February 25, 2025 • 64 mins
Today, we're diving deep into an important topic in the world of sports and beyond – concussions. Our host, Chris Duffin, welcomes guest Anthony Castor to explore the complexities of traumatic brain injuries, often caused by sudden jolts or blows to the head. The episode uncovers the neurological changes that these injuries entail, discussing both their short-term symptoms, like headaches and confusion, and long-term effects, including cognitive impairment and mood disorders. Moreover, Chris and Anthony delve into a variety of healing protocols, emphasizing the pivotal role of peptides in recovery. Whether you're an athlete or someone curious about brain health, this episode offers vital insights on tackling brain injuries and fostering resilience. Tune in and learn about strategies to not only manage but also prevent the implications of concussions.
🎧 Missed the episode? Here are 3 key takeaways:
-
Neuroprotection with Peptides: Peptides like BPC157 and TB4 play a crucial role in tissue regeneration and inflammation reduction, providing a neuroprotective shield during recovery.
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Brain Health Supplements: Incorporating omega-3s and phosphatidylcholine can fortify cell membranes and support acetylcholine production, key for memory and cognitive stability.
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Synergistic Therapies: Techniques like red light therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy optimize mitochondrial function and enhance blood flow, offering profound impacts for long-term brain health.
Catch the full episode for a richer understanding of these powerful strategies to safeguard your most valuable asset—your brain!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Architect of Resilience podcast, where
we explore the secrets of overcoming life's challenges and
unlocking unstoppable strength through deep personal conversations
and expert insights. Good morning, Anthony. We got an early start
today to talk about the ultimate in concussion
protocols, right? Yes, sir. It is bright
(00:23):
and early and great to be up. I think we're going to
cover a lot of really relevant stuff. There's so many contact sports out there
that people are involved in and concussions is a real thing. So I'm excited
to dig in. Yeah. So let's, let's do a little base on what a
concussion is. So it's a traumatic brain injury caused by, you know, a
sudden jolt or blow to the head leading to a
(00:45):
temporary disruption in brain function can cause
cognitive, you know, issues with memory coordination
as well as physical, physical symptoms. Unlike
other forms of head injuries, concussions may not always show visible
signs of damage, but they will result in significant neurological
changes. So the brain, it floats in this cerebral
(01:08):
spinal fluid providing a cushioning. And
when you take a big impact, that brain moves within that
in your skull, impacts the inner
walls, causing bruising, stretching of the neurons. And that
biomechanical impact impact leads to axonal
shearing, which disrupts the transmission of signals across the brain
(01:31):
and initiates a cascade of neurochemical changes
including excitotoxicity and calcium
overload. And concussions can also cause disruption of the
blood brain barrier, leading to inflammation
and oxidative stress. So you've got both short
term and long term issues with this, from headaches,
(01:53):
dizziness, confusion, nausea, memory loss and blurred
vision on the short term to long term.
Cognitive impairment, mood disorders,
sensitivity to light, noise, sleep disturbances.
And in severe cases, repeated concussions can lead to
permanent brain damage, which we've seen. That's been a lot of
(02:14):
topic actually. I was just watching the,
the, the, the
documentary on the
Carson. I can't think of the individuals, Vaughn, whoever the, in
the professional wrestling, which I've never been much into, but that documentary was really
good. And in football,
(02:36):
rugby, all this where we're seeing this chronic traumatic
encephalopathy cte. So those are the
two, you know, issues that we see from this. In the longer term
is post cons, post concussion syndrome,
PCs and the, the chronic traumatic
encephalopathy ct. So
(02:58):
CTD is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by repeated
head trauma, characterized by symptoms such as memory loss,
depression, aggression and eventually dementia.
And these behavior changes can be pretty
substantial. Anything that you want
to add on the background on Concussion, cte,
(03:19):
PCs, that. I think that's fantastic.
Maybe I'll just expand a little bit like on the axonal
shearing and sort of some other stuff
that's happening in the brain, because it'll really become relevant when we talk
about the solutions and why they work. When we think about
axonal shearing, what's happening is when the brain
(03:42):
undergoes like this rapid acceleration or like rotating.
These axons, which are like long thread like parts of neurons,
they get stretched. And what, what we
call this is diffusal axonal
injury. And it's just like twisting a rubber band too hard.
And eventually, you know, that give. You twist a rubber band too hard. How it
(04:04):
frays, that's really what's happening with your axons.
And when that happens, when we get this fraying,
that's where we start to get disruption between the ability for
neurons to communicate. And when you think about
if a neuron can't communicate with another neuron, then we can fire
a charge, but we're not going to execute on that because the signal is really
(04:26):
not getting through. The other thing that happens
is there's. When there's this initial impact, it
causes this flood of excitatory
neurotransmitters, primarily like glutamate. And we've
talked a lot about glutamate in our episode
on Peptides for the Brain, so won't
(04:47):
spend too much time on it. But what happens when you get this
flood of. Of glutamate is the neurons fire
excessively. And as you can imagine, like if you got
a car engine that's turning really fast, this is going to
burn up a lot of energy. And brain ends up having this
energy deficit. So there's this problem of
(05:10):
getting enough energy to the mitochondria in the brain.
And it's almost like a car running out of fuel. It struggles to carry
out normal functions. And this is why some of the
symptoms, like confusion and memory problems arise.
A lot of times when we have that, oh, shoot, you know, I can't think
of it. Our brain's like struggling for energy.
(05:30):
And then I guess another thing too is you get
that reduction in blood flow. And what's
happening there is you've got reduced blood
flow going to the brain and the brain's demanding more energy to
recover. So the reduced blood flow just exasperates the
problem because all the things that would be reducing inflammation and
(05:52):
supplying oxygen are not available.
So, yeah, that's. That's my two cents.
Yeah, no, that's really great. You know, Detailing
that out further. You know, when it comes to peptides, I think anybody
that's watched our series to date can probably understand some of the
mechanisms that are going to come into play and why they'd be so powerful. Now
(06:15):
we are going to go beyond peptides. We're going to talk about other supplementation
and synergistic strategies. But peptides can
have an impact on tissue repair, neuroprotection,
reduction of inflammation and neuroplasticity
and synaptogenesis as well as cellular
communications. So quick summary of
(06:37):
that. But obviously stimulating the regeneration of damaged brain tissue by
promoting the proliferation and migration.
And it is early by promoting the
growth of neural cells, the ability to particularly
important in brain injury recovery, where damaged neurons can be
repaired or replaced
(07:00):
neuroprotective effects, meaning they can help protect
the neurons from further damage after the injury. This is
critical in minimizing the spread of the injury beyond and
reducing the risk of secondary brain damage caused by the inflammation
or oxidative stress. And that's really important. So a lot of
individuals kind of ignore this period of time
(07:22):
where we have that in, you know, excessive, you know, use of
the brain, looking at, you know, lights being on technology,
all of this. When you've got this inflammation and oxidative stress or
any ongoing injury from that is significant.
So if we can help protect during that period, it's massive.
And obviously we'd want to reduce the inflammation which is the key contributor to
(07:45):
brain injury as it this is what exacerbates the
neural damage and can delay recovery. Peptides
help reduce inflammatory by inflammation by
modulating the immune response and promoting the resolution of the
inflammatory process. We're going to talk about some
peptides and walk through those protocols.
(08:08):
Dihexa, for example, enhances
neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to reorganize
itself by forming new neural connections. And this
is crucial for cognitive recovery following concussions,
other concussions or other brain trauma, rewiring
those circuits. And the last I touched on was cellular
(08:30):
communication. By improving communication between neurons, peptides help
restore the brain function which often
disrupted following an injury.
Should we dive into the peptides
that we would use and the mechanisms
of action for this? Yeah, I think that sounds great. And
(08:51):
even to add to that, there's a real low hanging fruit and it'll make a
lot of sense, you know, when you hear about therapeutic
applications of a ketogenic diet, exogenous
ketones. And I'm really excited. I know we've got a
interview coming up with the Founder of Ketone
Aid but exogenous ketones like the beta
(09:12):
hydroxybutyrate is one of the things that can kind of
solve this energy crisis we're experiencing in the brain.
It's like this super fuel that's allowing the cells and
neurons to generate more energy and it bypasses
glucose. And the other thing it does is it
actually increases mitochondrial biogenesis.
(09:34):
So when we have more mitochondria to help clear out that oxidative
stress, it puts us in a good spot specifically
too it reduces. It's called the NLRP3
inflammasome. And that's the one that like when you hear about
neural inflammation that's kind of the. Oh man, that one's
elevated. So yeah, I think
(09:55):
real low, low hanging fruit and I think good preventative
measure, whether we're talking about somebody going into surgery where there's
going to be anesthesia and reduced oxygen to the
brain for that reason or if we're talking about like
traumatic head injury ketones or something, if you're doing
these all year round, it's a terrific preventative measure.
(10:20):
Relatively inexpensive and you get all the benefits with
performance and reducing inflammation and
all the other stuff. We'll cover in another episode too. So
wanted to make sure we touched on that. Let's dive into the world
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(10:43):
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(11:05):
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I so you know my experience
I can't talk well about a lot of the, the clients that, that I've worked
with but there's a number that have maybe a post stroke condition. Right.
(11:28):
So that is a common brain injury standpoint because you've got both the
cardiovascular event but you've got the reduction in blood
flow to the brain during that period of time.
I have my nephew who had five brain
surgeries following a traumatic car accident where he was
life flighted to the hospital, wasn't supposed to survive. We
(11:50):
had some really amazing results during that period and then
My last elbow surgery where I was put under
anesthesia for it was about six hours where I was
out because there's a pretty extensive surgery. And my
biggest focus on that because I have the healing protocols
really dialed in. I knew that I was going to be recovered in two or
(12:12):
three weeks from the surgery. But the cognitive
follow up from that, that takes days or a week to clear out was like
my focus to see what I could eliminate because I've
been through surgeries multiple times, so I could see what the difference was.
And so I followed some of these protocols during that period of time and man,
it was, it was massive. As far as
(12:34):
the, the impact. I think I covered this in another podcast
that we did, but post surgery I walked out, went to the
hotel room and ended up engaging with another
doctor and that, that I
work with in that area. I was down in California in a very
intensive discussion around
(12:56):
structure of periocardial ligaments for about two
hours. And I say the BR covered.
Yeah. And then engaged in, you know, coitus
with the, the wife following his departure. So I would say I was back on
track pretty, pretty damn quick. I was. That's amazing. Yeah. And
yeah it was, it was pretty amazing. And so yeah,
(13:19):
let's, let's walk through some of those peptides.
Obviously a very easy one to pick from
is BPC157. You know, everybody knows this. The
healing peptide derived from body protect from the
stomach. It's known for profound
regenerate, regenerative abilities and neuroprotective
(13:41):
effects. It supports the formation of new blood vessels,
angiogenesis. So this is a big one in aiding in tissue
regeneration, including in the brain. It also
helps reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, but both of which
contribute to cellular damage after
concussions. And there's some interesting research around this
(14:02):
in post
car accident type situations where we've got some
post stroke. One thing we didn't put in our
notes as it relates to
this Anthony, but GHK
KU also has some of these similar ones and I've seen that
(14:24):
in some of the research following TBI and they've done some
research, it was on animal studies as it relates.
