to take
place and being able to takecare of the patient as if they
were on an ordinary wellnesstreatment.
That's the philosophy behind it.
Dr Andrew Greenland (32:56):
And if there was one, sorry, carry on.
Martin Nielsen (32:58):
No, and that's one of the reasons why we engage
with the patients through videocalls in the beginning.
We're making them understandthat this is more than just a
treatment.
You have to trust us with this,in the way you fly in and the
way we take care of you.
It's not just a clinic whereyou send a paycheck and and you
will come on day one.
Dr Andrew Greenland (33:19):
It's, it's supposed to be built up as, like
you say, it's a wellnessjourney, especially because
we're going to be together forone year yeah, it's a, it's a
marathon, not a, a sprint, as Isay, and if there was one major
roadblock you could remove rightnow, what would that be?
I know, probably the fundingthing is a big one, but is there
(33:41):
anything else that you wouldlike to be able to wave a magic
wand and solve.
Martin Nielsen (33:46):
I would probably say awareness and
acknowledgement to the Lymepatients, to the Lyme patients
that the medical society wouldacknowledge that Lyme exists
it's not in their heads andraise the awareness that this is
(34:12):
an epidemic and it's rising.
Not only because it's rising,it's because we've had it for so
long that it's been covered asmany other diseases or symptoms
or syndromes.
The climate has changed, theway we live close to animals has
changed, the way we move intoforests have changed, so the
(34:34):
awareness is fundamental.
If there could be moreawareness, more knowledge, it
would be easier for us as aclinic to work as well,
especially the acknowledgementto the line patients.
They exist and they are sick.
It's not in their head, andthat I can hear from every
(34:54):
single patient I speak with, andsome patients even believe it,
because once you've been toldsomething so many times by
professionals, it gets to apoint where you even start
believing it yourself.
Dr Andrew Greenland (35:13):
Martin, thank you so much for your time
this afternoon.
Really good conversation,really rich conversation.
Thank you for sharing yourjourney, your story and what you
do for these patients.
It sounds quite remarkable.
I hope you can solve the um,the funding issue, because I
completely get it, because thatis basically going to open up
the gateway to be able to treatmore patients.
I'm not sure it's an easy fix,but I hope you find a solution
for it.
Martin Nielsen (35:34):
But really giving up is not an option
exactly, exactly thank you somuch for your time.
Really appreciate it mypleasure, thank you.
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