Full Transcript Podcast Introduction and Root-Cause Health 0:00 Your genes hold the answers to your family's overall health. 0:04 I'm Dr. 0:05 Paula Kruppstadt and on the Get to the Root with Hope for Healing podcast, I sit down with experts in genetics, functional medicine, 0:12 and family care to explore what's really going on beneath the surface so you can stop guessing and start healing. 0:20 From personalized insights to practical tools, we bring you whole family wellness that starts at the root. 0:28 Okay, so one of the most common things that we are seeing in today's society and the questions that get asked is, why am I always so tired? 0:39 Right? 0:40 And so the question we have is when patients say they're tired all the time, is there some way for us to differentiate like what could genuinely just be 0:51 normal tiredness and like true fatigue? 0:54 Yes, that's a great question. 0:56 Lifestyle plays a huge factor in this, and I just want to just very briefly talk about that. 1:03 But how much water are you drinking? 1:06 I mean, number one, if you're not hydrated, you don't move acid out of your cells. 1:11 Number two, sleep.
Lifestyle Causes of Fatigue 1:13 And we're going to do a whole episode on sleep, but I think one thing that is really important is going to bed at the same time and getting up at same. 1:23 And if people struggle with sleep, there are things that can help with that. 1:26 Let me see here. 1:28 Also as far as, as fatigue goes, we always need to think about infection. 1:34 So, you know, if, people have infections that are leading to that and we, things such as dental infections, that our chronic. 1:43 and also viruses because some people have gotten mononucleosis which is Epstein-Barr virus when they were younger and then it gets reactivated and that 1:55 can happen. 1:55 The other thing to remember is that what makes us tired. 1:59 So we have these things in our body called mitochondria and I think about those seventh and eighth and ninth graders learn about this. 2:06 They're the batteries or the powerhouses of ourselves. 2:09 They make energy called ATP. 2:12 So if your mitochondria don't work correctly, you can be tired. 2:17 And then when we think about environment, so if you live in a place that has a profound amount of water damage where overflowed toilets, 2:28 flood leaks, that kind of a thing that poisons your mitochondria. 2:33 That can just make you uber tired and poor nutrition. 2:38 If you're not giving your body the things it needs. 2:42 So one of the big needle movers with fatigue is colors, phytonutrients, that's things from plants. 2:50 So there's a lot of lifestyle in this, but there can be biochemical issues leading to fatigue. 2:59 So I really love what you're breaking down, especially because a lot of the model that we use and a lots of things that incorporate are like the health coaches, 3:06 right? 3:07 And so if someone is coming in with fatigue, it seems like a a of those lifestyle resources and lifestyle modifications can be made alongside a health 3:17 coach to kind of optimize what the body is doing. 3:20 And then I love that you talked about, like, now there is this list of other things that are actually going within the body. 3:29 So it's not just that you're not fueling yourself, it is not that your just not sleeping. 3:33 You're doing all of that and it still not moving the needle. 3:36 And so I really love that. 3:38 I'd really like to just like dive in and unpack that I think a big question we have though, and I maybe this is something that a lot of us are prone to 3:47 do and in a society that's constantly saying give us more and a more achiever society, is that why is it so important that we don't just ignore the fact 3:58 that were tired? 3:59 Like what is important and why it is for us to pay attention to our fatigue rather than just push through it constantly? 4:07 The fatigue is your body's way of telling you something is not right, something's out of balance.
