Thyroid V Virus – Not New Just Ask Fritz

Ever feel like the universe has been preparing you just for this moment?  Me neither really…but in this one weird way – yes!
So hear me out. 

Thyroid disease as a result of a viral infection was first described in 1902 by Dr Fritz De Quervain and of course he and his ego called it De Quervain’s subacute thyroiditis. For some historical context, this predates the recognised role of iodine deficiency in thyroid disease! Skip ahead almost a century to deep in the 1990s and mini-me was sitting in a uni lecture room [front row & wearing fluro of course🤣] and over hundreds of hours (no scrap that zillions*^# of hours) of lecture content I was exposed to, the description of De Quervain’s Subacute Thyroiditis stood out and stayed stuck to me.  I’ve brought it out for a twirl from time to time in the interim with some of my patients & in particular in correspondence with their docs. Skip ahead to the 2020s when we had this thing called. ‘a global pandemic’, and now everyone wants to talk viruses and their broader health implications & as a result, good ol’ Fritz, me and our buddy, De Quervain’s subacute thyroiditis, are all having a moment.

But just to recap – this is (clearly) not new.

What is new is the way this ‘virus of the moment’ has brought this Thyroid V Virus battle to the forefront.  We are living an important chapter in history where all the textbook entries on De Quervain’s Subacute Thyroiditis are madly being rewritten to reflect the veracity of this viral attack on the gland and the wide-scale & varied damage that ensues over the months and years that follow.  And so many of our patients are the walking embodiment of it – whether that be in the form of low or high thyroid hormones, nefarious changes to gland anatomy only evidenced on US. So what do we need to know? in short, that pathogens as goitrogens have never been more of an issue than right now for ourselves and our patients. And that compared with just our usual desire for comprehensive investigation of the HPT, taking a complete look ‘under the hood’, not only by way of a full TFT and Ab titres but also, wherever there is an additional suspicion – by way of a thyroid US – has become non-negotiable.  But regardless of what you find there, once you look, do you know what to do next?

ThyVIRoid

Biopsies and autopsies of diseased thyroid glands alike reveal the prevalence of many common viruses within, setting the scene perfectly for the Thyroid V Virus battle. So, what happens when a virus takes a specific liking to this gland? While there are several different possibilities, one brought to the forefront in recent years is viral thyroiditis wherein stage 1 is ‘spill’, stage 2 constitutes a gland that is now ’empty’ and while stage 3 is reported to be ‘recovery’, this is increasingly scarce – replaced with chronic or recurrent thyroiditis, relapses of previously remitted GD and a doubling of new AITD diagnoses – not to mention the wide variety of unfavourable anatomical changes being found on ultrasound. Comes with a great desktop reference with prescription examples.
You can purchase ThyVIRoid here. If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will find it waiting for you in your online account. You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audios and resources here.

The Perfect TSH??

Have you been told somewhere by someone that the ‘perfect’ TSH is 1.5 mIU/L?  This is a wonderful, terrible & wonderfully terrible example of ‘magical numbers medicine’.  As a push-back against the published reference ranges we’re given, that are so wide you could drive a truck through them, there has been an over-correction by some, leading to the myth of ‘magic numbers’.  We can narrow the reference range substantially for many parameters with good rationale, make no mistake about that but once we start setting ‘aspirational goals’ that are explicitly rigid…well we’ve done 2 things 1) forgotten about the patient to whom this result belongs and 2) disregarded viewing each result as part of a ‘pattern’, that we must piece together and make sense of.

Back to TSH then… if my obese patient had a value of 1.5 mIU/L this in fact would be woefully inadequate – so too a child at any weight.

And we expect a higher value as well in our elderly clients too and this level there may be, in fact, increased mortality.

But the same result would be excessively & worringly high in my patient who’s undergone thyroidectomy. 

Realising the full value of any test result in terms of what it reveals about the person sitting in front of you, requires these more thinking and more thoughtfulness. Unfortunately,  a list of ‘magic numbers’ will often lead you astray.  And building your scientific knowledge about labs will not only help you avoid the pitfalls of pathology but will strengthen your pathophysiology prowess in surprising ways, saving your patients a packet in terms of additional extraneous testing and help you truly personalise your prescriptions…because the ‘invisible (biochemical individuality, oxidative stress, genetic probabilities, subclinical states, imbalanced or burdened processes etc)  just became visible’.   I started requesting lab results early in my career and years later was lucky enough to be taken under the wing of Dr. Tini Gruner.  I found some of our shared notes, from 10 years ago, scribbled all over patient results recently and I was struck by just how lucky I was to have her encouragement to really pursue my interest and how she was a guiding force about learning to recognise pathology patterns over single parameters.  A decade on I can concede, much of my clinical and educative success has come off the back of this foundational skill-set and I know, this is true for so many I’ve taught too.  

“The guidance I’ve received over the years from Rachel in relation to pathology interpretation has been one of the most valuable (and fascinating) investments I’ve made as a clinician. Her teachings have filled gaps in my knowledge base I never knew needed filling and have significantly enhanced my understanding of the inner workings of the body! Rachel has an incredible ability to make the numbers that patient’s so often present us with, both understandable and clinically meaningful. The knowledge I’ve gained by investing in this skillset has paid off in dividends and I’m certain will continue to do so into the future.”

Stacey Curcio – Cultivating Wellness

 

I hope you’ll join me for the most exciting up-skilling opportunity in learning labs yet. Oh…and all this talk about thyroid testing..this next MasterCourse series is focused on revolutionising your understanding of thyroid, adrenal, HPT & HPA markers based on the very latest research & findings & marry these together with everything you learned in MasterCourse I (ELFTs, FBE, Lipids & Glucose) to understand the ‘whole story’.

…an absolute treasure trove of free integrative health information about your patient!

DEEP DIVE INTO REAL CASE STUDIES TO DEMONSTRATE EACH PATHOLOGY PATTERN IN ACTION. ]\

There are limited places. To sign up for Rachel’s LIVE Series – MasterCourse II: Thyroid & Adrenal Diagnostics
and for more information click here.

*NEW* Advanced Thyroid Training Coming Soon!

