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The Chronic Illness Pattern No Single Doctor Can Ever See
What if the most valuable person in chronic illness medicine isn't a doctor — it's a patient who's interviewed 100 of them? Erika Schlick is an IIN Certified Health Coach, cookbook author, host of the This Healthy Life podcast, and founder of The Lipedema Summit. She has spent years on both sides of the table — as one of the most complex chronic illness patients in the room, and as the interviewer asking the world's leading physicians the questions most patients never get to ask. What she's found is alarming, fascinating, and something no single doctor could ever tell you — because no single doctor can see it. In this conversation with Dr. Jaban Moore, Erika breaks down: The pattern she noticed after interviewing 100+ chronic illness specialists back to back — and why it should concern every patient What doctors say when the mic is off vs. what they'll say publicly Where the Lyme doctors, mold doctors, autoimmune specialists, and lipedema surgeons give completely contradictory advice — and what a patient is supposed to do about it Why she chose to heal Lyme without antibiotics, and what she used instead The stem cell therapy decision — not the results, but the fear and uncertainty before she committed What lipedema is, why it affects an estimated 1 in 9 women undiagnosed, and why GLP-1s, diet, and exercise won't touch it Why the chronic illness community itself can become a trap — and the identity shift that changes everything What a decade of chronic illness does to your fertility, and what she's doing about it at 45 This episode is for anyone who has been dismissed by doctor after doctor, for anyone who feels like they're getting a different answer everywhere they turn, and for anyone who wants to understand what the best minds in chronic illness medicine actually know — and don't know.
Why Generic Health Advice Doesn’t Work for Everyone (And What to Do Instead)
Discover why generic health approaches often lead to frustration, and how shifting toward a more personalized understanding of your body can help you make clearer, more effective decisions. Understand how your genetics can offer insight into how your body functions, helping you move away from guesswork and toward choices that actually support your energy, sleep, and overall well-being. Learn how small, consistent changes rooted in personalization can create meaningful results, without the need for complicated routines or trying to do everything perfectly.
The Intelligence of Symptoms Part 1: Fever, Inflammation & Pain
On this episode of Vitality Radio, Jared kicks off a 4 part series challenging the way we think about symptoms. Are fever, inflammation, and pain problems to eliminate, or intelligent responses designed to protect and repair the body? Jared explores why the body creates these signals, what they may be trying to accomplish, and what can happen when we automatically suppress them. He examines fever and immune response, inflammation and tissue repair, pain as protective communication, and the widespread use of acetaminophen, NSAIDs, and opioids. You'll also hear the troubling history of Vioxx and OxyContin and why understanding the cause behind a symptom matters. This episode offers a different framework – listen to what your body is telling you before simply trying to silence the signal.
The Chemicals Banned Everywhere Except Your Closet
In this conversation with Dr. Jaban Moore, Hannah traces four chemicals through four different regulatory failure points: Azo dyes and aromatic amines: a danger that only appears on the body — and a mechanism US law structurally cannot see Formaldehyde resins: Congress asked the question in 2008. The GAO answered it in 2010. Sixteen years later, there is still no federal limit. Nonylphenol ethoxylates: the EU restricted the imported garment. The US negotiated a voluntary agreement with domestic launderers. Most clothing is imported. PFAS: states are banning it. The federal government is requesting historical data from 2011. And then the structural reveal: America regulates the manufacture of clothing. Europe regulates the sale of clothing. America stopped manufacturing its clothing. Nobody changed the verb. If you've ever wanted to understand not just what's in your clothes but why — this is the episode.
Why Aging and Chronic Illness Start in the Immune System
Picture the immune system as a teeter-totter. On one side sits the TH1 and regulatory response that clears threats and keeps you resilient. On the other sits the TH2 and TH17 response that, when it dominates, tips toward inflammation and autoimmunity. Holtorf's argument is that age, stress, toxins, and chronic infection push almost everyone toward the wrong side of that balance. The thymus is on a timer. It begins shrinking in childhood and is largely wound down by mid-adulthood, taking much of its immune signaling with it. Holtorf uses that decline to explain why an aged immune phenotype shows up alongside hormone shifts, mitochondrial trouble, and the low-grade inflammation that tracks with biologic age. Senescent cells are a running theme in the longevity literature, and Holtorf puts them at the center. These worn-out cells resist being cleared, secrete inflammatory signals, and, as natural killer function falls with age, accumulate. He makes the case for immune-directed peptides and bioregulators as a way to work on that layer rather than chasing symptoms downstream.
Sugar, Infections, and the Whole Child with Dr. Christine Saba
It is never about one thing. Chris uses the picture of a lawn: the child's own biology is the ground, the weeds are what is already growing there, and the exposures we add sit on top. That is why she and I both look at the whole child rather than chasing a single trigger. Refined sugar and processed food deserve a harder look. In her MAPS talk, Chris reframes refined sugar as a real burden on a child's system, and contrasts it with whole foods, even down to how and when we eat. Her practical takeaway is gentle: do not shame yourself over a treat, notice how you eat, and lean toward real food. PANS and PANDAS are about a dysregulated system, not a single germ. Chris traces her own path from an early case that did not fit the textbook to the vector-borne and co-infection picture she and I now teach at MAPS and ILADS. The throughline is hope: keep knocking on doors, because answers are often found together.
