Welcome And Topic Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Thank you. We are live. Welcome everybody to Beauty of Breathing Podcast. Look who I have with us today, Dr. Jekyll Patterson. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Hi, thank you so much for having me, Renata. I'm excited to be on the the uh top to have this conversation today.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I was the just signing Dr. Jacqueline, I just looked at her bio and I'm like so freaking impressed. But I already have so many questions in my mind. We're going live on Instagram as we are speaking. If you're not aware, Beauty of Breathing recordings, we actually go live on Instagram in my account uh at Maya Moves. So make sure that you're following us over there so you can actually ask your questions live and interact with us as we're doing this. You might notice, uh, if you're watching this, you might notice that I am turning my head back and forth to make sure I go with both screens, but I'm still listening and paying attention. Um, what else? Our topic today is interplay between infections, Lyme disease, and inflammation. Oh my gosh. I mean, most of our yes, most of our area patients have these issues, so I'm super excited for this talk. Um, I'm gonna go ahead and introduce you. Presenting Dr. Jaquel Peterson, a nationally recognized leader in naturopathic and functional medicine. She is the founder of Fairfield Family Health, a multidisciplinary medical practice in Connecticut, and has over 16 years of clinical experience. I forgot to put my light on, y'all, specializing in Lyme disease, autoimmune and complex chronic illness into gradive psychiatry and environmental medicine. Dr. Patterson serves as president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and is certified through the Institute for Functional Medicine, a sought-after speaker and three-time Amazon best-selling author. Her expertise has been featured in major media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, and National Television Networks. Welcome to Beauty of Reading. We're so blessed to have you with us today.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Yeah, I'm blessed to be here too and really excited about the conversation we're going to have. It's uh, as I think the title said it is a complex interplay. So there's a lot. There's a lot to uh uncover and discuss.

A Personal Route Into Root-Cause Care

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Well, usually when people go into this field, there may be a personal reason. There's always something that drives you, your why. Can you start by telling us how did you even get into this work? Yeah, so I it's funny.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

I had a pat interest in it since I was a little kid. I used to make my brother do all these different experiments. He was my first patient, I always say. And um, but I actually had family that were conventionally trained MDs. And my mother became ill. I had always been interested in integrative medicine, and it actually she had lupus, and it it disillusioned me, to be honest, with the conventional medical system. I decided I didn't want to go that route. I went into Cornell undergrad as plant sciences, so I always had an interest in it, but I changed because at that time it was only I'm 45, it was only like Andrew Wheel, Dr. Wheel. There was really nobody doing like functional medicine. So I learned about it like a few years after working and went immediately when I learned of it, I was like, this is exactly what I wanted to do. I just didn't know what it was called. And um, so so now I'm I'm mixing, I'm matching, you know, exactly doing my life purpose of honestly what I wanted, I love since I was a child, but also my mother, in terms of my story, really influenced me because I was like, this is not how I want to practice medicine because I didn't feel like they were looking at the root cause. They were looking at her in all these individual aspects instead of like holistically as a person. And I got I noticed that even as a teenager, and I was like, that's not how I I would want to be a doctor. That's not how I want to practice.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

I really feel like we're going through an awakening where people are really starting to um want to know more about their own health and they're seeking more holistic professionals instead of just conventional medicine. Where do you see this going?

SPEAKER_00 4:51

I think I I definitely see that. And I run a large integrative practice in Connecticut. There's nine of us, and one of the biggest things, like there's a lot. So one of the things we say is healthcare as it should be, and like, well, what does that mean? A lot of people just feel when they come to see us, they've seen 10 doctors. And the way the healthcare model is, it's not a uh dig at the med MDs because they go into it for the same reasons, is they're seeing people every 10 minutes. So if you're seeing people every 10 minutes, how can you get through all the questions? How this is why it takes years before they're sometimes getting like the right work up or they're getting sent to 50 different specialists. So by the time they come to see me, they've already seen in our office like seven to nine doctors. And so, why I think it's becoming of a more interest is people want to be looked at like fully, holistically, and have the time spent with them. We might spend 90 minutes in the first visit, then we're gonna spend 45 minutes to an hour in the second visit. You don't get that in conventional care, and because of that, I think you get to the root of the issue.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

I'm sorry, my thought being on something. Keep talking, I have enough.

