Ups and Downs – Catching Up

As has become my habit, my schedule is punctuated in rare intervals with a block of time where I can unload the accumulation of some thoughts on you. Of necessity, these tend to be somewhat lengthy. To give access to those areas of specific interest to you, I am listing the content up front with links to the target topic in the body. Hopefully this will avoid the necessity of reading the entire content to get to the areas of interest.

• 1. Custom supplements – Learning from successes and setbacks – Eight months ago we started utilizing customized nutrient supplements via a compounding nutrition company in Oregon, https://www.personalized-nutrients.com/ . We now can create a powder or capsule that kids can take to supply what they specifically need in the doses they need. This is especially helpful for kiddos with mitochondrial dysfunction where the requirement for nutrients like carnitine or CoQ10 is very high. The specific needs are determined from the child’s history, functional lab work, and Nutreval. Those that can take capsules do well taking this. The powder version still leaves a LOT to be desired. The bitter/sour/tart taste of the B complex vitamins is very difficult to mask. I have experimented with this myself and find that I cannot routinely take more than ½ of my calculated dose. This is reflected in the small kids who can tolerate ¼- ½ of their dose. Parents have tried hard to mix in a variety of carriers, but it remains a huge challenge. I tried to add more sweetener such as Stevia or monk fruit but continues to be unsatisfactory. It still does best with citrus flavors like OJ and quite diluted. Bottom line… if your child can swallow capsules, it is the preferred administration method. The other challenge has been an occasional kiddo that reacts to one of the ingredients. It does not happen often, but when it occurs, it makes the entire costly supplement unusable by that patient. The main culprits have been monk fruit sweetener, folate, and possibly zinc for those kids with high copper (copper gets displaced and may cause behavioral activation). So, as a result, what we do now is to test some of the suspect nutrients individually beforehand to make sure it is tolerated. Regarding folate, I try keeping at the RDA or below unless we have checked a whole blood histamine level and documented that the child is NOT an under-methylator. I will talk about under and over methylation in a separate blog.

• 2. Zinc/copper balance – Over the years I have been a bit gun-shy of pushing zinc for too long, i.e. more than 2-3 weeks at a time. The worry was that it would cause copper to be deficient. As you are likely aware, zinc and copper compete for the same absorption and carrier binding sites. If one goes up, the other goes down. If you have too much copper, you can bring it down by supplementing with zinc. If you stay on the zinc too long, the copper can become deficient. So, if you remember, the Sick Kit says to use for 10-14 days then stop. We have been testing these mineral blood levels for several years now both at baseline and after supplementation. What we find is that MOST kids and their moms are high on copper and low on zinc. Once zinc supplementation is implemented, it takes 2-3 months of very high doses or 6-9 months of moderate doses to bring that copper down and zinc up. So, at this point, I don’t feel there is any down side to keeping a child on zinc all winter long to support immune function at between 5-10 mg/d. During illness, you can push to 20-30 mg/d for 10-14 days. I will make that adjustment in my Sick Kit ingredients. The reason we try to get copper down is that it is an inhibitor of the COMT enzyme (C-O-methyltransferase). It is the enzyme that offloads some of the neurotransmitters like dopamine and noradrenaline. When copper goes up, noradrenaline goes up and the fight/flight response can escalate. You can get more emotional activation with hyperactivity, anxiety, and aggressive behavior. Interestingly, elevated copper is a common cause of post-partum depression/anxiety. A growing fetus requires lots of copper to grow. Mom gives it to him. When the baby is out and gone, mom is left with lots of extra copper. So, one treatment for postpartum depression is increasing zinc intake (along with more Vit D3). Some of you have seen your kids get more hyper on zinc. This appears to be the result of the displacement of copper on the binding site on carrier proteins by the zinc. This temporarily elevates the free copper in the blood causing this same activation. I have not seen this in teens or parents, just smaller kids. So you back off and start at lower doses of zinc and work up more slowly.

• 3. Vitamin A – I want to briefly re-visit this essential vitamin. I have spent several years researching and getting comfortable with use of this vitamin. It is now part of my sick kit. It can be used in similar doses as Vit D3. I am not talking about beta carotene here. It is the active vitamin A called retinol. The genomic https://dnasupplementation.com/Home?ReturnUrl=%2fPatient testing we do has revealed a significant number of people have BCMO1 weakness (beta carotene monooxygenase 1). This enzyme splits the beta carotene (the orange pigment in yellow/orange veges like carrots) into two equal halves called retinol. We are starting to measure serum levels of vit A to guide supplementation. I am convinced that Retinol as as important for immune function as Vit D3. This is the reason I have added it to the Sick Kit. Another important issue is the depletion of vit A in the liver when you push vit D3. Vit A is used to produce the copper carrier called ceruloplasmin (Cp). When this is low, free copper goes up. As free copper goes up, you get behavioral and emotional activation. So, bottom line… when supplementing with vit D3 and/or zinc, always give vit A (retinol) in your mix. Morley Robbins, the Magnesium Man, will be one of the speakers at the Nutragenomic conference in Hershey, PA to which I will attend. He will address this issue of Vit D and Vit A in relation to copper metabolism. Stay tuned.

