Only an athlete understands why spending a lifetime to shave off a second, claw an extra inch, or lift another pound seems like a fair trade off. Pain, imbalance, and performance issues arise for various reasons.  At Fundamental Health Solutions, we use a non-drug based, health building approach which has helped athletes ranging from Hall of Fame Professional Caliber to Junior Varsity.   We sell the same nutritionally based products that have been adopted by pro athletes, to gain a competitive edge.  By optimizing your cellular health, we can help eliminate many of the physical issues that prevent you from taking your performance to the next level.

• Nutritional Depletion
• Reducing and eliminating Fibrin- scar tissue
• Strengthening the overall health of your blood
• Increasing Blood Oxygen Levels
• Decrease Recovery Time
• Managing Inflammation Associated with Training
• Reducing Injuries and Oxidative Stress

Nutritional Depletion
Nutritional depletion can contribute to a number of physical issues.  For the athlete, this can include impaired peak performance, range of motion, pain, stiffness, joint and fascia restrictions.Athletes utilize nutrients more rapidly than non-athletes.  Neglected nutrient depletion can contribute to lack of stamina and endurance, improper coordination, inability to provide “bursts” of strength, stiffness, a decreased range of motion, poor flexibility, and a feeling of “heaviness” in the limbs.

How fibrin can slow your athletic performance
Athletes and others who engage in physical activity, including competition and training, experience more frequent, and severe traumas.  Your body begins the repair process with a protein called fibrin. Fibrin surrounds damaged tissue in order to provide stability.  Strains, sprains, tears, cuts, running, leaping, colliding, throwing, punching, pedaling, and kicking can lead to increased fibrin deposits throughout the body.  Our body creates fibrin-removing enzymes (fibrinolytic) whose function is to clear scar tissue and facilitate healing. Insufficient amounts of fibrinolytic enzymes in the body can delay healing and repair needed to accelerate recovery times. This can result in physical performance limitations.

Fibrin is required to stabilize an injured area, however, one of the unfortunate side effects is called “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (D.O.M.S.).” This pain is felt most intensely from 24-72 hours post exertion, and is largely the result of uncleared fibrin.  When uncleared fibrin chokes the much needed blood supply delivering nutrients to our muscles and tissues, our recovery is prolonged.  Because fibrin creates a “mesh net” around muscles, tendons and ligaments, we begin to experience range of motion limitations as fibrin layers grow. This leads to distortions in the fascia- the connective tissue network that surrounds everything in the body. This distortion creates resistance, which has a limiting affect on how well you sprint, throw, hurdle, leap, press, push or pedal.

Increasing blood oxygen at the cellular level
Therapies that only rely upon exposing the blood to oxygen, such as breathing oxygen from concentrators or hyperbaric chambers, or artificially increasing the number of red blood cells such as with blood doping, fail to recognize the most critical part of blood oxygen saturation: the red blood cell’s ability or inability to carry greater amounts of oxygen. Exposing the blood to oxygen does not guarantee it can deliver it to our tissues.

To increase your blood’s ability to carry oxygen, debris in the blood needs to be cleaned up, and your red blood cells must be an ideal size and shape. The cleaner the blood, and the more ideal shape your red blood cells are, the more effectively they can transport oxygen to essential body parts such as muscles and the brain. Achieving peak performance requires foundational changes that need to occur at the red blood cell level.  Debris includes high serum protein levels, and oxidized solids such as plaque, uric acid and fibrin, all which decrease the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.

Reducing Oxidative Stress and Inflammation
Any amount of physical exertion increases something called “oxidative stress” which includes harmful byproducts called “free radicals”.  Free radicals damage our cells making it difficult for our cells to heal, and carry oxygen and nutrients.  Exertion also yields an increase in pro-inflammatory proteins.  In controlled amounts, inflammation is critical and essential to help us heal.  However, in larger amounts inflammation can have an adverse affect on our health and make it difficult to deliver peak performance.

Blood tests to identify these conditions can be done in our office via live blood cell analysis, and out of office via our comprehensive functional blood chemistry analysis and specialized functional lab tests.  Jump start your athletic competitive edge in sports by calling our office, or clicking the link above, for more information on how we can help you reach that next competitive level.