Why Patients Seek Integrative Medicine

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Yes. So one of the things I'm gonna do is not know. Oh my gosh, is what I think you miss is getting to the root cause of illness as a result because you're looking at the person in these individual pieces instead of as a whole. And so I think people want to be seen, they want to be listened to, they don't want to be gaslit with like, or the patients. So many people that come to us are like, oh, my lab works well, great, but I just still don't feel good. And then we find a lot of other findings, or sometimes their lab work, there are issues and it never got addressed. And so they just and they're they're going around and they people aren't um, especially see this drive with women that are like hormones and biodental, yeah, just like I want to feel well forever. Like I don't want to just get by, I want to like actually thrive. So I think that that's what's also changing culturally. People want to feel well throughout their health span, not just, you know, just getting by. And so when they come to us, it's like I know something's wrong and I I need better care, or something has been wrong, but they still don't feel good. Like they're on medications or on treatment, they still don't feel good. And so we're looking at every other, every other piece, like their their gut, how their gut is, how their inflammation is, how their um mental health is, like all the different aspects when we're seeing someone.

unknown 7:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

So what professionals do you have in your practice in Connecticut?

How Infections Drive Chronic Inflammation

SPEAKER_00 7:22

So I have other naturopathic doctors. I have um APRN who is functional medicine trained, I have an MD who's functional medicine and actually previously an ER doctor. Um and our yeah, so our nurse practitioner does folks, she focuses also on biodental hormones and weight loss. And the other people are NDs, we have acupuncture, we have cranial sacral therapy. We do IV, we do ozone therapy, we do like our our wellness stuff, sauna and things like that. So yeah, we we we went into and the the sad the good thing, the good thing is that we provide all these services. The bad thing is a lot of why it got added was that people came in because they're like, I trust you. So I don't get go to somebody else in your in your in your space. I don't really want to go outside of that. So that's kind of how it came to be. It was really honestly patients demand. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Uh for listeners who may not be familiar, how do infections like Lyme disease trigger long-term inflammation in the body?

Lyme Myths Testing And Co-Infections

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yeah. So if you look at even actually autoimmune conditions, most autoimmune conditions have one or two persistent and ongoing infections. People don't know that. Yes. Okay. So so if you look at something, um, there's a saying called molecular mimicry, and you look at in like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, they've shown that in a chronic infections like mono, um, also Lyme disease, which I do a lot, can actually trigger up autoimmune conditions and autoimmune flares and actually potentially be like the preceding cause. And so when you look at inflammation or infections at overall, if someone has an infection like what we saw with COVID, um people had long COVID and they their body almost had like an autoimmune response where they're continuing to have this inflammation, it kind of creates the cascade of infections. And so when you look at inflammation as a whole, it's acuity, like the strength of that infection, and then also chronicity. Do you have an infection for a long time causing this like chronic what they call inflammation that's causing an issue on your system, like a diabetes or you know, hypertension or something where you're having like constant inflammation? So infections can actually trigger that up, especially when they haven't been treated before.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Uh, can you talk a little bit more about Lyme disease? I feel like it's one of those things of usually those people that try everything and they just hadn't looked into it yet. It's true.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

So yeah. Oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

So, first of all, how do you get it? Is it always through a tick bite? Uh every single time you get a tick, do you always get Lyme disease or not? And is there hope for these people?

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Yeah, so there is so the first thing is definitely hope. And most people don't know, but um, and I just actually did a YouTube clip on it, but the size of the of the ticks can be as small as the ballpoint pen, like literally as small as a poppy seed. And those are nymphs, so they're in the bit middle phase of growing, as like uh let's say um uh of being able to transmit an infection, and like 70 to 80 percent are from that tiny little tick. So a lot of people think of like, oh, it needs to be really big and engorged, or it needs to be on. I like to always give like some misinformation, like has to be on 36 to 48 hours. First of all, you don't know when it was first on, right? Because like, how do you know that that time was when you you thought it was? Second, they can literally be as small as a poppy seed. I remember myself, I've had Lyme disease. Multiple members of my family have had it. I remember going out to a event and um outside event, and I went to go like tie my shoes. I was like, oh, when did I get because I have freckles? I'm like, when did I get a freckle on my shin? I'm like, that looks new. And I'm like, oh my gosh, that it was an embedded tick, and it was flat. So that's just to show like it literally just looked like a freckle. So, and they also like to go into areas like your groin, your underarms, the scalp. So they hide in areas that you don't know. And one of the things is through conventional testing, like 60% of the tests, it's false negative. So many people test false, so that's another thing, and women, even worse, we produce less antibodies, so it's even less, it's even more likely for us to test false negative. Then the other thing is almost every state, I think it's like 48 states, have shown to have Lyme disease. And so I always like to say that too, because people are like, I'm not in Connecticut, I'm not in Texas, but guess what? I see people throughout the country in Florida, in Texas, in Arizona, in California, because they have it. But the difference is there's different types of species of Lyme disease. There's like Borelia Burdorfrey, Borelia Fzele, and so there's different ones throughout the country. And then to your question about if it's just a tick, it could be flies are showing mosquitoes. There's different transmission routes. And so uh people only thought of it as a tick, but now they're thinking with some it could be in different ways. And then also there's co-infections like Babesia or Bartonella that are different types of tick-borne infections that can cause the same exact symptoms that people are aware of or they didn't get tested for.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

