This podcast is sponsored by Micro Balance Health Products. Use code AUTOIMMUNEDOC for 15% off your order at www.microbalancehealthproducts.com

This podcast is a perfect transition from my last podcast where I interviewed an ENT surgeon, because the people I'm speaking to and referring to in this episode - people with head "fullness", ear "pressure", or "head drainage issues" - have almost ALWAYS been to an ENT, but they are still left with very few answers, and that's the frustrating thing - they are often getting NO ANSWERS or HELP - and that's why they come to me.

I will admit that I'm recording this podcast just to "talk about" these mechanisms and symptoms that often run together, because I see these things really often and many times I'm able to help quite a bit, but no two people have the same story - and there are a lot of moving pieces when we look deeper into the mechanisms involved, root causes, and differential diagnoses - but there are a lot of things that overlap with these cases, and targets that we can look into or begin aiming at.

Very often people present in my office complaining of some combination of:

• Head "fullness" - the head feels "full" or "heavy" or like it "doesn't drain"
• Dizziness, lightheadedness, vertigo, tinnitus, or other vestibular issues with motion, crowds, flashing lights, etc
• Ear "pressure" - there is some unresolving ear pressure, often one-sided, or the feeling that the ears won't "equalize"
• Pressure "changes" - with incoming storm fronts, airplanes, altitude changes, or with no rhyme or reason
• Lymph stagnation or swollen/tender lymph nodes - around the ear, neck, base of skull
• Neck pain - stiff neck, headaches, tight postural muscles, "coat-hanger" pain
• Histamine responses - allergies, sensitivities, or other mast-cell mediated pathologies or symptoms
• Drainage or mucus production - nasal or post-nasal drip, or feel congested
• Anxiety/Panic/Stress Response - this often leads to more "danger signals", fight-or-flight, anxiety, panic, overthinking, etc

Is this mold? Is this biofilms? Is it viral? Is this from gut dysbiosis? Is this toxin accumulation? Is this the glymphatic system in the brain not draining? Is it TMJ or subluxation of the C1 atlas bone? Is this vagus nerve? Or - is this some combination??

In this podcast, I just "talk about" the people I see with these symptoms, the mechanisms that are often involved, the mysteries that are often involved, the tools available and the success that many can have. I talk about the different targets, like lymphatic drainage of the brain and Th2 inflammation, I talk about different strategies, like air quality control, nasal applications, supplements, chiropractic care, lymphatic drainage techniques, and much more. I just like to TALK ABOUT these things, but also give potential action steps, with the hope that it helps somebody out there who might have a similar problem - and I think this episode and the information given will end up helping SOMEONE - so send it to someone that you think needs to hear it!

This podcast is sponsored by Micro Balance Health Products. Use code AUTOIMMUNEDOC for 15% off your order at www.microbalancehealthproducts.com

I'm really excited about this episode! I spent a lot of my early life in ENT offices, so I've personally always been really intrigued by the science of sinus inflammation and sinusitis for understanding my own health problems, but I've also been very discouraged by the conventional treatments and (lack of) solutions offered by conventional Ear Nose and Throat doctors.

Dr. Don Dennis MD FACS is different. As an ENT surgeon who was seeing chronic sinusitis every day, he started asking the question "WHY?" which led him to investigate the problems associated with air quality and specifically MOLD TOXICITY.

If you have listened to this podcast, you know I am passionate about air quality - whether it be molds, mycotoxins, allergens, particulates, VOCs, endotoxins, or whatever is in the air - we need to breathe clean air. I have interviewed clients, pediatricians, MDs, DOs, PTs, Indoor Environmental Professionals about this topic.

We KNOW that mold makes people sick - that info has been around since the Old Testament - but Dr. Dennis lets us know a little bit more about HOW and WHY this works.