Hormone imbalance is not an inevitable and natural consequence of old age, but really results from an organ or gland(s) inability to produce optimal amounts of a hormone due to the presence of unhealthy conditions in the body. Research shows that we are capable of producing normal amounts of hormones well into our later years of life. In order to do so, it is crucial to correct the underlying unhealthy conditions causing the imbalance, because hormone imbalance can occur at any age.

Hormones are chemical messengers that bind to our cells which create changes in our metabolism that affect our mood, memory, libido, fat metabolism, energy levels, temperature regulation, appetite, and much more. Because hormones affect so much of our quality of life, including weight gain issues and a feeling of sluggishness and our mental and emotional outlook in life, having the proper amount and types of hormones is important if we are going to enjoy life.

Hormone Replacement Therapy
With HRT, a deficient hormone, or hormones, is introduced into our body. A problem with HRT is that the gland or glands involved then “go to sleep.” This reduces the amount of hormone that the body is able to then naturally produce, because your body will sense higher amounts of a hormone and adjust production accordingly.

Disruption of Bio-rhythms
Another problem with HRT is that our body no longer undergoes the natural hormonal bio-rhythms that normally occur throughout the day. Because HRT doses are largely static, it does not allow our hormones to fluctuate naturally throughout the day as we are designed, even when the dose is adjusted and monitored closely by a health professional. Most significantly, this previously considered “safe” process, paradoxically carries many significant health risks such as increased rate of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer. This study, the largest of it’s kind, was conducted by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI, 2004), initiated by the National Institute of Health (NIH), concluded that many of the risks outweighed the benefits of hormone replacement therapy.

Bioidentical hormones – are they really safer?
According to The Harvard Newsletter on Hormone Replacement, the fact that hormones are bioidentical does not guarantee that they are safer than regular hormone replacement. Bioidentical hormones carry the same “black box” warning (the strongest warning in prescription labeling) that non-bioidentical hormones carry.

Although bioidentical hormones can contain naturally occurring hormones in their composition, they also carry unnatural modifications required to qualify as a drug: prescription drugs must be modified chemically because naturally occurring substance cannot be patented.

Celebrity Suzanne Somers, who popularized the use of biodentical hormones, stated that despite daily applications of bio-identical progesterone cream, she required a hysterectomy due to endometrial hyperplasia (a precancerous transformation).

Common physical complaints related to hormonal imbalance

Feeling too hot and sweaty?
Thermoregulation, or the healthy maintenance of body temperature, is a common complaint that we see in our practice. This includes looking at two main areas, the Thyroid Gland and Estrogen levels. Estrogen is considered to be the “thermogenic”, or heat producing hormone in the body. An overactive Thyroid Gland can also cause a person to feel “overheated.” An often overlooked factor is that if your blood sugar, which plays an important role in estrogen fluctuations, can be the primary cause of your discomfort. This is due to an enzyme called Aromatase, which is responsible for a key step in the biosynthesis of estrogens. In this case, looking at your blood sugar must be a focal point.

Low Libido, in both men and women?
For women, the common complaint is vaginal dryness, which is related to insufficient estrogen levels. Libido relates largely to testosterone levels for both men and women, but other sex hormones much also be in balance. In these cases, we address nutritional and other issues that help the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, adrenal gland and ovary (testes in men) to work properly again, and “in concert” with each other.

Drugs Affect Hormone Levels
Very often people take medications without knowing that a common side effect is that the medication suppresses your body’s hormone production. When there are multiple medications involved, the problem is further exacerbated. The ability of your organs and glands to produce and regulate hormone levels becomes impaired as multiple medications interfere with your body’s natural process to regulate hormone production. Not only does the presence of multiple medications interfere with hormone production, but they also interfere with hormonal transport and utilization. Other artificial chemicals such as artificial food additives and preservatives can contribute to hormone imbalance much like medications.

The HPA Axis
The Hypothalamic- Pituitary- Adrenal Axis, or HPA axis, involves a master regulatory area of your brain, your hypothalamus, which serves as a type of “command center” that communicates with a very important part of your brain, the Pituitary Gland. The Pituitary gland, is known as the “regulator of regulators” and is considered a master gland that directs all the glands in your body.

