The Immune System Blind Spot: What Your Current Labs Aren’t Showing

Founder, Lifestyle Medicine Miami Beach

Founder of The Wellness Way
- Understand why natural killer cells are one of the most overlooked yet critical components of your immune system—and how their function may determine your resilience against infections, chronic illness, and even cancer.
- Discover how immune dysfunction is not random but driven by upstream factors like stress, poor sleep, and nutrition—and why focusing only on symptoms or pathogens misses the real problem.
- Learn why proper lab testing, not guesswork, is essential to personalized care—and how lifestyle changes like sleep, diet, and stress management are the true foundation of healing.
Full Transcript
Introduction to Natural Killer Cells 0:00
I've asked over 175 PhD immunologists when you look at natural killer cells, when we look as CBC, we looked at the innate cells that you can measure on a CPC. Why is natural, killer, cells left off the labs? And they'll go, I don't know. And I'm like, come on. That's the best, and one day I will have that PhD and here's how it is. And why is it? Because I can tell you right now, if you look at the overall health of everybody, If you at COVID, any endemic that they wanna talk about in the future, natural killer cells are the vision to what's gonna happen with people.
You're listening to the Lifestyle Medicine podcast with Dr. Ivan Rusilko, brought to you by Access Lab, where we explore new perspectives at forefront of personalized healthcare. How's it going guys and welcome back to the lifestyle medicine podcast. We're powered by Access Medical Labs. If your physician is not checking your labs, they're not a physician. And today we have got a rock star, Dr. Patrick Flynn. He's a chiropractor out of Green Bay and the founder of the Wellness Way. One of my favorite topics is what we're going to hamper today is natural killer cells.
So he's not only a Chiropractor, he is specializing now in immunology and all kinds of stuff related to immune systems. Dr Flynn, thank you so much for stopping by. Hey, it's an honor to be with you guys today. Heck yeah, so please talk to me, tell me. Tell me how did you go from chiropractics into immunology? I'm very curious. Well, it's actually the other way around. I started in immunology and then because of profession, as far as doing something, I decided what I want to do as a teenager. And then I looked at the routes and the medical routes actually pushed me more towards the immunologist or a pediatrician.
My immunologic professors in college were very disappointed when they told me when I said I'm going to be the care brother route. They were actually really disappointed. But I knew in the things that we're hopefully going cover today, I knew that, that from the immune standpoint, medical things didn't make sense to me. And I had clinical experience myself and going through doctors, my own issues, things like that and helped them resolve with zero medical care. So therefore I'm like, why would I go into a field that is going to lead me down the same path that I'd have to leave other people down?
So, really, I started in immunology, started nutrition, went to more chiropractic school, but then always added that into the basis of what chriopractic is, which is absolutely phenomenal. And so, sometimes people focus on me being a chiopractor, and they don't forget, just for the audience purposes, that I'm currently in medical school right now, finishing my master's degree in Immunology and then I will apply for a PhD program. Student of life, man. I love that. So there you go, 51 years young.
I love that. So I'm curious. Natural killer cells are something I think is lost on a lot of wellness, regenerative, or basically any type of health practitioner out there right now. Can you give us kind of a rundown of the basics of what natural killer cell are and how important they are to our actual immune system? Yeah. See, if you think about this way, it's, If you look at how the public is taught, cause I, I've really focused on public because then when you focus on the,
Dr. Flynn's Path into Immunology 2:56
then you catch the attention of the doctors, catch it of all professions. And that's what happened to me because I had an immune problem as a child that led to some health issues that, you know, was very difficult for me as young man. and learning disabilities and different things. And so what happened is, so I started to study the immune system and I realized that, oh my goodness, just like some of the things that happen in our current healthcare system, they're so dealing with stuff downstream.
For example, you know, I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin. We have Green bay and we look at how toxic the bay is. Now let's say that I was like, environmentalist, which I actually am, and want clean water. So I said, listen, now I'm going to raise a bunch of money. I going go and get these machines and clean up the Bay. And people are like, oh my goodness, that's so amazing. Yes, you can do it. But what if I don't stop the paper mills upstream poisoning the water that they've done for the last 100 years?
And so when you look at the immune system, everybody so focuses on the adaptive immune response. And do you understand you couldn't even have a proper, a properly adapted immune with all the proper innate response? And I think the overlooked cells and I have asked, I can honestly tell you and have kept count. I've asked over 175 PhD immunologists when you look at natural killer cells, when we look as CBC, we looked at the innate cells that you can measure on a CPC. Why is natural, killer, cells left off the labs?
