Meeting the Functional Health Practitioner

Me tricking myself into not drinking coffee today by adding milk and honey to chicory root tea. Not bad!

I had my initial consultation with the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner this week! We spent 75 minutes discussing the intake form I had filled out and the health issues I’ve been facing. The intake form included my history of family illnesses, all the pharmaceuticals I could remember taking, how and what I eat, when I was first diagnosed with the skin issues, my sleeping problems and much more.

I felt at ease talking with Christian and was glad to hear that many of his clients are women of my age, so he is familiar with the issues that this demographic faces and how to help them.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• Base Protocol He gave me a base protocol to improve detoxification, start eradicating potentially pathogenic organisms, block cortisol receptor level, support energy production and improve my sleep.

• Poor sleep While I have mostly been going to sleep by 10 p.m., it seems I wake up nearly every night between 2-4 a.m. tossing and turning, eventually finding sleep again maybe two hours later. I turn the Wi-Fi router off at night for the most part, although having a roommate and traveling makes this nearly impossible to do consistently. I haven’t noticed a huge difference when I do it vs. not however. There’s a train that passes by pretty closely to the house where I live and the driver honks the dang horn at the intersection, at all times of the night. It definitely wakes me up, and buying a sound machine should help with this. However, it doesn’t explain why I wake up even when the train isn’t passing by. Christian said this could be due to either blood sugar dis-regulation or parasites. He recommended taking two Tablespoons of honey right before bed to top off my liver glycogen and also recommended a supplement to start taking that can promote relaxation and ease nervous tension.

• Use of steroid cream I mentioned how during my research I came across Topical Steroid Withdrawal, and he confirmed that yes, topical steroids are immuno-suppressants, so we were going to need to support my immune system as much as possible. One way is by removing as much as possible any inflammatory things that could perturb the gut until I see improvement, which is why he said to avoid nuts, seeds and grains.

• Liver Skin issues usually have to do with a congested liver. This was the third time I’d heard this, twice before from herbalists I’d spoken to. He told me to do at least three liver flushes. A liver flush rids your body of liver and gallbladder stones to help those organs start working properly again and do their job of detoxifying harmful chemicals and keep the blood sugar stable, among other jobs. Each year, more than 300,000 gallbladders are removed in the US due to gallstones. This can be avoided by eliminating those stones in the first place! I’m taking his course on how to do the flush. I appreciate that in the course, he caters to people who still love their coffee and certain eating habits, and explains that while it’s best to eat super clean during the flush for effectiveness, an unwillingness to be super strict doesn’t have to hold you back from doing the cleanse. Like, if you just can’t stop drinking coffee for six days, you can taper off during the flush. That leaves no excuses! He explains really well what the liver does for you body and why all of us would benefit from doing these flushes. You can also get the book by Andreas Moritz, The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse, that completely explains the process and goes into extra detail.

• EFT On a personal note, and something I’d written down on my intake form, there are times when I suppress my emotions or my inner feelings, and instead of addressing a situation head-on, everything simmers and eventually comes to a boiling point and I end up overreacting. For this, he recommended trying EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique. While I have yet to explore this, here is a link I found to learn more about it: https://eftuniverse.com/tutorial/what-is-eft-the-basic-recipe/

• Carbohydrates He reinforced that I can and should be eating lots of carbs as a female. Adding carbs back in will increase my metabolic rate, help me generate more heat (I get cold easily!) and reduce sweet cravings.

• Other supplements He gave me the names of other supplements to begin incorporating, for digestive relief, an herbal antibacterial for my gut, a B vitamin complex, and ones for stress/sleep and healthy aging

• Next session We scheduled the next session to discuss the lab results that he should receive soon, for the GI Map stool test and dried blood spot food sensitivities test. Can't wait!