But really, really fascinating the combination of
BPC and GHK which has some of the similar
effects around angiogenesis,
oxidative stress reduction and inflammation. Inflammation
(14:45):
being a big one. But the, the that was
absolutely tremendous on both those studies. I would, I would recommend the
GHK KU with the BPC
which we think about it, you know that purple blue
substance kind of like methylene blue, kind of
like, you know, the. The light and photons being able to help,
(15:07):
you know, with. With brain repair. I don't know if
that plays a role into it. I'm kind of reaching out there, but discussing kind
of, you know, common themes that roll within that.
Yeah, no, there's definitely a component of physics when we talk
about brain injury. And I know when we get to the
red light, that'll really make a lot of sense. But
(15:29):
that's really interesting about the ghk. Yeah. I'm actually
playing with. So I have a doctor, actually, the same one I was doing the
discussion with the periocardial ligaments. In fact,
he's probably going to join us on a podcast when it. When we
start working with some of the red light therapy
and the impacts of that. But he seemed really interesting
(15:51):
using the GHK prior to the red light therapy. And so I actually just started
testing that this morning myself. So.
Yeah. See what impact that has. But substantial boost in
HRV when deploying the GHK prior to the
red light. So, anyway, I'll have more to report on that
later. But as an alternative to the methylene blue that
(16:14):
we're seeing, a lot of people recommend. Because GHK is a lot easier to
get than the methylene blue. Yeah. And the other
consideration with the methylene blue, and I probably should have done
a better job of explaining this when we covered it in our
mitochondrial peptide podcast is it reduces
nitric oxide. So when we're in
(16:35):
a hypoxic environment and our goal is to kind of
increase oxygen, it might not be the best time to load up on
the methylene blue. But
we'll get to some other mitochondrial options that. Yeah. That we can use. Yeah. Which
we don't have. So we don't have the methylene blue in the protocol that we're
discussing today. Right. Yeah. For that reason.
(16:57):
And then you want to jump into the TB4. I
know you've got a lot more experience on the dihexa,
so I'd love you covering that one as well. And I can jump in on
the cerebral license. Sure. Happy to. So the
dihexa. Dihexa is like rocket fuel for
your synapses. And it's this molecule that produces
(17:19):
synaptogenesis. And when we think about what that means, if we break that
down, it's like synapses,
synapto, and then genesis, creation. So it's making
these creations of new synaptic connections, and
it does this by activating. It's called the HGF
CMET pathway. And it's
(17:41):
one of the most potent brain enhancing agents for
neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. And
it also reduces the tau
phosphorylation. And if that sounds familiar,
that becomes relevant when we talk about any type of neurodegenerative
disease like Alzheimer's. These tau
(18:03):
proteins are essentially misfolded proteins,
and when we can prevent the phosphorylation of them,
they're not going to be as impactful.
And it works. It modulates these
peroxisomal functions, and those are
(18:23):
kind of vital for metabolism of, like, fats and detoxification
of harmful molecules. And it inhibits
lipid peroxidation. And so just to make that make a
little bit more sense, lipid peroxidation
is like, if we were getting good fats in there, which we're going
to need to repair cell membranes, damaged
(18:46):
neurons, myelin sheath, those sorts of things.
Some of those are unsaturated. And when things
are unsaturated, like fish oil, for example, it can
oxidize. So when we talk about lipid peroxidation,
that's something that would create more oxidative stress. So we want to
kind of make sure we're mitigating that. And when we think about these
(19:09):
peroxisomes, that would be a
whole episode in and of itself. But the short of it is, I think of
it as these little things floating around, tapping a cell on the shoulder
and saying, hey, we need to use a little bit more fat, or, hey, we
want to use some carbohydrates, or, hey,
let's do a quick inventory of what we got in the cell. That's garbage. Let's
(19:29):
get it out. So they're just kind of these supervisors
almost. So, yeah, I think
the Dihex is absolutely a
really, really awesome tool to use if you
have traumatic brain injury. Awesome.
One thing I think it's important to note as far as, like, protocols,
(19:50):
dosing, stuff like that, we have a lot of this detailed on our forum. You
can go to Chris Duffin, start here, find the free
forum, go on there. And so anybody that wants to explore more
depth of, like, actual, you know, how would you employ those from
a, you know, a dosage, a frequency of
administration, all of that. So just a. Just a quick note on
(20:12):
that. It's an absolutely free form. Of course, we'd love, if you pay for the
insiders and get access to all the extra information, which is a
treasure trove of, of content.
So Thyrosyn beta 4, TB4, naturally occurring
peptide involved in tissue regeneration, cell migration
and wound healing. In brain injuries, it plays a key
(20:35):
role in reducing inflammation and protecting
neurons from further damage while promoting the
regeneration of neural tissue by stimulating
the migration of new cells to the site of injury.
It's basically like organizing the repair process is a good way to
think. And this is why TB4 and PPC are often
(20:57):
used in conjunction where they're doing the healing. But this is
also, you know, organizing all the workers, if you can think
about that, is a, is a good way. So TB4
enhances neurovascular health by supporting the repair of the blood
vessels. So we've got the PPC creating new blood
vessels, we've got TB4 enhancing and supporting, repairing all blood
(21:18):
vessels and neurons, making it effective
therapy for mitigating the long term effects of
concussions and other traumatic brain injuries. So you
can see how those work together really, really well. Anything that
you have on that, that combo of those two,
I think you. Did an amazing job of covering The Thymos and Beta 4
(21:41):
and people can kind of see the synergy there. We've
got one thing that is going to kind of
stimulate growth of the new
synapses and then we've got one thing that's gonna kind of
bring those healing things in together so we can reduce the inflammation,
create a better vascular supply to the area so we're
(22:04):
getting more blood flow and reduce things like the interleukin
1 tumor necrosis factor alpha. So
we can start to. When we reduce that inflammation in the brain, it
kind of puts that fire out, step one to reducing that
oxidative stress. Yeah.
(22:24):
So typically in a recovery protocol, I'm using the
TB4 in the BPC. So post surgery and then
what I did this last time when I did mine was addition of the cerebralysin
and the cellmac. And the cerebralysin is
also the major addition, although we'll talk about some others when we get
into supplementation to my nephew's brain surgery. So he was in
(22:46):
a coma for three, for 30 days. I was blessed
to be there the first day that he has memory
following that, the coma period. And then
it was maybe a month after that that we employed the
cerebralysin and that was the first day he felt his feet again.
So really interesting. So cerebralysin and
(23:08):
I preloaded on this for, for my surgery.
But this is dealing with that excessive glutamate activity
and reducing that excitotoxicity. So
cerebralysin is the most well studied, incredible safety
profile. Neuroprotective, neuro,
neurotrophic peptide out. It
(23:30):
has been around since 1948, patented in
1954. It's derived from pig brains
and yeah it smells like pig brains and no formaldehyde if you
break a vial open. Really, really great smell
but it is really great for
that. And so common issue after a brain injury
(23:52):
is this, you know that excessive glutamate and the
excitotoxicity. Cerebralysin also enhances
neurogenesis or the creation of new neurons which is
critical for recovery of the cognitive function after a brain
injury. So it improves this cognitive recovery,
improving memory provides long term neuroprotection
(24:13):
by mitigating the damage caused by the excited toxicity and also
aids in the regeneration of those damaged brain
cells making it useful for both
acute, which I have personal experience with
recovery and long term brain health
as a whole. Cerebralysin can be really powerful for
(24:35):
memory cognitive function
as well as a number of impacts on mood.
So anything that you want to add on
cerebralysin. Thank you. Did a great job of covering it.
When we think about like how it's working specifically it
increases brain derived neurotropic factor,
(24:58):
nerve growth factor and glial derived neurotrophic
factor. So when we think about the cells that are in our
brain it's like we've just about covered every single base with
cerebralysin. And if
I would say like if I could only reach for one thing, if somebody has
a concussion, cerebralysin is gonna cover the most
(25:19):
bases, you know, that would be. That would be my biggest impact right there.
Yeah, you're going to have an immediate impact from that. Yep.
And I think it was brilliant. I do the same thing anytime.
Like if I've got somebody that's going to be put under or
if like when I had to have my surgery I always load up on
cerebralysin before and after. It helps
(25:42):
to detoxify that anesthesia and
make sure that there's not going to be any brain damage.
Yeah, it was my experience was absolutely incredible difference between
that and the others. So I preloaded the week before and then
con and continued two weeks after was all I did
during that period. And yeah, absolutely fantastic.
(26:05):
So last one we got is cellnack which we've discussed before but
synthetic peptide with neuroprotective and anti anxiety
properties. So it helps modulate the brain chemicals involved in stress and
anxiety such as GABA and serotonin which are
often. So it's important because these are disrupted following
concussions and that's why we can see some mood
(26:26):
disorders as well. Cell NAC has anti inflammatory
effects and can enhance memory and cognitive function by promoting the
regulation of certain brain molecules.
And again, the GABA and serotonin. It's
particularly effective for addressing post concussion systems like anxiety,
stress and memory impairment and helps restore emotional
(26:48):
stability and cognitive function by reducing neural
inflammation and supporting neurotransmitter balance. Anybody that's
been around somebody with a concussion can probably know what
we're talking about when you see some of these, you know, mood behavior
issues kicking in. Yeah,
absolutely. It's a really
(27:10):
valuable tool. And anytime we've got
something that's going to be able to, you know, increase
BDNF and help with oxygenation to the brain
and also kind of modulate things that are going to help put the
brakes on that excessive glutamate that
we're experiencing. That's going to be a big player.
(27:33):
So time to jump into additional therapies. Supplementation.
Do you want to do other therapies or supplementation first?
The really? Either one more peptide that might be
worth mentioning or maybe two,
the epitalin. There's a lot of research
emerging on that and it also
(27:56):
increases bdnf. It's got benefits for
our telomeres and those are, you know, just kind of like
the caps on our shoelaces. Yep. I'm using
Eptitalon with a few, you know, elderly
close to, you know, mid-70s, 80s with cognitive
decline with some similar protocols. Using Eptitalon for
(28:17):
that reason. Yeah, yeah. And you can even do it
intranasally in the case of a concussion.
One of the things that happens when people get a concussion is it
dysregulates their sleep. And when, essentially when
we're not able to sleep, we keep accumulating more inflammation in the
glial cells. So Epitalin is going
(28:39):
to recalibrate that circadian rhythm and
that's going to help with melatonin release. Melatonin is an
amazing antioxidant. So then we're kind of getting our sleep
back on track. We've got something that's putting out that
fire, that oxidative stress. So I really
like using that too, if it's available. Is
(29:00):
there a certain time of day that you're using the epitalon based
on the circadian rhythm? Yeah. So for the
epitalin, I do evening hour before you go to
sleep and I prefer the 10 day course at 10 milligrams
a day. I know some people do kind of year round
3mg, but I feel like using it acutely at
(29:22):
a higher dose for me at least, seems to work a little bit better.
The other, I guess for
circadian is, and this would be a daytime one would be
like the vip. That one I would do in the morning if, if
we were using that for circadian reset.
I use the VIP in my, my, my post. My,
(29:45):
my, my, my protocol for
my last surgery. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's pretty
versatile. Peptide. The other one that I think is worth
mentioning is the Thymosin Alpha 1.
We don't really think of a concussion as like
catching a cold or that sort of thing, but our immune
(30:07):
system is going to be sort of what's modulating our
inflammatory response. So I found some
benefit to including like a Thymosin Alpha 1
in there sometimes so that you've got that sergeant of your immune
system making sure that you know you're getting the
right amount of immune response and dialing down
(30:29):
excessive immune response and inflammation.
