Dr. Christine Shaffner - Myers Detox

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Wendy Myers: Hello everyone, welcome to the Myers Detox Podcast, my name is Wendy Myers of myersdetox.com. Yes, I changed the name of my website from Live to 110 to myersdetox.com. I’m so excited today to introduce my friend, Dr. Christine Schaffner on the show today, to talk about the rise of neurological disease, and why is that, why is there a rise in neurological disease? Of course, the big answer is toxins in our environment, metals and chemicals and things are interfering in our central nervous system and our brain function. We’re going to be talking today about some statistics on the rise of neurological disease, why this is happening, things you can do to detox your body and your brain, and also some pros and cons in IV chelation.

A lot of people go to a doctor to get detoxed, and they’re only given IV chelation as the one option that they have, so we’re going to be talking about the pros and cons of that, and when is the right time to detox using IV chelation, and when is not the right time. Lots of really really interesting themes today on the show, and I’m also partnering with Dr. Christine Schaffner on the Heavy Metals Summit. That’s a summit that we are co-hosting with [Dr. Dietrich Klingheart 00:01:37], talking about how to detox, the most cutting edge detox protocols, talking about specific metals. We have so many amazing speakers, we have 38 speakers on the summit, and I’m so excited to be doing this finally, I’ve been wanting to do a detox summit for years and years and years, and it just never came to fruition.

I was so excited when Dr. Christine Schaffner asked me to co-host this summit with her specifically about heavy metals, but we talk about chemicals too. We have [Dr. Joan Gracola 00:02:11] on, we have [Dr. Chris Shade 00:02:14], we have [Dr. Daniel Pampa 00:02:15] on the summit, all the top experts in the world on detoxification. Go check it out, totally free, theheavymetalssummit.com, January 29th to February 5th. On the show today, Dr. Christine Schaffner is going to be talking about the rise of neurological disease, and just a little bit about her, she is a board-certified naturopathic physician who graduated from [Bastir 00:02:43] University in Seattle, Washington.

Prior to Bastir, she completed her undergraduate studies in pre-medicine and psychology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Schaffner is passionate about practicing medicine and creating healing spaces. She is a clinic director of Sofia Health Institute, the clinic she co=founded with our mentor, Dr. Dietrich Klingheart in Woodenville, Washington. She actively sees patients at Sofia Health Institute and through her practices, Marin Naturopathic Medicine in California, as well as Bella Fiore Organic Med Spa and Clinic in Seattle, Washington. Along with practicing medicine in clinics, she has co-created [inaudible 00:03:27].

Dr. Schaffner has built partnerships and working relationships with practitioners who are committed to treating persistent Lyme disease all over the world. Through these connections, she’s established a unique set of skills and knowledge to serve her patients. With her diverse skillset, Dr. Schaffner seeks to improve access, outcomes, and speed of recovery for her patients struggling with chronic illness. Dr. Schaffner, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Dr. Schaffner: Thanks Wendy, it’s fun to chat with you today.

Wendy Myers: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background, and how you got into the health field?

Dr. Schaffner: Sure. I’m a naturopathic doctor, I graduated from Bastir in 2010, and right away I actually had the opportunity to start working with Dr. Dietrich Klingheart, and so I didn’t really set out to treat Lyme disease and neurological illness, my path found myself there in his office. From day one, I really started seeing some of the toughest patients out there. The type of patient population that we see, I had a new patient this week actually that said, “Oh, you’re doctor 54,” you know so it’s just that necessity in that patients come after seeing a lot of different doctors. We really have to think outside of the box on, “Okay, what has worked and what hasn’t?”, and why really people are sick today.

I feel really honored and grateful that I had this opportunity that I still work with Dr. K, it’s been about eight now, and through that learning, we have really seen some really common denominators of why people are sick. I think it really kind of affects everybody, but again, this is where we see bio-individuality, and then also just genetic expression, how people can present differently, but we still have these common denominators. We look at kind of all health and balance in the context of chronic infection, so that stress on the immune system. Dr. K is known for his treatment of Lyme disease, and Lyme is definitely a big part of what we treat, but it’s not just Lyme, you know we look at the whole ecosystem of the body.

We look at Lyme and co-infections, we look at viral infections, we look at mold and fungus, and then parasites, and so we look at all of these things and how that can create immune stress and immune suppression, and then we look at the environment. That’s something that you and I are both really really passionate about. I think really where we’re seeing this huge rise in chronic illness, I think we have to look at the environment. I’m happy to chat with you today about that, and that’s why we came together so we could do this summit, because the environmental factors, those are what are increasing year over year. I think that we’re just in this kind of unknown territory, it’s not like one plus one equals two anymore, it’s one plus one equals this huge unknown.

We look at heavy metals, which we’ll talk about, we look at pesticide and herbicide exposure, which is huge and increasing, and then we also look at other environmental toxins, and then the role of electromagnetic frequencies in the body. It’s usually this interplay of the immune stress and environmental toxicity, and then plus how that interplays with our unique genetic expression. I think the field of genetics is pretty amazing, we’re learning so much, but it’s not like our genetics are set in stone, right? We have this whole epigenetic expression, and so I think these influences can trigger potentially illnesses that might not be triggered if people weren’t exposed to these things.