Why Fatigue Shouldn't Be Ignored 4:13 And if you push yourself too far, you'll get sucked into this vortex and you won't be able to get out it. 4:19 That's where we don't want to drain our resources. 4:24 People talk about adrenal fatigue. 4:27 Well, our adrenal gland creates hormones that help us to navigate stress. 4:33 Here's one very, it's not that rare, but Everyone hears about high cholesterol. 4:41 Well, there are some people that have low cholesterol, and if they have a low-cholesterol genetically, that's the raw materials for our adrenal gland to work. 4:53 It's actually much more common in children who are not normal neurodevelopmentally. 4:59 So on the autism spectrum, ADD, ADHD, even though they seem like they too much energy. 5:06 So checking the cholesterol to make sure that it's normal, I would say anything above 130. Okay. 5:13 And you would never think to check that though, right? 5:21 And I love the way you said it. 5:23 You're like, it's not that it is uncommon. 5:25 It's just that is not checked. 5:27 And, I think that's really the functional medicine approach is that like no, is it not an uncommon situation. 5:32 People just don't think like oh, you know what? 5:34 I'm sleeping. 5:35 Well, check your cholesterol, right? 5:37 It is just not, like you don' t put those things together. 5:39 So I really love that. 5:41 The other big thing that people go to is your thyroid gland, because your gland is here in your neck, but it gets its signals from the brain. 5:51 In fact, out of the anterior pituitary, there's a hormone called thyroid stimulating hormone. 5:57 And then that sends signals to the thyroid gland and there's several hormones. 6:03 One of them is called Free T4 and FreeT3. 6:07 And your Free-T-3 is the hormone that crosses into your cells and drives your metabolism. 6:14 So if your free T3 is low, you could have an iodine deficiency. 6:19 So we tend to check that on patients that are eight and older. 6:24 You can get 2% Lugol solution that is an Iodine solution and put a little quarter on your skin or put like a two inch by two-inch patch on your thigh. 6:38 And I just have people put a drop and then turn the dropper on its side. 6:43 It's glass. 6:44 Do that, then pat it and your skin will absorb it. 6:49 That patch should last 12 to 18 hours. 6:53 If it's gone before that you're iodine deficient and that could be causing you to be fatigued. 7:00 The other things with thyroid is people think about their hair becoming really dry or brittle, their skin being very dry, 7:09 or developing constipation, gaining weight, not losing weight.
Thyroid, Cholesterol, and Hormone Testing 7:14 So you got to look at that too. 7:18 Cholesterol, the fuel for the adrenal gland, because that's where your cortisol and your mineralic corticoids are made. 7:25 You can also ask your practitioner to check something called pregnenolone. 7:30 Pregnenolone is a breakdown product of cholesterol, and your cholesterol may be normal, but your pregnenoline may low. 7:38 So it should be 60 to 150. If your body is over stressed out in your cortisol, cortisol is the stress hormone, so you're stress, 7:48 stress stress because that's another You know, it's our life. 7:53 If your pregnenolone dips, It can be stolen and made into cortisol. 7:59 And so we call that the pregenolones steal. 8:01 So we check that too. 8:04 Sometimes just adding the Pregnenolon really helps with fatigue and resiliency and the ability to get back on the wagon and go again. 8:14 So thyroid, and of course, you know, drinking enough water and speaking of that, I'm going to take a sip. 8:22 Absolutely. 8:24 Mouth is a little bit dry. 8:25 And that's what I was saying, so we're kind of going all over the place. 8:28 So what if we start by just saying like, okay, what does water have to do with fatigue? 8:36 So if you don't drink enough water, whenever your cell carries out a function, you're unable to take the debris out of it. 8:47 So think about when you exercise and you build up lactic acid and your muscles ache, if then that acid stays there, your muscles, 8:59 you're sore, and it's prolonged. 9:01 And that leads to fatigue. 9:03 Well, that's happening at a microscopic level. 9:05 So start with water to move the acid out of the cells. 9:11 Parents, family members, if you look at your weight in pounds, try to drink half of your body weight, in ounces, a day. 9:25 So take your weight in pounds. 9:26 If it's 100, then 50 ounces a days is how much water you would want to be drinking. 9:36 That's why water is important to decrease Fatigue, fatigue. 9:41 Okay. 9:42 So another one of the things that you mentioned earlier in the podcast was nutrition and the thing that eat. 9:48 And I feel like that can feel a no brainer, but can you maybe talk through some of them or technical reasons of fueling our body and like maybe what we 9:59 need to fuel it with for someone who is struggling with fatigue? 10:03 So when we think about phytonutrients, meaning things that come from fruits and vegetables, it's not the quantity of what you eat. 10:12 It's the variety because these ingredients from various fruits, and each color does something different, but it fuels different parts of the cell, 10:26 especially the mitochondria. 10:28 So, you know, I'm thinking for your children, if they're tired, make sure they are getting enough water and be sure that they get enough rest and you're 10:39 not running them to too many activities. 10:42 Take the pressure off. 10:43 Why are you doing all these things? 10:45 Why you going to soccer and dance and all of these other things. 10:48 It just puts undue pressure.
