DDR 064 - Melissa Aberle, CNP: Well Beyond Functional - Don't Die Rusty Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We're getting better now.
Cause I, I'll just get some of this stuff out.
I just wanted to see how it looks.
So, and then kind of on the side here, you're, you're breathing into it too.
Like, like, like over here on the side.
So you're not, you know, some people put it there.

(00:21):
Well, that's good.
just kind of bring it like maybe like, like right there.
Okay.
Cause you're not breathing into it, but I can hear you better.
See how that works?
Cause you can hear your, I like hearing myself.
Because then I can know how loud I'm talking.
I mean, I have the volume here, so I'm setting that up.

(00:42):
But now you talk.
It still seems really loud, no?
Yeah, I do.
I'm still adjusting.
So you can adjust you and adjust me.
Yeah, can you, how's that?
Yeah, that's much better.
See, I'm just.
I need to get this set before we go.
So yeah, and I need both on the same wavelength here and I think we're good.

(01:08):
So there we go.
And yeah, we'll just get.
And if you need to do anything, if we can pause to.
So, yeah.
So, and was there anything else?

(01:30):
oh, and then eh it's Melissa, Melissa Johnson, right?
No, I'm not talking about you.
Will John Johnson's wife is Melissa.
Isn't it?
The chiropractor in Whitewood that came and saw you.
I don't know if she saw me or she saw Kathy.

(01:52):
No, her husband saw one of you two.
I bet it was Kathy.
But it doesn't matter.
What I'm saying is I went to have the chiropractor and she said, I said, what otherquestions do think I should ask?
So she gave me a few more questions too.
she was very...
was very interested.

(02:12):
This is going to be interesting.
Okay.
Because she, so I have some other things that were interesting too.
Okay.
So, because you said you aren't a therapist when I walked in here.
No.
And you know what?
You are because you have saved, I mean, we'll get into this part and I'm going to say thisstuff, but you, my mood is better.

(02:36):
I'm not depressed.
Um, probably save.
I mean, if I would have kept on my run, I would have probably been divorced because Ibeing a little bitch.
So I'm going to write that down too.
You, you don't understand how appreciative I am.
Oh, thanks, Rick.
Yes.
Okay.

(02:56):
Does this still not sound really loud?
No.
Okay.
Not to me.
Is it really loud to you?
You know, it just could be that I've never, ah, so much better.
There we go.
Yeah.
Yep.
That's good.
There we go.
All right.
It's just I had this one, I turned the volume, but yeah.
Am I allowed?

(03:18):
Plenty.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Well, I'm to then if I here's the deal, don't get worried if I start writing down notesbecause you're talking.
I'm not going to interrupt you.
I'm writing down something to come back to if I think it's important to come back to it'snothing.

(03:38):
It's for me to remember because we get talking and then if I don't write this down, we'rejust going to keep on going that direction and I need to pull it back to where I want to
ask that one question.
So if I start writing a note, don't worry about it.
So.
All right, are you ready?
Yeah.
All right.

(03:59):
Hello, Don't Die Rusty, Nate, wait, let me start that over.
All right.
Hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
Today is, if I had, and I'm not putting down any of the other episodes that I've everdone.
This is Rick Hanson, your host.
But today is probably going to be one of the most important episodes I've ever done.

(04:25):
And
That is because we've talked about Rick being funky.
We've talked about all kinds of stuff when I was going through some, I was not feelinglike Rick.
And today I am with Melissa Aberle and she is with Well Beyond Functional Medicine.

(04:50):
And you know what?
I'm gonna tell a story about uh
how I got here, but I really want to talk to Melissa about how, you know, I, I first, Igot, want you guys to know what functional medicine is because when I was thinking about
this and trying to do this, I, as all you guys know, in my previous episodes, I have ahippie wife and I didn't understand things.

(05:18):
And then I listened to podcasts and I started learning.
And then I read good energy by
Um, Casey Means, I'm reading it now.
I listened to some podcasts with her, but I came to understand that functional medicine isscientific based and yet it's natural.

(05:43):
we, but you can tell me, I'm going to let Melissa tell me what functional medicine is, andthen we're going to dive deep.
And this is, like I said, this is probably one of the most important things because
Don't Die Rusty is about helping people, inspiring people, and you don't have to listen towhat I'm saying, but I'm just telling you this has helped me and we're going to get deep

(06:03):
into that.
So thank you for being with me today.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah.
I really appreciate it.
here's what I like about you.
I mean, we're going to get deeper into Western medicine and stuff, but when I walked inhere and we talked for roughly an hour and a half and

(06:25):
You cared.
Thank you.
And that's what it's about.
And we're going to get deep into how you changed my life too.
But can you tell us a little bit about you and what is functional medicine?
Okay.
Um, I've been in the healthcare field since 93 and around 30 years ago, Dr.

(06:50):
Ray Strand, he was a family practice physician here in Rapid City, started giving talks on
Nutritional medicine.
And I became fascinated.
And I went to every talk that he gave.
And then he decided to step away from his practice and start a new practice.
And he asked me to join him.
So I joined him.
started Health Concepts back in 1996.

(07:13):
And I saw transformations of patients I had never seen.
uh A college roommate of his was on the heart transplant list.
And we gave him Coenzyme Q10 and his ejection fraction, the
strength of his heart, the ability to pump, it was at 25.
I think we got him up to 60.
He got off the heart transplant list.

(07:34):
A really close friend of my brother's was a patient, ended up with type one diabetes.
He was going to have to be on insulin the rest of his life.
And Dr.
Strand treated him and he's still to this day, he doesn't have diabetes.
So I saw what it could do.
And so he trained me.
Then I went back to graduate school, became a nurse practitioner, and I've been a nursepractitioner for about 24 years or so.

(07:58):
And I was at, that's how I came to be into functional medicine because I saw there wasanother way.
I medication does have, does play a role.
Some people need it, but in functional medicine, we're not just treating disease.
We're trying to create health.
We're trying to get at the root cause of what's going on.
And that's why our first time appointment is an hour and a half long.

(08:22):
I have you fill out, I don't know how many pages of intake, mean, 15 pages of intake forhim.
Because I want to know what you've been exposed to.
Did you live in a basement that flooded?
Did you get multiple tick bites?
Did you play in water that had tons of pesticides and herbicides in it?

(08:43):
What kind of toxic burden do you have?
um And in that, all of our life experiences,
are so important to our overall health.
And I practiced family medicine for close to 18 years or so.

(09:04):
And I had, you know, with the first time appointment, maybe 20 minutes and follow ups 10to 15.
By the time the nurse got out was maybe 10 minutes, but I still saw the same type ofpatients.
I just couldn't get into it like I did.
I was seeing...
17, 15 to 17 patients a day, which isn't a lot in family practice.
A lot of family practice, you'll see 25 to 30, but now I see five, maybe seven is a booktoday because my follow-ups are about 45 minutes, but you really get to learn to know the

(09:31):
patient, what makes them tick, and what the underlying issues are.
So we want to try to get at what the underlying root cause is so we can heal that andallow the body to heal.
And that's, that's what I took in when I first came in here, because you have to make thedecision that this is what you want to do as a patient.

(09:56):
And you got to commit.
And I'm going to tell you today, which I talked to you last week when I was on the side ofthe mountain.
And since we started this journey, I mean, I started before I came because I was trying toget better.
I've lost 20 pounds now.

(10:16):
Today was 20 when I weighed myself.
I wanted to weigh myself before I came just because of, but you, functional medicine isabout finding the root of the problem.
that, if people don't understand this stuff, cause I talked to a guy, know, was a coupleof days ago and he's in the medical field.

(10:43):
And he's going to come and him and his wife are actually going to make appointments.
Cause of course I advertise for you even though you don't pay me anything.
You know, I was just kidding, but I want people to feel better, but they're his, was oneof their parents.
He said, you know, they're on 10, 15 medications and some of them are the same, justdifferent names.

(11:06):
They go to different doctors or do this and that, and they're all prescribed something andthey're not helping.
because some of them are going against the medication that you're already given thisperson.
And I think, you know.
I'm going to tell you why I came.

(11:27):
Because first of all, I think there's people that don't understand their body.
think I felt good enough to know that what my body goes through.
know when I feel bad.
And I knew I was self-medicating.
You know that.
mean, I'm going to, like, there's no HIPAA here, except I'm not going to tell you.

(11:51):
what she took me, what Melissa has helped me with because you guys need to come and talkto her.
I was taken, the thing about when I had to write down those question, that yourquestionnaires, I had to look at myself and go, what the hell?
Because first of all, you're wondering about what you're eating.

(12:12):
Then you're wondering about your lifestyle.
And here's the deal.
I'm very cynical about doctors anymore.
And maybe it's a bad deal and maybe it's, don't know if it's a good deal, but here, likeyou were saying, when you, if in Western medicine, they're trying to get you in and get
you out.
get five minutes with a nurse, I get five minutes with a doctor.

