Viruses in the brain and neurodegeneration with Jay Lombard.
Episode 216
In this illuminating episode of Integrative You Radio, Dr. Nicole and Dr. Nick engage in a thought-provoking conversation with the esteemed Dr. Jay Lombard. The trio delves into the fascinating realm of quantum physics and its applications in understanding neurodegenerative diseases. They explore the interplay of energy, mathematics, and probability in the human experience, shedding light on the intricacies of conditions like ALS, autism, and Alzheimer's. Discover the potential of combining quantum principles with practical clinical applications, as the hosts and Dr. Lombard provide a holistic perspective on health and healing. Tune in to learn more! Interested in learning more about Dr. Nick & Dr. Nicole’s courses, memberships, or private work? Learn more at Integrative You . Have a quick question, Would you like to schedule a call, or just want to say hi? Text us at 732.913.0009. Our mission to innovate humans & Healthcare does NOT start and stop with us! This is why we are also dedicated to helping other practitioners in evolving healthcare too! If you are a healthcare leader and are looking to up-level your clinical + business excellence Learn more about our course membership: Limitless Healthprenuer and start boldly disrupting this industry! About Dr. Jay Lombard: Dr. Jay Lombard is our colleague and an Acclaimed Integrative Neurologist, Author, and Key Note Speaker. He is famous for is work in neurodegenerative diseases, and Connecting Science to the Soul. He has made tremendous progress in understanding the processes of the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) cascade and laying the groundwork for improvements in diagnosis and treatment. What you’ll learn: Mind-Body Connection: The episode underscores the critical link between mental and physical health, emphasizing the impact of self-appreciation and gratitude on cellular energy. Quantum Physics in Healthcare: Quantum physics concepts are explored for understanding neurodegenerative diseases, offering insights into the
Topics: lombard, unknown, energy, brain, health, viruses, integrative, nick
Key takeaways from this episode
- ## Viruses in the Brain and Neurodegeneration with Jay Lombard
- Viruses are increasingly recognized as potential contributors to neurodegenerative processes.
- Understanding the cellular mechanisms and energetic implications of viral infections is crucial for brain health.
- A holistic approach, integrating conventional medicine with insights from emerging scientific fields, offers new avenues for addressing these complex conditions.
- The concept of "energy" and probability plays a significant role in how we understand disease at a fundamental level.
Pull quotes
This is the place where you become limitless. **Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior.
We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare.
If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place. **Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive.
Transcript
**Unknown:** Welcome to IntegrativeU Radio, hosted by Dr. Nick Carruthers and yours truly, Dr. Nicole Rivera. This is the place where you become limitless.
**Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior. We are also covering how those topics affect the human and family dynamics. We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare. If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place.
**Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive. This is IntegrativeU Radio. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of IntegrativeU Radio, and we're all already laughing because we pretty much already started the podcast, and then now we're pressing record.
**Unknown:** So here we are, but we have an amazing guest that I am very, very excited to introduce. And of course, we also have Dr. Nick here with me. Maybe Dr.
**Unknown:** Nick will get to talk. I don't know. We'll see. I doubt it.
**Unknown:** But we have- Otherwise it's gonna be a very boring podcast, trust me. We have Dr. Jay Lombard, and we were introduced, has it been maybe almost a year ago now. And I was very, very fortunate to be working with an individual that I was able to collaborate with Dr.
**Unknown:** Lombard and get exposed to all of his amazing brilliance when it comes to neurology and neurodegenerative conditions. So I really want him to lead with a little bit more about himself, because he's, you know, technically, quote unquote, I'm doing air quotes for those of you that are listening and not watching, a neurologist for 30 years, but he's really evolved that into something really special. And I would love for you to share a little bit more about what you were saying before I pressed record. Okay.
**Unknown:** Great. So, uh, after I finished my residency in neurology, um, which was I think in 1995, um, I somehow was on the front end of the autism pandemic, which what it really was at that point, because during my, during my residency, I didn't see a single patient with autism, not one. Uh, and the year, uh, my first year as an attending, um, I saw probably 300 cases in the first year of my practice. First year.
**Unknown:** Hmm. Um, so I did a lot of work with, uh, developmental delay, uh, children, you know, autism, uh, Asperger's, and what I found is that there was significant overlap, uh, between a psychiatric diagnosis in their, in their parents, uh, autoimmune disease, uh, in their parents, uh, and a very strong history of gut dysbiosis, uh, where in the first kids that we saw, we actually were able to culture a Clostridium infection- Hmm ... in those children. And this is before anybody talked about the brain-gut connection or the brain-immune connection.
**Unknown:** We were just like, you know, overwhelmed, uh, with these patients and trying to figure out what was wrong with them, and the persistent complaint they had was diarrhea. Um, I kind of got bored, uh, with that area, um, because I have a little bit of ADD, uh, and decided to redirect my focus for neurodegenerative diseases, uh, which I began seeing, uh, many, many patients with ALS, um, and Parkinson's disease, uh, to the point where I became so disenfranchised with neurology, uh, that I took a, uh, probably an eight-year hiatus, uh, thinking I was smart and building a biotech company, uh, which I did, uh, for eight years, um, uh, kind of in a way of my, my thoughts were that if I could teach what I do, uh- Mm-hmm ... I wouldn't have to work anymore. Mm-hmm.
**Unknown:** Uh, but that didn't go well. Uh, ended up going back into practice, uh, in 2018, uh, and I began seeing, uh, a series of ALS patients. And this was without any marketing, 'cause I, I, you know, I was a very popular physician in New York, um, back in the, you know, early 2000s up until 2010, and I basically became invisible after that point. So I was like, "Okay, you know, what do I do?