Hydration and Nutritional Support 10:50 And it's like if it is your first kid, you are like, well, our neighbors are doing horseback riding at the Y. 10:56 We need to do it too. 10:57 Or what about dance? 10:58 I need do dance. 11:01 All you're doing is stressing yourself out and stressing your child out. 11:04 So what really matters being present and being with them. 11:08 Let's go back to what those things do. 11:11 One of the things we'd be happy to give people that send a query to us on the podcast is something called the phytonutrient spectrum. 11:19 It has all these special little things that you can get your kids involved in and making your own recipes at home. 11:26 So for example, blueberries, red raspberries, a piece of cantaloupe, pomegranate seed, piece tomato. 11:36 It's not how much, it's just the variety. 11:39 And so sometimes because children don't like trying certain things, its just offering it because typically in the pediatric population, 11:49 you need to offer something 12 times before a child will try it. 11:53 If they do it before that, then thank God and move on. 11:56 But, you know, great things too. 11:58 Now, um, You asked about nutrition. 12:02 So here's another thing. 12:04 Our mitochondria needs something called carnitine. 12:08 And carnatine shuttles fatty acids across the membranes of mitochondrion to make them work. 12:15 So that's where grass-fed beef, wild game, chicken, poultry, this is where kind of carnivorous food plans work very, very well. 12:28 Animal proteins, they feel the mitochondria. 12:32 Also, eggs. 12:33 I mean, eggs, you know, for the longest time, the American Heart Association said, don't eat eggs. 12:38 And it's like, then they came back and said no. 12:40 Eggs are good for you. 12:41 Just kidding. 12:42 Yeah. 12:42 It's just like come on, make up your mind. 12:44 So, real food. 12:48 As parents, we need to be intentional about that because just because a kiddo doesn't like the texture or the taste of it, 12:56 Maybe you need to get a juicy piece on the inside of a piece of chicken, not that outside that might be dry, and cut it up into a little pencil eraser size. 13:08 You know, some kids will eat steak till the cows come home and they may be really little. 13:14 I'm thinking back to my 26-year-old. 13:16 She was in a high chair. 13:18 And she knew how to sign and we were giving her little pieces of steak and she was just like more, more more. 13:23 You know, just eating, eating eating. 13:26 But then you have some kids that snub their nose at it. 13:30 Another easy way for parents to try to get nutrient dense meats is it's called the ancestral blend. 13:39 Whole Foods has something like that. 13:41 But also, for example, here in Texas, we have a grocery store chain called HEB. 13:49 And they have the Ancestral Blend and they'll take organ meat or they will take a little liver or a kidney, you know, and then they put that and grind 14:01 it up into Yeah. 14:03 And you're getting all these amazing nutrients. 14:05 For example, the liver, you have ferritin, iron, B12, and B9. 14:17 I really love, like, all of the different things that you're saying. 14:20 And so what I hear, and maybe you can impact this a little more, what i hear you saying is the proper nutrients, that if we're not getting those nutrients 14:28 then what is our body running on? 14:30 Like, What is it actually? 14:31 What Is the fuel that we are putting in our bodies? 14:34 And maybe You can Impact how our Body uses those things. 14:37 Yeah. 14:38 So if you're not giving yourself enough protein, then you'll start breaking your muscle down. 14:43 Okay. 14:44 And if your a carbaholic and you know, some people are wired not to be able to pull sugar into their cells. 14:53 Those are people that are hangry and they get upset if they don't eat frequently. 14:59 They want those carbs because it's an immediate glucose hit. 15:03 But if you don't balance everything, you're going to have this roller coaster and you'll get really, really tired and, uh, 15:13 You'll need more sugar to give you a hit. 15:16 And so balancing like fat and protein, avocado, or you take simple mills, almond crackers with a nut butter, like almond butter or a Hebrew national hot dog. 15:27 Let the child eat the Hebrew National clean hotdog, right?
