Dr Patricia Schneider - Unlocking Wellness

[00:00:00] Welcome to Resilience Unravelled. Hi everybody and welcome to Resilience Unravelled, a podcast that examines all aspects of personal and organisational resilience. A huge all-encompassing subject that covers the ability to thrive in life by harnessing your cognitive, emotional, physiological and contextual abilities. I share stories from people who have thrived despite remarkable obstacles, as well as highly successful practitioners and experts across a range of topics.

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[00:01:12] Hey, and welcome back to Resilience Unravelled. And with me this week is Trish Schneider. And Trish and I just had a quick chat. And I'm sensing from the accent, Trish, you're across the pond. Is that right?

[00:01:25] That is correct. From the United States.

[00:01:27] Where in the US are you? Tell me a bit about it.

[00:01:30] I'm in Rhode Island. So, yeah, not too far from Boston. So we're in the smallest state in the United States, but we have a lot to offer here. So, yeah, it's a nice little state.

[00:01:42] That's supposed to be extremely well-to-do, isn't it? That sort of part of the world? Very...

[00:01:47] It is. Yeah. Well, not extremely. It depends. Depends on where you are. But there's lots to do here in Little Roadie. A lot of, like, culture and good eats and lots of shows. And it's like a big city, but in a small city. Yeah. It's quite lovely.

[00:02:07] That was good. You're not near crab world or anything along those lines. Crabs are lobsters on that part of the world. That's...

[00:02:14] Yep. Big seafood here. Quahogs and clams and lobsters and seafood. Yep. That's all here.

[00:02:23] Right. So you're giving me something to talk... You're giving me something to think about now. So that's very nice. Thank you.

[00:02:28] I've got my brain in gear. So tell us a bit about yourself and Trish.

[00:02:33] Yes. I've been a nurse for a long time, about 25 years. And I have specialized in the last, oh, about 15 years or so in psychiatry, in psych mental health.

[00:02:48] In particular, working with children, adolescents and young adults.

[00:02:52] So I have enjoyed, you know, working with that population. I am a nurse practitioner as well.

[00:02:58] And I became recently certified in functional blood work.

[00:03:03] So what I like to do is I like to look at patients' blood work and see about correcting any nutritional, you know, deficiencies, things like that.

[00:03:12] And just offer patients a little bit more as far as the role of treatment.

[00:03:17] You know, besides medications, we have other things that we can do.

[00:03:21] So overall, I like to sort of approach how I treat patients in a more integrative, you know, way.

[00:03:30] And offering really people more choices than they have traditionally.

[00:03:36] Okay. You give me something to go up there. So that's great.

[00:03:38] So can I just ask you to roll back? So for people who don't know, what's the difference between a nurse and a nurse practitioner?

[00:03:46] So a nurse practitioner has advanced training and a nurse practitioner can diagnose disorders and also prescribe medications.

[00:03:55] Okay.

[00:03:56] And some can also provide therapy as well, where a registered nurse would not be able to prescribe or diagnose.

[00:04:07] So you're virtually, well, you're sort of a doctor with.

[00:04:12] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, in a way.

[00:04:15] In a way. Not even in a way. I guess there's a limit to the areas of expertise that you're allowed to have.

[00:04:22] Yeah. It depends on what you specialize in.

[00:04:24] You can become an advanced practice nurse and be a family nurse practitioner.

[00:04:28] So you're able to diagnose and prescribe medications for infections, you know, cardiac, really anything.

[00:04:35] It just depends on which specialty you like to venture towards.

[00:04:40] There are choices as far as that goes.

[00:04:43] So basically you're doing all the work a doctor would do, but you don't have $100,000 of debt.

[00:04:47] Correct.

[00:04:49] Yay.

[00:04:51] Well, we're going to listen to very carefully everything you're going to say.

[00:04:53] Now, you mentioned these words functional medicine, and what's the difference between functional medicine and medicine?

[00:05:00] So traditional medicine, especially, you know, here in the United States, we're looking for, I feel like, treating the symptoms.

[00:05:11] You know, so we don't really do a whole lot to be proactive, and we don't really focus and push on what we can do in order to be our best self health-wise.

[00:05:24] And in Western medicine, again, it's, you know, by the time you've already had symptoms and now you're diagnosed with something, now let's try to treat it.

