Welcome back to the inspired
living with autoimmunity podcast.
I'm your host, Julie Michaelson.
And today I'm joined by Dr.
Allison Danby.
And we're talking about a
topic that I think everyone can
relate to: autoimmune fatigue.
Our conversation dives deep into the main
drivers of this symptom, that 90% of those
with autoimmune conditions experience.
We all know that most with
autoimmune experience fatigue, Dr.
Allison explains the why for us
from labs to causes to action steps.
You don't wanna miss this episode.
Alison welcome to the podcast.
I'm so excited for our conversation today.
Oh, thank you.
I'm excited to be here.
I always love to ask, you know, how did
you get to be the autoimmune guru, right?
Because , I'm guessing that wasn't
your intention when you were younger.
I know most of us I'd say 98% of people
I talk to on the podcast have our own
health journey or that of a loved one
that, that brought us into this world.
So I would love for you to share
a little bit of your journey with.
Absolutely.
Yeah, no, I was, I was a high school math
teacher before this aspect of my life.
And I really missed health.
I really missed interacting with
people from a health perspective.
And so I went back to school
and became a naturopath and it
wasn't until my last year of.
School that my health
took a turn for the worst.
And I was diagnosed over, over a course
of a year to two years with repeated,
requesting of testing and information and
wanting more answers and not getting them.
I finally got a Hashimoto's diagnosis.
And that was very scary to me.
One, because I was in healthcare.
So I knew the consequences of
having an autoimmune condition.
And that's kind of like your
introductory, like if something's
gonna go wrong first, a lot of times
it's Hashimotos, which then leads to
more severe autoimmune conditions.
And so I was doing everything
within my power to.
Just control it.
It took me about 18 months to get
it under control and knock on wood.
I've been in remission since,
and that's been about 15 years.
Woohoo.
But that's not what really
got me into autoimmune.
Funny enough, cuz I was kind of
ashamed and embarrassed that here I'm
naturopathic doctor and I've got my own
health condition and don't tell anyone,
because this is like you shouldn't
be sick and all these stories that
I had going on in my head, but what
actually got me really into autoimmune.
Cause I used to work with people
with pain and physio clinics
and educate on pain and all.
Was I had a couple clients come to
me and they were very frustrated.
Overwhelmed had just been diagnosed
with autoimmune conditions and
their doctors were telling them
there's nothing they can do.
Absolutely nothing they can do.
And I'm like, that's, that's not true.
And so I share my journey with them
and the more that I shared, the more
one that inspired people and two, it
allowed me to dive in to be like, okay,
well, what is, what, what can I do?
Like here?
I'm telling people that I was
able to do all this with mine.
So what are the, what are
we able to do with all these
other autoimmune conditions?
And that kind of is what opened the
door was just hearing my client struggle
and just being told there's nothing
like here, just take this in that's.
Let's just hope it controls it.
And, and nothing gets medication,
but there's so much more that we
can do to make medication more
effective and to reduce side
effects and all these other things.
And so that was about 10 years ago.
And then that just, I've just really
jumped into autoimmune and loved
every single moment of it helping
and working people through this
and just optimizing how they feel
to improve their quality of life.
Well, as one of those
people, I say, thank you.
Because I was told there
was nothing I could do.
And, and I believed it for over a decade.
And.
So I just love that.
That was your inspiration, not,
not even just your personal journey
and I'm so excited for literally
everybody with autoimmunity, no matter
what it is can relate to fatigue.
Yeah.
And so I am, I'm always excited to
talk with you, but I'm extra excited
about the topic of conversation today
because it's such a, I, I feel like
it's often the first symptom and
it's, it's something that doctors.
Tend to discount, especially if you're
that classic woman who comes in and I
can't tell you how many clients of mine
were told, well, of course you're tired,
you have kids, or, you know, and, and
so I, I'm grateful that we get to talk
about it today and I, I wanna start there.
What is the difference between I'm tired
and I am experiencing ongoing fatigue.
Well, I, there is a big difference.
A lot has to do with
the mental capacity too.
So what their, what their research shows
is that 90% of people diagnosed with
autoimmune actually experience fatigue.
And it's some of the earliest
signs that they're experiencing.
So it's.
And so many people, myself included.
And I probably, I bet you hear this all
the time is, well, it's just, it's just
this, or it's this, I got this going on.
