The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick – Details, episodes & analysis

We have A LOT of pregnant clients in our office right now, it's honestly crazy. Many of these women have diagnosed autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto's or Rheumatoid Arthritis. Some of them have "undiagnosed autoimmunity", like positive ANA tests, but they have no "diagnosis" - - yet. Some don't have any autoimmune diagnoses, but they have Lyme disease or mold toxicity.....and yet others with no diagnoses who just came in for management of specific symptoms like migraines, bloating, or anxiety. 

There is no special "formula" for pregnant women with autoimmunity - - we want to make sure you aren't deficient on any vitamins, minerals, or nutrients, we want to avoid toxins, we want to eat anti-inflammatory, we want to exercise, we want to minimize stress.......good advice for any pregnant woman.

The concern is that autoimmunity is known to flare around pregnancy., often presenting as an increase in inflammatory symptoms postpartum. We don't want that!!

This episode is filled with my knowledge and opinions around pregnancy that I have developed over the years of working with pregnant patients as well as my own experiences as a parent. In this episode, I talk about my wife and I's experience(s) with miscarriages, with hospital births vs. home births, with twins vs. singletons, with V or no-V, and our personal decisions and how we made those decisions. I also talk about all the important stuff like prenatal vitamins, genetics, methylation, and more. 

As always I don't claim to have all the answers, but I hope my expertise, my opinions, and my thought processes help someone as they are trying to make these decisions for themselves, or I hope they help someone have a happier, healthier pregnancy!

Whether it's allergies, asthma, autism, ADHD, or autoimmunity - kids have a lot more health concerns these days - and those are just the A's!

I see a lot of kids (parents) from all over the world asking me to help them with their health problems. Sometimes they are easy and see great progress from the right nutrients, killing yeast, or supporting detoxification. Sometimes they are really tricky cases.

Many of the common childhood concerns of today have an immune component - recurrent infections, skin issues, allergies, autoimmune conditions, inflammation.

Many of the childhood concerns have a neurologic component to them - inability to focus, hyperactivity, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, depression, anxiety, rage, inability to regulate.

Why have we seen such a rise in the incidence of childhood symptoms, diseases, and developmental issues? While there are many theories regarding the exact causes, the overload of environmental toxins, immune imbalances, infections, and gut dysbiosis are ALWAYS at the top of the suspected mechanisms, which are basically my specialties and the focus of my entire podcast channel - the drivers of autoimmune disease progression. Autoimmunity is often involved as a mechanism in children's health issues, but often isn't necessarily a diagnosed autoimmune "disease". 

Throughout the years I have developed certain thought processes, opinions, and I have my favorite labs, supplements, and teaching tools - this podcast is basically an overview of all of it. I talk about everything from raising twins (mine are almost 10) and nature vs. nurture, Winnie the Pooh characters and neurotransmitters, I talk about some of my favorite supplements and their targeted mechanisms, and I talk about how each kid is just different and needs to be parented differently. I also talk about how I'm DEFINITELY not a perfect parent, and we all just try to raise the best kids we can!

Autoimmune Doc Supplement Store

Limbic System and Cell Danger Response Video

Binaural Beats Video

Here is the final episode in my 4-part series on the brain - Brain Solutions. This episode ties together the previous 3 episodes: you have to understand some of the general targets you are aiming at - neuroinflammation, methylation, oxygenation, low omega 3s - that is episode one, Brain Overview. Next you have to understand the neurotransmitters - dopamine, serotonin, GABA, acetylcholine - this is episode two. Last, you have to understand the brain regions - the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, cerebellum - this is episode three, Brain Regions.

NOW, you can choose your tools from the solutions tool box, and that is what this episode is all about.

In this episode I focus on the tools that I personally use, which are typically inexpensive and non-invasive, but I also give my opinion on several other options that are out there available for people who can access them, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy and neurofeedback. Many of these solutions are the specific supplements that I suggest to support neuroinflammation or neurotransmitters, when I might recommend using them, and how I would use them, but I also discuss other tools for vagus nerve stimulation, vestibular rehabilitation, and more.  There are a lot of options out there and a lot of opinions, I hope this helps you choose the right tools for you. Purchase TENS Devices, supplements, and more at our online supplement store!

Schedule a New Client Consultation with me HERE.

Here is episode #3 in my series on brain health.....let's recap.

