BRAIN GUT 10: The Other Trip through the Rabbit Hole:

My name is Danielle Thatcher and here is my story of the rabbit hole I fell into with MJ when we met Dr. Kruse on his vacation:

 

When I first sat down to write about my experience with meeting Dr. K, I had the highest of hopes of writing something that would and could inspire many. But when I did sit down to write…. I had nothing.  Literally, nothing. My mind was blank.  I take that back, I have the notes that Dr. Kruse so willingly wrote down for me and the notes that MJ took as well.  But I spent an entire day with this great man, and my mind is blank. Pretty scary for a 45 year old woman!

 

Before I forget, this is only one of the supplements Dr. Kruse asked me to consider with my doctor for me. Pregnenolone.   If you have insufficient levels of pregnenolone, you can have memory loss, sleep disorders, depression, fatigue, symptoms that mimic Alzheimer’s and other debilitating conditions. I am experiencing many of these symptoms, so I am sure to take my supplements and just waiting for everything to “click” and this machine to start functioning again properly.

 

The good news that he gave me, was that I do not appear to have any auto-immune diseases right now.  I’ll take every piece of good news I can get.

The three of us did a lot of walking (thank you for carrying my cooler all day Doc) and a lot of talking.  I felt like a little kid with all of my “WHY” questions. Dr. Kruse, why is this happening? Dr. K, why does this not work? Dr. Kruse, Dr. Kruse, Dr. Kruse… this is how my day went. I have a book that I recently got for my grandson called the “Little kids First Big Book of Why”.

I laughed because I realized that I was similar to these little kids.  I had so many questions and Dr. K always had an answer.  I felt like I was 4 years old and so curious about everything, why this and why that.  I was such an eager student wanting to soak in every word.  He was the most patient and giving teacher.  He answered everything honestly and without a filter.  Some of it was hard to hear, but his goal is not to appease me.  He often says about the truth that, “it can set your free, but the first time you hear it, it can piss you off.  So true. The truth is make us realize we need to embrace our discomfort.  It is to make me realize that I need to get really uncomfortable if I want to improve my health.

He looked over my labs and was not excited at all by what he saw.  He told me that I need to get with my physician and get my thyroid functioning before anything else will start working.  Now mind you, I have never been a person who has had much energy or ever really felt “great”. Also in the past 2 years, I went from 123 lbs down to 107 pounds and then up to 168 pounds.  My hormones and thyroid are wreaking havoc on my body. I did not appreciate how peri-menopause and menopause can really alter a women’s body so radically and so fast.  I look down at myself sometimes, and wonder whose body this is.. I don’t even recognize myself. He also told me to consider eating lots of seafood to keep Alzheimer’s disease at bay.  Considering that both of my maternal grandparents suffered from this horrible condition, this was a huge eye opener for me.

 

Dr. Kruse told me that until I get my family life and a few others things under control, that my health would not improve.  I always knew this deep down inside, but the way he explained it, it felt like little light bulbs were going off and saying “wow, I didn’t realize this could impact my health the way that it has”. I had many “ah haaaa” moments during our day, it was a bit overwhelming. He couldn’t stress enough the difference the way men and women think. As women, we are natural born mothers, with motherly instincts.  Always wanting to protect our young (even if my youngest is 19 and an adult, I just find it hard to stop). But this is what keeps me from getting optimal and healthy.  Putting everyone else’s needs ahead of mine and “enabling” them. Funny how I always prided myself on being such a great mom and making my kids independent, but when I REALLY looked at it, they are still running to me for everything, and I have no one to blame but myself. I let this happen. Needless to say, changes are being made in my household. All of my family is not thrilled because now they have to fend for themselves…. but that is their problem.  I need to focus on me and fixing myself.  I’ve encouraged them to get on board health wise with eating and other suggestions, but they will do it for a day or two and then be over it.  Its not an easy road for many, and you really have to WANT IT… I am in this for the long haul.  Dr. Kruse suggested to me that it was time for the babies to leave the nest (I have a 19 and 22 year old daughter). So to all the women out there, you must take a good hard look at yourself and see what needs to be done for you to thrive.  It may not be fun or pretty, but change is the answer.  It appears evolution craves change and our species abhors it.  That insight make me realize just what a mismatch might do.