**Unknown:** Hang up a shingle and see what happens." Um, and the first ALS patients I began seeing all had intractable reflux, uh, and/or, uh, debilitating constipation. Hmm. So I started thinking, "Okay, this is very similar to the history of patients I had seen with autism. You know, what's really going on here?" So I began, you know, doing stool analyses, and like other doctors, uh, that do stool analysis tests, you know, found things that were interesting, but also, uh, I think, uh, many ways distracting.
**Unknown:** And what I mean by that is that, you know, the development of, you know, all these, you know, probiotics and, "Oh, this is the best probiotic. This is, you know, the real way of treating, you know, dysbiosis," uh, I also thought became a, uh, a departure from our understanding about what we were seeing and what it actually meant.And in conclusion to that, uh, what we were discussing, uh, before you didn't hit record, Nicole Was that, uh, my conclusion, uh, about, uh, a vast number of neurological diseases, everything from autism, uh, to Alzheimer's, to ALS, uh, are dimensionally similar in regards to their pathology, although they're categorically distinct, uh, in terms of their symptomatology. And I think because of that, uh, distinction, we are now treating diseases categorically, uh, as opposed to dimensionally. Yeah.
**Unknown:** Yeah. Like to go off of what you're talking about, you know, you went more into the dimension aspect with us, so really Dr. Lombard was talking about how, you know, we tend to diagnose based on specifics, but then if we take a step back, we can actually, instead of just looking the difference, we can also look at what's similar with all these different types of diseases. You know, we have glial cell overactivation in a lot of them, and with the glial cells, it's just, you could think of it as the lymphatic, uh, portion of your brain.
**Unknown:** It's your- Ah ... glymphatic 'cause it's glial cells. But you can think of it as like the detox center for your brain that's overactive due to some type of toxin, some type of infection, things like that. Well, actually, it's actually interesting.
**Unknown:** It's not overactive. In fact, it's the opposite. So the glymphatic system, uh, which I'm glad you brought up because that's part of my research right now, is understanding the glymphatic system, uh, is, like you said, a, uh, a lymphatic system of the brain that's coupled to glial cells, which are the cells that actually promote, uh, inflammation or lack thereof. So the, the glial cells recognize, um, basically misfolded proteins, and those misfolded proteins have to be transported, uh, to the glymphatic system.
**Unknown:** And think of the glymphatic system as a, uh, a cesspool, okay? Where the brain is bathed in, in the spinal fluid, uh, that the glymphatic system is responsible to release all these bad proteins that are blocking up the system, that they can circulate, uh, through the spinal fluid and then be degraded. And what happens in aging particularly, uh, and particularly in patients who have chronic sleep disorders, uh, because I find that the biggest, single most risk factor, uh, for any neurological disease, whether it's Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, uh, ALS, MS, epilepsy, go down the list, uh, is disruption in the sleep architecture. And why is that important?
**Unknown:** Because the sleep architecture is what primarily primes the glymphatic system. Right. And it primes it when people go into what's called a, uh, N3 or deep REM sleep. So yes, the glymphatic system, I'm glad you brought that up, Nick, because I think that's a very important point to discuss today.
**Unknown:** Well, and you- I have so many questions ... I mean, what you're talking about the, the misfolded proteins just being prions, um, which is interesting with prions is that there's, um... How do I wanna explain it? There's infectious prions and there's non-infectious prions.
**Unknown:** And what's cool is- That's, that's a mis- I'm- That's a mis- that, that, that's a misnomer by, by, by the way. So- Oh, really? 'Cause, so- Yeah What's interesting, 'cause- And I'll tell you why Yeah. So I wanna say, I wanna say one thing, and then I want you to prove me wrong.
**Unknown:** Um- I'm, I'm big at looking at, when you talked about dimensions, I'm big at looking at everything through, um, geometry, through the mathematics of geometry and the shapes- Yes ... of energy. Yes. So when you look at, when they say a non-infectious, um, it's actually in that spherical aspect.
**Unknown:** And then when you get into the infectious, it's the, the cube. Um, and that all has different energies behind it through the display. But if you say- I'm so- ... that's not real- I, I- ...
**Unknown:** I'm interested in seeing and learning about that. No, no. I'm, I'm, I'm so glad to have this conversation with you, Nick, because, uh, you know, I, I, I knew nothing other, uh, about you from Nicole other than that you're a great therapist. I didn't realize how deep your, your brain actually works.
**Unknown:** So, uh, here's- Oh, you don't even know. I don't have any friends. You may not get a question in here, by the way. Oh.
**Unknown:** I'm just realizing this, this, this may go fairly deep before you get to ask your question. I'm gonna sit back. Let me, let me explain why it's not a binary thing, because when people say infectious prions versus non-infectious prions, uh, they're making an artificial distinction, and let me tell you what that artificial distinction actually is. All life...
**Unknown:** Wow, that's, just got an echo here to make, to show you what, what hyperbole I'm about to say. Comes from, comes from retrotransposons, which were the first forms of life, and they were pure RNA, no DNA in them whatsoever. Retrotransposons are genomic parasites, which means they're able to infect everything, including viruses. We all have retrotransposons in our bodies.
**Unknown:** So the idea that, that, that the infection's exogenous to us, uh, is also misnomer because we contain a significant percentage of the vi- even the viral genome- Yep ... in the human genome. Mm-hmm. And that, that problem is what causes autoimmune disease, because when the body sees, uh, something that it's not clear if it's infectious or non-infectious, for what you're describing, uh, creates significant elevations of cytokines, uh, and pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are the first phase of a neurological diseaseAnd what happens over time is that the immune system becomes fatigued.
