[bernadette]

Hi  – if you have an hour to spare, I highly encourage you to watch this entire session with Dr. Elana Roumell about childhood vaccines which is posted in the All Call Recordings to help you feel more empowered about the subject.

And if you don’t have time to watch it all, then skip to ~38 min mark where one of our members asked about the HPV vaccine to hear the discussion.

Hope this helps!

[bernadette]

your conventional doctor won’t know about these tests unfortunately unless they took additional training in functional medicine.

You might want to check with your insurance directly if they will reimburse you for it. And if they need a medical note, I can recommend a few functional doctors who can possibly do this for you in Dubai.

We can facilitate the functional testing. All we need are your details (full name, date of birth, email, shipping/billing address if different) to put in the test request. The lab will then mail it out to you once you pay them directly. Whenever you’re ready, just email support@bernadetteabraham.com with the tests you’d like to pursue.

[bernadette]

Hi  I’d like to also chime in here.

There is a definite connection with low cortisol and weight gain, and that connection is thyroid function and insulin/insulin resistance.

Please watch this video inside the Thyroid Balance course to better understand how cortisol affects thyroid function. There are a number of different mechanisms, but think of cortisol as our gas pedal. We can have a car full of gas, but unless the accelerator is pressed, we won’t really go very far. Cortisol is our gas pedal. It affects our metabolism.

Physiologically speaking, low cortisol output as a result of chronic stress will reduce conversion of T4 to T3 (our active thyroid hormone) that is responsible for every metabolic function. It also increases our production of Reverse T3 – our inactive thyroid hormone. The body does this as a way to protect us. It recognizes a threat and purposely wants to slow us down.

Now with regards to the sudden weight gain and increase in sugar cravings, I would be suspicious of higher insulin levels and insulin resistance. Insulin is our fat storage hormone. Insulin resistance is associated with hypothyroidism. And stress all by itself can increase glucose and insulin production. So ultimately, reducing sources of stress is addressing the root cause, and supporting the adrenals with a glandular like Biotics Cytozyme-AD for example (so they can take an overdue “vacation” so-to-speak) is temporary triage while working on reducing stress. Let’s continue the conversation about this to help you figure out how!!

And the next step would be to test your blood sugar levels as it will fuel this situation/impact thyroid. This video here inside the Blood Sugar Regulation course shares the lab markers you can request for testing and how to prepare for it.

If you haven’t already tested thyroid, it would be a good idea to add in a full thyroid panel, and the nutrients needed for thyroid conversion from T4 to T3. You can find those markers here inside the Thyroid Balance course. Also request these nutrients: vitamin A, RBC zinc, RBC copper, selenium, iron panel including ferritin.  

Let me know if this makes sense and if you have any questions.

On a separate note, are you experiencing estrogen dominant symptoms by any chance in the 2nd half of your cycle? Heavy periods, breast tenderness, PMS, mood changes, cramps, disrupted sleep, etc? Skin pigmentation is often due to a hormonal imbalance, so I’m trying to see if there are any other related symptoms since progesterone does seem to be suboptimal low relative to estrogen.

[bernadette]

 thanks for sharing the additional labs & information.

1. Interestingly, your body was already showing signs of inflammation even before your symptoms began. If you notice in your 2022 and 2023 test results, both times your lymphocytes were clinically low and neutrophils were on the upper end of the clinical reference range. This usually happens when someone is sick and fighting an acute infection like a bacterial infection, but you mentioned you weren’t sick. This pattern could also happen when the body’s immune system is wrestling with a chronic simmering viral or bacterial infection. Your body was also showing signs of inflammation in 2022 with the high ESR.

Inflammation is often a collection of dysbiosis (imbalanced gut microbiome), infection, food sensitivities and toxins that bounce off our genetic expression and leads to inflammation and the secretion of all sorts of inflammatory chemicals which travel anywhere in the body (either an already inflamed part, injured part or genetic attraction there). ESR is one of these chemical markers.

So it was clear that your body was already wrestling with something (likely mold) even before your symptoms began.

5. Regarding mold. Unfortunately, wiping it/painting over it is not the solution. And DO NOT do it yourself!! This needs to be handled by a certified mold remediator who will seal off the area, and take the right measures to ensure it doesn’t grow back.