The brain is complex. There are important mechanisms (neuroinflammation), functions (neuronal signaling), neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, GABA), and regions that are helpful to understand for those out there trying to support their brain or support a certain symptom such as brain fog or heightened anxiety.

The first episode was about general brain health, the second was about neurotransmitters and their functions, and this episode is about specific brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the cerebellum.

For example, the amygdala is part of the brain's Limbic System. The amygdala is the "fear center" and increased amygdala activity is associated with heightened anxiety....but the neurotransmitters involved may be epinephrine and GABA, and the mechanism may be microglial neuroinflammation, which may be triggered by mast cell activation, and the underlying cause(s) could be gut inflammation, it could be a traumatic childhood, or it could be mold toxins, or gluten, or it could be a combination, and it's always a combination of factors that need to be addressed.

Understanding these brain regions and their functions can give you options (that aren't just supplements...) for training or rehabilitating a specific area, such as specific exercises you can easily do at home, or avoiding gluten and dairy to avoid cerebellar cross-reactivity.

My next episode will tie all of these brain puzzle pieces together. It's all about brain solutions (which I give a lot of in this episode as well...), including all the supplements, brain exercise programs, and dietary strategies that I employ when trying to help someone support their brain health and function, and all of the options available and when or why you might consider using them. 

Enjoy! Leave a rating and review, and share this with a friend or family member with a brain!

One of the most important things a healthy brain needs is appropriate neurotransmitter activity. Neurotransmitters regulate our brain function, our energy, our focus, our mood, and our lives. Imbalances in neurotransmitters can come from many things, including past trauma, unhealthy relationships, bad habits, chronic stress, poor gut health, crappy diet, toxins, autoimmunity, neuroinflammation....the list goes on and on, but it can be helpful to know which neurotranmitters are imbalanced in the hopes of supporting your specific brain functions and symptoms. The most important neurotransmitters, which I discuss in this podcast, are:

Serotonin - regulates some aspects of mood, appetite, happiness, enjoyment of activities, appreciation of art.
Acetylcholine - regulates working memory, computation, muscle contractions, and parasympathetic nervous system (vagus nerve) activity to the gut.
Dopamine - important for motivation, pleasure, focus, mood, addiction, thrill-seeking.
Epinephrine/Norepinephrine - aka "adrenaline", stimulates "fight or flight" stress response centrally in the brain and also peripherally from the adrenal glands.
GABA - the primary "calming" neurotransmitter, GABA is inhibitory and is often inadequate in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and neuroexcitation.

These neurotransmitters can all be modulated with lifestyle strategies and targeted nutraceuticals, whether it be providing the building blocks for the neurotransmitters itself (tyrosine for dopamine for example), or impacting the receptor sensitivity (L-theanine for GABA), or using nutrients to support certain pathways like the Kynurenine Pathway, Dopamine Beta Hydroxylase, or other genetic pathways (COMT, MTHFR, MAO) of neurotransmitter metabolism. Supporting neurotransmitter metabolism can be a game changer when supporting brain function, and my goal is to teach people how to solve their own puzzles, so I hope this is helpful, next episode is part 3/4, brain regions!

Anxiety, Mast Cell Activation, and LPS (video)

Cell Danger Response and Limbic System Dysfunction (video)

Anxiety, Neuroinflammation, and Autoimmunity (podcast)

Your brain is the most complex organ in an incredibly complex body, and it's running the show. I continue to see a massive uptick in brain-based symptoms coming into my clinic (and everyone else's), such as depression, anxiety, depersonalization, derealization, dizziness, vertigo, fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, panic attacks, bipolar episodes, nausea, pain syndromes, and so much more. 

I have a lot of brain-related content available, and I linked some at the top of the show notes for this episode. My goal with this series is to help people understand how all these puzzle pieces fit together - neurotransmitters, brain regions, how to use all of the different tools available. Today's episode is an overview of some of the more important concepts in the brain, and reviewing what a healthy brain needs:

• Neurotransmitter Activity - serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, epinephrine/norepinephrine, GABA
• Adequate Oxygen - good blood flow, no anemia
• Steady Fuel - no hypoglycemia, and no insulin resistance
• Proper Lipid Morphology - omega 3s, DHA, phosphatidylcholine
• Healthy Stimulation - learning, fun, skills, memory, coordination, visual complexity, connecting with other humans
• Hormone Balance - estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, cortisol (steroid hormones), thyroid 
• Gut-Brain Connection - good micro biome, bacterial diversity and abundance, no infections/overgrowths, good vagus nerve activity
• Healthy Circadian Rhythms - good light exposure, good sleep....