**Unknown:** So most patients that I see are actually immunosenescent. They're, they're not, uh, they don't have active immune systems. They have actually underactive immune systems. And I'll let Nicole ask her question.
**Unknown:** Dal, there's more questions that I have. So okay, so what you're talking about here with these retrotransposons, can you explain to me the correlation then to retroviruses? And are you saying that, 'cause retroviruses are endogenous, and it's the imbalance, the activation of these retroviruses that is then creating the misfolded endogenous proteins, which is then affecting- It's- ... the neurological system?
**Unknown:** And the w- and let me tell you how they do that. So it's very interesting. Yes, that's what I wanna know. I, I tell you something, I, you know, I, I am sort of an autodidactic virologist, meaning that I've taught myself everything there is to know.
**Unknown:** Uh, and there's a lot more to know. So it's like- Mm ... you know, in terms of virology, we know what we know, we know what we don't know, but we don't know what we don't know. And that's, that's been sort of my, my, my deep understanding of virology.
**Unknown:** So here, here's what viruses do. They're, they're really very, very clever. They actually infect, uh, not most, most... W- we think of most viruses as either being DNA viruses or RNA viruses, but ultimately, all of the pathology is produced through the viral portion of the viral, uh, uh, you know, genome.
**Unknown:** And what they do is they literally hijack host RNA metabolism. It's like they, they're, they're hijacking the plane. Mm-hmm. And they're saying, "You know what?
**Unknown:** We're no longer gonna be able to produce, you know, guess what? You know, we're gonna basically cut off the head, uh, of the, uh, host nucleus, so it's unable to respond to the infection as a way of taking over the body." I mean, they're, they're really, like, just the most, uh, evil, you know, things on the planet. Mm-hmm. On the planet.
**Unknown:** So that's kind of what they do. Once, once they, once they control our RNA metabolism, uh, it's very hard to push back, you know, therapeutically and even our understanding about what to do next. So speaking about the dimensions- So I'm gonna go there ... and since...
**Unknown:** Hold on really quick. Go ahead, Nick. We just get, we have to alter- I'm gonna go thereafter. We getda, we gotta alternate.
**Unknown:** I'm always- I don't think we're doing parallel counseling here, I hope. Right? I'm always looking at the body through, at first, the psychosomatic, 'cause from my understanding, the flow of energy is going from, like, we think body, mind, spirit, but energy flows above, down, inside, out. So it's going from the spirit to the mind to the body.
**Unknown:** Absolutely. And then energy's- Yep ... you know, bidirectional, so we have, of course, the environmental stress coming back in to, you know, show us how well we're putting the o- ourselves into an environment. But with the psychosomatic, have you found...
**Unknown:** 'Cause I ha- I mean, nothing's black and white, like you said. The binary is not really, you know, true, especially when we get to the quantum realm. But it seems like there's a lot of, uh, viruses that tend to show up in specific areas of the body. So like psychosomatic, you know, you're having an emotional imbalance, and that's, that imbalance is going to be stored in specific areas, specific organs, different tissues in the body.
**Unknown:** So like HH- HSV6, HSV7, it tends to be more neurological, shows up, tends to be more in the brain. HSV1, of course, the mouth, but then that can go up to the brain sinuses. Do you know, do you know, do you guys know why that's the case? Why they're all showing up in different places?
**Unknown:** Or... No, why, why are these viruses particularly producing psychiatric and neurological symptoms? We want to hear from you. Yeah.
**Unknown:** The, the very simple answer. They're, they're neurotrophic viruses. They hunt the brain. Hmm.
**Unknown:** That, that's, that's why people that have these conditions develop neurological and psychiatric symptoms, because they're, they're affecting our nervous system. So they're just pretty much, they're viruses classified, like there's respiratory viruses, there's neurotropic viruses. Does that make sense? So again, so when, you know, what's, people don't realize is that RSV is a neurotrophic virus.
**Unknown:** Uh, COVID is also a neurotrophic virus. Um, and the way they get that designation, uh, is based upon the, uh, what's called the, uh, pleotropic preferences. Love these viruses. These viruses like infecting neurons.
**Unknown:** Mm-hmm. And the reason they like infecting neurons is because they get a whole food supply, because the brain is the most enriched supply per tissue of glucose. It's like, "Oh, you know, where are we gonna eat?" You know? So, uh- But do you feel like there are certain viruses that can prey on all different types of tissue, and that really comes back to, um, vulnerable tissue because that tissue is already damaged, that, that tissue is already unhealthy?
**Unknown:** It's a fantastic question. So what, uh, what prevents the permeability of viruses, uh, is the endothelial layer- Mm-hmm ... of the blood system. It's not just the brain, it's also- Which is unfortunately damaged in most people.
**Unknown:** ... your kidneys, your lung. E- exactly. So, you know, looking at glycocalyx, uh, as a rebuilding strategy, um, can potentially help, uh, reduce the ability of these viruses to migrate, 'cause they migrate through the vascular system.
**Unknown:** That's why very often you see patients that have, um, you know, evidence of microvascular disease on their- Mm-hmm ... you know, Raynaud's phenomena, for instanceAnd all sorts of other peripheral symptoms related to the neurological symptoms. So of course, these viruses, you know, they're, they're, they are... They don't like borders, put it that way.
**Unknown:** Yeah. You know? So I have a question related to COVID. Um, there has been different embalmers that have been coming forward in relation to proteins that they're finding in the, in actually the arterial system.
