Welcome to this Thursday edition of Good News
York and a very special edition. Mike Brindisi
here with you, flying solo. Matt's not in office
today. He's way too tired from walking around
the fair yesterday. Too much fried dough. But
he will be in later. The reason I am excited
and why this is such a special episode is I am
bringing on somebody who is a very important
person in my life. She's a doctor. She is somebody
who has changed my life in such a positive way
in regards to mental health. And I have been
wanting to get around for some time now because
I've always said that if I had any sort of platform,
big, medium, or small, I would always use it.
to promote mental health awareness and everything
that comes along with it. And I've lived by that.
For those of you that have watched or listened
to the show so far know that we've had many mental
health professionals on. But my next guest is,
I mean, this is next level. She's on the verge
of cutting edge testing and protocols that really,
again, have changed my life. And I'm so excited
to welcome her on. Mm. Ladies and gentlemen,
Dr. Jennifer Shiabi. Thank you. Actually, it
is a nurse practitioner, but thank you. Okay,
nurse practitioner. You're still a doctor to
me. Love the same things, yeah. And I've never
even asked you that as long as I've known you
and worked with you. It is Shiabi, right? Is
that the correct pronunciation? It's technically
Shavi, but if you say in Italian, it's Schiavi.
Okay, and I'm Italian, so there we go. Sure.
Listen, welcome to Good News York, sponsored
by Ads on the Go. Get ads on the go .com. I'm
so glad you are here. I really appreciate your
time. I know you're super busy. This is the first
time I'm actually seeing you, and we're not gonna
talk about, you know, my issues. I wanna talk
about... your background and what it is you do
because it is really, really groundbreaking.
And just tell me a little bit about yourself
and your background and how you got to where
you are today. So I'm a board certified family
nurse practitioner and I've been in the whole
medical field for over 12 years now. And when
my daughter was born, I decided to go out and
do my own thing about three years ago and get
a functional medicine certificate. And if you're
not familiar with what functional medicine is,
it's a whole different way of approaching mental
health or any conditions in general, looking
more towards root causes of what's going on in
the body. We're going to talk about going into
DNA and minerals and heavy metals. And so it
really opens up this ability to treat somebody
in a more holistic way. And then I received specialized
training through Dr. Yasko, which is the Yasko
protocol, which is nutrigenomics. And so that's
basically the basis of how I do everything with
patients. Absolutely amazing. Yeah, the way that
you and I met was, and again, it's funny. I'm
not somebody that gets personal, right? Like
obviously people who know me know that Mike is
an open book. He's outgoing. He talks about everything.
But honestly, when it comes to like my personal
stuff, my family, my health, my home, I kind
of like to keep that private. But because of
what I talked about earlier and wanting to, you
know, raise awareness on mental health and what
it is you do, I've kind of been vulnerable and
been talking about my struggles. And that's what
I'm going to do today for the sake of helping
others. I have struggled with mental health since
I was 17 years old when I had my first panic
attack and I had a lot of childhood trauma, which
you and I have talked about. I've been in and
out of therapy for for over, you know, 10, 15
years. And, you know, with that, I've made a
lot of progress. But along the way, you got to
remember life keeps happening and other things
happen. And so. Just when I've made progress,
sometimes I'd get knocked back down. And there
were times where I felt really, really hopeless,
like there was no way out. And I was going through
a rough time. And my mother -in -law and my father
-in -law were going to take the Cornell bus down
to the city for Christmas, the Rockefeller tree
and all that. And they knew what I was going
through. And I got a text message from her with
a picture of your flyer. And I'm paraphrasing.
But basically, it was a picture of you, and it
said, are you struggling with anxiety, depression,
ADHD, having trouble studying? It was catered
towards the students because it was on Cornell
campus, but you made it clear it was for everybody.
And your number was on there. And so I was struggling
so badly. I was very thankful to my mother -in
-law. I gave you a call, and... I learned exactly
what it is that you do, and why don't you talk
about that a little bit? I mean, you did mention
it a little bit in your intro there, but kind
of talk about what it is you do with a client.