You don’t necessarily have to have bad genetics in order to get sick anymore either, so we look at that in one lens. Then Dr. Klingheart has this five levels of healing, and I think that’s a really great framework to just acknowledge that we’re more than our physical bodies. He calls it physical, energetic, mental, intuitive, and spiritual, and he kind of took that from the yogic philosophy and implemented it in our framework. It’s just that kind of, most people who are in alternative medicine or people who are seeing chronic illness, it’s this interplay between mind, body and spirit, and so we look at that and we try to give people of course tools on all those levels, depending on where they’re coming from and what their interest is in that.

I feel like the patients who really want to work on all of those levels see the most progress and kind of understand their illness in a whole different framework. Yeah, so I’m rambling, but that’s what we do in a day. With my background, you know I’m really really passionate about naturopathic medicine, as well as really helping educate people on why they’re sick. I think you see this too, Wendy, it’s like so many people have lost years of their life, and it’s just heartbreaking to see, you know people go to 54 doctors before really understanding why they’re sick. I know that you and I are trying to really educate people in these core issues, so we can get people back to their life and back to enjoying their purpose and their passion, and not being ill.

Wendy Myers: Yes, and that’s why I respect what you do so much, because you know I had this person contact me today that I’m going to refer you to that has Lyme and mercury toxicity and signs of ALS, and they’ve been to so many different doctors and still aren’t getting better. It’s just because most doctors are not looking at toxins like chemicals and glyphosate and mercury and aluminum and lead and other metals as the underlying root cause of health issues. We know that the number one primary driver of disease today are these very toxins that we are breathing in and eating and drinking every single day. Our environment is very very toxic, and that’s why you and I partnered with Dr. Dietrich Klingheart to do the Heavy Metals Summit.

I’m so excited about that, because I really want to, just like you do, get that message out there that if you really want to be healthy, if you want to meet your health goals, you want to have energy and clear brain function and live a long, disease-free life not on medication, you have to add detoxification to your health regimen. On the Heavy Metals Summit, you can register absolutely for free at theheavymetalssummit.com, it’s going to be happening January 29th to February 5th, free and online, just go there and register. There’s so much we’re teaching people about the toxins that you encounter in the environment, how to detox them, like the latest cutting edge detox protocols. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about that, and why you wanted to participate in an event like this?

Dr. Schaffner: Yeah, I’m so excited, as you are, and I think that we really, between you, myself, and Dr. Klingheart, we brought together a really unique group of people. The fun thing about this medicine is that we’re always learning, this medicine is always evolving. What we knew eight years ago is so different from what we know now, and our tools are becoming more and more elegant. I really enjoy learning, you know from different experts, how do they tackle heavy metal toxicity, how do they support organs of elimination, how do they really support people getting well? There are many paths to the same road, and so we get to learn a lot of different pearls from these individual practitioners and experts.

I think you made such a good point, you know it’s like detoxification is not just a cleanse or a retreat, it’s really a lifestyle. I think a lot of my patients come to me and they’re doing everything right, they’re eating the cleanest diet, they’ve EMF-proofed their home, there’s no mold in their home, they just know everything that they’re doing is what they can control, and they still have high levels of glyphosate in their urine, they have high levels of aluminum and mercury and lead in their body, and they need these other strategies in order to get to the next level for their health. I’m just really really excited to share all this information, and I think we really curated a great group of people, and I’m excited to hear the feedback and how we can impact more people and get them to the right resources, so people don’t have to be so sick anymore.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, and when people sign up for the summit, they get three Freetox right away, [Dr. Liza Sahn 00:12:33] talking about how to detox your child, [Nicki Gratrix 00:12:37] talking about emotional trauma and how that can impede detox, and we have so many amazing people, [Dr. Joe Marcola 00:12:46], who’s one of my heroes, one of my idols and I’m proud to call a friend, he’s talking about EMF and detox. We have a whole day dedicated to bio-energetic detox, which is so cool, and it’s really one of my favorite subjects right now, is employing bioenergetics and using the body’s energy field, correcting issues and energetic blocks in the energy field to facilitate detox, metals and chemicals and things. We have Dr. Chris Shade on the summit as well, and just so many experts in detoxification, it’s really exciting.

Dr. Schaffner: We have [Dr. Seniph 00:13:27], who’s taught us so much about glyphosate, and I learned a lot of unique pearls. We were really fortunate for the last five years, she’s been giving us talks at Sofia Health Institute, and just kind of really got us on to this glyphosate topic. I’m so happy that awareness has increased so dramatically over the years, but she’s putting together even more pearls, and how the changes in our gut microbiome actually make the mercury more toxic in our bodies due to glyphosate and things. She’s just a real expert that I learned a lot from as well.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, she’s brilliant, I love talking to her. Her podcast on my show was one of the most popular podcasts we’ve had. She’s fascinating, the research that she does. Lots of amazing speakers you guys, so tune in, go, register for free at theheavymetalssummit.com, it’s happening January 29th through February 5th, 2018. Let’s talk a little bit more about neurological disease. Why do you think neurological disease and dementia are on the rise?