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(31:13):
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about my choices. I did
thymus and alpha one that surgery too. I didn't think
about mentioning it because I'm like, we have so many
(31:35):
things, I just throw the kitchen sink at it.
But yeah, those are the other two that I did throw out. That was VIP
and the thymus and alpha one for those reasons. Yeah, yeah, the
one other, and I promise this is the last. I just got my wheels
turning. I remember there's another one that I use anytime
I've had issues with like brain injury
(31:57):
injury in general, the IGF one. We
need IGF to help imprint our long term memories and
also it's going to help with protein synthesis,
repair of nerves, as well as neurogenesis. So
Creating more better nerve
supply. So yeah, I mean
(32:18):
I wouldn't say the IGF and the Thymos and Alpha 1 are like the top
ones. I think the top ones we covered pretty well. Yep.
But you know, if you really want the. This is go over
laying it all out. Are you using the IGF,
LR3 or DES.
In this case I'd probably use if it's
(32:41):
hard to source. But if you can get the Increlix, that
would be awesome. Or receptor grade, the
second choice would be the long
R3 and but I think either the
DEs or the long R3, long R3, you're going to have a little bit more
benefit for protein
(33:02):
synthesis and neurogenesis. It's
going to be around a little bit longer and since we're just using it acutely,
I'm not too concerned about growing the wrong
cells or tissues. But for long term or for
muscular injury I think I'd lean towards the DES
form. I've got some
(33:24):
detailed LR3
strategies on my recovery protocol. So the details
out some, some multiple different avenues for
dosing depending on the acuteness of the
injury. So that would be on Christophan.com of course.
All right, that's recovery protocol I have ever used. I've
(33:46):
told you many times like I wouldn't be standing here having this conversation if it
weren't for you being generous enough to share that protocol with me
and putting me back together four times.
So thanks again. Comes back around. All right, now you're
teaching me. So so far we've talked basically
a lot about, you know, neurotrophic compounds. So let's
(34:09):
talk about some, some nootropics as it relates so
we can dive into supplementation. It may be counter to
what a lot of people thinks, but a low dose stimulant
can actually be because we're stimulating the synapses to be
firing during this time. So
even something like my DMA E
(34:32):
in full blitz can be useful.
Micro dose of Adderall, things of that nature that
typically you might not think as being good can be good at
a micro dose amount during this time to
stimulate that. So again, small dose of caffeine, things of those
nature, there are some deterior effects as it relates
(34:54):
to a lot of the discussion that we've talked about. But again, small dose
stimulating those response receptors to respond. These
are not good things to take long term for cognitive function.
But as it relates I think that that's important to
note. Do you want to dive into, you
know, omega 3s products like that?
(35:16):
Sure, yeah. The I think lipids are, in
my opinion, probably the most important thing to supplement
both prophylactically and in terms of repair.
And the big ones that I go for,
the phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylcholine,
it's a phospholipid and it forms a structural
(35:39):
framework of our cell membranes and in particular like
neurons. And you can kind of think of it as
like brick and mortar that keeps your cell walls strong
and functional. And the phosphatidylcholine is critical for
this membrane fluidity. And that's what allows like signals to come in and out
and cell processes to happen. And
(36:01):
additionally it supports acetylcholine. So one of the concerns
when we get a head trauma is going to be that, you know, there's
that reduction in acetylcholine product production and
therefore loss of memory. So you're
really making good inroads to that problem by supplementing
the phosphatidylcholine. And you can do that either as like an
(36:24):
IV or you can do that as if you're going to take
the supplement form. I'm really particular about the one I use
and there's a reason for it. The body bio,
their phosphatidylcholine complex. Best one out
there. Only one I'm aware of in the United States
that has all four phospholipids
(36:46):
in the proper ratio and it's
produced in house. Amazing
facility. Really take a lot of time and care for their
products. So I don't get paid by them or anything, but I
swear by that. The other if we're talking about
lipids that I think is as
(37:07):
important as the phosphatidylcholine are the
plasmalogens. Prodrome Science is a company that makes
them and there's a neuro and a gliaform and
those are essential phospholipids. And what they do is they make up
neuronal and glial cell membranes and they protect these cells from
oxidative stress. They're really critical to
(37:29):
synaptic function. They're almost like a bubble wrap around your neurons
and prevents oxidative damage and supporting overall brain
health. These help to
modulate those peroxisomes and also
kind of safeguard against oxidative damage. That lipid peroxidation we were
talking about. So yeah, those, those
(37:52):
two are not necessarily
fish oils, but the, in my opinion, probably the
most important things to take if supplement wise
if you get a head injury.
Absolutely. The fish Oil,
of course, you know that's going to be important and
(38:15):
not necessarily something to skip over. But
with the fish oil, when we start with the
fish oil, it gets metabolized into these pro resolving
mediators. And if you join Chris's community,
I did a rather lengthy post on what those are and how they work.
So I don't want to spend too much time on that. But
(38:38):
the short of it is these pro resolving mediators that fish oils
metabolize into clear out a lot of cellular waste
and modulate inflammatory responses.
So when we supplement a fish oil, what we want to think about
is it needs to be something we can absorb. So I prefer
like a krill oil because it's a phospholipid
(39:00):
form of fish oil and it's also got that I butcher the
name every time. Xanthaxan. And
it's. That's a antioxidant, particularly good for
oxidative stress in the brain and eyes. Yeah. It's
also really great at permeating the. The blood brain
barrier. So I highly recommend. Yeah, both krill oil
(39:22):
as. As well as ensuring that you're getting 12 milligrams a day
of exactly. Xanathin. I hate that freaking word
too. I do too. Who start the word with an X other than X
ray. But
yeah, I actually there's
a researcher that's. That has focused on
(39:44):
Xanathan that I've listened to some of his work with. It's
really fascinating. I hope to have him on this podcast actually at some point in
time. But big proponent, fundamental level.
If you're interested in health. 12 milligrams a day
xanathen and then making sure that you've got some good CRO.
(40:06):
Yeah, the. Another one not. Not really a lipid.
And you guys know I'm on a big trail Trehalose kick. But
that can have a lot of benefit for
concussions. It reduces accumulation of these
amyloid beta and tau
proteins and it activates autophagy which is going
(40:29):
to clear up all those bad proteins and organelles. So
if you're following what Chris and I have talked about,
you're probably already using the trehalose. So you're already probably down that
pathway. But thought it'd be fun to just kind of mention that
one as a real low hanging fruit. Inexpensive. You know, you
can use it. I just do a teaspoon with meals. Makes
(40:52):
everything a little bit sweeter. And there's some terrific research
being done using it IV for things like
als. Yeah, I like just tossing a Little in
with my 8020 proteins. My built fast formula
shakes, they already taste amazing. And then this
week I started experiment. I put it in using. So I make
(41:14):
8020 creamies and you toss
their. The. If anybody's not the Ninja
creamy use some 8020 protein. You'll have just
an amazing protein ice cream, you know,
with like 60 grams of protein in it. Me and my wife will split it
actually I guess like 60 or 80 grams the. The container that we make up
(41:37):
and drop a little trailer host in there too and oh my God. I mean
it's just. It tastes just like. Except
it's all protein. That sounds amazing. Yeah.
Getting hungry. Oh, didn't you just get
the Ninja Creamy a little while ago? I think
so, yeah. And I didn't think about doing
(42:00):
it that way but yeah, it sounds. Yeah,
80 20. And if you want you just sprinkle just a little bit of some
treats in there, you know like a tablespoon
of some chocolate or something like that and then try some trailer
host in there and it will taste like one of the best ice creams. Like
oh my God, love it. You'd probably even mix in
(42:22):
almonds. Make like chocolate almond ice cream out of it.
Yep, yep. Get your. Get your healthy fats and yeah,
yeah. On circumen do you have a. There's several
different patented forms and actually I was just checking my phone to try to remember
which one because I use the Morivia which is. But that's more for
joint. It seems like the thercumin would probably be
(42:44):
one that would be a little bit better for the brain function. But it
looks like they've got some intranasal that they're using
in some studies on
Alzheimer's intranasally administered
curcumin. So there's a patent on
that looks
(43:05):
2007. So that's kind of
interesting. Haven't had a chance to look into that.
But curcumin obviously really valuable. There's some really great
cumin has a really low bioavailability. So
usually picking one of the, you know, patented one that improves the, the
absorption rate. Yeah, I like the
(43:26):
Prodrome Sciences makes the BDNF curcumin
and that one's,
sorry, BDMC curcumin. It's a methylated
form of it that increases the availability substantially
and makes it easier to cross that blood brain barrier.
So that's one of the challenges when you know we've got these supplements that
(43:48):
can reduce oxidative stress but then we've got that blood brain barrier
that's like a protective wall around the brain. So I always
use the BDMC or the other one that I like is
Jim's company or Jim Sun's company. Metabolic Elite has a
liposomal form of curcumin. It's a tetra cure
and it's chewable. And I know that one's got really high bioavailability
(44:11):
as well we should. Would you be
up for doing a, an article on the, the group
on. Yeah, those circumens. I, I think that that would
be really valuable. So yeah, absolutely. It's. I'll
get one up by this weekend. Oh,
hyperbaric chambers. So
(44:33):
there's, there's plenty of research on this. It works really well. I mean you
could literally repair the damage from CTE
with a number of what we would call dives with a
hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Really
incredible. I don't know that I would be the one to be able to
talk around the science of what's happening there. But essentially the
(44:55):
pressure is helping force. I don't you
want to dive on that if you have the information. When we think about.
So if we kind of unpack the brain injury, what we're dealing with is that
low oxygen in the brain. And when you're in
this chamber, basically like it's kind of a crude
explanation, but the oxygen's basically pushing in
(45:16):
through every tissue in your body. And when we have
this increased oxygen availability because of the higher
pressure, that oxygen is able to dissolve in plasma
and then what happens is it dissolves in plasma, it's going to
help with stem cell activation.
So what it does is it kind of mobilizes those stem
(45:38):
cells and that's going to enhance the tissue repair as
well. It also modulates
reactive oxygen species and promotes an
antioxidant defense. And the way that it does this is it's
going to reduce tumor necrosis factor alpha,
interleukin 1 beta and interleukin 6.
(46:00):
So yeah, the hyperbaric. I think that's actually
an insurance approved use for it. And I know that
even for things like autism for a while
it might still be. I think that hyperbarics approved
for that. The key is you want
to make sure, I guess if you live in different regions in
(46:22):
the country, there's going to be considerations as to how much oxygen to
use. Like if you're in Colorado where you're already
exposed to like
the altitude over there, you probably want to use a slightly
different atmospheric pressure than
if you live in Ohio where there's not as Many mountains.
(46:45):
I'm guessing most of the hyperbaric therapy places that you would go
to in your area would know, you know, the amount that you would need
to, to, to, to do with that so.
Because again, hyperbaric therapy not really,
you know, easy for a lot of people to have a hyperbaric chamber. I don't
have one. You don't have one. Yeah, but there, there's getting to
(47:07):
be quite a few centers if you do some work. So if
you have, you know, some considerable
TBI history and potential CTE
hyperbaric chambers. There's been. So my friend John
Wellborn had had great success. I
know. God. There's a few other.
(47:29):
Yeah, it's. It's been used successfully in
pro NFL players with documented CTE to
essentially completely fix those cte.