(12:32):
And here's the other problem.
You know what the problem is with going to see a Western medicine doctor, but functionalmedicine is Western medicine.
So I don't think we should be comparing that because I think it's all science-based.
But when you go to, they see you for five minutes, you see the doctor, but if I havequestions, they don't like that because you're taking up their time and they need to go

(13:01):
see that other patient.
And that is what bothers me.
I'm going to give you a prescription.
You get the hell out of here and we're done.
And hopefully it makes you feel better.
And the next time I'll give you a different prescription because I only fixed that oneproblem.
Now let's fix another problem.
Exactly.
And that's where I get cynical.
And I walked in here and as I was talking earlier, I was self-medicating because I don'twant to go to a doctor and I was taking 10 to 15 ibuprofen sometimes a day and not every

(13:33):
day, but I'd say four to five times a week.
And I, it's been a month now since you, we've started my program probably we're gettingclose to a month.
I'm not taking one ibuprofen.
That's amazing.
And you know, I have energy.
have a better attitude because we were talking about this earlier.

(13:58):
When I walked in here and we shut that door and you said, I'm not a therapist, but you area therapist in a way that you, you don't have to talk to me about my problems in mental
wise.
But here's the deal.
I was depressed.
I wouldn't tell anybody that.
mean, I'm Rick from Don't Die Rusty and I'm trying to pick people's spirits up.

(14:24):
not that I don't have to tell people that I don't have bad days, but you're trying toforce yourself.
You're masking depression by trying to be happy, but you can't.
I would come home and I would be, I'm not saying Cindy's and I's relationship were.
was bad, I'm sometimes as I was snarky and it wasn't Rick.

(14:48):
I'm not a snarky person.
I might be a dumb ass, but I'm not a snarky person, but your body starts feeling better.
So that helps mentally.
mental health started getting better because I'm, I'm feeling better and I feel that

(15:09):
the stresses of life, of trying to feel better and trying to put that perception, Iwouldn't say perception, because I am a happy person, but trying to be happy as much as
possible, it's easier now.
we were talking earlier also, you called me last week to talk about this podcast and I wassitting down and on the side of a mountain.

(15:33):
And then I sat down because we had a good conversation, but.
I'm coming off of mountains and not feeling bad.
And for you to change my life.
And we, I, I consider this like you have, you've given me an overall, if, if we're, if I'ma, if I'm a automobile, I'd, I'd, I want to be that, that Toyota Tacoma.

(16:04):
Okay.
You can beat the hell out of it and it keeps on running.
So I don't want to be that car that is out in the pasture that, or I don't want to be thatcar that has that oil leak and you just keep on limping it along.
You gave me, if I'm a car, you gave me an overhaul.
You've, you've revamped my engine.

(16:27):
You've got me feeling so much better.
It feels like I got another million miles on me.
m
And people don't realize that you're not making me new, but you're revamping what I'mgoing to.
Restoring.

(16:48):
And here's my question to you, because it was bothering me after I thought about this, wasI was doing those ibuprofen.
But I never ask you this, like for what I am doing now, will I be, well, I mean, theeffects will probably, will they linger if I, do you understand what I'm I mean, well, I

(17:16):
mean, I'm feeling better.
I'm not doing that.
Will I eventually get restored stomach wise?
So that's what we do worry about, right?
Long-term use of anti-inflammatories is wrecking the gut and causing.
You know, what people call leaky gut.
Um, but that's able to be restored.

(17:36):
the cells in our colon restore very, very rapidly, but we can't trash it all the time.
Right?
Yeah.
So to be able to, and, that's, that's foundation because 95 % of our neurotransmitters arelocated in our gut.
70 % of our immune system is located in our gut.
Our gut is also a neuroendocrine organ or this nervous hormone organ.

(18:00):
It's.
It's vitally important to have that healthy.
And once we restore that, it's absolutely amazing how the body can heal.
I had a friend of mine, she's a patient, she had psoriasis from her scalp to her ankles.
She'd been to Mayo Clinic, she'd been on harsh drugs, she'd been to tons ofdermatologists.
And I said, Suzy, we have to heal your gut, put you on low dose naltrexone and put you ona gluten free, dairy free diet.

(18:25):
And in three months, she didn't have a spot on her body.
And she was
covered and she for years had tried to take the pharmaceuticals and it wasn't working.
I mean, it truly did heal.
So yes, I have great hope for you.
Well, thank you because, because you, I love how I walked in.

(18:45):
I mean, like I said, the hour and a half thing makes a big difference.
And I understand.
I love if you, and like I said, you have to make the decision that you're going to do thisin life.
And you got to look at the harsh realities of life.
don't care if I live to be 120.
I just want to live a good life when I'm, can't.
And my mind is better.

(19:08):
am, I am less foggy.
When I walked in here, that was one of the things that I was truly worried about because Ifelt like I had a brain fog.
And I think I speak better.
I was trying to find words when we were in here, you know, if you remember, right.
And.
I feel that my mind is getting less foggy and I am becoming a better, I can think better.

(19:36):
So, and then the other thing that you, we talked about was it was actually, I think theycan, you can tell me different, but chronic fatigue and chronic pain, I think are
associated.
And you have helped me on both.
oh
What do you see when you have people come here like me?

(19:58):
I'll use me as a guinea pig here, but that's what was my big worry.
Chronic fatigue and chronic pain.
And a lot of times, well, if you are in chronic pain, right, it wears the body down.
It wears you down mentally.
And a lot of people, then they won't sleep well and then they wake up tired.

(20:19):
And it's just a vicious cycle.
A lot of times,
chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, it's an underlying hormonal thyroid issue.
Whereas they'll look good on thyroid labs.
They'll run, maybe they'll run a TSH.
We run a lot more other, many other thyroid labs.
But the other thing we do is we have patients check their body temp.

(20:41):
Because a body temp is a marker of their metabolism.
And it's a marker of that T4 to T3 convert the T4 thyroid hormone to T3 thyroid hormoneconversion.
T3 is what works at the cellular.
level.
That's what gives us our helps us with our energy.
Every one of the 37 trillion cells we have in our body has a receptor for thyroid hormoneand it needs that free T3 as opposed to that reverse T3 to be able to function

(21:08):
appropriately.
What's interesting is the average body temp over the last hundred years has gone from 98.6down to 97.6.
Anything below 98.2 I'm treating.
to try to get that back up.
And it's absolutely miraculous when we can do that, how it will transform people's lives.
And getting that body temp up, it's like this well-oiled running machine.

(21:31):
All the gears are working.
I had a lady yesterday in the clinic, she said, I feel like I'm walking through wet cementwhen my temps were lower.
And now I...
you know, I'm free to move and I have so much more energy and um it's one of the thethyroid is one of the master glands of the of the body.

(21:54):
So that's, I don't just check one, I check a whole bunch of thyroid and then we check thatbody temp.
And over the last 20 years of treating that type of thyroid conversion problem, I've had ahandful 10, 15 people maybe have normal body temps.
Really?
Yeah.
A lot of times we don't appreciate what that low body temple do, but we certainlyappreciate what a fever does.

(22:18):
We get tired and we're achy and we're cold and we're hot and sweaty, but we don't trulyappreciate what happens on the other end, unless we're hypothermic and about ready to die.
So we've got a lot of people uh walking through life with thyroid conversion problems, butit'll oftentimes show up normal.
And what that will do for energy and fibro and pain and mental clarity.

(22:43):
It's amazing.
Well, I was at an, I think I was at 97, two to the 98, uh maybe depending on the day, ofcourse, cause that's why we do.
That's why you have me do it three hours a day for three days, because you need that.
You need that average.
need to know where I was and I was down low and in, you know, then of course.

(23:06):
Here's the thing I don't think people do is they don't read about how to get better or in,in previous, did podcasts with Dr.
A Jensen and he was telling how podcasts help him learn because we have so many expertsout there now.
They can't stop the machine now.
I mean, the, the, the wellness, we are getting better now.

(23:27):
I I'm getting better, but here's the deal.
I in the winter, I'm cold.
was, I was cold.
And in the summer.
I couldn't handle the heat and I'm stuck and I could have it at 72 in the winter and 72 inthe summer.
And I was both.
now I believe what you're saying about the sales.

(23:50):
Cause now I'm learning and trying to figure out not, I just am interested about my bodyand about how cells work.
mean, of course we go through high school and we go learn little bits, like just touch,touch a little bit.
But you know, when you talked about that...

(24:13):
in how the cells were working when we got together.
And now that I feel so much better, I understand.
You know, like, I'm optimal.
And this is where I'm, this is where I'm cynical to about the medical machine is they havethat, you're in that spectrum of you're all right.

(24:35):
You're in the green.
But you can be at the low green or you can be at the high green, depending on where you'reat.
And maybe the high green is an optimal because you could go over the edge there.
And I was in mostly normal.
If you're scanning and you're saying to me, we need to work on this and we need to work onthat and we'll get this better.