I know everybody's a little bit different because
everybody has different issues, but kind of what
is your process and what are some of the things
you do? So we first start out looking at there's
three top tests that I like to do. So number
one is a DNA methylation test. So it's going
to look at 30 genes and DNA methylation is really
essential for the production of neurotransmitters,
but also for your body's ability to detox. So
then we look at a hair mineral analysis and that's
going to look at all the minerals that you essentially
need as co -factors to produce these neurotransmitters
and for your body's ability to detox. And we
also look at heavy metals. The big thing about
heavy metals is many people might say, oh, there's
no way I could possibly have heavy metals. I
eat organic. But it is in our soil. It's in our
air and our pollution. We're getting the wildfire
smokes. We're getting lead. We're getting cadmium.
It's everywhere. So I feel like, really, Nobody
doesn't have anything, especially as you get
older. Our bodies love to store heavy metals
in our deep tissues, and we know that mercury
is neurotoxic. We know that lead is neurotoxic.
We know that nickel can cause inflammation, and
inflammation in the body ultimately causes many
diseases. So the other component is urine amino
acid testing, and it really looks at the byproducts
of neurotransmitters. How are you breaking them
down? Do you have a problem making them? Do you
have a problem converting them? And so having
those top three pieces can really give a good
indicator of where do we start when we look at
the supplements. So part of nutrigenomics is
saying, how can we use nutrition and supplements
to essentially bypass these genetic mutations
and get things working the way they should? So
part of the holistic approach too is not not
just what's going on at this level, but sort
of like how you mentioned earlier, you know,
reaching out to other people, doing any kind
of therapy. So it's really just a part of that
whole person approach. Yeah. And it's so different,
but so groundbreaking, because these are things
that you don't normally hear about when... going
to somebody, maybe like a licensed talk therapist
or or to your primary doctor. What I love about
you is you always say, hey, in addition to what
we're doing here, I think talk therapy is important
and you should keep going to that. I think I
think everybody should know that talk therapy
always complements and vice versa. This complements
the talk therapy. Specifically, three things
that we did like you just talked about was the
DNA testing, the hair testing. the stool testing,
which was godawful. But what I love about this
is, and you've heard about it more lately, is
when we think about what with ADHD and anxiety
and depression, it's all in the mind. But we're
learning that there is a huge body and mind connection.
And I think that's a lot of what's going on with
the testing you're doing. The first thing that
we did, we had met, I kind of told you my background,
a little bit of talk therapy. to get a base of
what we were doing. And you brought up these
tests. And we started by saying, OK, let's find
out what's going on inside your body genetically,
chemically. And then let's usher in some of these
holistic supplements to see if we can boost those
chemicals or counteract whatever is going on.
And then we're going to test you not only for
what kind of medication. but actually the brand
name mental health medication that will either
work for you that it might work for you, but
you won't feel the full effects or you should
stay away from because it'll actually do the
opposite, which is mind blowing. And so kind
of the plan that you and I have been on is let's
find out what's going on chemically. Let's try
to fix that. And then we're going to either take
you off of your medicine, dial you in on a different
medicine or get you off the medicine altogether.
It all depends on how it goes. So Took the first
DNA test and I was blown away when you and I
went over the results Can you talk a little bit
about what that that test shows? So that test
would be the gene site test. And that one does
have medications on it. So you're right, it has
the green category of these meds might work best
for you. And then the yellow is gene drug interactions.
So maybe higher or lower doses. If you smoke
marijuana or cigarettes or nicotine, that might
impact metabolism of the medication. or red is
you might have pretty nasty side effects. We
should probably try to stay away from these medications.
So that has antidepressants, antipsychotics,
anxiolytics, so things for anxiety or sleep.