Dr. Schaffner: Like I was saying, we see a lot of tough cases at Sofia Health Institute, and a lot of patients have some type of cognitive impairment, anything from brain fog to memory loss to Parkinson’s, MS, Alzheimer’s, early stages of dementia, and ALS. We see this band and spectrum of different neurological illnesses, and you know there is a paper that clearly documents that this is on the rise, neurological illness is on the rise. The paper that I’m thinking about really quotes that the increase, especially in the United States, has to be linked to a possible environmental cause. That was kind of a really good affirmation for us that we’re on the right track.

We just know even Autism, I think in 2001, it was one in … I actually had that written down here, one in 150, I was thinking 200. In 2000, one out of every 150 children had Autism, and now in 2000, I believe, ’12 or ’13, one in 68. Dr. Seniph is really passionate about autism, and she is just so concerned about this increased rate, that if we continue down this track, we’re not going to have healthy children. That is not a fear statement, it’s more of a reality statement, that we have to pivot and make choices to really protect the future of our species.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, even my daughter had an autism diagnosis at one point. I mean, she had a psychiatrist diagnose her with that, and luckily I hit the ground running, I knew exactly what to do, detox her, took tons of aluminum come out, she had very intensive therapy, very intensive language school, and she’s normal now. The early intervention is key, but still it just speaks to so many people, even if you’re in the health field, you can still be dramatically impacted in your family and your loved ones by all the toxins in our environment.

Dr. Schaffner: Yeah, you know and so the children are suffering, and then we see the aging population are suffering too. I think with people over 65, I believe one in 10 now have dementia or Alzheimer’s, and so that’s huge. I mean, I have more and more patients who have family members who have Alzheimer’s, and they’re fear-stricken, they’re so scared that that’s going to be their path as well, and they’re trying to figure out how can they prevent that, Alzheimer’s, to see your loved one, have no memory of their life and really need intensive care-taking. I mean, we’re having this on both spectrums of our lifespan, this really increased need for intensive care-giving, and at of course, you know we’re not motivated by this, but societal costs.

That’s a huge cost to society, and you just see so many people taken out of a healthy life. We know, Wendy, for a fact that this is on the rise, and you and I are going to have a very clear, you know this is not just a genetic issue, this is definitely not a random event in history, there is a clear cause. I seem to think heavy metals of course plays a huge role in this, and we know that heavy metals are neurotoxic. The definition of a neurotoxin is something that is going to have an adverse effect on the nervous system, so our brain, our spinal cord, our neurons in our body. You already just mentioned aluminum, so aluminum, we have this huge increase in exposure. Chris actually, he had too much sun, but we don’t have that problem today in Seattle, but Chris actually, he’s a professor that I know that you and I both know his research, in that he calls it the age of aluminum, or “al-u-min-ium” they say in Europe.

We just have this huge exposure in our food and our water and our personal care products and our air and in the vaccines. The vaccines are not, I know this is a controversial topic, but it’s actually very well-studied, that they have shown that the aluminum [agivants 00:18:55] have a huge effect on the nervous system. We know that the increase in aluminum agivant use is linked to neurological disease, I know that they’ve shown studies looking at the connections of Alzheimer’s and aluminum in the brain. Chris actually measured the brain weight in deceased people from Alzheimer’s, and they found higher amounts of aluminum content in a brain that has dementia or Alzheimer’s than a healthier brain, so we know that to be true.

There’s a great book, if people want to really fact check and look at this for themselves, I think it’s called Miller’s Vaccine Review, and he goes through research to show the impact of a lot of different components of the vaccine. We know to be true that the aluminum agivants, you know we bypass all those natural protective barriers when we inject something into the skin, and so that is going to of course have a more neurological damaging effect. Aluminum can affect the blood-brain barrier, so it can make that more permeable, it can create a lot of what we call neurovascular inflammation, so the blood going into the brain, the vasculature in the brain is going to be more permeable.

Aluminum is a big topic, and we look at that. You want to try to avoid heavy metals as much as possible in your life, because once they get in your body and your brain, they do take time to get out, you know so it’s something that I want people to have as much informed choice as they can when they’re making these decisions for themselves and their children. One of the things that Stephanie Seniph will get into is like, you know again, aluminum, we know aluminum is bad enough, but you put aluminum in the context of other heavy metals or aluminum in the context of glyphosate, we see this potent synergistic effect that creates more neurotoxicity and more bio-availability too.

I just want to drive the point home that even if it was just aluminum, that’s bad enough, but you put aluminum in the human body with this soup of toxicity that we all are in, we’re still trying to figure out what is that actually doing to our brain and our nervous system.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, and there’s very few studies on how toxic these chemicals can potentiate each other and make each other worse. There’s been some with food coloring done, we know when like FDNC yellow and blue are together, it makes children much worse, much worse hyperactivity, but there’s really very few studies about how these toxins and metals coming together make the effects worse.