Your Pituitary gland tells your Thyroid Gland to make Thyroxine, also called thyroid hormone. It tells your testes (or ovaries for females) to secrete reproductive hormones, and so on. Another very important communication channel your Pituitary gland has is with your adrenal glands, which produce cortisol, known as the stress hormone. Your adrenal glands produce other hormones, besides cortisol.

If you have a weak adrenal function, there will be cortisol fluctuations. When cortisol levels are high, it throws other hormones out of balance. Overproduction of cortisol suppresses overall hormone production. It is difficult for most everyone to have normal cortisol levels due to the stressors of daily living such as poor diet, improper exercise, chemical exposure, pollution, radiation, harmful drug side effects and electro-magnetic pollution.

The role of your liver, kidney and colon
The body’s major detoxifying organs are the liver, kidney and colon. New research shows how these organs play a role in hormone clearance in the body. Because these organs play a role in hormone clearance in the body, they cannot easily process and eliminate hormonal excess when toxins build up in the body. Interestingly, dietary fiber has been shown to assist with the clearance of excess hormones in the blood.

A build up of toxins can have the opposite effect as well. Toxic excess can stress an organ to the point where it can suppress gland activity, resulting in lower than normal amounts of a hormone. Toxins in your body can contribute both to unnaturally high and low amounts of hormones.

What is Hormone Rejuvenation Therapy?
Hormone Rejuvenation Therapy involves the use of appropriate foundational ingredients to stimulate the glands so that it makes healthy amounts of a hormone on its own. Hormone rejuvenation therapy can also work for people who have an organ or gland missing due to surgical or radiation treatment as verified from our clinical results using lab tests. Even when a gland is considered to be “entirely removed”, there are still levels (low) of hormones being produced. Hormones are made in many areas of your body; for example, people who have their thyroid gland missing from a thyroidectomy they will still produce levels of thyroid hormone. Women who have had a hysterectomy still produce levels progesterone and estrogen. This is largely possible because of the compensatory effects of the adrenal glands, and other areas of the body, which are capable of producing many of our hormones as a backup. With Hormone Rejuvenation Therapy, these other areas of your body are stimulated to help produce healthy amounts of deficient hormones.

Salivary Testing versus Blood Testing
At Fundamental Health Solutions, we use a home testing hormone salivary kit by Diagnos-Techs, which provides for a more accurate depiction of hormone levels in the body than can be provided by blood testing. Salivary hormone testing measures the “free fraction” of hormones floating around our body. Many of our hormones also circulate in a protein bound form, which is not usable by the body. Salivary testing measures the amounts of hormones that are an unbound form that the body can readily use. It is important to know what hormones your body can use, as these levels change most quickly in response to illness or a proper schedule of care.

References:
Women’s Health Initiative Data: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/whi_faq.htm
The study, which spanned over 15 years, included over 160,000 women ages 59-70, had to be prematurely terminated by the WHI Data Safety and Monitoring Board due to the marked increase in cardiovascular disease and breast cancer incidences.

PUBMED http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12117397

Bioidentical hormones: Help or hype?  
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2011/September/bioidentical-hormones-help-or-hype

Fibrin’s role to protect the body
Fibrin is the main protein found in any type of scar tissue, and is elevated anytime we have injury or trauma in the body as a result of a stressor. It is normal to see high amounts of fibrin in the blood when we injure ourselves: cuts, bruises, a broken bone, athletic injury of any sort, or experience anything that can create swelling and inflammation. No matter how tiny an injury, our body instantly elevates levels of cortisol, known as the “stress hormone,” which then initiates an enzymatic cascade of reactions which transform the inactive form of this protein, called fibrinogen, into the active form fibrin.

Once this protein is in the active form, called fibrin, it creates a mesh-like barrier used to hold tissues together, and can be seen under a microscope. This is a healthy and normal response by the body to protect itself. When we cut or bruise ourselves, or traumatize any area of our body, we need this net-like structure to bind damaged tissues together which have become torn apart and porous, as they can no longer do the job (for example, a blood vessel with a hole in it). The inactive form of this protein, fibrinogen, stands ready for action, waiting its signal from the body via cortisol needed to transform and provide assistance.