It has stimulants and non -stimulants in there,
but it does have two DNA methylation genes. which
is a great place for people to start if they
don't wanna dive deep into that 30 gene panel
because that one is expensive, but it has the
MTHFR gene and the COMT gene. So MTHFR is becoming
a little bit more widely known right now, but
there are two different ones. There's A1298C
and there's a C6770. So you can either have...
a mutation at one spot or both spots on that
gene, and that can really impact neurotransmitter
production. So dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine,
and it has been evidence is showing that it's
linked to ADHD and depression and anxiety. The
COMT gene, they specifically test for VAL, or
the 158 gene. And so that one's really responsible
for maintaining dopamine levels. And so there's
also evidence for that. looking at mental health
too. So insurance companies are a little more
on board with covering that test because those
two have the most evidence behind them. But really
when you look at the separate full 30 DNA methylation
pathway analysis, we've been looking at those
since early 1990s. We've termed the coin of nutrigenomics
to do all of that. So even though it feels so
cutting -edge and new, it's really been around.
I think part of it is just getting the insurances
to say, hey, look, this is really helpful for
people. But yeah, the Genesay is a great place
to start. Yeah, it's been absolutely mind -blowing.
You know, the first thing we talked about, as
I just mentioned, was not only were you telling
me what kinds of medicine might not work for
me, we're going by brand name. I mean, that's
how specific this test is. The other part that
really blew my mind and changed my life was talking
about those gene mutations and actually in the
other test, the DNA test where we looked at the
gene mutations and we went over that and you
were able to see and you want to talk about I'm
getting as personal as I can for the sake of
helping others. We found out that I had a gene
mutation and the way you explained it was amazing
and this is why I wanted to have you on because
For years, you would go to a primary doctor.
You'd say, I'm feeling depressed. And 9 out of
10 would go, OK, here's some Prozac or here's
some Lexapro. Because at the time, that's all
that was really offered. That was the answer.
Now with what you're doing and others are doing
is we were able to see that I had a double gene
mutation to where you explained it as, imagine
you're a bathtub and your serotonin is not only
is it not coming out like it should, it's dripping
out, but on top of it, the drain is open and
it's not holding it. And I was like, you know,
and we were able to make moves based on that.
I mean, that's how detailed these tests are.
And, you know, when you talk about mental health,
it does matter SSRIs or MAOI, whatever they're
called, inhibitors. And do you need a boost in
serotonin? Do you need dopamine? You know, we
used to just throw stuff at the wall and hope
it works. And now you're able to just kind of
to see exactly what that is. And it is it is
absolutely mind blowing. Let's talk also about
some of the other tests that you offer and that
you do along the way. Yeah. So when you look
at the hair mineral analysis test, you're really
looking at a lot of minerals that you need. for
the production of neurotransmitters. So it's
not just about the genes, but those genes need
minerals so they can do what they're supposed
to do. And so you're also looking at, you know,
we talked a little bit about heavy metals and
how those are impacting the DNA methylation,
but essentially like it's easier to talk about
an example too. Like say someone has an A129AC,
like say they have a double gene mutation and
they might have trouble getting rid of certain
heavy metals. And so those are backing up in
the system, the pathways are closed off, and
then you get more and more cumulative effects
over time. So there's ways to help essentially
detox people with that. Certain gene mutations,
when you do it for a while, you start to see
these connections. So your body has a higher
demand for certain minerals. So say somebody
has an MTRR gene mutation. They might need more
molybdenum. And so you might consistently see
molybdenum low on hair mineral analysis. So sometimes
we just, if I start with a hair mineral analysis,
I can say, oh, okay, we've got these different
mineral analysis. I bet they have this type of
gene mutation going on. Perfect. Yeah. And, you
know, I another thing I'm blown away with is,
you know, obviously everything is so in depth,
but you mentioned holistic approach and, you
know, for those out there that maybe aren't educated
in this field or, you know, haven't, you know,
really read up on what all these things mean
might hear holistic and might think, oh, boy,
it's hippie dippy. It's, you know, we're going
to use your energy and things like that. And
it's not that at all. The holistic approach involves
a lot of supplements. or not a lot of supplements,
but involves supplements that, based on these
DNA tests, you and I went over the results, and
you said, I think you should, let's put you on
ABCD for three months, and then we're gonna retest
and see if those gene mutations or those chemical
levels are up to where they are, and then from
there, we'll know which of these you need to
stay on long term, or... maybe be off forever,
and then we'll attack the actual medication part
of it and figure out, do you need to stay on
the medication you're on? Do you want to adjust
that medication or do you want to go off? It's
a very long process, a lot of process of elimination.