Dr. Schaffner: Absolutely. I think, you know it’s like that precautionary principle, right? We’re still in this age of unknown, and I’d rather err on the side of a caution and avoidance, rather than just crossing our fingers and waiting and seeing what happens, I think we’re kind of in that right now.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, and we have a few speakers on the Heavy Metals Summit talking about vaccines and the toxins in vaccines, and how those can negatively impact our health, and definitely my daughter having such high levels of aluminum, she got those from vaccines before I kind of clued into that. I was vaccinating her, and stopped at about 18 months, but they had a profound effect on her neurologically and her ability to speak. Luckily I was able to detox that and get her speech, you know her words back, her language back and language acquisition early enough, but a lot of children with autism aren’t that lucky and are left with language deficiencies and sensory issues. Let’s talk about some of the other metals that can potentially cause neurological disease and dementia.

Dr. Schaffner: Yeah, you know we look at aluminum of course as a huge trigger, and I think the rise in neurological disease is linked to aluminum primarily, but there’s also of course mercury. I know that we’re all familiar with mercury, you know with all of our patients, we advocate for amalgam removal. Amalgams are still placed in mouths, and over time that’s going to be a significant exposure, the mercury vapor can get into the cranial nerves, and the cranial nerves can, through what we call retrograde axonal transport, get into the brain. Mercury is one of the most neurotoxic substances out there. We definitely want to avoid mercury in your mouth, which is really close to the brain.

I’m still surprised with some of my patients who come to see me that they still haven’t been educated about that, there’s so much more education now, but that I see so many huge improvements when that’s done, people feel better typically right away. Just as an area of caution, like if you definitely want to work on your health and do heavy metal detoxification, if you still have mercury amalgams in your mouth, I would highly suggest that you see a biological dentist to get these removed safely, because you’re going to be trying to detoxify while you’re still having an active exposure, and you can be more reactive to treatment when you still have amalgams in your mouth.

[Jonathan Lance 00:24:28] on the Heavy Metals Summit, he is very passionate about this topic, and he goes through a lot of information about why we have amalgams, the safety, the politics, and we talk more and more about biological dentistry. I just want people to know, like definitely that’s a huge exposure. Then we have a lot of environmental exposures, you know from coal burning to the fish that are polluted in the ocean. [Thimarisol 00:24:58] has been taken out of a lot of the vaccines, but I believe it’s still in the flu vaccine, and I think maybe one other vaccine it might still be in. Mercury is definitely getting a little bit more phased out of the vaccinations, but again, we have the aluminum issue.

Mercury can affect, once it gets into the neurons in the [tubulan 00:25:19], it can affect the functioning and the firing of the neuron. I know that you had me on before and we talked a lot about this [glymphatic 00:25:27] system, and the glymphatic system I think is such an important topic, about how our brains detoxify at bedtime, and that’s why sleep is so important. That whole system is dependent on a type of cell in the brain called an [astrocite 00:25:41], and the astrocites help to clean up the brain, they’re kind of the Pac-Men of the brain, if you can kind of think about that, but they also have a very important job of regulating the flow of lymph in the glymphatic system movement at night.

When you have metals in your brain, the astrocites and the other [galeal 00:26:01] cells, an astrocite is a type of galeal cell, they become damaged. They become less and less efficient, and what happens there is then where our natural mechanisms to clear waste and metals out of the brain is compromised. I think that’s a really important mechanism to think about when we’re cleaning up the brain, how do we improve the health of the glymphatic system and get that natural mechanism that we have to work better? We have mercury, we have lead, you know lead is out of gasoline, it’s still used in airplane fuel I believe, and then older homes still have leaded paint, you know we still have lead exposure.

If you had a lead exposure during a time when gasoline was leaded and everything, you could be storing that lead in your bones, and then as you age and we break down our bones, we can basically release the lead in our bones. A lot of menopausal women actually will have that osteoporosis picture, and then they’ll start getting the cognitive decline, which can also be the lower hormones, but it also can be the lead in their system. Lead has a very significant impact on our IQ, you know just a really it’s a huge one, it affects the hippocampus and our cognitive function. Lead, we know this even in conventional medicine, they test young children for lead, because we saw with Flint, Michigan and everything, that whole lead exposure I believe in the water damaged the brains of young children.

Stephanie actually, I don’t want to give away some of her pearls, but she talked about how she thought Flint, Michigan was absolutely more susceptible to lead exposure in the water and he presence of glyphosate, because they have a lot of sugar beets there, like a genetically-modified sugar beet production there. Then arsenic I believe has been linked to lower brain weight, so just kind of a decreased volume of the brain. [Dr. Pizorno 00:28:15] actually talks a lot about arsenic in our conversation. Arsenic can be found in the water, it could be found in chickens, people can have more exposure than they think about with arsenic.