• 4. Restore Family and Restore Professional – most of you know of my search for a high quality palatable nutrient supplement. For many kids, it is easier to use one powder daily rather than 8 or 10 different supplements. I settled on the Restore line http://senergy.us/tennant-restore-family-formula-restore.html created by Dr. Jerry Tennant. He is an ophthalmologist and one of the pioneers in the development of Lasik surgery. His own serious medical issues led him to develop these products. There is a teen/adult version that is a bit more robust http://senergy.us/restore-professional-formula.html. These have been generally well tolerated and accepted even by the little kiddos😉 We have had lots of positive anecdotal reports on efficacy. Over a 3-month period of use, one teen reported resolution of migraines, high blood pressure, and abdominal pains. This was used in conjunction with a gluten free diet. One kiddo with short gut syndrome has made wonderful weight gain after failing several other specialty commercial formulas. The mom reported that the nutritionist and docs at the GI clinic at St Luke’s Children’s hospital as looking to try this on other kids with nutritional issues. Nice!! I will continue to try carry this at the office for your convenience. Just notify me via email and I will send you Paypal request. Bring the receipt of that Paypal payment to the front desk and the receptionist will retrieve a container from the back. Some of you have figured out that you don’t even need to request. Just make a payment via Paypal any time you want one and bring receipt to the office. If you have a supplement that is equivalent to these, use them!! Most of the other high-quality supplements are inside MLM companies. I continue to stay away from MLM for philosophical reasons.

• 5. Probiotics – It is no secret that probiotics are a big tool in a functional provider’s arsenal in combating chronic illness. I have had a growing suspicion, however, that much of the hype around probiotics may be misplaced. The critics of probiotics bring up the studies of variable efficacy. My main growing concern is not so much the value of probiotics, but of how much of what we take makes it to the large bowel to set up house. Remember that one function of stomach acid is to kill microorganisms. What proportion of ingested 30 billion cfu probiotic survives the pH of 1-1.5 in the stomach? Likely not many. These worries have spurred researchers to develop a new robust probiotic that survives these hostile passages. Some of you may have heard of SBO’s, or soil-based-organisms. These are bugs that for millennia have helped humans keep a healthy gut microbiome. These are organisms that transfer from soil to our veges and fruits to our guts. The benefits of these have been dramatically reduced over the past decades due to our obsession with eliminating pathogens. These SBO’s can survive harsh environments because they can create a hard-impermeable shell called a spore. Once in a favorable environment, they germinate and set up house. Because they survive, you don’t need a lot of them. The primary organism is Bacillus subtilus. I have been experimenting on myself using the brand Megaspore https://microbiomelabs.com/products/megasporebiotic/ . So far, so good. No untoward side effects after several months. 1 capsule of 4 billion cfu is quite adequate. Too high a dose, as with other probiotics, can cause diarrhea and some GI discomfort. Here is a helpful conversation on this topic between Dr. Mercola and Dr. Klinghardt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_8penPDg6Q. The second organism that I am using widely is Saccharomyces cerevisiae spp boulardii. It is a nutritional yeast that can resist stomach acid. Once it gets to the large gut, it sets about killing pathogenic yeast like Candida, parasites, and pathogenic anaerobes like clostridium. It is also capable of closing gut tight junctions and stabilizes mucosal immunity with adequate IgA production. Dr. Sidney Baker of Yale University fame has used this in very high doses in autistic kiddos and watched as the “fog” lifts off their brains. This is likely due, at least in part, by the reduction of yeast and clostridia from the gut flora. The dose I aim to is over 15 billion cfu for the very young kids and closer to 50 billion for older kids. He has pushed this dose to 80-100 billion cfu/day. Here is a meta-analysis from UCLA I have shared with some of you of studies highlighting the actions of this fabulous organism. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3296087/ . I would not use these modalities with immunocompromised kids without close review and follow-up. For most of my kiddos with chronic medical and behavioral issues, I would use both, the S boulardii for “carpet bombing” and the Megaspore for recolonization. Aim to a dose of 30 billion cfu divided twice daily for the S boulardii and 4-5 billion on the SBO. You can certainly use other high quality probiotics with the understanding that much of these do not reach their target.