That is insane.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah. And the symptoms are vague, they they they call it the great imitator for a reason because it imitates autoimmune conditions. Remember when I got it, one of the things, the common symptom is you'll get, let's say, joint pain, and my shoulder hurts today. The next day it's gone, and then it's over here, and then it's the next thing. You feel like you're you're you're going crazy. You're like, yes, you're like, why? Because if you have usually autoimmune conditions, they stay in the same spot. Like you have like arthritis, you have it in the wrist. When you have Lyme, it's that it's because think of it, it's like a tick, it's it's a spirochete, so it's moving around. So that's why you'll have it jumping around, but you you'll be like, Maybe I slept the wrong way, especially when like maybe I did this, or or they're tired, and like, oh, probably because I didn't get enough sleep. So the downside with that is they're taking a long time before anyone actually ever works it up, and not everyone gets a bullseye rash, it's only like 50% of people get a bullseye rash. So a lot of people are definitely walking around like undiagnosed that no nobody ever actually worked it up, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

I think we're like professionals in creating excuses for ourselves as linked because we just do so much, we're always so busy, so we're just expected to be tired. We're expected to be a brain fog. We're expected to like it's just normal, it's my life. But whenever you realize that you can actually start feeling better, you can, and you deserve to have energy to wake up excited for the day and to have the right dopamine release throughout your day. It just changes everything. I actually just had blood work done. I'm working with an incredible nurse practitioner local to me. And I'm in awe of how bad my blood work is on certain things, like vitamins on the ground, protein on the ground, hormones. I've never checked my homes' hormones before, and it's the first time that I'm going through everything. I was like, oh, okay, well, it makes sense now, things that I've been feeling. And there's hope that I'm going to be able to eventually get to a place that I feel like I used to feel when I was younger, or how I should be feeling right now. I'm 41, I'm not that old. Um, we're in our 40s, we're going strong, yeah. And we should remember things and we should, you know, we shouldn't be playing all the time. Um, but uh, do you mind talking a little bit more about other symptoms? What else should we be looking for for Lyme disease?

Symptoms Plus Iron Ferritin Clues

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah, so you can have brain fog, which you mentioned, and that's the tricky thing if I have women that are like uh there's a hormonal piece, but interestingly, um, hormones also affect different neurotransmitters like dopamine and things to focus, but Lyme does too. So it causes inflammation to the brain that can cause issues with memory, brain fog, cognition, decision making. Um, the other symptom is like a lot of fatigue. And then other people can get, you can actually get neurological symptoms. You can get ringing the ears, eye, ocular issues, sensory issues. People will say they when they the burning their soles of their feet are like burning or tingly when they wake up, um, dizziness, uh, headaches is a common symptom. So it's a huge amount of different symptoms. And then even some people get anxiety. So a lot of um, as my background also is in like an integrative psychiatry. I have a lot of patients that I see with Lyme disease that now have newly diagnosed anxiety. Or, and you saw that actually with even COVID, with any infection, mental health, I think it was like 50% of people had a mental health impact from it. So a lot of the patients I see will have Lyme disease, and then all of a sudden, like overnight, they're like, I'm getting anxiety, I'm I'm hot, I'm getting hot flashes, I'm getting these symptoms that don't feel like I was never anxious before. So that's why I always tell people if there's like a change that like I was never anxious before and now it's changing or I was, and now all of a sudden, and I'm not going back. That's always like a red flag. And also making sure your doctor, I'm glad you said your nurse practitioner is doing like comprehensive blood work because a lot of patients I have, they don't get hormones checked, that's never checked, they don't have their iron checked, and and um infections feed off of iron, so you'll be anemic. Um, they don't get their nutrients. She's like, wait a second. Yeah, infections, and the reason is it's like fuel, so it's like food. So when you get an illness, any infection, I know we're talking about Lyme disease, but any infection, it needs iron because it's like oxygen to eat to feed. So what happens is your iron will actually and ferritin stores will go low because it's it needs it to stay alive, right? So that's the thing I saw hugely in the last like five years of like all my patients are anemic. And so I'm like, what's going on with that? And you'll see like these other infections, and something as simple as getting your iron up, you'll feel dramatically like better just because it it connects to so many symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, brain fog, headaches. Like people don't realize. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