Then cadmium, cadmium is a carcinogen, and we know that cadmium is also a neurotoxin. Those are kind of the ones that are always on the top of my mind, but we’re learning more, I mean I see more uranium in people, more thallium and thorium in people. I know you have your pulse on this too, Wendy, but those are the ones that I’m always thinking about, because if you can kind of identify exposure and then gear your treatment to at least that array of metals, you usually capture a lot of them that can come out, and you’re improving the detoxification of the body overall.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, exactly. You don’t have to know every metal that you have in your body to get proper treatment and proper detoxification, you can do like a hair and mineral analysis, and there’s other tests as well for metals, but a hair and mineral analysis is a really good start. It won’t show you all the metals you have, but in creating a treatment protocol based on a hair and mineral analysis, you can capture a lot of the metals. Tell us about the metals testing that you like to do and that you recommend, so that people can find out what toxicities that they do have that might lead them to be prone to neurological disease.

Dr. Schaffner: Yeah, you know metal testing is imperfect, you know it’s a snapshot of the body burden. I think you make the point a lot that it’s like just assume you have heavy metal toxicity, because I do, I don’t think anyone’s immune to it. I actually think living on planet Earth at this point, we have an exposure, and some of us are going to do better with it than others, and if you acknowledge that and make detoxification part of your lifestyle, that’s going to lead to health down the road. At Sofia, we use a lot of urine provocation tests, so you know that’s kind of the standard in functional medicine and people who do alternative medicine, but it’s not perfect.

The whole thought process is that we give people what we call a [kelating 00:30:34] agent, so something like DMSA or DMPS or EDTA, and that basically pulls metals. Each of them have slightly a different affinity, but it’s primarily mercury and lead, all of those capture, and then you collect your urine for six hours, some people do 24 hours, but we usually do six hours. Then we get a snapshot of that body burden, you know and it’s not going to be perfect, because again, when you think about it, you have to have good minerals. Your body, where the metals are are hard to measure usually, so when you have metals in your brain, they’re not going to come out in a urine test. Then over time, what we can see as we’re detoxifying the body, some people can get frustrated because they’re like, “Oh, I only was 15 on mercury, and now I’m 30,” you know for a period of time, if we’re comparing.

I’m like, “Oh good, more mercury is coming out of your body,” you know that it was there. It’s like it’s not this linear thing where you have this much mercury and we’re whittling it down, I see that it comes out in waves, depending on kind of where we are with treatment and mineral repletion and detoxification. That’s kind of a standard that we use. We also use the [Oligo 00:31:44] scan at Sofia-

Wendy Myers: Yeah, tell us about that, that’s really interesting.

Dr. Schaffner: It’s a cool other diagnostic. Why I like it is because you don’t have to do a urine provocation, so remember if you still have heavy metals in your mouth, I’m not going to give you a chelating agent, or if you’re too weak or sick I might not do that right away, because I want to do it as safely as possible. The Oligo scan can, again, give us a snapshot of the tissue-body burden, it’s not, again, perfect. You have to kind of take all these clues together and then, again, you know people who are in our office, we just assume that this is part of their problem as well. It uses something called spectral photometry, so it’s using principles of light to measure tissue resonance of minerals and metals.

Every mineral and metal has a signature that basically is able to be assessed and identified on a light assessment, and then that gets printed out. This actually picks up aluminum more than any other test, again, DMPS, DMSA and EDTA, that are typically used for chelation, don’t grab aluminum, so you can miss a lot of aluminum in these urine metals tests. The Oligo scan is cool because it picks up, everyone has aluminum by the way, you know it’s just that type-

Wendy Myers: Everyone, yeah.

Dr. Schaffner: Prove that to me, and higher than I would like to admit. It’s definitely over the years, I mean we of course assume we’re [inaudible 00:33:13], but aluminum has just kind of gotten to that higher level of priority because of what we know it does to the brain and the nervous system, and then seeing people’s loads. The Oligo scan I like because it’s like a five-minute test, you have to know your blood type, but five-minute test, really easy, and it can demonstrate especially people this is a new idea, new thought, it’s a very tangible way to see a metal burden.

It correlates with symptoms and the clinical picture, so I do think it’s a valuable test. Then we don’t use hair and mineral tests enough, I’d love to learn from you again and use that more, you know you just get in the rhythm, but it can show active exposure and it can show that whole mineral piece. Because if you’re mineral deficient, you’re going to be in what we call a metal retention pattern, your body is not going to be able to let go of metals when you’re mineral depleted. I know a big strategy for you in your programs is giving people the right minerals so they run, and then their body starts naturally getting rid of metals, which I think is a really safe and great strategy to use.

Wendy Myers: Yes, it’s a natural way to re-mineralize the body, it’s a very natural way to detox metals, and it’s a great start especially for people that are really really sick, because we know that everyone is mineral deficient to a large degree, and everyone needs to take minerals no matter what, even if they’re not doing a detoxification program, but it really helps the body just on its own gently start detoxifying. I love hair and mineral analysis, it’s one of my first loves, and I love teaching people about it. It’s great, because you know I don’t have a clinic where people come to, so using hair and mineral analysis, because the Oligo scan you have to do it in person, you know so the hair and mineral analysis is a great way for people to do a metals test without having to go anywhere, not having to travel anywhere.