**Unknown:** And- Mm ... I'm just curious, going, you know, thinking about that specific virus and what it's... Because it's all somewhat unknown because it, you know, it's all so new and it, and they're seeing all of these different things, and I was curious if you had any insight around what that is doing from a misfolded proteins perspective. Right.
**Unknown:** Um, maybe let's start by talking about misfolded proteins, 'cause I'm not sure if, uh, if the audience, um, you know, understands that terminology. But- Yeah, of course ... if they do, then... Um, so misfolded proteins, uh, the best analogy for misfolded proteins is to think about basketballs that have no air in them, meaning that you're not able to bounce the basketball.
**Unknown:** So what happens in neurological diseases is that not only is there deflation, uh, of, of these basketballs, uh, there's also inability to remove them once they're formed. So the, the two challenges in medicine are how do you prevent protein misfolding, uh, and how do you remove the proteins that are already misfolded? Yeah. 'Cause they're not something that can be killed.
**Unknown:** They're not, you know, a live organism. So that's, that's another- Correct ... factor. Some people think- Yeah ...
**Unknown:** oh, I'm gonna take a bunch of different herbal agents and, and be able to- Right ... eradicate this, and it's just not how it works. And, and the only thing that, that- Well, and that's why sleep's- Yeah ... such a big issue, because when you sleep and you have that deep REM sleep, you also have the highest amounts of what?
**Unknown:** Melatonin going to the body to be able to help detox. Yep. Yep. So, with, um- So when I...
**Unknown:** Go ahead. I was just thinking, and I haven't actually shared this, even talked to you about it yet, Nicole. Um, it just kind of s- Oh, it should be good ... sparked a thought when you said this.
**Unknown:** Well, with those embalmers, um, and I don't know if it's 'cause of it's just after the fact based on time, but it seems like a lot of those clots, um, which sometimes look like parasites, sometimes look like actual blood clots, it's hard to tell exactly without being there and doing it. Um, and I don't know exactly enough, and that's why I wanted to ask you, Jay. Um, do you know much about, like, neuromelanin being in the blood? No.
**Unknown:** I never heard that before. So I just read it, like, two weeks ago, and I haven't had a chance to do any research on it yet, so that's why I was interested. Um, but I guess it, uh, creates, like, a kind of like a black clotting, um, factor. But I guess I'll do some research on that.
**Unknown:** Okay. So do you find that one of the common themes in neurodegenerative diseases is viruses and these misfolded proteins? Right. And my other- And let me- ...
**Unknown:** question around this- Let me explain- ... is you... Go ahead. Yeah, let me try to explain that in a, in a deeper way.
**Unknown:** Uh, what happens is that there, there are proteins in the human body that are called intrinsically disordered proteins, or IDPs. Uh, these proteins are highly unstable proteins, uh, meaning that they, it's, they're unstable for a good reason, not a bad reason, because they're adaptive proteins. And the way that they're adaptive is by changing what's called the phosphorylation status of those proteins. So the, the, think of a fan that's oscillating, uh, and the oscillation occurs by the presence or absence of these light molecules, PO4, phosphate.
**Unknown:** Mm-hmm. What viruses do is they basically put a break on those proteins. Uh, and that's true for virtually every protein that's been associated with, uh, ALS in particular, but also in Parkinson's disease. That's where the defect is.
**Unknown:** Mm-hmm. So the virus is like, "Look, you know what? You depend upon the adequate function of these fans," which are basically microtubules in the cell. "Let's just, you know, let's just cut the energy off." So that's probably...
**Unknown:** I mean, when you think about, um, you know, we've talked about a little bit of how everything goes wrong. One of the first initial steps is just getting the body energy so it can actually utilize the ability to, A, detox, but also to have that aspect to regenerate and repair. Exactly. Yep.
**Unknown:** And you know what I discovered about that? It's very interesting 'cause, um, I was one of the early adapters of, of photobiomodulation therapy. And, uh, I had a case of a adolescent that was misdiagnosed with bipolar for several years, um, who ended up having a diagnosis of something called Kleine-Levin syndrome. Uh, and Kleine-Levin syndrome is due to antibodies to the hypothalamus, uh, particularly after viral infections.
**Unknown:** Uh, and it presents with highly moody kids. Now, people who have adolescents don't all think that they have Kleine-Levin syndrome. It's a relatively rare syndrome. Uh, but it's characterized by, uh, like, three or four or five or even a week or two of sleep, like, where they get up only for maybe an hour or two hours going forward, okay?
**Unknown:** And the, uh, ph-Um, abnormality in, in these patients, uh, then leads to a cyclical problem where they're awake, hypomanic, and have virtually no memory or no concern about the two or three week period that they were in this kind of stupor. And when they're in the stupor, they literally, uh... Is it-- And this is on looking at EEG studies. This is not just, you know, imagination.
**Unknown:** They're in a semi-dream state. So like, they're like in a waking sleep state, and it's called Kleine-Levin syndrome. So, uh, because I have a reputation of being sort of the Sherlock Holmes of, of medicine, I got a referral from a, from a, one of the sleep specialists, uh, at Stanford, uh, who was treating this kid. And I'm like, "Okay, well, you know, why not try something 'cause nothing is working for them?" So I put them on a program where I gave near-infrared light, uh, through the nasal areas- Mm-hmm ...
