[Bernadette]

@KK can you please link the video or handout that you’re referring to regarding soy protein.

[Bernadette]

@Nathalie Khoury Ideally yes – but some is always better than none if you’re finding it difficult. You can also split the dose and give it in 2 servings at different times in the day.

[Bernadette]

@Iryna Klevetenko For chickens and eggs, you can check out these local resources:

https://farmingforyou.ae/

Dubai Chickens

Download the app Rootz (see image below)

As for salmon, unfortunately Fish Farm closed their organic salmon farming operation and they have not been able to give me a reopen date. So there are no locally available organic salmon that I can confidently recommend. You can checkout LetsOrganic.com – I believe they import organic salmon.

[Bernadette]

@Iryna Klevetenko you can reach out to Mirna Sabbagh. I’m not sure if she’s still in Dubai or not.

As for a psychologist, there are many. Is there a particular area of focus so I can help you narrow it down a little? For example, marriage, trauma release, etc.

[Bernadette]

Hi @Nathalie Khoury – yes, I would have to agree with you. From a functional lens, there does seem to some subclinical thyroid hypofunction, especially if it coincides with symptoms of low thyroid function.

Please watch these videos from the Thyroid Balance course:

Symptoms of thyroid dysfunction

Thyroid testing & functional interpretations of the different lab ranges

Please let me know if you present with any of those low thyroid symptoms.

A TSH above 2.0 does warrant questioning, especially if a client presents with signs and symptoms of low thyroid function.

And Free T3 and Free T4 should ideally both be in the upper half of the reference range. I’d like to see Free T4 above 1.3, and Free T3 above 3.25 given these references ranges. So both are slightly suboptimal.

Would you happen to have the Total T4 and Total T3 levels from this same blood draw to see if they are also low or not?

If they aren’t low, THIS VIDEO explains why Free T4/Free T3 can be suboptimally low. But again, knowing what the Total levels are would be helpful, as well as Reverse T3.

[Bernadette]

@Annie Sye please make time to watch Dr. Perry Nickelston’s session (aka The Lymph Doc) on lymph flow. He was our guest expert in February and he showed us how to do “The Big 6”.

Here’s the link to watch his session and understand the lymphatic system better. It will hopefully help alleviate the pain in your back that you mentioned in a previous post as well.

[Bernadette]

Hi @Annie Sye – yes, those are all possible causes of teeth grinding, and if it’s been longstanding (like since childhood), I’d lean more towards it being an airway issue due to tongue positioning/tongue tie and/or a narrow palate issue. And neck posture is dependent on your breathing as well. This is a great post by Dr. Steven Lin about it.

And here’s another great one that discusses how teeth grinding, mouth breathing, back pain and forward head posture can all be due to low tongue posture and poor neck support.

Typically with tongue ties, people will experience other symptoms like mouth breathing, snoring, disrupted sleep, headaches and TMJ pain, and if your mother recalls, potentially an overbite & fussy eating as a baby if breastfed.

Depending on the severity, a person with a tongue tie may still be able to stick their tongue out. So no, that’s not entirely true.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a referral for you with insurance. But I would seek out a biological dentist with experience in myofunctional therapy to get properly diagnosed and treated. You can search the IAOMT.org website for a biological dentist near you.

[Bernadette]

@Nathalie Khoury have you tried mixing it into a bit of freshly squeezed orange juice? Do not heat the probiotic. You can also try sprinkling it into food that is slightly moist/soft like apple sauce and yogurt for example. Let me know if that helps.

[Bernadette]

@Nathalie Khoury That email came from my personal account, not B Better. If you want to be added to my personal mailing list, scroll down to the footer of my website HERE and click on the “Yes Please!” button to add your details in the pop-up.

[Bernadette]

@KK I suggest you begin by watching these 2 videos from the Blood Sugar Regulation course for a better understanding of blood sugar regulation:

Meet The Players: the PAALS

How Blood Sugar Regulation Works

The connection is that the Pancreas plays a role in both digestion and blood sugar regulation. So if blood sugar regulation is affected, the body prioritizes that over digestion which can compromise digestive enzyme release.

Please share his blood sugar results if you have them just to make sure it’s not being overlooked. Fasting glucose, fasting insulin and HbA1C.

Creon contains pancrelipase, a replacement for low digestive enzyme production. I explain the many different digestive enzyme options HERE in the Gut Health Masterclass and the different enzymes for different needs. If you’re looking for a stronger pancreatin enzyme, then Thorne Dipan-9 and Metagenics SpetraZyme Pan 9X ES can be considered.

Did your son end up trying the baking soda challenge?