Exactly. And now I'll go, no, and then I'm like, come on. We're the best of the, best. One day I will have that PhD and here's how it is. Then why is it? Because I could tell right now. If you look at the overall health of everybody, if you're looking at any endemic that they want to talk about in the future, natural killer cells are the vision to what's going to happen with people. It's not PCR testing. it's actually natural killers cells. And here's what happens. there's no medical treatment to try to actually induce them, produce them.
There's only natural ways to do it. So therefore it leaves the medical field inept. That's why I went through the well. I'm not saying doctors are watching this and like you call me inapt. No, I am telling you that you're so far downstream that, you don't even have to go upstream to make sure that there is going to be something that's going be good for the person that could prevent because here's what happens. NIH and CDC and everything, that when even COVID hit, the number one test they should have done for everybody across the board was natural killer cells.
I did it on the clinic. A lot of clinics across world. And I do it all over the world and going, because if these things are low, you better be scared of COVID, and the flu and every other thing. So it's missing that innate response. and I still do not know why the CBC does not count natural killers cells in. No one can give me an answer why. It's pretty wild because you think you know I think the biggest parts when it comes to anything when It comes of this longevity wellness space that's there is if your cellular health Which is usually ATP mitochondrial based then you have your actual senescent cells, which is what you which?
Is what natural killer cells are fantastic actually rooting out also?
Why Natural Killer Cells Matter 6:00
There's a huge link to cancer is there not well you gotta remember if you ever think this it could they'll go after They'll, go, after infected cells they, will go. After see that sting It's, it's it doesn't have to be, you know, prepped. A natural killer cell recognized as good or bad. You know everybody's like, You Know Doc, fasting and, and autophagy. Where do you think the autopathy comes? In mitochondrial health. Do you understand? Your natural killers cell recognizes if you do have good mitochondria health or not.
It says, that's the trigger. Everybody's downstream. Cause people say, well, autofagie. Well, how does the body recycle itself? Oh, wait, the immune system does it. And the one thing that when I speak at big medical conferences, naturopathic conferences acupuncture conferences. You know, it's really funny. If there's one that actually affects everything in the body, is actually the mean response. It is. So why is it that we are not looking at? Because the system, no matter what your medical doctor said, your functional medicine doctor, said your care break said.
An autoimmune disease is not a mistake. Your body does not make mistakes. There is receptors, there's triggers, There's flags. It doesn't say, you know, something, I'm just going to kill you because I just don't like you. Hey, Hashimoto's, your thyroid cell, eh, just, don' like ya. It has to be a flag. It's not a mistake. Actually, it's actually very intelligent. No, It really is. So when it comes to you deciphering that, what exactly you tested for natural killer cells? You're talking about CD56, CD16, or what are you actually testing for in the actual blood?
Well, actually with you guys, and I think you know this, I wrote a whole immune panel. I wrote a whole immune panel with you guys that actually distinguishes all of them because here's what happens, natural killer cells work with other cells too. So I just call it the immune Panel. Once again, we can post it. We put it below there that way. And what you're doing is yes, you are looking at your natural cells, but you also looking the other cell that not only talks to, But also once again you gonna see for example how it's gonna lead to an adaptive response.
both in B and T cell response that way. And then, so you get a global picture. Yes, I love natural killer cells because once again, it's something we have so much influence on from, and here, ladies, you understand that once, again you determine that innate immune system that that baby gets. you do. And so so what you're doing during pregnancy is so important that what happens is post, you know, actually in breast milk and what to do with them to actually support that immune response. It's also important how a woman takes care of themselves.
That's why, for example, I don't want I want to give everything away today because we know we're going to wonderful training with you guys. Exactly. Coming up. Don't miss it, everyone. It's here's what happens this for all my to all of my and I have very different, you know, groups of friends. I Have Christian friends, Muslim friends of Buddhist friends I. Have you no atheist friends? I? Have medical friends! I, have you, know my hippie dope freak, medicinal mushroom friends that I ever all medical.
Friends that gotta have those ones, but I'll tell you this. So look probably to my evolution friends. No, they actually say that where we actually, uh, you know, came from monkeys and things like that, or come from some kind of mobile suit motion. Do you understand that we have more DNA, more gene resemblance to a mushroom that actually we do anything else in the world. And if you look at this way, that's my medicinal mushrooms giving it. And I'm saying, no, people think medicinal mushroom, they're thinking psilocybin.
No, it'd be good for neurological, but you looked at immune response. You look. Ray sheet, you, look, at cordyceps, so you'll get turkey tail. Look at all these things that now in each one of them have a different support to an immune organ and immune and you can actually test to see what you need. We run that lab through you guys. and stuff like that. And then we show people that, here, and then you can retest them. So if you're low on natural killer, so there's specific things you could do. If you are low in any of the immune response, even adaptive, there are things that you support that way.