My iron, I've always been anemic and I knew that. And like one day I just stopped taking. I was like, Oh, I think I'm good. 10 years, like 12 years later, I do blood work again, and then my iron is okay, but my ferritin is 15 right now. It's on the ground.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Yes, yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

So we're trying to figure out exactly. But I am showing inflammatory markers out also. I think it's monocytes. Yep, yep, the monocytes. So you could have had like EBV, so they should check EBV and other things too. Yep. I know she mentioned mold. Which I haven't, thankfully. Um, mold, but um, I mean, who knows? It's it's interesting to find out how many things can come off of this. And you guys are so freaking intelligent. I mean, my job was on the floor whenever she was speaking about MTHFR and how all these things are related and these genes and this means that. I was like, oh my gosh, okay, it makes sense now. But it's so cool. It's so cool to have somebody like understand you, like you know what's going on with my body, and I'm just so thankful for that. So if anybody listening to this, you guys are going through issues, please reach out to a naturopath or a functional medicine doctor that can help you do extensive blood work. I remember when I did blood work years ago and my vitamin D was at 38, and my regular traditional physician said, You're okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Yeah. So there's there's optimal. And so I'm glad you brought that up too, Renata, because it's like there's optimal versus functional, right? So like your number 38, vitamin D, the range is 30 to 100. You should be at least above 40. You want it closer to like 50 to 80, right? So they'll so same as iron. I've had my iron check, ferritin, the same thing. Um, it's funny. I saw a doctor and said, I have a feeling I could tell when I'm like more anemic because I tend to run. I'm like, I want that checked. Same thing. They're like, Oh yeah, your number's fine. So I'm like, I have a feeling. Can you give me the numbers? Same thing, ferritin was 17 because the range is 16 guys to 200 something. So they'll say it's okay because it's in the range, but look at how big that range is. That range is 100 points. So you need to be at like 100. So that's one of the challenges, is the in the way the lab work, it's basically in a in the very extreme ends that like something's completely wrong versus like, okay, what do you need to actually feel really good? So they're not thinking that when they're actually um going through the labs.

Treatment Beyond Antibiotics

SPEAKER_01 19:34

In the airways we field, we talk about low ferritin levels all the time. There's a research that shows uh that low ferritin can cause limb movement at night. So all these children that are sleeping and moving around a lot at night, always very important to check ferritin levels uh to make sure that that's not super low. And um my goodness, Lyme. So there is hope for these people. What does it look like when they come to your office? How long does it take for you guys to do this testing and eliminate everything else to make sure, okay, it is Lyme. And then what is the process of um getting treatment?

