Category Archives: wellness

Posted by UW Sean in podcast, wellness

Podcast #339:
Molds, Mycotoxins, and Sick Building Syndrome

Guest: Dr. Jill Carnahan

Today’s interview is a real eye-opener.

But before we get to our topic and special guest, I’ve got some very important news about the podcast.

We’re moving!

Starting next week, new episodes of Underground Wellness Radio will no longer be posted to BlogTalk Radio (BTR).

The BTR site will host our older episodes (through #296) and will be renamed UW Radio: The Archives.

All new episodes will be available on iTunes, Stitcher, and here on the Underground Wellness website.

If you are currently a subscriber on iTunes, you will need to subscribe to the new feed next week in order to resume your subscription. I’ll send you more details as soon as I have them.

On today’s episode, Dr. Jill Carnahan and I discuss molds, mycotoxins, and sick building syndrome.

Did you know that the mycotoxins from hidden molds in homes and office buildings can be the root cause of asthma, allergies, fatigue, headaches, neurological conditions, and more?

Posted by UW Sean in podcast, wellness

Podcast #338:
The Upside of Trauma?

Guest: Jim Rendon

It was the last thing he expected to hear.

The Vietnam War had come to an end, and U.S. Air Force psychiatrist William Sledge was assigned to evaluate American aviators held captive and released by the Vietnamese.

Many of the POWs Sledge assessed had been confined in the tiniest of cells, often tortured, beaten, and deprived of food and medical care.

After enduring traumas of such a brutal nature, Sledge expected he’d be meeting with men who had been broken, forever damaged by the horrors they had lived through.

What he found was something much different…

“At first I thought I had cotton in my ears or something,” he recalled after speaking with the POWs. “The things they told me didn’t make much sense. They had a hard time, they were clear about that. But so often they would say things like, ‘I kind of miss it. It was an intense experience. I learned a lot.’”

They missed it?

Sledge went on to find that 61% of the POWs indicated that they had undergone beneficial changes are a result of their captivity. Only 30% of the control group (non-POWs) reported similar benefits.

What’s more, the POWs who were held the longest and received the harshest treatment were far more likely to report positive changes than those held for shorter periods of time.

Sledge was right, it didn’t make any sense.

Or does it?

Posted by UW Sean in podcast, wellness

Podcast #337:
Hacking Your Heart Health

Guest: Joel Kahn, M.D.

So … I’ve been sitting here for an hour trying to write this post in a way that doesn’t scare people.

I mean, after the mass hysteria over last week’s Gluten Lie email/post/podcast, I realize that words can be grossly misinterpreted despite my very best efforts to be perfectly clear.

Thus my hesitation to remind you of the startling statistics about heart disease, this week’s topic of discussion with heart attack prevention specialist Dr. Joel Kahn.

Here goes…

According to Dr. Kahn, standard medical tests simply aren’t enough when it comes to detecting heart disease and predicting heart attack risk.

In fact, using standard risk factors like cholesterol and blood pressure, at least 25% of people with heart artery disease are completely missed.

What’s more, while pushing for preventive tests like colonoscopies and mammograms, doctors are running electrocardiograms in less than 10% of medical exams!

Seriously?

Posted by UW Sean in podcast, wellness

Podcast #336: The Gluten Lie.

Guest: Alan Levinovitz

Break’s over!

Underground Wellness Radio is officially BACK with a brand new interview with Alan Levinovitz, author of The Gluten Lie.

Yes, The Gluten LIE.

Is Alan saying that there’s no such thing as celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity?

Nope.

But he does make some very interesting and valid points about WHY so many people are suddenly becoming gluten sensitive when they never really had a problem with it before.

If you watched The Depression Sessions, many of our experts discussed the power of belief when it comes to the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs.

In other words, there’s a lot of science showing that antidepressants work because the person taking them believes they will work. In many studies, people given sugar pills that they think are antidepressants experience elevations in mood and energy. That’s called the placebo effect, of course.

But have you heard of the nocebo effect?

Posted by UW Sean in podcast, wellness

Podcast #335:
The Serotonin Myth?

Guest: Dr. Kelly Brogan, MD

I’m waaaaaaaay behind…

I posted this episode maybe six weeks ago, before I took some time off. In this Instant Classic, licensed psychiatrist Dr. Kelly Brogan states a compelling case for why Depression is NOT a Serotonin Deficiency.

Discover what she calls the “flawed logic” in our current understanding of how antidepressants work. And, learn what the science really says about these drugs.

Here are my notes:

3:03 – How the monoamine hypothesis of depression got started and why its logic is flawed.

7:23 – What is a normal brain anyway? How serotonin levels may or may not be a factor in depression.

10:39 – Antidepressant adaptation: what happens to your brain and your body when you take (or stop taking!) an antidepressant.

15:29 – What the studies REALLY say about antidepressant medications and the profound power of placebo.

22:45 – Does time heal all? How treatment could be turning some problems into big ones, when “doing nothing” might be the best treatment of all, and why Dr. Brogan does not prescribe medications to her patients.

30:32 – How one major study showed antidepressant medications might not work the way we think they do and why nobody is talking about it.

35:37 – Could the effects of antidepressants really just be anti-inflammatory? All about the cytokine theory of depression and sickness syndrome.

39:42 – Specific inflammation markers you can test for (with optimal ranges!)

42:44 – Dr. Brogan’s best tips for reducing inflammation with food and lifestyle changes. Plus, real life patient stories of how they work.

50:38 What the cytokine model of depression means for Big Pharma … and for the people taking their medications.

Dig it!

Sean