There's a very big science behind it. In other countries, especially Japan and China, mushrooms are a normal part of their medical care. Yeah, it is. You're saying you look at, they've done some massive research on them that way. And I love that. So that's why people say, you know, as a care provider, how'd you get immunology? No, I went the immunological way here in the United States with nutrition and then moved into more of a natural realm. Because when you looked at the immune system, what am I going to do?
Am I gonna create something that assaults the system like a vaccine? Oh, we don't even go there. Yeah. Run that immune to some past. And again, that's one of the biggest conundrums right now. You're misinformed about everything. And then you have something like, like you said, plant-based medicine mushrooms, which I think are fascinating. Can you kind of touch on your top three favorite mushrooms and actually how they actually stimulate the immune system? So if you ever look this way, you're going to love this because everybody in the interim, we have to understand the difference in polysaccharides, aka sugars, because your immune systems runs out of sugars.
It does, it runs off of sugars. But see, most people think sugar, they think highly processed sugar.
Mushrooms, Mitochondria, and Immune Support 10:50
Yeah, because remember, the medicinal mushroom polysaccharides are actually sugars, each one contains a different polyacchoride. So therefore, reishi, my three top ones by far, okay. Yeah, reishi, cordyceps and shaga. Okay. No, no, turkey tails right there, but turkey tail. If you're, if you do a lot of cancer stuff, um, that's where I, you know, it's hidden. That's what I said. I have three of my favorites that I take on a daily basis. Actually no joke. Took it right now or from before. And not only the fact that you talk about mitochondria, there's no better mushroom for your mitochondrion than cordyceps.
Everybody's talking about all these, you know, things you watch other Harvard professors say is popular now and give them NMN and all the things. I'm going, dude, cordiceps, actually, what it does for mitochondrial will blow your mind away. And I can't believe anybody would even work out without taking cordiceps. No joke, if you look at what it does, it's mind blowing that way. So there's different polysaccharides in each one of them, and they have a different mechanism of action, not only to the immune response, but towards other biological processes of their body, everything from Krebs cell, mitochondrial function, ATP production, all this.
And so therefore, when you Mushrooms, they're multifactorial in the body. If you ever look at medications, medications want you to believe that they are singular, but they aren't singular because there are receptors and immune responses that happen with other organs. They say, don't worry about that, let's push it off to the side. Let's call that a side effect. When you take something natural, there's a positive effect that happens to all the organ systems that way and that's why I moved into more of a natural health realm because when I was a kid, I had bad immune issues.
I'm totally convinced it is because I have a vaccine reaction, but I am totally convince it's based on that. And then it led to psychiatric issues because people do not realize your immune system produces a signal of neurotransmitters. Do you understand? Candice Perk, when I was in high school, came out and realized, do you guys understand, guys, we've been destroying people's immune responses for, for a hundred years. Yeah. You understand it was 1992 guys when they still believe the immune systems was independent from the rest of the body.
Until Candace Perk came along and found that there's receptors, neurological receptors on immune cells and actually immune receptors in neurological cells, they thought I was independent. That was only 1992, that was a year of graduate high school. Okay. Crazy, right? My God. And I know people don't realize this. So therefore it was like, oh my goodness, huge discovery. and that's why I created the example. I'm a very big person that wants to communicate with the public. where a bunch of gears that always work together, there is no independent gear.
So then why do we have doctors that are just for the immune system and just the GI and for just heart and liver? They all connect, they all talk. See, so that's why I didn't go to the medical road. And then the people's biggest flex is like we're just chiropractor. Well, I'm more than that, but here's what happens to this. At least I have a perspective of understanding that all these things interact. You talk to a medical doctor, Here's your drug use. I know there's a lot of doctors who are going to watch this, but I got to understand that it's okay to live in the world of medicine from an emergency standpoint.
But if you're trying to restore a person's normal immune system, you try to make them go from immune deficient to immune sufficient, that you are limited in your tools. No, you could be more right. And I'm kind of curious. I actually use your, the tests that you actually developed are for access to the ones I am using. It's also unique because I have this gigantic panel. One of the things I've diligent about testing is Chronic EDV, CMV Candida, Lime, things like that. and I tend to find that everybody, which is pretty much everybody on earth does have some form of EDB in a various stage of it.
But the higher, what's that? They're supposed to. If you did, it's kind of weird, right? But what I'm seeing is the correlation between the more the active load, the less the actual natural killer cell markers come back as. So did you see the relation between that? Well, here's what happens. Give me, and what's really funny is this, give me any virus. And viruses are different bacteria, okay? A lot of people don't realize this. Guys, viruses, they're not alive. They're alive, fat and proteins. That's all they are.