(24:58):
And you have, and you know,
I'm going to keep on coming and I'm going to keep on promoting you because of this,because I think everybody needs to know how to feel better.
And you need to listen.

(25:21):
You just saw, I have Casey Meen's book and luckily she's going to, hopefully she's goingto be our surgeon general.
But we need people to understand it's not just
coming to see you and hoping to get prescribed.
The reason I came to see you too is I talked to another guy in town who hopefully he madean appointment.

(25:47):
But there are places that just prescribe testosterone for a male.
You'll get better.
I didn't want that.
I wanted to have the whole spectrum.
Testosterone is just not my problem.
Even if I have low testosterone, that is not.
going to just fix me.
And I wanted somebody that was going to look at the big picture.

(26:09):
Cause if you're just, if you say you're a functional doctor and you're just prescribingtestosterone and you're no better than the medical machine that is out there in Western
medicine that's seeing 30, 40 patients a day and saying, well, we'll give you testosteroneand you get the heck out of here and we'll see you another three or four months and either
we'll up it or we're lower at wherever you're at.

(26:31):
You...
looked at the whole picture of things.
And that's why I think you've changed my life in the aspect of a better relationship, abetter body, a better outlook on life.
And I think people need to look at that when they go, if you, you have to go understandthat when I actually, Dr.

(26:54):
Jensen, he, he told me about you and he's the one that said, you need to go see Melissa.
And when I, and I don't even know if you've ever listened to a podcast with me and Ray,but I trust Ray.
I trust Ray with my life.
And when he says to come and see you, I trust that.

(27:19):
And that's the best part about knowing the right people and surrounding yourself with goodpeople and calling people friend.
thank you for that.
I'm going to.
I know I get off on tangents here, I was reading in...

(27:40):
It's interesting to me, I know we were talking about, I'm just skimming the subjectbecause I wanna have another episode with you and Dr.
Jensen, but I was also reading about, I think, I could be wrong, but like chronicinflammation and chronic overnutrition.

(28:04):
as they call it, but eating too much of the wrong stuff are associated because they'repushing the, they have to put sugar cells somewhere.
I'm just glucose, but sugar cells somewhere.
That's why you become fat and you can become inflamed.
And you've changed my diet a little bit and we're going to get into food here in a littlebit, but how does that affect us?

(28:28):
Like I'm not saying my knees don't hurt because I have too torn meniscus and I havearthritis.
but I haven't taken an ibuprofen.
They hurt, mean, I feel them, but they aren't as painful that I don't have to do that.
So how do we, what directions do we go with that?

(28:50):
Is that because of our thyroid also like fixing our cells with our temperatures that weget more, is it red blood cells going to help those or am I wrong?
going to help what?
Like my knees.
I'm sorry.
Sometimes I need a translator and you can, you can call me a dumb ass.
What the hell you're trying to talk about here, No, as we, so as we age, we don't havenear the stem cells what we used to.

(29:18):
Um, but also as we age, we don't have near the hormones that we used to as well.
Testosterone lubricates joints, estrogen, lot of, uh, menopausal women will get a frozenshoulder.
A of times that's lack of estrogen.
I have women who thought they had rheumatoid arthritis and we gave them the appropriatehormones and weeks later they don't have any joint pain whatsoever.

(29:42):
Now there's always a lot of wear and tear, right?
yeah.
There is.
um As far as eating and inflammation, every time we spike our blood sugar, um the pancreashas to kick insulin out if it's working effectively.
So we have the blood sugar, let's say that's why I get a food diary.
I want to see what people are eating for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and all sortsof hours.

(30:07):
But a lot of times we'll have, you know, maybe a little old lady say, well, I have juicewith my banana and my cereal.
I have protein in my milk.
And so here's her normal blood sugar.
She just spikes her blood sugar.
And then the pancreas has to kick insulin out to try to bring it back down.
Every time we spike her blood sugar and the insulin increases, it

(30:30):
that insulin is a master fat storing hormone and it creates all sorts of inflammationevery single time we spike our blood sugar.
So I want people to prioritize protein.
Like this morning, right before you came, I was eating vegetables, homemade uh beefvegetable soup.
That's what I have for breakfast.
Yesterday I had cod and a couple eggs.
Because we have to give our body the building blocks, those amino acids in those proteinsto be able to help build

(30:57):
hair, skin, nails, joint, muscle, neurotransmitters.
But so many people are, they're overnourished with, and I wouldn't call it nourished.
They're over poisoned, right?
With sugar.
And something I recently learned is the amino acid utilization score.
I don't know if we've talked about this.
Because for years I was making a smoothie and I was putting all sorts of probiotics andiodine in there and collagen and.

(31:25):
I was getting 30 grams of protein.
made one for my little girl and she said this year, she said, mom, it doesn't, it doesn'thold me till lunch.
And then I read an article on the AAU.
That means what percent of that protein goes to help build good things in the body andwhat percent of that protein turns into sugar.

(31:46):
The best is breast milk.
God's designed it that way.
Then it goes eggs and meat.
The lowest is protein powders.
And I'd been using them for years.
every time we dry that protein, we hydrolyze it, we grind it up.
It has an AAU score of 17.
So 17 % goes to help fix things in our body.

(32:06):
83 % turns into sugar.
Really?
So some people said drinking a smoothie is like drinking a milkshake.
It doesn't taste as good.
and so when I thought about that, I gave my little girl amino acid tablets and I gave herthree one morning.
She said that lasted me one more hour.
I gave her five and lasted me, but it still didn't last me.
And I thought, why are we doing this?

(32:28):
I'll make you eggs for breakfast.
it's so much better.
We don't have cereal in our house.
Never do unless my husband goes to the store and buys a box every five years.
And my daughter one time said, can I have cereal for breakfast?
Yeah, you certainly can.
You might want to take some food later.
And she came home that day and she was in, she's probably 15 years old.
And she said, I didn't feel good.

(32:51):
I can't imagine how my classmates feel eating cereal all the time.
I felt really weak and I couldn't make it to lunch.
So she learned that lesson.
So if we can prioritize protein and great vegetables, if you want to throw in some lowglycemic fruits on occasion, uh then we're going to keep our blood sugar like this.
Then we'll keep our inflammation down.

(33:12):
Then we're not feeding that visceral fat that we have, that fat that suffocates andsurrounds the organs.
Muscle is an organ.
It helps burn glucose, burn sugar.
It helps our metabolism.
It burns seven times more calories and fat.
Fat sits there.
It jiggles.
It's flabby and it's inflammatory.
And every time we spike our blood sugar, we're storing that as fat.

(33:37):
Well, you had vegetable soup for breakfast.
That's steak and beans.
Oh, sounds great.
But you changed my, you changed my perspective of that, you know, you know, I mean.
I hate the harsh realities of life sometimes.

(33:58):
And when you have to write down what you're eating to come here.
And I'm not saying that I'm perfect and I'm never gonna be perfect.
Cause I've changed my lifestyle too.
And I think people are afraid of change.
That's why they, that's why, you know, I want to feel better, but they don't want to dothe work.

(34:18):
And like I said, I'm not, I'm not trying to say.
You have to go do things.
I'm, I'm just saying, I'm giving you an opportunity to listen to what I've experienced inthis whole journey in the last roughly eight months.
Cause I knew that I was not feeling like Rick to now that I feel like I'm back to beingwho I used to be, but it's the harsh reality is what you're eating.

(34:44):
And I can go to Leon's up in Spearfish and I have maybe
two scoops of ice cream, we'll say.
But before, and there's no ice cream in the house.
So that's a treat.
I have not had a pop either.
And I don't miss it.
I really don't.

(35:04):
I don't miss that part either.
And you have to decide if that, what's more important is I'd rather climb the mountain tosee the view than have a Coke to save.
time or whatever, you know, and it's interesting when you walk into a convenience store,all the stuff that's in there and you're driving down the road and you're just sedentary

(35:28):
and you're just eating or drinking.
But I've had, changed that and I've like, I change up my meats, but I eat a lot of, you'vetold me to eat a lot more protein because I wasn't eating enough protein.
I was eating a lot more carbs than I should and not nothing around.
I mean, I'm not going to tell everybody how to eat, but
Also, was portion size.

(35:50):
Like when I told you about, I might go, we had people in town, so we went to Leon's andhad, but I could go home before and instead of two scoops, we'll just say, that bowl was
fairly full.
It's not anymore.
I know I don't need it.
You can be satisfied with a little, you don't need a lot.

(36:13):
You know, and I think we've,
grown as a society that
because of you save money if you buy extra at some of the bigger box stores.
And that's not how we should look at life.

(36:35):
If I go buy fruits or vegetables, Cindy says, why do you want to go somewhere to get more?
I said, no, because it would go bad.
I only need a little, and then I can always go back to the store for something else.
And I think we've also lost,
And you can correct me or not because food interests me.

(36:56):
you don't, until you start looking at the cellulars, how cells use your, what you eat.
You know, I look at 50, 60, I hate to say 50, 60, cause I was born by then, but I shouldsay a hundred years ago.
We were eating, we didn't have the processed food.