People can be served and do a detox program that live in, say, Egypt or Thailand, or a place where they don’t have alternative medical practitioners or testing equipment like that, anyone in the world can do a hair and mineral analysis, and that’s just one reason to use it, but I think it’s a great three-month average tissue sample that’s coming out in the body, but it’s by no means perfect. There’s no perfect metal test that will tell you everything, every metal that you have in your body.

Dr. Schaffner: Yeah.

Wendy Myers: Let’s talk about some of the ways to approach heavy metals with neurological disease, so what are some of the ways that people can detox these metals that cause neurological disease?

Dr. Schaffner:  Yeah, you know so we look at, again, every person globally, so we look at the whole body when we’re looking at everyone individually. Something that I know you really feel passionate about too, it’s like in order to have effective, safe detoxification, you have to support all of our organs of elimination, and so primarily the kidney. We’re really concerned about the kidney when we do metal detox, because the kidneys are, we don’t want to damage them, and we want to make sure that they’re eliminating properly, so that when we start pushing metals out, that they are open and that they are able to handle that burden.

The kidneys are always important, of course the liver and the gallbladder. Chris Shade, who’s great, he is the founder of Quicksilver, he has pioneered a lot of great [liposomal 00:36:50] products and detoxification products without chelation, he talks a lot in our summit about the role of bile and the liver and how to really support detoxification from that angle. We want to make sure that the liver and the bile flow are working properly, and then again, that people are eliminating. We want to make sure that they’re having regular bowel movements, and so a lot of times when people are sick, the peristalsis and their gut can be compromised, and so we do whatever we can to get that going, from using magnesium to vitamin C to other herbs, and then coffee enemas and colonics are something that we use all the time.

Then we pay attention a lot to the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is, you know we have the glymphatic system in our brain, that’s the lymph system in our brain, which is actually a new discovery, you know that actually has only been known for maybe three or four years that we have this whole network of lymph in our brain, and then we have a huge lymphatic system in the rest of our body. I think everyone probably knows about lymph nodes, so those are kind of areas of high concentration of where the lymph is getting cleansed and everything. The lymph system is where our blood and our connective tissue essentially gets cleared out.

The lymph system requires movement and usually other types of mechanical drainage methods to really have an effective treatment, and so I always kind of think about the kidneys, the colon, the liver, and the gallbladder, the lymph system, and then you know the lungs and the skin are part of the excretory organs as well, but that all of that is working properly, or that my patients at least have tools on all of those levels. There’s a lot of home detox you can do, from castor oil packs, again, coffee enemas, dry skin brushing, Epsom salt baths, you know all of these things that are in place. Then we also, a big part of our treatment is our binders.

We use this kind of foundational approach, binders are going to be things like modified citrus pectin, we both like pectisol, Chris Shade has IMD or Bio-Pure has metal sweep, it’s a silica-based binder that’s going to grab metals from the intestinal lining. We use a lot of chlorella, there are other green algaes that are helpful as well. We use a form of ZO light powder that’s very specific called ZO-bind, and then there’s of course charcoal, clay, you know all of these other things. Binders essentially, you take them away from food, and so when they’re sitting in an empty stomach, and then when you eat and that bile basically exits the liver and enters the intestines, the binders are there to bind what’s coming out of the bile that are usually, that’s where mold toxins are going to come out of, that’s where heavy metals will exit as well, and other environmental chemicals that are getting processed by the liver, that those binders combined bring them out of the body via the stool, rather than get re-circulated in the system and essentially affect the kidney or other organs of elimination.

We absolutely have binders and supporting organs of elimination as a foundation to all of our protocols, and then it just depends where people are. One day it’s like for us, because we’re seeing a lot of sick people, we will use chelation. I kind of think you have to meet the force of your intervention with kind of how sick someone is sometimes, and when people are at that point that they have … I kind of think about we have metals in us for manmade reasons, and so we need sometimes a stronger agent to go and be able to deal with that burden. There’s a time and a place for all medicine, and so I feel like, you know we have a form of energetic testing as well that we use, so we always verify that the patient is going to be ready on a lot of levels before we do this.

When it’s done at the right time with the right support, it can be a game changer for people. There’s a lot of fear about chelation, which I totally get, because when it’s done wrong it’s dangerous, but when it’s done right, it can be that tool that gets people kind of back into their life and being able to, it knocks down the burden enough where then all these other things can keep them going.

Wendy Myers:  Tell us exactly, so you overheard the IV chelation, tell me exactly what that is.

Dr. Schaffner:  When we say “chelation”, I’m specifically talking about three agents, and what they’re called are, they’re chelating agents because their biochemical structure have an affinity for different heavy metals, and they have a way that they complex them into how they can exit the body. There’s DMPS, DMSA, and EDTA, those are the ones that I’m primarily familiar with, there a few others, but those are kind of the ones that you’re going to most often hear talked about in heavy metal detoxification. DMPS has a high affinity for mercury, Dr. Klingheart’s favorite agent is probably DMPS, and also lead. Also these, what we call self-hydral-affinitive metals.