**Unknown:** uh, through, uh, something called Vielight, which is a commercial company, uh, that delivers certain levels of light into the nasal septum. And the reason why I like that more than I like these larger helmets is because you're getting light directly into the hypothalamus through the olfactory bulb, so it's like a direct source of light. Uh, and I told them that I want you to, uh, drink very high concentrate, uh, um, wheatgrass, uh, and, uh, I forgot, like, you know, intense amount of blueberries crushed up, uh, raspberries crushed up into, like, just a puree, uh, of these things, and take it an hour and a half before you actually, uh, go under this treatment. And the parents were these very anxious people from New Jersey.
**Unknown:** Not that people from New Jersey have a high level of anxiety, but they- ... were from New Jersey and had a high level of anxiety. And they were very nervous because th-th-their, their, their kid had gone through so many different- Yeah ... uh, types of treatments that none of them worked.
**Unknown:** They're like... I go, "Look, the worst that's gonna happen is nothing's gonna happen." Yeah. "But I'll give you my cell phone number just in case you have any concerns." And she called me on the weekend, and I'm like, "Oh my God." Like, you know. Here we go.
**Unknown:** I just... I, yes. I'm like, you know, do I pick up this call? I go, I, I, I, I promised her I would, so I pick up the call, and she goes, "My God, Dr.
**Unknown:** J." She goes, "My son is back." I go, "What do you mean he's back?" Like, "That's impossible. It's, like, only three days that you took this program." He had completely restored his circadian rhythms after three days. That's amazing. So, uh, so if you ask about, you know, how to, uh...
**Unknown:** My philosophy is that there's an AM philos- an AM approach and a PM approach, which are entirely different. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I find it interesting- My, my AM approach is just- ... that some-- Uh, I was just gonna say, sometimes it's- Nothing ...
**Unknown:** it's going more basic. You know, I think a lot of times we think in medicine it has to be this really elaborate treatment in order to resolve these, you know, these symptoms, and sometimes it's, uh, it's, it's something is let's flood your body with a lot of antioxidants and, and light therapy, which is something that's very underrated. Yes. Well, I mean, um, it's underrated perceptionally, but we're electromagnetic beings.
**Unknown:** So y-when you think of energy, we can c-communicate that way. We can communicate through electromagnetic means, um, whether it's through, you know, light, low-level laser, PMF devices, scalar energy. Um, the body's... You know, we have literally, like, little Tesla engines inside of us.
**Unknown:** Um, so we can use all those different forms to be able to, um, pretty much create almost like a magnet and to create that, um, flow of, of energy, of the positive and negative ions. And that can, uh, like a battery, can help to recharge itself. And you... Yes, that's exactly right.
**Unknown:** So I wanna hear about your research. I'm sure we've covered bits and pieces of, of it thus far in the conversation, but when... W-with all of the work that you've been doing on neurodegenerative conditions, ALS in particular, w-what is the standout thing that you feel like is what no one is talking about, number one, and number two, is really one of the game changers that's really helping to create more thorough healing for these individuals? Beautiful question.
**Unknown:** Um, what I found, uh, and this I think Nick, uh, f-saying, basically g-going back to your, your comment before Nicole's question, uh, is what happens when we diagnose a person with ALS or Parkinson's disease, we put them into a state of PTSD, uh, which they're already in given the fact that they know something's wrong with their body, but then we put the icing on the cake by saying, "You know what? I agree with Dr. So-and-so's opinion. You know, you have ALS." Just, just that, just that mention of that produces such a significant, deep, uh, psychological trauma.
**Unknown:** And that also particularly occurs, uh, in patients who have head injury, uh, who automatically have PTSD. Every person with a head injury has to have PTSD because who would not be concerned about getting hit in the head by, you know, a sledgehammer, or if you're an NFL player, by, you know, you know, being tackled? So-The idea that PTSD and T- TBI are separate entities is another mistake that's categorical, not dimensional, because dimensionally they're the same. So what, what happens from a, uh, existential level or a spiritual level or an energetic level, uh, whatever way you wanna try to describe it, uh, is that the, the brain goes into, um, what's called a self-apoptosis process, uh, meaning it's not gonna believe it's alive.
**Unknown:** Uh, it means that it's lost all hope. Uh, it means that, uh, it's better to check out, uh, either, you know, like, uh, in a self-inflicted way, God forbid, or just checking out, uh, existentially. Um, and that creates a cascade of negative signals that are received by every cell in the body that, "Look, my life is no longer, you know, living, worth living for." So one of the, one of the first things I found about my, my patients who've had, uh, success dealing with Parkinson's and ALS, and I have-- I... And the good news is I've had very significant, uh, and I won't say I've cured any patient, 'cause I think cure is a very, very slippery slope word, but I've, I've been able to feel it that, uh, I've been able to adequately stabilize patients with these conditions, and the first way you stabilize them, uh, is through sort of re- uh, centralizing them to the point that they have purpose and that there is hope.
**Unknown:** 100%. But- Every, every single neurodegenerative case I've had, it's the first thing we focus on is self-depreciation. You know, there's more breakdown- Yeah ... than build up, you know?
**Unknown:** And that's- Yep ... when you think about it, simply put, it's like that's creating the break of the communication through the cell signaling, through the neurological signaling. So it's like we have to- Exactly ... get that back into a state of equanimity, a state of balance, and that- Yeah ...
**Unknown:** stress from the mind can actually allow the body, you know, that, "Okay." And I find, I find one of the easiest, easiest ways of actually doing that, uh, is basically, um, there's a device called HeartMath. I'm not sure if either of you are familiar with HeartMath, but- Mm-hmm ... uh, certainly, uh, your listeners may not be. So HeartMath, uh, was discovered by the cardiologist who discovered heart rate variability back in the 1970s.