I can't think of the individuals right now, but
I know that it has done that. Now obviously John was doing a lot of
other things including red light therapy, pemf,
(47:51):
E Watt exercise with oxygen therapy, which
is similar. Similar ish kind of modality
to hyperbarics. So there's a lot of
stuff that he's done, including stem cells, so on.
Yeah. But that is one that I know that he feels
has had a very positive impact on the.
(48:13):
Essentially completely fixing all the brain damage from his extensive
NFL career. That's awesome. There was that. I
can't think of his name. He was a linebacker for
Denver Broncos. And this was before they were like. Really? That's
when I was thinking of. Yeah, he. Same thing. Yeah.
Yep. Man, it's gonna hit me at like three.
(48:35):
I don't. I'm just. I'm not great with the sports. So. Yeah.
What other synergistic therapies and
modalities we are talking about red light therapy
a little bit while ago or sunlight.
So again, you can have a heightened sensitivity to. To
(48:58):
light to the eyes, you know, in that immediate,
you know, post concussion period. But
sunlight is a valuable resource in the
recovery process. Making sure that you're one just getting general basic stuff,
right. Like good sleep, good nutrition,
all the antioxidants, rich foods,
(49:21):
exposure to sunlight and movement.
Yeah. I
joke with people that sunlight is nature's
Epitalin. Go out, get 100,000 lux
before 9:30am in the morning. And that really
helps to kind of reset that circadian rhythm absolutely free.
(49:43):
You don't need expensive panels. You can just go get it for.
Free in the red light you mentioned. I think
that's tremendously beneficial for a number of
reasons. The. Did you want to cover the red light or want
me to dive in? I'll let you just start and
I'll dive in maybe. Okay. Yeah. So with the red
(50:05):
light there's near and far
infrared or near and far red light.
The near infrared light, you'd probably want to go with something like an
810 nanometer.
And then you could also do
like a 660. In fact, with the 660
(50:27):
to. I think it's trying to remember now. I think it's
6 or. Yeah, 660 to
720. They did some research for the eyes
and restoring vision and people over 40 and had
positive effects on 80% of the population, I believe for their night
vision. And the way it works, this red lights kind of charge up the
(50:48):
mitochondria in the cells.
And the cool thing about red light is, you know, we talked about that blood
brain barrier and light can penetrate where
supplements might not be able to get into.
And when we think about, you know, our eyes, our eyes are essentially our
extension of our brain. A little gross to think about, but
(51:10):
it kind of makes sense why if you know, we're
using like that lower strength red light,
even for vision or if we have a concussion, shining
it in our eyes could be beneficial. Or even
just standing in front of it. Yeah.
So yeah. In General, broad stroke 600 to 1000 has been
(51:32):
documented to enhance mitochondrial efficiency,
increasing ATP through the activation of cytochrome
C oxidase. So COX
in the electron transport chain. Getting more
specific 620 to 680 activates mitochondrial
function by stimulating COX and
(51:53):
enhancing cellular energy production.
If we get into the near infrared ranges,
the 800 to 850 that starts penetrating deeper
tissues and further boosting mitochondrial function.
8, 10 is the one that promotes stem
cell proliferation and plays a role in differentiation
(52:16):
of, you know, muscle skeletor in tissue repair type issues.
So we see like a 60% loss as it gets towards
850. So 810 is definitely
desirable. 660 proliferation
of stem cells and supporting osteogenic
differentiation
(52:37):
inflammation. Yes. 808 has been studied
for its ability to modulate TRPV1
activity. I actually don't know what that is.
Reducing pain and inflammation, particularly in musculoskeletal and
neuro. Neuro.
Neuropathic conditions.
(53:00):
So you mentioned 660 or 670. So anything
in the 660 to. Or 630 to 680 range
is going to enhance
angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels. So that would probably
be so it looks like 630 to 680 and
810 would be valuable.
(53:23):
You know, wavelengths with the red light.
So just looking at the panel that you've got, you know, a lot of
them are going to hit those targets. But
the one I recommend, you know, obviously you can go find on Christophan
Shop. But yeah, red light therapy,
pretty, pretty, pretty cool stuff. 15 minutes a day
(53:46):
is what a person would want to target with that.
What's interesting with red light is, you know, you can't
just go in and get like, you know, an hour session. You know,
once a week. It really becomes down to frequency of administration. Think about
your cells being able to fill up like a cup. And that
cup is going to stay full for like six hours. So if you
(54:09):
took like your 15 minutes and actually took that down to five
minutes three times a day or eight minutes twice a
day, that's even going to be more effective yet than just
one dose a day. So this can be
done really great in the, in the morning or again before bed.
Before bed's gonna improve the quality of sleep
(54:31):
in the mornings going to, you know, have positive effects as a
whole. You could do it pre workout or post workout as
well. So pre workout, it's gonna really supercharge your workout, post
workout or in the evening, it's gonna help with the recovery and repair process. So
just really quick, we'll do a deeper dive on red light
therapy in, in the future. But
(54:54):
really fascinating stuff. Again, you could skip a lot of that too, just
by making sure that you're going out for a walk in the morning for 30
minutes and making sure that you're getting some evening,
you know, as that sunlight's, you know, cresting
is for free. Yeah,
absolutely. The other thing a lot
(55:16):
of times people forget about when we talk about concussions is
there's a huge reduction in vagal tone and you
develop this sympathetic nervous system dominance.
And there's kind of a couple tools that I
really like for when we talk about kind of recalibrating
vagal tone. There's.
(55:38):
You can just like the free one is just, you know, hum, gargle,
sing. I've got a terrible singing voice, so I spare everybody
from that. And then
additionally there's. And this, this is just
a fascinating area. Be really cool maybe to get her on the
podcast and talk more about it. But the neural
(56:00):
therapy and it's procaine injection and procaine changes
the action potential of these nerves that are firing. So
you can do like a stellate ganglion block using Procanes and
injection and almost instantly create that
balance in the nervous system, that parasympathetic,
sympathetic balance.
(56:23):
Best person in the country for that, Dr. Suzanne Ferree over
in Atlanta. She's absolutely amazing with this stuff and she teaches
classes in it, if that's something people would be interested in.
And then you can use like a
microcurrent. The one I use is the dolphin. Let's go back to the
vagal tone and the humming. If my
(56:46):
documentary ever comes out on grand goals, you'll see me
laughing maniacally before my
sets, in between sets, because
laughing is actually really incredible for that activity
on reducing the, you know, the activity
of the sympathetic nervous system. So
(57:09):
that's brilliant. Laughing is incredibly
recuperative. So sitting down, watching a comedy in the evening with your partner,
like, general, like guttural laughs
is. It is incredible for resetting
that. And so you'll see me laughing literally like
this in the documentary between sets for. As I'm chasing my thousand
(57:31):
pounds. Like,
man, that's awesome. Sorry to
interrupt, but I. I thought that'd be an interesting note. Yeah, I never knew that.
I never or never considered that. The. Looks like I'll be watching a lot more
Chappelle show. But yeah, see this right
(57:53):
here? Yeah. Works. Yeah. Now it's.
Man, I'm more comedies. But yeah, I think
the kind of getting that vagal tone back and that's even
big. Not to get too far off the subject,
but one of the missing pieces for long haulers for Covid
is restoring vagal tone. So
(58:15):
huge thing to focus on.
And then did you want to cover the pemf?
Yeah, yeah. PAMF is.
Yeah. Great adjunct to all of this. So PAMF
is going to create
(58:37):
that micro blood flow. So all those micro capillaries, it
really opens those up. So this is. Yeah,
it's incredibly recuperative process. So
pemf, pulsed electromagnetic frequency.
So there's PMF match. You can use them at centers or get your.
Get your own. There's several different companies out there that can be a.
(59:00):
They can be a little expensive. But the
PMF works in concert with that. So I know for a
fact, like if you take some vaso Blitz, you know, some
vasodilation pro, and sit in a PEMF mat like you're just
like. It just opens you up because it's. It's doing the same. They're
doing similar Ish things, very different modalities.
(59:23):
But when we think about that blood flow in the brain and
those micro capillaries, pemf is absolutely
amazing for that. I think that there's probably more benefits. I didn't do
any. Look. So this is based off of, you know, me reading
on this, you know, six years ago or so, I used a
pemf. Yeah. Leading through the grand goals process.
(59:45):
Currently my PEMF mat needs repaired, so I'm not using it right now.
But, yeah, really, really great benefits from
pemf. Yeah, it's definitely very. Yeah.
Plays a role with those micro capillaries in the brain because we don't have a
lot of, like, major arteries running in there for obvious reasons.
Yeah. The. When
(01:00:06):
people are thinking kind of about these PEMF devices,
generally, like when you're at a lower hertz, those are going to have more of
a calming effect. So if we're thinking about, you know, what can we do for.
We've got this glutamate over
exciticity, then, you know, kind of a low hertz.
Good. I don't know if you guys can see it. I'm wearing
(01:00:28):
one of those alpha stem units and it just clips on your ears. It
looks like Walkman I had when I was in sixth grade.
And it emits a 10-20 Hz
frequency that's going to be linked to those alpha brain
waves. And those are really good for, like, relaxation,
accelerates healing, and a lot of benefit for, like,
(01:00:51):
post concussion syndrome. So it's what I like about
that. It's definitely less expensive than a PEMF mat
and you can walk around with it all day. And the way I knew it
worked. I'm a huge New York Yankees fan. Chris knows
this. And when they're playing Boston, you know, if we're starting to
lose to Boston, normally I get really, really fired up. So when I first got
(01:01:12):
this device, you know, I clip it on the ears and I'm sitting there watching
the game. And I think the Yankees
threw the game because Boston was winning. And normally I'd be fired up and
yelling at the tv, but I'm just sitting there and my fiance's like, are
you all right? And I'm like, yeah, feel pretty good. And then it dawned on
me, like, this thing's got to be working.
(01:01:34):
But, yeah, the alpha waves are. And
there's another. There's some other cool devices like the brain tap and some other
things you can do to kind of put you in that alpha
state. But yeah, for the. Just
something to think about for the electric intervention.
Awesome. Well, I think we've done a pretty comprehensive
(01:01:55):
review of concussion strategies at this
point. In time. Time, yeah.
Peptides, supplementation, synergistic
strategies. If you've got any further questions,
please take a look. Join our community again if you're
having any health issues, things of that nature. Love
(01:02:18):
to support our, our, our sponsor Merrick
Health. You can also run panels through blood panels through
Merrick and have myself or Anthony review those and do some
peptide recommendations if you want. You can find out information
on that by joining our community or just on my website,
ChrisDuffin.com. yeah,
(01:02:42):
that's. Yeah, actually I've got a really great piece where you
can come. Actually it's on Christopher now. I think about it. Chris
duffin.com where you can get that blood work. You
get an hour and a half, you get a consultation. So you
get a
need to get my. Pause that for a second. Let's start that from
(01:03:05):
the, let's start that from the beginning. So I've got a really
great program that involves a full
comprehensive blood panel from Merrick
Health along with a massive report looking at
interventions for supplementation,
lifestyle pharmacology,
(01:03:26):
peptides as well as a consultation with
me. You can also do one with Anthony
with, with our input and looking at the peptide
protocols and things that we may look at from an exercise standpoint.
