Healing at the Cellular Level: HBOT, Ozone, and Functional Neurology

This episode is brought to you by Functional Nurse Academy

Melissa is joined by Dr. Justin Dearing DC, DACNB, FIAMA, FAARM founder of the Dearing Clinic to explore a powerful, integrative model that combines functional neurology, metabolic medicine, and structural rehabilitation. We break down why patients with “normal labs” are still struggling and how advanced diagnostics uncover the real root causes. We also explore multiple alternative therapies such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy and ozone therapy.

Guest links:

https://thedearingclinic.com/
https://www.instagram.com/thedearingclinic/
https://www.youtube.com/@thedearingclinic8259
https://www.facebook.com/thedearingclinic 

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• https://www.christianfma.com

This show is also syndicated every Tuesday at 10am EST on The Nurses Report on America Out Loud Talk Radio 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hello, and welcome to the Functional Nurse Academy podcast. This is your host, Melissa Schreivetter, owner and founder of the Functional Nurse Academy. Welcome everyone. I am so happy to be here with you all today, and I am so excited for our guest today. Um I am like kind of surprised that he was able to find the time in his busy week to sit down with me and do this show. But um I have with me Dr. Deering, a uh functional neurologist and chiropractor, founder of the Deering Clinic. And he has um a significant amount of experience in the functional medicine space. And after realizing that adjusting the spine as a standalone therapy was not enough to fully correct chronic problems that kept showing up in chiropractic practices, he refined evidence-based therapies and diversified his clinical strategic approach to provide the best possible experience for his patients. And he holds a doctorate in chiropractic, a diplomat in clinical neurology fellowships in acupuncture and restorative herbal medicine. And this diversified multidisciplinary background allows him to apply the best unique patient-focused combination of manual muscoskeletal, neurological, regenerative, and metabolic therapies. Welcome, Dr. Deering. It's great to have you.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Hello, thanks for having me. It's great to see you.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yes, yes, good to see you again. So uh for all of our listeners, so Dr. Deering was the first chiropractor I ever went to that actually helped me. And he is, you know, probably one of maybe a few providers that I do recommend in the Middle Tennessee area. And uh I know that we hear frequently from our audience about things like ozone, um, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, red light therapy, photobiomodulation, all of these things. And this is something that Dr. Deering has been able to implement so much into his practice. And I have actually sent several people to see Dr. Deering, and I consistently hear good things. I've even heard from people that are saying that they got their life back after going to the Deering Clinic. So I would love if you could just explain, because I know that you are just doing so much um in your practice and you're helping some of the most complex cases. So can you tell our audience, like, what exactly are you all doing at the Deering Clinic?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Well, we do a lot. So you you you gave the bio uh background there, and it's a mouthful just in general. So we'll try to piece through it all uh together. But in general, who we are at the Deering Clinic is uh we're really a neurometabolic uh structural kind of practice, uh implementing restorative and regenerative types of medicine. Uh and we're here in Franklin, Brentwood, Tennessee, uh here in Cool Springs. Uh we we work primarily with patients who've exhausted uh all of their conventional options uh most of the time. We are fortunate uh occasionally to see the uh the person in acute pain, and we can help them uh you know pretty quickly. But uh, we become known for uh helping folks with chronic problems uh from uh you know chronic post-COVID uh scenarios to any and all postviral uh situations and and uh chronic concussion syndromes and uh early onset um cognitive declines and you know the it it runs the gamut of uh types of patients, but uh oftentimes people come with normal labs and and multiple specialist visits and and they don't have any clear answers, or they have a thing or two on their labs, but nobody uh gives them a solution to figure it out. And uh, you know, that is frustrating for them. And so I have seen all of those people for a very long time because we offer other solutions, and so we've learned over the many years to to really get to the root of the problem. And so our model uh integrates functional neurology, metabolic medicine, uh, and orthopedic um and chiropractic types of rehabilitation. So uh we treat the brain, the metabolism, and the body as really one connected system and and not separate silos. And so we have everything under one roof, and people are really surprised uh when they get here to say that uh I can't believe you have everything under one roof and and you know, I've I've been looking for a practice like yours for years and finally found it. So uh that's that's our uh that's our background as the Deering Clinic and what we do.