(37:17):
didn't, we had whole foods and we were more active.
And we had, because we had to be.
Yes.
And I don't see imagination in people and I don't see them being active.
like, and your activity is what you do.
My activity is what I do, but I worry about not having the peace of mind knowing that Ifeel good.

(37:49):
I, I never.
I knew when I was overeating, cause I was full.
Like I was like over full and then I didn't feel, I couldn't breathe and I felt like crap.
And now like I, like I said, the difference in diets for me is changing.
not, I figured, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but because I am wrong a lot, but 90% of, if I eat 90 % of what I should and have that occasional 10%.

(38:21):
I'm still winning.
Amen.
You know, amen.
And sometimes people feel like they're so far gone.
That it's I had he was probably close to 400 pounds and he was in his 20s.
And on his intake for me, it said what, what stresses you out?
And he said, thinking about trying to lose 200 pounds.

(38:42):
And I looked at his food diary and he door dashed almost everything.
And it was, you know, burgers and pizza and chicken strips.
And, um, and his mom was very willing.
She got steak in the house and she got vegetables.
And, and so I said, what can we do to, to make some small changes here?
I don't expect you to go from zero to a hundred.

(39:05):
Just start making small changes.
And then he was sitting around all day in dark rooms.
So needed light.
needed, and he was.
And it didn't feel good enough to go to the gym because he was almost 400 pounds.
said, then I want you to walk outside.
and, and for people who don't have any vegetables, just take one a day, you know, and thenwe'll work from there.

(39:27):
Or a woman who was drinking five Mountain Dews a day.
said, okay.
I mean, granted, I want you on none of that, but what can we do to dial it back justslowly by slowly by slowly.
Then they'll kind of realize that, oh,
I can live without it eventually, right?

(39:48):
And then they do start seeing those changes and it's the little wins.
And I said to this, this, you know, obese young boy, said, I, are the little wins?
Yeah, granny, you want to lose 200 pounds, but if you eat a vegetable today, I'm thrilledwith that.
So we really need to look for all those things that we're doing, all those little stepsthat amount to a lot.

(40:13):
that can amount to a lot and can amount to good change in our lives, in our health andmental wellbeing.
it doesn't, you know, that journey starts with one step, right?
Yeah.
If we don't take one step, we're not going to get there, but we don't run a marathon inone day.
No.
And that's what I always say, always one step forward, just keep moving forward.

(40:36):
that's how I started looking at it as little wins.
You know, you don't understand things.
I'm meeting that.
The problem is, I think in America, I don't know, I mean, the problem with me was I wasmaking excuses that I couldn't do things and I wasn't, I wasn't holding myself

(41:06):
accountable.
And I, I, I just talked to my dad this morning and,
There are people out there that said they can't live without their potato chips and theywon't go walking with my dad.
My dad's like I said, 81 and he walks every day and he tries to take care of himself.
they said, well, you can just throw me in the old folks home.

(41:28):
But do you want to be in the old folks home?
This guy wants to die on a mountain somewhere.
uh You know, I mean, I want to be somewhere happy.
I want to be, I never want to be in a hospital because I've seen that.
to die, saying.
I'd never, I want to die where there's somewhere that is peaceful.

(41:50):
But I hate that.
I used to have a guy.
I'm a, I, this is one of my bad things I'll have to tell you, but I'm relentless.
If I'm a friend of yours and you smoke, I am relentless with you.
And it started out that

(42:12):
I had a friend and he's older and he says, you gotta die something.
And then I kept on hacking on him.
I said, do you really?
Because I said, you know, I've seen my grandpa had emphysema.
Do you want to have oxygen?
Is that a life that you want to live?
And I would keep on hacking and hacking and hacking on him because that is my biggest petpeeve.

(42:37):
And he stopped smoking.
Oh, wonderful.
I mean, m
some heart problems help that situation now, but then you have to realize, do I reallywant to die of something?
You you got to die of something, but do you want to die like that?
And I think you realize that.
And that's where I'm saying, I want to keep on running the race.

(43:04):
I'm older and slower now.
I'm not 20.
And actually,
I'm going to go out to the Western States.
It's the oldest in ultra marathon and actually probably in the world.
And I got invited.
I get to hang out with Emily Hoggett and Paul and he's her coach and some world-classathletes.
But the deal is I've started, not that I'm going to run an ultra marathon, but I'vestarted running a little bit, but I look stupid running like I'm not 20 anymore.

(43:37):
But where I'm going with this is to give me energy to see that I can keep on movingforward.
When I get to hang out with good people that are worried about health and worried aboutbeing the best they can be, that makes me better.
So if you have questions out there, start hanging around with a different crowd.

(44:01):
Hang around with the people that one makes themselves better.
I hung around with people.
that are, were very worried about nutrition, we'll say.
And I kept on scoffing it because I said, am I living?
Am I, you have to make the question, am I living?

(44:21):
And like I said, like we'll say months ago, I didn't feel I was living.
And if food can change your
If I can change up what I'm eating just a little bit to make myself feel like I'm living.
I don't want to miss the view.

(44:42):
I'd rather miss a meal than miss a view.
that's what it's about.
food and you know, and then the other thing is, is sleep.
That's huge.
I sleep, exercise and the food and sleep have made me.

(45:08):
I'm tired.
So I do go to sleep.
And I sleep well.
And I feel when I get up in the morning, rested.
You know, and I think the problem is that blue screen.
The problem is scrolling.

(45:30):
And I've learned, even though like Don't Die Rusty's
Yes, we are on social media and yes, I do stuff.
I've learned like Cindy and I maybe watch one TV show together and it's usually on atseven.
We get to eight and if depending on the days, but we get to eight and we just both startreading a book.

(45:57):
Yes.
And sometimes we make it to nine and sometimes we don't.
But we're not looking at blue lights and we're learning.
We have different tastes in books, but we're both learning.
Yes.
You know, and, we're both entertained and not looking at a blue screen.

(46:18):
What's so fast.
I just was learning about, you know, getting early morning sun, you know, we've got, um,blue light and red light and that morning sun gives us more of the blue light spectrum.
which gives us energy.
And then as the sun goes down, those beautiful colors of the sunset, more of the redspectrum, that gets us ready for nighttime, right?

(46:45):
And so we've got it backwards.
People will be in bed on their phones, right?
I always have on my computer and whatever device I am on, it's always has that filter, thelight filter on it.
But it's so important are these kiddos that are
stuck in a dark room playing video games till all hours of the night.
That melatonin is all messed up.

(47:09):
It goes against God's natural law.
I mean, he made it perfectly.
He put it in the sunrise and in the sunset.
And sleep is hugely important.
That's one of our first.
We have multiple questions on sleep in our intake form.
And if there's any question that they've got sleep issues, I'm running, I'm ordering anovernight pull socks.

(47:30):
to see what their heart rate and their oxygen are doing at night.
And like that 400 pound kid had severe obstructive sleep apnea.
And then we got him a sleep study and now he's got a CPAP at 24 years old.
But if I tell my patients, if I can't get you oxygen, I can't get you better.

(47:51):
If we don't have oxygen, we're going to die.
And I had um a widow, she came to me six weeks after her husband died.
She woke up in the middle of the night.
Her husband was gasping for air and became unconscious and she's doing CPR and she savedhim.
He lingered in the ICU for two weeks and died.
And a physician came in, looked at him and said to the wife, that is untreated sleepapnea.

(48:16):
And so she came to me and she said, I want to get myself checked.
see what it, I don't have a husband anymore.
And she had sleep apnea as well too.
So I'm frequently getting overnight pulse oxys on patients.
And if those are fine,
your oxygen isn't dipping more than five times per hour and you're not spending heart anytime under 88 % oxygen, then you're pretty good.
But so many people aren't getting that oxygen and the rest that they need at night becausethen their body is going to wake them up every so often.

(48:44):
They don't even realize it to try to get the oxygen and they wake up feeling worse thanwhen they went to bed at night.
So that's huge as well too.
Well, I'm a Huberman fan.
And that's what he says, drink a glass of go out and walk.
don't like, if you have, this is, I can't remember which one, what one of his episodeswas, but drink water, go out for your walk or whatever you do, get that sun, get that, get

(49:13):
that fresh air in your lungs.
Don't have any caffeine.
Don't have your coffee.
Just drink a glass of water and get your butt out and feel, experience it.
And that's what I normally do.
Like I take a glass of water and head out.
know, I mean, I do my business in the morning because you have to, and then you go out.

(49:35):
And I actually, it's funny.
Last night I had a, I posted that Friday night vibes and I had a picture of the Crowpeaksign and I had a picture of the sunset, which is funny because the oranges were awesome
and the yellow.
And I didn't think about that because when I got home, I went right to bed.
You know, I took a shower.
Done.
Yes.