Really great program, just a one off thing. So yeah,
you can find that on ChrisDuffin.com. Yeah,
(01:03:49):
they're a great resource and once you have
that stuff that you can measure, you can really make some intelligent choices
and makes it easier for Chris and I to provide some
suggestions that are going to be more targeted.
All right. Anything else you want to add or wrap her up? This is a
really, really good one. Yeah. I think my hope is that
(01:04:12):
people in contact sports, people that maybe trip, fall, hit their
head, have some things in place that can really
prevent concussion from becoming more serious
and even preventatively, you know, some of this
stuff you can do prophylactically and yeah, let's, let's keep
those heads safe. That's right. This is the most valuable
(01:04:34):
resource that you have right there, baby. Yep, yep.
Welcome to the Architect of Resilience podcast, where
we explore the secrets of overcoming life's challenges and
unlocking unstoppable strength through deep personal conversations
and expert insights. Good morning, Anthony. We got an early start
today to talk about the ultimate in concussion
protocols, right? Yes, sir. It is bright
(00:23):
and early and great to be up. I think we're going to
cover a lot of really relevant stuff. There's so many contact sports out there
that people are involved in and concussions is a real thing. So I'm excited
to dig in. Yeah. So let's, let's do a little base on what a
concussion is. So it's a traumatic brain injury caused by, you know, a
sudden jolt or blow to the head leading to a
(00:45):
temporary disruption in brain function can cause
cognitive, you know, issues with memory coordination
as well as physical, physical symptoms. Unlike
other forms of head injuries, concussions may not always show visible
signs of damage, but they will result in significant neurological
changes. So the brain, it floats in this cerebral
(01:08):
spinal fluid providing a cushioning. And
when you take a big impact, that brain moves within that
in your skull, impacts the inner
walls, causing bruising, stretching of the neurons. And that
biomechanical impact impact leads to axonal
shearing, which disrupts the transmission of signals across the brain
(01:31):
and initiates a cascade of neurochemical changes
including excitotoxicity and calcium
overload. And concussions can also cause disruption of the
blood brain barrier, leading to inflammation
and oxidative stress. So you've got both short
term and long term issues with this, from headaches,
(01:53):
dizziness, confusion, nausea, memory loss and blurred
vision on the short term to long term.
Cognitive impairment, mood disorders,
sensitivity to light, noise, sleep disturbances.
And in severe cases, repeated concussions can lead to
permanent brain damage, which we've seen. That's been a lot of
(02:14):
topic actually. I was just watching the,
the, the, the
documentary on the
Carson. I can't think of the individuals, Vaughn, whoever the, in
the professional wrestling, which I've never been much into, but that documentary was really
good. And in football,
(02:36):
rugby, all this where we're seeing this chronic traumatic
encephalopathy cte. So those are the
two, you know, issues that we see from this. In the longer term
is post cons, post concussion syndrome,
PCs and the, the chronic traumatic
encephalopathy ct. So
(02:58):
CTD is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by repeated
head trauma, characterized by symptoms such as memory loss,
depression, aggression and eventually dementia.
And these behavior changes can be pretty
substantial. Anything that you want
to add on the background on Concussion, cte,
(03:19):
PCs, that. I think that's fantastic.
Maybe I'll just expand a little bit like on the axonal
shearing and sort of some other stuff
that's happening in the brain, because it'll really become relevant when we talk
about the solutions and why they work. When we think about
axonal shearing, what's happening is when the brain
(03:42):
undergoes like this rapid acceleration or like rotating.
These axons, which are like long thread like parts of neurons,
they get stretched. And what, what we
call this is diffusal axonal
injury. And it's just like twisting a rubber band too hard.
And eventually, you know, that give. You twist a rubber band too hard. How it
(04:04):
frays, that's really what's happening with your axons.
And when that happens, when we get this fraying,
that's where we start to get disruption between the ability for
neurons to communicate. And when you think about
if a neuron can't communicate with another neuron, then we can fire
a charge, but we're not going to execute on that because the signal is really
(04:26):
not getting through. The other thing that happens
is there's. When there's this initial impact, it
causes this flood of excitatory
neurotransmitters, primarily like glutamate. And we've
talked a lot about glutamate in our episode
on Peptides for the Brain, so won't
(04:47):
spend too much time on it. But what happens when you get this
flood of. Of glutamate is the neurons fire
excessively. And as you can imagine, like if you got
a car engine that's turning really fast, this is going to
burn up a lot of energy. And brain ends up having this
energy deficit. So there's this problem of
(05:10):
getting enough energy to the mitochondria in the brain.
And it's almost like a car running out of fuel. It struggles to carry
out normal functions. And this is why some of the
symptoms, like confusion and memory problems arise.
A lot of times when we have that, oh, shoot, you know, I can't think
of it. Our brain's like struggling for energy.
(05:30):
And then I guess another thing too is you get
that reduction in blood flow. And what's
happening there is you've got reduced blood
flow going to the brain and the brain's demanding more energy to
recover. So the reduced blood flow just exasperates the
problem because all the things that would be reducing inflammation and
(05:52):
supplying oxygen are not available.
So, yeah, that's. That's my two cents.
Yeah, no, that's really great. You know, Detailing
that out further. You know, when it comes to peptides, I think anybody
that's watched our series to date can probably understand some of the
mechanisms that are going to come into play and why they'd be so powerful. Now
(06:15):
we are going to go beyond peptides. We're going to talk about other supplementation
and synergistic strategies. But peptides can
have an impact on tissue repair, neuroprotection,
reduction of inflammation and neuroplasticity
and synaptogenesis as well as cellular
communications. So quick summary of
(06:37):
that. But obviously stimulating the regeneration of damaged brain tissue by
promoting the proliferation and migration.
And it is early by promoting the
growth of neural cells, the ability to particularly
important in brain injury recovery, where damaged neurons can be
repaired or replaced
(07:00):
neuroprotective effects, meaning they can help protect
the neurons from further damage after the injury. This is
critical in minimizing the spread of the injury beyond and
reducing the risk of secondary brain damage caused by the inflammation
or oxidative stress. And that's really important. So a lot of
individuals kind of ignore this period of time
(07:22):
where we have that in, you know, excessive, you know, use of
the brain, looking at, you know, lights being on technology,
all of this. When you've got this inflammation and oxidative stress or
any ongoing injury from that is significant.
So if we can help protect during that period, it's massive.
And obviously we'd want to reduce the inflammation which is the key contributor to
(07:45):
brain injury as it this is what exacerbates the
neural damage and can delay recovery. Peptides
help reduce inflammatory by inflammation by
modulating the immune response and promoting the resolution of the
inflammatory process. We're going to talk about some
peptides and walk through those protocols.
(08:08):
Dihexa, for example, enhances
neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to reorganize
itself by forming new neural connections. And this
is crucial for cognitive recovery following concussions,
other concussions or other brain trauma, rewiring
those circuits. And the last I touched on was cellular
(08:30):
communication. By improving communication between neurons, peptides help
restore the brain function which often
disrupted following an injury.
Should we dive into the peptides
that we would use and the mechanisms
of action for this? Yeah, I think that sounds great. And
(08:51):
even to add to that, there's a real low hanging fruit and it'll make a
lot of sense, you know, when you hear about therapeutic
applications of a ketogenic diet, exogenous
ketones. And I'm really excited. I know we've got a
interview coming up with the Founder of Ketone
Aid but exogenous ketones like the beta
(09:12):
hydroxybutyrate is one of the things that can kind of
solve this energy crisis we're experiencing in the brain.
It's like this super fuel that's allowing the cells and
neurons to generate more energy and it bypasses
glucose. And the other thing it does is it
actually increases mitochondrial biogenesis.
(09:34):
So when we have more mitochondria to help clear out that oxidative
stress, it puts us in a good spot specifically
too it reduces. It's called the NLRP3
inflammasome. And that's the one that like when you hear about
neural inflammation that's kind of the. Oh man, that one's
elevated. So yeah, I think
(09:55):
real low, low hanging fruit and I think good preventative
measure, whether we're talking about somebody going into surgery where there's
going to be anesthesia and reduced oxygen to the
brain for that reason or if we're talking about like
traumatic head injury ketones or something, if you're doing
these all year round, it's a terrific preventative measure.
(10:20):
Relatively inexpensive and you get all the benefits with
performance and reducing inflammation and
all the other stuff. We'll cover in another episode too. So
wanted to make sure we touched on that. Let's dive into the world
of optimizing your overall health with pushing my physical limits I
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that's code resilience for 10% off. Yeah,
I so you know my experience
I can't talk well about a lot of the, the clients that, that I've worked
with but there's a number that have maybe a post stroke condition. Right.
(11:28):
So that is a common brain injury standpoint because you've got both the
cardiovascular event but you've got the reduction in blood
flow to the brain during that period of time.
I have my nephew who had five brain
surgeries following a traumatic car accident where he was
life flighted to the hospital, wasn't supposed to survive. We
(11:50):
had some really amazing results during that period and then
My last elbow surgery where I was put under
anesthesia for it was about six hours where I was
out because there's a pretty extensive surgery. And my
biggest focus on that because I have the healing protocols
really dialed in. I knew that I was going to be recovered in two or
(12:12):
three weeks from the surgery. But the cognitive
follow up from that, that takes days or a week to clear out was like
my focus to see what I could eliminate because I've
been through surgeries multiple times, so I could see what the difference was.
And so I followed some of these protocols during that period of time and man,
it was, it was massive. As far as
(12:34):
the, the impact. I think I covered this in another podcast
that we did, but post surgery I walked out, went to the
hotel room and ended up engaging with another
doctor and that, that I
work with in that area. I was down in California in a very
intensive discussion around
(12:56):
structure of periocardial ligaments for about two
hours. And I say the BR covered.
Yeah. And then engaged in, you know, coitus
with the, the wife following his departure. So I would say I was back on
track pretty, pretty damn quick. I was. That's amazing. Yeah. And
yeah it was, it was pretty amazing. And so yeah,
(13:19):
let's, let's walk through some of those peptides.
Obviously a very easy one to pick from
is BPC157. You know, everybody knows this. The
healing peptide derived from body protect from the
stomach. It's known for profound
regenerate, regenerative abilities and neuroprotective
(13:41):
effects. It supports the formation of new blood vessels,
angiogenesis. So this is a big one in aiding in tissue
regeneration, including in the brain. It also
helps reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, but both of which
contribute to cellular damage after
concussions. And there's some interesting research around this
(14:02):
in post
car accident type situations where we've got some
post stroke. One thing we didn't put in our
notes as it relates to
this Anthony, but GHK
KU also has some of these similar ones and I've seen that
(14:24):
in some of the research following TBI and they've done some
research, it was on animal studies as it relates.
But really, really fascinating the combination of
BPC and GHK which has some of the similar
effects around angiogenesis,
oxidative stress reduction and inflammation. Inflammation
(14:45):
being a big one. But the, the that was
absolutely tremendous on both those studies. I would, I would recommend the
GHK KU with the BPC
which we think about it, you know that purple blue
substance kind of like methylene blue, kind of
like, you know, the. The light and photons being able to help,
(15:07):
you know, with. With brain repair. I don't know if
that plays a role into it. I'm kind of reaching out there, but discussing kind
of, you know, common themes that roll within that.