[00:05:31] Where with functional, we really try to take a proactive approach, and we look at your health, and we look at your blood work, and we try to make sure that those ranges are optimal.

[00:05:43] So we're not looking for, does it fall within the normal range?

[00:05:46] Like in Western medicine with blood work, for example, if it falls within this normal range, it doesn't really ever get looked at, or there's nothing that really gets done with it, unless it's flagged as either abnormally low or abnormally high.

[00:06:01] Where with functional blood work, our ranges are much narrower, and we want patients to be in the optimal range.

[00:06:09] So if there are things that we can correct and make lab values just a little bit better, that is where people are going to feel their best.

[00:06:16] And that's where health is going to be promoted optimally.

[00:06:20] So we really try to narrow and really try to put those things in place that are going to ensure that, you know, we stay healthy and we maintain that healthy track.

[00:06:31] How do you decide what the optimal range is then?

[00:06:34] So there's researchers and Dr. Karazian, he is the functional, you know, medicine person.

[00:06:44] And through years of research, they have determined that these rangers are where patients are going to feel their best.

[00:06:52] So it isn't ranges that I came up with.

[00:06:55] But it is ranges that have been well studied and researched by people who have a lot more experience and knowledge than I do, that put these forward.

[00:07:05] Just like with Western medicine, these are the ranges that, you know, we consider normal.

[00:07:11] And this is sort of what we look for.

[00:07:14] So can you give an example of one of the things you might look at that's different to sort of a traditional approach?

[00:07:18] Yes, vitamin D levels.

[00:07:21] Okay.

[00:07:22] So in a traditional, traditional lab work, we'll say that anything between the range of 30 to 100 is considered with the normal range, where when we look at the optimal range, functional range, we want those levels to be closer to 50 to 80.

[00:07:41] You know, much narrower, that's where patients are going to feel their best.

[00:07:45] That's where the optimal vitamin D levels are going to be.

[00:07:49] That's where their immune system is going to be, you know, at the optimal.

[00:07:53] So it's much narrower because you could be at 30 and, you know, you're considered okay or you could or you could be at 80, but it's certainly a huge, a big difference.

[00:08:04] So that's just one example.

[00:08:06] 50 to 80 is much, you know, much closer to where we want it to be.

[00:08:11] Yeah.

[00:08:11] So that's just one example of some of the things that we, we do when we look for.

[00:08:17] Another one would be underlying infections, infections that will not be flagged by a regular, you know, lab workup, but they're just beneath the surface where they're still able to wreak havoc on cells and how the cells are working in the body, how they're able to absorb nutrients and how they function.

[00:08:40] So that's another thing.

[00:08:42] So that's another thing that I find too, when we look at certain types of white blood cells, sometimes we see underlying viral infections that are just beneath the surface.

[00:08:51] That again, yeah.

[00:08:53] Viral infections, biggest trigger of autoimmune.

[00:08:55] So again, if we just try to see if we can correct those, then that can definitely be beneficial too, just like gut health and all of these different things that, you know, that we can look for.

[00:09:09] I was going to ask if you looked for antifungal type things as well, because that's such an important thing, isn't it?

[00:09:15] Yes, we do.

[00:09:16] We look for any underlying bacterial infections, fungal, parasitic infections, viral infections, again, just right below the surface.

[00:09:25] That can be the reason why people will have, you know, just some GI, bloating, constipation, just messed up guts, not really quite sure what's going on.

[00:09:36] These can be all the result of these underlying infections that are just beneath the surface.

[00:09:41] Yeah.

[00:09:42] And I've got this image of you now taking out enough blood to look for all these different things.

[00:09:48] Assuming you're taking half a bucket full of blood out of my arm.

[00:09:51] But how does that process work? Is it just the same as anything else?

[00:09:55] It's the same as anything else. It's regular blood work that, you know, if you went to your physician for an annual exam, for example, and they want to just run a panel of blood work, very basic.

[00:10:07] So it's the complete blood work, CBC, with differential that gives us a little bit more information.

[00:10:12] An iron panel is a good thing to get.

[00:10:15] Also checking blood sugar components, A1C, you know, would be good.

[00:10:21] And also thyroid.

[00:10:22] So, again, these are just these are not special exams or anything that a physician would balk at.

[00:10:28] They're just really overall any regular blood work.

[00:10:32] But it can reveal a lot if we know exactly what we're looking for and we look a little deeper into what those numbers could mean.