**Unknown:** Um, and they figured out that if you could measure heart rate variability, you can actually be able to, to, through your own autonomic nervous system, uh, control heart rate variability. And they created this very, very inexpensive device that, uh, comes in the mail, it's like only maybe $200, uh, where they put, um, a sensor in the earlobe to measure heart rate variability, and having the ability going forward, uh, to allow people to self-teach themselves, uh, how to regulate their autonomic nervous system by assessing heart rate variability. Now, I find this extremely useful even for myself, because people say, "Oh, well, you just meditate or, or go into this mindfulness." I'm like, "The more I try to go into mindfulness, the more anxiety I have." It's like- ... "Okay, be calm, be calm." Like, what do you mean be calm?
**Unknown:** The world is c- totally going dark right now. How can I be calm? So true. Right?
**Unknown:** Uh, and by the way, everybody, everybody, you know, it's funny just to bring that up because everyone feels that way right now. It's like we, we are living in such times of existential despair. Um, and you know- I love it. Yeah.
**Unknown:** You're messed up. But I've-- like you noticed, I look at life completely different than most people, 'cause I'm like- ... "Look around. It's not working.
**Unknown:** It's gotta break down." You know, breakdown sucks. It never feels good. Mm-hmm. But it's like that's how we grow.
**Unknown:** We g- you don't grow without pain, and we need, we need to grow- I know ... into something that's gonna serve us. But the- Yeah. And, and I agree that's, that's inevitable.
**Unknown:** Yeah. But, you know, the, the process itself, you know, um, I am, uh, you know, um, how do I say this? A, uh, uh, a person, uh, that, uh, believes that all... There's a silver lining to all negative things in the world, right?
**Unknown:** Which is, I think, what you also believe. Uh, but to get to that process, uh, has been so painful for so many people in the world today. I mean, right now, you know? So yes, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a big believer that, that change is possible.
**Unknown:** Uh, I'm less of a fan that you need pain to get there. How's that? Yeah. Next.
**Unknown:** It's, it's not, it's not always fun, the, the process. But I mean, I think that, you know, there's, there's always two sides to every story. You know, there's the mental-emotional stress, because what we chatted about, the self-depreciation, you know, understanding that flow of energy of, you know, the mental thought and how that creates that electromagnetic, um, effect that gets felt by the body, experienced by the body, and then the body's reacting to it, is that we need... If we didn't have that pain response, we would never make a change.
**Unknown:** So we wouldn't- Oh. There would be more chaos, there'd be more entropy, there'd be more disorder, and we'd never have a feedback mechanism. Like, you like the, the heart rate variability because it's constantly giving you feedback. You know, meditation, unless you're getting that feedback from some type of biofeedback device, you, you don't really know.
**Unknown:** So it's nice- Yeah. It's nice to be able to, to do that work, but also, you know, to have technology and devices to say like, "Hey-You know, you did it great, maybe make this little slight change, et cetera. Um, but that way we don't have to stay in that cycle of pain, you know, continuing to do the same thing over and over, but, you know- Yep ... getting insanity.
**Unknown:** But you, but you're exactly right. You know, you can have the best drug protocol, you know, using these amino acids, you know, uh, this dietary supplement, this drug, that drug, you know, the perfect cocktail, but if you don't get the energetic, uh... I'll, I'll call it bio emotional, because I think that's a probably a better word than energetic because it has a negative connotation to professionals that like, "Oh, you're one of those people that believe in energy," you know? So, uh, but you're exactly right that that's the first layer of healing, 100%.
**Unknown:** Um- Quantum physicists- Any other questions you have? ... say that there actually isn't energy. We just call...
**Unknown:** We, we label it as energy so we can kind of understand it, but it's, it's really just all mathematics. It's all probability, which is interesting. Right. So yes, it's interesting that you say that because there were researchers that developed the first types of MRI scans, uh, that were based upon probability as opposed to deterministic, uh, uh, areas, and that's something called fractional anisotropy or FA, which I think, Nick, you're probably familiar with given your, your background in math and, and quantum understanding.
**Unknown:** Uh, fractional anisotropy, uh, can be measured on MRI scans, by the way, uh, and it's a marker of the fluidity of water through myelin. So people with various diseases, whether it's schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer's, ALS, uh, when you do these fancy studies, uh, which, you know, are done only, unfortunately right now, only on a research basis, uh, but you often see that there's disruption in the flow of water, uh, in the brain. Mm-hmm. Uh, so yes, it all comes ba- it all comes down to not only quantum physics, but how do we, uh, how do we harness our understanding of quantum physics in a, in a appli- applicable way clinically?
**Unknown:** And I think that's always the, the gap in our, our understanding about how do we take these, these very, very well-established mathematical principles to make them work, uh, in, in science and medicine. You wanna get really deep, Jay? I don't know. I, I'm seeing Nicole like taking a- Oh my gosh.
**Unknown:** I have to ask Nicole. I wanna r- I wanna bring this all together really quick for our audience. So you hold that thought, Mr. Carruthers.
**Unknown:** So we talked about a lot of different things. You know, we talked about viruses, we talked about the correlation of gut dysbiosis, we've talked about neuroinflammation, that are all playing a role in different neurological conditions, from ALS to autism, Asperger's, and bipolar, many things in between. Right. So I think that the, the moral of the story here is that, one, there's a lot of possibilities, but two, it's all about data.
**Unknown:** People need to have a better understanding. They need a team of experts to understand like what is happening for you. And the other factor that I want to bring home- Let's talk... No, let's, let's talk about that.