I've got this, I've got three kids.
I just had pregnancy.
I'm going through menopause,
whatever it is, it's just this.
And so we keep chalking it off.
And then what will happen
is a lot of doctors supposed
to then start running labs.
Okay, well, let's check your iron,
let's check your thyroid those seem.
Okay.
So then it's nothing it's stress.
Or we get diagnosed with depress.
So fatigue and so fatigue and tiredness,
they do have an overlap, but for a
lot of autoimmune people, what they're
noticing is that there's a change in mood
associated with it, lack of motivation.
And that's one of the big triggers
that are associated with depression.
That's why a lot of people are
getting diagnosed with depression
when it's not depression.
It's, it, it and depression does have
a lot of similar characteristics,
like an increase in inflammation
anyway, so there is an overlap but
we're seeing a, a change in mood.
Change in motivation change
in social activities.
That's one of the big markers is
people are not going out as much people
and, you know, we had COVID here.
So all of us were kind of forced to
stay in inability to perform activities
due to the level of exhaustion.
One of the ways that I always
describe there's two things that I
remember from when I was in a flare.
One was mall eyes and I call it mall
eyes because your eyes get so tired.
Like, you know, when you're walking
through the mall after a day and
your eyes are just burning tired.
So that to me is one of the signs
that I know for my fatigue when
things are getting outta control.
And the other thing is
just this heaviness.
It's not just tired, like
yawning a lot, but it's just this
heaviness that we experience.
And that's one of the key characteristics
of early stage autoimmune.
Now, if you have the heaviness,
it doesn't necessarily mean, oh,
you're gonna get autoimmune, but
that's what a lot of people describe
it as is this muscle heaviness.
No energy to actually do things.
And when you're doing them, you're even
feeling more depleted and so limited
physical activity in ability to work.
And it just, it is a little
bit different for everyone, but
it's more of the energy aspect.
Like you can't even get energy.
So for people that for people that
don't have kind of that autoimmune
fatigue, what they'll find is when they
go out for a walk, they feel energized.
They feel great.
Right.
For those of us that are experienced
or that are in that autoimmune
fatigue or in that state, a walk
doesn't necessarily energize us.
It actually is hard work.
Now there's a lot of
other reasons for that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's I, I, those are amazing, you
know, indicators And you're right.
For me, that was the fatigue is
what drove me to find answers
because my son had come to me.
I think he was about six at the time.
And, and he came to me in
the middle of the night.
It was a single mom, you
know, and his throat hurt.
And I literally couldn't get up.
Like I sent, I sent him to
the kitchen to get water and,
and told him to come back in.
But that was that moment of
like, something's really wrong.
Like that's not how I parent
something's wrong because it
wasn't like, oh, I'm tired.
And I wish he hadn't woke me up.
I mean, it was like,
my body was like Uhuh.
And so.
That's that I call it the bone
tire, you know, just deep, deep.
And you're right.
That is part of what leads to life
getting smaller and smaller because
and I went through the same thing.
I remember saying to, to my best friend,
several years into my autoimmune journey.
And my decline and, and that I
remember saying to her, well,
I wonder if I have depression.
Like if you look at the checklist,
Yeah,
You know it, I have all these symptoms and
she said, okay, but do you feel depressed?
And I was like, no,
but a lot of people will start to feel
well, and it, cause it can't
be, of course, of course.
So, so I love that you hit on all of that.
It's it's amazing.
It really?
So then what what do we do?
so that's a great question.
So if you are experiencing this, so for a
lot of people that are probably listening
to it, they, they already know they have
They're like, yeah.
Right, but, but also too, there might
be some people that are, that aren't
necessarily caused by autoimmune.
So we wanna start ruling out and making
sure that it's that autoimmune fatigue,
or is it more like iron deficiency?
Cause if you're iron deficient now,
and let's be honest here, there's some
really interesting research that comes
out on iron deficiency of like, so I'm
up on Canada and our Farin level range.
Shocking shocking.
It's now five to 200 and
something five to 200.
Now the, a menstruating woman
should be in and around 75, but
Farin can also be really high if
you have a lot of inflammation.
So we wanna take a look at the
whole iron picture, because if your
iron's low, guess what it feels
like you're walking on a mountain,
Yeah.