• 6. Ketogenic diet – The traditional medical use of ketogenic diet is intractable seizure control, and that is pretty much it. This is a diet that is treated by traditional docs with some fear and discomfort. Interestingly, in functional circles, the use of ketosis has found much wider application. The root of most chronic illness is inflammation. Ketosis is a metabolic condition that is extremely anti-inflammatory. Hence its use. For kids with chronic issues that are having difficulty getting to a healthy place, a 2-3 month use of a ketogenic diet may do wonders. This diet removes all but 5% of carbohydrates from the diet. The body shift to use of fats as the primary source of energy. As you focus on the mitochondria, energy can be extracted from carbs, protein, and fats. Carbs are considered a “dirty” fuel because they increase the number of random electron losses in the electron transport chain. These are captured by oxygen to create oxygen free radicals. Under normal conditions, this loss of electrons can be as much as 5% of the electrons that enter this chain. With a high carb diet, this can go up to as much as 30%. Think of a water wheel that is capturing water from a water fall. Each paddle will not capture all the water falling into it. There is loss from splashing, shape of the paddles, speed of water flow, etc. There is an inherent loss of efficiency. You may only use 70% of the falling water that produced energy by driving the water wheel. The same this is true in the mitochondria. With high carb intake, efficiency of energy production goes down. The main problem in this scenario is the production of free radicals which create enormous oxidative stress and destruction in the body. Oxidative stress is one of the main drivers of inflammation in the body. When you use fats for energy production, the efficiency goes way up and the production of free radicals goes way down. As with much of what I recommend to your families, I always do experimentation on myself for efficacy and side effects. Some of you have done very well in use of ketogenic diets for your families, but for others, it has been a difficult proposal. I will be doing this diet soon to enhance my understanding of this process first hand😉. I have asked our functional dietitian/nutritionist, Emily Norbryhn, to monitor me during these weeks and maybe months of ketosis. I will develop a series of biomarkers that will be tracked during this time. Stay tuned. You can access Emily’s expertise by emailing her at emily@emilynorbryhnnutrition. She is an expert in ketogenic diet, elimination diets, weight loss, diabetes control, etc. Nutritional consults are generally not covered by insurance, but cost is very reasonable.

• 7. Gluten free, soy free, dairy free diet – Those of you who have walked this functional road with me from its infancy remember my reticence at using this diet broadly. This is the case in most traditional medicine. My comfort level has grown as I have watched the benefits in a broad array of medical and behavioral conditions. An off-the-cuff estimate is that of all the kids I place on this diet, over 50%, and likely closer to 75% do better with their symptoms. Not everyone responds as well because there may be other issues at play. Remember that “two tack rule”… “if you are sitting on two tacks, removing one does not reduce the pain by 50%”. You have to go find the other tack😉. I am convinced that the problem with all these non-celiac gluten sensitive people is related to the Western processed and genetically modified wheat. I am experimenting with use of Einkorn wheat for baking https://jovialfoods.com/einkorn/ . It is an Eastern wheat that has not seen glyphosate or any genetic engineering over the centuries. Fred Meyer carries this now if you live in the western states. There are several online outlets that carry this. There is a farm in Teton, ID that grows this. The conditions that have shown the most consistent resolution are belly pains, reflux, migraines, arthritis pains, dermatitis, behavioral activation like hyperactivity and aggressive behaviors, and thyroiditis. Interestingly, I am picking up more and more very young kids as young as 6 and 7 with anti thyroid antibodies. These resolve on gut healing and removal of gluten. As you likely are aware, antithyroid antibodies are the precursors of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis that destroys the thyroid by the time you are in your mid 20’s. Traditional medicine says we have no cures for this. We will wait for the thyroid to destroy itself and then give you Synthroid. We have shown that we can stop this process at its outset. Nice!! Remember that when you come to a fork in the road, it is a lot easier to move over to the correct track early and much more difficult the further down the road you get. The two roads get further and further apart. My guess is that we have an epidemic of non celiac gluten sensitivity to our Western gluten in as much as 30% of our population!! Unfortunately, in traditional circles, we are pretty much oblivious to this. I have been caring for my elderly mom for several months while she readies for her move to Oregon. I recruited her to use the Einkorn wheat for baking. I will share some recipes with those who are looking for alternatives. Cooking with this is a bit different.