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, no, and I love that you really are offering so much because you know, one person, for an example, with chronic Lyme disease may respond to a certain therapy, whereas someone else with that same condition may not respond to that therapy. So we need to have a lot of tools to be able to help people. And when I was mentioning to my um audience when we first started, so the first time that I ever, well, actually, you were the first chiropractor I ever went to when I actually had an adjustment. And uh that was, oh gosh, it was like what, like five? So that was a long time ago. It was at least like five to seven years ago. But anyway, the first time I ever went to a chiropractor, I did not have a good experience because they I basically left with a bucket of supplements, and that was the only tool. And they were primarily, well, actually just using muscle testing to basically putting supplements in my hand that they did happen to sell, and I ended up spending a lot of money and I actually felt worse. And I actually ended up seeing you because so many people had recommended that I go to see you, but it was because of that experience that I was a little skeptical about chiropractic care. But could you speak to that? Because again, like I I also am not against muscle testing, you know, but I do find that sometimes it may be maybe overused or overrelied upon.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Sure. Uh yes, uh I have a lot of great colleagues, past and present, that uh that are uh muscle testers. And so, you know, I appreciate the profession. But just like functional neurology, it's it's complex. And, you know, it's it's easy for doctors in conventional medicine as well as doctors in chiropractic or even functional medicine in general uh to go after symptom management. You know, we we want to help the patient, we want to help them feel better. And so, you know, in the case of of your experience prior to coming to us, it was that was a symptom management strategy uh and or a you know kind of a maintenance kind of thing that wasn't going to get to the root of the problem uh just by you know testing some things uh that interact with your energy. And and you know, there are some uh legitimate uh things about that, but uh uh we uh uh like to follow the the best science and and the best um the best clinical uh guidelines that we can, evidence-based care, of course. Uh and what that ultimately requires is that we spend more time getting to the root of the problem. And so uh when I met you and you came to us, uh we were we were in the stage of uh really refining uh the the functional neurological aspect of care through manual work and acupuncture and and other tools, and and we were getting great results at that time with complicated conditions. Um and so you know that's that's why we had some benefit for you uh at the time. Uh but since then we have we have grown our knowledge and our our our our uh really research and education base uh around combining medical uh work with our medical team, who we brought in almost six years ago, uh, as well as continuing to refine the functional neurological uh space uh in in how we uh approach everything. So the combination of the metabolic management and the neurological management uh really is the future of medicine. I know it is uh because we see it every single day here in in the office. And so we've spent all these years learning how to reverse complex problems that uh you know conventional medicine is largely given up on. Uh, and in almost every case uh that I've seen that was very complex, and people have spent so much time trying to chase down their symptoms and use symptom management. Um, you know, what we find is that the body has has lost the capacity to heal itself because something way upstream is is broken down. And it's hard to measure that with a muscle test, and it's hard for me to see that when I'm just looking at you. Uh, and you also can't see it in standard lab work oftentimes. You can see some evidence in standard lab work, but but really what it takes is measurement uh and measuring all of the function of the body and how it works. And we can talk more about that uh in a moment. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Well, and again, it really is so interconnected, you know. And I talk about the gut-brain connection all the time. And really, there's so many people suffering with complex illnesses. And when we go through that conventional medical model, a lot of times people are not being told that there may be other options for them in the alternative health space that actually are clinically validated and evidence-based. But um, I saw when I was just looking at everything that you guys have added. I mean, it's amazing that you've been able to do so much. But what are those core diagnostic tools that you like to use in your practice?