Well, you don't have oxygen in your
blood so it makes it a little tough.
It feels like you're, you're
hiking on the top of a mountain.
And if anyone's done
that, that's exhausting.
So you're so we wanna make
sure like iron is good.
B12 is good.
Thyroid levels are great.
Optimal, you know, around one or two,
looking at the T3 and T4 to make sure your
T3 is going and you're converting well.
We wanna look at dehydration.
That is one that is so overlooked.
Your muscles need to be juicy,
juicy, juicy, not beef jerky.
So if you're dehydrated, guess what?
You're running around with beef jerky
now, not to quite that extent, but if
that's where you store all your hydration.
So we need to make sure
that we're hydrated.
We need to look at pharmaceutical
interactions as well.
Cuz that could be a big one for a lot of
people's fatigue, certain pharmaceuticals,
deplete, a lot of nutrients.
So that's something and that's
something that they're gonna be
hitting on social media more coming up.
Is some of the nutrient deficiencies
in with a lot of medications,
because if those are depleted,
you need to restore those.
And it's not about coming
off the medication.
So it's just making sure that
you're getting adequate amounts.
So those are some of the big ones.
Hormones are gonna be a
factor in this as well.
Hormones will play a big
factor on your energy.
A lot of women, especially
if they're cycling.
We'll notice a decrease in the
second half of their cycle.
So we just have to keep all
of those things in mind.
But if those are all coming
back fairly normal, like check,
check, check, check, check.
If they're not optimize them,
fix them and then keep going.
Then we have to dive into, okay, well,
why are we having this autoimmune fatigue?
And there's three kind of
main core concepts to that.
So one of the very first ones,
actually, you and I were talking
about this before we haven't started,
this is cell D response mitochondria.
So the mitochondria is, this is
essentially impacting every, almost
every chronic disease out there.
An autoimmune being one of them, what
happens is the mitochondria are in every
single one of our cells, especially
the muscle cells that produce the
energy to give us that fire and go, and
they're constantly producing energy.
And one of the things that happens
is when our body senses danger.
So an increased
inflammation, tissue damage.
Pollution infection.
What that mitochondria does is says, well,
I can't, I'm not gonna produce energy.
I'm going to use that ATP to now signal
to the body danger, danger, danger.
So when it's using that ATP, instead
of producing energy for a signal
molecule, I guess it's gonna happen.
We're gonna start to see
changes in our energy levels.
And that's the very first thing
that happens with autoimmune.
It's one of the consequences
of the cell danger response.
We see changes in energy.
We see the blood getting
thicker, so hypercoagulation,
so guess what's gonna happen.
Ray node, like symptoms.
So you're not getting proper
circulation to your toes, to your
fingers, to your brain, to your nose.
All of that's getting compromised.
So a lot of people, when they first
have autoimmune diagnosis, they start
to notice, okay, energy levels are low.
Oh, now I've been given Ray
node syndrome or Ray nodes of
some sort circulation issues.
We start to see changes in cholesterol.
We see changes in how we absorb and.
Vitamin D B6 methylation.
So we see some big, big changes
that are happening as a consequence
of that danger response.
Wow.
we, so we need, so we can talk a little
bit later about how do we fix that,
cuz there's, there's a couple of other
things that happen through this as well.
So the cell danger response is one.
The other one that we look at is
how we respond to stress, which is
linked kind of to the cell danger.
sure.
So we have this system called HPA, which
is our hypo Val pituitary adrenal system.
And we all know that as cortisol.
So everyone's like, Ooh, stress, cortisol.
And now I have adrenal fatigue or
adrenal, whatever, whatever we wanna use.
Whatever term you wanna.
Yeah, exactly.
It's kind of, it's not really
adrenal fatigue, but it
just, it, your body is tired.
What they find with autoimmune
is that the adrenal cortisol
output is actually blunted.
So meaning when you have a
stressful event, what happens is
you don't produce a lot of cortisol.
So stress being the number one
trigger for autoimmune that
cortisol essentially is what creates
inflammation and puts the fire out.
So the cortisol helps to put that
fire out, stop the inflammation.
So it has pro-inflammatory and
anti-inflammatory effects to
it, but it has more of a fire.
It's almost like a break to the
autoimmune, but if we have a blunted
HPA access or blunted response to
stress, we're not getting that break.