[Bernadette]

@Yasmin atassi thanks for sharing the additional labs and info. I’ll reply one by one again.

Yes, it seems the RR for DHEA was off in your latest test in comparison to the other tests. I’d let Valeo Health know about that. I do like Valeo Health since they cut out the middle man and offer very reasonably priced tests. They also offer B Better members a discount, did you know? Here’s more info on that.

Life Pharmacy Clinics also have amazing packages for basic blood tests. Definitely give them a call for price comparison because I believe they’re even cheaper.

Thanks for sharing the fasting glucose and insulin results. Do you wake up full of energy or is it hard to get out bed? Do you follow a low-carb/keto diet? If you had no symptoms at all and were feeling great, I wouldn’t look into these values too much, however both your fasting glucose and fasting insulin are both suboptimally low. Since these are done in a fasting state and are dependent on the health of the adrenal glands and your CAR (cortisol awakening response), I’m suspicious of the possibility of adrenal hypofunction (slow functioning) impacting the release of glucose and therefore insulin. Would you be open to doing a 2-hour glucose tolerance test? This would provide better insights into blood sugar regulation. I know you mentioned that you felt better on an adrenal protocol. Are you still working on that?

If you’d like to test adrenal function, I share 3 ways to do so:

At home

In blood

In urine (DUTCH Plus would be my preferred test if budget allows)

If cutting alcohol for good sounds too daunting, consider removing it for 1 month to see how it makes you feel. You may be more motivated in doing so after noticing the difference in how it makes you feel after removal and reintroduction.

What exactly is the issue with the low-calorie intake? Do you skip meals? Are your portions very small? Do you avoid certain food groups? Please share more details about your diet and I can help you further. I would suggest you start a new post just about your diet as this one is getting crowded.

So again, I suggest starting a new post to just focus on your diet. If the AIP diet is too daunting, then I suggest removing 1 food group at a time. So for example, remove dairy for at least 1 month (100% removal, not even 1 bite or mistake). Then reintroduce dairy the proper way. Here’s a handout that discusses reintroductions after an elimination. This will hopefully make it feel more manageable. But again – please start a new thread, and let’s help you a bit more with the diet piece.

I’m recopying the action steps from my previous thread and adding a bit to it to realign. Please let me know if you have any questions about that.

So where do you start?

a) Stress reduction!! Please read THIS HANDOUT on stress realities and reduction strategies. Given the suboptimal fasting glucose and insulin, it may be worth testing adrenal function for a more detailed look. Please email support@bbettermembership.com if you need access to order the DUTCH Plus.

b) Work on opening up your elimination pathways. Watch THIS VIDEO on opening up your drainage pathways. And then THIS VIDEO on which ones to prioritize first. You can also take THIS self-assessment to help you determine which pathways is weakest for you. And if you haven’t already, here are some markers to test liver/gallbladder function.

c) Do an elimination challenge (all at once or one category at a time). As suggested, please start a new post and we can focus on diet only.

d) get those additional tests to confirm/rule out if they are contributing to the problem. As mentioned, call Life Pharmacy Clinics for price comparison.

[Bernadette]

@Annie Sye the registration page is ready if you’d like to share it with your cousin. They’ll get the zoom link after registering: https://bbettermembership.com/dr-sabine-hazan-session

[Bernadette]

@Annie Sye

Although the conventional model says autism is “incurable”, the functional medicine model says otherwise.

At the root of autism is a host of different factors such as toxicity, nutritional deficiencies, metabolic and microbiome imbalances, genetic predispositions, and gut/immune imbalances.

I’d recommend she starts by educating herself about all of these factors in the book by Dr. Kenneth Bock called “Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders”.

It’s an excellent book regarding the application of functional medicine know-how to the most challenging pediatric epidemics (e.g., allergy, ADHD, autism). Lots of details and also some inspiring case stories.

I’d also recommend inviting your cousin to the call with next month’s guest expert Dr. Sabine Hazan. She’s a gastroenterologist based in California doing groundbreaking research on the microbiome. In fact, she recently published a study on familial fecal transplant improving a 19-year-old nonverbal severe autistic patient.

In a nutshell, fecal transplant takes poop from a healthy individual and transplants it into the unhealthy individual. The improvements in so-called “incurable” diseases are incredible. That’s the power of the microbiome, and we’re only scratching the surface. I believe it’s the future of medicine. We’ll be discussing this and more when she joins us next month.

We’ll be sharing the registration page link to that event in our upcoming June Insider Email scheduled for June 7th, if you’d like to share it with your cousin.