• 8. Kidney stones – We have seen several kiddos with kidney stones over the year, one just recently. The mom (one of my many research assistants), did some digging and found a study published several months ago in American journal of Urology that linked the use of antibiotics with the development of kidney stones. There is one bug that lives inauspiciously in our guts that eats oxalate, Oxalobacter. When you take even one course of antibiotics, this small family can be totally obliterated. Once this happens, the oxalates in foods such as spinach are absorbed in much higher quantities. This combines with calcium to form calcium oxalate, the predominant type of stone. The highest risk came from use of sulfa like Septra. Then followed cephalosporins like cefdinir, fluoroquinolones like Cipro, tetracyclines, and lastly penicillins like Amoxil. The risk was as high as 500% for sulfa and as low as 200% for Amoxil. The moral of this story is….. DON’T use antibiotics unless there is a VERY good reason. The risk is just too high. Since starting down this functional road, I have used antibiotics for ear infections in only a small handful. We have had close to 100% success rate using ear drops with garlic, tea tree oil, colloidal silver. There are a few kiddos that we still send off for ear tubes because of craniofacial structural risks for recurring ear infections. The increased risk for development of kidney stones seems to be antibiotic use in the previous 6-12 months. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29748329

• 9. Research lab: essential oils – After my move to Emmett, I devoted my entire basement for my office and lab…. three labs, to be precise. As my life settles after my wife’s passing last year, I have slowly turned my attentions to a variety of research projects, one of which is essential oil distillation. More for my own edification and understanding of the process of EO production, I obtained raw lavender from my brother’s garden and sage from my own back yard. There are several ways to extract oils from plant matter. I used the simplest, steam distillation. Of the 1.25 Kg batch of raw plant matter, the yield from the lavender was 6.6 gm (7.5 ml) or 2.4%. The yield from the sage was 1.8 gm (2 ml) or 0.6%. This illustrates why so much raw material is needed to make small quantities of oil and why it is generally not cheap. The first four pics are sage distillation using a traditional separatory funnel to separate the oil, measure, and save in a typical EO bottle. The second three are of lavender extraction using an oil/water receiver/separator. It automatically collects a layer of oil on top of the hydrosol and eliminates the hydrosol through the side tube. Fun to watch! And smelled, Oh, so good!! Especially sage. The next project is extraction of the active ingredients in ashwaganda. Lastly, the chemistry of polyphenols in colorful foods has grabbed my fancy. I am studying up on the effects of acid/base exposure on the structure of these phenomenal chemicals. Think blueberries and purple cabbage. They are powerful antioxidants and detoxifiers.

• 10. Research lab: bacterial susceptibility to essential oils – Once I have made enough variety of these oils, the next area of research will be to determine how well these oils inhibit growth of typical bacterial species. Some of these are readily available from infected urine or skin, things like E coli and MRSA. One of our admins, Ashley Everly has done some of this work in her own home lab. She is a former California EPA toxicologist by training and has extensive experience with both toxic and beneficial chemicals. I will try get her to re-post some of her research. I will post as my own data becomes available. It may not be for several months, however.

• 11. Research lab: Bioenergetics – I think this energetics field is the future of medicine if we traditional docs are willing to swallow our pride and re-tool some of our thinking. Medicine took the road away from physics and energetics and took the fork in the road called “chemistry” back 100 years ago. Homeopathy is the prototypical practice of energetic medicine. Traditional medicine has used energetics to a small degree, mostly in diagnostic tools like EKG, EEG, EMG, MRI, xray, CT but not therapeutically. Half of my own lab is set up to explore this area of functional medicine. I will rattle off some devices with which I am toying but will not here go into details. That is work for another blog. A) There is the iMRS low frequency electromagnetic mat that NASA research has show accelerates regeneration of nerve and bone up to 4-fold. My guinea pig for that project is my 85 y/o mom with osteopenia. We will see if there is halting of the progress over time. Of course, I have her on Vit D3, K2, Mg, Ca, and a variety of other nutrients to support healing and growth.

B) Near Infrared radiation has been shown to have dramatic healing effects in the body. This can be obtained from mats tuned to this set of frequencies or from an IR sauna. Near IR can penetrate 8-10 cm (3-4”) or more below the skin surface to affect blood flow and detoxification. It is a direct energy booster for our powerhouses, the mitochondria. Remember that efficiency of mitochondria is not 100%. There is electron leakage and free radical formation. The near IR counters this oxidative stress. So, for those of you struggling with snp’s in your genes that put huge oxidative stress on your body (snp’s in SOD, catalase, glutathione enzymes), consider a portable IR sauna. It will detox your system while energizing your mitochondria. Here is an interview Dr. Mercola did with Dr. Lim at University of Toronto on use of near IR on Alzheimer prevention and treatment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Q_nXPhMgE. One device I am anticipating testing is the VieLight which is set at 10 Hz flutter at 810 nm near IR wavelength. http://www.forresthealth.com/VieLight-Intranasal-Light-Therapy-633-Red-(Systemic).html?gclid=CjwKCAjw2_LcBRBYEiwA_XVBU6g11nk_Hm9d7Rdv-BRrcvdK5d3YgXjP-2_dsn13sWIFGh9cKEBEphoCEmEQAvD_BwE