I also briefly talk through a patient's case history and some of her symptoms, lab findings, and how we have kept her brain healthy and kept her symptoms under control over the past several years. The next several episodes will be more of this, teaching you how to solve your own puzzle!

Long Haulers UPDATED (video)

Long Haulers Mechanisms (video)

SARS-CoV-2 and the gut-brain-lung axis (video review of a research paper)

From the onset of the pandemic through the last (almost) 3 years, we have continued to find out new things about how people respond after coronavirus infection. Not surprisingly, there is more and more research coming out indicating that an increased autoimmune response may be responsible for many of the lingering symptoms.

Early on in the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 was nicknamed "The Autoimmune Virus" because it appeared to be triggering more of an autoimmune response than other viral infections. As science has continued to evolve our understanding, it turns out that COVID infection is absolutely associated with increased autoimmunity - both exacerbation of existing autoimmunity as well as new autoimmunity.

Autoimmunity is the process in which the body "loses self tolerance" for tissues of the body and begins to initiate an immune "attack" against self-tissue (thyroid, joints, brain, gut, etc) as if they were a foreign invader - which leads to chronic inflammation, tissue damage, and a gradual loss of function, and can eventually become a diagnosed autoimmune "disease" like Type 1 Diabetes or Rheumatoid Arthritis.

One of the ways that viruses can trigger autoimmunity is by means of "molecular mimicry", or what can be described as a case of "mistaken identity". In this podcast I describe it like this - I have a blue F150 pickup truck, extended cab, long bed. There are many blue F150s on the road, so what if the police were looking for a blue F150 and they accidentally pull ME over instead of the bad guy they are looking for? That's a case of mistaken identity. Well COVID antibodies can also misdirect their immune attack, and they can accidentally attack many tissues, and in this episode I go through dozens of different autoantibodies that have now been associated with COVID - - thyroid autoantibodies, neurological autoantibodies, mitochondrial autoantibodies, and more.

We now know that COVID infection can lead to a myriad of symptoms, and they can all be described as the "long-haul", but the mechanisms can be all quite different, so they are NOT all the same thing, and it's not fair to group everyone together as "long-haulers". You could have POTS, dysautonomia, clotting/coagulation, neurological (depression, brain fog, and TONS of anxiety...), digestive changes, fatigue, or you could develop post-COVID diabetes or arthritis.....as science continues to learn more are we going to find that it's ALL autoimmune in nature?? Only time will tell, but I believe that treating any condition as if it were an autoimmune case is never a bad approach - decrease inflammation, balance the immune system, and look for (and remove) any root cause triggers!

Your liver is seriously pretty amazing. I'm a 'mechanisms' kind of guy, and the liver is the king of mechanisms, including:

- The liver is crucial for metabolism, regulating blood sugar, lipid, and protein metabolism.
- The liver participates in immune surveillance and pathogen clearance, and is intimately connected with the gut.
- The liver performs "hepatic biotransformation", or transforming toxins into things that can be excreted, aka DETOXIFICATION.

The liver can be damaged by many things including lifestyle, alcohol, viruses, parasites, and especially toxins. As liver damage progresses, the liver becomes more congested, toxins begin to accumulate, and metabolic dysfunction can follow. Liver damage is generally a spectrum of worsening fibrosis, and often starts with "fatty liver" and then progresses toward cirrhosis, which is liver scarring. Liver damage can be detected by several labs, and I discuss these labs in detail.

In the liver there are many functions, but this podcast focuses mostly on hepatic biotransformation, or detoxification. This includes Phase 1 and Phase 2 of liver detox, cytochrome P450, and includes processes like methylation, sulfation, conjugation, and more. These processes require many cofactors such as B vitamins and amino acids, and I discuss these all in detail.

There are also many genetic mutations that can affect liver and detoxification, so I discuss these as well, along with the common and popular liver supplements and what their mechanisms are. All together this is a comprehensive overview of everything I know about the liver and how I use that information clinically in helping sick people get well!