So that's why a lot of people, that's
why steroids are one of the first course
of treatment is because it's putting
that break to a much higher level.
Now, the other component to that is
that, so you have your adrenals, but you
also have your central nervous system.
And that is a different pathway.
That is a lot quicker than the adrenals.
And what they're finding that
people with autoimmune actually
have a hyper responsive.
So stress comes and we
respond over the top.
So instead of going from zero
to 10, we go from zero to a
hundred with our nervous system.
And what we don't know is, or
what, I haven't seen the research
and maybe it's out there.
I just haven't.
I have there's so much out there.
not hours of the day.
Maybe what we, don't what we
don't know, or what I haven't
seen is where are people starting?
Are they actually starting at
50 or are they starting at one?
Is their nervous system
already heightened?
And that's why they're getting
that heightened response.
So we see a blunted SP stress as a hormone
response, but the nervous system is just
up there ready to jump like agitated.
Well, which makes so much sense
because that's that we were talking
about hitting the brakes before.
That's how I would, I would love
to see the research too, but that's
how I would think of it is we're
running, running, running we're so
we're already up here, nervous system
wise, and just then we explode.
So what would the third core reason be?
So the third one is I one I think
we all know is inflammation.
So when we have inflammation,
we create more oxidative stress.
Now we all know what oxidative
stress is because we see it in
the other, like in the real world.
It's rusting.
It's aging of fruit.
It's why our avocados go brown.
It's rusting up cars and
we have that internally.
So it's just aging us quicker.
So increase inflammation, increases
oxidative stress, oxidative,
stress increases, inflammation
and inflammation, and oxidative
stress are both tied to fatigue.
It's exhausting.
It's our bodies working so hard
to create all of these things.
It can deplete us very quickly.
And it, and it's.
It's aging us from a genetic standpoint
from so many different factors is
aging us quicker than we need to be.
So that's the third one which I think
for a lot of people's no surprise.
However, the research that came out in
2021, and I can't remember the author.
He was saying that is actually where
a lot of the autoimmune research is
starting to go is looking at some of the
biomarkers for oxidative stress, which we,
there are a couple that we can measure.
One of them that they're starting
to investigate is LDL cholesterol.
And like I said, remember with
this cell danger response,
cholesterol changes happen.
So we're seeing that right
at the very beginning.
And maybe that's a marker
that we can use potentially.
I don't know the research is coming
out on that, but that's where
they're starting to go with some
of the research for pharmaceuticals
which makes sense because cholesterol,
you know, people, we think of
cholesterol as this bad thing.
But it's a healing molecule.
And so if you're inflamed, you are
going to produce more LDL cholesterol.
Mine was through the roof forever
and I thought it was genetic.
And, you know, my, I remember my
physician back in the day when I started
my recovery journey, my healing journey
she, after years of being, you know,
so worried and wanted me on statins and
this and that, and, and she was like,
oh my gosh, you cholesterol's way down.
I, I was like, yeah, well,
I'm not as inflamed anymore.
So it makes, it does make perfect
sense that that that would be.
You know, a, a place to, to be looking for
Yeah, it's, it's really interesting
when you start to put the pieces
together and especially, and I think
you and I are in a very privileged
place where we get to see many clients.
And see the trends.
Like if I got a dollar, every time someone
came in and said, I have Ray notes, that
was the first thing that I had when,
before I got diagnosed with autoimmune.
I'd be like, yeah, that
makes complete sense.
Now that I've put the puzzle together.
So yeah, the more and more that we dive
into it, research is really fascinating
with where it's starting to go.
One other thing too, that was
really interesting is People
with advanced childhood events.
So trauma and the trauma doesn't
have to be like anything that we
think of like, oh my goodness.
That's like big tea, trauma, you
know, sexual abuse or something along
those lines, it could be divorced
parents living with an alcoholic.
Having a family member
incarcerated, that's where they're
showing changes, autoimmune.
So the more ACEs, advanced childhood
events you have, the higher risk you
have of developing autoimmune, which
also is really kind of, well, what, why?
Like it changes the way
we respond to stress.
It, it creates it, it almost creates a
perception of a scarier world which is
then gonna be more stress on the body.
So I, and I, I always, I hate using
the word stress because I feel like so
many people roll their eyes when they
I know.