**Unknown:** That's a very interesting point to bring up, uh, because I agree with you 100%, because, you know, the problem right now with, uh, how we diagnose conditions, uh, like ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's are, are really... Especially in the case of ALS, we use subjective rating scores, right? We use what's called the ALS Functional Rating Score, which is purely subjective. I mean, it's like you can ask, "Well, how's your drooling today?" Okay.
**Unknown:** Yeah. "Is it a one to a five?" Unfortunately, that's been the standard of how we identify efficacy of these various interventions and drugs that have been approved by the FDA. Uh, my point is, to, to your point, is the single most important objective biomarker, uh, in patients with ALS or other neuromuscular diseases, for that matter, uh, is assessing objectively respiratory function, because that is the primary reason that patients with these conditions die. Mm-hmm.
**Unknown:** Uh, so we need to pay much more attention to pulmonary function. Uh, and I think what... Unfortunately, I think most neurologists don't understand that ALS is a systemic disease. It's not only a, a motor neuron disease.
**Unknown:** It affects bulbar, it affects the diaphragm, and that's the leading cause of death. So if we wanna talk about objective biomarkers, we need to talk about, uh, specific looking at pulmonary function tests, uh, that look at not only, um, uh, carbon dioxide diffusion, uh, but also nitric oxide diffusion. Um, and unfortunately, most, most pulmonologists are not even aware that these studies exist, but these are the most important studies, uh, that we need to do. Uh, and I always, uh, as a person that is not in research, I'm a, I'm a clinical physician, I've always pushed the idea of N of one studies.
**Unknown:** Um, and N of one studies means that it's a, it's a recognized, uh, way of studying a patient, uh, without getting them a placebo, and it also is a validated marker for, for treatment, uh, even, uh, on the basis of FDA allowance of those studies. In other words, there's many FDA N o- FDA-approved N of one studies, particularly for patients with rare diseases where there, there is no study, there is no drug, or there's only a placebo that they may get as opposed to enrolling in one of these types of studies. I love that that... That's Q, isn't it, screaming?
**Unknown:** Again, I was gonna like- That's our son. I don't know if you guys can hear him, but he's, he's yelling pretty loud. Oh, yeah. He agr- he, he was, he was cheering.
**Unknown:** He agreed with you. He agrees. Well, good. Uh, and I know that- It's, it's interesting that- ...
**Unknown:** one of the markers that you've shared with, uh, with me, sorry Nick, I just wanted to mention that you've also introduced me, uh, to a very specific neurodegenerative marker that's available even through LabCorp. And that's, I think, something that people need to know about because, again, there are a lot of doctors that are operating out of the subjective, and that subjective rating is, you know, they're essentially leading with, "You're progressing. You're getting worse." And we don't really have, like, actual data to say if you are or you're not. And so again, that goes back to the mental emotional component of just continually losing hope of, "I'm just doomed based on this diagnosis." Right.
**Unknown:** We- you were talking, most people don't think about it being connected with the respiratory, the pulmonary issue, but that, like you said, that's the major cause of death. And on an, I'll s- I'll just say the word energy aspect, um, but on the aspect of, uh, polarity is that the, like a healthy cell has a right spin. Um, but when it loses enough energy, it will actually flip inversely and it will start, the electro aspect will start spinning to the left. When it does that, it doesn't have the ability to uptake and hold onto oxygen.
**Unknown:** So then you have that decreased capability for oxygen, and then, but you take that up kind of the level and it's like, well, what decreases the energy? Well, the capacity to, well, to say it, to, to appreciate yourself, to love yourself. So if you get to that mental emotional state of self de- depreciation where you hit that action potential, that you actually change the polarity, the electrical spin of that cell, well, that's a main factor that decreases its inability to uptake oxygen. Mm-hmm.
**Unknown:** So then you do like red light therapy- So- ... which is simple, that bio, and you're increasing, I mean, it's outside of you, but you're allowing the client to be able to have enough energy, and we know that our environment, you know, in energy's bi-directional, so we can give them energy from the external component to be like, "Okay, maybe I do have some hope. Maybe I can start appreciating myself." And that, one of my exercises that I give my patients, which I should, you know, I'm like, I'm like the doctor with the shoes, uh, the shoemaker with, with holes in my shoes. But I but, uh- ...
**Unknown:** what I recommend to patients, which I probably should do for myself, uh, is to do a 10-minute, uh, sort of AM gratitude, uh, where they walk out, uh, look at the sun, but cover their eyes because you don't want the direct sunlight. So I, I tell people to go out and, uh, you know, look at the light with your eyes covered for about 10 minutes, um, and just try to put yourself in a mental state of gratitude, uh, because gratitude heals everything. It, it really does, and it's something that, uh, I've had to learn for myself, uh, for a couple of reasons. One, I'm a Grateful Deadhead, so, you know, right away, you know, people that follow the Grateful Dead, you know, know that the first word in that name is grateful, you know?
**Unknown:** That's what attracted people like us old Deadheads to that music, even though, like many people of different generations can't stand their music. Like Nicole maybe, I'm not sure. Hey, I'm down. Okay, good.
**Unknown:** Uh, but they're, uh... Where am I going on this? Oh, just as a simple exercise that people need to do to self-affirm because I, I find, you know, I say to myself, "You know, I really should love myself," you know, or that God loves me. Like, you know, people say, "Oh, God loves you." I'm like, "How are you so sure about that?" Like, I don't know.
**Unknown:** You know, I don't, I'm not taking it on, on face value that God loves me. You gotta, you gotta earn his love. Yeah. You can't just say, "God loves me," you know?
**Unknown:** So I'm not sure where I'm at with God. But- I might be on the naughty list, I'm not sure. That's right. We've been wa- That's right.