Unintended consequences of a good thing
Anytime we have an injury, fibrin is one of the first proteins to appear on the scene used to start the clotting and repair process. In addition to binding damaged tissues together, it also slows blood circulation by “choking” the flow of blood, thereby trapping nutrients and other components needed for repair. Unfortunately, this can have unintended consequences by also trapping harmful toxins and restricting the flow of much needed oxygen to tissues, especially when a person’s body becomes overwhelmed with excess fibrin and we do not have the enzymes to remove it. Fibromyalgics lose their ability to clear the excess amounts of fibrin being produced by their body which is typically done by protein dissolving enzymes made in the body.

What is the pain of “ischemia”
When we were kids, many of us tried wrapping a rubber band around the end of our finger, and then noticing it would first turn red, then purple, and then then it started to hurt! It hurt because there was a lack of oxygen to that area. This pain, caused by a lack of oxygen, is called the pain of “ischemia”. When you have ischemic pain, or the pain caused by lack of oxygen, there’s very little relief that can be gained by using pain relievers. The only thing that can relieve this type of pain is to cut the rubber band restricting the flow of blood (oxygen) to that area, which will begin to provide relief. Similarly, this is what is occurring in the body of a Fibromyalgic. Imagine millions of tiny rubber bands wrapped around organs, glands and muscle tissue, choking the flow of oxygen to these tissues, only instead of actual rubber bands, the blood is being restricted by an overabundance of fibrin which is doing the same thing.

Why fibromyalgics have more fibrin in their blood than other people
Fibromyalgics agree that they feel worse when they’re “stressed out,” or under stress. We now understand why after the explanation above, however let’s look at additional stressors. Previously, we identified physical trauma as a source of stress, but we must also include emotional stress, as this elevates cortisol too. Feeling “stressed out” from another person or emotional event most definitely raises cortisol. Furthermore, chemical stress is one of the most commonly overlooked mechanisms of fibromyalgia which can be triggered by food allergies, poor diet, weak adrenal glands, pro-inflammatory foods such as refined sugars, and toxins such as insecticides, pesticides, toxic fumes, hydrogenated oils, and harmful chemicals (gasoline, kerosene, propylene glycol-found in commercial products), to name a few. All of these chemicals can elevate fibrin levels. Ironically, most medications elevate fibrin levels in the blood to include many of those that are anti-inflammatory, such as aspirin, or those that reduce pain. There is more ongoing research suggestive that certain Electro Magnetic Frequencies (EMF’s) from cell phones, satellites, etc. may contribute to higher amounts of stress in the body, creating more fibrin.

Reducing excess fibrin
The first, and most important step in providing solutions for the Fibromyalgic are to remedy their severe deficiency of fibrinolytic (fibrin dissolving) enzymes. There are some very strong fibrinolytic enzymes that break down unwanted levels of fibrin in the blood, while maintaining normal levels, without harmful side effects (1). Once excess fibrin is cleared, tissues such as muscle can begin to receive normal amounts of oxygen and Fribromyalgics begin to experience dramatic relief from tenderness, discomfort and fatigue.

There are additional factors to address in Fibromyalgia. To find out more about our complete health and wellness protocol for Fibromyalgics, please visit us at www.austinhealthdoc.com and contact us for our free 15 minute consult for new patients.

1. Certain exogenous enzyme preparations have repeatedly been shown to favorably impact normal bodily levels of fibrin, without adversely affecting other bodily functions. This information is validated from the studies from Nobel Prize finalist, and Immuno-enzymologist, Ronald K. Schneider. The degradation of fibrin by fibrinolytic enzymes has also been validated by Dr. Max Wolf MD, and further elaborated by Dr.’s Miehlke, Williams and Lopez MD’s in the book Enzymes, the Fountain of Life.