I'm making it very simple, but that's how they all are, They need you. Do you understand? Viruses don' want you to die because they would not exist. Okay? Bacteria, whole different category. We can talk about them. You know, that's why I laugh when we talk about flu season, like it's just some live thing is going to come around and get you. It's like, no, let's go back to this. And so let us just talk a little viral. Okay. When it comes to viral in general, you understand guys that you said it perfectly.
Any immune deficiency, you should be scared of every virus, everyone. And the reason why viruses affect us differently is because the lock and key, the receptor and allowing it to get into a cell is different per cell. For example, a SARS-CoV-2. Okay, guess what happens? It actually affected, once again, just say lung tissue. All right. You notice it didn't really affect this neurologically. Why? There was no lock-and-key, but there is a very important virus that does actually become part of our neurology.
Know what it's called? Called varicella. It's call chickenpox. Okay. So people say, yes, chicken pox is so much worse when you're older. Actually, it's not. It's just not at all. Not at. Here, let me walk you through this. If you are immune compromised and you go through chickenpox, you can be a child and it'd be horrible for you. But see, what I forgot to tell people is yes. if you get it when your older, It is going to be much more detrimental because you never were taught by your doctor. I'll take care of your immune system.
You're immune deficient. you'd get. And it beats the crap out of you, understand? On the flip side. My child hasn't had the major burdens, even though now today they kind of have. And so that with all the things that doctors do from pregnancy to delivery to vaccines, everything like that. But the idea is this, is viruses are made to become part of you. You understand that if you think about this there's neurological development. Why? And after you get chickenpox. And it resides within your neurological tissue.
That's why when you get immunocompromised from some major stress or something like that, it's so painful because if you notice, only goes on one side of the body because it enters our peripheral nervous system.
Viruses, Immune Deficiency, and Lab Testing 16:50
And now it rebrands itself and says, I've always been here. Oh, had some stress. I did things, of course. See, and so the thing is this way. So if it is EBV, man, if your mom gives you a kiss on the cheek when your baby, guess what happens? Guess what you'd get? Okay. Exactly. And so therefore, but then what it does, the reason why EBV is so popular is because it affects a tissue that we all talk about, actually your thyroid gland. So therefore if you're compromised, you can actually run a lab and see, oh my goodness.
I get frustrated when I see these natural practitioners or these functional medicine people or this integrative doctors saying, EVB can cause no, it can't. It can do that guys. That's not what it does. EBV is going to be a part of you for the rest of your life. Thyroid issues because you ran a lab and saw it was high. it's like it. Can be high that meant your email compromise. I didn't mean that EBB made you sick. EBB was doing exactly what's supposed to do. You're tired tired. One of the B cells.
That's why I laugh when I sit there and go, I watch these whole pages. ABV caused you lost me. You don't understand the basic analogy, then you lose me." Very true. Well, what are your thoughts on CMV? Because I've seen about 70% of my patients, and just from what I do research wise, it's a little bit more diabolical, is it not? No. No? No, look this way. If you look at the virality of a virus, it's not the virus. It's just DNA or RNA, but mainly DNA with some fat protection as a coat, and it is trying to replicate.
Its just what tissue it affects. It's just what tissue it affects. Because here's what happens this, it needs that tissue. If SARS-CoV-2 could not get to lung tissue, guess what happened? Nothing. It can't affect your brain. You know, let's say your kidneys. it can affect those things. See, so what we do is we base the severity on, because here happens If you have a virus that, let's say, would attack your gallbladder, or even your thyroid, Let's go EBV. You don't look at EBD as life threatening.
Do you know why? You can rip your thyrodole and you can still live on medication. If look some cytomegalovirus and other organs that could attack, it could put you into death. So don't look at the virus as it being more severe than the other. Look at what tissue that it will affect if you're immunocompromised. And then you may be scared of all of it. So that's the big difference. I want people to get that whole process. Don't fear the viruses. Fear immunocarbonization. And here's the sad part. And this documentation started in the seventies and the 70s and, and really don't, people don' take this seriously.
You understand one Coca-Cola, one soda can actually hamper in a pair of immune receptors. There's so much documentation on that. Is it flu season or is it Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, stress, all the things that you're doing? Do you follow me in that? No. That's a very good point. We're scared that all of a sudden that these viruses go, Hey, guess what? Those people in the United States, I'm coming for you. It's being medical people and being natural people. And you go. But this is what they taught the world.
I am the crazy doctor. And scientists go, Doc, you got a good point. I'm not trying to have a point, I am trying get the public to understand. Don't do the things that beat up your immune system. Ladies, watch your mental stress. You can suppress your immunity. Watch the over consumption of calories, especially sugar, because you can grab onto the Glut1 receptor. You understand guys, just your basic white blood cells actually can't regenerate. There's more oxidative damage. They die faster because vitamin C and receptor for sugar, glucose, they compete.