It's very thorough, which I think is very important
in the mental health field. With that said, can
you talk a little bit about some of the supplements
and how you found them? Just a little bit about
those in general. Yeah. So it's easy to talk
about an example, I would say. So say an antidepressant,
the idea is to increase dopamine or serotonin.
And so if someone has, back to MTGFR, because
it's the easiest one to talk about, but if they
have a double gene mutation, A1298C, that can
really lower BH4 and your body needs to take
certain cofactors or say the easiest one to think
about is tryptophan, right? We get that from
Turkey, but we actually need that to make serotonin,
but we need BH4 to make that. And so when you
have that gene mutation, that can be really hard
for your body to do. So it takes it a step further
than the antidepressant. Yeah. It's amazing.
And, you know, I'm on this regimen of these supplements
in addition to the medication that I've been
taking. And, you know, another part of that is
you're very thorough in this will not interfere
or counteract the medicine you're on. You know,
the process is very in -depth and very, you know,
in tune with each individual client. I have to
ask, what inspired you to take this approach?
You know, That's what amazed me about you in
the beginning was not only were you somebody
who was able to provide this kind of care and
specialized detailed care in mental health, but
that, you know, there was a lot of ways you could
have went in your career and you decided, I wanna,
I not only wanna work with mental health, I wanna
specialize in that. Did something, was it a personal
thing that happened to you or is it just your
will to wanna help? Yeah, so it was really a
personal story. My whole life I've had chronic
fatigue. I never could get out of bed in the
morning. I never wanted to go to school. I had
really good grades, but I worked so much harder
than everybody else. I have this picture that
I look at all the time of when I was younger.
I had just these dark circles around my eyes.
I had so many allergies. And I always just wanted
to know the reason why. I always wanted to go
deeper and I never wanted to. I mean, there's
a time and a place to take medications, but I
always wanted to do sort of natural, natural
route to healing. And so as I got older, it just
seemed to pile up. And then I was pregnant. I
had terrible tachycardia when I was pregnant,
so I could barely do anything. I had to go out
maternity leave early. After I had my daughter,
I was so depleted. I'm sure because of the gene
mutations that I have, I have over 11 that I
just could not focus. I could barely do anything.
My body was depleted from minerals. That was
really a lot of the start of getting into the
genetics and the minerals and the heavy metals.
My husband has ADHD. That was part of me starting
my own business of, okay, how can I also help
him help us together? So we can just live a really
good life together and just feel good and have
energy and be happy together. And so, yeah, it's
been a long process, but that was. Well, listen,
I mean, I don't know if I believe in a God, you
know, I guess I'm spiritual. If there is a God,
I feel like you're certainly doing God's work.
I mean, anybody who's struggling with mental
health knows that any beacon of hope, because
sometimes it does feel hopeless. You know, I've
struggled with ADHD my whole life. I'm an 80s
and 90s kid. Back then, it was like, oh, he's
a disruption. Get him out of class or throw some
Ritalin at him. People think I found that, you
know, you hear ADHD and the big joke is squirrel.
You know, you can't focus. And of course, that's
an obvious symptom. But people also aren't always
aware of emotional dysregulation, rejection sensitivity
dysphoria. There's a lot that comes with ADHD
that isn't just about focus. Can you talk a little
bit about some of the things that people don't
know about ADHD or maybe it's a misconception?
Sure. Well, I mean, one of them is with females,
too. They go undiagnosed. There are studies showing
that they go undiagnosed longer because they
don't have that hyperactivity component. So in
school, they might be more of the daydreamer.
can't focus. So they're not the ones that are
up and running around. So that's definitely a
lot of it. But yeah, the emotional regulation,
the aggression component to it as well. And there's
tons of research showing that red dye or any
dyes in general in food can contribute to that.
So that's a big component. You talked a little
bit about gut health. So 90 % of your serotonin
receptors are in your gut. 50 % of your dopamine
receptors are in your gut. We are sort of in
this health crisis where our children's guts
are off as well. So there's actually something
called HPHPA and it inhibits the conversion,
I'm getting super scientific, but it inhibits
the conversion of dopamine to norepinephrine.