(49:56):
But a guy asked me, one of my friends, and he said, do you like sunrises better or do youlike sunsets?
And I said, well, I definitely like sunrises better because at first, to me, it's a newday.
are better colors.
I like the oranges, but when you wake up in the morning to see a sunrise, there's allkinds of vibrant blues to, I mean, you get the whole spectrum.

(50:24):
And then you don't know what's going to happen.
You don't know if the clouds are there.
You don't know if, I mean, that's going to make it a beautiful sunrise.
You don't know.
You just don't know.
And I, like that surprise because it feels like a rebirth of a day where anybody, know,cause you have to get your butt out of bed to do this.

(50:46):
Anybody can see a sunset and anybody can say, that's wonderful.
And, but the sunrise, it means more to me because I.
do get up.
And I think I have a, when you have that schedule of getting up in the morning, you know,all of us go to work.
But for me to get up earlier to go, it's usually three to four miles in the morning and tobreathe that fresh air and cleanse my mind, it's like, and we get energy for the day.

(51:24):
I think that helps too.
And so that's why I like sunrises when you're saying that is I understand the sunset parttoo.
And everybody likes that sunset part, but watch the sunset.
If you're at home, then read your book and don't look at blue light and go to bed.
That's what I'm saying.
Exactly.

(51:44):
But it, you can tell me I shouldn't, Cindy will be listening to this.
So.
But the circadian rhythm, I do not like a dark room.
I like to live by the light of the, that's out there.
And Cindy says, well, there's artificial light.

(52:06):
said, well, there's not really artificial light coming in our bedroom window, but we havethis argument.
I don't care if it's moonlight or not.
I still sleep and she shuts her side down and I keep mine up.
Cause also like,
I get up usually 430 to 445 because then I get ready and I'm out.

(52:32):
So I get everything done so I can go to work.
And this time of the year, there's that light blue glint at 430, 445, that light blueglint.
And so there is something about it that even if my alarm doesn't go off, I'm still awake.
I mean, it feels like it's just one of those deals.

(52:54):
I mean, I, I even wake up now it's getting earlier, but I wake up automatically.
then I see that and it, think that does something, but that's, that's just interesting tome, the light and the sleep and all that added up, know?

(53:17):
Yes.
I have a red light in my bathroom for nighttime because it, you know,
our body makes melatonin and it's not just for the nighttime, it makes melatonin.
All different body systems make melatonin.
um But if we wake up in the middle of the night and we see more of a white light, it willshut that off.

(53:38):
Now, whereas a red light, and I was thinking about this, a lot of the digital clocks noware in red.
But because I use melatonin for, you know, to help with cancer and Parkinson's and thingslike that.
So yes, I might.
My husband liked the blinds open, I wear a night mask.
Because we need to have it dark.

(53:59):
And he was having sleeping issues and I'm like, well, cause we've got tons of windows inour room.
So he tried shutting them and he's like, oh, I do sleep better.
Isn't that funny though?
mean, cause like we can go, we don't have a camper.
go use it.
just throw a tent in and go.
And this is my problem because

(54:20):
I say, if it's a full moon, the light is coming through the tent.
That's where I'm coming with that stuff.
And I can sleep anywhere, but I think it's also because you get up at 4 30, 4 45 in themorning and you go to eight, nine.
I'm ready to go to bed anyway.

(54:40):
So it doesn't bother me if I can.
The lights on noise doesn't bother me because I'm tired and I'm ready to go to bed.
So maybe, I don't know.
I think it was just interesting how one has, like sometimes she'll put a mask over hereyes.
yeah, that's, that is just cool.

(55:02):
It is just interesting to me because I was looking at the whole picture of the functionalmedicine and you know, I mean, it's sleep, food, movement.
um
I think the distress of life.

(55:23):
Yes.
Because if we can take out that chronic pain and if we can take out that inflammation,which is probably the painful part, yes.
And if we can take out, if we can just start feeling better and have energy, I thinkstress starts alleviating us.

(55:44):
Body and mind.
Yeah.
And you do that.
Thank you.
Yeah, I have a lot of people who are under a lot of stress, especially in last few years,right?
Like a young girl I saw yesterday, she's getting ready to get married.
like, that's so exciting.
She said, I'm so nervous to walk down that aisle.

(56:04):
I said, why?
I just get anxiety.
I said, okay, then let's work on that.
So we're, you know, because we live in this oftentimes high stress, this fight or flightatmosphere.
And we don't get that, those parasympathetic, rest and that digest often enough, becausewe're go, go, go, go, go.

(56:25):
So I said, your breathing is really, really important.
So I gave her a couple different breathing exercises to do, and then something calledneuroemotional technique to also help.
Then we've got a couple of other little herbs, you know, that can really help.
And I said, I want you to do these, breathing exercises when you get up and when you go tobed.
And then I want you.

(56:46):
visualize yourself walking down that aisle with people watching you, the people that loveyou, that you're going to be filled with joy.
Let's turn that around.
She's just so scared to do it.
I said, this is a wonderful day.
And so she's going to work on it.
We'll see what happens.
But so many people live under so much stress.
And I had an elderly woman yesterday and nothing's, she doesn't feel good and she doeshave a lot of issues.

(57:13):
But I said, the other thing I want you to do is
In the morning, I want you to keep a gratitude journal.
And I want you to write 10 things you're grateful for.
Because you're really blessed.
And we all have 10 things we could be grateful for.
Okay, okay, I'll do that.
But a lot of it's in our mind, right?
Yeah, it is.
Yeah, tremendously so.
But so many people live in such a stressed out world.

(57:38):
doesn't, yeah, granted, you know, there's, we can't control everything that life...
is thrown at, yeah that's thrown at us, but we can change our responses, right?
And it's not always perfect, but what can we do to have that best response or todecompress?

(58:02):
A lot of people aren't taking care of themselves enough.
And I said to her, I just want you, I know you don't have a lot of time, 15 minutes a day,you're gonna take a bath, you're gonna go for a walk, you're gonna...
read a great book, you're going to do something good for yourself.
And it never once occurred to her that she needed to take care of herself.
So if you don't take care of yourself and you don't fill you, then you can't take care ofyour children and your husband.

(58:26):
And especially moms that were just overburdened, right?
Well, there are three things there that I have learned.
And actually I learned the last one.
oh
about a month ago too, I didn't realize that I wasn't under control.

(58:50):
you you have to let go and believe, faith.
And I was all wrapped up in death, I guess.
I was all trying to live, I was wrapped up trying to live life.
Not that I was worried about dying, I...
just didn't want, I wanted to get as much out of life as possible.
And I was so wrapped up in that, that I was worried about it.

(59:13):
And I was told, you know, you just need to have faith and let go.
Believe.
And that has helped me out.
I've been a big, I'm a big believer in Eastern philosophy.
I have probably every book that the Dalai Lama has wrote.
But I did meditation there, you know what I mean?
Like trying to be the best me.

(59:37):
And if I get into situations where I need to breathe, think about some of the things that,you know, mean, some of the things that would help me breathe.
And then I also believe like my hikes and my morning walks are for clearing the head tode-stress.

(59:57):
And if I have, if I'm stressed after work, I will go for either a long hike or I will goback and do my little walk.
So,
You have to decompress somehow every day.
And if it's that bath, or if it's that book, if it's even cooking or going out in thegarden.

(01:00:17):
If you can find your peace somewhere, it doesn't have to be what I say you have to do.
It's what you find that peace where I'm not thinking about those stressful situations.
I need to think about walking where I am so don't trip or put good things in your mind.
I read a deal, um I can't think of his name off the top.

(01:00:43):
I actually has a uh reel, but he says, know, good energy helps good energy and negativeenergy produces negative energy.
And those, like I said before, that's the people we hang around.
So you have to decide.
Is this a person I really want to be around because they're constantly negative andthey're not going to help me out because they're going to keep on stressing me out.

(01:01:09):
you know, all these things that add up that we'd need to learn from.
Because I was thinking about this on my walk today about, mean, people have said there'sspringtime friends, there's summer friends, there's fall friends and there's winter
friends and then there's yearly friends.
And I was trying to think of, you know, I have probably

(01:01:33):
four yearly friends.
And then there's this, they'll pop, then I have those friends that pop in and pop out.
Not that I dislike them and not that they're not, but they helped me out in certain timesto pick you up.
But it's interesting how you, but I have let go of those friends that were negative.

(01:01:56):
And I like the people that cheer me on like,
When I told them about this, they start thinking and they're not saying really, right?
You're doing this.
You becoming a hippie, something like that.
But this, like I said, it's not that, you know, and I like this part.

(01:02:20):
I like because I want to get into, I know I get off on rabbit holes and stuff, so I'mtrying to I'll try to get back because
One of your questions, and we won't have to get deep.
talked about this, but one of your questions is about, I have the COVID shot?

(01:02:42):
Because I think that was, is it, I think some of it's still stressful.
And I think even though it's five years ago and I think I have angry issues about that.
I have more angry issues about how things were handled more than that, but I...
I had friends that we were never worried.