C) Audio frequency radiation effects on microorganisms is a project I started in Missouri several years ago. Using a high power carrier wave, I send frequencies ranging from 1 – 20,000 Hz (in the band audible to the human ear) via a plasma tube to a plate carrying single celled organisms like paramecium or Blepharisma and watch which frequencies affect them adversely. This is a takeoff from some experiments done by several researchers around the country that have taken off in the direction of cancer research. My interest is in antibacterial effects. If we can show killing of single celled organisms with this type of radiation, then we can turn attention to pathogenic bacteria. Here is the setup:

D) Neurofeedback has been used more and more for a variety of neuropsych issues like ADHD, ASD, anxiety, PTSD, etc. So, consistent with my philosophy of trying treatment modalities on myself, I submitted to 20 treatments to see what effects I could see. There has been good response in calming effects (improved alpha waves) in ADHD and Anxious kids. The question that remains is whether the effect is persistent. There does seem to be slippage after stopping treatment. I found improved sleep, but once stopped, and mixed in with a lot of other stressors, the improvement seemed to wane. We are repeating the brainwaves to see how they compare with the initial baseline. Stay tuned. I tried to attach a video of the setup but would not stick.

E) Electrosmog has caught my fancy again as I find a significant number of kids with the CACNA1C snp’s. These are the voltage sensitive calcium channels in cell membranes of nerves, muscles, etc. When these protein channels get stimulated with a small fixed charge of voltage, they open and allow calcium to flow into the cell. This is good when you are trying to flex a muscle, but it is not good when calcium is seeping into neurons faster than it is able to be pumped out. This contributes to overexcitation of those cells that then clinically manifests as hyperactivity, headaches, and just overall not feeling well. If you have lots of snps in this gene, then you need to take steps in reducing your ambient electrosmog. Things like turning off your wifi at night, standing away from the microwave at least 20’ or not using microwave at all, and using something called a Faraday cage (net) for sleep at night. This net blocks EMF’s from reaching you. I have been testing one for several months. If I have my cell phone inside the net, I get NO SIGNAL message. That is the simplest test for its efficacy.

It is not cheap but for those with poor sleep due to EMF sensitivity, it may be a lifesaver. Remember, that EMF passes on up through the mattress from the lower floor or basement, so you also need an EMF barrier sheet under the mattress. https://www.amazon.com/Reduce-Frequency-Radiation-Naturell-Canopy/dp/B072XS1JMK/ref=asc_df_B072XS1JMK/?tag=hyprod20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=234301754843&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8676828364940086614&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1016202&hvtargid=pla-391218531830&psc=1

• 12. Research Lab: Hydrogen water – Hydrogen is not a new kid on the block, but it has not been known for its benefits until recently. It is the active ingredient in alkaline water, or Kangen water, or ionized water, etc. Hydrogen is climbing the research ladder in priority to be one of the most powerful targeted antioxidants in nature! It is small, easily crosses cell and mitochondrial membranes, counters oxygen free radicals in the mitochondria at the source of much of our oxidative stress. In concentrations of 0.5-2 ppm (parts per million), if taken daily, it is reported to have amazing anti-inflammatory effects. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257754/ I suspect it is will be much more effective on those who have those SOD and catalase snps or who have difficulty offloading their copper and iron. Free copper and iron can create lots of oxidative stress in the body. You literally rust from the inside! I am testing the hydrogen content of the ionizer called Life Ionizer MXL-15 and comparing it to the hydrogen yield of the AquaH2 dissolvable tablets. So far, the results are comparable. I need to put these through a variety of tests including rate of hydrogen disappearance from solution, effects of a variety of containers on disappearance, e.g. plastic vs glass, effect of temperature on rate of disappearance, etc. A branch of this experiment is the actual production of hydrogen gas using Malic acid and solid magnesium rods. The preliminary concentration in my own hydrogen water production is around 1 ppm. Stay tuned. Lastly, once comfortable with the quantities available to us, I need to design experiments to study the effects on the body. I, of course, will use my resident guinea pig.