Yeah, no, there's definitely a component of physics when we talk
about brain injury. And I know when we get to the
red light, that'll really make a lot of sense. But
(15:29):
that's really interesting about the ghk. Yeah. I'm actually
playing with. So I have a doctor, actually, the same one I was doing the
discussion with the periocardial ligaments. In fact,
he's probably going to join us on a podcast when it. When we
start working with some of the red light therapy
and the impacts of that. But he seemed really interesting
(15:51):
using the GHK prior to the red light therapy. And so I actually just started
testing that this morning myself. So.
Yeah. See what impact that has. But substantial boost in
HRV when deploying the GHK prior to the
red light. So, anyway, I'll have more to report on that
later. But as an alternative to the methylene blue that
(16:14):
we're seeing, a lot of people recommend. Because GHK is a lot easier to
get than the methylene blue. Yeah. And the other
consideration with the methylene blue, and I probably should have done
a better job of explaining this when we covered it in our
mitochondrial peptide podcast is it reduces
nitric oxide. So when we're in
(16:35):
a hypoxic environment and our goal is to kind of
increase oxygen, it might not be the best time to load up on
the methylene blue. But
we'll get to some other mitochondrial options that. Yeah. That we can use. Yeah. Which
we don't have. So we don't have the methylene blue in the protocol that we're
discussing today. Right. Yeah. For that reason.
(16:57):
And then you want to jump into the TB4. I
know you've got a lot more experience on the dihexa,
so I'd love you covering that one as well. And I can jump in on
the cerebral license. Sure. Happy to. So the
dihexa. Dihexa is like rocket fuel for
your synapses. And it's this molecule that produces
(17:19):
synaptogenesis. And when we think about what that means, if we break that
down, it's like synapses,
synapto, and then genesis, creation. So it's making
these creations of new synaptic connections, and
it does this by activating. It's called the HGF
CMET pathway. And it's
(17:41):
one of the most potent brain enhancing agents for
neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. And
it also reduces the tau
phosphorylation. And if that sounds familiar,
that becomes relevant when we talk about any type of neurodegenerative
disease like Alzheimer's. These tau
(18:03):
proteins are essentially misfolded proteins,
and when we can prevent the phosphorylation of them,
they're not going to be as impactful.
And it works. It modulates these
peroxisomal functions, and those are
(18:23):
kind of vital for metabolism of, like, fats and detoxification
of harmful molecules. And it inhibits
lipid peroxidation. And so just to make that make a
little bit more sense, lipid peroxidation
is like, if we were getting good fats in there, which we're going
to need to repair cell membranes, damaged
(18:46):
neurons, myelin sheath, those sorts of things.
Some of those are unsaturated. And when things
are unsaturated, like fish oil, for example, it can
oxidize. So when we talk about lipid peroxidation,
that's something that would create more oxidative stress. So we want to
kind of make sure we're mitigating that. And when we think about these
(19:09):
peroxisomes, that would be a
whole episode in and of itself. But the short of it is, I think of
it as these little things floating around, tapping a cell on the shoulder
and saying, hey, we need to use a little bit more fat, or, hey, we
want to use some carbohydrates, or, hey,
let's do a quick inventory of what we got in the cell. That's garbage. Let's
(19:29):
get it out. So they're just kind of these supervisors
almost. So, yeah, I think
the Dihex is absolutely a
really, really awesome tool to use if you
have traumatic brain injury. Awesome.
One thing I think it's important to note as far as, like, protocols,
(19:50):
dosing, stuff like that, we have a lot of this detailed on our forum. You
can go to Chris Duffin, start here, find the free
forum, go on there. And so anybody that wants to explore more
depth of, like, actual, you know, how would you employ those from
a, you know, a dosage, a frequency of
administration, all of that. So just a. Just a quick note on
(20:12):
that. It's an absolutely free form. Of course, we'd love, if you pay for the
insiders and get access to all the extra information, which is a
treasure trove of, of content.
So Thyrosyn beta 4, TB4, naturally occurring
peptide involved in tissue regeneration, cell migration
and wound healing. In brain injuries, it plays a key
(20:35):
role in reducing inflammation and protecting
neurons from further damage while promoting the
regeneration of neural tissue by stimulating
the migration of new cells to the site of injury.
It's basically like organizing the repair process is a good way to
think. And this is why TB4 and PPC are often
(20:57):
used in conjunction where they're doing the healing. But this is
also, you know, organizing all the workers, if you can think
about that, is a, is a good way. So TB4
enhances neurovascular health by supporting the repair of the blood
vessels. So we've got the PPC creating new blood
vessels, we've got TB4 enhancing and supporting, repairing all blood
(21:18):
vessels and neurons, making it effective
therapy for mitigating the long term effects of
concussions and other traumatic brain injuries. So you
can see how those work together really, really well. Anything that
you have on that, that combo of those two,
I think you. Did an amazing job of covering The Thymos and Beta 4
(21:41):
and people can kind of see the synergy there. We've
got one thing that is going to kind of
stimulate growth of the new
synapses and then we've got one thing that's gonna kind of
bring those healing things in together so we can reduce the inflammation,
create a better vascular supply to the area so we're
(22:04):
getting more blood flow and reduce things like the interleukin
1 tumor necrosis factor alpha. So
we can start to. When we reduce that inflammation in the brain, it
kind of puts that fire out, step one to reducing that
oxidative stress. Yeah.
(22:24):
So typically in a recovery protocol, I'm using the
TB4 in the BPC. So post surgery and then
what I did this last time when I did mine was addition of the cerebralysin
and the cellmac. And the cerebralysin is
also the major addition, although we'll talk about some others when we get
into supplementation to my nephew's brain surgery. So he was in
(22:46):
a coma for three, for 30 days. I was blessed
to be there the first day that he has memory
following that, the coma period. And then
it was maybe a month after that that we employed the
cerebralysin and that was the first day he felt his feet again.
So really interesting. So cerebralysin and
(23:08):
I preloaded on this for, for my surgery.
But this is dealing with that excessive glutamate activity
and reducing that excitotoxicity. So
cerebralysin is the most well studied, incredible safety
profile. Neuroprotective, neuro,
neurotrophic peptide out. It
(23:30):
has been around since 1948, patented in
1954. It's derived from pig brains
and yeah it smells like pig brains and no formaldehyde if you
break a vial open. Really, really great smell
but it is really great for
that. And so common issue after a brain injury
(23:52):
is this, you know that excessive glutamate and the
excitotoxicity. Cerebralysin also enhances
neurogenesis or the creation of new neurons which is
critical for recovery of the cognitive function after a brain
injury. So it improves this cognitive recovery,
improving memory provides long term neuroprotection
(24:13):
by mitigating the damage caused by the excited toxicity and also
aids in the regeneration of those damaged brain
cells making it useful for both
acute, which I have personal experience with
recovery and long term brain health
as a whole. Cerebralysin can be really powerful for
(24:35):
memory cognitive function
as well as a number of impacts on mood.
So anything that you want to add on
cerebralysin. Thank you. Did a great job of covering it.
When we think about like how it's working specifically it
increases brain derived neurotropic factor,
(24:58):
nerve growth factor and glial derived neurotrophic
factor. So when we think about the cells that are in our
brain it's like we've just about covered every single base with
cerebralysin. And if
I would say like if I could only reach for one thing, if somebody has
a concussion, cerebralysin is gonna cover the most
(25:19):
bases, you know, that would be. That would be my biggest impact right there.
Yeah, you're going to have an immediate impact from that. Yep.
And I think it was brilliant. I do the same thing anytime.
Like if I've got somebody that's going to be put under or
if like when I had to have my surgery I always load up on
cerebralysin before and after. It helps
(25:42):
to detoxify that anesthesia and
make sure that there's not going to be any brain damage.
Yeah, it was my experience was absolutely incredible difference between
that and the others. So I preloaded the week before and then
con and continued two weeks after was all I did
during that period. And yeah, absolutely fantastic.
(26:05):
So last one we got is cellnack which we've discussed before but
synthetic peptide with neuroprotective and anti anxiety
properties. So it helps modulate the brain chemicals involved in stress and
anxiety such as GABA and serotonin which are
often. So it's important because these are disrupted following
concussions and that's why we can see some mood
(26:26):
disorders as well. Cell NAC has anti inflammatory
effects and can enhance memory and cognitive function by promoting the
regulation of certain brain molecules.
And again, the GABA and serotonin. It's
particularly effective for addressing post concussion systems like anxiety,
stress and memory impairment and helps restore emotional
(26:48):
stability and cognitive function by reducing neural
inflammation and supporting neurotransmitter balance. Anybody that's
been around somebody with a concussion can probably know what
we're talking about when you see some of these, you know, mood behavior
issues kicking in. Yeah,
absolutely. It's a really
(27:10):
valuable tool. And anytime we've got
something that's going to be able to, you know, increase
BDNF and help with oxygenation to the brain
and also kind of modulate things that are going to help put the
brakes on that excessive glutamate that
we're experiencing. That's going to be a big player.
(27:33):
So time to jump into additional therapies. Supplementation.
Do you want to do other therapies or supplementation first?
The really? Either one more peptide that might be
worth mentioning or maybe two,
the epitalin. There's a lot of research
emerging on that and it also
(27:56):
increases bdnf. It's got benefits for
our telomeres and those are, you know, just kind of like
the caps on our shoelaces. Yep. I'm using
Eptitalon with a few, you know, elderly
close to, you know, mid-70s, 80s with cognitive
decline with some similar protocols. Using Eptitalon for
(28:17):
that reason. Yeah, yeah. And you can even do it
intranasally in the case of a concussion.
One of the things that happens when people get a concussion is it
dysregulates their sleep. And when, essentially when
we're not able to sleep, we keep accumulating more inflammation in the
glial cells. So Epitalin is going
(28:39):
to recalibrate that circadian rhythm and
that's going to help with melatonin release. Melatonin is an
amazing antioxidant. So then we're kind of getting our sleep
back on track. We've got something that's putting out that
fire, that oxidative stress. So I really
like using that too, if it's available. Is
(29:00):
there a certain time of day that you're using the epitalon based
on the circadian rhythm? Yeah. So for the
epitalin, I do evening hour before you go to
sleep and I prefer the 10 day course at 10 milligrams
a day. I know some people do kind of year round
3mg, but I feel like using it acutely at
(29:22):
a higher dose for me at least, seems to work a little bit better.
The other, I guess for
circadian is, and this would be a daytime one would be
like the vip. That one I would do in the morning if, if
we were using that for circadian reset.
I use the VIP in my, my, my post. My,
(29:45):
my, my, my protocol for
my last surgery. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's pretty
versatile. Peptide. The other one that I think is worth
mentioning is the Thymosin Alpha 1.
We don't really think of a concussion as like
catching a cold or that sort of thing, but our immune
(30:07):
system is going to be sort of what's modulating our
inflammatory response. So I found some
benefit to including like a Thymosin Alpha 1
in there sometimes so that you've got that sergeant of your immune
system making sure that you know you're getting the
right amount of immune response and dialing down
(30:29):
excessive immune response and inflammation.
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(31:13):
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about my choices. I did
thymus and alpha one that surgery too. I didn't think
about mentioning it because I'm like, we have so many
(31:35):
things, I just throw the kitchen sink at it.
But yeah, those are the other two that I did throw out. That was VIP
and the thymus and alpha one for those reasons. Yeah, yeah, the
one other, and I promise this is the last. I just got my wheels
turning. I remember there's another one that I use anytime
I've had issues with like brain injury
(31:57):
injury in general, the IGF one. We
need IGF to help imprint our long term memories and
also it's going to help with protein synthesis,
repair of nerves, as well as neurogenesis. So
Creating more better nerve
supply. So yeah, I mean
(32:18):
I wouldn't say the IGF and the Thymos and Alpha 1 are like the top
ones. I think the top ones we covered pretty well. Yep.