[Bernadette]

@Yasmin atassi

Regarding lab value results. Please keep in mind that each lab has its own reference ranges and they can vary wildly from one lab to another. Based on what you shared above, the reference range for DHEAs showed <10 (which in itself seems odd/low because typical DHEAs for adult females is between 35-430 µg/dL). If < 10 is the reference range, then yes, a value of 117 ug/dL is considered highly elevated. But like I said, that RR does seem a bit odd. Please check previous lab test results from the same lab (check the units and reference range) and let me know if it’s the same or different. I wouldn’t warrant a DUTCH test at this stage, because there seems to be a lot more foundational issues needing to be addressed first that are directly impacting hormones. And no androgen dominance is not “genetic” per se. But there might be hereditary components that can influence hormone production, regulation, and sensitivity, which might predispose a person to conditions associated with androgen dominance, such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). It’s hormonal imbalance that can be caused by so many factors that “may” have genetic factors at play. Makes sense? Stress is a key factor. I’m glad you’re starting to feel better, but really continue to focus your efforts on mitigating stress as much as possible. Delegate, say no more often, ground daily, sleep early, journal/deep breathing, meditate, etc. Would you mind sharing your results for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and HbA1C? Given the PCOS diagnosis, insulin is very often a big factor. Just want to make sure it’s not being overlooked (it often is in the conventional world). Would you be willing to give up alcohol completely for at least 4 months to give your liver, immune system & hormones/neurotransmitters a break? Think of it as a stress on the body, which as I mentioned in #1, needs to be prioritized. There are stressors we cannot control in life, but I encourage controlling the ones that we can control. Alcohol is one of those stressors. Regarding thyroid function. It’s not uncommon for the thyroid to swing between hyper and hypothyroid function, especially if the adrenals are taxed (again from stress). During ovulation, if progesterone is not produced, we can become estrogen dominant, and transiently hypothyroid since estrogen increases TBG (thyroid binding globulin) which binds to thryoid hormone and can make a person feel hypothyroid transiently (meaning not all the time, but in phases of the cycle). PCOS increases androgen hormone production, hence the facial hair growth. As I mentioned in #4, stress (adrenal hyperfunction) can lead to thyroid hypofunction which is one of the root cause factors for PCOS. Please watch THIS VIDEO to better understand the different mechanisms how stress/cortisol affects hormone balance. Is your calorie consumption low? Do you overexercise? And refer to #4 regarding thyroid function. It’s also possible to have swings in both directions. 9. 10. Yes, worth getting RBC zinc, RBC copper (if available), RBC magnesium, and vitamin A tested. These are all critical for immune health, thyroid conversion and skin health. 11. Food intolerance and food sensitivities are different. An intolerance is generally felt in the gut. A sensitivity can show up days later and present itself all over the body. Please read THIS HANDOUT for possible symptoms. If you have any of these symptoms, consider an elimination challenge. Here’s the handout with more info on how to do that. I’d start with the most common culprits: gluten, dairy, corn, soy, yeast, citrus fruits, nuts, seeds, nightshades. These can be done all at once or individually by category. It’s up to you. If done all at once, search for “AIP” recipes online to help you put together a meal plan. I can help you further with this as well. Just let me know. If you weren’t able to tolerate the chelation therapy, you might want to try our upcoming Cleanse & Heavy Metal Detox Program. This also tells me that your elimination pathways need support. What cannot come out of the body, will come out through the skin. My assumption based on these threads is that you probably have a few root cause reasons at play, which I’ll briefly summarize below and then give you an action plan to consider: Stress > affecting thyroid function > increasing androgens > leading to annovulation > reduced progesterone > leading to estrogen dominance which can contribute to PCOS

PCOS (please report back on fasting insulin) > increases androgens

Toxicity > affecting elimination pathways > leading to acne

Possible food sensitivities (still undetermined but likely)

Possible nutrient insufficiencies (to be tested)

So where do you start?

a) Stress reduction!! Please read THIS HANDOUT on stress realities and reduction strategies.

b) Work on opening up your elimination pathways. Watch THIS VIDEO on opening up your drainage pathways. And then THIS VIDEO on which ones to prioritize first. You can also take THIS self-assessment to help you determine which pathways is weakest for you. And if you haven’t already, here are some markers to test liver/gallbladder function.

c) Do an elimination challenge (all at once or one category at a time).

d) get those additional tests to confirm/rule out if they are contributing to the problem

Hope this helps.

[Bernadette]

@Lana Zambarakji unless she has a sensitivity to yeast (like a delayed IgG immune reaction), then it’s actually beneficial to be taking S Boulardii when there’s an overgrowth since it’s a beneficial yeast that can help maintain a better balance. Think of it as the high school teacher coming in to discipline the unruly children in the class. Makes sense?