Overflowing Coffee

I’ve spent the best part of about 4 months recording my *NEW* Advanced Thyroid Assessment training. I told my team this would be easy and quick, given it was to be based on a great little 2-part, 2hr updated presentation I delivered just last year for ACNEM!!  Sixteen weeks (like seriously…most of it) numerous rewrites and retakes later, our final product is 4 parts that goes for over 12hrs in total & has a bonus Adrenal recording! And yeah my team are impressed but unimpressed too if you know what I mean?!🙄🤪

Every time another, ‘Oh wow!’, or ‘No way!’, escaped my lips, it was a source of personal celebration, as another deeper layer of learning revealed itself.

But to the wonderful, somewhat weary and definitely wary Sally, who does all my powerpoints, it was met with, ‘Oh boy!’, because it meant many multiple new slides to build full of visual metaphors, animation acrobatics, if not an entire new Part!*#@^

Her sage advice along the infinite research road I’ve been travelling was : ‘Stop. You’re going to have to stop.’ 

So I did but now I am this meme. Everything I see currently through the lens of thyroid health, I talk in tongues TFTs and my brain is one giant neural network of integrative endocrinological circuits! I have fallen in love with this topic, this neuroendocrine axis and its ‘first responder’ role all over again!  Hence our little thyroid character below – all ‘antennaed’ up – is one of the many tools we’ve developed for this training, to teach us that ‘bad thyroids’ per se are extremely rare – but bad scenarios are common (too much or too little of any macronutrient, key micronutrients, a change in the internal or external environment etc etc) and this little fellow and his board of directors (no – not the hypothalamus or pituitary!) – well it’s their job to ‘read the room’, right?!

In the absence of this key understanding we risk:
A lot of lazy labelling in thyroid health – ‘You have a bad thyroid – that’s why you…[can’t lose weight, feel tired, have SIBO etc]’
Misdirected treatment & especially a tendency to overload the butterfly with ‘thyroid’ nutrients – which can do more harm than good

I’ve said many times, ‘perfect number pathology is a myth’ but it runs rife in practitioners’ beliefs about TFT results with complete disregard of the person those labs belong too! Did you know, for example, that your TFTs should all be higher if your BMI is? That your T4:T3 ratio should never be 3:1 if you are on replacement, have hot nodules, are pregnant or are acutely unwell etc etc etc? How about how low your Selenium or Iron levels need to be before this factor will influence the actual levels of thyroid hormones measurable – & what the impact of these deficiencies are well before then that is far more sinister and serious?  Yep…you see here I am, pouring just some of the tiny take-homes of Advanced Thyroid Assessment ALL over you! 

Watch this space my new Thyroid training is just around the corner!

 

Are You Running Hot & Cold on Thyroid Nodules?

An increasing number of our patients have thyroid concerns but unbeknown to many of us the most likely explanation of all is thyroid nodules, whose incidence is on the rise globally. The development of nodules has always been primarily viewed as a nutritional disease. Traditionally attributed to chronic iodine deficiency but recently novel nutritional causes have emerged. Benign nodules come in 2 flavours: hot and cold and while patients can present with a mixture, it is the presence or absence of a hot nodule that radically changes what complementary medicines you can and can’t use and what an effective treatment plan looks like. The pointers, as is often the case, are there for us in the patient’s presentation and pathology, so knowing the difference is no longer a guessing game. This UU30 comes with a great visual clinical resource and includes key papers on the nutritional management of nodules.

Where Is That??!!!

Ever been guilty of having a ‘man’s look’ for something?  I have. Particularly when it comes to the online omniverse! I can be a bit flaky at finding things right there on the page…allegedly! So for those of you who have a similar experience with my website & endless educational offerings, I FEEL YOU! We do have a tonne of training options and a whole lot of (love 😉 couldn’t resist the Led Zepplin reference)… lab & diagnostics resources!  This has come up in conversation a lot recently, following the release of our RAN Student Pathology Hub, for example: “I’ve done your MasterCourse in Diagnostics, does this cover something different?” or “LOVED😍 this new hub its *$@# incredible resources & extra training vids but I also wished it included your take on… [insert your pick from infinite list: thyroid, cortisol, zinc etc etc etc]

So here’s a Dummies Guide:
How to Find the Help you Need in Diagnostics

  1. If you are just starting out on your path to pathology & true lab literacy & want an accelerated way to ensure you are starting this journey on solid ground and you have the most called-upon skills you’ll need in clinic today, then the RAN Student Pathology Hub is your perfect match. NOTE: this is not limited to actual students but anyone who considers themselves, like us, a life-long learner! This 12 part module includes some small core components of our MasterCourse, a few expanded episodes from our Update in Under 30, plus unique short training videos, covering tests and topics including: Iron studies, B12 assessment methods, Coeliac screening & much more
  2. If you’re seeking the immersive experience – you want to maximise your competence and confidence & forge your path as a true Diagnostic Diva or Divo then look no further than our ‘mothership’, the MasterCourse in Comprehensive Diagnostics  which now has a part payment option.  This really is the most seminal training we offer, taking the time to dig deep into the science behind all the ‘signposts’ our patients’ results are pointing to. A big commitment for a big reward. It comprehensively covers all the routine labs you will see everyday:  LFTs, Renal markers, Glucose and Lipids, FBE & WCCs & is loaded up with case illustrations for each key pathology pattern – that many practitioners say was an absolute highlight
  3. Just have a specific question or need for upskilling in Cortisol assessment?  Zinc or Zonulin? It’s probably in our vast Update in Under 30 library!  Yes, with more than 100 episodes in there and my penchant for pathology…you’ll find something, if not in the UU30 episodes, then somewhere else on my website.  You know how in pdfs ‘Control + F’ is a god! Ok on my site it is this fella 🔎  You can use this to search my whole site to find free information on the topic (blogs) or manifest the same magnifier🔎 magic once you have clicked ‘Catalogue’ on the top right of the tool bar on any page, to locate any specific educational offerings. Remember with the UU30, you can purchase single episodes or subscribe and get access to the whole shebang.