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Yep. So on average, most patients with Lyme disease do see at least like five to seven doctors, typically, sadly, before they get worked up. So we see somebody, they have all those symptoms. Honestly, I'm always checking for infections all the time because so many people have them. So we test, if they're positive, sometimes we do specialty tests that are better, they have higher levels of specificity and stuff than like a quest or lab course. So we might we might do those two. And if they get treated, if they're Igm, meaning like they just got it, that's when antibiotics honestly are warranted or work the best, you know, because because it it just came in and you want to get it out. Now, the tricky piece is when people are like, I've been struggling with Lyme disease, I think for 10 years, or I've been having I've had it 20 years, or I've been on antibiotics for five years. Those are the people that come to us often as it's like I've already done those medical, the conventional treatments. And even just for people listening in, even if you've gotten treated with Lyme disease, 30% of people that have been treated with antibiotics have what's called post-treatment Lyme symptoms. So like a one out of three are still gonna have arthritis, fatigue, et cetera. And so I think that this is where herbs and supplements work best because we're gonna do things to support the mitochondria, which is the energy center, which gets depleted from Lyme disease. We're gonna do um herbs, the herbs I do, things like artemesa or cryptolepsis, those have been studied and shown to be as effective as antibiotics. So I'm gonna do a mix with antimicrobials. I'm also gonna support their gut health, I'm also gonna support their immune function, I'm also gonna support like inflammation with things like turmeric or boswilia. So you're gonna be covering all bases. And when you just get antibiotics, all they're doing is removing like the microbe. But if someone continues to have symptoms, it's likely because their immune system is like over, you know, overdoing it, is very inflamed, and antibiotics don't fix that. So this is where I feel like uh, especially for people that have been suffering for for a long time, where functional medicine and naturopathic medicine is like that's where we're gonna excel in uh much more than conventional.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Uh, I have a question. I remember my whole life. Uh, out of my whole life, I remember once when I got a tick. And I just lived in St. Simon's Island in Georgia, which is this beautiful island, but there were woods everywhere. Um, and I remember I don't even remember where I was, but I'm sure we were outside. But I uh got back to my room the that night and I looked and it was right on my back, on my lower back, uh sticking there. So after having the if let's say if I did get Lyme disease, um how long until I I'm not sure if I'm asking this correctly, could I start having symptoms way after, like today? So this was probably 20 years ago. Um, could I start having symptoms now? Did the symptoms start right away?

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Do you have symptoms? Yeah, you can have symptoms weeks after. So normally in the conventional labs, it takes about four to six weeks before you're gonna show positive in labs. So that's important to know because sometimes when I see patients, they're like, Oh, I got tested right away. And I'm like, ugh, like they got tested a week after, and they're like, I was negative, so I'm okay. Okay. And I'm like, no, because your body takes four to six weeks to even produce enough antibodies. So that's the first thing. If someone gets bit, usually the best course of treatment is an antibiotic right away, and then we have to retest four to six weeks later. Now, you can, some of my patients have antibodies for years because sometimes, unfortunately, they get bit more than once, but then the other thing is their body just didn't, it didn't clear. Some people, your antibodies can just show for a period of time, just like anything, like us getting um kids don't get it now, but chicken pox, like your antibodies might still show that you had an exposure to it before. Um, but this is where the specialty Lyme testing is helpful because it's kind of going to give more information about is your body still reacting to it versus like is it just you know prior infection? So you're doing that, but at the end of the day, Lyme disease is still a clinical diagnosis. So it's gonna be lab work, obviously, but also how are you actually clinically presenting with the symptoms? Are they in line with it and then treat accordingly?

SPEAKER_01 24:35

So your body can get rid of it over time.

Brain Barrier Mood And Cognition

SPEAKER_00 24:38

The antibodies could clear, yes. And then I and then this is the tricky thing. I have some people who will have a couple, the wife will be completely sick with Lyme, and then they're like, let me just check my husband. The husband's numbers are worse than the wife's the wife has all the symptoms. So I'm always like, I always say to patients, like, why does that happen? And so some think about like parasites and other things we get exposed to, or how some people are like gut, you know, they can they have like what they call iron stomach and they don't get affected and another person has a stomach bug. My opinion on that is that the body, it should mount a response, right? And react and do something. But if you're having tons of uh burden, your body, like for some people, you're gonna be more sensitive, or if your immune system is dysregulated or is at a low point, or if the significance of it is a lot higher. So, yes, some people have it and they're asymptomatic and they're fine and they're living their best life and they have no symptoms. Uh, for the most part, most people that's not the case, but there are some cases like that for sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Um, how closely connected are the immune system and nervous system when it comes to chronic infections and inflammation?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

It's it's very connected. In fact, if you look at Lyme disease, it affects certain centers and also just infections. What happens is you're there's the blood-brain barrier. So that's the barrier that keeps things in and out of your brain that should stay and not stay. So just like so there's a saying called leaky gut, leaky brain, right? So you have that, see? So you just so very people are very familiar with the gut part, but people don't know about it for the brain. So the same is the case for the brain. Um, it mostly keeps everything out. The challenge is if you're having a lot of infections like Lyme disease or just in general viruses, that blood brain barrier gets weakened, just like how people say the gut gets weakened, and you have these things that go through. And what they do is they attack certain areas of the center of the brain. Um, the common areas is the hippocampus, which is for memory, the prefrontal cortex, which is like the decision making. And so that's why you'll see people that have like Lyme disease, they start forgetting things, short-term memory, long-term, they're like, I can't make basic decisions. I have patients say, I have this in my mouth, but I can't, I can't say the words. Like, I know this is a cup, but I can describe everything that there's water and stuff in it, but I can't say it's a cup. Um, and that's all because those centers, um, anterior cingulate cortex, all these areas that relate um to cognitive function all get impacted. And that can happen if you've had these chronic and persistent long-term infections like Lyme disease, and is why with Lyme disease, you'll see rage, you'll see temperamental issues with Bartonella, um, you'll see a lot of anxiety, you'll see OCD. So, all of those areas of the brain impacted that can cause those symptoms as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

