1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,560 with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura. 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,240 Now here's Dr. Todd. 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:16,240 Good afternoon. 5 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:20,800 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified doctor of non-force chiropractic and practitioner 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,200 of functional medicine. 7 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:28,880 Functional medicine means using standard diagnostic tests to identify not something that's so 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:33,200 bad that you need medical care, a prescription or a surgical procedure, or referral to a 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:39,160 specialist, but just when normal function has gone by the wayside, when your organs 10 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:44,680 and tissues, when your liver, your kidneys, your thyroid, your immune system, your cardiovascular 11 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,360 system, when these systems and organs are no longer functioning like they should, like 12 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,560 they did when you were in your teens and your twenties and everything was working really 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:53,560 well. 14 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:59,560 So we're looking for a way to test for this as well as diagnose conditions like diabetes 15 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,560 and liver disease and etc. 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:03,920 So basically prevention. 17 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,160 We're looking for ways to identify things earlier so that you can use better food, exercise 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:14,240 and supplements to correct them instead of becoming dependent on standard Western medical 19 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,960 care in the pharmaceutical industry for the rest of your life. 20 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:19,160 So if you're interested in that, send me your questions. 21 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:21,360 I love answering questions. 22 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:23,520 Binkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com. 23 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,560 Text me at 805-218-3939. 24 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:29,120 The ringer on my phone is always off. 25 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,720 I already get so many spam phone calls that I can never answer the phone. 26 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:34,960 But I'll be happy to talk to you on the phone as well. 27 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:40,960 If you want to reach me on the phone, please just send me a text or an email and say, please 28 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:42,820 call me and I'll call you back. 29 00:01:42,820 --> 00:01:45,880 So we've been talking about hormones for the past several episodes. 30 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:51,840 Still remind everyone that's interested that all the past episodes of the show are available 31 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:58,040 to listen to anytime you want on my website, binkleyhealingcenter.com. 32 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:04,040 My last name, healing like healthandhealing.com, binkleyhealingcenter.com. 33 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:10,860 They're also available as podcasts on Apple podcasts, Spotify and on YouTube. 34 00:02:10,860 --> 00:02:14,480 So this episode we're going to talk about cortisol. 35 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:19,520 Cortisol is one of the main hormones that is produced by the adrenal glands, anybody 36 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:25,640 who has significant stress in their lives, if anybody's ever heard of adrenal fatigue. 37 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:31,200 When you have excess stress, it first causes your adrenals to produce too much cortisol 38 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,280 and that can have damaging effects. 39 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,680 And then eventually you wear out. 40 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,200 You cause fatigue of the adrenals. 41 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:42,960 The adrenals lose their ability to produce sufficient amounts of cortisol. 42 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:44,640 So that's what we're looking for. 43 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:47,320 The cortisol is always highest in the morning. 44 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:49,760 There's a normal curve throughout the day. 45 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,940 So cortisol is literally what helps wake you up in the morning. 46 00:02:53,940 --> 00:02:57,600 When you wake up, when you open your eyes and you're kind of groggy and you hit the 47 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,120 alarm or you hit snooze or whatever, whenever you finally actually get up, that is in large 48 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,480 part the result of your adrenal glands pumping out cortisol. 49 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,280 It wakes you up in the morning. 50 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:14,800 So for that reason, most doctors, when they want to check your cortisol levels, they'll 51 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:20,040 send you to get a blood test for one blood test at nine o'clock in the morning, one blood 52 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:21,040 sample of cortisol. 53 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,580 Well, you know, that is the most important time of day if you're only going to test it 54 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:29,120 once to see if you're making adequate amounts to wake you up in the morning. 55 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,700 But that's not a very good way of really evaluating your adrenal gland function. 56 00:03:33,700 --> 00:03:35,240 That's why it's so important. 57 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:41,440 More than any more than any of the other hormones, cortisol really needs to be done with a salivary 58 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:42,440 hormone test. 59 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:46,280 I've been talking about the difference between testing hormones in saliva and blood on all 60 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,120 these past few episodes. 61 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,940 There are some things that you have to test with the blood test, like hormone issues related 62 00:03:52,940 --> 00:03:56,560 to pregnancy and menstruation. 