They need to figure out why mold is growing and stop the source. I’m not sure if you saw my Insta stories recently, but there was a wall buckling in one of the bedrooms, and we found high moisture in that wall (>86%). Turned out there was a very small leak from the roof that was seeping into the wall, which lead to invasive mold growth behind the built-in cabinet closet. We are  currently having it remediated by a licensed mold remediator. Problem is, there’s only 1 company who is properly licensed in Dubai and he’s extremely busy. I had to wait a few months until he could come to our house. Until that time, I had moved my kids out of that room and they were sleeping in another room temporarily on mattresses. Mold is no joke – it’s not an aesthetic issue, it’s a toxicity issue.

I would recommend the same for you. Is the problem in your bedroom? If so, consider sleeping elsewhere for the time being. And wherever you spend most of your time, we need to make sure there’s no mold growth there either. It can be behind walls and without a smell, and still cause problems. You can find the details of the mold remediator in Dubai here. Let Omar know I sent you so he can try to squeeze you in (055-107-7775). Getting your own moisture meter to measure the walls can help you pinpoint problem areas as well.

If you can’t reach Omar, then try reaching out to Valentina. She’s a building biologist (she was also a guest expert in B Better) who can help do moisture readings and also has a thermal camera to see behind walls if there’s active mold growth anywhere. 055-283-2881

In terms of testing your body for mold, I recommend the OAT test and the MycoTox test. Both are expensive and not typically covered by insurance, but some good insurances may reimburse you for it.

-The OAT test will be able to pick up if there’s invasive mold growth (aspergillus) in your GI tract, but also general toxicity and nutrient deficiencies needed for detox. It won’t tell us WHAT type of toxicity it is though.

-The MycoTox test will confirm if you have mycotoxins in your system. But we have to make sure your elimination pathways are open (i.e. daily bowel movements, can sweat easily, good circulation/lymph flow, good urine flow, etc), or else you may not excrete the mycotoxins in urine and it will show a false negative. So do you feel that you have good elimination pathways?

If so, the OAT combined with the MycoTox test can give us a pretty good idea of your body burden if mold is present in your system.

In parallel, you need to find find the mold, and get rid of it. Avoidance is key! Detoxing your body is the next step.

We can help give you access to these functional tests, but like I said, you’ll need to see if your insurance will reimburse you for them.

Results take 3 weeks for the OAT ($349 USD) and about 5 weeks for the Mycotox test ($465 USD). The lab offers a savings when you get both ($699 USD) + $40 shipping.

Now one final note… mold as the root cause is tricky because most people believe that if mold was the issue, that everyone  at home would be affected as well. But that’s not the case. About 25% of the population (1 in 4) have a gene that prevents them from being able to detoxify from mold. We call them “mold canaries” as they sound the alarm bell for others. This is why you’ll find some family members affected, while others are not. 

Let me know if this all makes sense and if you have any questions.

[bernadette]

 that’s actually a good way to be administering it since we have mechanisms in place (look into hepcidin’s role if you want to learn more!) to block iron absorption if we get a big glut of it all at once. As you know, iron can be toxic at high levels so we have these in-built mechanisms to protect us. So spacing it out is actually better in terms of absorption. 

Hope you begin to feel better soon!!

[bernadette]

Hi  – unfortunately, that’s outside the scope of our practice. Your physician or whoever is certified to be administering the IV should be the one to tell you what is appropriate for your needs.

Are you asking because you’d like to confirm what they’re suggesting? Do you have any concerns that perhaps we can help address?

[bernadette]

 thanks for answering my questions.

1. If you recall where you got tested in the past, they might still have your medical records if it’s not too long ago. You can request these for your own files if you have the time/energy to ask for them.

2. What I meant by acute illness is, were you sick at the time of blood testing. Your white blood cell differentials were skewed, which is normal when we’re sick and our immune system is fighting a bacteria, virus, etc. If you weren’t sick, then we have to put our thinking caps on and figure out what’s taxing your immune system!

4. I’m highly suspicious of mold illness especially that you’ve scored highly probable on Dr. Jill’s mold assessment questionnaire, which brings me to point #5.