Some of things I found the most interesting in our conversation:

• Molds like dark, warm, moist places and can colonize sinuses and noses. Cleaning out the sinuses with antifungals can be a GAME-CHANGER for some people! Dr. Dennis tells some amazing stories, and even plays audio from a patient herself.
• The immune system responds to molds in the environment with Eosinophils (white blood cells), and these eosinophils come into nasal mucosa and can form "pits", where mucus accumulates. The cilia can't effectively clear the mucus, so it becomes infected and inflamed, and the "microbial burden" grows, including Staph, Pseudomonas (normal residents of the nose) and MOLD, and these bugs can sometimes form biofilms which make them antibiotic resistant. Mayo clinic showed that over 90% of chronic sinus infections had a fungal component involved, and he discusses those studies.
• Molds release toxins called MYCOTOXINS. Mycotoxins ACCUMULATE in sinus tissue. When Dr. Dennis has biopsied and tested sinus mucosa, there are abundant mycotoxins stored in the mucosal tissue.
• The sinuses are RIGHT NEAR THE BRAIN. These tiny little airborne toxins can go right up the olfactory nerve into the brain and accumulate in the brain - they are fat-soluble neurotoxins - in areas like the pituitary that regulates our thyroid, adrenals, stress response, growth hormone (healing) and more.
• Someone might show 3 toxins on a toxin test (Dr. Dennis prefers urine mycotoxin testing), but when you biopsy their tissue, like the pituitary tissue in the brain for example, there might be MORE. It's hard to measure what all has accumulated in the tissue. In his words, it's a toxic soup up there.
• Because of his experience over the last nearly 40 years as an ENT, Dr. Dennis has a LOT of expertise on air quality and we discuss certain tools like ozone, ionizers, purifiers, mold testing plates, mold dogs, and more.
• Dr. Dennis has developed tools to help people - - both professionally as a sinus surgeon, but he also formulated all of the MicroBalance Health Products and EC3 products - they make mold neutralizing candles, cleaning wipes, fogging spray, laundry additives, and more.

If you have an autoimmune disease, mold toxicity, or sinus issues, you will love this conversation! Please leave a rating, a review, or better yet - send this to someone you love or care about - or anyone with a nose and brain :)

OUR NEW, 4-MODULE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM - MAKING SENSE OF PANS/PANDAS!!

Youtube video - Scientific Study Review - OCD and Autoimmunity

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder has been around for a long time. PANS - Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome, and PANDAS - Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep - are a little bit newer and trendier terms, but, it's because we are seeing more and more kids presenting with sudden behavioral shifts, motor tics, and OCD tendencies, and very often it's after Strep infections.

Did you know that these are AUTOIMMUNE CONDITIONS??

Here is a brief explanation of how that works, using Strep infection as an example. Check out the podcast for much more detail, or better yet, check out our online educational program Making Sense of PANS/PANDAS where we go deeper and I show slides, pictures, I review studies, I explain lab testing options, supplements, support strategies, additional resources, but you ALSO learn about the mental health side of things from my good friend and counselor Alicia Howe LCPC, who specializes in treating OCD.

SO - a kid (or adult) gets Strep throat (or many other infections). The immune system produces ANTIBODIES to "flag" Strep and produces INFLAMMATION to go "kill" Strep. We want this to happen. The problem is, that the body can "mistakenly" flag (antibodies) and attack (inflammation) its self - - THAT'S WHAT AUTOIMMUNITY IS - - and in this case, antibodies and autoimmune inflammation can impact dopamine signaling in areas like the basal ganglia - - that's why another name for this is autoimmune encephalitis or basal ganglia encephalitis. This can drive different responses like FEARS, ANXIETY, EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS, EATING DISORDERS, EMOTIONAL LABILITY, MOTOR TICS, OBSESSIONS, COMPULSIONS, and more.

As with ANY health condition or symptom, the key isn't some "miracle drug" to treat this condition, the key is to UNDERSTAND WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING - - because understanding the mechanisms helps you understand the solutions, and helps you get actual results. The hope of this podcast, and our online educational program especially, is that we can help parents or others suffering to understand a bit more about what's going on and what they can do about it - - so share this with somebody who you think it could help!