63 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:03,640 But for aging issues, for stress, like we're going to be talking about today, and for menopausal 64 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:09,800 women, it's important to test a saliva test for the hormones, which measures your average 65 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,800 of the hormones throughout the day and not just a snapshot in time for a hormone that's 66 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,280 going up and down, up and down, up and down every 10 minutes all day long. 67 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:25,440 So the normal cortisol curve is highest in the morning, and then it drops down around 68 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,560 midday to about half the level that it is when you first wake up. 69 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,620 And then it goes, continues going down to a very low level in the evening and then remains 70 00:04:33,620 --> 00:04:34,760 very low at night. 71 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:36,720 That's the normal curve. 72 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:41,600 So that is the curve, but you want it to be within a normal range as well. 73 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,880 So if you were to look at a graph and you would see this line starting out high in the 74 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,240 morning, dropping it down about half in the midday and then continuing down to very low 75 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:57,120 at night, there's also a range above and below that perfect line within which you want your 76 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:58,440 cortisol levels to be. 77 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,840 And when it is, then you feel good and everything works well. 78 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:05,400 And if it's above or below that range, then that's when we have problems. 79 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,200 So that's what we're looking for on the test. 80 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:12,800 You do a, you spit in four tubes a half hour after waking up in the morning, lunchtime, 81 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:14,520 dinnertime and bedtime. 82 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,080 So that's how we get those four points to plot that curve. 83 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:23,040 So deficiency of cortisol causes fatigue can also cause low blood pressure. 84 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,520 So most people hear about high blood pressure all the time. 85 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:30,080 It's much more common for people, especially as you get older to have high blood pressure 86 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,760 than it is to have low blood pressure. 87 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,640 But people who have, you know, someone who has low blood pressure, especially someone 88 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:41,060 that's older, but really anyone with low blood pressure that no doctor has ever been able 89 00:05:41,060 --> 00:05:43,560 to explain it to them. 90 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,480 Deficient cortisol, deficient adrenal function is very often the cause of that. 91 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:52,240 And most doctors never test for this, never test for it effectively, never do a saliva 92 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:53,840 test to measure it throughout the day. 93 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:59,120 So I've had some, some really amazing cases with people with low blood pressure by testing 94 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,160 and restoring their adrenal function. 95 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:08,680 So stress causes overproduction of cortisol, which results in many health issues. 96 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,880 And when it persists for a long time, your adrenal glands basically just lose the ability 97 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:15,040 to make enough. 98 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:20,240 There are receptors in almost every tissue in your body that affect nearly every organ 99 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:21,240 system. 100 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:26,400 So cortisol affects your nervous system, your immune system, your heart, your cardio, entire 101 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:32,600 cardiovascular system, your lungs, your respiratory system, your reproductive system, and your 102 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:39,320 musculoskeletal system, your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. 103 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:44,440 It's not a primary cause of osteoporosis, but appropriate amounts can help keep your 104 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:45,440 bones strong. 105 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:50,900 It can also help balance blood sugar, control weight, keep your immune system healthy. 106 00:06:50,900 --> 00:06:55,000 It can affect sleep and mood, can help with anxiety and depression. 107 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:02,440 It affects protein synthesis and influences your testosterone and estrogen ratio and your 108 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,920 DHEA and insulin ratio. 109 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,880 So that sounds a little technical, but we've been talking about these on previous episodes. 110 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:14,200 All of your hormones influence one another and your, most of the hormones produced by 111 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:20,160 your endocrine system are controlled by your pituitary gland and adequate core normal cortisol 112 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:25,800 levels affect that balance, your ability of your pituitary to control all of your endocrine 113 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:27,840 glands and keep them in balance. 114 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:33,080 And it also affects your thyroid, especially the thyroid, the adrenal glands and the thyroid 115 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,960 work hand in hand. 116 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,000 So what causes too much cortisol? 117 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:39,000 Well, stress. 118 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,520 Stress is the most common cause of elevated cortisol, but some of the things can increase 119 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:45,520 it. 120 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:50,920 Depression, contraceptives, infections, especially chronic infections that people have that they 121 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:52,140 don't know about. 122 00:07:52,140 --> 00:07:57,760 This is identified by a low white blood cell count on a blood test, poor sleep, inflammation, 123 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,960 hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, pain. 124 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,600 Just having pain is a form of stress, but sometimes people don't make that connection. 125 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,100 They're surprised to find out that the cortisol is going up just because they have some pain 126 00:08:09,100 --> 00:08:11,960 that they've never been able to figure out how to resolve. 