And for those of you primed praccies, patiently waiting for our MasterCourse II to land?  Well about that…did we mention we got hit with a flood? Twice? And then got covid?  Two of us? And have our beloved Nina about to depart to become a mumma!!! Yeah, so our plans to have this up and ready for May changed to Mayhem, real fast 🙄🤪 We will definitely keep you posted on any developments and new timeframes but for now we can only apologise for the delay and will do our best to get back on track with this, at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime maybe a little review of some of MasterCourse I is in order?  I refer back and re-listen all the time, myself!!😂

RAN Student Pathology Hub

Being a practitioner who is able to read labs will set you apart in practice. For your patients this flows from your ability to form a more sophisticated understanding of what’s happening for them, enabling you to better individualise treatment and deliver superior outcomes.  Amongst other health professionals, it will attract positive regard and an increased willingness and enthusiasm for sharing the care of patients with you. Learning to be lab literate could take a lifetime…or you can enter the expressway from the very outset! We have curated the content to reflect the most essential elements, to help you hit the ground running in the shortest period of time. Spread across 12 modules which can be consumed as monthly instalments or, as an all-in-one experience for those wishing to waste no time. The teaching points, tips and tools make the complex simple, engaging, even fun!

Developed, designed and delivered with students of any health discipline in mind.

Cracking At The Corners?

Name a B vitamin. Hey, Bingo! It’s on the list!   What list? The complete one from all the review papers & references to possible links between individual nutrient deficiencies & Angular Cheilitis – inflammation & cracking at the corners of the mouth. So does that mean more Bs are the answer for people presenting with this painful, recurring issue?…Ahhhhhh No.  Yes, you heard me correctly, these deficiencies rarely cause the breakdown of the integrity of this very specific area of skin in the patients we see.   So now we have a double ouch, right?

We might send patients away with a B complex and some lip balm and over a week the cheilitis resolves – which one was the most therapeutic?
…I hate to tell you 👀

What is the underpinning cause(s) & the important message we are missing with this presentation?  Well, it could be one or more of a long LONG list of differentials, ranging from anatomical, habitual, immune related to iatrogenic. And while many nutrient deficiency pictures can include this feature and therefore make the ‘possible’ list, only one makes the ‘probable’ list. And that’s iron but only in severe deficiency, aka anaemia and only affecting 1 in 5.

Me???
…Telling anyone to push the nutritional issues further down the list of differentials for any condition?
Well, that’s unexpected
…possibly unprecedented

And no, antifungals aren’t the answer either. Yep, that might be worth a listen….👂

 

Just an annoying, embarrassing, cosmetic condition or could it be the clue that helps you ‘crack the case’?  There is a surprisingly long list of differentials for this condition but most of us only know a few, reflexively reaching for either B vitamins or anti-fungal creams. Does either make sense?  Does either address the cause(s) which we now recognise to be a unique series of risk factors in each individual?  Or are we at risk of shooting the messenger and missing the message of Cracking Corners altogether?
You can purchase Cracking in the Corners – Angular Cheilitis here.
If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will find it waiting for you in your online account.
You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audio’s and resources here.

Real-time Diagnostics on the Couch!

Well, this is different, now I’m watching you! 😆 In early 2021 we released our very popular MasterCourse I: Comprehensive Diagnostics, as a ‘self-paced’ online offering for the many who missed out on attending live in 2020.  Many have grabbed this opportunity with both hands (& a headset and some hardcore Do Not Disturb! signs) but we know that for some, doing the entire course on your own, >24hrs of video presentations, can be a tad onerous & overwhelming. We want to remove these barriers and empower & upskill as many practitioners in pathology interpretation as are keen, and as a means to achieve this, we’re offering the MasterCourse I Watch Party.  So bring your bhujia and a beverage and let’s do this!!

Practitioners who sign up for this will be able to watch each session’s video replay live with other practitioners and have the opportunity to ask Rachel questions & participate in case discussions at the end. Another key detail is that we will run the sessions weekly, so that the full course is covered in just 6wks, from July 8th to August 12th.

MasterCourse I: Comprehensive Diagnostics LIVE WATCH PARTY
24 hours of live Zoom sessions + Bonus sessions!
8, 15, 22, 29 July & 5, 12 August on Thursday at 3.30pm to 7.30pm AEST.
Each Thursday, the video presentation for that week will be played so we can watch it together. Then Rachel will open up her webcam and mic, inviting you to do the same, to participate in a Q&A  as well as set case discussionsWhen you register, you get immediate access to watch our preliminary/preparatory sessions, prior to 8 July: Accurate Pathology Interpretation Starts Here and the RAN Patient Pathology Manager Tutorial.

Below is an overview of the Watch Party schedule.

Week 1 – 8 July | SESSION 1: Acid Base Balance & Electrolytes
Week 2 – 15 July | SESSION 2: Renal Markers
Week 3 – 22 July | SESSION 3: Liver Enzymes
Week 4 – 29 July | SESSION 4: Lipids & Glucose
Week 5 – 5 August | SESSION 5: Immune Markers
Week 6 – 12 August | SESSION 6: Haematology

“I thought my pathology skills were pretty up there until I did Rachel’s Diagnostic Masterclass course!  Nothing like being knocked off my perch by a literal avalanche of new information, especially when it comes from the most commonly tests that we all use so often.  The course has been a fantastic learning opportunity for me, and has since helped me pick out many intricacies in cases that have previously been missed.  

The course structure was great, the level of detail was right up my alley, and the case studies were entertaining (in true RA fashion).  Once again Rachel has increased my knowledge base, and help me provide way better service to my patients.” – Rohan Smith, Naturopath


Join Rachel on MasterCourse I: Comprehensive Diagnostics Watch Party and register here.
MasterCourse I is a pre-requisite to join MasterCourse II which will be delivered live in 2022.

I Spy…

I say: Biotin, Broccoli Sprouts & Bone Broth
You say….?

If you said: ‘Sulphur’, go directly to the top of the class, passing ‘Go’ & collecting $200 on your way!🤓  If you nervously said…”I don’t know, they all start with ‘B’ ?”, you are not alone.  In fact, most integrative health professionals aren’t aware of the Sulphur Strategies they’re using, probably, everyday.  But it’s time we all were.

How about this list?
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs for joint, gut etc tissue integrity),  Cerebroside Sulphate (Myelin),
Metallothionein, Glutathione, Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S), Co-Enzyme A, Lipoic acid, SAMe, are just some things Sulphur is essential for.