(01:03:07):
yes, in America, we lost people because Americans are not healthy.
And I made fun, and I told you about this today.
said, I grew up in a ranch.
I jumped in water.
We don't know what was in that water.
You have cows, you have cows going down to drink and they're pooping in it.

(01:03:27):
And you don't know, you know, I mean, you don't know.
At that time, you don't know if there's a pesticide in it.
You don't know what's in it.
If I can live through that, my immune system must be fairly decent.
You know, and I, I've, I've pulled calves and had the tails whack me in the mouth.
And I mean, there's all kinds of stuff that you could get.
Right.

(01:03:49):
But the one thing that bothered me, I give blood because when my mom died, I thought mymom.
It had been, has been in the hospital earlier and she needed blood.
I thought, this is one way to give back.
And I was in giving blood and they said, have you had the shot?

(01:04:10):
And I said, no.
And I've never seen people get giddy.
Like, like you haven't had the shot.
No.
said, and then they said, can we do a double?
I said, well, I don't care.
And that gave me questions.
Like

(01:04:30):
What is the deal with me being a pure blood will say, and other people having the shot andnot, and then I start, I have a friend that their daughter has myocarditis, four shot.
I have friends that we all have friends that are dying for no reason at all.

(01:04:54):
And that's one of the things, here's where I'm going with this.
I, why didn't we use our immune system more?
And I'm not going to put you on the spot here, but I see at that time when we have doctorssaying you need to wear a mask and you need to have the shot.

(01:05:24):
And I'm, I was going and they still, I would apologize that I was wrong.
And I don't see that.
And I've got, I've, I'm not going to get deep in there because I just have a hard time andI don't want to put you on the spot.
So we treated COVID naturally.

(01:05:45):
And we had a protocol for prevention.
for exposure and for treatment.
And that did include ivermectin, but also included vitamin A and C and D and zinc andquercetin and melatonin and healing their gut and rinsing their sinuses and gargling.
it was a whole protocol that we developed um to try to keep people healthy, right?

(01:06:10):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because where I'm going with that is like, how come we, I mean, they never...
There was never any talk about our immune system except a conspiracy theorists that saidwe have one for a reason.
You know, and that's where I was.
I was lucky to work where I worked because when you would have been forced to have a shot,I would right now, and I'm not that person.

(01:06:41):
I truly am not that person.
But if I would have been forced, I would be suing right now.
You forced me to have something that wasn't, you know what I mean?
And that's me personally, but because I did get sick and I got really sick, but I seem toget sick about.

(01:07:02):
every maybe four five years, but up until then I'm not sick.
know, it's like something adds up, you get the wrong bug and you start feeling better.
And you know, I mean, but that one just bothered me.
And I knew you did a little protocol there, but it was interesting to me and you treated,mean, it was interesting to me.

(01:07:25):
Why did they want my blood?
Why do they like?
Cause you don't have, well, cause the spike protein.
Yeah.
I don't have near as much spike protein as they did.
There was just, I was just reading a research article that they figured the spike proteinfrom the injection would wane over time.
And they stopped their study at 730 some days and found that it kept, that the body keptproducing it and going up and up and up.

(01:07:52):
So that's my guess.
Yes.
Thank you for donating.
Yeah.
You know, feel it's a good thing to do.
was supposed to donate a while ago, I wasn't feeling good.
I mean, was, this is before I even really got going here, but I just wasn't feeling good.
thought, mm, I'm not going, you know you aren't supposed to.

(01:08:15):
So, then I'll get next time.
now I just got thrown off my train of thought here, but.
It's also interesting.
Do you have pressure from, does any Western medicine pressure you or are they, it's funnybecause I was watching YouTube videos too, cause I was trying, I try to be smart and I try

(01:08:41):
to come in here prepared to ask smart people questions.
And it's amazing to me how many doctors now are turning to
functional medicine because I it was a heart surgeon that I was watching on YouTube theother day that He stopped being a heart surgeon for it at least to learn about Functional

(01:09:09):
medicine learn about the root problems and he was kind of talking about like you did withthe doctor the heart person that you had earlier that you and your That's the one you
learned functional medicine with but um
Those are interesting things.
I think, cause here's, I get so mad.

(01:09:31):
I'm not angry.
I'm not an angry person, but if you watch television, there's always a pharmaceuticalcommercial.
And that's kind of why I really don't watch a lot of TV anymore because you either, youcan either have Cielis, Viagra or a Zempik and whatever else you need that will fix you.

(01:09:52):
And this is my problem because they shouldn't, I believe that they shouldn't be able to,if here's the deal, if, if you can't have cigarette commercials on, why are you going to
have pharmaceutical commercials?
Cause so I want to go to the doctor and say, I want a Zypuk or whatever.
want, I want this medicine or that medicine.
I'm going, why are they allowed to be in our media and why are they allowed to beadvertising on TV?

(01:10:19):
And I didn't know if I, I, I,
You don't have to answer, but I just sometimes I wonder if you get pressure from thesepeople to shut up.
oh you know, I.
That's a great question.
had, I was seeing an elderly gentleman for dementia and his family's coming in and he alsohas congestive heart failure and he's got a couple of, and, um, pre-diabetes and, um, and

(01:10:49):
so we're really trying to optimize his brain and his mitochondria and his gut.
um, and then they went to their primary and they told their primary that they're, youknow, seeking additional help.
And he got, he's a really nice guy.
Um.
but they said he got really defensive.
And I said, you know what?

(01:11:10):
We're all a part of the body of Christ.
I look at it this way, he looks at it that way.
Your dad needs that medication for his congestive heart failure.
And I was explaining to them how those meds worked to help his dad.
I said, he's gonna need that.
So I need, you know, for my more complicated patients, I need them to have primary carebecause I'm not gonna manage congestive heart failure.

(01:11:35):
I can help with diabetes and hypertension, but man, when they're on three, four, five medsfor their hypertension, they need that.
um But I will say, I will caution patients and I'll say, this is probably what you'regoing to hear.
Like on natural progesterone to help maintain pregnancies.
This is what they're going to tell you.

(01:11:56):
And, um or if I start you on this, this is what they're going to tell you.
But this is the reason we're doing this and give them, you know, the chance to do it.
opportunity to make their own decision.
I had a gentleman, he was on three blood pressure meds, two diabetic meds, and he said, Iwant off these drugs.
I said, okay, I might not be able to do that.
But he had changed his diet.

(01:12:18):
He lost 30 pounds.
I gave him a supplement that helped the endothelial glycocalyx.
It's a fancy term for let's say Teflon on the inside of our vessel walls.
It coats the 60,000 miles of vessels that we have in our body and then allows a
the blood vessels just to go through real easily, like a Teflon coating on a pan.

(01:12:38):
You know, your eggs don't stick.
And after a while, once that wears down, then the eggs start sticking.
And that's when we start getting damaged the inside of those vessel walls.
And I said, I have this supplement that can help heal that.
But you have to check your blood sugars and you have to check your blood pressure becauseit's also going to affect that.

(01:13:01):
So he came back to me in six weeks.
And he was on a half of a blood pressure pill and off another diabetic med.
And he said, I ended up in the emergency room because I got dizzy.
And they said, your blood pressure is too low.
Let's give you steroids.
And I said, John, let's just reduce your blood pressure pill.

(01:13:21):
You don't need another med.
It's because your body's healing itself.
And so he got off four medications.
Now that was a really fantastic response to that supplement.
Um, and I just lost my train of thought.
Um, but there are ways we can, you know, do natural things, um, it brings back anotherstory.

(01:13:46):
was looking for a sofa recently and the guy who was selling the sofa, he said, I used tobe in firm, you know, I used to be a pharmacist.
I'm like, so we went down that rabbit hole and he said, and he was older.
It's probably in his sixties.
And he said, 40 years ago in pharmacy school, my pharmacist, our professor said,
If you're on more than three medications, then the other meds you'll be given is to manageall the side effects of the other medications.

(01:14:10):
I'm sure that's not always 100 % true, but they wanted to give my patient a steroid asopposed to bring down his other blood pressure pill.
But it's amazing how we are made, how we can respond, how we can heal.
if we give it the right, if we give our body the right things.

(01:14:33):
But that's like those, why do we need 16 medicines?
Why do we need to worry about, I mean, I've seen, I've been with older people.
Yeah.
Like we got to take this one here.
We got to take that.
We got to take these four or five here.
We got to take these three or four there.
And we got to, I'm going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
To me, I don't want to be there.

(01:14:53):
And I don't, like I said, I'm not telling people what to do, but I'm saying, you know,
If I go to my primary, you know, you read, we do need primaries because we need thatacute, there is something happening right now and we need to fix right now.

(01:15:14):
Like something is seriously wrong or, you know, I mean, you have something.
But I have to say, like I took your, when I took the survey,
And we talked about allergies.
I think I took a couple allergy pills and I haven't taken any since.