127 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,160 So a lot of times they'll help people with that by releasing tension from their muscles 128 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:16,160 and joints. 129 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:21,200 And also, like with so many things, exposure to toxins. 130 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,800 Chemical and heavy metal toxins are ubiquitous in the environment. 131 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:25,640 We're all exposed to them. 132 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:32,440 They are a form of stress on nearly every system in your body and can cause your cortisol 133 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,020 levels to go up. 134 00:08:35,020 --> 00:08:39,440 So obviously, your cortisol levels, if they remain too high, your adrenals eventually 135 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:40,720 wear out. 136 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,120 Cortisol level goes down. 137 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:48,760 But in addition to just normal stress causing low cortisol over time, nutrient deficiencies 138 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,880 can impair your adrenal glands ability to make adequate cortisol. 139 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:58,680 Dysbiosis, which just means dys means like dysfunction, bio, bacteria, things that are 140 00:08:58,680 --> 00:08:59,680 alive. 141 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:05,400 Dysbiosis means there's too many bad bacteria and not enough good bacteria in your gut. 142 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:11,800 Chronic inflammation, chronic pain, toxin exposure, over-exercising, hypoglycemia, poor 143 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:13,840 sleep, depression, severe allergies. 144 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:18,840 So basically, so many of the things that cause too much cortisol cause too low cortisol as 145 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:26,040 well because after you had high cortisol for too long, you end up with low cortisol caused 146 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:27,820 by the same things. 147 00:09:27,820 --> 00:09:34,640 So excess cortisol also can result in compromised immune function, confusion, shaking between 148 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:42,160 meals, impaired memory, low energy, night sweats, binge eating, increased blood pressure, 149 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:48,280 high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood sugar, increased risk of osteoporosis, 150 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,520 increased insulin resistance, and risk of diabetes. 151 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,960 So anybody who's diabetic or pre-diabetic really should get their cortisol levels tested 152 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:03,880 because interactions between cortisol and DHEA and most of your hormones can strongly 153 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,840 interact with the things that are causing and the things that you need to do to prevent 154 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,080 or reverse diabetes. 155 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,880 Excess cortisol can also increase infections through its effect on the immune system. 156 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:19,640 It can cause thin skin, fatigue, irritability, sugar cravings, muscle weakness, weight gain, 157 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,560 sleep disturbances, and impaired thyroid function. 158 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:28,280 So especially, this is one of the main ways cortisol and thyroid function. 159 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,520 Your adrenals and your thyroid work hand in hand. 160 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:37,840 Excess cortisol from too much production from the adrenal glands can impair the conversion 161 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,280 of T4, thyroxin. 162 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:45,640 Anybody who's got low thyroid and is taking thyroid medication like levothyroxine or 163 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,200 synthroid, that is thyroxin is T4. 164 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,280 But T4 doesn't do anything in your body. 165 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:57,840 The active form, it must be converted from T4 to T3 and then some of that T3 must be 166 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:00,780 unbound into free T3. 167 00:11:00,780 --> 00:11:06,320 Free T3 is the only active thyroid hormone that does anything in your body. 168 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:14,480 And excess cortisol can impair that conversion of T4 into T3 and then into free T3. 169 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:20,120 And excess cortisol can also cause increased risk of leaky gut syndrome. 170 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:26,480 So abnormal levels of cortisol are associated with menopause, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, 171 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:34,760 depression, impotence, anorexia nervosa, diabetes, memory loss, irritable bowel syndrome, exacerbation 172 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:42,280 of autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis, panic disorders, PMS, premenstrual syndrome, 173 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,680 sleep disorders we've talked about, osteoporosis, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, even 174 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:48,900 breast cancer and Alzheimer's. 175 00:11:48,900 --> 00:11:50,520 So it's really important to get these tested. 176 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:55,280 If you know someone who's stressed and has never been tested, never had their cortisol 177 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,320 levels tested, please encourage them to do so. 178 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,480 Just doing the cortisol levels, people ask how much it costs. 179 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:07,680 I mentioned on the previous episode, the comprehensive saliva hormone panel with all three estrogens, 180 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:14,360 testosterone, DHEA and progesterone plus all four cortisol tests to get that curve throughout 181 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,800 the day is $220 for all of those. 182 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,440 But we can also, sometimes if somebody is just stressed and doesn't have any signs or 183 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:27,320 symptoms of sex hormone challenges or symptoms, we'll just test the cortisol levels. 184 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:32,400 I think it's about $80 or $90 to just do the four cortisol tests. 185 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:34,840 So send me an email if you have questions about that. 186 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:40,560 So abnormal levels are associated with all of these things. 