The Longevity Numbers Nobody Is Measuring On You
Phase angle is a read on cellular integrity, and small moves are big moves. Bradley explains that phase angle comes from the resistance the cell membrane creates as current passes through the body, and he is careful to say the published research is thin. What he shares is what he has heard other doctors reference: roughly four or lower suggesting more cells dying than regenerating, nines through elevens being very strong scores, and the measure originating in palliative care. In his words, "a little shift means a lot." Your water balance is a metabolic signal. Bradley walks through extracellular water divided by total body water as an edema or inflammation ratio. He cites a normal range of 36 to 39 percent, a professional hockey team he tested where 99 percent of players came in at 36, a person with diabetes sitting closer to 39, and lymphedema in the low 40s. He also connects this to GLP-1s: as he describes it, three molecules of water bind with each molecule of glycogen, and if sugar is not getting back into the cells, water is not either. Grip strength is the canary, not the problem. Bradley says a PubMed search on grip strength returns over seven thousand studies linking it to nearly every other health condition, and that clinically it is used as one input for sarcopenia, where a male under sixty-six pounds or a female under forty-four pounds may be sarcopenic. My addition is that grip strength is an indicator that the whole kinetic chain is breaking down, which is where fractures and the sudden drop-off in quality of life come from.
Your Breath Is the Most Overlooked Lever in Your Health
Breathing is a two-way door to the nervous system. It is one of the few systems you run automatically that you can also take the wheel on, which is why Sachin frames the breath as a lever for how you feel, focus, and recover, available 23,000 times a day. Your baseline is measurable. The BOLT score, a simple breath hold, gives you a rough read on where you are starting, and Sachin is practical about it. If your number is low, the answer is not to force a longer hold, it is to build up gradually and address the metabolic factors underneath. Precision beats addition. Rather than piling on new protocols, Sachin's approach is to take what you already do: breathing, and do it with awareness and precision, starting with something as simple as breathing through your nose.
Exosome Miracles
Dr. Park explains that exosomes help cells communicate and may influence cells to behave in more regenerative or youthful ways, potentially supporting nerves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. Clinical anecdotes can be compelling, but they are not randomized controlled trials. Dr. Park openly acknowledges that many of the cases he shares are anecdotal and that placebo effects, attribution bias, coincidence, and other variables can influence outcomes. He emphasizes that the current evidence base remains limited. Individual cases suggest broad therapeutic potential, but more research is needed. Dr. Park describes patients reporting improvements involving injuries, Bell’s palsy, hair loss, digestive symptoms, menopause, neurological conditions, and chronic pain. He believes these experiences warrant continued exploration while recognizing that exosomes do not work for everyone and definitive causation cannot be established from individual cases.
The Coping Mechanism You Don’t Know You’re Using #trauma #psychology #addictionrecovery
How childhood trauma drives substance abuse patterns. Learn why emotional neglect in your early years creates specific coping mechanisms that resurface during adult stress. This breakdown explains the neurological link between past wounds and modern addictive behaviors for anyone seeking to understand their own triggers . 🌿⚕️FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/PodestaPsychiatry 🌿⚕️LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/arwenpodestamd 🌿⚕️INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/doctor.arwen 🌿⚕️CLINIC: https://podestawellness.com 🌿⚕️WEBSITE: https://www.drarwen.com 🌿⚕️BOOK: https://a.co/d/0e6Olm9x ˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ Dr. Arwen Podesta MD, DFASAM, DFAPA is a triple board certified physician specializing in functional psychiatry, addiction medicine, and forensic psychiatry. 🧠 ˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ ✅ For professional inquiries ► https://www.drarwen.com 🩺#ClinicalPsychiatry, #functional psychiatry, #drpodesta 🩺#MentalHealth, #BehaviorChange, #BrainChemistry 🩺#Neurobiology #Psychiatry #forensicpsychiatry 🩺#AddictionRecovery, #NervousSystemDisclaimer: This video is for educational purposes. Please consult with a licensed clinician or medical provider before starting new supplements or medications ⚕️ What we cover: 00:00 Recognizing somatic cues 00:15 The body’s “yes” and “no” 00:25 Re-tuning the nervous system #AddictionRecovery #NervousSystemHealing #FunctionalPsychiatry Subscribe to explore the science of healing and emotional recovery.
The Drainage Funnel: How the Body Eliminates Toxins
Discover the difference between detoxification, which mobilizes unwanted compounds, and drainage, which helps move them safely out of the body. Understand how the drainage funnel connects the colon, liver, kidneys, lymphatic system, glymphatic system, and cells—and why sluggish pathways may cause toxins to recirculate. Learn how mitochondrial support, hydration, regular bowel movements, movement, sleep, bile flow, and binders may help prepare the body for deeper detoxification.