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Yeah, sure. Uh so again, back to measurement. Uh, you you really can't treat something really well that you can't measure. So let's take, for example, uh you have a uh low thyroid dysfunction. Well, you can measure that on black blood work and you can give the person a thyroid replacement, whether that's semi-natural or whether it's synthroid and it's a you know medication medication. Uh well, uh even though we we throw the medication there, you know, the root of the problem is still way underneath all of that. And metabolism is still slow, even though we we manage the thyroid uh and thyroid numbers look good and energy is you know better and you improve with the medication, but deep at the at the root level, uh, the ability for metabolism to function is is still diminished, right? And so getting to the root of all of that is is very important. So in every single case that we see, uh, we're going to utilize the tools that measure the symptoms that they present with, right? As opposed to just lab work or whatever. Uh so one of those, very often we see a lot of people with with lots of neurological problems that they can't figure out, and their neurologist can't figure it out, and their their primary care and endocrinologist and whoever else they see, they can't quite put their finger on it. But we utilize a QEEG brain map. Uh so this is a quantitative electroencephalography. It's the same system they use to measure seizures, uh, but we quantify it. And so it's a different type of system, different type of math. But it gives us a map of how the brain works and where things are stuck, which nodes and which systems aren't speaking to each other uh appropriately, and we we track that down and we develop a plan to treat it. In other cases, we'll we'll say, you know, metabolic problems. Take the thyroid person, for example. Uh, well, you know, my thyroid's straightened out, but I just I still just can't lose weight, uh, or you know, I still feel foggy and fatigued, and I'm gaining weight and I can't lose it like I used to, kind of thing. Uh so we'll look at metabolic breath analysis, uh, which is a tremendous uh tool uh to understand mitochondrial and and metabolic function deep at the root level, like how is it functioning right now, almost like standing on a scale, how much do you weigh? Uh and then there's uh you know other things that we can draw from that. It's a it's a large set of data, but this metabolic breath analysis comes from the work of uh VO2 Max, and everybody's talking about their biological age these days and and VO2 Max testing and all of that. And so that's that's part of the system that we use, but a lot of people aren't aren't able to get to a place where they can exercise hard enough to gather a VO2 max. So anyway, it tells us a lot about resting metabolism uh in a scenario where we don't have to exercise people. Uh, so that helps us to understand metabolism uh as it's functioning in the moment. We combine that with uh heart rate variability and other autonomic stress testing and different things for, you know, you've you've had an explosion on the internet, it seems, of the awareness of POTS uh and postural orthostatic tachycardic syndrome. Uh, and very often that's one of the one of the most rare forms of like a dysautonomia. Uh, but there's a whole sliding scale and spectrum of dysautonomias, um, you know, from the elderly patient with heart rate and rhythm problems to, you know, people who who can't get out of bed without crashing or you know, whatever. Uh, but anyway, autonomic stress testing is very helpful for us to understand uh how that's how that's functioning, where the breakdown might be, and and really mapping areas of the brain uh where that autonomic system is controlling the brain stem and the heart and the heart rate's responses. Other things we use uh are gut immune types of diagnostics. We look at uh antibodies to certain types of brain tissue, which is an immune attack against certain types of brain tissue because they've been under a chronic onslaught of inflammation or or you know viral or bacterial load. And the immune system develops this chronic immune, low-level attack against certain aspects of brain tissue. And so that's very important to know, especially in postviral situations like post-COVID and other viruses that reactivate. We also look at GI testing, like microbiome analysis, what's in the ecosystem of the gut and and how is that affecting the brain and the body in general. Uh, that is that is that is the key to the castle, uh, in my opinion, uh, when we are able to see what's happening in the gut and connect it to lab work and connect it to the metabolic breath analysis and the autonomic stress testing. We're really understanding the full picture of how everything works. And again, it's all neurological, and the gut is very neurological, but it's also where the immune system lives. It's also where we produce our neurotransmitters. Um, and so there's other testing we use for concussion and chronic dizziness and vertigo. Uh, we measure eye movements and balance, and we we can quantify all of it. So quantifying a baseline of where somebody starts and implementing a treatment very specific to their scenario, not a cookie-cutter thing, not a shotgun approach, not a boatload of supplements and see what happens. Um if we can measure it and treat it very sp precisely and come back and re-measure it, then that gives us the absolute best uh way for us to really understand, you know, are the interventions that we're implementing are they good enough? Is there something else we can do, or do we need to take a different direction entirely? And so it's very important to have uh those, those, those diagnostic tools. All right.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So that I one thing I want to circle back around to.