I could go on…and on and on.  You see Sulphur, in spite of being an essential macromineral (adult dietary requirements > 1g per day) and critical to health, remains largely unseen.  Often we don’t know when we’re writing patient prescriptions that actually we’re using a particular vehicle for Sulphur and therefore we’re also not able to discern which, of the very long list of options (dietary and supplements), makes the most sense in this patient at this time. We’re not to blame, not many ‘possess the power’ to see it, it seems. Por old essential, irreplaceable Sulphur doesn’t even have an RDI. But the time has come to take a good look.  We need to know how patients are able to meet their needs, who needs more and how, very commonly, someone who is seemingly ‘consuming enough’ may still exhibit a functional Sulphur deficiency with poor musculoskeletal tissue integrity, low white cell replication capacity or higher oxidative stress load etc and in those who do have a shortfall, how to treat successfully & safely.  Who needs a top down approach (more protein, methionine, cysteine, bone broth) and in whom would that be a risky path and using ‘downstream’ Sulphur products instead would be a better balance of pros and cons?

Because all Sulphur needs to be handled with care.

That’s right.  Like other highly chemically reactive minerals, with reactivity comes risk – a great potency that requires careful consideration of both form and dose, so that we can harness this power for good not…well evil’s a bit strong…but how about, for not-good.  I’m a bit of fan of Sulphur and using Sulphur strategies in my patients. I think it has interesting echoes with our past: the ‘healing’ waters of a Sulphur Spring and of course even further back the old ‘brimstone and treacle’ medicine of eons ago.  This paper by Nimni in 2007: Are we getting enough sulfur in our diet? got me thinking about Sulphur again in a contemporary context, over a decade ago, I’ve done a lot more thinking, researching and prescribing since then but it seems that Sulphur still remains ‘unseen’ by most. But with the rise and rise and rise of popular Sulphur-based supplements (alpha lipoic acid, GSH, N-acetyl glucosamine, Brassica & Allium extracts and concentrates, N-acetyl-cysteine etc) I think it’s time to talk.

Unseen Sulphur – Time to take a look

If you don’t have a clear picture of the gross daily requirements, determinants of altered individual needs, sources, regulation & associated deficiency picture of Sulphur, you’re not alone.  Turns out this essential macromineral remains ‘unseen’ by most, even though you’re probably writing prescriptions everyday that have Sulphur as their key component.  From the simple: Taurine, N-acetyl cysteine, Protein powders, to the sublime: Brassica extracts & concentrates, N-acetyl Glucosamine, Alpha Lipoic acid etc. In order to use these Sulphur strategies successfully and safely, however, we need to fill in the missing detail on its metabolism, the difference between the ‘organic’ and ‘inorganic pools’, how regulation regularly goes wrong, even in those seemingly consuming enough, and how to balance the risks of this reactive medicine with its substantial therapeutic value.  This recording comes with a great clinical tool to help you at last see the Sulphur strategy most indicated for your patient.

 

The latest Update in Under 30 has landed!!!

You can purchase Unseen Sulphur – Time to Take a Look here.
If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will find it waiting for you in your online account.
You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audio’s and resources here.

The ‘Perfect’ TSH?

Have you been told somewhere by someone that the ‘perfect’ TSH is 1.5 mIU/L?  This is a wonderful, terrible & wonderfully terrible example of ‘magical numbers medicine’.  As a push-back against the published reference ranges we’re given, that are so wide you could drive a truck through them, there has been an over-correction by some, leading to the myth of ‘magic numbers’.  We can narrow the reference range substantially for many parameters with good rationale, make no mistake about that but once we start setting ‘aspirational goals’ that are explicitly rigid…well we’ve done 2 things 1) forgotten about the patient to whom this result belongs and 2) disregarded viewing each result as part of a ‘pattern’, that we must piece together and make sense of.

Back to TSH then… if my obese patient had a value of 1.5 mIU/L this in fact would be woefully inadequate.

Also too low for any patient, no matter their size, if their T4 is low and we’d like a higher value as well for risk minimisation in our elderly clients too. 

But the same result would be excessively & worringly high in my patient who’s undergone thyroidectomy. 

Being given a list of ‘magic numbers’ will never replace learning labs correctly.   When we do this, we come to truly know that meaning can only be made of the markers when you can answer the following questions:

  1. What is this (metabolite, analyte, binding agent, plasma protein etc)?
  2. What do I know about its physiological and biochemical context – what is its role and regulation in the blood, what moves it and to what magnitude?
  3. How have the reference ranges been determined for this lab – who am I comparing my patient to?
  4. Therefore, what is the significance of a result that is: ‘normal’, ‘low normal’, ‘high normal’, below or above the range?
  5. Does this value ‘fit’ with my patient?
  6. What else could explain an unexpected result?
  7. How strong is my level of evidence?
  8. What do I need to do from here to confirm or refute this?
  9. And a few more 😉

 

Realising the full value of any test result in terms of what it reveals about the person sitting in front of you, requires these skills. Unfortunately, in contrast a list of magic numbers will often lead you astray.  And building your scientific knowledge about  labs will not only help you avoid the pitfalls of pathology but will strengthen your pathophysiology prowess in surprising ways, saving your patients a packet in terms of additional extraneous testing and help you truly personalise your prescriptions…because the ‘invisible (biochemical individuality, oxidative stress, genetic probabilities, subclinical states, imbalanced or burdened processes etc)  just became visible’.   I started requesting lab results early in my career and years later was lucky enough to be taken under the wing of Dr. Tini Gruner.  I found some of our shared notes, from 10 years ago, scribbled all over patient results recently and I was struck by just how lucky I was to have her encouragement to really pursue my interest and how she was a guiding force about learning to recognise pathology patterns over single parameters.  A decade on I can confess, much of clinical and educative success has come off the back of this foundational skill-set and I know, this is true for so many I’ve taught too.  

“The guidance I’ve received over the years from Rachel in relation to pathology interpretation has been one of the most valuable (and fascinating) investments I’ve made as a clinician. Her teachings have filled gaps in my knowledge base I never knew needed filling and have significantly enhanced my understanding of the inner workings of the body! Rachel has an incredible ability to make the numbers that patient’s so often present us with, both understandable and clinically meaningful. The knowledge I’ve gained by investing in this skillset has paid off in dividends and I’m certain will continue to do so into the future.”