(01:15:40):
But see, that's the difference.
Like I uh had a little cough.
I wasn't really sneezing, but I had a little cough.
But I feel that my body is changing enough that it's resisting some of that.
I could be wrong.
But I think I'm, my allergies aren't as bad because I was a guy, I was a kid that I had a,I had a, I had a cousin that was really allergic to everything.

(01:16:09):
And we'd go play in the hay.
I had no problem.
Dust, hay.
I've never had that problem.
So that's why I was wondering why there's things coming now.
And now I'm, I'm happy to say that, you know, I am not doing that stuff anymore.
as I'm trying to do less of uh allergy medicine, because I believe there's buildup thereand it won't help you in the end, you know?

(01:16:35):
So what we're doing is good and thank you so much for that.
um I'll see where else we are here.
Oh, you know, because I was, before I came here, I thought I was active.
I thought I was healthy.
And then

(01:16:58):
I, you know, because I'm always moving.
I thought, you know what, but I had to realize how does age
My age is, you know, I'm 57.
sometimes you get in your mind that you're still 25 and you get mad.

(01:17:20):
mean, sometimes I get mad at myself.
I, I've lost 10 steps, maybe.
But I may, or at least I've lost a step here and there.
And, but how do we age gracefully?
mean, you're helping me age gracefully now.
But when do we, we have to realize that we need just a little help.

(01:17:46):
You know, I'm not saying that you're gonna make me live forever, but I'm saying you'remaking me, helping me live a better life.
And.
we need to learn that you read the blood tests.
All I'm happy is my blood's when I see it come out.

(01:18:08):
But you read the blood tests and you tell me, like, this isn't optimal.
So where I'm going with this is like, how do you figure out what is optimal for, do you goby age or is it because of our, how we are living our lifestyle?

(01:18:31):
You know I mean?
For me, do you understand what I'm saying?
It's cause sometimes I need a translator, but I'm saying like, I'm a 57 year old guy.
was, I'm probably still a little bit overweight, but I'm getting,
that down, how do you figure the optimal is it from the survey I take or the person I am?

(01:18:54):
I mean, I understand, like, I feel I've been an athletic or been active all my life, butyou get that person that they don't care, they are active.
What is optimal?
How do you figure that out?
I mean, everybody's an individual.
It's amazing to me that you can figure that out for all different types of people from,you know, from, your, from your, from your young overweight kid to me.

(01:19:25):
That's what makes it so fun.
It's like putting a puzzle together.
You don't know what the picture is going to be like, right?
Um, and, everybody is so unique.
All of your backgrounds are so unique and your biomarkers are individualized to you.
That's why we run a whole gamut.
of labs and maybe an overnight pulse ox and your temperatures and because there are somecertain parameters, You know, body mass index and your fasting blood sugar, your fasting

(01:19:55):
insulin, your blood pressure, your, and then the symptoms that you have and how are youfeeling?
Um, one of the things we didn't touch on much yet are hormones as we age.
I I will not be without hormones till five minutes after I die.
till my blood quits pumping.
So we went to the last two years, I go to hormone conferences all the time for the last25, 30 years.

(01:20:20):
And the last two years have been some of the best.
I, um when there's so many things that happen as we age and we start to decline, that it'sa lack of hormones.
Like all, you know, we'll have women have joint pain.
Well, testosterone and estrogen lubricate joints.

(01:20:43):
And then they quit sleeping.
And they're cranky or they're moody.
They have hot flashes and insomnia and their skin is aging.
So we um test for all sorts of hormones as well too.
I don't, and until a few years ago, I really underestimated the power of testosterone in afemale.

(01:21:03):
Females make more testosterone than any other hormone.
Never realized that.
No.
I just thought it's a male hormone.
years ago I tried it and it made me so cranky.
like, I've never given that to anybody.
And a year and a half ago, I thought I'd rheumatoid arthritis.
I did everything I knew to do.
Could hardly get out of bed in the morning.

(01:21:24):
And I started on testosterone.
Two and a half weeks later, I hopped out of bed with not a single joint pain.
It was miraculous.
And my brain turned on.
They tested females, menopausal females, they gave them only testosterone, and they gavethem a survey of all these different menopausal symptoms.

(01:21:46):
Testosterone helped 80 to 85 % of those symptoms, which was so remarkable.
And so now I'm much more likely to give that.
The four that we mainly test for are DHEA, testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen.
And a lot of people are still really leery.

(01:22:06):
Well, I never give synthetic hormones.
It's only bioidentical and bioidentical means the same chemical structures, which yourbody makes.
our body knows how to accept it, how to metabolize it, how to deal with it.
A lot of the synthetic hormones, we don't have the enzyme capability to break that down.
It'll stay in our body 13 times longer.
And I can't tell you how many young women from age 17 to 38.

(01:22:32):
have gotten blood clots from the birth control pills.
And strokes and pulmonary embolus, so stroke and the, mean, blood clot in the lung, thosewere synthetic hormones.
We don't ever deal with those.
We only give bioidentical.
women are still leery.
And so I've typed up my notes from those conferences.

(01:22:53):
I'm like, just read this.
I said in the 50s and 60s, we were using testosterone to treat breast cancer.
five continents still use it to treat breast cancer.
Okay, okay.
And their bones, bone health, it's so important testosterone, DHEA and progesterone buildbone estrogen slows bone loss.
So they really need all four of them if it's going to be low.

(01:23:16):
And a lot of women will say, but this is the normal range of progesterone 0.1 to 0.2.
And I'm like, Yep, you got 0.0 nothing there, don't you?
And I said in it gets almost to 250 when you're
at the height of your pregnancy.
How'd you feel pregnant?
Really darn good.
Yeah, you had a whole bunch of hormones then.
And they dropped down to nothing.

(01:23:37):
She said, that's the menopausal range.
I'm like, yeah, you'll lose about 90 % of your hormones after your little ovaries havesputtered out.
So you lose that and you're going to live another 30, 40 years.
Don't you want to live healthy?
And I was at a hormone conference and one of my favorite physicians, she said, would Igive an 85-year-old hormones?

(01:23:58):
And I'm thinking,
She's like, yes, I would.
And I did.
And she's still golfing.
I thought, ah, OK.
So it's for our brain and our bones and our mental clarity and heart disease.
Women have much less heart disease risk than men until they hit menopause.

(01:24:19):
And then it pretty much increases.
So it's equal to men.
Well, we've lost estrogen and testosterone.
We replace that.
And women can.
can reduce their cardiovascular risk by 50 % if they're on estrogen for five or moreyears.
It's really hormones are vitally important.

(01:24:39):
So that's one great measure that people can take to be able to age gracefully.
You saw me right down a note here because this is another reason I'm here.
You've given me testosterone and

(01:25:00):
I was on the low end of that green little spectrum.
And that's why I think I'm feeling better too.
But, you know, of course I listened to some podcasts and one guy was trying to help thisperson with an ankle injury.
would never heal, never heal.
And he asked, he was an intern, not a resident.
And he was trying to, he asked the doctor and said, can I give him testosterone?

(01:25:21):
And he healed his ankle.
But where I'm going with this is very interesting because
My wife has been to her gyno's and stuff like that and they don't know about hormonetherapy.

(01:25:42):
And I'm lucky to have the wife I have because she's very interested in hormone therapy.
And we have talks because you get into a vehicle, you have to talk.
You know what I mean?
There is nowhere to go but talking.
And we talk about this stuff and I started looking, she said, there's no, they don't talkabout hormone therapy.

(01:26:09):
This is the normal menopausal woman, or this is how you're supposed to be and we can't doanything about it.
But why wouldn't you want to live your optimal life?
And so she was looking into it.
And then, like I said,
She had found you before I found you, but I'm still questioning things.

(01:26:30):
And then I talked to Ray and then Dr.
Jensen and he said, go to you.
I said, and then she got us both appointments on the same day.
where I'm going with this is.
Why, you help people understand that testosterone is good in females.

(01:26:55):
I see a difference in Cindy too.
Mentally, like, and I'm not saying like, I'm just saying it's funny how it changes ourmindset and our stressors.
And when you're feeling good, relationships are better.
And for me to, mean, like I said, I've never been to a gynecologist and I probably neverwill be.

(01:27:22):
But for them not to know about hormone therapy when you're going through menopause, thatis a bothersome to me.
I hear it day in and day out.
They know, so because they mainly deal with young females, right?
And but what they have been taught is birth control pills.
And, and
And I, that's the other question I will ask women is how many years have you been onhormonal contraceptives?

(01:27:46):
And they'll tell me, and I said, you, we really need to be very diligent about breastscreening because it increases your risk of breast cancer by 50 to 90%.
And I said, I bet you've never been told that.
I said, no, never.
Um, and, and, and so they have been taught in medical school and by all the drug reps thatcome by, you know, I used to have three or four drug reps come by at our clinic.