**Unknown:** We've been watching a lot of Christmas movies in this house, so. Oh my gosh. Right. That's hilarious.
**Unknown:** Oh, the best Christmas movie. What was the... Oh my God, the best movie for everyone should watch, uh, was with the guy who, um, loses his business. Uh, the, these mean guys take over his bank.
**Unknown:** Uh, and- Oh, back, with Eddie Murphy back in the day? No. No, this was way before Eddie Murphy. You kidding?
**Unknown:** No, this was a black and white film. Ugh. Oh, I don't know. Oh, my God.
**Unknown:** I may need to take some of my own suggestions about my MCI. Mild cognitive improvement. But anyway, what else do you guys wanna ask? I know that your time is running up, and, uh, we could talk for hours.
**Unknown:** In fact, you know- I know, I know ... but, uh- I wanna, so we've, we've been on for a while, and I don't want anybody's head to explode, but I wanna kind of wrap this up and bring it all together for the listener because I think that, you know, with talking about all these different things, again, going back to what I said before, it's all a matter of understanding that everybody's blueprint is so different. So yes, you might have neurodegenerative symptoms, and-One, don't identify with a diagnosis as your end-all be-all, because there's a lot of other factors that have contributed to the symptomatology, and if you can understand what those are, you can actually do something about it. And what I love about, you know, you've been in practice for a very long time, you've worked with a lot of different people, and you're one of the smartest people that I know, and, you know, you're, you're coming back and saying that, yes, there are different treatments that we can do.
**Unknown:** Yes, there are things from, you know, red light therapy to different types of possible medications or, uh, you know, natural remedies, et cetera, food. But this also comes back to your mind, and it comes back to do you have gratitude for anything in your life, and are you a victim to the symptoms and the diagnosis? And if we don't get that piece right, or we just don't address it at all, we're gonna continue to see chronic illness as a whole, not necessarily just neurodegenerative disease. And it's just a factor that really needs to be talked about more, and I find that more of the practitioners that we have been gravitating towards and, and talking to that have been doing this a long time, we realize that we've pulled all the fancy stuff out.
**Unknown:** We pulled all the fancy protocols and supplements and therapies and, and all of it, and we realize that if someone is just in such a poor state mentally and emotionally- Right ... it is really, really hard for them to heal. I know. That's so, so true.
**Unknown:** That's why I love the work that you guys do. I really do. I'm, I mean, I'm, I am, you know, equally grateful, uh, to the work that you do, uh, and for the opportunity to, to talk to you today. And, uh, I, I think that, uh, we should continue these conversations over, uh, maybe a cold beer- Yes ...
**Unknown:** around the holidays or something. I would love that. I think, uh, we'd have a great time. Our audience is like, "They drink beer?
**Unknown:** Oh my gosh." Uh, so where can people find you? By the way, I, I, I, I do go, I do go to Dunkin' Donuts, by the way. And if, if you have a little time, I'll tell you- I'm judging you. The audience doesn't even need to judge you.
**Unknown:** I'm judging you. I was like, you say that, and I was like, "Uh-oh, she's gonna tear you apart." Let he who has no sin throw the first stone at you, okay? Hey, we were just in Italy, and then, you know, I come back here and I'm like, even this fancy coffee that I buy has got nothing on the Italian coffee. Yeah.
**Unknown:** So where can people find you? Because I am sure people are going to be very interested in more of your work. I know you've done some big speaking engagements. So tell us where, and we will obviously hyperlink everything below, and people will be able to e- find you easily.
**Unknown:** Okay. So, uh, my website is www.dr., uh, jlombard, I think it's that. W- drjlombard.com. I think that's my e- my, uh- We're too much alike.
**Unknown:** I love it. Somebody asks me, I'd be like, "I don't know. Like, talk to my marketing person. That's why I have one." Yes, exactly.
**Unknown:** I think that's my website. www.lo- yeah, it is, drjlombard.com. And, uh, there's a little, you know, people, it's funny, when they look at my website, they go, "Who designed this? It's terrible." And I go, "I designed it." So the first page is gonna be, like, of a beautiful waterfall.
**Unknown:** I'm, I'm really into waterfalls. Uh, in fact, um, my hobby was Japanese gardens, uh- Oh ... you know, when I was able to afford Japanese gardens. So I have this waterfall picture.
**Unknown:** Uh, my phone number should be on the first page. I haven't checked it recently. Uh, and then there's a couple of my podcasts I did. Uh, and some of my research is posted on that website.
**Unknown:** And, uh, looking forward to, uh, whoever feels that, that, you know, wants to be connected to me. It's funny, all the people I end up, uh, seeing, uh, over time are people who understand this mind-body relationship intrinsically, uh, because people who don't understand it, like, you know, just, you know, this guy is like, you know, uh, out to lunch somewhere. Mm. Which, which by the way, my, my, my family thinks I am, so- ...
**Unknown:** those people who think that, uh, we're in good company. Okay? Hey, us, uh, us crazies gotta stick together, so we're good. You know?
**Unknown:** We'll, we'll build our own little, uh, community. Absolutely. Exactly. Oh.
**Unknown:** All right. Well, we thank you so much for being here. This was absolutely phenomenal. So for all of you listening, check him out.
**Unknown:** Put your comments below. We wanna hear from you. Great meeting you, Jay. We thank you so much for being an avid listener of Integrative U Radio, formerly known as Integrative Wellness Radio.
**Unknown:** We appreciate all of your support. We love your comments. Please visit us on social media as well as our website to see all of the fun things happening behind the scenes and the new amazing content and courses that is being rolled out on a monthly basis. We hope to see you there.
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
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