General Functional Medicine
Any thoughts on why someone with a main complaint of fatigue would feel much more tired for several days following acupuncture treatment? The patient is a young man who had shingles late last year. He has no other symptoms. My initial thought was that his immune system may be fighting the virus still, diverting his resources to the fight and causing fatigue. Perhaps the acupuncture stimulated the immune system, further exacerbating the fatigue. Another suggestion on the Facebook group was if the virus could’ve caused the HPA axis issues.
Chris Kresser: Yeah, I think those are both reasonable suggestions. One thing I’ve noticed both with my patients and myself...
I’m wondering about your feelings on a therapeutic dose of vitamin K2 along with cod liver oil for vitamins A and D for my 19-year-old son who was born missing eight teeth. He still has the baby teeth in the spots where no adult teeth ever came in, and we’d like to hang on to them for as long as possible. Although the dentist has told us for years that there is no way they will last forever, and he will need to get implants at some point, this week’s lesson on vitamin K2 piqued my curiosity. Since K2 is so important for teeth and the structure of teeth, I wonder if it might be beneficial for him to take some, if only to help him hang on to his baby teeth for as long as possible. He lives away at college most of the year and does not eat very well, I’m sorry to say, and is not open to improving his diet while he is in college but is willing to take supplements.
Dr. Amy Nett: So this is really tricky. As you mentioned, there is research in terms of vitamin K supporting...
Patient was taking two MegaSpore, two Prescript-Assist daily during antimicrobials. Any other recommendations? Could diverticulosis and/or diverticulitis cause RBCs in the stool test?
Dr. Amy Nett: Diverticulosis should not cause RBCs in the stool test. Diverticulitis possibly could. It depends on the degree...
I just read The Epigenetics Revolution, hoping it would help me with some sort of basic understanding of methylation, which it didn’t. I went to the UK CAM Summit. Ben Lynch was giving a talk via video link, and I got to ask him a question. I explained that I had seen several of his YouTube videos and heard several interviews with him, but always felt like I’d been pushed into the advanced class and had missed the beginner’s. I asked him for any advice to where to get these intro level classes. He said that he had been asked a lot, but didn’t have a good answer, but hoped to bridge that gap at the conference he kept referring to. Do you have a good answer?
Chris Kresser: Well, let me stop there and just see if I can answer that. I’d be happy to answer...
Do you know what the risk of antibiotic resistance is with herbal antimicrobials versus conventional antibiotics?
Dr. Amy Nett: So, there are no clear studies on antibiotic resistance with herbal antimicrobials, but it’s thought to be...
I’ve not heard much about functional approaches for asthma. Obviously, it’s inflammatory in nature, but have you found any common patterns in asthma patients that could guide assessment and treatment?
Dr. Amy Nett: I would say I haven’t actually had a patient who has come only for asthma. I have...
What about for kidney stones?
Dr. Amy Nett: I haven’t seen any therapeutic protocols for kidney stones once they are already there. Again, if somebody...
For kids with neurological issues, many people are recommending the 23andMe to see if there’s anything to explore further. However, after listening to all the discussion at Paleo f(x), I’m wondering if there’s any value to doing this at all. I don’t want to waste unnecessary money on labs that aren’t actionable. I pretty much know what you think about this stuff from having heard you talk about it, but would you make an exception with pediatrics and neurology, or would you go right to functional methylation tests?
Chris Kresser: I still think that the genetics can be helpful in some situations, but as you know, Laura, and...
Chris talks about how different people have different chronotypes, which would influence whether they had a tendency to stay up later or go to bed earlier. Is this something that shows up on a 23andMe test, and which gene would we be looking for? Do you think this would slightly influence cortisol production, making it slightly higher in the evening? I see you say really high cortisol is pathologic regardless of chronotype.
Dr. Amy Nett: Yes, absolutely. So, I think you hit on a few key points there. Chronotypes, as far as...