But you know, if you really want the. This is go over
laying it all out. Are you using the IGF,
LR3 or DES.
In this case I'd probably use if it's
(32:41):
hard to source. But if you can get the Increlix, that
would be awesome. Or receptor grade, the
second choice would be the long
R3 and but I think either the
DEs or the long R3, long R3, you're going to have a little bit more
benefit for protein
(33:02):
synthesis and neurogenesis. It's
going to be around a little bit longer and since we're just using it acutely,
I'm not too concerned about growing the wrong
cells or tissues. But for long term or for
muscular injury I think I'd lean towards the DES
form. I've got some
(33:24):
detailed LR3
strategies on my recovery protocol. So the details
out some, some multiple different avenues for
dosing depending on the acuteness of the
injury. So that would be on Christophan.com of course.
All right, that's recovery protocol I have ever used. I've
(33:46):
told you many times like I wouldn't be standing here having this conversation if it
weren't for you being generous enough to share that protocol with me
and putting me back together four times.
So thanks again. Comes back around. All right, now you're
teaching me. So so far we've talked basically
a lot about, you know, neurotrophic compounds. So let's
(34:09):
talk about some, some nootropics as it relates so
we can dive into supplementation. It may be counter to
what a lot of people thinks, but a low dose stimulant
can actually be because we're stimulating the synapses to be
firing during this time. So
even something like my DMA E
(34:32):
in full blitz can be useful.
Micro dose of Adderall, things of that nature that
typically you might not think as being good can be good at
a micro dose amount during this time to
stimulate that. So again, small dose of caffeine, things of those
nature, there are some deterior effects as it relates
(34:54):
to a lot of the discussion that we've talked about. But again, small dose
stimulating those response receptors to respond. These
are not good things to take long term for cognitive function.
But as it relates I think that that's important to
note. Do you want to dive into, you
know, omega 3s products like that?
(35:16):
Sure, yeah. The I think lipids are, in
my opinion, probably the most important thing to supplement
both prophylactically and in terms of repair.
And the big ones that I go for,
the phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylcholine,
it's a phospholipid and it forms a structural
(35:39):
framework of our cell membranes and in particular like
neurons. And you can kind of think of it as
like brick and mortar that keeps your cell walls strong
and functional. And the phosphatidylcholine is critical for
this membrane fluidity. And that's what allows like signals to come in and out
and cell processes to happen. And
(36:01):
additionally it supports acetylcholine. So one of the concerns
when we get a head trauma is going to be that, you know, there's
that reduction in acetylcholine product production and
therefore loss of memory. So you're
really making good inroads to that problem by supplementing
the phosphatidylcholine. And you can do that either as like an
(36:24):
IV or you can do that as if you're going to take
the supplement form. I'm really particular about the one I use
and there's a reason for it. The body bio,
their phosphatidylcholine complex. Best one out
there. Only one I'm aware of in the United States
that has all four phospholipids
(36:46):
in the proper ratio and it's
produced in house. Amazing
facility. Really take a lot of time and care for their
products. So I don't get paid by them or anything, but I
swear by that. The other if we're talking about
lipids that I think is as
(37:07):
important as the phosphatidylcholine are the
plasmalogens. Prodrome Science is a company that makes
them and there's a neuro and a gliaform and
those are essential phospholipids. And what they do is they make up
neuronal and glial cell membranes and they protect these cells from
oxidative stress. They're really critical to
(37:29):
synaptic function. They're almost like a bubble wrap around your neurons
and prevents oxidative damage and supporting overall brain
health. These help to
modulate those peroxisomes and also
kind of safeguard against oxidative damage. That lipid peroxidation we were
talking about. So yeah, those, those
(37:52):
two are not necessarily
fish oils, but the, in my opinion, probably the
most important things to take if supplement wise
if you get a head injury.
Absolutely. The fish Oil,
of course, you know that's going to be important and
(38:15):
not necessarily something to skip over. But
with the fish oil, when we start with the
fish oil, it gets metabolized into these pro resolving
mediators. And if you join Chris's community,
I did a rather lengthy post on what those are and how they work.
So I don't want to spend too much time on that. But
(38:38):
the short of it is these pro resolving mediators that fish oils
metabolize into clear out a lot of cellular waste
and modulate inflammatory responses.
So when we supplement a fish oil, what we want to think about
is it needs to be something we can absorb. So I prefer
like a krill oil because it's a phospholipid
(39:00):
form of fish oil and it's also got that I butcher the
name every time. Xanthaxan. And
it's. That's a antioxidant, particularly good for
oxidative stress in the brain and eyes. Yeah. It's
also really great at permeating the. The blood brain
barrier. So I highly recommend. Yeah, both krill oil
(39:22):
as. As well as ensuring that you're getting 12 milligrams a day
of exactly. Xanathin. I hate that freaking word
too. I do too. Who start the word with an X other than X
ray. But
yeah, I actually there's
a researcher that's. That has focused on
(39:44):
Xanathan that I've listened to some of his work with. It's
really fascinating. I hope to have him on this podcast actually at some point in
time. But big proponent, fundamental level.
If you're interested in health. 12 milligrams a day
xanathen and then making sure that you've got some good CRO.
(40:06):
Yeah, the. Another one not. Not really a lipid.
And you guys know I'm on a big trail Trehalose kick. But
that can have a lot of benefit for
concussions. It reduces accumulation of these
amyloid beta and tau
proteins and it activates autophagy which is going
(40:29):
to clear up all those bad proteins and organelles. So
if you're following what Chris and I have talked about,
you're probably already using the trehalose. So you're already probably down that
pathway. But thought it'd be fun to just kind of mention that
one as a real low hanging fruit. Inexpensive. You know, you
can use it. I just do a teaspoon with meals. Makes
(40:52):
everything a little bit sweeter. And there's some terrific research
being done using it IV for things like
als. Yeah, I like just tossing a Little in
with my 8020 proteins. My built fast formula
shakes, they already taste amazing. And then this
week I started experiment. I put it in using. So I make
(41:14):
8020 creamies and you toss
their. The. If anybody's not the Ninja
creamy use some 8020 protein. You'll have just
an amazing protein ice cream, you know,
with like 60 grams of protein in it. Me and my wife will split it
actually I guess like 60 or 80 grams the. The container that we make up
(41:37):
and drop a little trailer host in there too and oh my God. I mean
it's just. It tastes just like. Except
it's all protein. That sounds amazing. Yeah.
Getting hungry. Oh, didn't you just get
the Ninja Creamy a little while ago? I think
so, yeah. And I didn't think about doing
(42:00):
it that way but yeah, it sounds. Yeah,
80 20. And if you want you just sprinkle just a little bit of some
treats in there, you know like a tablespoon
of some chocolate or something like that and then try some trailer
host in there and it will taste like one of the best ice creams. Like
oh my God, love it. You'd probably even mix in
(42:22):
almonds. Make like chocolate almond ice cream out of it.
Yep, yep. Get your. Get your healthy fats and yeah,
yeah. On circumen do you have a. There's several
different patented forms and actually I was just checking my phone to try to remember
which one because I use the Morivia which is. But that's more for
joint. It seems like the thercumin would probably be
(42:44):
one that would be a little bit better for the brain function. But it
looks like they've got some intranasal that they're using
in some studies on
Alzheimer's intranasally administered
curcumin. So there's a patent on
that looks
(43:05):
2007. So that's kind of
interesting. Haven't had a chance to look into that.
But curcumin obviously really valuable. There's some really great
cumin has a really low bioavailability. So
usually picking one of the, you know, patented one that improves the, the
absorption rate. Yeah, I like the
(43:26):
Prodrome Sciences makes the BDNF curcumin
and that one's,
sorry, BDMC curcumin. It's a methylated
form of it that increases the availability substantially
and makes it easier to cross that blood brain barrier.
So that's one of the challenges when you know we've got these supplements that
(43:48):
can reduce oxidative stress but then we've got that blood brain barrier
that's like a protective wall around the brain. So I always
use the BDMC or the other one that I like is
Jim's company or Jim Sun's company. Metabolic Elite has a
liposomal form of curcumin. It's a tetra cure
and it's chewable. And I know that one's got really high bioavailability
(44:11):
as well we should. Would you be
up for doing a, an article on the, the group
on. Yeah, those circumens. I, I think that that would
be really valuable. So yeah, absolutely. It's. I'll
get one up by this weekend. Oh,
hyperbaric chambers. So
(44:33):
there's, there's plenty of research on this. It works really well. I mean you
could literally repair the damage from CTE
with a number of what we would call dives with a
hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Really
incredible. I don't know that I would be the one to be able to
talk around the science of what's happening there. But essentially the
(44:55):
pressure is helping force. I don't you
want to dive on that if you have the information. When we think about.
So if we kind of unpack the brain injury, what we're dealing with is that
low oxygen in the brain. And when you're in
this chamber, basically like it's kind of a crude
explanation, but the oxygen's basically pushing in
(45:16):
through every tissue in your body. And when we have
this increased oxygen availability because of the higher
pressure, that oxygen is able to dissolve in plasma
and then what happens is it dissolves in plasma, it's going to
help with stem cell activation.
So what it does is it kind of mobilizes those stem
(45:38):
cells and that's going to enhance the tissue repair as
well. It also modulates
reactive oxygen species and promotes an
antioxidant defense. And the way that it does this is it's
going to reduce tumor necrosis factor alpha,
interleukin 1 beta and interleukin 6.
(46:00):
So yeah, the hyperbaric. I think that's actually
an insurance approved use for it. And I know that
even for things like autism for a while
it might still be. I think that hyperbarics approved
for that. The key is you want
to make sure, I guess if you live in different regions in
(46:22):
the country, there's going to be considerations as to how much oxygen to
use. Like if you're in Colorado where you're already
exposed to like
the altitude over there, you probably want to use a slightly
different atmospheric pressure than
if you live in Ohio where there's not as Many mountains.
(46:45):
I'm guessing most of the hyperbaric therapy places that you would go
to in your area would know, you know, the amount that you would need
to, to, to, to do with that so.
Because again, hyperbaric therapy not really,
you know, easy for a lot of people to have a hyperbaric chamber. I don't
have one. You don't have one. Yeah, but there, there's getting to
(47:07):
be quite a few centers if you do some work. So if
you have, you know, some considerable
TBI history and potential CTE
hyperbaric chambers. There's been. So my friend John
Wellborn had had great success. I
know. God. There's a few other.
(47:29):
Yeah, it's. It's been used successfully in
pro NFL players with documented CTE to
essentially completely fix those cte.
I can't think of the individuals right now, but
I know that it has done that. Now obviously John was doing a lot of
other things including red light therapy, pemf,
(47:51):
E Watt exercise with oxygen therapy, which
is similar. Similar ish kind of modality
to hyperbarics. So there's a lot of
stuff that he's done, including stem cells, so on.
Yeah. But that is one that I know that he feels
has had a very positive impact on the.
(48:13):
Essentially completely fixing all the brain damage from his extensive
NFL career. That's awesome. There was that. I
can't think of his name. He was a linebacker for
Denver Broncos. And this was before they were like. Really? That's
when I was thinking of. Yeah, he. Same thing. Yeah.