Understanding how our body works on a cellular level
Before we begin to answer this question, we must understand some basic fundamentals:  All chemical reactions in the body are catalyzed by enzymes, every single one, and an enzyme is simply “stuff that makes other stuff happen in the body”. Within our physiology, there are two categories of enzymes:  Digestive enzymes, and metabolic enzymes.  For this discussion we will focus mostly on metabolic enzymes since this is where “the action” is taking place for all drugs and nutrients. Our metabolic enzymes run every single process in the body.  They make and degrade neurotransmitters which affect our mood, keep us young looking, allow for the expression or suppression of genes, make hormones, grow our hair, allow our brain to form thoughts, they do it all.  Both natural and conventional healthcare practitioners seek to understand and influence metabolic enzymes, but in different ways.  The difference is a drug is a metabolic enzyme inhibitor, while a nutrient is a metabolic enzyme activator.

Why enzymes are a key to good health
Enzymes work like a lock and key mechanism.  When you insert the right key into a lock, the lock opens.  In this analogy, the lock represents an enzyme acted upon by a nutrient, which is the key.  The open lock is now “activated” and can be used for its intended purpose.  Now imagine having a different key that can fit into the same lock, but when you insert this key it doesn’t unlock it.  As a matter of fact, it doesn’t do anything but occupy the keyhole space.  Not only does this key prevent the lock from opening, it blocks any other keys from entering the keyhole.  This is how a drug works.

Drugs occupy a space on an enzyme preventing it from being activated.  Drugs shutdown, suppress, and turn off functions in the body by blocking enzymes from working; while a nutrient activates, expresses, and turns on bodily functions like the key that opened the lock.  Both drugs and nutrients act upon metabolic enzymes.  There are a few exceptions to this rule as there are a small handful of drugs which are enzymatic preparations.  Notably streptokinase and urokinase, which are protease (protein digesting) enzymes used in hospitals as clot busting drugs for people who suffer heart attack or stroke.  Hormone replacement therapy is another exception.  Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are not enzymatic inhibitors as they indiscriminately attack and destroy cells in the body.  But, in the most common application, today’s drugs are largely enzymatic inhibitors.

Examples Of Medications / Drugs Blocking Metabolic Enzymes
These are a few examples of drugs suppressing bodily processes.

• NSAIDS, (Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Fenoprofen, Naproxen) block the COX enzyme which produces prostaglandins—a pain mediating molecule in the body.
• Statin drugs (Crestor, Lipitor) block the HMG CoA Reductase enzyme found in the liver which produces cholesterol.
• Blood thinners (Warfarin) blocks an enzyme in the liver, Vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR) which helps to clot blood, therefore making it difficult for your blood to clot, thereby thins the blood.
• Anti-viral medications (Acyclovir, Valtrex) block enzymes which allow a virus to reproduce, thereby limiting its reproduction ability but does NOT kill a virus, only your immune system can do that.
• Antibiotics (Penicillin, Vancomycin) inhibit enzymes which maintain the integrity of bacteria’s outer cell wall.  When the cell wall is destroyed, the bacterium break apart and essentially dies. Successful outcomes with antibiotics still require a healthy immune system to win over any infection.

Examples OF Nutrients Activating Our Metabolic Enzymes
These are also called “co-factors” or “co-enzymes,” and they are needed to make our body work properly.

• Vitamin C- activates enzymes which helps form collagen as well as enhance the lethal granules in immune system cells that destroy pathogens.
• Vitamin B12- activates the enzyme in the bone marrow which triggers the release of red blood cells into circulation; this release increases oxygen and energy in our body.
• Calcium- activates enzymes involved with nerve impulse transmission, blood clotting, and muscle contraction.
• DHA- is an essential fatty acid that is used to form brain and nervous tissue.
• Arginine- is an amino acid derived from proteins which activates an enzyme called Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS).  This enzyme can dilate blood vessels and decrease blood pressure.

How We Get Side Effects from Drugs
There is more to this story, both enzymatic activators (nutrients) and enzymatic inhibitors (drugs) don’t just fit with one enzyme; they fit with many enzymes in the body.  This is good for nutrients, but bad for drugs.  This is why we get “side effects” with all drugs, and multiple benefits with one nutrient.  One drug will block both the intended enzyme along with numerous other enzymes because they fit together, like a key that fits with many locks.

For example, statin drugs block the enzyme that produces cholesterol by the liver, thereby lowering cholesterol.  Because other metabolic enzymes are blocked as well, we additionally experience weakness, joint pain, insomnia, rashes, muscle pain, headaches, other infections, sinusitis, chest pain and peripheral edema, in addition to the cholesterol lowering effects.  All of the enzymes which control these functions are blocked as well, therefore they don’t work properly.