187 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:46,360 Treatment of adrenal dysfunction and abnormal cortisol levels includes fixing many of the 188 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:52,000 basic nutrient deficiencies that impair your adrenal glands ability to make adequate cortisol 189 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:58,160 like deficiencies of vitamin C and B vitamins, minerals like calcium and magnesium and zinc 190 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:02,000 and selenium, copper and manganese. 191 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,240 This is one of the main reasons I recommend that everyone take a good, and good is always 192 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:12,040 four capsules a day, sometimes three if you're under 120 pounds, but a good multivitamin 193 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,040 and mineral supplement mainly for the minerals. 194 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:22,280 Most people do not get enough minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, zinc and selenium. 195 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,200 These are very commonly deficient minerals. 196 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,480 Manganese is also a fairly common deficiency. 197 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,800 But actually before I get into the ways of treating it, the most important thing to do 198 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,320 if you have abnormal cortisol levels is to reduce your stress. 199 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,680 So we always start there. 200 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:40,380 Identify the stresses that you're having now. 201 00:13:40,380 --> 00:13:42,640 And there's often lots of ways it's different with everyone. 202 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,320 It's kind of hard to really discuss that here. 203 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:46,320 Everyone's familiar with stress. 204 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,560 There's lots of different ways to reduce various forms of stress in your life. 205 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:56,480 How I can help is a lot of times stress is either caused by or exacerbated by pain and 206 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,040 stiffness in your muscles and joints. 207 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:00,440 I'm a non-force chiropractor. 208 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:06,480 I can always help anybody with any physical pain anywhere in their body because most pain 209 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:12,600 in your body, physical pain is caused by patterns of tension in your muscles that create inflammation, 210 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,040 irritate your joints, inflame your joints, make it likely for you to injure your joints 211 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:23,440 like herniated disc or cause arthritis in your hips or your shoulders or your knees, 212 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:29,480 tendons, liss, muscles, tendons like plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, pressure 213 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,900 on nerves from tension and inflammation in your tendons and joints. 214 00:14:33,900 --> 00:14:40,640 So all kinds of pain can be stressors that affect your cortisol levels. 215 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:45,680 And those things can often be addressed with treatment on the table. 216 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:50,520 So once together we've done everything we can to reduce your stress levels or the effects 217 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,600 of the stress you have because sometimes you can't reduce your stress. 218 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:54,880 But here's an interesting thing. 219 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:59,880 I heard it said, it has been said that one person's stress is another person's form of 220 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:00,880 stimulation, right? 221 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:05,400 So something that could be exciting to some person could drive somebody else crazy and 222 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:06,720 actually affect their health. 223 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,840 But anyway, there's always ways to reduce stress. 224 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,720 Some are easy, some are not so easy, but we always want to start there. 225 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:18,560 But then obviously it is very common when I test people's adrenals where we need to 226 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,920 actually do some treatment directly for the adrenal glands. 227 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,440 And one of the simplest ways to do this is take adrenal glandulars. 228 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:33,380 So there are supplements that are made from ground up adrenal glands from healthy young 229 00:15:33,380 --> 00:15:39,600 mammals that have all the nutrients our adrenal glands need to make healthy adrenal gland 230 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,680 cells and healthy adrenal gland hormones. 231 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:44,440 So they're called adrenal glandulars. 232 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,480 There's lots of different companies that make them standard process. 233 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,600 Doctors research are some of the ones that I use. 234 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:51,640 And that's the fastest way. 235 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:57,840 So if somebody's severely deficient in adrenal function, I'll put them on adrenal glandulars 236 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,180 and you usually feel an effect from that in two or three weeks. 237 00:16:01,180 --> 00:16:06,600 And you usually don't need to do that long term, sometimes three or four months, sometimes 238 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:12,160 up to six months, usually not much longer than that, or maybe a very, very low dose. 239 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,440 If you're under a lot of stress, again, it goes hand in hand with how much stress you 240 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:16,440 have. 241 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:22,940 But usually you can get adrenal function back up into the normal range with glandulars and 242 00:16:22,940 --> 00:16:24,560 sometimes adaptogenic herbs. 243 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:26,960 I usually do both actually. 244 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:31,520 After about three to four, sometimes up to six months. 245 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:37,040 And then long term, adaptogenic herbs help just deal with the daily stress of life. 246 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:38,800 So what does that mean? 247 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:39,800 Adaptogenic herbs. 248 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:46,700 These are herbs that don't necessarily stimulate anything that's deficient or suppress anything 249 00:16:46,700 --> 00:16:50,360 that's in excess, but modulates. 