Yep. Man, it's gonna hit me at like three.
(48:35):
I don't. I'm just. I'm not great with the sports. So. Yeah.
What other synergistic therapies and
modalities we are talking about red light therapy
a little bit while ago or sunlight.
So again, you can have a heightened sensitivity to. To
(48:58):
light to the eyes, you know, in that immediate,
you know, post concussion period. But
sunlight is a valuable resource in the
recovery process. Making sure that you're one just getting general basic stuff,
right. Like good sleep, good nutrition,
all the antioxidants, rich foods,
(49:21):
exposure to sunlight and movement.
Yeah. I
joke with people that sunlight is nature's
Epitalin. Go out, get 100,000 lux
before 9:30am in the morning. And that really
helps to kind of reset that circadian rhythm absolutely free.
(49:43):
You don't need expensive panels. You can just go get it for.
Free in the red light you mentioned. I think
that's tremendously beneficial for a number of
reasons. The. Did you want to cover the red light or want
me to dive in? I'll let you just start and
I'll dive in maybe. Okay. Yeah. So with the red
(50:05):
light there's near and far
infrared or near and far red light.
The near infrared light, you'd probably want to go with something like an
810 nanometer.
And then you could also do
like a 660. In fact, with the 660
(50:27):
to. I think it's trying to remember now. I think it's
6 or. Yeah, 660 to
720. They did some research for the eyes
and restoring vision and people over 40 and had
positive effects on 80% of the population, I believe for their night
vision. And the way it works, this red lights kind of charge up the
(50:48):
mitochondria in the cells.
And the cool thing about red light is, you know, we talked about that blood
brain barrier and light can penetrate where
supplements might not be able to get into.
And when we think about, you know, our eyes, our eyes are essentially our
extension of our brain. A little gross to think about, but
(51:10):
it kind of makes sense why if you know, we're
using like that lower strength red light,
even for vision or if we have a concussion, shining
it in our eyes could be beneficial. Or even
just standing in front of it. Yeah.
So yeah. In General, broad stroke 600 to 1000 has been
(51:32):
documented to enhance mitochondrial efficiency,
increasing ATP through the activation of cytochrome
C oxidase. So COX
in the electron transport chain. Getting more
specific 620 to 680 activates mitochondrial
function by stimulating COX and
(51:53):
enhancing cellular energy production.
If we get into the near infrared ranges,
the 800 to 850 that starts penetrating deeper
tissues and further boosting mitochondrial function.
8, 10 is the one that promotes stem
cell proliferation and plays a role in differentiation
(52:16):
of, you know, muscle skeletor in tissue repair type issues.
So we see like a 60% loss as it gets towards
850. So 810 is definitely
desirable. 660 proliferation
of stem cells and supporting osteogenic
differentiation
(52:37):
inflammation. Yes. 808 has been studied
for its ability to modulate TRPV1
activity. I actually don't know what that is.
Reducing pain and inflammation, particularly in musculoskeletal and
neuro. Neuro.
Neuropathic conditions.
(53:00):
So you mentioned 660 or 670. So anything
in the 660 to. Or 630 to 680 range
is going to enhance
angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels. So that would probably
be so it looks like 630 to 680 and
810 would be valuable.
(53:23):
You know, wavelengths with the red light.
So just looking at the panel that you've got, you know, a lot of
them are going to hit those targets. But
the one I recommend, you know, obviously you can go find on Christophan
Shop. But yeah, red light therapy,
pretty, pretty, pretty cool stuff. 15 minutes a day
(53:46):
is what a person would want to target with that.
What's interesting with red light is, you know, you can't
just go in and get like, you know, an hour session. You know,
once a week. It really becomes down to frequency of administration. Think about
your cells being able to fill up like a cup. And that
cup is going to stay full for like six hours. So if you
(54:09):
took like your 15 minutes and actually took that down to five
minutes three times a day or eight minutes twice a
day, that's even going to be more effective yet than just
one dose a day. So this can be
done really great in the, in the morning or again before bed.
Before bed's gonna improve the quality of sleep
(54:31):
in the mornings going to, you know, have positive effects as a
whole. You could do it pre workout or post workout as
well. So pre workout, it's gonna really supercharge your workout, post
workout or in the evening, it's gonna help with the recovery and repair process. So
just really quick, we'll do a deeper dive on red light
therapy in, in the future. But
(54:54):
really fascinating stuff. Again, you could skip a lot of that too, just
by making sure that you're going out for a walk in the morning for 30
minutes and making sure that you're getting some evening,
you know, as that sunlight's, you know, cresting
is for free. Yeah,
absolutely. The other thing a lot
(55:16):
of times people forget about when we talk about concussions is
there's a huge reduction in vagal tone and you
develop this sympathetic nervous system dominance.
And there's kind of a couple tools that I
really like for when we talk about kind of recalibrating
vagal tone. There's.
(55:38):
You can just like the free one is just, you know, hum, gargle,
sing. I've got a terrible singing voice, so I spare everybody
from that. And then
additionally there's. And this, this is just
a fascinating area. Be really cool maybe to get her on the
podcast and talk more about it. But the neural
(56:00):
therapy and it's procaine injection and procaine changes
the action potential of these nerves that are firing. So
you can do like a stellate ganglion block using Procanes and
injection and almost instantly create that
balance in the nervous system, that parasympathetic,
sympathetic balance.
(56:23):
Best person in the country for that, Dr. Suzanne Ferree over
in Atlanta. She's absolutely amazing with this stuff and she teaches
classes in it, if that's something people would be interested in.
And then you can use like a
microcurrent. The one I use is the dolphin. Let's go back to the
vagal tone and the humming. If my
(56:46):
documentary ever comes out on grand goals, you'll see me
laughing maniacally before my
sets, in between sets, because
laughing is actually really incredible for that activity
on reducing the, you know, the activity
of the sympathetic nervous system. So
(57:09):
that's brilliant. Laughing is incredibly
recuperative. So sitting down, watching a comedy in the evening with your partner,
like, general, like guttural laughs
is. It is incredible for resetting
that. And so you'll see me laughing literally like
this in the documentary between sets for. As I'm chasing my thousand
(57:31):
pounds. Like,
man, that's awesome. Sorry to
interrupt, but I. I thought that'd be an interesting note. Yeah, I never knew that.
I never or never considered that. The. Looks like I'll be watching a lot more
Chappelle show. But yeah, see this right
(57:53):
here? Yeah. Works. Yeah. Now it's.
Man, I'm more comedies. But yeah, I think
the kind of getting that vagal tone back and that's even
big. Not to get too far off the subject,
but one of the missing pieces for long haulers for Covid
is restoring vagal tone. So
(58:15):
huge thing to focus on.
And then did you want to cover the pemf?
Yeah, yeah. PAMF is.
Yeah. Great adjunct to all of this. So PAMF
is going to create
(58:37):
that micro blood flow. So all those micro capillaries, it
really opens those up. So this is. Yeah,
it's incredibly recuperative process. So
pemf, pulsed electromagnetic frequency.
So there's PMF match. You can use them at centers or get your.
Get your own. There's several different companies out there that can be a.
(59:00):
They can be a little expensive. But the
PMF works in concert with that. So I know for a
fact, like if you take some vaso Blitz, you know, some
vasodilation pro, and sit in a PEMF mat like you're just
like. It just opens you up because it's. It's doing the same. They're
doing similar Ish things, very different modalities.
(59:23):
But when we think about that blood flow in the brain and
those micro capillaries, pemf is absolutely
amazing for that. I think that there's probably more benefits. I didn't do
any. Look. So this is based off of, you know, me reading
on this, you know, six years ago or so, I used a
pemf. Yeah. Leading through the grand goals process.
(59:45):
Currently my PEMF mat needs repaired, so I'm not using it right now.
But, yeah, really, really great benefits from
pemf. Yeah, it's definitely very. Yeah.
Plays a role with those micro capillaries in the brain because we don't have a
lot of, like, major arteries running in there for obvious reasons.
Yeah. The. When
(01:00:06):
people are thinking kind of about these PEMF devices,
generally, like when you're at a lower hertz, those are going to have more of
a calming effect. So if we're thinking about, you know, what can we do for.
We've got this glutamate over
exciticity, then, you know, kind of a low hertz.
Good. I don't know if you guys can see it. I'm wearing
(01:00:28):
one of those alpha stem units and it just clips on your ears. It
looks like Walkman I had when I was in sixth grade.
And it emits a 10-20 Hz
frequency that's going to be linked to those alpha brain
waves. And those are really good for, like, relaxation,
accelerates healing, and a lot of benefit for, like,
(01:00:51):
post concussion syndrome. So it's what I like about
that. It's definitely less expensive than a PEMF mat
and you can walk around with it all day. And the way I knew it
worked. I'm a huge New York Yankees fan. Chris knows
this. And when they're playing Boston, you know, if we're starting to
lose to Boston, normally I get really, really fired up. So when I first got
(01:01:12):
this device, you know, I clip it on the ears and I'm sitting there watching
the game. And I think the Yankees
threw the game because Boston was winning. And normally I'd be fired up and
yelling at the tv, but I'm just sitting there and my fiance's like, are
you all right? And I'm like, yeah, feel pretty good. And then it dawned on
me, like, this thing's got to be working.
(01:01:34):
But, yeah, the alpha waves are. And
there's another. There's some other cool devices like the brain tap and some other
things you can do to kind of put you in that alpha
state. But yeah, for the. Just
something to think about for the electric intervention.
Awesome. Well, I think we've done a pretty comprehensive
(01:01:55):
review of concussion strategies at this
point. In time. Time, yeah.
Peptides, supplementation, synergistic
strategies. If you've got any further questions,
please take a look. Join our community again if you're
having any health issues, things of that nature. Love
(01:02:18):
to support our, our, our sponsor Merrick
Health. You can also run panels through blood panels through
Merrick and have myself or Anthony review those and do some
peptide recommendations if you want. You can find out information
on that by joining our community or just on my website,
ChrisDuffin.com. yeah,
(01:02:42):
that's. Yeah, actually I've got a really great piece where you
can come. Actually it's on Christopher now. I think about it. Chris
duffin.com where you can get that blood work. You
get an hour and a half, you get a consultation. So you
get a
need to get my. Pause that for a second. Let's start that from
(01:03:05):
the, let's start that from the beginning. So I've got a really
great program that involves a full
comprehensive blood panel from Merrick
Health along with a massive report looking at
interventions for supplementation,
lifestyle pharmacology,
(01:03:26):
peptides as well as a consultation with
me. You can also do one with Anthony
with, with our input and looking at the peptide
protocols and things that we may look at from an exercise standpoint.
Really great program, just a one off thing. So yeah,
you can find that on ChrisDuffin.com. Yeah,
(01:03:49):
they're a great resource and once you have
that stuff that you can measure, you can really make some intelligent choices
and makes it easier for Chris and I to provide some
suggestions that are going to be more targeted.
All right. Anything else you want to add or wrap her up? This is a
really, really good one. Yeah. I think my hope is that
(01:04:12):
people in contact sports, people that maybe trip, fall, hit their
head, have some things in place that can really
prevent concussion from becoming more serious
and even preventatively, you know, some of this
stuff you can do prophylactically and yeah, let's, let's keep
those heads safe. That's right. This is the most valuable
(01:04:34):
resource that you have right there, baby. Yep, yep.
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