So overused,
but it's true.
It's so true.
It is.
It's it's just incredible.
So how do you help people determine.
You know, like what's driving
this fatigue or does it matter?
Is it,
Well, there's nothing we can do.
steps?
No stop.
That's
No, I'm totally kidding.
This is, there is so much
that we can do with this.
So the very first thing is let's go
back to that cell danger response.
We wanna see why is the body
yelling danger, danger, danger.
There may be ways that
we can correct this.
For some people, it just, it, it may not
be something that we can identify yet,
but this is for functional testing is
so fabulous is because we can dive in to
see, well, what is irritating the body.
So looking for infections, looking at
toxic loads, toxins, binding to receptors
and make the organ look different.
So then the body's like, or also
change the way that organ functions.
And so these are all things that are
triggering that cell danger response.
So the more that we can identify
what is causing it and the amount
of dental things that I've seen.
Cause this absces tooth absces oh yeah.
I had an infection for like three years.
That is like a, that is a
little fire that's going on
in affecting your entire body
And I
sinus issues.
jump in with, with that too.
Because a lot of people have cavitation
issues and they, they haven't had pain.
They're not aware of they're
like, well, yeah, I had a root
canal 12 years ago, but it's fine.
You know, never bothered me.
It's fine.
And it's like, oh, okay.
Let's get it checked
But also too, like that could
have been the very initial point.
That's exactly it like, even then,
if it was bothering you then.
So the interesting thing about
research is showing that antibiotics
are not a full eradication.
So antibiotics are they're
helpful if you have an infection.
So if you've got a tooth infection
that root canal, which I'm sure
they probably gave you antibiotics
for, it's not a full eradication.
So the research on the HPI triple
threat is a 30% eradication.
When you add certain
things in, you can get 60.
That's still not a hundred percent.
So the infection's still there,
but if you allow it to have the
environment to grow and flourish,
it's gonna grow and flourish.
But if you don't allow that environment
and that's where we're doing all
these lifestyle changes, that's
where working with you and myself
are extremely valuable because we're
preventing that growth of that bacteria.
So that infection 12 years ago,
doesn't have to flare up again.
Right.
But I have a client who never
was aware there was an infection.
And she, you know, we had looked
under all the other rocks and she
finally went to a biological dentist
and she called me on her way home.
She goes, oh my gosh.
She said, I had like,
literally, sorry, everyone.
Plus in like huge, you know, and,
and, but she had no symptoms in that.
Just years of autoimmune
challenges and extreme fatigue.
And so, but her mouth felt fine.
And so, you know, don't discount guys.
If you've had procedures, dental
procedures done, and you don't think there
was ever a problem doesn't mean there's
not an infections smoldering in there for
Absolutely.
Especially low grade.
And that's the other thing too
about autoimmune is depending on
how your immune shift, it may never
manifest to something massive.
It just may be smoldering
little infection.
That's just like poking
the bear, poking the bear.
So, yeah, so we wanna identify those.
We wanna, we wanna clear that up.
We move that clean up as much as
possible because that's gonna take us
outta that cell danger response or at.
Quieten it down some then also too.
And as a , as much as everyone's like,
oh, here comes the stress conversation.
So we wanna deal with stress.
You can't.
Yeah.
It's the number one cause of flares.
It's the number one cause of a diagnosis.
You have to deal with it and stress
can come in forms of lack of sleep.
Right food.
You choose to eat traffic
that you may be driving in.
There are so many different
forms of how stress impacts you.
One of the ways that I absolutely
love, because I find for a lot
of people, they don't understand
how much stress is impacting
them until we start measuring it.
And that's the heart rate variability.
So, you know, when we talked
about that nervous system being
spiked in autoimmune people.
So there are so many devices out there
that measure your heart rate variability.
They also measure how
you're recovering at night.
There's watches there's rings.
You can actually go to heart math
and buy a little little pulse Soter.
And what is measuring is the beats
between, or the time between your beats.
So that's your central nervous.
That's giving a really good idea
of how calm or how erratic and how
you're responding to your environment.
So for example, every
day you're driving home.
If your central nervous system is
spiking so high and you start to see it
on a measure of what, however, you're
measuring it, your heart rate's going
up, or your heart rate's changing.