Stacey Curcio – Cultivating Wellness

I hope you’ll join me for the most exciting up-skilling opportunity in learning labs yet. Oh…and all this talk about thyroid testing..that’s just a serving suggestion 😉 this year my MasterCourse is focused on the most routine labs of all: ELFTs, FBE, WCC, Lipid and Glucose Panels…an absolute treasure trove of free integrative health information about your patient!

This skillset has been found by many to be biggest ‘game-changer’ in Integrative Medicine!

There are limited places. To sign up for the MasterCourse: Comprehensive Diagnostics click here.
For more information about the program click here.

Are You Being Gaslighted?

Ever suspect you’re being gaslighted by your patients’ results?  Especially when their CRP result says, ‘nothing to see here’!  But every other piece of information and every one of your senses tell you they’re inflamed and their immune system is up to something!! Me too.  You probably then look at their other results, their ESR or their white cell count searching out something that supports your hunch, but they too can look disappointingly unremarkable. That’s the moment when you wish life was like a televised sports match and you could check the video evidence rather than believe the mere mortal (and clearly blind!!) man in white on the pitch. Well guess, what…you can. 

Albumin

÷

Globulin

As long as you know how to divide one figure by another using a calculator. I’ve found it requires the same digital dexterity as pushing the ‘on’ button’ on my blender…so if you can make a smoothie, you’re sorted! So while almost every lab routinely reports these two as separate parameters that are also routinely in range…I haven’t seen many that actually do the calculation for you and give you the Albumin:Globulin (AGR) on a platter.  Yet this one step maths transforms the mundane into magic and can reveal almost all to you regarding your patient’s level of immune activation, inflammation and oxidative stress, from the largest number and variety of drivers.  That’s why I call it, 📣The Master Inflammatory Marker 👑

When factoring in your patients pathology results is at its best – it makes the invisible suddenly visible to us.  We could have sat and eyeballed that patient all month and never suspected that their Hcy was too high, or they had antiphospholipid antibodies or, or etc.

But the albumin to globulin ratio goes one step further & trumps the other inflammatory markers we’re so familiar with, because it even sees what they can’t! 

And a low AGR (≤1.2) signals just that to you. So when the patient with joint pains, or just a little bit of belly fat or an emerging yet unnamed autoimmune condition presents exasperated saying, ‘but apparently I’m not even inflamed!’…you can let them know you do see it, and it’s just that others weren’t looking in the right place, then  get busy rolling your sleeves up to move those markers!  That’s right, a low AGR is a clear call to action for practitioners engaged in risk minimisation, prevention and for working towards best outcomes in established disease and  monitoring a patient’s AGR is a series of clear sign-posts about whether you’re leading them in the right direction or not.  There’s a lot more to say on this this third umpire & ripper of a ratio – about kids, the contraceptive pill, confounders, a role in cognitive impairment prevention and what optimal might look like but hey…the cricket’s back on…gotta go 😂

Patients’ labs lie, not often, but sometimes and the inflammatory markers performed routinely like CRP and ESR have been known to tell a few.  Like when everything about a case screams inflammation but both of those say there’s none there.  Why do they miss it?…well basically it’s not their lot.  CRP and ESR have specific signals they only respond to and therefore reflect only certain immune reactions and at specific stages of that response.  But there’s a nifty little calculation you can perform with all of your patients labs and suddenly see the immune activation, inflammation and oxidative stress that was lurking beneath.  It’s called the albumin to globulin ratio and it’s going to change your understanding of what’s going on in your clients and your ability to monitor the efficacy of your management.
The latest Update in Under 30 has landed.
You can purchase February’s episode, Your Master Inflammatory Marker here.
For Update in Under 30 Subscribers you will find it waiting in your online account.
-Your RAN Online Account has a NEW LOOK!!-
Next time your log in, you will experience a more user friendly way to search,
view, listen and download your resources.

 

 

‘Copper Excess’ In A Child?!….Really??

Copper deficiency happens in kids, so does copper toxicity and both are serious concerns, but do we know when to accurately call either?  First, we have to know ‘normal’. If we know what normal Serum Copper values look like in children, then we can easily spot those falling below or above this, right? That’s the first hurdle we tend to knock over and break a toe on!  Being a mineral whose levels vary widely in soil from country to country, globally, the differences in reference ranges are breathtaking & absurd. Add to that, that copper is a key mineral in kids, driving huge demand for it during key periods of development, so the range for pre-schoolers isn’t the same as the primary or high schoolers – not that your lab is flagging that. Unhelpful? Yes.  Dangerous, even? Potentially.

To diagnose ‘Copper Excess’ in a child is a big call to make.

One, because most practitioners are unaware just how much Copper a child really needs at each age & two, high copper is often a messenger for something else going on and then three,  the primary objective based on this diagnosis becomes to lower their Copper but we could be either shooting the messenger or missing the mark all together…right?

Copper excess does happen but not nearly as often as practitioners believe it does.  And in kids, the fall-out from such misdiagnosis is bigger. And missing a Copper deficiency? (because we’re not as well-trained to recognise it and because Copper has been sadly demonised)  Likely to have myriad negative impacts at this vulnerable age…almost none of which generate symptoms or a distinct clinical picture e.g. secondary iron deficiency, low neutrophils without necessarily compromised immunity.  But what about the holy grail get-out of jail adjective: ‘relative’. You know, ‘this is at least a Copper excess relative to their Zinc?’

Well, to form this opinion you’re likely calculating the Zn:Cu ratio and applying an ideal adult value of 1:1 but show me the primary evidence that supports this for kids…anywhere?  The Zn & Cu relationship shifts as we move through life-stages and in fact Copper is supposed to dominate through a lot of our childhood so…ummmmm…no.

HTMA Copper side-steps all of this?..double no.