250 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:56,840 So they help your adrenal glands, in this case, work normally, produce the normal amount. 251 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,480 So a lot of these things have been around for years. 252 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:03,360 You definitely don't want to go to some store and buy some cheap Chinese herbs from some 253 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:04,800 company you've never heard of. 254 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,440 These things can be dangerous and often are laced with medications. 255 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:14,860 But there are many excellent top shelf companies, like the ones I mention all the time on this 256 00:17:14,860 --> 00:17:21,240 show, Designs for Health, Orthomolecular Products, Doctors Research, Gaia Pro is one of the ones 257 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:26,760 that I use for adaptogenic herbs for adrenal support. 258 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:33,640 Things like rhodiola and ginseng, ashwagandha, licorice, and several others can help restore 259 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:38,920 and maintain your normal function, help your adrenal glands continue to make and work normally 260 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:45,640 again on their own, and then continue to make normal amounts, even when you still have normal 261 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,440 stress, whatever normal stress is for you. 262 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:50,840 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. 263 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:54,840 You're listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions to Almost Any Health Challenge. 264 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,360 We've been talking about hormones for the last several episodes. 265 00:17:58,360 --> 00:18:02,840 We were talking about cortisol levels and adrenal function today. 266 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,320 Stress causes adrenal dysfunction. 267 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:11,360 Initially, it causes overproduction, and then eventually, after long term stress, causes 268 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:13,240 a suppression of adrenal gland function. 269 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:14,520 We see this all the time. 270 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:20,000 If you know someone who has a lot of stress and they've never been tested for adrenal 271 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,600 function, it's a very good idea to encourage them to do that. 272 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:29,120 The best way to do that is with a saliva test, where you spit in four tubes, so we get that 273 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:32,360 curve of normal function throughout the day. 274 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:37,760 Half hour after waking, noon, dinnertime, and bedtime is when we collect the samples, 275 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:44,800 and that gives us that nice normal curve of cortisol and whether or not it is within range. 276 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:45,800 Let's talk about a couple of cases. 277 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:52,120 I had a 57-year-old man who came to me who was having... He was in a lot of pain. 278 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:55,560 He was trying to put off getting his knees replaced. 279 00:18:55,560 --> 00:19:00,560 He had horrible pain in his knees, and I got him doing some stretches that helped a lot, 280 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:05,680 but long before he came to see me, he had been taking medication for many, many, many 281 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:06,680 years. 282 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,080 He'd been taking Vicodin for years, and then in my opinion, his idiot physician that he 283 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:16,760 was seeing switched him to Oxycontin, which is just crazy. 284 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:22,600 Needs to resolve the source of the pain, not put him on opiates that cause overdoses all 285 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,600 over the country. 286 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,640 Anyone who listened to the news knows we're in an opioid crisis around the country, and 287 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,360 Oxycontin is one of the worst of the worst. 288 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:35,560 Anyway, he was getting off of that. 289 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:44,360 Actually, the doctor that switched him from Vicodin to Oxycontin died, and he had to get 290 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:45,360 a new doctor. 291 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:51,240 The doctor said, okay, you've got three months to get off of the Oxycontin. 292 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:56,720 I was helping him with that, firstly by doing some things to show him how to stretch the 293 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,920 muscles in his legs, get some pressure off of the knees, reduce some of the pain naturally, 294 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,120 from reduce the cause of the pain. 295 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:09,000 He was also gradually weaning himself off of the Oxycontin. 296 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:13,040 I tested his adrenals and had did some blood work on him, and he had a bunch of things 297 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,160 going on, and he needed some support for his cardiovascular system. 298 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,120 He was also pretty heavy. 299 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:22,040 We had to put him on some things to help reduce his cholesterol and inflammation in his vascular 300 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,400 system and lower his blood pressure. 301 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,920 He had some inflammation throughout the body. 302 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:31,320 I gave him some support for some anti-natural nutrients for inflammation, like turmeric 303 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:32,680 and some others. 304 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:38,520 Natokinase is a product that Designs for Health makes called Natocerozymes that has systemic 305 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:45,280 enzymes, analogues of natokinase and seropeptase, which reduce inflammation in the vasculature 306 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:49,720 and the blood vessels and in the bones and joints. 