What that means is that these are sulfur-binding metals. Sulfur is everywhere in our body, and so metals have an impact where they get into the things, like they disrupt our collagen, like because of the sulfur in our collagen, or can affect the blood-brain barrier, or all of these different tissues that have sulfur in them because of their sulfur-loving properties. What we can do is we can take an agent that binds specifically to those sulfur groups on a heavy metal, and then the agents have different ways of exiting. Some kind of go over the kidney more, some go through the liver and out the digestive tract more, and so you just try to pair the agent with kind of people’s presentation.

We have DMPS, which is typically injected or IV, that can also be compounded as an oral agent, there’s DMSA, that’s also very strong for lead and mercury and the other self-hydral-affinitive metals, that’s usually a capsule. Dr. Pizorno, again, he talks a lot about the use of DMSA in his research and finds that’s a huge beneficial tool to really knock people’s body burden. Then to be honest, I don’t use a lot of EDTA, it is used in IVs, there’s also a lot of suppositories, it’s a weaker chelator, it can be helpful for lead. Then also in our world, you know we look at metals with biofilm as well, because when we look at the world of chronic infection, infections can live in biofilm communities that are held together by metals.

You can kind of penetrate or get into the biofilm by stripping out those heavy metals, so EDTA sometimes can be thought of as like a biofilm agent. We choose depending upon the individual, where they are, what’s accessible to them, and then we come up with a program. Yeah, so metal chelation is definitely safe, but you have to remember, number one rule, don’t ever do metal chelation if you have amalgams in your mouth. I’ve seen that done way too many times, and that can aggravate you, and then you want to make sure that you have recent blood work, and make sure that your liver and your kidneys look good, and that you’re doing all these foundational steps. Then in the light of that, you can work with your doctor to find an effective tool.

We do a couple different things at Sofia, just because we use an injection technique called neurotherapy, so we can combine metal detox agents not only IV, but also in the areas where the metals are. Like there are a lot of patients who have pain in their body secondary to heavy metals, and so we can do some neurotherapy patterns and injections, and that can help flush metals out of the connective tissue and create a lot of pain relief. We think about like that fibromyalgia type pain can be related to mercury and heavy metals.

Wendy Myers: Oh yeah, we definitely know that, yeah. I’m glad you brought this up, the heavy metal chelation as IV, because while that might not be for everyone, if you have someone presenting with cancer or ALS or very very severe, life-threatening illnesses, you have to act fast, you have to do something drastic to save that person’s life, or if they’ve had an acute lead exposure, whatever the case may be, you know that there’s a time and a place for something like that and people shouldn’t be afraid of it, but you want to make sure you go to someone that knows what they’re doing, because I think a lot of functional medicine practitioners, they might only offer that as a means.

I think that might be a kind of warning sign, if that’s the only thing that they offer in the realm of heavy metal detoxification, that to me would be a red flag that they might not have explored other avenues or other means, gentler means to detox people and their patients. Why don’t we talk a little bit about some of the dangers of IV chelation, like some of the things that can be problematic? As long as we’re on the subject, what are some of the problems that people can experience if it’s not done correctly?

Dr. Schaffner: I mean, I think kidney function is going to be really important, remember if we’re doing something IV, we’re going to introduce them in the bloodstream and the blood gets filtered out through the kidneys. If there’s any kidney compromise, that’s going to affect the safety of being able … You don’t want to all of the sudden ask the kidneys to excrete a bunch of heavy metals that are already hard to get out on a compromised kidney, so that’s why we use binders and check kidney function. Then minerals, you know so I think why chelation gets a bad rap is because people are like, “Oh, it’s going to pull the good minerals too,” and there’s truth in that, you know but there is a way to replete people while you’re doing this.

If you’re going to go to somebody and do chelation, they absolutely need to have a mineral program as part of your treatment. You can take oral minerals, and then depending on the type of chelation that you are doing, you can do IV minerals as well, there are different kind of formulas for mineral IVs, [Tamyra’s 00:47:35] cocktails, so you’re getting these nutrients introduced back in that might be, you know everything almost has a little bit of a cost benefit. There is a cost benefit to chelation, and I do find because we look at all these things, I see very minimal adverse reactions to chelation, but I would say the biggest things are, the dangers are if you still have amalgams and someone’s chelating, if they don’t put a mineral program in place, something with like zinc and magnesium and also the B vitamins.

Then kidney function, and then just not looking at this whole system of how we do binders and support all the organs of elimination. You shouldn’t have to feel bad going through chelation, and if you do, that means something is undertreated or under-addressed.

Wendy Myers: That’s a very very good point, yeah, because you know you can detox and feel decent, and I’m not saying you’re always going to feel good, people will have detox symptoms and things like that, but it should be mild. It shouldn’t be something that impedes your life or ability to work, but you have to deal with some unpleasant symptoms sometimes.

Dr. Schaffner: Dr. K always says, “The only way out is the way through.”

Wendy Myers: Yes, yeah, once a defier.

Dr. Schaffner: It should definitely be, that should be a minimal part of the process, and it absolutely can be mitigated by these strategies.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, you should not be debilitated, definitely should not be.

Dr. Schaffner: Yeah.