It may not be anything that
you've physically notice, but it
will be picked up on a monitor.
Then you need to deal with that.
So maybe tra maybe you've gotta find
something to work from home because
every time you get in that car and
you drive into traffic, it's spiking.
One of the big ones I find
is lack of recovery at night.
So, and I'm, I'm guilty of this as well.
If I stay up too late or if
I haven't actually exercised.
So for me, exercise isn't is not
anything past 80% of my heart rate.
It will send me into a flare every time.
So, but going for walks, going for
slow, like weight lifting, keeping
my heart rate within a certain zone.
If I haven't done that, I
don't recover the next day.
Amazing that you know, that I
love, you know, we, I was laughing
when you were like, yeah, we were
talking about mitochondria earlier.
We were cuz you know, I, we.
Out on this stuff.
I got into functional
medicine through biohacking.
That was how I found functional medicine.
And I love tracking.
I, I even on vacation , you
know, I, it is, it, it really is.
And it, but I, but I love, I wanna
highlight the one thing that, that.
It doesn't matter if you feel stressed
out, you don't have to be walking
around feeling like you're at the
end of your rope to have stress, be
negatively impacting your health.
And I see this over and over and
over again, people will say to
me, well, no, I'm not stressed.
And then they tell me like, You
know, what's going on in their life.
And I'm like, well, I'm stressed.
Like, come on.
You know, the best is you can relate to
this, somebody, you know, on her big list
of, and, and, and was her home was under
construction and she was living in it
and I'm like, and you're not stressed.
Sure.
Okay.
are.
Yeah.
I think as like, especially women,
this is what I always say is
mentally we can handle it physically.
We can't.
Like we can handle more mentally
than we can physically, or
at least we think we do.
And it's also a lot of learned behavior.
Like, I look at what I was taught and how
I learned from my mother is this is what
you need to do to be a successful woman.
And so I did it and sure I'm a
successful woman, but at what cost.
Right.
So that's where I've really had to take
a look at my lifestyle and scale back.
And yeah, to your point,
we don't, I don't feel it.
I don't feel stressed cause I love it.
I thrive off it.
So I actually need my devices to
say, whoa, Time to take a chill.
You need a weekend off or a day off, or
you need to change, make some changes.
Yeah.
I love that.
I think that's, that's I, of course,
to me, there's so much gold in this
conversation, but if this is the
one piece everybody hears of like,
you know, some track it, look at it.
Really.
Yeah.
Track your
And some people, again, that's the
thing, you know, labs are, I use,
you know, I love functional medicine
labs and, and the amount of labs I
do want myself is insane, cuz I can.
And so why wouldn't I, but so many,
especially with auto immunity,
especially if they're not doing full
functional panels and deep dive panels.
Oh, your labs are great.
Oh, your labs are great.
And it's like, well, I know.
That's one of the reasons I
love doing toxin panels, cuz
at least then they can see
your
oh my gosh,
Yeah.
wait.
They're not great.
I always find this is what I see trending.
So I, I like to go back as
far as I can on people's labs.
So they're like, oh,
you want like 10 year?
I want like, as far back as we can get.
And I love watching the white blood cells.
Because the white blood cells tell
a really interesting story and,
and medication will alter some of
them, but white blood cells and
red blood cells kind of give us
an idea of what's been happening
to the body over a period of time.
You can see when they started medication,
you can see, like, it's just amazing
how many people have white cells,
different trends in white blood cells.
And there's, there's a lot of research
to back this up in the autoimmune world,
but it's just ignored a lot of the
time because, oh, well, it's autumn.
it's discounted.
Yeah.
but what is it telling us?
It's either telling us
you're extremely fatigued.
Your body's trying to fight something
like there's a really cool story that
can happen with white blood cells.
So I love that's one of my
favorite and the cheapest labs to
Yeah, but you're not a geeky either.
no, I spent my morning reading
research, so I do, I do love it,
It's it's fantastic.
And again, it's such a contribution
you're making, and we were discussing
this before we hit record as well.
This, you know, there's this lag in
what we know and what we see that works
and scientific research and, and it's
coming is getting there really slowly.
And, and so this is why we have
these conversations because.
That?
No, I, I really, my main purpose in life
is for no, to get to a point where nobody
is told, there's nothing you can do.
Yes.
I call BS.
That's not true.