Conversely, a nutrient doesn’t activate one enzyme, it activates many enzymes.  Magnesium is a nutrient which is known to activate several hundred different enzymes; this is why nutrients are so important.  All nutrients activate many different enzymes, and are the reason why we need a variety of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and other goodies to sustain those life giving metabolic enzymes which run everything in the body.

Nutrients are the “chemical intelligence” that your body needs to be healthy.  Enzymes operate in cascades, which mean once an enzyme is activated by a nutrient, that enzyme seeks out other enzymes to activate and so on.

While there  times when the benefits of using a drug may outweigh the risks, it is important to note that no drug has ever cured anyone of any disease, only the immune system can do that. More importantly, a medication cannot correct the condition which allowed the health problem to present itself in the first place.  This highlights a philosophical difference between functional medicine versus a conventional approach to health.  Functional medicine works with the body to seek out the underlying cause of the health problem or deficiency, and then nudge it in the appropriate direction. 

Fixing your health problems means making a choice
You have a choice when it comes to fixing health problems in the body.  Do you want to force your physiology to behave a certain way by using an enzymatic inhibitor (drug) and deal with harmful side effects, or have someone help you identify the underlying deficient physiology and help it work better with a nutrient in order to increase your vitality and well being?

One of the many conveniences of this type of testing is that patients all over the nation can have their blood drawn close to their residence, and then have their lab results delivered electronically to a doctor of their choice for interpretation. This way allows a patient to work with a healthcare practitioner across the country, or across the world.

Functional Versus Pathological Blood Chemistry Lab Ranges
There are two main types of ranges in the field of blood chemistry analysis: a functional and pathological range. The pathological range is a larger range used to identify when a person is sick. All laboratories which perform blood chemistry analysis use these ranges. Many people who fall inside the normal pathological range are told they are “healthy”, yet may continue to experience health problems. These lab reference ranges are formulated from testing sick people, not healthy people. Therefore, if you fall in this range you may be told that everything is normal, yet continue to have the same problems.

On the other hand the functional range is a narrower range, taken from healthier people, used to assess risk for health problems and detect serious health challenges before they develop. Because of conventional dogma, many traditional healthcare practitioners do not embrace the concept of the functional range. What it boils down to is your definition of “health” and how healthy you want to feel. Embracing the functional range embraces a higher definition of health, vitality and wellness compared to the pathological range. The functional blood chemistry ranges used at Fundamental Health Solutions have been determined by the American Association of Clinical Chemists (AACC) taken from healthy subjects.

Interpretation
Although there are some individual lab values for blood chemistry that are specific, most lab values must be evaluated in conjunction with other lab values in order to make an accurate assessment. For example, the lab value LDL Cholesterol is associated with heart health. This value is also associated with liver health, oxidation, and antioxidant deficiencies in the body; therefore an elevation can indicate problems in these areas of the body as well. This example points out the importance that blood chemistry analysis is about identifying patterns to ascertain probabilities. Patterns can only be accurately determined when sufficient lab values are tested. The most important attribute of any healthcare practitioner is learning to identify patterns and provide an appropriate course of action to improve health.

Know Your Numbers
Additional tests, or specialty tests, may be ordered based upon each individual case but only after notification and consent is given by the patient. If you already have had these values tested recently, please submit them for our review. We would be happy to provide further interpretation and assistance.

Dr. West was one of the doctors chosen to evaluate the use of Krebiozen. Upon learning of this new experimental drug, Mr. Wright begged to be included in the study. Dr. West administered the first injection on Friday. When he returned to the hospital on Monday, Dr. West was amazed to find Mr. Wright out of bed and well on his way toward a miraculous recovery. His large tumors had “melted like snowballs on a hot stove”.

When Mr. Wright later read medical reports that the horse serum Krebiozen was a “quack remedy” and “an ineffective drug “ he suffered a relapse. Dr. West devised an experiment. He told Mr. Wright that he was scheduled to receive “a new super-refined, double strength” product the next day. This time with great fanfare, Dr. West administered an injection of saline (salt) water. Mr. Wright regained his optimism and his second recovery was even more rapid than his first.