So therefore, stop it. Do you understand? Well, no, we can tell people that. Can't tell the people who live on welfare that they can have sugary drinks that way because you can not tell them to do it Yeah, but you're also in the freaking emergency rooms and in our doctor's offices, getting antibiotics, do a little stuff with this because I can't tell you because you fat shamed or something like that, that you can have something sugar. You're about the God's ears, my man. My goodness. No, I couldn't agree.
I could agree with you more on that one. And I think the biggest thing that people miss out on Europe, both, you know, when it comes to preventing viral outbreaks or if it could be, or the actual boost in immune system is sleep. How important is asleep to this overall process? Put it this way, it's probably the most important thing. I got kicked off of TikTok because of my sleep video. We were on pace for, no joke, between all my platforms, a billion views on saying that women need more sleep than men.
It's violently shown, you see? And that's why women are actually legit. And I get kicked of a TikTok, well, four times now. First, talking mostly, if I talk about women just being different than men, they kick me off. Now, but also even, you know, Facebook, I was kicked off three times, YouTube, oh my goodness, 10 times. Also, and all I do is teach them the immune response and teach how to take care of it. You know what I'm saying? And everything is so well-documented, everything I've gotten. For example, we talked about labs.
I mean, heck, look at this lab right here. We're talking about the Immune Panel. Look at how immune deficient that person is. There's that Immunepanel from Access right there. And that person right there, once again, CD3, cd4, natural killer cells, everything, the absolute limit, just very deficient. This was a cancer person because cancer is immune deficiency syndrome. But the idea is this, I want you to think about this. I'm scared that the person getting the flu, EBV, cytomega virus, herpes, anything.
Are you saying? trying to level up viruses that some are worse than others because you know why it's, they're basing that on the tissue and if it could cause death, but really what happened, the mechanism of actions are all the same. They're all. Yeah, no, for sure. So, so, sleep's obviously important. Where do you see hormonal health come into this? Things like IGF-1 and testosterone and estrogen and progesterone. Okay. so have a totally different perspective on this and how. My work got very popular and how I even created a whole hormone panel through you guys, I call it thyroid hormones, is the fact that, hey, listen, let's always go back to this.
Just like there's no such thing as the body making a mistake as far as an immune response. Hormones are just messengers. They're signals. Everybody should look at a hormone and go, what is that body saying? For example, A cytokine is an immune hormone. It's actually communicating with other immune panels. That's why I actually test some of the cytocines with you guys, because the immune system says, hey, I'm doing this. But because you don't sit back and say, and here's the difference.
Sleep, Hormones, and Immune Regulation 23:30
And here is why, i'm happy I went chiropractic. Because when I read about chiropractic when i was a teenager, it showed me that there was an innate intelligence that governs the body. I'm sorry, I've spoken to some of the greatest scientists in the world and they always act like the bodies some mistake. And it's like, no, its extremely intelligent and so therefore when you look at a lab you sit back and say, what is this saying to me? Instead of trying to manipulate it with bioidenticals, with HRT, or even trying balance hormones with natural things, what doesn't make any sense to me.
It should be, okay, there should some signals that are going on. The concept, and I want you to think about this, you know this as well as I do. If you think of this way, hormones, even if you are trying to get them to go back to normal, they're never a primary problem because there has to be a stressor to actually get a signal to got there. So it's kind of, I'm a hormone expert. Well, then you have to a G expert, you had to think this. Now I am going to blow your mind away. And this is why I figured out some of the greatest things that ever happened.
Now do you understand, if you don't understand how the human body works and like the Swiss watch principle, do understand there's only really two primary systems that respond to all the environment. The rest is all secondary and tertiary. Like people say, I have a thyroid problem. No, you do not. A thyroid cannot respond. To the, to actually stressors. It's adapting and it's actually, that's why the hormones. But there's only two systems that, that actually respond to all the things that lead to a dysfunction of disease and all those processes.
And number one is the immune system. Number two is a nervous system, exactly. The two most greedy ones. We're thinking this way. If you can find the assault to the nervous, system you find assault the new system? You can go upstream and see where all these issues are coming from. It doesn't matter if it's hormonal. Doesn't as a cardiovascular, doesn' matter what it is. Cause all of those are secondary and tertiary problems. See, you know, that's what people realize. And people say, and I can even, And that why I got so obsessed with the immune system because you'll say well doc, if I sit in the sun and get a burn, That's neurological.