And so, and we share the same outlook.
It's people come to me
cuz they'll hear my story.
And they're like, well you
got off 10 medications.
I, I wanna get off my medications and I'm.
No, let's get you feel it.
Like my goal was never to
get off my medications.
It just happens as you know, happens.
At least for me, I, I
take thyroid hormone.
I work with people that
feel like that's a failure.
I feel amazing.
And my life is full and
great and fantastic.
And I'm okay with that.
That's I, I don't.
There's there's a point too.
And I think this is where we need to
change the definition of remission,
because I find that the people that
are striving to be medicine free
sometimes are creating so much stress.
That it's actually a disservice.
Whereas if we just work on quality of
life and how do I feel and see where
we can get, you're probably gonna
feel a lot better, a lot quicker.
And then who knows,
maybe that is an option.
But I think if we're creating this
much stress, like, and same, I, I
do love the autoimmune paleo diet.
It's one of the ones that I
work with a lot, but there's
do I?
that I'm like, this is too much
stress for you because, and, and
them into that opposite direction.
So I think we need to really, and
this is where it's not one, one
thing fits everyone is looking at
what is, what are your outcome?
is it to, like, what is your purpose?
What is your, why?
Why do you want to achieve this
and does going medication free?
Get you there maybe, but probably not.
And, and the amount of destruction.
I have a lot of clients that come
into my practice and they're like,
oh, I took myself off medication.
I'm like, oh, we need to have a talk.
do that, please.
because sometimes too.
And actually it was, this was just on
a podcast interview that I just did.
Sometimes it actually makes us the
medication isn't effective again.
So there's a time and place for it.
And for a lot of us, as we just have to
wrap our heads around and just change
the way we look at it, if you're getting
great quality of life with minimal
side effects, if any, so for a lot of
people, like I know when I was on desk
kid, I actually had no side effects.
It was just, I didn't need it anymore.
My body kept telling I was
going into hyper, hyper, hyper.
So, but it depends on how much
damage has been done, how long the
inflammation's been going on for
there's so many variables, but yeah, we
And I was, I was somebody that for years.
four years, I would go to
the rheumatologist and say, I
think I have a thyroid problem.
I think I have a thyroid problem.
I think I have a thyroid problem.
And then finally, several years in, you
know, my, my TSH was off enough that
she was like, okay, here, you can have
some Levo, you know, You should be happy
with that, you know, medication number,
God knows what it was at the time.
but, and of course it didn't work.
I don't convert.
So
Yeah.
I for then, for years was taking
something that, that wasn't,
you know, the right thing.
And so it it's, but I, so I love
that you said that, cuz I am all
about having lived the life, getting
smaller and smaller and smaller.
My whole, you know, goal number one is
eventually to, to keep this conversation
going so that we get to a point where
nobody ever hears that incorrect, that
lie, you know, that, that they can't heal.
And then also just my daily day to day,
I, I want people to have the best, biggest
fullest lives they can and who, who cares
what you need to be doing to get there.
Really?
You know, if that's, if
that's what they want.
So
It's funny.
So I think some is hitting mainstream
medicine, which is fabulous.
Cuz I'll get referrals being
like, go see this girl,
I don't know what she does.
who does something with leaky
gut or she does diet stuff.
Like it's just funny how I'm
getting the referrals now from.
Specialists that it, it, it, it's great.
It is great.
Even specialists are saying, you
know, why don't you try going
gluten free for a little while?
And so it is starting to break
through, which is exactly what we need.
So we are gonna see changes, I
think, in the next 10 years with
healthcare, which is fabulous.
I totally agree.
And this is why we do this.
So it's, it has to, and, and again, the
efficacy is there of our approaches.
It's just that research is lagging
Slowly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's coming.
We're starting to identify
that this is what's wrong.
So then we need to start looking at, okay,
now that this, we know that this is what's
wrong, how can we then make the changes?
And that's where the research
is gonna start coming.
We're already starting to see it come out.
Yeah.
And we have, I mean, if you even
just look at the AIP studies that
have been done, you know, it's so
exciting and I, I I'm with you, you
know, I'm, I'm AIP coach as well.
I don't, I, I, it's a framework.
I don't use one thing with everybody.
And so.
But, but the research is starting to, to
come out and, and starting to come up.