And it is essentially this gut bug that creates
this. So gut testing isn't usually in my top
three initially because some genetic mutations
can impair the intestinal permeability, aka leaky
gut, like if you have an MTRR11 gene mutation.
But certainly any imbalance in the gut can contribute
to just overall body inflammation as well. Yeah,
I do have gut issues and I've always... the mental
health component that caused the stomach or is
it the stomach issues that are causing them?
But there is such a huge link between mind and
gut and that's a little more mainstream now.
A few more questions. I know you're busy. What
differentiates what you're doing and how you're
approaching mental health treatment as opposed
to if you were to go to a primary or maybe just
a therapist? Because I truly believe and and
and no disrespect to primary doctors. I love
my primary doctor I don't believe that primary
doctors I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed
to prescribe medication But I think there should
be way more of a process before we just throw
mental health medication out at people That's
what happened to me Not with my current primary
a different doctor where they kind of just threw
it at me and to no fault to them I mean, that's
kind of how it was but now that I've been working
with you I see how much you really have to figure
out before you really want to just put people
on medication. What differentiates you from,
I guess, the mainstream way of kind of treating
any sort of mental health problems? Yeah, well,
first of all, a lot of times, and it's not the
provider's fault, but there's just so much urgency
in visits, is that we... A big piece that can
be checked for is labs, just basic labs too.
Iron is really important for dopamine. Vitamin
D is important for serotonin. Really checking
vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is a crucial part of
all DNA methylation and psychological functioning.
And so asking people, do you eat red meat? And
if so, how often do you eat red meat? Are you
just eating it once a week? That might not be
sufficient enough. And so that's part of what
I also do is blood work. But in a functional
medicine lens, also looking a little bit differently
at blood work, say somebody is literally one
point off from where their iron store should
be, conventional medicine might say, oh, that's
fine. But for someone to feel their best, have
that optimal dopamine production, they might
need that closer to the higher end of what we're
considering normal. so many lab results just
have this huge range of what we say is normal.
So that's a very crucial part of looking at everything.
But I think the other component is when you go
to medical school and nurse practitioner school,
you do learn the anatomy and physiology of the
body. You learn all these critical minerals and
vitamins that are needed for the body to function.
But then when you get into actual practice, it's
just 15 minute visits and how are you feeling?
Here's your medication and, you know, see in
a month. And so being able to do DNA testing
minerals, you know, how are you making your neurotransmitters,
really looking at all of that, I think ultimately
really can make a huge difference for people.
Yeah, that's so well said, Doc, because I think
you said it better than I did, which is Again,
it's nothing against primary doctors. They're
obviously very capable of handling this kind
of treatment. It's the time and the amount of
patients that they see that they're just not
able to be this thorough. And I think that's
why it feels like what you're doing is God's
work because you're able to, I mean, you and
I have been working together over a year now
and we have this long -term plan and we're taking
each step. And it's a long process, but it's
so thorough. And you have to be so thorough when
it comes to your body and mind, especially your
mind. I do know that obviously the test that
we've been taking, I've talked about, we're looking
so in depth with, it's able to tell me brand
name mental health medication that I should or
should not take. We're looking at gene mutations.
And I talked about how I'm like a bathtub and
the serotonin isn't holding. It is so in -depth.
It's 2025. How much more in -depth do you think
we're going to get in the next 10 to 15 years?
I mean, will there ever be a time, I don't know,
where we can scan the brain and see the thoughts
you're having? I mean, I know it sounds crazy,
but the world's rapidly changing. Is there anything
on your radar where something's around the corner
that's really exciting and new? Well, I'm just
hopeful that more and more insurances will consider
covering the rest of the full DNA methylation
panel and not just the medications and those
two DNA genes, because they are starting to recognize
that. And even you can look up and see who's
registered to do gene site, but you also have
to be careful because providers need to have
the right training to know what supplements to
recommend for those two different gene mutations.