I used to make the same mistake re Zn:Cu, I may have even taught you this?!🤦‍♀️  But as so often happens, a week spent in all the original scientific data and I’ve emerged a changed practitioner! Having been part of perpetuating this problematic premise in the past, I am determined to get the correct message out there to as many practitioners as possible.  So help me spread the word on Copper in Kids – by telling others that this mineral is so critical to kids compared with adults, they will often have higher levels than ‘us’ and that until you’ve applied the right age-appropriate reference range and ruled out confounders you can’t possibly make a call on Copper. I mean, we kind of knew this all along, with healthy pregnancy Copper values being exponentially higher being a giant clue. Turns out kids’ ‘Copper Age’ extends way beyond the womb.

Copper, as a kingpin in angiogenesis, brain & bone building & iron regulation is a critical mineral during paediatric development. So much so, the kind of blood levels we see in a primary schooler might cause alarm if we saw them in an adult. So too their Zn:Cu.  But higher blood Copper and more Copper than Zinc are not just healthy but perhaps necessary during certain paediatric periods.  This recording redefines normal, low and high with a great clinical desktop tool to help you better interpret these labs, as well as reviewing the top causes and consequences of both types of Copper imbalance in kids. 
The latest Update in Under 30 has landed. You can purchase January’s episode, Copper in Kids here.
If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will find it waiting for you in your online account.
-Your RAN Online Account has a NEW LOOK!!-
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It’s Not Rocket (Dental) Science!

With the increasing weight of evidence pointing to a potent pathogenic portal between our mouths and every other part of the body, whether that be in terms of cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, appendicitis, even a growing case for Alzheimer’s disease, we need to ensure we’re not overlooking the condition of each patient’s oral cavity.  I got very excited about the recent Medscape article: A rapid non-invasive tool for periodontitis screening in a medical care setting. It’s true, I live a quiet life 😉 But seriously, a validated tool for all non-dentists to accurately pick up on the likelihood of this condition would be a nifty little thing indeed, so we can narrow down just who we quick-march off the dentist as well as understand their whole health story. But then I read the 8 actual questions which included gems such as: Do you think you have gum disease? and Have you ever had treatment for gum disease such as scaling and root planing, sometimes called “deep cleaning”? I thought, ok, this is not rocket (dental) science.

But that’s the point, I guess, right?

So while I encourage you to check out & employ this screening tool by all means, we can also be reassured that just by ensuring that when we ask about someone’s digestion (and when don’t we?!) we start at the very top of the tube, we’re doing a good job!! As my new grad mentees learnt this year…following the patient’s GIT from mouth to south anatomically, is my rather simplistic way of guaranteeing I cover everything digestive..without using formal consultation script. So in the case of the mouth, my questions include things like: last trip to the dentist; any prior dental diagnoses, number of amalgams, implants, root canals etc & their routine dental care techniques, any signs of bleeding on brushing & all foods they avoid for dental or oral reasons? Look, it hasn’t undergone the rigorous validation that the Self-Reported Oral Health Questionnaire has..but I think it’s a good start.

Whether we’re being picky about pathogens and exactly how they got access to the rest of the body (and gums make a great entry point!!) or just concerned about chronic low level inflammation, a ‘gurgling’ CRP between 1-5 in an otherwise ‘healthy adult’, picking up on periodontitis is a pivotal.

Oh and if you’ve ever wondered about possible health implications from mouth metals other than amalgams…don’t worry, soon I’ll be getting to that with a forthcoming UU30.  

Want to hear more about how certain microbiota (from the mouth to the south) are being implicated in joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis and how we can investigate these individuals? Getting to the Guts of Women with Joint Pain is a recent UU30 instalment that gets down & dirty on the detail. 

You Might Want to Write This Number Down

No you’re right, it’s not long enough to be a Hemsworth’s mobile number but actually it’s more sought after 😉 If you’re up to date with reading & recognising all the different patterns of Iron Studies & the stories they tell, which is a daily business for most of us, then you will know by heart the striking pattern we call, ‘Pseudo Iron Deficiency’. You know the one where your patient’s serum iron & transferrin saturation are mischievously trying to trick you into thinking you need to give this patient iron…when in fact this is absolutely not what they need! 

This is of course the result of the redistribution of iron during inflammation – iron is actively removed from the blood and  sequestered in the liver instead.  It’s designed to protect us from bacterial bogeymen, which is how our stone-age bodies interpret all inflammation of course. 

Doesn’t sound familiar? Ok you need to start here or even embrace a full overhaul of all things iron here.

But for those of you nodding so hard you’re at risk of doing yourself an injury, this number is for you.   We’ve often talked about the redistributional increase in patients’ ferritin levels in non-specific terms: it goes up..but by how much?  Of course we would like to know because no one is fooling us with this transiently inflated value…but can we make an estimation as to what this person’s ferritin will drop to once this inflammation is resolved? Yes.

X 0.67

Write it down. Consider a tattoo, perhaps?

This glorious magic number comes from Thurnham et al paper in 2010 who did the number crunching on over 30 studies involving almost 9,000 individuals to determine the mathematical relationship between inflammatory states & markers and the reciprocal increases in ferritin.  Their work is exceptional in that it also differentiates between incubation (pre-symptoms), early and late coalescence periods (if you want to differentiate your patients in this way and get even more specific then you need to read the paper), however, overall when we see a patient who has a CRP ≥5 mg /dL , we can multiply their ferritin by 0.67 and get a lot closer to the truth of their iron stores. Oh and another important detail they revealed, this magnitude of ferritin increase is more likely seen in women or those with baseline (non-inflamed) values < 100 ug/L..so generally more applicable to women than men. Thanks Thurnham and colleagues and the lovely Cheryl, my previous intern who brought this paper to my attention…you just took the guessing out of this extremely common clinical scenario 🙂 

We’re not deaf…we heard that stampede of Iron-Inundated Practitioners! The Iron Package is for you!

Our recordings and clinical resources for improving your skill-set in all things iron including, your accuracy of diagnosing deficiencies, pseudo-deficiencies & excesses, plus radically rethinking the best treatment approaches for each scenario…have been some of our most popular. Because nailing iron (pardon the pun) is harder than we were all lead to believe and at least 1 ‘iron maiden’ or ‘iron man’ walks into our practice every day, right? So we’ve brought together 5 extremely popular UU30’s on Iron into one bundle for the price of 4! So if you’re more than ready to graduate from ‘iron school’, now’s your best chance!