So for me, I wanna like tie a bow on
the biggest takeaway, if you will, in
the conversation that I want people
to hear is it's not in your head.
Like if you have fatigue, whether
it's autoimmune fatigue or not.
One of the first things I ask
people is like, do you wake
up energized in the morning?
Because that whole, I was listening
to, to studies about people that
sleep 12 hours or more, you know,
the, the, as a, a factor, you know,
that, that that's bad for your health.
And I'm like, no, but why are
they sleeping 12 hours or more?
It's not the sleep that's bad.
It's the, that whatever's
driving that fatigue under there.
And how many of them have
been tested for sleep apnea?
That's a conversation we didn't even
I well, and I, I had the thought when
we were talking about, about iron and
oxygen and, you know, the brain, we,
we, we need oxygen when we sleep also.
And everybody that we've sent to,
to be tested when we get to that,
Point and, and it's like, okay,
well, you haven't explored this.
We should look everyone's.
Yes.
They all have.
And, and all feel so much shockingly
so much better when they have
oxygen throughout the night.
It's incredible.
Yeah, it's true.
Yeah.
There's and there's a lot of things
to rule out before you get to that
point of like, well, what do we do?
But also one of the things that
you had mentioned is the a I P
diet, like that's the quickest way.
I, this is why I love it.
It's the quickest way
to reduce inflammation.
And so then you can see what other areas.
Still need some attention.
Once you've kind of successfully got on
the AIP for, you know, 30 to 90 days,
so you can then take a whole inventory.
Did your sleep improve?
Did this improve, did that
improve and just really see
what else is kind of missing?
Is there underlying
infections, hormone balancing
That's the thing.
If you may, if you're coming from kind of
a standard diet and you go as far as AIP
or even down, I mean, really, but even
less than that, but if you're doing a full
AIP and your needle's not really moving.
Yeah,
You, you really need to
do some digging for sure.
And I, and that's that same thing.
We start there as well, because,
you know, I, I would love to say
to my clients, you know, I wanna
order all the tests and let's just
look under every rock right now.
But most of us don't have the
thousands and thousands of
dollars that that would cost.
And even they don't give
you all the answers, right?
Like they're still, they're looking
at a select number of things.
Like if you've traveled and picked
up a bug, you know, somewhere around
the world, that's not a common one.
It's not gonna be picked up.
So, yeah.
So this may be a
difficult thing to answer.
Okay.
I'm ready.
what is one step?
There's the difficult part that
listeners can take today to
start to improve their health?
I think start, start
understanding how your body's
responding to your environment.
I think that's probably the biggest one.
Just because we know that that the, the
central nervous system is such a big part,
it controls the vagus nerve, it controls,
and the vagus nerve is actually one of
the biggest, we didn't even touch on that.
That's another whole aspect
of this big puzzle of,
But working on your HRV, we'll
Yeah.
It so understanding your HRV,
your heart rate variability.
So whether you need to buy a device,
whether you just start incorporating
some deep breathing, some nature
walks, all of those things that
bringing your whole central nervous
system down throughout the day.
Not just once, but throughout the day.
So you do it in the morning and
then you go ramp yourself right
back up for the next 12 hours.
It's not gonna be helpful.
So doing it, I like to do it
at the beginning at the end of
your day, bring your body down.
Throughout the day is even better,
but that, I think that's the biggest
takeaway is just seeing how your
body's responding to your environment.
I love that.
That is definitely worthy advice
and you handled it better.
A lot of, I was like, oh,
what is she gonna pick?
There's so many things.
So
so many things.
before we wrap up, where's the best place
for listeners to find you if they listen
like I do, which is on the go, you know,
So, yeah, I've been doing a few more
Instagram live, so you can catch me at Dr.
Allison Danby or you can catch my
podcast auto me and simplified.
So I've got a couple different series
on there through, and we're gonna have
you on there at some point very soon.
And so, yeah.
Oh, I can't wait to our conversation,
but yeah, those are the two best ways
probably to catch me and to learn more.
Alison, thank you so much.
You have shared amazing
gold with us today.
Oh, so thank you for having me.
I love sharing this kind of stuff.
Yay for everyone listening.
Remember you can get the
show notes and transcripts by
visiting inspired living.show.
I hope you had a great time and
enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
I will see you all next week.