One of my questions was, and you answered earlier, why do some patients recover quickly from infections while others develop chronic symptoms that persist for ears, which you mentioned that already. Uh, but how chronic inflammation from infections affect actually mental health, mood, and cognitive function, because I feel like people that are already in a space where they are unhappy where they have had emotional trauma, they're way more vulnerable to these infections. So then it makes me think, what comes for us? They take an ordeal.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah, exactly. Because if you actually look at studies, depression, for example, you're right, chronic disease conditions, or like let's say hypothyroid, it's like 40 or 60% more chance of having depression if you have those disease conditions. So you have to think, what's that about? Those disease conditions carry with it a lot of chronic inflammation. And so if you look at the studies, um, the inflammatory markers are called cytokines. One of the markers is called IL-6, which is interleukin 6. That one is connected when that goes up, that affects your um your certain areas of the brain. And those areas of the brain affect neurotransmitters like serotonin, um, GABA, dopamine, um, hormones do too. People don't know, like testosterone is connected with dopamine, estrogen is connected with serotonin, progesterone is connected with GABA. That's why when women get like progesterone, their sleep is better or they're less anxious. So when I have all that going on with Lyme, it's a lot because it's like hormonal shifts cause that too. But basically, um inflammation decreases like things like dopamine, which is protective for your brain. But dopamine also does what? It makes you feel good, it makes you happy, it helps with mood regulation. So those infections will actually like decrease the levels of that in the brain that are actually not only protecting it, but are all also responsible for how you feel on your mood.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Wow. Oh my gosh, it's all connected, isn't it? 100%.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

That's the piece that unfortunately gets missed in conventional medicine, is it's like all of these. So what I love doing is I I've trained thousands of doctors, and what I love is when I get people that are like conventionally trained because changing their, oh my gosh, we weren't looking. It's like going back to just some basic like physiology, neurology, neuroanatomy, and like connecting all those pieces. Because again, we're trained to just look in piece pieces, peep people in pieces instead of like them as a whole. That like, what would hormones have to do with like why would my why would I be more infected affected if I had hormonal issues and infections, or why would that connect with my mental health? Me having joint pain has nothing to do with my mental health. It a hundred percent does.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

I saw a doctor talk about it this week. Um, for you as soon as you wake up, not to go straight to your phone, which we already know that. But her explanation in her eyes were because the second that you're there getting all that dopamine, you're flooding your brain with dopamine, then all of a sudden you're not gonna have um any of that throughout the day. You don't have the slow release dopamine when things naturally are happening throughout your day, so you're less likely to feel motivation to uh feel excited about things that you're doing for work or for your life.

Toxins Stress And Immune Burden

SPEAKER_00 30:55

So I guess and you already created stress to start the day. So, like, so that's the thing is I always suggest to people is like what those boundaries are. So I'm the same. And I find like if I look at my phone in the morning, I also take longer to get ready. I'm already thinking about what my day is gonna be. I don't just get into my day and figure that out. Um, also I do the same at night because it's like I always tell people like one or two hours after, but uh you also know what those triggers are. So for me, I know if I'm looking at let's say portal messages or I'm gonna get I'm I'm like back into work. If I look at portal messages from a patient, I'm like, oh, we gotta do this way. And then it's like I will start start start going, you know? So I know what those things are for me that get me into like kind of a stress work state. So everybody knows what those are for them and like trying to figure out. So it's like I know if I look at my phone in the first 10 minutes, I'm gonna take a lot longer to get ready and I'm already gonna be stressed going into the day. So it's like I tell people, it's like even if it's 10 or 15 minutes, those little things will help you overall throughout the day.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Wow. And what role do environmental toxins or stress, and sort of talking about stress, play in making inflammatory conditions worse in patients with chronic infections?