After the AMA issued a press release that “nationwide tests show Krebiozen to be a worthless drug in the treatment of cancer,” Mr. Wright’s condition once again deteriorated and he died two days later. While this remarkable true story is often quoted as an example of the placebo effect, it also provides a vivid illustration of the power of the mind to control the body and to contribute to our ability to heal.

Psychologist Dr. Adler, and many researchers since then, identified that there is an emotional state of mind that accompanies poor health, and a different state of mind that accompanies good health. In 1981 the mind/body connection concept of “psychoneuroimmunology” was born. This new field of study explores the inter-relations between the mind and emotions, the brain and central nervous system, and the immune system.

Conventional ways of thinking
Conventional healthcare views the placebo effect as an obstacle in finding new and effective ways to restore health. The placebo effect is acknowledged to help between 35-70% of patients, while drug therapy rarely achieves this level of significance. A pragmatic viewpoint of the placebo effect is that it should be researched and used to achieve optimal health.

Direct your genes and DNA to express good health, not poor health
Most people who are in the midst of a health crisis generally feel powerless to do anything about their seemingly hopeless downward spiral. Did you know that our environment and mind can manipulate our genes and DNA? Our environment, which is the combination of our thoughts, beliefs, traumas and toxins, provide the signals that determine which genes get activated, and which genes remain silent.

We are not powerless “victims”, waiting for our genes to dish out an inescapable fate, as commonly perpetuated. We can change the way our genes and DNA express themselves and thus affect our health. This field, recently coined as “epigenetics”, is nothing new to healthcare practitioners who have understood the mind-body connection (Lipton, 2005). This field is an integral part of your health recovery and one used at Fundamental Health Solutions.

footnote
Lipton, Bruce The Biology of Belief, Naomi Zack, Lanham, MD: Mountain of Love, 2005 (In his book, “The Biology of Belief”, Dr. Bruce Lipton PhD, an international authority on genes and genetic expression, explains the role and interactions that our mind, environment and genes play in our health. Dr. Lipton is a stem cell biologist and has held professorships at Medical Schools including the University of Wisconsin and St. Georges University. He has also been a lead researcher at Stanford and Penn State University. Dr. Lipton now lectures and travels throughout the world explaining a more accurate role as to how our genes influence health.)

These qualities would prove to serve him well as he experienced the hardship of physical disability, and the stress and emotional turmoil that comes with this. What resulted for Phil is a spiritual, mental, emotional and physical transformation as he sought to recover from mobility problems, seemingly unending pain and serious illness.

How the journey began
In 1997, US Marine Pilot Phil Sledz sustained an athletic injury which resulted in two simultaneous disc herniations with radiculopathy. Radiculopathy refers to the condition caused by a compressed nerve in the spine that can cause pain, numbness, tingling or weakness. By 2000, this injury culminated in a herniation. The chronic pain led him to obtain an MRI consult, where the orthopedist and radiologist showed him the images of his dehydrated, shrinking intervertebral lumbar discs. The complications left him with chronic pain, tingling and numbness that radiated into one of his buttocks, hip, leg and foot.

This surgeon told him, “Son, you have the back of a 60 year old.” Already walking with a limp, his nerves and muscles so damaged that he could only walk with what is called a “foot drop,” which is a condition caused by the inability to lift your feet normally when walking. Instead of a normal walk and gait, he had to raise his right leg high enough to accommodate a toe dragging step. This left him with an uncontrollable slap of the foot.

Phil Sledz was only 28 years old at the time. He felt heartbroken – a diagnosis like this would end his career as an F/A-18 fighter pilot, and his plans to be a future airline pilot.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
During another medical consult, Phil was diagnosed by an MD with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer which attacks the lymph nodes. In addition, Phil was experiencing a myriad of health issues that continued to deteriorate his once athletic body. Previously the beacon of physical strength and health, he was now so chronically fatigued that even the 14-16 hours per day of sleep did not relieve him of the deep exhaustion he experienced. During this time, 3 lymph nodes enlarged to the size of plums in his neck, armpit and groin. Add bouts of dizziness, a smorgasbord of gut and digestive problems, unintentional weight loss, night sweats, erratic fever, and brain fog, he was unable to perform required activities of daily living. He had documented over 34 symptoms as caused by his poor health.