Do you understand that it's really not? Do understand the Sun hits your microbial, hits you immune response before it hits the nervous system. For sure. It's your skin. Your food hits your immune system before it hits you GI system. See, and that's why I was obsessed and I learned this as a kid because you know why? Because I would be classified with John Hopkins called the gut-brain connection. I'm just going to get another GI. Yeah. Well, remember, it's a gateway to we trigger the immune system so readily that we can now, and then the worst part is if we immunocompromise, we take our own normal commensal bacteria and now it can be a constant irritator to the system.
And now that constant irritation, the mean system results in a chronic inflammatory response that relates to every disease on the planet. But see, see how you walk backwards, start going upstream, there's something that triggers the immune system. And I'm so, and I figured this out as a teenager, before I even got to my undergraduate degree in immunology and all things like that, I was going, the greatest assault to the system is still vaccines. For them to even work. You have to be destructive to their immune response.
Oh my goodness, you don't understand the mechanism that acts to how the vaccine even works. So that's always my favorite question is that, well, how does that vaccine actually work? I was like, I don't know. The CDC said I need to take it. It's like. Okay. Now watch this. Watch this know that immune panel. I do with you guys. And I made it worldwide famous as a fact of this kid. So I love when people say this, you know, either a response to the vaccine, really let me see your lab. What do you mean?
Well, I want to see your immune system because your system is silent for most of its actions and there can be destructive patterns happening, degeneration happening and actually illness developing and you have no clue because it hasn't sentry system yet that way. And so therefore I can show you post children that got vaccines and now their immune is so highly inflammatory and damaging and causing all these factors that, but don't worry. The doctor said that's all coincidence really because where was that aggravation?
And the worst part is, and this is why I'm gonna do my PhD work on is adjuvants. because you understand that the adjuvants just the just just if you look at the. The Gardasil, AHS, an aluminum that has been so manipulated, it's meant that your immune system grabs onto it. And guess what happens? Because your system has it, well, look at, there's no reaction. But then that immune cell dies. Let's say it is now in your neurological tissue and now causes brain irritation or damage or psychological things three months, six months a year later.
Look at no correlation. It's like, but they know the mechanism, how it works. This is okay. Why don't you You know, I tell people, you know all you have to do is, if you want to start and really, scientific about this whole process, there's something we pass away from that. Start looking at those metal depositions and where they end up. start actually pulling, start drawing the immune cells and look at that, they're loaded with that aluminum in different adjuvants that way. And when I talk to current scientists, my professors right now who are PhD immunologists, They're like, that makes a lot of sense.
But see, There's no money in that You hit it right there. That's the problem. There's no money in it. But remember, I thought as human beings, doctors do no harm. I though for example that we're concerned about actually true humanity and stuff like that. And if you look at the stuff that you do, you go, that's so inhumane. So I would say, you know, traditional medicine is more about the prolongation of death. Make sure your patient doesn't die. And, the whole aspect is it's not really benefiting or aiming towards a quality of life, which is a shame.
This industry used to be a wellness, regenerative, this, that, and the other. But ever since COVID hit, I mean, we've quadrupled in overall GDP. At the end of the day, You get all the sharks and this is slowly turned into actual traditional Medicine now at this moment. Now it is just more getting people to to take stuff they might not need and that's why I like you ARP so much on the actual natural aspects of it like the things like mushrooms and lifestyle things, like that which I think is the real true form of medicine.
Yeah. And we have to understand that now I know some people may be uncomfortable or might be in the medical field watching us right now. Just understand guys, remember this. Now I came up with the greatest example ever in history. Okay. I sound like Trump a lot right. No, it's the Greatest ever. It's amazing. So here we go. Remember because I've always had this, there's something I got to thank God for this I have always the rebellious spirit on things. And because when all of a sudden someone told me white, I'm like, really?
Who made up the rules that it's white? You're saying, or it is black or gray? It's like going, hey, listen. For example, you know, because some people that watch this podcast, the people who work at Work Access, some actually are going to watch my training in natural close-ups, all the medical field. Guys, understand. Here's the greatest analogy you'll ever have. Just think of medicine like the fire department. Your house is on fire, guess what? Axe and hose, drugs, or surgery, put the firearm. But you cannot rebuild the house with an axe and a hose.
You cannot. Congratulations from saying the houses are burning down. I think we have the great medical system. We rank number two in the world, but I have one of the best medical systems in world. but you can't rebuild a house without an ax and the hose and not make a healthy person for a drug or a surgery. It's impossible.
Lifestyle First: Diet, Stress, and Recovery 30:30
If there was, I would have done it to all my wife, my beautiful four girls, and everybody I care about that way. You need a carpenter type doctor. So that's why I created, when I started WellSafe 30 years ago, I was like going, we are a carpet doctor, God bless you guys for being wonderful and advanced technology. Make sure that we can stay, make sure if a baby is born at 12 weeks, that it can still live. God Bless. I hope they get it down to four weeks. Hope that happens quickly. You know, hope that, We have medical technology that somebody cuts her arm off, That we could do something that right there and do things, god bless.