Protein, Mitochondria, and Blood Sugar Balance 15:33 especially if they already like things like hot dogs, right? 15:36 So it's a very easy transition over. 15:39 So the fatigue, if you don't have enough protein in your food plan, then you're going to take all those carbs that you are consuming and make glycogen 15:51 that's going to build up in the liver, but then you can develop fatty liver because you're just eating carbs. 15:57 And then, you are going move toward type 2 diabetes. 16:00 So, what we want to do is have more of the balance. 16:05 I'd like to thank Fagran Genomics for sponsoring our podcast. 16:10 Without knowing what your precision genetics are, you don't have a roadmap. 16:15 So please log on to our website, schedule a welcome call, and see what the Wellness Blueprint can do for you. 16:23 That's the premier and proprietary genetic panel that Fogran has allowed us to create. 16:30 You know, we always talk about genetics and this is what I love because no one person is the same. 16:37 So on our Wellness Blueprint, it tells us you do best with this amount of protein, this and this amount of fat and or these genes impair your ability to 16:53 break these things down. 16:54 And this is the ratio that you need. 16:56 Also, this the type of exercise you can eat. 17:00 It also looks at our mitochondria, all those nutrients that we need to make our mitochondria work correctly. 17:07 Think about when you're constipated, you become very tired. 17:11 It's because you reabsorbing toxins. 17:14 And that's part of our mitochondrial function in our gut in addition to how well we detoxify. 17:22 So if a person struggles with constepation and fatigue, getting regular so that they expel all those toxins out of their body that can build up and shut 17:33 things down and poison the mitochondrion, we want to get them out of the body. 17:38 I really love that you mentioned that. 17:39 And yeah, if you may even possibly struggle with constipation, there's two episodes that I definitely would check because you also really broke down the 17:49 signs of constapation that could be missing, right? 17:51 And that people could miss. 17:52 So I would definitely want impact that, I'd definitely check that out. 17:56 But really going in to fatigue and I sleep eight to nine hours a day and it's just still not cutting it, right? 18:05 And that's so hard. 18:06 You're doing like, one, congratulations, you're getting eight, nine, hours of sleep, but now I'm still constantly fatigued. 18:13 I know you've touched on the thyroid, I knew you touched different things, that you did talk about mitochondria. 18:19 Would this be a good time to talk or impact different thing? 18:23 Yeah. 18:24 If a person has non-restorative sleep, let's say they sleep a lot, but they never feel like, like good when they get up and they're still dragging and 18:35 need a bunch of caffeine to get going. 18:37 And let say you take all those other things off the table, you go to your doctor and say your thyroid is fine, your vitamin D, 18:44 25 hydroxy is find, all these other labs, cholesterol, you're pregnant alone. 18:52 There is a hormone that is made in our hypothalamus, a part of the brain called melanocyte stimulating hormone or MSH. 19:03 When it goes below 35, A lot of things can happen, but essentially our melatonin production falls and we need meletonin made by our body to go to sleep 19:19 and to stay asleep because melotonin keeps our bodies cool. 19:24 And so if you're struggling. 19:26 and you're getting eight to 10 hours of sleep, you and this MSH is less than 35. You may have a condition called chronic inflammatory response syndrome. 19:41 Okay, so one of the questions that we wanted to talk about was, blood sugar and blood-sugar imbalances, which you kind of reference, 19:49 does that contribute to feeling exhaustion or just crashing through the day? 19:53 And what kind tools can you use if that could be the cause? 19:58 Yes, so bloodsugar influences your fatigue during the days very, very much. 20:03 So when you have an inability to pull sugar into your cells, Many times people find themselves eating very frequently. 20:14 They have to eat like every two to three hours in order to keep their blood sugar up in their cells. 20:22 So they think they have hypoglycemia, but if they measured their sugar, it actually might be a little bit elevated because it won't go into the cells, 20:31 So that's called impaired autophagy. 20:34 It's the ability to get sugar from the bloodstream into the cells. 20:38 And if that impaired, you can kind of know you've got that if you get really angry or irritated until you eat. 20:48 One of my children, they're an adult now, but every time they eat after a few minutes, I love you. 20:56 It's like they get their hit of their glucose and then they feel good.