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Yeah. So inflammation um environmental exposures, they've shown like air pollution, which has like arsenic um metals, when you look at like lead, uh, mercury, huge impact, um, actually connected very much even with autoimmune conditions, on the ability for the body to like process things. So we have our liver that's really needing to filter these things out, and these are all important for the body's ability to be able to manage inflammation, it decreases. You want to always decrease the toxin burden because um these, like, for example, metals like lead, they cause your body to have also an inflammatory response as well. So if you're having that coupled with it, and there's so many studies on um that and like inflammation, but even like as it relates to mental health. So good things that are supporting it are like zinc and vitamin E and um glutathione and NAC and all these antioxidants to basically support uh your body's ability to like process that out of the system.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Amazing. How many um months would you say that it takes for somebody to get uh this lime treatment?

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Yeah, typically that's a really good question. So it depends, first of all, on like how long they've had it. If somebody's new and getting it, I'd say like three to six months. Typically, if somebody's been longer, I'd say like one to two years. But I do tell people we want to see traction within at least three months. And by six months, that they're like in momentum. If it's not, that's when I'm like, something else is going on, like mold, like you mentioned, like because mold suppresses the immune function. So you're not responding to anything, or is it a heavy metal, or is it so? We want to look at other reasons because you should start, the needle should move forward. I always tell people you shouldn't be feeling unwell for a year before you start feeling better. It you need to have some traction within a certain time frame that's like that's reasonable.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Since you guys have so much experience in treating Lyme, what does treatment for Lyme does not look like in case somebody's out there getting treated and they're not getting better? Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

So what it doesn't look like is someone that I love that question actually. What it doesn't look like is someone getting it and they they were given antibiotics for two days. I've had that, they're given treatment for seven days and they're done, and they're told, Oh, you don't have it any, you're good. We don't, they don't what treatment doesn't look like, they don't retest it. I've had patients where they've done it for two days, the doctor says you're good to go, you don't have Lyme disease anymore, and they don't even retest it to see like whether or not it's effective. What it also doesn't look like is someone that's been on antibiotics for three to five years, and they're like, I still feel junk, like I feel like I still feel really bad. Because I'm like, there's not a reason why you should be feeling bad if under treatment. This is not a and then, but they'd feel helpless because they're like, I don't know what else to do. Um, so the the biggest thing is like, yeah, you want to see that that has to be moving. Some symptoms have to have get better, and if they don't, that means you're kind of going probably up the wrong, the wrong biting up. What is it? I always I don't I always get analogies wrong, going up the wrong tree or whatever this is.

Simple Tools That Support Healing

SPEAKER_01 35:16

I'm from Brazil, so I don't know all the American analogies. You can tell me anything, I'll believe you. Um last question before we go. What is your favorite tool being red light therapy, therapy, oxygen chamber, whatever else is out there? But like what's your favorite tool?

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Mine is always mine, is always actually sauna, is always it's very basic. Um, there's a lot of other things. I love the biohacking. We have red light in our office, we have sauna, and also breath work. And I know this is like really breath work. What I could get to, I have to go somewhere to do it. Um, but that is always it's funny because when I had Lyme disease, and then also in my journey, people asked what I did. And interestingly enough, a lot of what it was was all the self-care stuff. It was the very basic. So that's what I always say when the conversation about longevity is all about like biohacking and all these cool fancy things. And I'm like, can we go back to basic stuff like getting sleep that's important or meditation or spiritual practice and taking care because those were the things when I was ill that like helped me the helped me the most more than all of these other like fancy things we have, you know, now just doing restorative yoga, going for walks, like yeah, all those things. And they actually had so much Renata's studies on like forest bathing and people's natural killer cells and their immune functions improve 30 days after. So I think we still the research is still, there's a lot more for meditation, but like I think that there's so much benefit on that that are so simple that we always make it to be this. I have to go do ozone therapy for 20 treatments or hyperbaric. It's like, no, you could just walk regularly every day or meditate every day for 10 minutes, do alternate nose breathing, you know, do get good sleep. You know, it could you have to do those basic fundamentals first.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