We should even have government funding, even things that were forgetting about the carpenters. Yep. the carpenters. That's why I said, listen, we got to do this from the standpoint. But see, when you challenge the current level of thinking, People will never attack the message. They'll always try to attack The Messenger. So when I talk about these things, they don't want to debate me on The Message. I'll say, you're just a care provider. It's the only reason why I can honestly tell you, it's probably 90% of the reason I went back to medical school, saying, okay, I'm finished with my masters.
My education is great. No one, and actually true scientists and true PhDs that I've talked to on a regular basis, actually started messaging me, hey doc, what should I do with this? What should I do with this? And it's like, no, help you. You know what I'm saying? Here we go. Because the end result is once again, it is clinical results. I didn't run thousands and thousands of labs with you guys because I am a salesperson. No, I showed, hey listen, and then we got the clinical result and they told other people and told people that way.
Of course. It's the ultimate form of capitalism. If I have some of the value and you want it, so we're going to change value. And see, healthcare isn't that way. He's saying that's why you see disruption in healthcare today. Amen to that one. So actually, this brings us to my favorite one, whenever I do a closing, I always like to ask everybody two questions. I have two question for you right here. First and foremost, if I'm a patient who might have some type of immunodeficiency or something going on like this, and I don't want to go down the actual traditional route, what is something I should look for in a healthcare practitioner when I am trying to basically shop around to make sure that this is the right fit for me?
Proper labs. That's it. I want to start this, the whole catchphrase 30 years ago, go back to all my stuff. You know, I, my, My catch phrase start was we don't guess we test. Okay. And what happens this because without proper labs, guess what, happens? Everything is a guess. Even as natural, you know people say to me, Oh, doctor, all these good supplements to take. How do you need them? Yeah. I don't, I, don' know. Well, those drugs, like, how do you need them? I'm a doctor's head. I'd be like going, oh my goodness.
So both fields falter people and actually give people, you know, stuff that I believe they don''t need. They really do. Everything I've been doing has always had some justification in the lab. That's why I''ve always been lab obsessed from, and I just love testing the immune system because it gives you a gateway to so many things that you can figure out because the body's going to actually lead you down a path to show you what's. I think you couldn't be more right. There's so many people that I come in that have to fix that came in and showed me their initial lab testing that they then spent four, five, six, $10,000 on all this stuff that didn't even need.
It's a situation where it's like, number one, if you're going to test something, you better know how to treat it. So if don't stay in your lane, which is one of the biggest things I see now, a lot of physicians test a bunch of stuff and just have no clue how treat. But the number two is test the right things. Test smart, I guess you could say. So very, very good. Very good answer there. Second question is now if I am a person in any form of health care that's looking to now get into this industry, the wellness and the regenerative and you know, whatever it could be, what's some what some good tips and tricks?
I mean, you've been up with 30 years, after all of your knowledge has been put together, if you could kind of sensei someone and be like, If you're going to get this ministry focus on this first, this second, or third. Okay, always remember this. is you can't out supplement a bad lifestyle. You know, what people will do is this, okay. What they'll do, is they're looking for just a different bottle. Okay. And I'm not saying that you cant have wonderful things, a drug or an herb. It's quite simple.
I mean, he knows it's really funny and the medical field messed everybody up with this. When I was a kid, you know, my parents watched news and they're always looking for the new medical breakout, the New Medical Procedure, The New This. Do you understand that the medical world, the integrative world? They're always looking for the new next machine. Do understand if I would have bought every integrated machine that they brought to you that have now been not controlled that way. It's like, I wouldn't have 35 freaking machines in my, in warehouse.
Okay. Like, but when you look at this way's list, if you're not going to. Number one, fix your sleep and fix you diet first. There's nothing I can do for you. Zero, none, zero. I won't even run a lab on you, I cant ethically charge you your hard earned money if you're not willing. And I've always told people this. I am nothing more than an expensive tour guide, because here's what happens. I will fire one of my doctors, one my nurses, on my chiropractors. If they ever look at a person and say, I can help you.
That's so misleading to the public. It's actually a lot. Because when you say you can't help them, what they think, and because medicine has said I'm the authority, just listen to my words. And here's what happens. They say, I'm going to do this to you and everything is going be fine. I can prove this scientifically. If you have a woman that has massive mental stress, good luck fixing anything. Yeah. That's true. Lifestyle, lifestyle, life style. Right. So there, so we are guides because number one, you're not the healer.