unknown 16:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Well, that sounds pretty horrifying. Your immune system going after brain tissue. So can you tell, can you elaborate a little bit more on that? You know, I know that we have this epidemic of, you know, of Alzheimer's in our country. And this is this is not normal. I mean, I remember my great-grandparents had some senility that people are really suffering. And then we have also an epidemic of other neurological disorders and uh, you know, things like a lot of children that are suffering with with autism. What conditions? I know that you mentioned that this can happen post-viral, and we know that, you know, viral infections, infections in general, we know, can trigger an autoimmune response. But uh, what conditions specifically have you been able to identify that there is an immune attack on brain tissue?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Well, man, well, all of them. So we don't test everybody. Uh we have to have a certain level of symptomatic, you know, picture, symptomatology, uh, in order to run that test. Uh, but every time that we do run that test, it's for a good reason, uh, is because we expect it. And so we we want to understand what it is that we're that we're up against. So let's take the case of an early onset frontotemporal dementia and a 60-year-old man. Basically, he's very medicated, he's just losing his personality, uh, but otherwise you wouldn't really know that uh he was developing this, this that he's 10 years deep into this uh frontotemporal dementia. Uh I measured a postviral uh person just a few hours ago that that's been you know in uh further debilitation over time, not able to work for the past three years. And so there's just so many cases like this. Uh and oftentimes we can pinpoint it to you know what was happening, you know, a year or two, or even a few months prior to the onset. And usually if we dig hard enough, we can find there was an illness somewhere in there, or I had years of stress prior to this, and then I just had a little stomach bug on a cruise ship, and and you know, I came home and and it was like three months later uh that that I noticed, you know, my spouse was starting to forget things or whatever. Uh so there's all kinds of of pathogens that that overlap each other. You know, let's just say, let's take COVID for example. Um you know, if you if you had vertigo five years before you had COVID, well, vertigo, chronic vertigo is not just crystals in the air, and we do a maneuver and and and and fix it. Um, chronic vertigo is often very central, like meaning in the brainstem and the brain and the pathways of the brain. It can be complex. So let's take a person who had had vertigo many years before that, they get COVID. Well, that area that that suffered metabolically with the vertigo uh is going to still be vulnerable unless they've really built it up and really rehabilitated it well. And you know, most aging individuals don't. Uh and so when COVID comes along, bam, the vertigo comes back. Or you you had you know a few um little little infections when you go to Mexico on a mission trip, let's let's say, uh, and then all of a sudden you get a uh a food poisoning one day five years later and then hospitalizes you, and and then three years later you're progressively declining in your memory and your function and your ability to initiate tasks. You know, all of these things have a root cause that that tend to be many, many, many years prior to you ever developing symptoms. So we know in every degenerative case, whether it's Alzheimer's, whether it's any other form of dementia, uh, whether it is Parkinson's specifically, and we can use that as an example, but um, any of these neurological conditions have have a root cause that started 20, 30, 40 years prior to it ever becoming symptomatic. And we can say that with with pretty much certainty, unless you know there's a there's a big brain injury, you know, in a in an 80-year-old where they were fine before and now they're starting to develop Alzheimer's. Still the same mechanism, but what you're asking is is uh you know, antibodies to brain tissue and and pathogens, uh, whether it's viruses or whatever. Um I'll I'll use Parkinson's as an example. If I take a gut test and I find a certain little trio of bacteria that are supposed to be there, but they when they get overgrown, uh they tend to uh change the way that nerves fire in the gut, in the nerves of the gut, and they they alter the nerve function to a degree, and those pathogens will damage basically the the replication of new nerve tissue uh in the nerve itself, and it will misfold the proteins as it's making nerves, and those misfolding proteins over many, many years, they they climb the vagus nerve, and the vagus nerve is, you know, everybody knows about the vagus nerve these days. Uh it uh it controls the gut and gut motility and and and gut secretions of enzymes. Anyway, if this pathogen uh gets onto this nerve and and damages its its ability to repair itself, well then that uh inability to repair itself goes all the way up the brainstem and eventually settles in a very special. Specific spot in the middle of the brain, which is very important. And that's when we ultimately, 30 years later, get the onset of a tremor or you know, something, some other symptom that that comes about in Parkinson's because of rigidity or hallucinations or whatever it may be. Um, you know, that is that is a perfect example of of what can what can happen uh to to a degenerative nervous system. And so really, you know, prevention is is the most important thing and and being aware of of what is there and being proactive about you know uh changing that uh prior to it ever affecting the nervous system is is really one of the best ways that that we can prevent uh some of those things from happening and prevent the immune system from becoming vulnerable to attacking itself.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Yeah, so so well sad. And I always say that it's about the terrain of your body because if you have a healthy gut microbiome and you're taking care of yourself, you've got your stress response under control, it is less likely that your immune system is going to go wild. But a dysregulated immune system, then you are more prone to you know viral infections taking you down. I mean, I remember for me, well, when COVID came through our home. So my husband, who has just nothing wrong with him, I mean, he's healthy as can be. He had COVID. He just felt a little icky for three days, completely bounced back. When I got COVID, I also had active Lyme and COVID destroyed me. My and yes, my hair came back, but my my hair fell out over COVID. Like it is ridiculous. And I did have long COVID for a few months after that, which luckily I was treated for that. But it is so, so important that we take care of our bodies. But again, sometimes we end up in these situations where we may have a chronic health issue going on and we need to go get some help. And um, it's about time to cut for break. But when we come back, I would love to talk more about the, you know, therapies that you're using. You know, I mean, I just recently heard from a friend the other day that did uh hyperbaric oxygen therapy with you and was talking about how much better his memory was and how much better he felt. So I want to talk more about those therapies. And to our listeners, I do just want to take a moment to remind you that if you are a fat up nurse, I can absolutely train you at the Functional Nurse Academy. We are the most comprehensive functional training on the market, specifically designed for nurses. All of our graduates earn 90 nursing CEs, multiple board certification eligibility pathways in functional medicine, and they even get business mentorship. So you can check that out at functional nurseacademy.com. This show is also syndicated on America Out Loud Talk Radio on the Nurses Report Radio Show and Podcast. So you can also find me there on any major app. Hello and welcome back. This is Melissa Schreibefetter. Today I am joined by Dr. Deering, the founder of the Deering Clinic here in Brentwood, Tennessee. And we are talking about functional neurology and chiropractic care and how there are so many of these just cutting-edge, scientific-based diagnostic tools and treatments that we can use to help people that are really suffering with chronic disease processes. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