 

 

 

Have you heard? It All Comes Back to the Gut

How often were we told this in our training?  And how often have we found this to be true in practice?  And now suddenly, it seems, the medical researchers (at last!) are rapidly coming around to this core concept?? Our microbiome is suddenly the hottest property on the body block, and it seems every interested party is shouting, ‘Buy!Buy!Buy!’ As integrative health practitioners, of course, we had a major head-start, not just by appreciating the gut’s central positioning in the whole health story (iridology beliefs, maps & teasers aside!!) but also a heads-up about the damage the western diet, our medication exposures and lifestyle tend to wreak upon it. A favourite quote of Jason Hawrelak’s by Justin Sonnenburg, “The western diet starves your microbial self”, underscores the significance of just one element of this impact. And…are we all clear that the increasing number of patients reporting adverse food reactions, once again, overwhelmingly are a response to aberrant processes in the GIT?

Sounds silly it’s so obvious right, but it’s easy to get distracted & misattribute blame…for example, it’s the food that’s the problem. Well yes in a minority of situations interactions between someone’s genes, immune system and a particular food turns something otherwise healthy into something pathological, but for the majority, the food itself & in others is healthy, & could  be beneficial to this individual, if only we could resolve their GIT issues…like FODMAPs for example.

Not the problem, just the messenger.

So if the ‘problem food’ is just the messenger, what’s the actual message we need to understand?  Is it that this patient has medication, disease or otherwise induced hypochlorhydria, impairing ‘chopping up’ of potential antigens implicated in immune mediated food reactions? Or is that this person’s got fat maldigestion &/or malabsorption so that in addition to not tolerating fats, they may experience dietary oxalate intolerance to boot? Or are the food reactions the result of altered microflora changing what we can and can’t digest (via their critical contribution) & absorb?

So what message does the presence of IgG antibodies to consumed foods send us about the state of someone’s gut? It’s telling us 2 things: this individual exhibits abnormal intestinal permeability  & currently in the context of this leaky gut, these foods may constitute a barrier to resolving this & other symptoms as well.

We’ve recently released the mp4 (that’s audio plus the movie version of the slideshow so grab your popcorn…that’s if you don’t have a corn issue!)  of A Guide to Investigating Adverse Food Reactions – What’s IgG got to do with it? which details the science behind IgG, including debunking, the incorrect debunking of IgG food antibody testing!! But more than this, it overviews the whole maze of adverse food reactions, articulates a logical investigative path for practitioners through this maze, and helps us to really understand that finding the food(s) responsible for a patient’s symptoms is not the final destination..and can be in fact a distraction, if we don’t cut to the chase and find out the why…and funnily enough…my dear old iridology teachers and colleagues...it almost always comes back to the gut 😉

Confronted with the possibility of adverse food reactions in an increasing number of our patients can be an overwhelming prospect, in terms of accurately identifying and understanding the faulty mechanism underpinning these aberrant responses to healthy foods.  Elimination of culprits in most situations is only a short term reliever, not an appropriate long term solution, so to optimise results we need to know the real mechanism of action.  The majority of these, of course, stem from the gut, but being able to elucidate exactly which of the many things that can go wrong there, is going wrong and therefore what foods are problematic until we address this, is the key. This 2hr mp4 is all about the bigger picture and helping you find method in the madness that can be the AFR landscape. Along the way, we detail the science of where IgG reactions fit into this and it’s a fascinating story that just might be the missing puzzle in your leaky gut patients.
and watch this presentation now in your online account.

Rethink the Ink?

Virginal skin, as my sister calls it, is on the endangered list.  She also predicts that as a result, it will be a highly sort after commodity in the future and I agree but our reasons are a little different. Hers are aesthetic and mine are well, health-based.

I dislike spreading fear in the wellness world, especially around the area of autoimmunity, which is already plagued with podcasting puritans, espousing the notion that people with autoimmune conditions need to give up every single source of joy in their lives and then, and only then, they will be healed

[Silent Scream !!!!!!]

The essential formula for autoimmunity is generally thought to be: genetic susceptibility + environmental trigger = Bingo! i.e. Hashimoto’s or Grave’s or AS or or or…There are already so many candidates, both confirmed and speculated, on the environmental triggers list, from individual nutrient deficiencies, to food groups, from infectious organisms to of course, the big monster under the bed and everywhere else (!), environmental toxins.  But wait there’s one more.

“Black inks likewise have been shown to induce production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as singlet oxygen or peroxyl radicals, which are free-radicals that can steal electrons from neighboring molecules and damage cell constituents. One study by Regensberger and colleagues (2010) found that in the presence of ultraviolet light, some black inks reduced activity of the energetic powerhouses of the cell, the mitochondria, of human dermal keratinocytes, the type of cell that predominates in the outermost layer of skin”

Recently I was prompted to ask one of my mentors whether tattoo inks contained heavy metals. His reply, “I seriously doubt that heavy metal-free tattoo inks even exist.”  Then someone on my team forwarded me this well referenced article that contains the above quote titled, Toxic Chemicals Found in Tattoos: Links to Autoimmune & Inflammatory Diseases.  I haven’t had a chance to read their citations and understand the real implications of this very plausible biological threat and I can’t do anything about the skull & crossbones on my back but I can warn my kids, my patients and anyone else with virginal skin to rethink the ink.

It’s summer time for all of us in the southern hemisphere & that means….Slip Slop Slap?!

Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with a long list of major health conditions: from autoimmunity to mental health & almost everything in between. This has lead to many of us recommending high dose vitamin D supplementation for a large proportion of our patients but do we understand everything we need to to be certain of the merits and safety of this? In this provocative podcast, Should We Rethink High Dose Vitamin D, Rachel outlines the key unresolved vitamin D dilemmas that should encourage us to exercise caution with supplementation and outlines how adequate sun exposure is associated with improved health outcomes independent of the production and action of vitamin D.

 

 

Are You a Quercetin Queen (or King)?

Did you and all your patients survive Spring?  Have you had a chance to restock the shelves with all the big-gun-Quercetin-products for the next allergy onslaught…or maybe for patients presenting with other conditions that respond well to this, like leaky gut, asthma, MCAS, Grave’s disease?  Either way…can I ask you a Quiet Quercetin Question…how high do you go? 