Youtube video about Liver, Carnitine, and Depression....

Parasites are interesting. That word means different things to different people, some people are terrified of the idea of worms living inside their body, but at the same time parasite cleanses are super trendy on Instagram and social media, and yet some people think that parasite cleansing is the solution to all health problems....which one is it?

Parasites are paradoxical in the research world, many areas of the world that have endemic parasitic infections have virtually no autoimmunity, and helminth therapy is actually an incredibly promising treatment for certain autoimmune cases. The reason that parasites are so relevant in the population of people that I see is because of our junk food supply, the toxins everywhere, and the rampant metabolic and immune disruption -  - but they aren't always the ONLY culprit, they show up more often with the presence of heavy metals, Candida, SIBO, mold and other toxins. When they are recognized as bad, they elicit a strong and specific immune response that I talk about in detail in the podcast, triggering a Th2 immune response via IL-4 and activating mast cells and histamine, and often keeping someone stuck there (sound familiar??) as they become allergic to more foods, chemicals, and more sensitive to their world. They can also drive inflammatory bowel processes, cause liver and gallbladder issues, disrupt neurotransmitters, infect the brain, and much more.

While I certainly do NOT believe that parasites are a piece of every person's health puzzle, I do think "parasite cleansing" can be incredibly helpful in the right situation. In this podcast I share my personal opinions and personal experiences that I have had with parasites (including when I passed one!) and many stories of helping people with them, and they are pretty drastic stories. I also talk about the testing available and what I personally look for, as well as the supplements and protocols I recommend for people and how those are given, and basically everything that I know and think about parasites! 

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Ok so let's talk about gut health. Gut health and detox are pretty much the two most important topics, and toxins affect gut health....but good gut health is necessary for proper detoxification.....I think gut health wins. At least for this next podcast series :)

Gut health is foundational to health, inflammation, and aging. It's so crucial, but so few people seem to have it mastered IF they are still experiencing symptoms, and I mean ANY symptoms - joint pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression, bipolar, metabolic, certainly autoimmune flares, not just digestive symptoms. I'm going to go deeper into some specific topics in the next few episodes, but this one is an overview, and I made a list of the 10 most important things for gut health. The first 3 are symptoms, the next 4 are mechanisms, and the last 3 are infections, and understanding these 10 things will give you a pretty good grasp on understanding gut health and digestion overall!

1. Diarrhea - I talk about IBS, IBD, low microbiome and good bacteria/probiotics, glutamine, mast cells, and hydrogen SIBO....
2. Constipation - I talk dysbiosis/methane, and a LOT about vagal motor outflow and vagus nerve activity that controls motility as well as HCL, bile, enzymes....
3. Bloating - When I hear bloating I think small intestine and fermentation. Dysbiosis is often at the root, which includes proper digestion (HCL and bile), and I touch on SIBO/SIFO, avoiding FODMAPs foods....
4. Digestion - This is critical!! Chewing your food, being in parasympathetic mode, then proper stomach acid - it can be too high (mast cells) or too low (more common), pancreatic digestive enzymes, bile from the gallbladder (steatocrit), and of course VAGUS BABY!
5. Dysbiosis - The 10 lbs of bacteria in your gut can become imbalanced. Low good bacteria, general microbiome imbalances…..and LPS!!!!!
6. Leaky Gut - Everyone can have some intestinal permeability, is yours pathological, and if so what kind is it - paracellular or transcellular? 
7. Food Sensitivities - IgG testing, and how food sensitivities can drive autoimmune reactivity, general inflammatory tone, and initiate T cell mediated tissue damage
8. SIBO - Bloating! Fermentation of fibers, starches, sugars, FODMAPs ...why you need HCL, bile, vagus outflow……Why I think SIBO testing is dumb….
9. Candida - OMG….the single biggest thing I see. Antibiotics, sugar, stress, birth control, mold exposure, can drive a Th17 inflammatory response (autoimmune), can also drive Th2 (and both will decrease Th1)......and why I love urinary organic acids testing for fungal issues.
10. Parasites - this I am going to do a whole episode on because it’s crazy, it’s quite frankly pretty controversial in the autoimmune world, is it better to have or to not have them??? The answer is IT DEPENDS. But I do talk about someone who was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and it actually seemed to be a parasitic infection, pretty interesting story :)

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