• 13. Time reapportioning – Two summer months have been an experiment in endurance and tolerance. I asked my staff to schedule me with three or four functional consults daily (one hour each) to see how we all fared. It was grueling in the extreme. You must remember that for every hour I spend with you in the exam room, I spend 1-2 hours studying your child, labs, history, reports, genomics reports, Nutreval reports, consult with other professionals outside of the exam room. For example, when I get a Nutreval report, I will study it myself then set up a ½ hour consult with one of Genova’s expert providers. That way, not only do I hone my skills and knowledge, but I also don’t want to miss anything important. You literally get a free consult from an expert!! So, how does one do 3-4 consults daily and still spend the required time prior to the visit to make it worthwhile and relevant? One gets up at 2:30AM and heads to the office by 4AM! That’s how. So, envision spending 4 hours with four patients in the course of an 8 hour day… where do the other 20 patients get squeezed? Into those other 4 hours! We decided that this schedule was not viable on a long-term basis. Come September, I realized I had all this PTO time that was going to be lost if I didn’t use it so came up with this brilliant plan to take one day per week until the end of the year. The thinking was that I really needed more time to spend studying the literature and doing my functional studies. I do not feel that I have that time while dealing with this kind of schedule. So, until the end of the year, I will be available in the office 3 days per week, Wed through Friday. I am taking Saturday through Tuesday off. I will also reduce the consult load from 3 or 4 down to 2 per day. This will allow me to come in at 6AM rather than at 4AM to study your kids. The other project that I have hinted on in the past year is consultation via video or audio conferencing. I have actually successfully done several of these and there is growing interest in doing more. Of necessity, I will try to limit these to kids that are not in Idaho. Also, of necessity, I will not have the capability of billing insurance. The whole insurance portion of medical practice has become onerous and unwieldy. You can certainly bill your own insurance and I can supply appropriate codes. This is an effort to really trim the inefficiencies of the current traditional medical model. If I decide to limit my hours to 3 days per week on a permanent basis, I will expand the online part of my practice as time permits. If you have an interest in this approach, you can email me directly and I can share details on the process Mbrus052@gmail.com. I have been in discussion with the powers that be about cutting back to ¾ time in the office. We will see if this flies.

• 14. Vaccine stats linked to bonus – In debates regarding vaccines, the conversation frequently touches on the “fact” that MD’s are “bought and paid for” by the powers-that-be. These powers can be the local hospital admin, CDC, AAP, AMA, CMS, etc. I was not willing to admit to myself that physicians could be bought like this. This past year, this issue hit me squarely and I realized that you all were correct in your assessment. As most of you know, I have been very open about allowing families to join our practice even with alternate ideas about vaccines. The only requirement I have is that you do your research. Most of you honor this and have become very savvy about this whole vaccine issue. Well, in order for a physician to get his bonus for the year, he/she needs to actually have an 80% vaccine rate in his patient panel. My panel is at 40%!!! So, it became clear to me why a lot of physicians will not tolerate having families who do not vaccinate… it affects income significantly. This hit me right between the eyes and I sent an email to the “powers-that-be”. I have included my email for you here. Interestingly, they have removed vaccines as a requirement for bonuses for next year. I am not certain if my letter had any impact on this, but it is nice to think so. I was objective in my appraisal of the issue, but tried to remain kind.

"You may send this up the authority tree as far as it needs to go. This policy of St Alphonsus re bonuses being tied to immunization status of a provider's patients is not a new one that I know of. What appears to be new is the punitive nature to those patients who choose to do something different than the standard regiment. If a physician is penalized for his patients' choices after due counseling, that provider is not likely to be accepting of patients who want to do something different and ultimately there is a whole population out there that upon which St Al's is turning their back. This is antithetical to the St Alphonsus philosophy to the extreme. Whether or not I had a chance to dispute the review is irrelevant as any dispute would not make much difference as far as the bonus goes. My voicing the concern at this point is to bring out the grave inconsistency between policy and philosophy. In summary:

1. The effect of this policy is to shut out a whole section of the valley's population from appropriate medical care.

2. The effect of this policy is to cause providers to not take patients who will not follow standard vaccine policy. If it affects bonuses, why would providers accept patients that would cost him/her income?

3. The effect of this policy is to penalize INCREASED effort and time in having this vaccine discussion with some of these patients, who, once discussion has taken place, will actually do the shots. Why would a provider who is already crunched for time place himself in a position to have to spend more time dealing with an issue that will cost him income based on the patient's choices? Not many.

4. The effect of this policy is to create an atmosphere of mistrust between medical providers and families who are honestly searching, studying, reading, and coming up with things that worry them greatly, only to be met with condescension at the provider level from providers who have NOT done 10% of the research that some of these families have done. There is growing grumbling from patients that physicians/providers are being bought by higher authorities and pharmaceutical companies in the form of incentives and bonuses. This plays into their fears greatly.