Wendy Myers: Let’s talk a little bit about what you think is the most pressing health issue in the world today. It’s something that I like to ask all of my guests, so what are your thoughts on that?

Dr. Schaffner: You know, that’s a good question. I mean I really, not to sound like a broken record, but I think it’s this increasing environmental pressure on the human body, and I think that unfortunately, you know I love America, I love the United States, as a woman I feel very privileged and honored to be able to be here and have the freedoms that we do, and I think obviously this is a challenging time for the US, but I think there’s a lot of great things, but I think that we all have to become activists. Once you know the things that we know, you have to absolutely share in your community and make the decisions that you can with the information that you have.

How do you vote with really wanting clean food, clean water, clean air, how do you challenge the current system that I believe is more profit-driven than human, intentional driven. If you can see why are people making these decisions, there definitely is a financial motivator rather than the fact that, I mean we’re still putting amalgams in people’s mouths. A dentist told me last week that I went out to dinner with, it’s because the ADA still has a patent on amalgams, and that doesn’t run out until 2020, and so it’s crazy-making. Unfortunately, we live in a time where there are freedoms of speech, but you know especially in the alternative health community, it’s dangerous to still speak out, but I do believe you can’t be quiet to this and we all have to do what we can.

I just see too many sick people and too many people being taken out of their life who have so much to give, that I just feel like this environmental impact that we’re all just, you know it’s really without our consent being exposed to, that we all have to pivot and find a way that we can have healthier and safer communities.

Wendy Myers: Yeah, that’s so shocking, I didn’t know that, that the ADA has a patent on mercury amalgams, that is disgusting and that is still why it is recommended, and people that just are lied to and told that it’s perfectly safe, when we know there’s thousands of studies that show mercury is very very toxic and even lethal, so that’s shocking. It just begs the question that you really can’t rely on the medical system or anyone to take care of you, you’ve got to educate yourself, because your mainstream medical doctor is not going to be addressing or looking at toxins, unless they’re a brilliant doctor and are doing alternative medicine. Unless they’re doing that, unless they’re a brilliant doctor, they’re not going to be looking at these number one primary drivers of disease today.

That’s why you and I, Dr. Schaffner, created or co-hosted the Heavy Metals Summit. I beg everyone, go, knowledge is power, go educate yourself, go register for free at theheavymetalssummit.com, and that’s happening January 29th to February 5th, 2018. We hope to see you guys there, we’re super excited, you know we have 38 speakers speaking on this just landmark event to help you address the underlying root cause health issues and your fatigue and brain fog and all the health issues affecting you and your loved ones. We want to really empower you and teach you how to detox.

Dr. Schaffner: Thank you, Wendy. I’m so grateful that we collaborated on this project, and it’s just so fun to see this all come to fruition.

Wendy Myers: Yes, all our months of hard work, finally, yay! Yeah, so everyone, thank you so much for listening, and Dr. Schaffner, tell people where they can find you, how they can work with you and just learn more about you.

Dr. Schaffner: Thank you. Again, you know the Heavy Metals Summit, I have a lot of my information there. I primarily see patients out of Sofia Health Institute, we’re in Woodenville, Washington, outside of Seattle, we have a great team of practitioners. We all get busy, but a good passion of ours is to train other future leaders in the field of this medicine, and Dr. Klingheart does an excellent job on training all of us. Sofiahi.com is our website, and then I have my own website where you can just learn more about what I’m up to, what I’m doing, and where I’m speaking, at drchristineschaffner.com.

Wendy Myers:  Yes, and you have a podcast also you’re launching.

Dr. Schaffner: I know, I’m so excited, this is long overdue, but this was a real wonderful deadline to meet, doing the summit. It’s called The Spectrum of Health, and my goal I feel like, I just am so honored to be in the seat that I’m in, in that I get to meet so many great experts in the field, and they’re teaching us constantly. I just want to bring that information more quickly to our community and our audience, and so I’ll be just interviewing people that are on my path and that I’m learning from, and just sharing that information as I receive it as well.

Wendy Myers: Do you see patients remotely, so do they have to come to the clinic to get an appointment with you?

Dr. Schaffner: You know, that’s a great question. Right now, we do require people to come in person to establish care. We do that for a number of reasons, we also use a hands-on energetic technique that I find is very valuable. Most of our patients come from out of town, we understand it’s a commitment and definitely an ask, but we find that we are able to deliver the best care when we meet people in person, and then we can manage people remotely. It can be a combination of both, and then we try to hook people into their communities as well, depending on where they live with our network, and share more local resources so they can get that one on one care in their community as well.

Wendy Myers: Dr. Schaffner, thank you so much for coming on the show. I so appreciate it, it’s so good, it’s always a pleasure talking to you because you’re such a wealth of knowledge about detoxification, and definitely there’s so many people suffering from neurological disease and from central nervous system disorders, from dementia, it’s really a plague on our society, especially with the elderly community. Thank you for shedding some light on some of the underlying root causes of that.

Dr. Schaffner: Thank you, Wendy, thanks for having me on your show today.

Wendy Myers: All right, thank you.