[00:10:39] Yeah, makes sense. And I'm guessing that if you're taking a fresh approach to diagnostic process that you assume you're taking a different approach to treatment maintenance.

[00:10:52] Is that the case? So how does that work?

[00:10:55] Well, sometimes in a lot of my psych mental health patients, for example, when they come to me with, you know, whatever they're feeling about their emotional health,

[00:11:06] I find many times they also have some GI difficulty with it as well.

[00:11:12] So, you know, stomach aches, all of these things.

[00:11:15] And I find sometimes in the approach is that maybe the cause of your depression or your mood could be the result of leaky gut, you know, the microbiome being unbalanced.

[00:11:31] That can cause not only fatigue, but also emotional, you know, mood changes as well.

[00:11:38] So it just gives us an extra opportunity to see, well, rather than jump first to an antidepressant, for example, that that might not be the true cause of why a patient is feeling a certain way.

[00:11:50] So it gives us, you know, an extra tool in the toolbox just to see, well, what if it's this?

[00:11:55] It's especially when we think about the neurotransmitters, those happy hormones, the serotonin and the dopamine.

[00:12:03] A lot of the serotonin is the majority of it is manufactured in the gut.

[00:12:08] And if we have problems with our gut, that's going to inhibit the production of serotonin.

[00:12:14] And if we have diminished serotonin, it therefore can create, you know, a low mood.

[00:12:20] So, you know, it's all really much more connected than we think.

[00:12:24] So if we maybe try to fix a gut first, maybe that'll have a positive side effect of improving somebody's mood.

[00:12:33] You know, I think that makes a lot of sense.

[00:12:36] I mean, we talk quite a lot on this podcast about this link between the brain and the body and such like it.

[00:12:42] It's crazy, isn't it?

[00:12:43] And we only seem to be discovering now the effects of food on our systems.

[00:12:47] And I guess we've been dealing with big food manufacturers who have a vested interest in pumping out loads of ultra processed, quite horrible food.

[00:12:56] And, you know, I was reading something the other day about this idea that we shouldn't be really taking huge amounts of vitamin supplements.

[00:13:03] Actually, if we eat well, we should have the right amount of vitamin supplements.

[00:13:06] I mean, for that to be a new idea or that to be some sort of revelation, it's quite scary, isn't it?

[00:13:11] About nutritional hygiene and not hygiene, education is quite peculiar, isn't it?

[00:13:16] What's been going on?

[00:13:17] I know.

[00:13:18] I think there's no money in people being healthy.

[00:13:21] I'm not sure.

[00:13:22] And, you know, one thing that with food especially, there's a lot of chemicals that are banned in, you know, Europe, for example, that are part of the American diet.

[00:13:36] You know, things that, you know, dyes and a lot of, you know, again, processed things.

[00:13:41] Peloves.

[00:13:42] Right.

[00:13:42] And that's all contributing to, you know, poor nutrition and everything else.

[00:13:47] And it, you know, it really is.

[00:13:50] I talk a lot about the fact that we should be and we have the ability to use nutrition as medicine, but we really don't.

[00:13:58] You know, it's really quite a shame that we don't do that because it can be very, very powerful.

[00:14:05] And it does come back to the basics, good nutrition, you know, as fresh, you know, as you can get, you know, to the sources, you know.

[00:14:14] And it really does have a long-term impact on your health.

[00:14:18] But over time, you know, everybody's busy and we want something that's quick and we want something that's ready to go.

[00:14:23] And, you know, and again, lots of things that are put in food just to maintain, you know, its shelf life has been having lots of detrimental effects on our overall health over the years.

[00:14:38] So, yeah, nutrition is definitely a huge component of why I think there's been a lot of physical disorders and health disorders definitely linked to the food.

[00:14:50] Yeah.

[00:14:51] I think that's absolutely the case.

[00:14:52] Certainly, there are many, many practitioners out there who are creating much more sustainable and more body kind regimes.

[00:15:04] And I think what tends to happen is a lot of people have a very bad diet, but also have a very good diet running alongside each other.

[00:15:11] And you get this sort of strange thing where one's trying to compensate for the other, don't you?

[00:15:15] And it's because it seems, I mean, you know, cream cakes are lovely, aren't they?

[00:15:20] Let's be really honest.

[00:15:21] They are.