5. This whole population of people is growing, as we all know, and who will provide medical care for them? And who will have an intelligent conversation with them about the immunization program in a mutually enlightened way that does not come across as condescending, especially when the patient may know more about the issue than I do? I will not back down from caring for this population regardless of the "bonus" or other financial consequences. This is a matter of principle for me and I hope with some thoughtful consideration, St Alphonsus administration will gain clarity that is not clouded by CMS incentives and bonuses."

Regards,

Mario Brus, MD

SAMG – Pediatrics Nampa

• 15. Vaccine contamination by retroviral fragments – as you all know, I am not an anti-vax person, however, I have made it my task to listen and learn. As with many of you, the more you listen and learn, the more troubled you become. This has been true for me also. This is the reason for allowing non-vaccinating families into my practice w/o beratement. The whole issue of an evolving autism epidemic captivated me several years ago. The statistics don’t seem to support the links between vaccines and ASD (autistic spectrum disorder). However troubling associations continue to occur. Probably the largest is the large and growing number of families reporting adverse effects after getting vaccines. This flies in the face of the official studies and statistics. So I have tried to look at this as objectively as possible. The most troubling ingredient in this “cauldron” of debate in my mind is aluminum. The work coming out of Univ of Tel-Aviv is bringing this issue to focus. By itself, however, it is still not enough to explain the literal explosion of autism and neurobehavioral problems in our kids. There is a concept that seems to tie a lot of the loose ends together. It is not new to me but is new in the context of vaccines. It is the problem of retroviruses. I will try to summarize the problem concisely and you will need to listen to the lectures to gain deeper understanding of the issue. Retroviruses may very well be the missing link in our thinking. Both lecturers that bring this issue to focus are molecular biologists who are VERY familiar with their material. Dr. Judy Mikovitz worked for the National Cancer Institute for 20 years then moved to the private sector to work on retroviruses. She was part of the team that developed anti-retroviral treatments for HIV back in the 80’s. Her discovery in 2009 that several of our vaccines are contaminated with retroviruses cost her job and landed her in jail. I am making my way through her book, “Plague”. https://www.amazon.com/Plague-Scientist%C2%92s-Intrepid-Retroviruses-Syndrome/dp/1510713948/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542129908&sr=8-1&keywords=plague+mikovitz Dr. Deisher worked for some of the largest biotech companies prior to starting her own to develop alternates to several unethical biotech products. So here is the line of reasoning: a) there has been a trend in vaccine production to produce more of the vaccines on human fetal tissue and away from animal tissue. It seems that it is much more cost effective. b) there is a risk of various contaminations that is well known to the FDA as noted in many of their minutes. c) Dr. Mikovitz found a higher incidence of retroviral DNA in the genome of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and then even autism. She published her results in Science in 2009 and 2010. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3073172/ This led to a flurry of activity to try duplicate her studies. Due to some partial retractions in the study and lack of ability to duplicate her results, this issue has not been taken as seriously as it aught and has generally been dismissed by the FDA and the medical community. I should mention that she lost her job and was jailed for a short time. It is not clear whether her fate was a result of her muckraking in this area, but I have suspicions. In her subsequent video interviews, she has strong suspicions that most if not all of our vaccine and biological medication supply are contaminated with retroviruses. d) More recently, Dr. Deisher has done analyses of the rate of autism and has found what she calls event “breakpoints” where the rate of increase of autism takes a decided increase upward. These breakpoints correlate with changes in the way one or more vaccines are made. At these points, the vaccine is changed from growth on animal tissue (like mice and eggs) to human fetal tissue from abortises. Her interpretation is that because this is human tissue, the body is less likely to reject the retroviral DNA and more likely to incorporate it into its own DNA. I have seen some attempts to disprove her analysis but nothing that is very convincing. I am in the process of evaluating other research into retroviruses, especially related to vaccine contamination. These findings may be the reason that attempts to pin the autism epidemic on other things like mercury have not been totally convincing. For example, Autism has continued to rise in spite of getting rid of most of the thimerosal from vaccines (with a few exceptions). But when you look at the dramatic rise in ASD, it correlates perfectly with the change in production from animal to human tissue substrate. e) Lastly, there appears to be a growing “epidemic” of genetic mutations that are “de novo”, meaning that they do not occur in the parents. MTHFR, for example, usually occurs in parents and is passed down. So how do you interpret a child’s genomics that shows MTHFR snps in parents that don’t have them? Genetic “epidemics” don’t occur!...unless there is some extraneous influence. It is known that retroviruses which incorporate themselves into our DNA have the ability to change our genetics!!! I had NO idea! So, we have some pieces to a puzzle that are coming together to paint a very dismal picture. Now to get more studies to prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt. The FDA and CDC have been pursuing studies to find some of these viral particles and inactivate them. I am not sure how seriously this is being pursued, however. Meanwhile, the populace continues to be the subject of a large-scale experiment, using biologicals that we do not fully understand. Please watch these two ladies. It will change your entire perspective!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bc6WX33SuE&t=32s This is Dr. Deisher’s presentation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmzWq6Ej6Os&t=1280s This is Dr. Mikovitz’s presentation in an interview by Wendy Meyers. At 20 min, she comes right out and states that all vaccines are contaminated with retrovirus.