All right. Thanks for having me again, Lissa.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yes, yes. So I know uh so before we cut to break, we were talking about the, you know, um brain issues. And there's so many people. And I will say, like, I myself am struggling currently remembering things. I'm kind of shocked I'm able to do this show, but that is because of my infant. That is my infant's fault who doesn't want to sleep at night. But I know not just people who are are elderly, you know, people in their 40s and 50s that are starting to struggle with their cognition. And I also I wanted to ask, so you're you're doing so much at your clinic. Um, what kind of tools are you using? And what do you think is the most powerful?

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Oh boy. Well, uh the most powerful thing is is using multiple things in combination when it comes to, when it comes to a cell, or even specifically the cells within nerves, which the brain is made of nerves and lots and lots of them. Uh you know, nerves and neurons need need three major things to survive. That is, that is oxygen, nutrients, and stimulation. And if you don't have oxygen and nutrients, uh, then the stimulation's not going to uh be very useful. Uh and if you don't have oxygen or nutrients, uh then cellular metabolism can't stay at the level that it needs to stay in order to fire at the frequency that it needs to fire to have a bright brain. So use your example of uh uh a little sleep deprivation uh with babies, and it kind of clogs the the memory and the in the mind a little bit. Uh and that's a temporary deficit. But you know, uh lack of sleep, tremendously uh you know impactful thing on the on the brain and the body, because the brain controls the body, the brain controls the immune system. Uh if you have a problem with the immune system, then there is a nervous system uh deficit in the management uh uh of the control of that. Um that can be previous injuries, previous infections, previous inflammation, whatever it is, uh the nervous system is the thing that dictates uh the stability of metabolism and the immune system. But of course it's a two-way street. So if I'm talking about my my favorite therapies, it it are it's going to be things that helps the cell utilize oxygen, helps things to be able to deliver the oxygen better, which requires awesome blood flow and management of blood flow so that we can deliver the oxygen and we can deliver the nutrients necessary for the cell to produce energy. And if the cell cannot produce energy in the brain, specifically the frontal lobe, then we're gonna be foggy. What is the what is the cause and the mechanism of that? Well, that becomes my favorite therapy, is the thing that gets to the cause and the mechanism of that. So we use a a number of therapies that that can do that really well. But at the end of the day, uh rehabilitation uh for the brain and the nervous system really comes from uh helping the brain uh raise its metabolic capacity to produce energy. Uh so I know there's a long, long uh rant about my favorite therapy, but uh if we think about oxygen therapies, they're helping the cellular systems, uh the mitochondria of the cell, the thing that produces the energy of the cell, uh, really, really utilizes oxygen to burn fat. And if there are depletions in nutrients in the way, something like carnitine or vitamin B2 uh that that burns fat, well, uh even if I deliver oxygen, I can't burn the fat efficiently to produce energy. But most of the time it's the system can't use oxygen efficiently uh because it's not getting enough of it, and so therefore we don't we don't produce energy. So hyperbaric oxygen is a great way uh for us to just lay in a chamber, not have to exercise or do anything, and deliver a boatload of oxygen uh to areas that wouldn't get it otherwise under normal conditions. Uh so it's an hour-long therapy, you sit in there, you really need to repeat it day after day. It can be complicated when we're using to treat a difficult condition, but it is it is very necessary uh in complicated scenarios. And it's great for recovery, you know, uh, from a you know long workout or an injury, you use it a few times. It can be good, but you know, the the data is that you have to use it a lot of times uh in order to make a big, huge impact, which is very good to do. Um, but something that that takes oxygen therapy from a different angle. Again, we want to get oxygen into the cell so that the cell can you know burn fat efficiently for fuel, so that we can have plenty of energy in the brain. Uh ozone therapy is is tremendously helpful in that. Ozone hits three different things. It doesn't just put oxygen in your brain like hyperbaric, and hyperbaric has many other benefits, stem cell uh uh release from your own bone marrow, and it helps mitochondria, but not like uh ozone does. Uh ozone therapies really help us to uh do really three things. So ozone helps to improve circulation uh by directly impacting the blood vessel that it's that it's running through. So if we can dilate blood vessels, especially in the nervous system, uh then we're going to have uh better oxygen delivery. And the second thing uh uh ozone does uh very powerfully is that it it sort of challenges the cell metabolically. And so it creates a little bit of an oxidant effect. And so, you know, typically you would think if I have an oxidant, then I need an antioxidant. And so we use antioxidants in combination with ozone, and we call that a redox therapy, neither here nor there. But uh when we create that redox reaction within the cell, all cells are able to function a little bit better. And every time we do it, it it kind of props up the cellular function. Uh a lot of people think of ozone like a detox because uh many reasons, but uh it does help the cell to detox, but only because it helps to improve its metabolic capacity to do its job. And so in addition to improving circulation and improving cellular function, uh, it also modulates the immune system, which is tremendously important in cases where we have an inflamed brain due to an immune problem. Uh, and so that's very, very often the case. Very, very often that that immune problem is coming from the gut uh and and or uh old uh injuries, old infections in the brain. So I love ozone. It's it's one of the better things I've ever seen, and the combinations of nutrients and things that we use alongside of it uh make it a really great modern version of ozone therapy uh that that hasn't really existed in the way that we utilize it previously. So love ozone.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Yeah. And, you know, we have a lot of, well, again, we have of course a ton of nurses that listen to the show. I also have a lot of other individuals interested in health and wellness. And there's more and more nurses that are opening up Ivy infusion clinics, and I'm seeing more of them start to learn about and implement ozone. And I I am so interested in ozone therapy. I even have an ozone generator in my house. But anyway, when I was really, really sick and would love to touch about uh touch on chronic fatigue zone as well, because my primary symptom when I was sick with Lyme was chronic fatigue. And I feel good now. And I think back to how like awful I used to feel, and I just don't know how I was getting through every day. But I tried so many different things, and ozone was something that really made an impact. I mean, I remember I was doing the uh 10 pass ozone therapy, which for our listeners, that's when you basically combine ozone with the blood, and then you infuse that blood back into the patient. And that really helped with my energy level. But I think when I was so sick, the Lyme takes such a toll. And it was really hard for me to, I would have some improvements here and there, you know, but I couldn't completely get well with the Lyme. And I think, again, the body needs energy to heal. And even though my diet was perfect and I was taking all of the right supplements, if you have got a stealth infection like that, and again, to have a stealth infection completely override your body like that, we understand that there is some level of immune dysregulation as well. But um, I would love to touch more on ozone and then also individuals that you see who are suffering with chronic fatigue. Do you see that, you know, which is the most helpful for them? Is it the ozone?