5. You mentioned that your symptoms began one month after feeling absolutely fine. I’m questioning your environment leading up to that point. Did you move to a new house / workplace before your health declined? Did your home / workplace have a leak/water intrusion (big or small!) that you can recall a few months prior to developing symptoms? High humidity anywhere you live? Cars can be moldy too!! Are any other family members developing “weird/unexpected” symptoms progressively or all of a sudden?

I encourage you to watch this video “How Mold & Mycotoxins Harm Us” where I share how mold & mycotoxins infiltrate the body, and I do also mention granulomas being one of the “mis*diagnosis” for mold illness.

If you have the financial means for functional testing to rule out/confirm mold illness, this would be my next step recommendation. With mold, we need to test both ourselves and our environment. If budget is a concern, I can help you figure out which test to go for that will give you the biggest bang for your buck!

In the meantime, please watch this entire mold testing section in my Mold & Mycotoxin Illness course to better understand what these are and the costs associated with each.

Let me know once you’ve had a chance to go through these videos and reply to my questions above regarding your environment so I can continue guiding you.

[bernadette]

 thank you for this. Looking forward to your low blood pressure post!

[bernadette]

Hi  – thanks for sharing these additional labs. The picture is becoming clearer, and we need to have a conversation about stress!! Remember, stress can be physical, physiological, and mental/emotional, but to the body/brain, it reacts in the same way.

What really stands out in your DUTCH test is elevated DHEA-s and overall cortisol production. Stress/trauma is the first possible reason to increase DHEAs since it’s produced from the adrenals in response to stress. Would you say this is present in your case?

Next on the list is PCOS. PCOS is actually one of the more common causes of elevated DHEA among women (along with stress and trauma like PTSD). And what’s the most common cause of PCOS? Usually it’s insulin resistance!! (which is evident in your labs as seen with a high HOMA-IR and suboptimal high fasting insulin of 13.5!) As I had mentioned in a previous video, optimal insulin should be between 5-6 uIU/ml so there’s clear insulin resistance, which will contribute to the exact symptoms you’re experiencing.

Higher insulin affects overall hormone balance, including thyroid function. Please watch this video on how insulin affects thyroid function because your thyroid values are also suboptimal, and will affect everything metabolic, including digestion, motility, immunity, fertility, etc.

Insulin resistance, as explained in the Blood Sugar Regulation course, is often caused by diet and/or stress! So from a root cause perspective, we need to address your diet and identify the sources of stress and remove them!

Here’s a 3-day food journal which I encourage you to fill in so we can have a look and make some suggestions.

In terms of stress, we need your input here. There can very well be physiological stress like gut dysbiosis/overgrowths given the skewed white blood cell differentials in your labs, but are there any other known mental/emotional/physical stress factors that you know for sure are at play, and more importantly, be able to reduce/eliminate that source of stress? It could be as simple as getting to bed on time, and having good uninterrupted sleep.

Also, do you have any gastro-intestinal related symptoms? Please let us know.

I’ll wait to hear from you on the above so we can continue guiding you further but blood sugar regulation and stress are priorities for sure.

[bernadette]

 haha – you’re doing it correctly. In general, children take about 1/4 to 1/3rd the adult dose, so you can eyeball it. If you have measuring teaspoons, there’s usually a 1/8th measuring teaspoon. It would be half of that basically.

[bernadette]

Hi  – let me ping a few members who might be able to offer some Arabic music suggestions…

             

[bernadette]

 – unfortunately, I’m not familiar with health coaching certifications since that’s not the route of education I took. If he’s looking at nutrition or functional medicine, I can recommend reading through this previous post from another member who was asking a similar question about certifications and schools. Our replies might be helpful.

[bernadette]

 I never reached out to him on your behalf. He replied on his own time.

Yes, I have personally used his homeopathy services. I was introduced to him by a common client who was working with him at the time (and still is).

[bernadette]

 for Motility Activator, the directions on their website states: Adults take 1 capsule twice daily, or as recommended by a healthcare professional. 

Since you’re already taking prescription medication for motility, it’s best to consult your doctor about adding this one in as well.

Have you been through the Constipation Relief program yet?

[bernadette]

 so he’s replied?