You're, not God. Okay. We have innate ability to heal, but if you can't sleep properly, if can actually change the level of your nutritional intake, If you, can change your calorie intake. If, You can, change, your protein dig. if, Can't do all these things, guess what happens? I want you to be on every medication possible because that's the only way you are going to survive that kind of choices. But if you wanna be healthy, vibrant, sexy, everything you want for the rest of your life, and guess what happens?
I'm gonna guide you. I'll guide through this process. So therefore, we've lost the fact that, listen, your body has an innate ability to heal itself and therefore if do the right things,
Finding the Right Practitioner and Closing Thoughts 36:40
you'd be surprised. Hey guys, guess, what? Women need eight, 10 hours minimum per night, minimum. Everybody should be in bed between nine and 10 anyways, especially women, okay? This concept of being a night person. If you're a person, then you are unhealthy. Okay? And people say, well, doc, I have kids. I understand all the scenarios, but I still have to give you the best advice. And then what happens is this, guess what? You need a certain amount of protein, you need certain things. You have watch the mental stress.
And so, therefore, without those changes, there's no supplement. There's not herb, no medicinal mushroom, and there is no drug that you're going to outrun that stuff from. The magic bullet. No, for sure. Well, I got to say, man, this has been spirited. This has one of my favorite things we've done again. You're definitely tickling my funny bone when it comes to the whole natural killer cell angle. And I tell patients, Your two most expensive things to run your system are your neurologic system and your actual immune system, which you nailed it.
So definitely, definitely very cool. Dr. Flynn, where can people find you or get a hold of you? As long as they don't kick me off, I'm on Instagram, Facebook, all the cool things that way. I barely went TikTok, for some reason. Don't know why. But the idea is this. Here's what happens. My first clinic on $500 and no help and I built it to an international company offices all over. It's just called The Wellness Way. and stuff like that, and just the wellness way. That's all it is. I have a ton of videos out there and all good free information that you can do stuff that way, you know, Instagram's probably been the nicest to me, I respond to as many people as I can daily, so that I get messages on platforms every single day, but yeah, remember, just remember to understand when you look at this way and I will give you a little warning, okay?
Everything on my website, everything on the stuff I tell you, pushes you to get labs done. get good lifestyle and good labs done. Doc, what can I do for my thyroid? Nothing. Where's your lab at? It's like, Oh, well what about, What about iodine? I don't know. What's, your T4 levels at you saying? Um, Well doc, one of them is some mushroom. I dunno. what's you're TPO enzyme at what your tgb antibody at the right going. You see, this is the conversations we have because standard of care has led us to the health that we today.
Individualized healthcare is where it's at. And that's all done with that. Yeah, again, customized root cause medicine, I think is the way to go. So I can't thank you enough. I'm sure. Also, you have a talk coming up. Can you explain that real quick to everybody who's on? Yeah, I was blessed and can't thank Access enough for saying, hey doc, you know, we love your material and obviously you're very immune focused and you want people to understand how to run those labs and how it can affect their life and especially with all the things that are going on, with, all of the immune deficiencies and what can you do to it.
So I'm actually going to teach, a webinar for you guys coming up here in the next week or two. And I'm going to give you my heart and soul and everything will be backed data wise. And you're going get a PowerPoint and I encourage you to take that PowerPoint, and tear it apart, throw in AI, look for any faults in it, you will not find it. Everything that I talk about is very documented and stuff like that. It's really funny because we can kind of end on this. If Trump would have got up and said, something is this, he had Fauci next to him and he said every American And it just was one lab said, get your natural killer cells tested.
Because that will give us a very big picture of what we have to do as Americans. I couldn't agree with you more on that one. So I'm definitely glad you said that, because that's 100% true. Natural killer cells, I've been harping that with all of you. The crazy thing is none of my patients even know what they are. You know, they all know a white blood cell is. It's just like, well, no, there's so much more to that. And I do everything I can for the rest of the career to try to get natural killer cell put on a CBC.
It should be standard across the board because it would give people the opportunity to look at. And I'm hoping that just this podcast, that now people are going, okay, now I want to go research natural killer cells. That's the goal. I mean, more information is better. You know what I Well, dude, Dr. Patrick, thank you so much. This has been amazing. And this is the Access Medical Powered Lifestyle Medicine Podcast. You can find us on YouTube, on Spotify, and pretty much anywhere you can actually find a podcast.
Again, Doctor Flynn, this has absolutely amazing, Thank you for stopping by. I'm Dr Robert Zilko, we'll catch you guys on the next one. Thanks for joining us today on the Lifestyle Medicine Podcast. At Access Labs, every innovation we pursue is driven by one bold purpose, making personalized medicine more practical and accessible for patients and providers. If this episode sparked new ideas or challenged how you think about patient care, awesome. Follow the show and share it with a colleague who's ready to level up their practice.
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