Constipation, Sleep, and Chronic Inflammation 21:00 Otherwise they're ravenous. 21:01 They're like get out of my way. 21:03 I'm so hungry. 21:04 i'm going to chew my arm off. 21:06 So is there a way to test to see if that could be the cause? 21:10 Yeah so there's an autophagy panel that flagran offers. 21:15 Also you know we always reference this the wellness blueprint but also we offer that because a lot of times that fatigue And that hangriness is tied in 21:27 with ADD, ADHD, an inability to pay attention, inattentiveness. 21:32 So that hungrineness, that's on our neurological psychiatric panel. 21:38 And then there's an immune, autoimmune panel that also has a little bit of autophagy on there. 21:44 But being able to, if you as a human being or you're observing your children, they have to eat every two to three hours or they get upset or grumpy. 21:57 The other is you can have your hemoglobin A1C checked. 22:02 So the hemoglobin A1c is a measure of the sugar attached to your red blood cells in your bloodstream over three years. 22:09 It's a very simple lab to test. 22:12 And if that's where we like it to be is 4.8.2. If it's greater than that, you most likely have a little bit of impaired autophagy. 22:23 and if you don't measure that you may find out that hey you're pre-diabetic or you know type 2 diabetic. 22:31 So the question I have is, what are some red flags or indicators that would make you think that fatigue may actually be driven by something like infection 22:40 or mold or environmental toxins? 22:43 Well, for infection, I would think about pain. 22:47 Like for example, right now I have a tooth that's going to be extracted a week from Friday. 22:53 And it died. 22:56 I've had some chronic pain and it needs to come out because it's this chronic infection. 23:02 It kind of comes back here to the back of my neck. 23:05 Pain is a lack of oxygen utilization and its telling you something. 23:13 And so when that is tied to also tired, to look for other symptoms and the ways that those things would connect. 23:20 Okay. 23:20 If your body is trying to fight off infection, you're tired. 23:25 Because it's working really hard under the hood to lower the inflammation. 23:31 Now, the second part of the question, Lauren, would you repeat what that was? 23:35 Yeah, I think so many times people feel tired. 23:39 Then they put their pain over here and then they their sleep problems over there. 23:43 They put all of this and they don't connect the dots. 23:46 So you just did this brilliant way of saying like, okay, you're experiencing, yes, your tired, but like what else are you experiencing in pain? 23:53 So the question I was saying is like the red flags that may make you think that it's more than just a sleep issue, more then just the lifestyle issue but 24:01 that could actually be driven by infection or the other things being mold or environmental toxins. 24:07 Okay. 24:08 So, I would say that some big red flags, for children of any age, are the inattentiveness, fatigue that's not like other kids. 24:21 Let's say you take your three-year-old to the park and all the other little ones are running around. 24:26 After a couple minutes, your 3- year- old has to sit down. 24:29 Or your 5- years old, everybody's running like little banshees and your five-years- Got it. 24:37 Waking up between two to three in the morning, that's a sign that that master control hormone called melanocyte stimulating hormone is low. 24:48 Headaches that aren't by any other cause, abdominal pain, and you've ruled out other causes like chronic constipation.