I asked MJ to take notes so I could really hone in to what Dr K was saying.  MJ is a wonderful woman. We met online, in a group forum, and I think the 2 burnt out housewives decided for once, to do something for ourselves, so we decided to meet up in Orlando.  I feel like she is a long lost sister. We had so much fun and so much in common, mostly prioritizing others before us.  I’m so glad I got “out of my comfort zone” and went for it.  Thank you MJ for sharing this great day with me. I believe I have a new lifelong friend.

Dr. Kruse asked me to consider how I should spend my day by looking at these issues after looking at my labs to give me an insight and context:

**Sun— Look at the sun every morning… very first thing!!! Let your brain know that it is morning. It sets the the cortisol/DHEA/melatonin cycle by lowering AM cortisol naturally

**BOB — Release of oxytocin .  I really thought that perhaps my husband had talked to Jack about this and this was his way of getting sex every day. I learned however that oxytocin can be gotten other ways outside of orgasm too.  It can also be given in Rx form by intranasal sprays!  I sort of was making light of it and suggested that BOB (boyfriend on batteries) is another alternative. I learned that oxytocin was the second most important anti oxidant in the brain to combat inflammation.  DHEA is number one and melatonin is number three.  The book I bought in the Life Extension store also backed up these claims about oxytocin too.

**BAB — start my day off with lots and lots of protein. This one is difficult for me. I have never been a breakfast person, never mind eating seafood at 8 a.m.  But, again… choices and changes… that’s what’s going to get me where I want to be.  Since it has been difficult for me, maybe this is why I have been struggling for years?  I guess this is why Jack always reminds us of Einstein’s definition of insanity.  When you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome and you do not get it……it is time for a change.

**Seafood— rich in Iodine.  I was thrilled to hear this.  I love seafood.  The oyster tasting, well, that was completely out of my comfort zone. I don’t do raw, but I tried it. It felt rather disgusting to me, but I did it.  Will I eat raw oysters again? Perhaps.  But I think I will start off with some nicely steamed oysters first.
**Sleep…. Probably the single most important part in getting optimal…and artificial light, what a mess this can do to your brain.  You can catch me nightly wearing my ever so chic “low blue light” glasses.  I hear that the next blog post will all be about this specific area.  Stay tuned optimizers!!!

LABS… they are your mirror.. Labs dont lie:

This picture was on the wall in our hotel.  It really seemed to fit the moment,                                                                                          and what Dr. Kruse was trying to convey to me, as we all need to face our truths…

I have an entire sheet of paper (of notes that MJ wrote down) and it is all about the hormones.  FSH, DHEA, testosterone, progesterone. All need some major work. I would encourage everyone, men and women to get their levels checked. It’s always good to have a baseline to start, but you also need to find out your levels.  Even the healthiest of people most likely require supplements for continued health. I hate to take pills, but I do what I have to. Dr. K also told us that you cant out supplement a bad diet.  Supplements have a place and a role but nothing replaces real Epi-paleo Rx for food.

I had an educational phone consultation with  Dr K. a few months ago.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but he told me (the night before in an email) to send him any recent labs, symptoms and what my goals are. The next morning, we spoke and he was very easy to talk to. I am no brain surgeon and was concerned that he would bombard me with medical lingo and I’d be totally lost.  So not true. He was the very same in person as well.  Don’t get me wrong, he did use some terminology that I wasn’t familiar with, but he would put it into context so that your average person could interpret. I encourage every single person to have an educational consult with this man. He has such an amazing mind and so willing to share it with us all.

To sum things up, this was an opportunity of a life time. Looking back, the only thing I would have changed would be that due to my “brain fog” and very poor memory, I should have recorded our time together.  I am sure there are tons and tons of things he told me that I am not able to post because I simply don’t remember.  It’s sort of funny how life throws people into our lives and at certain times, we don’t always know why there are there.  I think MJ convincing me to come there with her was more than fate.  She is pretty healthy and will continue to be healthy if she does the work required by the good Doc.  I was there so that MJ could see what would become of her if she did not do the work. I wish I had a different perspective on health many, many years ago.  Unfortunately, my thinking was very common in the sense that I didn’t think of health care as preventative, rather something to go to after I got sick.  I have changed in many ways and I will continue to forever. I will be a student for life!!! I hope to be able to come back to this forum and blog and share my success story with all you very soon.  until then…….

“when the student is ready….. the teacher will appear”………………