But where is it going with this? You know what's
great? This is awesome. This is another symptom
of ADHD. You just kind of forget things. Welcome
to my world. It's fine. I think the insurance
company component of it is really the thing that
hinges all of it because I see so many times,
not even with mental health, just with health
in general, I mean, friends, family, I know that
say, man, I'm sick or I've got this issue, but
I'm not going because I can't afford it. I mean,
that to me is insane. you know, basic health
care is a human right and a need. It's not a
luxury. And that's a whole other issue that we
don't need to talk about now. But, you know,
I have experienced it with you where there are
times where, yes, my insurance company is covering
things, but I am paying out of pocket. And as
excited as I am to share this with the public,
I'm sure there's going to be people listening
who are saying, yeah, Dr. Jennifer Schiavi sounds
great, but I can't I can't pay. I don't have
health insurance or I can't afford. And that
really is what I think is kind of delaying us
in accelerating what it is that you do. I think
it would be more mainstream if insurance companies
were able to say, hey, this is clearly a worldwide
issue and we need to get a handle on it because
if we have a handle on our mental health, we
have a better handle on our society. Before we
go, I obviously want to plug your practice and
what it is you do. If somebody is, now I want
to make sure you deal with patients who are struggling
with not just ADHD, correct? Correct, yep. So
it's anxiety, depression, ADHD, any sort of mental
health issues? Yep, yep, insomnia is another
big one. Insomnia, great. And where can they
find you if they're going, if anybody's struggling
with any sort of mental health struggle? You
are located in Ithaca where I live. but you do
telehealth, which is amazing because now no matter
where we are, you're still there to help. Let
somebody know who's struggling with mental health,
where they can find you. So yeah, IthacaADHD
.com is a great place to start. There's a description
of all the different treatment options I offer.
If someone is thinking about... You know, what
treatment plan should I do? They can just book
a free discovery call. And if finances are concerned,
then typically we just go over, you know, where
do we start? What can we get covered by insurance
first? I do that all the time with patients.
I do have another website that is sort of just
solely based on functional medicine. It's called
My Functional and it's fix .com, fix, My Functional
Fix, which sort of goes a little bit deeper into
the DNA and the hair and the urine testing as
well. Awesome. Dr. Shiavi, you're amazing. I
can't sing your praises enough. Because of everything
you just talked about, I've struggled with mental
health my entire life. It's what you do you can't
put a price on because your sanity, your mental
health, your wellbeing is everything. And you've
given me back a quality of life. And we're still
working. We're still getting towards the goal.
But I am much better. as a father, a husband,
an employee, a performer, all of it because of
you. And I know it sounds dramatic, but if anyone
is struggling with mental health, they know exactly
what I'm talking about. Don't hesitate to reach
out to Dr. Shavy for more than just what it is
that she does. You heard, as you said, You work
so closely with them and making sure the finances
are in order first So it's not like they're gonna
call and then you're gonna slap them with a bill
That's a lot of times a huge worry for people.
You're you're so thorough and you're so Well
thought out along the whole process and I appreciate
you so much Thank you for giving me your time
Anything else you want to say before before we
go anything you want to plug anything you want
to talk about? Well, thank you for sharing your
story and I feel like it's taken me a while in
my own journey, but being able to be confident
in the protocol that I follow and going through
these things myself and taking supplements myself
that I recommend to other people, I feel like
that really helps too, because I want to say,
hey, I don't want to say you should do this thing
when I haven't done it, right? I want to show
that I'm taking care of myself so I can also
be able to help take care of other people too.
You're amazing. You are absolutely amazing. Dr.
Shiavi, IthacaADHD, let me try that again. IthacaADHD
.com, if you or someone you know is struggling
with mental health, whether it be anxiety, depression,
ADHD, depression, even insomnia, please look
up Dr. Shiavi. She's an amazing nurse practitioner.
but also an amazing person. Thank you so much,
and I will be talking to you soon. Sounds good.
Thank you. All right. And with that, another
episode of Good News York, sponsored by Ads on
the Go, GetAdsOnTheGo .com. I want to thank,
again, the great Dr. Jennifer Schave out of Ithaca,
New York, IthacaADHD .com. Please, it is worth
it. I promise. It changed my life, and she can
change yours. There is an answer. There's always
an answer. It's never too late. And with that,
we will see you next week.