Infection, Mold, and Environmental Toxin Red Flags 24:57 Okay. 24:58 Aches and pains that persist longer than a month or two, these are kids. 25:04 Now for adults, those things I name too, but if you take your brain fog, your fatigue, and you put it together with abdominal pain, 25:14 chronic constipation, or diarrhea, tremors, like you feel shaky a lot, you have headaches like migraines, weird pain, pain like ice pick pain. 25:25 Thunderbolt pain and it's not related to anything you did, that you know of. 25:32 Why are you having this stabbing pain in your thigh or your calf? 25:36 Right. 25:37 Cramps of your feet and cramps your hands that curl like this. 25:43 Yeah, like little seas. 25:45 Another thing that could point to this biological toxin or mold illness is static shocks. 25:53 You're walking through your house and you're getting static shocks all the time. 25:57 And that has to do with some hormones in the brain and brain chemistry. 26:01 But the fatigue is the big presenting thing. 26:05 So you find yourself going to different subspecialists. 26:10 You go to somebody for your diarrhea or your chronic constipation. 26:14 The other is anxiety or depression or panic attacks, because when your endorphins go low, you're tired, can't sleep well, 26:25 got headaches, and that fatigue and brain fog can be related to what's happening in your brain and your body from that toxin exposure. 26:37 Okay, I really love that because you really did just bring in the difference between conventional and functional medicine, 26:44 which is conventional medicine would send you everywhere where we're saying, well, let's look at all of this at once and start to connect those dots and 26:52 how they can work together and they could be really speaking to one condition versus all these other things that they'd be sending you to. 27:01 So lastly, for someone who's feeling discouraged or stuck in fatigue, what are just some practical tips or where can they start and maybe just kind of 27:10 go over and putting everything that we've really discussed into like a few simple statements? 27:16 You know, that's the thing we all need a shot of hope and just something that can help us. 27:22 So, so much of this is within your power. 27:25 That's a theme that we talk about. 27:27 You have a lot of power in your kitchen and you can hydrate yourself and move your body. 27:34 And you can set yourself up for success with your sleep too. 27:39 And then the quality of the snacks and the food that you give yourself, like having nuts and seeds and grass-fed beef sticks. 27:48 We call those chomp bars and things like that. 27:50 Feeding yourself those kinds of things frequently instead of going for sugar and things like at Starbucks. 27:58 Taking care of the lifestyle modifications are within your powers. 28:03 So hydration, good sleep habits, moving your body, feeding yourself quality food and from the rainbow. 28:12 These seem like such basic things, but those are the foundation and that really helps with fatigue. 28:20 And then If you go to your doctor and you ask for these basic tests, like a complete thyroid panel, even looking for antibodies against your thyroid, 28:32 vitamin D, your cholesterol, a hemoglobin A1C for fatigue, we also look at vitamin B12 and iron.
Practical Steps and Closing Advice 28:41 I mean, if you're anemic, then you can't carry oxygen and nothing works. 28:46 We mentioned that prognetolum, but you got to go back to the very, very basics. 28:50 You know, can't be anemic, okay? 28:53 Absolutely. 28:54 Then if all those things are taken off your plate and you also potentially look around your home, you need to find someone who is proficient in chronic 29:08 inflammatory response syndrome. 29:10 That is something that I've been trained in and I'm called a proficiency partner, but all of the medical providers that are practiced practice this type 29:19 of medicine and we're thinking about that. 29:22 Um, so making sure your home is clean and that's not necessarily, it's, not with spore trap testing. 29:30 So it like you want to ask if someone evaluates a home, if they know what chronic inflammatory response syndrome is and. 29:41 That is something to look at. 29:43 And then of course, we talked about the whole genetic piece because, you know, again, it's a big window. 29:50 So people can do that and they can see that anywhere internationally with our practice to order the blueprint and we can partner with you and help you 30:02 with your fatigue. 30:03 I love that. 30:04 Thanks for joining us at Get to the Root with Hope for Healing. 30:07 If this episode helped you, follow and share it with someone who needs it and leave a review. 30:14 It helps others find us too. 30:16 For a free consultation, visit our website at gettotheroot.com with a number 2 and schedule a welcome call. 30:24 We'll see you soon.
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