I love that you said that. And I just had a like come to Jesus moment because so many people are so dysfunctional in their lives, and they're constantly seeking these different tools and treatments to try to just fix their symptoms. Well, they're so dysfunctional, they're not their body's not even accepting. So I love they said that they're just working on the normal body things, getting your body to be more in the parasympathetic system, to be more calm. And actually, one it's one of the things that I'm working more on now because I'm I have a crazy work life. I work 24-7, it's always on my phone, you know, single mama, rent to companies. It is my life is insane right now. And um I am making more of a an effort to live a normal life, to like wake up and be like, it's okay, it's a new day. Thank you, Jesus, for me being here, breathing and just going step by step. Like, if I'm I feel like I need to empty my dishwasher today or my which I have a cleaning lady, you know, but doing the normal things that I used to do normal in life that just give me the extra time without my phone, without stressors. Um, how important that is, or like you said, going on a walk. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yeah, usually yeah, just doing that, even if it's like these micro moments I tell people like five minutes or what you just said. Sometimes I go, I'm gonna do once a week, I say I'm not gonna do anything one of these days. And one of the days I never say what day it is. I don't say every Saturday, I don't say every Sunday. It's like I'm not doing work for me. And I might pay the consequence later, but I'm like, I'm not doing anything, I'm not checking my emails, I'm not checking this, and I do that at least usually one day a week, if I can't, at least half a day, where I'm like, I'm just not looking at it for a period of time. Something as simple as that is like growth.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Uh-huh. Oh my gosh. And we don't give ourselves credit. Women, I feel like we're so, you know, we're under so much pressure and so much expectation. And for all moms and women out there, you need to give yourself grace. It's okay for you to stop, it's okay for you to breathe, it's okay for you to sit on the couch and not do anything. And say no and say no to go into something, maybe exactly to take time for yourself. Go sit in the back on your porch and read a book for 30 minutes. It is okay. The dishes are gonna get done later. You're uh, you know, your friends are gonna wait, like it's totally fine. And um, I think, especially in the United States, um, I'm from Brazil and you know, I've I've been blessed enough in the last couple of years to travel in different places and in the world, uh, and seeing how other cultures just live a normal life. It's so normal for them to leave work at a certain time and go hang out with friends, go sit around and just have this community and not be so stressed out with work like we are in America. So, women out there, one, give yourself grace grace, go for that walk, breathe a little bit, um, sleep. Yes, work on your sleep, and then go look for a professional that can do extensive blood work to find out exactly what is happening. Uh, yesterday I also heard another doctor say that a lot of times, and I'm I'm one of those people that I'm uh always uh what is the word, always overwhelmed, but it's it's a quick click for me, you know. What is it called? It's not overwhelmed, it's a different word. Um or busy, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:42

I don't use the word busy.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

That's the word stimulated. I'm always so like noises bother me, you know, like loud noises, like I freak my whole body, I feel it in my whole system. And he mentioned that it could be uh nutrient deficiency that makes you like that. That makes so much sense. So maybe you're dealing with something and you're like short-tempered with your children and with people at work, and maybe there's something underlying going on. However, you cannot heal a body if you don't let your body heal. Yes. So letting your body be in a state in a in a stance where um you are going to allow yourself all of those treatments actually work because I feel like a lot of people that we see are those people that have tried everything and nothing has worked, but they are in this literally opened my mind up so much what you mentioned. They're in a stance that they're not allowing.

Where To Find Dr. Patterson

SPEAKER_00 41:39

Oh, yeah, you have to allow because it's like you're taking care of yourself, so it's like when you're seeking too, even treatments like, oh, I'm gonna do all these fancy. It's like, but are you doing anything or are you making yourself a cup of tea? Like, I have people do something as simple as that, like make uh passion flower tea to help when you're going to sleep, because you're giving something to yourself. Because I think a lot of those other things are giving to yourself, like walking, meditation, breathing, you're doing versus seeking outside all the time. So that's that's the first step of what that looks like for you.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Incredible. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Jacquel. This has been such an incredible talk with you. I got so many more ideas in my mind. Uh, thank you for spending this time with us, guys. If you're not following the beauty of breathing, we are on your favorite podcast platform. Make sure we you follow us. And also, how can people find you? Do you mind also sharing about your books before we go? Oh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

So you guys can find me at Fairfield F-A-I-R Field Family Health.com and um on Instagram, I'm at naturopathic.physician. And the books I've written are all available on Amazon. It was on long covet and beyond, and also women and Lyme. So that was really important to me because all the content they didn't take into perspective like hormones. And so the reason I wrote that book was to have it from like a female perspective and the hormonal interplay when it comes to infections.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

I love it. I would love to have your ex talk about long COVID. Oh, 100%. Using my my breathing field, also. Well, thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful day, guys. Thank you. We'll see you next week. Bye. Thank you, bye bye.