• 16. Further Education - As part of my ongoing functional training, I just attended (2 weekends ago) the Institute of Functional Medicine conference on detoxification. I know that this is of great interest to many of you, so stay tuned. I will be quickly implementing strategies that I learn. Just a hint… IFM does not emphasize active medicinal detox and is pushing hard on use of detoxifying foods. For example, here is a list of powerful detoxifying foods: Allium vegetables, Apiaceous veges, Black raspberry, black tea, blueberry, chamomile tea, chicory root, citrus, coffee, cruciferous veges, dandelion tea, garlic, ghee, ginger, grapefruit, green tea, honeybush tea, peppermint tea, pomegranate, purple sweet potato, rooibos tea, rosemary, turmeric. The goal is to increase phase 2 detox enzymes and reduce phase 1 enzymes to prevent buildup of very toxic and reactive intermediate chemicals. This application fits my own conservative approach to kids. They have expanded this philosophy to adults also. Then, lastly for this year, I just returned from Hershey, PA for an advanced conference on Nutragenetics where I rubbed shoulders with Bob Miller, and other experts. Dr. Miller is the power behind the Tree of Life genomic interpretive software we use to look under the genetic hood. Bottom line…. I am peddling hard to catch up in this functional medicine model of practice. The practice is very different from two years ago! For those of you dealing with intelligent, sensitive, ADHD, emotionally volatile kiddos, one thing that is floating to the surface is the elevated glutamate in these kids. Glutamate and GABA are interchangeable with enzymes required in either direction. Glutamate is the excitatory neurotransmitter that gives us drive, energy, and even some aggression. It is what creates intelligence and the ability to figure out complex problems. The other edge of that positive side is irritability, lack of focus, sometimes even some reduced motivation (ability without motivation does nothing for you), and in worst cases, restlessness and aggressiveness. When there is a block (snp) in the conversion of glutamate to GABA (gamma amino butyric acid), the calming transmitter, it is difficult to get out of that agitated, inattentive, restlessness and aggressiveness to a calm place. It is interesting that likely 80% of the people in that conference room likely fit that description hah, hah!!! 😉 I am experimenting with the product Glutamate Scavenger which moderates this balance. It has L theanine, phosphatidyl serine, chamomile, etc. I will try carry this in my office for those who want to give it a whirl. The following pics give you a flavor. Lots of metabolic pathways! … in the company of a lot of geeks!! I will have more to say about mTOR and autophagy in a future post. It is the up and coming research that likely ties all human pathology together. Stay tuned.

Here is Dr. Miller and his associate discussing pathways.

This is the 3’ x 5’ metabolic pathways through which we slowly picked our way. The Methylation that we typically discuss in the office is that small cycle up in the right upper corner.

Here is my lab rat experimenting inside the hyperbaric chamber. This is a modality that has shown great promise in brain injury, birth trauma, CP, and even autism. We are looking at possibly purchasing a unit for those who may be inclined to take advantage of this modality. Insurance does not usually cover treatments for anything other than diving injury. We will see.

The lab rat experimenting with ionic detox foot baths. All the color that emanates from the plates comes out whether or not you have your feet inside the bath. It is a reaction to the minerals in the water. The browns and yellows and disgusting greens are NOT things being extracted from your body. The magic happens inside your system where you build up ions and are able to support your detox pathways. This modality has also been shown to help autistic kids. After the bath, for several hours, I felt like I was walking on air. It was very energizing. Some of the autistic kids after a few treatments were doing better with eye contact and attempts at verbal communication. Interesting!! We may want to consider purchasing one of these also.

Discussion on oral binders when attempting to detox. The main detox agents, however, are foods. I will have more to say about this in future.

Lots of discussion about mast cells. It appears we all suffer from mast cell activation to some degree or other. This appears to be triggered more and more by the evolving toxicity in our environment. This was not seen prior to 50-60 year ago.

Enough for now.