(01:28:10):
not this clinic, my family practice clinic.
And that's where a lot of times that's where you'd learn.
And what do you learn about drugs?
And so you have to go to restorative medicine conferences, bioidentical hormoneconferences, functional medicine conferences, and listen to those types of podcasts.
uh Seek that out, right?

(01:28:32):
And so that's, it's not taught in school.
It just isn't.
And so we have to be self-taught and we have to go seek it out.
What a difference it's made.
And I've had a young gal, I also insert hormone pellets.
And she came to me and I said, how are you doing?
And she started to cry.
She said, you've saved my marriage.

(01:28:54):
And she's only 40.
Well, you've saved, you've helped me.
So I'm happy to hear such good things.
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah.
It's amazing what it can do for people.
We're like progesterone, it's the calming, relaxing, sleep promoting hormone.
And women will get really cranky.
You give them a little progesterone and they're so much happier in menopause.

(01:29:15):
plus it, know, hormones are so important to the brain that those neurons or those nervecells try to produce estrogen and progesterone because they need it to function.
And if we can give that to females, it can help delay an onset of Alzheimer's.
as well as assist women with dementia to be able to have more mental clarity.

(01:29:39):
That's huge.
Because like we don't want to languish for $11,000 a month in a nursing home.
Think of what we could do preventatively.
Hormones are pretty dang cheap compared to $11,000 a month.
Well, you know, you could go on a lot of adventures for $11,000 a month.
Yes, you could.

(01:30:03):
Like I said, I see a difference in both of us.
I'm not saying, you know, I see a difference in we're not, there are times.
that we both were not optimal.
And there's, we hardly ever, you know, have a fight, but it was just tension.

(01:30:26):
It was like stay away from each other, kind of saying.
wasn't a, but now it's just so different.
It's like, we wanna be around each other more.
It's not that we were like not liking each other.
It's just one of those things like tonight's not the night.
dear, know, know, I just leave me alone more or less in the aspect.

(01:30:48):
I want to read my book and go to sleep and I don't want to talk.
We'll just say that.
And, and I just, I, I, the hormonal thing is just amazing to me.
And like you said, why would I want to be, cause you start reading about dementia orAlzheimer's even in males.

(01:31:14):
And in everything you do from the hormonal through the food, through the exercisemovement, through everything helps you with that.
And I know that you have a patient for life for me until you retire or I die one of the,one of the, but cause you're probably 22, right?

(01:31:39):
But, but you know, I mean, when you start trusting somebody, you
would trust them, I trust you with my life now in that aspect.
I told Dr.
Jensen that too.
So we have, I have two here now that I trust, when you, the hormones that you've given mehave made me feel better.

(01:32:01):
I know it.
But here's the deal though.
Last week on the mountain and you're talking to me and I'm telling you how good I feel.
And you said,
do you think it's testosterone?
And I said, I don't think it's just a testosterone.
I think it's the combination because I don't think we can, you have to have thecombination.

(01:32:24):
It's not just hormones also, but it is hormones on a bigger spectrum, but it's the littlethings too, the thyroid, like we were talked earlier and it's the testosterone.
Cause I do know it has healing effects after.
reading and listening to some podcasts.
And if you're out there, you're listening to podcasts, so you listen to them.

(01:32:45):
But I, uh have so much information that we can glean from podcasts and from books.
And now I've got to talk to you, you know, and I mean, I'm your patient, but I also on thesense of here.

(01:33:06):
you know, I'm,
I've kept you here for an hour and a half.
could keep on talking to you for another hours.
uh If you, um let me see if I had anything else there.
um I talked about the oil.
Yeah.
Is there anything else you think you want to talk about?
What's, what's good energy?
What's good food?

(01:33:26):
Do you have any good energy foods for anybody that might be out there right now?
Just a simple, I won't, you need to come and talk to you.
Melissa, you need to set up an appointment.
You need to make a decision that you want to make your life better.
You need to make that decision.
And it's a hard question to ask yourself.
You have to be, you have to look within yourself and ask for more of yourself because it'sinteresting because I also did my blood pressure and I was always proud of where my blood

(01:34:01):
pressure was.
And then you said, well, you're, you're all right.
And I kept on thinking, well, I was a little high because I was always been like in thatlower range and that's where I wanted to be.
And then, uh, I, um, my blood pressure now, I'm not, now where am I going with this?

(01:34:23):
Um, I lost my train of thought too here, but I can fix that.
But you've helped me in, I had to look within myself for, uh, food.
You have to, when you really have to look within yourself about food, that's scary.
It is because I felt like I was being judged.

(01:34:46):
And I was judging and it wasn't you judging me.
It was me judging myself.
Like really you are eating all that crap.
it doesn't, like I said, 90, 10, at least you're still winning.
Yeah.
Amen.
And then the hormonal thing.
And the other stuff you give me, I do believe that testosterone has helped me out a ton.

(01:35:10):
I believe the other stuff that you have helped me learn about has helped me out a ton withthe thyroid issues.
Because you read about like, I didn't know that's a normal body temperature of people hasgone down through the years.
I didn't know.
And then,

(01:35:32):
before I listened to podcasts, I didn't know that R.J.
Reynolds bought food companies.
And then they had people that get addicted to the crap.
And that's why you want to keep on eating the crap.
once you, here's the deal people, once you start, don't, because I always thought like,I'm going to be missing out on something.

(01:35:53):
Maybe it was FOMO of food.
I don't know what it was, but you aren't missing out.
What's more important in life than maybe
Stabbing off dementia.
What's more important than seeing the view?
What's more important than seeing your kids grow up or being able to spend time with thatspecial person as long as you can and not go to the rest home or wherever and see them in

(01:36:20):
that corner?
Because I always said I wanted to be, I will never be in a rest home, but I said, youcould always make memories.
You could always make money.
but you'll never ever, can't, if you get too far, you'll never have your health, yourhealth is gone.

(01:36:41):
You have to worry about your health before you have to worry about anything.
And that had to start like getting in my mind.
Like you need to start thinking about this, you dumbass kind of thing.
And I thank you for letting me become a patient.

(01:37:01):
And here's what you got to think about.
is what's the cost of living a good life?
anybody can live a good life if they decide that they want to do it.
People have asked me like, you know, I mean, we've talked about this, I hunt a lot.

(01:37:22):
They said, how can you go out on a state hunting?
Well, you know what?
I don't go to the bar.
don't buy cigarettes.
I mean, I'm not out there drinking.
buying a case of beer and going home every night.
you have to prioritize what's important in your life.

(01:37:43):
And for me to enjoy life, I need to keep moving.
And it doesn't, like I said earlier, we don't have to worry about, you don't have to worryabout being me.
You just need to worry about being yourself and what fulfills you.
You know, there is happiness.

(01:38:03):
And there's joy.
What's going to give you joy in life?
And joy in life is to keep moving.
I want to be climbing mountains at 100.
I mean, if I make it that far.
That's what I want to do.
And you're helping me do that.
So when we get to the end of our episodes, I ask one last question.

(01:38:28):
What's the good life to Melissa?
Oh, I'm living it.
Yeah, I wake up in the morning, I meditate, I pray, spend time with the family.
We have family dinners together.
Take care of myself.
go on silent retreats a couple times a year.

(01:38:49):
I a great marriage.
I a wonderful family.
And I'm active.
Yeah, I love what I do.
Is it easy?
Nope, not easy.
But it's so rewarding when I have people.
It's such a privilege and it's a great joy to be able to come alongside somebody else andto help them.

(01:39:13):
Yeah.
I mean, it's such a gift for me and I'm so blessed where I am.
Yeah.
And I love the stories of how you've, it has to be fulfilling to know, I'm not the onlyone, because you've told me stories.
throughout this episode that you've helped people.

(01:39:38):
And I get little messages, and I hope I have helped people too in some of the episodes Ido.
But that is the most fulfilling thing that even when you don't try to help somebody andthat you've helped them, like that is fulfilling.

(01:39:58):
Yeah, yeah.
You know, so I'm glad that's a good life.
Yeah, it's a wonderful life.
And I hope that, I mean, you were a little skeptical about doing an episode, but I hope weget to do a couple more.
I mean, I'd like to do one with Dr.
Jensen.
when I, some other time, I want to have some other conversations with you because I getthese questions and I think this has been educational as well as just...

(01:40:27):
learning about myself even in this stuff.
And I mean, I'll pay for a consultation when I need one.
But no, this has been, want, here's the deal.
We're both, I'm doing this episode, but you're helping people.
Cause if people can listen to this and they can either make an appointment or they canfind somebody that they want to find or whatever, we're helping people.

(01:40:52):
And that's what this is all about.
Exactly.
getting outside ourselves.
Yes.
thank you so much.
Thank you.
And I hope we do this again.
Sounds good.
All right.
Okay.
Well, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
Thank you for listening.
And as usual, keep chasing your dreams, being the best you and of course, Don't Die Rusty.

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DDR 064 - Melissa Aberle, CNP: Well Beyond Functional

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}DDR 064 - Melissa Aberle, CNP: Well Beyond Functional