[00:15:22] And I mean, you know, sweet potato fries, they're quite jazzy as well.

[00:15:25] I'm on a diet at the moment, so I'm suffering.

[00:15:29] But it's the idea that, you know, if you have a strong microbiome, you can have your thing that's, you know, which is tasty and it's really exciting.

[00:15:39] And you get an emotional kick from it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:15:41] But actually, it's about pulling out the chemicals, about pulling out the things that really don't belong in food.

[00:15:47] And it's always been the thing, isn't it?

[00:15:49] If it doesn't actually look like food when you take it out of the packet.

[00:15:52] If it doesn't look like the shape of the thing you're meant to be cooking.

[00:15:55] Or if it has about 83,000 ingredients on the back, you know you're dealing with something that's tricky.

[00:16:00] And it's sort of a myth as well, actually, that ultra-processed food is quicker to eat than non-ultra-processed food.

[00:16:07] But the problem is that people don't learn to cook or combine food or such like.

[00:16:12] So we just have supplements and then continue and hope that works.

[00:16:16] Yeah.

[00:16:16] So talk to me a bit more about leaky gut because it's something we hear a lot about.

[00:16:19] What's really going on behind the leaky gut?

[00:16:22] Yeah.

[00:16:23] So it has to do with the microbiome and it has to do with the lining.

[00:16:28] And that's really the first.

[00:16:30] The lining is really the first sort of like protection that we have.

[00:16:34] You know, making sure that if we have a strong exterior, then the chances of things, you know, breaking that exterior become less and less.

[00:16:45] Where over time, if we have a dysfunction in the microbiome and you have, you know, infections that are occurring and more of the negative bacteria is multiplying or is in greater numbers than the good bacteria.

[00:16:58] Then it sort of weakens the lining of our GI tract.

[00:17:03] And when our lining is not as strong as it can be, then the nutrients, you know, don't get absorbed into the cells and the cell membranes, you know, are not as strong.

[00:17:17] Toxins can't be removed from the cells.

[00:17:19] And yet, you know, the nutrients can't be moved into the cell.

[00:17:22] So it causes this leaky gut syndrome.

[00:17:25] And it's just the the lining is not as secure and intact.

[00:17:29] So therefore, you've got, you know, sort of a discrepancy there in in, you know, how how things are functioning.

[00:17:37] Yeah.

[00:17:38] And the other big thing that's often mentioned is inflammation as well.

[00:17:41] And certainly that's that's again another big subject.

[00:17:45] But what's going on behind that sometimes?

[00:17:49] Yeah.

[00:17:50] And with with foods, you know, for example, you know, foods either promote inflammation or reduce inflammation.

[00:17:57] So a lot of that, again, comes to diet.

[00:18:00] And and what are you choosing to put in your body?

[00:18:03] And what kind of an impact is that inflammation having on the body?

[00:18:07] So, again, that comes to food choices as well.

[00:18:09] So we want to make sure that we're focusing on foods that, you know, will reduce the inflammation.

[00:18:15] And over time, you know, it resets our gut.

[00:18:18] We also want to make sure that we're replenishing, you know, the microbiome with fermented foods.

[00:18:23] Fermented foods are very, very healthy and very good for the microbiome and keep stabilized there.

[00:18:30] So, yeah, the inflammation piece also a lot to do with the nutrition, you know, that that we have.

[00:18:36] So the thing that people talk a lot about, people always banging on about inflammation, but which bits being inflamed?

[00:18:42] What's so for people that don't know what is actually how does what is inflammation?

[00:18:46] Where is it in the body and what's actually happening?

[00:18:50] So it what ends up happening with the inflammation is there is an increase in the toxins.

[00:18:55] So the toxins that get secreted from the processed food causes an impact on the cells, which, you know, causes them not to function as properly.

[00:19:05] And then the toxins get trapped in the cell.

[00:19:09] So when their toxins are trapped in the cell and the cell isn't functioning as properly, it's it becomes inflamed where nothing can leave the cell.

[00:19:18] Nothing can come in the cell.

[00:19:20] So it just kind of like floats in our bloodstream and in our bodies with all of these extra toxins that are just kind of floating around with really no place to go.

[00:19:30] Interesting. So so basically what you're doing is you're allowing those cells to either be excreted or to to repair themselves because they will repair themselves.

[00:19:38] Well, that's the thing about our bodies is quite an amazing structure, really.