I ask this because I know myself to be pretty heavy-handed at times, especially in those severely affected by traditional allergies..and the results are so impressive for patients and practitioners alike, it’s easy to perhaps get very enthusiastic with this approach, with doses sneaking higher and higher… if a little is so good then a lot must be great!

“Severe eczema and allergic asthma – [Insert preferred big-gun-Quercetin-product] 2 three times a day – STAT!”

And we use it across all patients, right?  I love it in kids, teens and adults, men and women.  So I kind of stopped dead in my tracks when a colleague recently said…”I do the same…buckets of Quercetin especially over hayfever season but Rach, what about it’s phyto-oestrogenic effects? Should we be worried?” Ah…yup…that’s right…being a flavanoid…it has them. Now let’s be clear about one thing, unlike  some practitioners I am NOT, I repeat, NOT against phytoestrogens nor even (ahem) soy 😉 but the question was great because it got me thinking…at high-end supplement doses we are producing levels in the body 100s if not 1000s of times higher than a fruit and vegetable rich diet ever can….is it time we knew a little bit more about what Quercetin does at this level, or is suspected of doing and not just the benefits. Therefore we can be more informed about who we should not be so generous or so long-term with our big Quercetin prescriptions?

So I started busying myself in the literature and it turns out THERE IS A LOT OF LITERATURE!

[Note to said colleague who asked me question, you owe me some sleep] But at least I got an answer! 

If you want a bit of DIY drilling then this Andes et al paper is an excellent overview of quercetin supplementation safety concerns…but it doesn’t cover everything.  We need to talk.  We need to talk about that dang estrogen aspect but it’s bigger than that – you see Quercetin doesn’t just engage with oestrogen receptors like a ‘normal’ phytoestrogen…it messes with levels of this hormone via several other paths…and where does that lead us…?  Listen in to the latest UU30 Querctin – Are We Pushing the Limits? and you’ll know exactly our destination. This is important for the Quercetin Queens (both male and female) among us…and that’s like…everyone…right? 🙂

Quercetin has become an absolute go-to treatment for many practitioners faced with patients affected with allergies and high histamine.  It is in this context, that often we find ourselves using large amounts over long periods. Supplemental quercetin exhibits a 5-20 fold higher bioavailability than its dietary counterpart, therefore increasing body levels beyond what a diet could ever achieve. This introduces more potent novel actions: anti-thyroid, pro-oestrogenic, detoxification disrupting…are we pushing the limits of desirable effects and introducing some undesirable ones and who should we be most conservative in?

Hear all about it by listening by my latest Update in Under 30: Quercetin – Are We Pushing the Limits?
For all Update in Under 30 Subscribers, it’s now available in your online account and if you are not a subscriber you can purchase this individually here.

Digging Deeper Into Thyroid

digging deeper

Have you still got some thyroid patients that don’t fit any sort of traditional thyroid disease model and are difficult to get results with? Oh yes me too… and watch out…I’ve been spending the last few weeks with my nose firmly embedded in hundreds of articles digging around for more answers. As I am presenting on thyroid conditions for ACNEM in Adelaide March 18-19th, I couldn’t resist going back to the literature to see if by delving a little deeper again I could come up with some more answers to these weird, wacky and hard to treat thyroid presentations that we’re increasingly seeing and guess what…I think I’ve found a few gems. (more…)

Taking Care Down There

picture1Often we assume our patients know at least the basics about health – especially about things soooo seemingly basic…that we fear mentioning them would offend and make us look like someone trying to teach grandma anything!  But there are some instances where I’ve found I have simply assumed too much.

I think the issue of what I affectionately call ‘Vag Care’, is right up there as an example.

Soapy water?  Female deodorisers, daily panty liners, re-enacting bad movie scenes with soapy suds sex…what the???  It’s been my astonishing discovery that women of all ages, but especially a frightening majority of younger females (<30 yo), in this time of increasingly unreal ideas about sex and sexuality, feel inclined or pressured to adopt these practices in order to erase all trace of natural odour and healthy discharge. The abnormal has become normalised.  (more…)

Winning the Acid War

You might have heard me talk about using an ‘upstream’ rather than ‘downstream’ approach in nutrition – the concept is very naturopathic… look at the water source and address things there rather than just tweak things downriver! One of the most important upstream influences on patient health & wellbeing I can think of is systemic pH – the body’s constant struggle to neutralise its overwhelmingly acidic input, which comes from both metabolism, inflammation, stress and of course unbalanced diets.

 It’s a war out there and most of our patients aren’t winning!  (more…)

Australia’s Food Intolerance & Allergy Guru Will See You Now!

I’ve booked my flights and packed my bags (at least in my mind!) already.  The annual Science of Nutrition in Medicine Conference is on 2-3rd May in Melbourne & there’s one name on the bill that alone I would be attending for – Dr Robert Loblay.  He’s the head of the Immunology unit at RPAH  which specialises in the management & treatment of every possible type of food & chemical reaction (including all the ones the average medico would suggest are impossible/unreal or psychosomatic). By the way he also a strong interest in bioethics so this makes for a great combination in this field. He helped put together the RPAH diet and book ‘Friendly Foods’, which is such a great clinical resource for patients with food intolerances.

The way I approach food reactions in clinic has been heavily influenced by his work and because the RPAH unit is working everyday with some of the most severe, complex and unusual reactions, when he talks I listen! (more…)

What to make of long-term low CRP

Ever had those patients… young, slim, fit…I won’t go so far as to say ‘well’ or otherwise they probably wouldn’t be seeing us right?  But not overtly inflamed and yet when you measure their CRP, it registers.  The average CRP of ‘healthy’ adult populations is reported to be between 1 and 3 mg/L but we know that even values within this range positively correlate with long-term CVD risk and most of us believe that unless there’s a good reason for immune activation at the time of the test, we’d like to see values < 1mg/L.

I saw one of my patients who fits this bill just the other day – an updated CRP and there it was again bubbling away at 1mg/L.  This guy is young (20s), slim (BMI of 19 kg/m2), non-smoker (another classic driver of this sort of brewing CRP), doesn’t report any acute illness e.g. URTI, at the time of each test (we would expect a much higher value with this anyway)…so why is there any CRP?  (more…)