Choosing Life and having a goal
After the diagnosis of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, Phil began a serious search of alternative methods for the purpose of recovering his health. After his herniation diagnosis, he sought a Chiropractor, and a DO who worked with three Naturopathic doctors. Together with structural and biochemical help from his practitioners, he finally began to experience pain relief: a 50% improvement using only natural methods. Prior to this, he was still using some conventional modalities, primarily oral steroids and prescription pain medication, to temporarily mask the symptoms. Side effects from these medications was making him feel worse, which served to clarify what was covering up symptoms versus what was truly proving healing for his body. Now having a flicker of hope that his health problems could be reversed or repaired, he was energized and began a further quest for knowledge that could help him improve and recover his own health.

The Health Detective is born
By late 2004, Phil decided to attend Chiropractic school. Prior to May 2006 he took the necessary prerequisite courses, and completed his Doctor of Chiropractic in 2011. Driven by a sincere desire to help others achieve a better quality of life, Phil, now Dr Phil Sledz, DC, continued his education. With the goal of Board Certification in Functional Medicine, “Dr. Phil,” as his friends and patients like to call him, has specialized in building health through nutrition.

By doing additional coursework in areas that include blood chemistry analysis, neurotransmitters, endocrine and autoimmune assessments, Dr Phil not only recovered his own health but discovered and met with many researchers who could bring his health goals to even higher levels. Overcoming his previous health challenges was the original goal, but now the bar was set higher: to achieve optimum health.

Further Discoveries in the use of nutrition to repair and heal health issues
Dr Phil Sledz, DC was fortunate to study with many knowledgeable people who have researched and created bio-available, effective formulations. These people include a Nobel Prize Finalist specializing in immune-enzymology, immune system disorders and holistic interventions for autoimmunity. While researching specific products, he consulted with a team of Harvard and Stanford educated researchers who produced a restorative joint protocol so effective that it had to be protected with multiple patents.

TODAY
Dr Phil Sledz’s transformation from disability to optimum wellness gave him crucial insights and observations regarding the health recovery puzzle:

1) Only a highly functioning immune system, combined with improved cellular communication, can redirect your body towards optimal health.

2) When you see ONE PART of your body breaking down; it’s a clue that ADDITIONAL PARTS of your body are breaking down on a cellular level, at different rates. Conventional healthcare mostly focuses on the body part that is failing, versus the entire body.”

From Dr Phil Sledz, DC

“It’s my job as a detective to help you find this, and show you what can be done to safely arrest and redirect this process. Needless to say, my career in healthcare has been nothing short of spectacular; I have helped countless people achieve a higher level of health and wellness.

Due to diligence, focus and passion, I was able to elevate my health to the level I presently experience today. No limp, and can run 3-5 miles without any back or leg discomfort. I now experience more energy and less digestive issues that I can ever remember, even as a child. I have a healthy body weight, and my blood and immune system are measurably optimal. I lead by example; I show others that you do not have to live a life of misery and sickness if you don’t want to. You can have optimal health once again and feel good about living your body, but you must earn it!”

There is no magic bullet

“Restoring hope, confidence and self-sufficiency are key ingredients to successfully turning around the most severe health crisis. A common and erroneous belief is that there is a magic bullet that will fix everything, or that a person just needs to find the right doctor who can fix you. The truth of the matter is that you are responsible for your health improvement: it is your responsibility to embrace healthier lifestyle changes that can lead to your own health transformation.”  — Dr Phil Sledz, DC

“Dr Phil” believes that with proper guidance, you can fix yourself – and experience the excitement of not only seeing but feeling the difference. He has built his practice on everything that has provided good results. He ascribes to the belief that by changing the quality of your health, you can change your life. Feeling great allows us to have great life experiences, something we all deserve.

The motto for the Marines is “Semper Fidelis, or Semper Fi”—Always Faithful. For Phil Sledz, this translates to his faith in helping others, so that they can live life well and feel free from what holds them back in life.

— Editor