Case Scenarios

Okay my friends; let’s spend some time going over possible scenarios. First we’ll take Frank, a 43 year old truck driver with a family history of heart disease (father died of a Myocardial Infarction (MI) at 57 years of age) and mother went on meds for blood pressure issues when she was in her early sixties. Frank has been on Lipitor for about 5 years and MD wants to place him on blood pressure meds.

Functional Medicine tests needed: A Cardion test was ordered that measured Total Cholesterol, HDL Cholesterol, LDL Cholesterol (Direct), Triglycerides, Lipoprotein (a), Lipoprotein Ratios: LDL/HDL & Total/HDL, Ferritin, Fibrinogen, c-Reactive Protein (HS), Insulin, Testosterone; Sex Hormone Binding Globulin, Free Androgen Index, Magnesium, Homocysteine, Coenzyme Q10, alpha-Tocopherol, gamma-Tocopherol, and Lipid Peroxides. We also ran an ADMA profile. ADMA is Asymmetric Dimethylarginine, a competitor in the Nitric Oxide production pathway.

These tests give us a much broader picture of what is taking place in the arteries. We need to know more than just a high total cholesterol and a high LDL. Results on Frank revealed elevated Triglycerides (suggesting an early dysglycemia), elevated c-Reactive Protein (suggesting inflammation), decreased Testosterone (couples with the dysglycemia), and elevated Lipid Peroxides (suggesting inflammation and oxidative stress). Frank’s ADMA profile was also abnormal telling me that he was not producing adequate Nitric Oxide in the endothelium, an essential nutrient for vascular smooth muscle relaxation.

In my office, more testing is in order – we NEED to find out if Frank already has an autoimmune condition that is ramping up the inflammation and oxidative stress. My testing revealed that yes, Frank was autoimmune, TH2 dominant. For more information on this, read my book, “Help, My Body is Killing Me” available free HERE. It is SUPER important that we KNOW this information as THIS (the autoimmune disease) is really what is the CAUSE of all the positive findings. If you’ve read my book you fully understand that every autoimmune disorder has an antigen (that which the immune system is firing against) at its heart. We tested Frank and we found a sub-clinical fungal infection to be the antigen.

Summary:

1. Frank, a 43 year old with mild high blood pressure and elevated total Cholesterol artificially manipulated with a Statin medication that does nothing to address the CAUSE walks in the office.
2. Further testing reveals signs that suggest oxidative stress, inflammation and blocked Nitric Oxide production.
3. Deeper testing still reveals a sub-clinical (he never knew he had it) fungal infection that has created an autoimmune attack on his endothelial cells producing Th2 inflammatory cytokines to build up under and within the vascular intimal lining.
4. This inflammation affects the receptors on the cell surface that increases chemicals like Angiotensin II to be produced that increase smooth muscle tone that increases blood pressure.
5. Giving meds to artificially lower the blood pressure ignores the inflammatory process, ignores the reason the inflammation is there, and does nothing to stop the destructive cycle.
6. We won’t leave Frank in this condition as we want to change the cause.
So, what should we do?
1. Address the dysglycemia with diet and appropriate nutrition. Limit Frank to 50-75 grams of carbohydrates per day and educate him thoroughly on whole food nutrition.
2. Address the fungal infection (we tested him for the appropriate ‘killer’) with Astragalus and our Medicinal Mushroom mix. We also prescribed a Rife machine to use at home for 3 months.
3. The above nutrient combination both happen to be Th1 stimulators and will simultaneously aide in balancing out the Th2 dominance. But we add Vitamin D (10,000 iu/day) and some Parent Essential Oils to help modulate the immune response.
4. To help drive the Nitric Oxide pathway we suggested a product called Nitric Balance to be taken prior to exercise that we also prescribed. I added Citrulline capsules to be taken along with the Nitric Balance that helps push the synthesis of Nitric Oxide down the correct pathway. Nitric Oxide is essential to balance out the over stimulation of Angiotensin II and Endothelin-1 vasoconstrictors.
5. Other nutrition Frank tested out for consisted of a Vitamin B (Max B – ND) and CoQ10 to help open the liver detox pathways, Ribose to calm the heart muscle, and Green Tea Extract to help reduce Interleukin-6 (a strong pro-inflammatory Th2 cytokine).

Frank is doing great!

Okay, is this easy to understand or did I just confuse everyone? I do NOT suggest just a ‘shot-gun’ nutritional approach so if you’re looking for that you’ll be disappointed. There is ALWAYS a CAUSE and you have to find someone who can figure that out. We’ll go through several more cases like this to help you understand a Functional Cardiovascular approach.

To speak with Dr. Conners, click HERE