[00:19:42] It is. If you give the body what it likes and what it needs, it knows what to do and it will repair itself.

[00:19:47] We just have to make sure that we're supplying it with the things that it needs in order to be able to do that and repair cells.

[00:19:54] So it sounds like you should write a book or a menu guide or something, you know, that people could find useful to to help them.

[00:20:02] I mean, what's your thinking on that? Can I encourage you?

[00:20:05] Yeah, that would be amazing. I offer for many years.

[00:20:09] I always, you know, wondered why so little was focused on nutrition, like with my nursing education and even like doctors and and really in the medical field.

[00:20:21] So little is really focused on the nutrition and what we could be doing and what foods to select and all of that.

[00:20:28] It really is just like an afterthought almost. And it's really, you know, if people knew exactly more about it, I mean, you can reverse things like type two diabetes with diet.

[00:20:41] You can reverse hypertension. These are number one killers here in the United States.

[00:20:46] And if people were just given more information about, you know, what what are the food choices?

[00:20:52] What should I stay away from? What does it mean to eat clean and all of that?

[00:20:55] I think that'd be amazing. So I'm very interested in in.

[00:21:00] Yeah, maybe maybe writing a book about, you know, key nutritional, you know, how how one can improve their health just with, you know, simple, basic nutrition facts,

[00:21:13] I think would be would be great. And it's definitely not something that we we spend too much time on.

[00:21:19] I mean, just if if someone's diagnosed in the United States with hypertension, we do try to say, you know, limit your salts, make sure you exercise.

[00:21:29] And if you can try to lose a few pounds, but that's really about as far as it goes.

[00:21:34] And after that, it's well, we're going to give you a medication.

[00:21:37] You know, we really don't focus on try to have a lot more plant based, you know, choices in your diet, you know, really try to decrease the amount of saturated trans fats, animal fats in your diet and see if we can really make a difference.

[00:21:55] It's where eventually over time, if people really did that, they wouldn't need the medication.

[00:22:01] Yeah, it's sort of obvious when you think about it, isn't it?

[00:22:03] Yeah. And it's, you know, it's kind of common sense. And it just seems like, wow, why is this like, it seems like it's brand new information, but it's not.

[00:22:10] It's just that it's just, I guess, not as attractive or not as, you know, I don't know.

[00:22:16] But all you have to do is walk down the food markets, the food aisles in your local supermarket, you can see why people have a vested interest not to talk about these things.

[00:22:25] Correct.

[00:22:26] That gets you sorted.

[00:22:27] You want to shop in the perimeters, right? That's what they say.

[00:22:30] Just shop in the perimeters. You don't really need a whole lot of stuff that's down in the middle aisles and all of that.

[00:22:36] Yeah. Or grow your own.

[00:22:38] Or grow your own, even better.

[00:22:40] Yeah. I mean, it takes a long time to get a tomato, but when you do, by goodness, they're really good.

[00:22:46] Okay, Trish, this is absolutely fascinating.

[00:22:48] So how can people find out more about the work you're doing or how could they get in touch with you or availing sounds of your services?

[00:22:54] How can that work?

[00:22:55] Oh, thank you.

[00:22:57] WholeHealthAlternatives.com is where people can find me.

[00:23:00] I usually will host a live workshop once a month.

[00:23:03] I do teach people about some of the markers that they can find and teach themselves in their blood work.

[00:23:10] And we talk about what possible symptoms the markers that are off could be exhibiting.

[00:23:15] So WholeHealthAlternatives.com would be a good place to look and to reach out to me if they have any questions about anything that I do.

[00:23:23] And if they want to join a live workshop that I will be hosting, then they're able to do that as well.

[00:23:32] Brilliant.

[00:23:32] Well, that's absolutely fascinating.

[00:23:34] Thank you so much for unpacking the world of functional medicine today.

[00:23:37] I think that's absolutely brilliant.

[00:23:39] Fantastic.

[00:23:40] Thank you so much.

[00:23:40] Thank you.

[00:23:41] Well, thank you so much for bringing this subject to our attention.

[00:23:44] And let's stay in touch.

[00:23:46] And when that new book's out, come back and talk to us again.

[00:23:49] Sounds good.

[00:23:50] Thank you so much.

[00:23:51] You take care.

[00:23:55] Hi, thanks for listening.

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