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Well, yeah. Uh so ozone is great because, you know, there's many things that can produce chronic fatigue. What is chronic fatigue? You know, and the the true blue definition diagnosed at Mayo Clinic with all the fancy standard labs uh is is going to diagnose it as a myalgic encephalomyelitis, which is which is a fancy term for saying that uh there's there's inflammation in the brain, uh in the head, and it's messing with the immune system, uh, and and also creates pain and in and uh all kinds of other things. Anyway, uh what that means is that there has been some level of significant inflammation, and the only really great explanation for that for a young, you know, female uh like yourself or or many other folks that we see tend to tend to be in the younger, you know, 30s, 40s uh range. Now that chronic fatigue tends to be uh from some event in the past that the body was never able to recover from, and the immune system just gets deranged and it forgets what it's supposed to do and it just attacks everything. And oftentimes the the brain tissue is part of that that attack. Uh so anyway, you know you know whether it's from Lyme or Epstein-Barr virus is a very common uh cause, some say, in the research world of Epstein Barr andor cytomegalovirus or lots of other things. So chronic fatigue uh develops because uh the immune system just can't recover from strain. But really, at the end of the day, when it comes to things like POTS or, you know, all the mast cell and the histamine reactions people talk about these days, every single bit of that is an autonomic nervous system uh over-response, and and and and it's an autonomic nervous system that can't complete the job. So really the immune system is really ran by the by the uh autonomic response, the stress response that the body needs to manage between uh rest and digest and heal, which is the parasympathetic nervous system, and and and the the fight or flight or freeze uh sympathetic nervous system. That is the autonomic nervous system, and that really informs the immune system. And you know, chronic fatigue responds to a number of things. Ozone, in your case, you you experienced it. It definitely lifts energy over time, but it takes, it takes work. Uh, but one of the things that I have found to be one of the most profound uh pieces of therapy that we put in place is a special version of neurofeedback, uh, which really works on the deepest rhythms of the brain. And let's say the autonomic nervous system kind of lives right here deep in the deepest part of the brain. We put electrodes on that particular spot and we run this special specialized form of neurofeedback in a very slow wave feedback, and the brain restores the autonomic function. People start to sleep better, they start to get more restoration, they wake up, you know, refreshed, uh, and it doesn't happen super fast, but it's part of the process. Uh and so when we apply combinations, and that's what I was talking about earlier, is that I like to combine things because we need that combination. We need ozone in circulation and immune modulation, but then at the same time, we need the nervous system to actually also respond in conjunction with all of the new good things that are coming to it. So uh you combine that with something like a photobiomodulation, which is a special laser type of therapy that's not your red light or your infrared sauna, although they are similar, uh, but it is a medical grade laser that really targets certain systems. So I take that same laser, put it on that same area, and bam, the brain fog is, you know, diminished by a lot for a few days. And then we repeat that procedure. And over time, people come out of chronic fatigue a lot faster than I've ever seen them before. Uh, it's just been amazing.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Oh, yeah. No, I uh every day, I am grateful that I no longer feel like crap.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

Yeah, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

So I had covered this in the Functional Nurse Academy mentorship. I did a deep dive for my students on chronic fatigue and functional therapies that can help and why this is happening. And usually when I create this content, I always like to go and see what our friends at the CDC are saying about it, you know, because we know that so many of these individuals, it when they're in the conventional medical model, uh, most of the providers are just going to the CDC because for some reason we still trust them. I don't know why. But anyway, um, on the CDC website, it says this. I'd love to get your feedback. There is no cure or approved treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. However, some symptoms can be treated or managed. And then they typically recommend medications to treat the symptoms, such as SSRIs, CNS stimulants, and then in regards to nutritional and herbal therapies, uh, they are saying be aware that many treatments that are promoted as cures for chronic fatigue syndrome are unproven, often costly, and could be dangerous. So, what what is your thought on that? Do you agree with their statement that there is no cure?