307 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,080 He had some other things on his blood work, low protein, the common things that I see, 308 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:55,960 and his cortisol levels were really, really low. 309 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,160 I gave him some support for that, several things at once. 310 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,200 He had a lot of things going on. 311 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,880 What stands out, and what he later told me about that he was so shocked and surprised 312 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:11,240 by and excited by, is he had taken off early in this process, I think maybe a little over 313 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:16,520 a month after he started weaning himself off of OxyContin. 314 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:23,640 He had driven to Vegas by himself and was going to be there for a weekend conference. 315 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,920 He got there and he realized he only had one pill. 316 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,480 He was still taking a low dose of OxyContin. 317 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,160 He couldn't get off of it completely. 318 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,680 He only had one pill and he forgot to bring the bottle of OxyContin with him. 319 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:36,280 He didn't get in his suitcase or whatever. 320 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:41,600 He found one in a pocket and that was all he had, which is very difficult. 321 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:45,120 You've probably seen in the movies when people try to stop cold turkey on these things. 322 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,120 It's just like trying to get off of heroin. 323 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:50,600 Severe, severe side effects if you just stop cold turkey. 324 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,800 He was really worried, but he had his supplements with him. 325 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,440 Even though he only had one OxyContin, he was able to get through this too. 326 00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:58,880 He thought it was a miracle, actually. 327 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:00,100 That was the word he used. 328 00:22:00,100 --> 00:22:04,560 He got through his two day conference because he was taking his supplements to reduce inflammation. 329 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:07,000 He was doing a couple of stretches when he had time. 330 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,640 He didn't actually do that much stretching, but he did some. 331 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,920 He was taking nutrients that reduced all these horrible effects that were contributing to 332 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:18,680 his pain and to his anxiety. 333 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,640 It didn't obviously resolve his symptoms, but he was able to get through the weekend, 334 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:28,440 do his conference and drive home by himself without having the severe side effects that 335 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,720 he expected while he was trying to get off. 336 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:37,440 The upshot of that is he was able to get off OxyContin completely much earlier. 337 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,160 His doctor was going to give him three months to do it. 338 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,240 I think he did it in about six weeks. 339 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,760 He was very excited to finally get off of that completely. 340 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:50,680 We still had some side effects of not taking that. 341 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:57,160 It was difficult to stay off of it, but the supplements were helping him manage it, basically 342 00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,160 to keep it controllable. 343 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:04,000 Now we just have him on a low dose of these adaptogenic herbs that I was talking about 344 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:09,320 before, things like rhodiola and ginseng and some basic nutrients to keep all of his organs 345 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:10,760 and systems healthy and strong. 346 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:16,520 The multivitamin that I recommend for everybody, vitamin D, fish oil, an anti-inflammatory 347 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,360 nutrient, a good source of curcumin from turmeric. 348 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:22,640 It helps with the inflammation that he's always going to have because of the arthritis in 349 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:23,640 his joints. 350 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,480 We just got him to where he's feeling good all the time now with better food, a little 351 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,520 bit of exercise, and a few supplements. 352 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:32,800 He's very happy about that. 353 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:37,080 His problems aren't completely gone, but we started way late with him and he's much better 354 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,980 off than he would have been if he had continued doing the things that his medical doctor was 355 00:23:41,980 --> 00:23:44,040 telling him to do. 356 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:45,200 This was a couple of years ago. 357 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,680 He still hasn't had his knees surgery. 358 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,920 He's been able to just maintain it tolerably with the things that we've been doing. 359 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,320 He's very happy about that. 360 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,560 If you know somebody that has symptoms like this, please, I'd love the chance and opportunity 361 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:05,840 to help them, especially if they've never had their cortisol level stumbles checked. 362 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:11,360 Anybody you know who has a lot of stress should get their adrenal gland function tested with 363 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:12,440 a saliva hormone test. 364 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:13,600 Thank you for listening. 365 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:20,000 I will see you right here on KDAR 98.3 FM next Friday at four o'clock. 366 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,120 Have a fantastic weekend. 367 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:29,640 You've been listening to Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. 368 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:34,160 If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to 369 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:38,720 drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com. 370 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:43,400 Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved 371 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,400 ones because our health matters. 372 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:52,520 Join him next Friday at four p.m. for Safe, Effective Natural Solutions right here on 373 00:24:52,520 --> 00:25:19,920 98.3 The Word, KDAR.