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Uh by their standard for sure. Uh yeah, and cure is a very strong word. I don't I'm not sure that there's a cure for anything, but the the body, the body has the cure, right? And so, you know, your your body's made to heal itself, and we just have to pull the burdens out of the way, is my is my opinion. Uh, but it's also my my clinical uh expertise and my clinical witness over 17 going on 18 years of seeing uh you you you pull the stuff out of the way that's bogging the body down, and the body knows how to do its thing. Uh and you know, so when they say that there's no cure, well sure, there's there's no magic pill or magic injection. There's there's not a magic pill or injection for most things. Uh you're managing symptoms. Uh and so yes, uh medications will will help, you know, blunt the suffering. So they recommend SSRIs. Well, yeah, part of the reason that the immune system is deranged is because the gut brain axis is also deranged, and and certainly the gut ecosystem is deranged. And if we have a messed-up gut ecosystem in the the environment, the terrain, I love that term by the way, uh, if that terrain is is not in balance, uh then uh you take an SSRI, which unfortunately I'm semi-fan of SSRIs for a bridge, I'm not against them. Uh, but uh you do that long term and and it destroys certain aspects of the gut ecosystem. You take a stimulant on top of that, and it creates major problems. And I have seen many chronic fatigue people on that exact combination of SSRIs and and Adderall or you know, whatever uh stimulant that they're on. And it it makes it a lot harder to really unwind that situation because you're fighting against something that is trying to cut down or that it is cutting down the things that you're trying to do to help the body pull things out of the way. And so, you know, medicating, yes, if if if if you're not trained in uh alternative therapies that might be costly, uh or whatever they're they say about that is, then uh yeah, you know, medication is one route, but what what everyone needs to understand, what CD needs to CDC needs to study, uh, is the fact that the gut and the brain are intricately linked. And if we have somebody with chronic fatigue, we have to investigate every aspect of what's happening in the gut, what's happening in the brain. We need to understand brain function, not just an MRI. Uh and we need to be very diligent uh with a little TLC to make sure that that we are taking the most efficient and the easiest uh path. you know, forward with all of that, uh, so that we can help help this person's body respond uh in the way that it needs to. And you know, I've seen I've seen more than a few handfuls of chronic fatigue uh resolve uh with a bit of hard work and and investment of time and energy and all the rest of it. So uh I think they're wrong.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Yeah, me too. And it it it's, you know, whenever I make the whenever I make this content, I have to try so hard not to get sassy because it just makes me great. And I did one uh I I did one module on, you know, chronic Lyme disease. And they're saying they're finally recognizing what they call post-Lyme disease treatment syndrome, which they were gaslighting the public for years saying that chronic Lyme didn't exist. Now they're saying it's the syndrome, but they don't recommend treating the infection. They recommend instead medicating with SSRIs and pain medications as needed. And it is terrifying to me when I think about if I wasn't open-minded and I was just setting my ways on the medical system and refuse to look at anything else besides conventional medicine, what would have happened to me? Because here I am today and when I get the opportunity to sleep, I have zero chronic fatigue and it's it's wonderful. But I also wanted to ask you so I'm curious I've heard about I mean so many success stories of people that have come to see you. I mean I actually had a client that went to go see you. I think that she had long COVID and she told me that she got her life back. I think that she did the hyperbaric oxygen therapy and some other things with you. But do you have a case that stands out maybe someone who was told in the conventional world that, you know, there's no hope, there's nothing we can do that went to see you and got better?

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Sure. Uh you know my passion is the brain and so we've we've spent uh the last decade plus uh really digging into the brain and what what what's the functional uh rehabilitation capacity that that we can have for any aspect of brain dysfunction. And so what what struck me for many, many years was was watching, you know, um let's say middle-aged women or even even their spouses as well, but usually it falls to the the female uh to take care of their mother who's declining. And you know it just broke my heart really, you know, to see them suffering on their own trying to take care of them. Some cases it was kind of easier than others. Some cases it was really, really bad. Mom's, you know, losing it and she doesn't know who I am and she tries to punch me or whatever. You know, all kinds of just sad stories. And every time I heard one, I said, man, that's another one. It has to be a terrible thing to, you know, have to manage your your parent in decline like that. And so it's just all those stories accumulated and I said, you know, you know I'm gonna I'm gonna turn my attention to you know trying to figure out you know what's happening there, how can we prevent it and and is there a possibility at helping to roll it back once once something once it starts to show a few signs of of a cognitive impairment. And so from treating concussion for many years successfully and seeing all of that improve just you know just with functional neurology and you know a few herbs and supplements uh here and there and some dietary shifts, uh I knew that a a damaged brain could improve. And so I had an opportunity to work with a uh let's say a former offensive lineman uh who hit his head a whole boatload of times um for many, many years uh throughout college and beyond uh and he was 49, 50 years old and he comes to us and you know his wife's kind of devastated and then the family's you know distraught because uh dad is is having a hard time and he's 49. And and then I got to know uh some some friends of theirs and all that and they and they you know confirmed that that that was happening and it was it was rough. So we had the opportunity, I think this was six years ago or so, to really engage with them and help help with you know pains and different things that came up from neck pain and all that from uh smashing heads against each other. But uh anyway eventually we it got to the point where they asked for help and they decided to invest their their time and energy into uh coming here for a period of time to to try to deeply do something about it. And you know I had I had the the theories I had the tools and the and the strategies that we had you know utilized with everybody else except for now we had the medical team alongside of us and so that was really one of the first uh cases that we got to collaborate in a very deep way um about six years ago. And uh ultimately this this nervous system that couldn't remember uh why turned on the sink and left you know the the kitchen or you know forgot the thing over here and that it it had a big consequence uh as well as many other problems that his brain had. Long story short we spent nine months um getting him to a place where he was uh cognitively like way better uh and improved and then he started to have this this desire to uh really take take the uh you know the reins himself and and start to understand his scenario now that he could remember things and think and and have a conversation and it was just such a it was like a flower that had closed and and you know just opening back up. It was a beautiful thing to watch and and now he wants to take his health further into his own hands. And so we got to walk into the the whole gut restoration strategy and the the the dietary shifts and experimentation he wanted to do and and uh you know help guide him through all of that and made sure his gut was was still you know treating his brain well and uh you know anyway over a long period of time I documented uh quantitative electroencephalography, balance, eye movement, neurocognitive exams, all the measurements that that you can possibly think of uh as far as functional brain function. And over a two year span of time we got to follow him he was a ton better after after two years. We didn't see him much in that second year other than a few touch points but uh you know the the difference between day one and yeah the the last measurement was unbelievable in what has happened and and it was just great. So we've actually written that into a a case study and it will be published pretty soon. So I'm pretty excited about that and uh it'll be in a my first peer-reviewed journal uh publication so uh we have all of that documented and uh I'll share it with you when when we have it shouldn't be I was gonna say I would love to share that with my community because it really is it's very depressing for people when they start to have symptoms like this and they're being told that there's no hope.

SPEAKER_01 51:25

And I also wanted to give our audience a kind of an idea with that case if you had to if you're able to put like a percentage on that like about what percentage d do you think that he received improvement or like a range.

SPEAKER_00 51:41

Sure. So he's 49 years old he was at the time maybe 50 and he went from I'd say 30% function uh just in general he's getting by um and could communicate fairly decently uh but it wasn't looking good and say it's been now th four years later at this point three years later um he is I would say as as close to 100% as a human being can get but you know I'd say 90% um back to himself and you know he's he's thriving really it's it's unbelievable. But there's other scenarios that's a that's a unique outlier um in the fact that it was very early onset. But let's take yeah I've seen some 80 year olds with pretty progressive uh dementia Alzheimer's and the the the spouse comes and begs hey can you help me it's it's hard to take care of him I don't want to take him to a home just yet and we're able to apply uh all of the tools that we do you know as much as they want to you know go after it will help them um go after it so that they can keep their spouse around you know mentally and cognitively and spiritually as long as possible and we've done it uh a number of times uh more than a handful and it it's it's quite amazing to watch and we're getting more and more of these types of cases because of that that reputation and and we're we're happy to try when it when it makes sense that there's a point in which you can't do a whole lot uh but if if we catch it early enough uh then we are definitely able to make some significant changes and and you know if we had had more coverage from insurance and things like that then you know I'm certain that uh that we could uh do even better.

SPEAKER_01 53:35

So well word travels fast and from what I am hearing is people are saying that you are helping to reverse cognitive decline. I mean I I heard someone talking about it one day at the farmer's market. Oh boy but uh but no that's that's so amazing and and again like I uh when you think about the cost of individuals that have worsening dementia to the point where they need to be in a dementia like a lockdown memory care unit and the fact that we have these cases where people are dealing with things like that and we know it's possible for them to get improvement with these modalities. So hopefully I really do hope that this becomes more mainstream and uh yeah yeah I'm just happy to get this information out there to our audience. And again I know that you're crazy busy. So I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with uh with me and have this discussion. And so I know that we are going to have people that are going to want to work with you and become a patient at the Deering Clinic. So where can our listeners go to find you?

SPEAKER_00 54:48

Well you can go to our website it has all the uh capacities to to schedule online and and all of that. Um you're also welcome to and that is uh thedeeringclinic dot com T-H-E-D-E-A-R-I-N-G Clinic dot com. And uh you can also call our office at uh 615-7215141 or you can reach out uh or look us up on Instagram and all the all the other channels and things of that nature and uh see see what interests you or what have you and you can call and ask us any questions or contact us uh on a contact form on the website.

SPEAKER_01 55:28

Okay, wonderful well I also will post all of Dr. Deering's links in the show notes. Thank you Melissa that is all the time that we have today thank you so much for tuning in and again if you want to learn more about the Functional Nurse Academy please feel free to register for our next live webinar and you will see that link in the show notes. You can also check out Functional Nurse Academy on our social media platforms or on our website at functionalurseacademy.com. Until next time be safe be well and God bless